Sunday 13 July 2014

Paleo Diet by Vetri

I just got myself into another diet plan and this time it's Paleo Diet by Vetri. The one week meal package costs Php 1,800 and bought mine for two weeks at half the price through their promotion at Groupon. Vetri is owned by Chef Ric Loteria who's a celebrity chef and was awarded 2 Michelin Star - knowing this I have high hopes that his food would taste really good. Paleo Diet is composed of high protein meals with low or no carbs at all. The diet's concept is for one to eat what our ancestors used to eat. The diet is also known as the Caveman Diet.

Day 1

My first impression when I saw the brown bag "This is it?". The bag was so light and I wondered how can my entire day meal be this light and would fit in a small brown bag. I opened the bag and whoala! I just confirmed that I will be having really really light meals throughout the day. Their servings were so little! huhuhu What have I got myself into... But I must endure this challenge because I still paid for it. So here goes.

Breakfast: Organic "Asian Style" Scrambled Eggs
I don't know why it's called "Asian Style" because it tasted like just scrambled eggs to me that was a bit creamy. It was surprising fulfilling maybe it was because of the water I drank but my tummy still made grumbling noises from time to time.

Snack: Fresh Fruit Jelly
As I opened my fruit jelly, it gave out a weird smell and as I took a bite of its mangoes it was sour and the rest of the fruits were already spoiled. This is so disappointing. I had really high hopes for this diet meal and seeing food go to waste is frustrating.

Lunch: Pollo ala Cacciotore
Dinner: Classic Italian Minestrone
Seeing that both meal portions for my lunch and dinner were small, I decided to eat both of them over lunch.
The chicken that was supposedly my lunch wasn't even a quarter chicken size =( it was so small! It is tasty but only because it was salty. The corn was just a bonus just to make me feel full.
My supposedly dinner was only tomato soup with bits of chopped corn and carrots.

I really had high hopes for this diet plan but I can now picture my future meals for the next days. I should have tried reading more reviews about them and not immediately be enticed by the title of the chef. A lesson learned and it's just day one. =(

Day 2

Breakfast: Vegetable Frittata
Snack: Carrot Salad Fresh Fruits
Lunch: Chicken & Fish Cake with Pumpkin Sauce
Dinner: Country-Style Bacon Pork with Amatriciana Sauce

For my second day, the meal portions are more than yesterday. Thank goodness! Breakfast was nothing special quite bland actually. The fresh fruit salad for snack was more of papaya salad then a few pieces of pineapple. For lunch, I honestly liked the chicken and fish cake - I didn't think that chicken and fish together will blend well but it works - a bit salty though. The pumpkin sauce is completely unnoticeable. Dinner was sour but just because the sauce is made of fresh tomatoes but I just wished they did something to balance the overall taste of the meal. By the way, it had no bacon but had fatty pork slices.

Day 3

Breakfast: Corned Beef & Chayote Hash with Baked Eggs
Snack: Vegetable Thai Wrap Grapes
Lunch: Beef Rendang with Roasted Vegetables Corned Rice
Dinner: Grilled Fillet o Fish with Garlic Mushroom

I love corned beef but I am disappointed to get corned beef through diet meals. It would be ok with me if they made it from scratch but the corned beef used for my breakfast tasted like it came from a can. =(
For lunch, I liked the sauce of the beef rendang but unfortunately the beef was not tender enough and was fatty too. The meal is matched with corned rice which did not taste anything like corn - it actually did not taste anything at all. I just didn't get it.
As for dinner, it was not fish fillet! I don't know what it was but I think it was ground pork with a few pieces of carrots and peas.

Day 4

Breakfast: Asparagus, Tomatoes & Egg
Snacks: Fresh Fruit Salad Gelatin
Lunch: Rosemary Pork Steak, Corn & Carrots with Red Rice with cucumber
Dinner: Eggplant "Paleo" Lasagna

My breakfast for today was just terrible. I can't believe that they served me egg cooked in a microwave! How do I know that it's cooked in the microwave? Because the whites completely sticks the sides of the container.

But my day just got worse seeing what's for lunch - it was pork chop with a big chunk of fat! Are they really sure their giving out the right calories per meal. I am not so sure anymore. They just lost my trust just by serving this to me.

I was quite surprised seeing gelatin for my snack. I love gelatin so I thought to myself that I'm in for a treat but no... the gelatin did not have any taste at all. It smells of mangoes but it does not taste like anything. It was like eating an unflavored gelatin. What a disappointment!
Just when I thought that my day won't get any worse, one look at my dinner meal and I instantly got sad. It was so unappealing and the taste - it was sour and salty all at the same time. I am now completely frustrated and unmotivated to go on with the diet so I just eat what I want to eat from this day forward.

Day 5

Breakfast: Smoked Bacon & Organic Eggs
Snack: Fresh Fruit Cucumber Salad
Lunch: Classic Fish & Zucchini (not fried)
Dinner: Vegetable Marinara with Baked Prawns Thigh Chicken Stew Soup

Here comes the last day and once again they changed the menu. Breakfast was just so-so and once again had eggs. The fish was just alright for me but I am overwhelmed to see that they served it with Sayote and Singkamas. This is definitely not worth the money I spent on. The chicken was just stew and not enough to be called a soup.

Update 7/30/2014 - food from the second week of delivery:

The Verdict:

Paleo Diet by Vetri is by far the worst diet meal delivery service I ever had. I definitely do not recommend anyone to subscribe to their meals. Unfortunately for me, I have to endure another week of their food since I got their 2 week meal plan.
I can only think of one good point for them - they deliver on time. All other points are going downhill. Below are their cons:

  • They don't provide utensils.
  • They don't provide notes on how much calories your meal has or at least what's the menu for the day.
  • They don't stick with their menu. They change their menu anytime they want.
  • Meal portions were small.
  • Their food were salty and fatty.

So if you plan to avail their meals, proceed with caution. I am definitely not listing them to my list of recommended diet meals.

For good diet options, click here.

17 comments:

  1. Hi! I should have seen your blog before I entrustee my money to Vetri for a 15 day diet meal. I am now asking for a refund. I have been sending them e-mails, SMS and messages in FB but to no avail. I tried to bring up the negative comments to the Chef and he blames it on crab mentality of the Filipinos. Money down the drain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I so... understand your sentiment. =( I tried warning other people by posting in their FB page my feedback of their service and food quality yet they instantly kept deleting them and I was then blocked from posting on their page. Not later on that day, I got an email that I was unprofessional and that such negative remarks will not discourage them.

      Anyways, more and more people are complaining but we can't just see them because they are actively deleting negative posts from their page.

      Oh well, charge to experience... =(

      Delete
    2. For "anonymous" you can call/email groupon and ask for you refund. Me and my friend also had the same experience.. I called groupon and explained what happened then requested for a full refund.

      Delete
  2. Hi, Ms. Jill. Unfortunately, I dealt with them directly. I saw the ad in Groupon. When I inquired from them, they "offered" the same promo to me outside of Groupon and sent me personal accounts to deposit my payment. I just have to suffer the consequences of trusting Vetri. :(

    Thanks again for this blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same here, I also bought the deal directly not through Groupon. :( Lesson learned na lang...

      Looks like they have gone dark na, their FB page is no longer accessible.

      Delete
  3. Yes. Lesson learned, Ms. Jill. I also asked Groupon to be wary of the merchants they partner with. I trusted Vetri because Groupon featured them so I assumed they did due diligence of the track record of this Company. Although I only have myself to blame because I dealt with them directly. :(

    @"Anonymous" I am happy that Groupon was there to refund your purchase. For those who dealt with Vetri directly, I think DTI can help us. Their Consumer Complaints e-mail address is fteb_mediationdiv@dti.gov.ph

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This so called chef told me that I will get a refund but it's been weeks. Have you tried reporting them to the address you've given above?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Anonymous.

      I am in the same boat. I tried to ask for a refund and they said they will but to no avail. Anyway, I reported them to DTI. They acted on it and they scheduled for a mediation. I decided not to pursue because it will eat up my time. I am sure there is such a thing as karma.

      Delete
    2. Hi, again. Just an addition. Maybe if you can send an e-mail to DTI, they would see that there are a lot of people complaining about this Vetri Foods. Just a thought.

      Delete
  5. So did a representative from DTI able to contact him to bring to his attention your complaint?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Anonymous. DTI sent my complaint to them although I advised DTI that I won't be pursuing it anymore. To recover my Php2, 699 requires that I will be out of the office so I decided not to attend. I still believe in karma so I know the people behind this scam will get what is coming to them.

      Delete
  6. I also paid Vetri for 2 15-day meals directly after they offered the same without having to go through groupon. I only got 9 days of deliveries. The last message I got from them was an apology and an fyi that they will be suspending their deliveries due to a sudden death of an employee and that was on July 29, 2014. I have tried emailing and calling them, but never received a reply. I am very disappointed with what they did. Hope this serves as a warning for others.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Chef is on Twitter, ladies and gents. He's very active there but still nothing about the current state of his business. If he was getting overwhelmed with the turnout, he could've simply announced that they'd have to limit the number of customers each week to preserve the quality. I'm sure people would understand. But no, their decision was to go on radio silence and disappear into the void. I hope he enjoys our hard-earned money.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I likewise availed of the 15 day Paleo meal plan via Groupon and I have not received a single meal. I tried every possible means to contact Vetri but to no avail. I reported the incident to Groupon but it has been 20 days already and it still hasn't resolved my complaint and demand for refund.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I wished I stumbled upon this blog before I bought my 10-day meal plan. Has anyone successfully refunded their purchase in Groupon or from the merchant? I got so impatient that I started my own Paleo meal plan and I'm at my 17th day already. Money down the drain :(

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi, Ms. Jill. Just sharing another blog regarding Vetri and comments of others who have been scammed by Vetri Foods.

    http://learningtocompute.blogspot.com/2014/07/vetri-foods-review-affordable-lunch-box.html?m=1

    ReplyDelete
  11. Is he the same person as chef ritchie loteria in https://www.facebook.com/loteria.riccardo?fref=ts?
    I hear he is a celebrity chef for unang hirit also and is very active in instagram via _chefricloteria

    Maybe you can contact him there too.

    I hope this helps.

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete