---
title: 'Are Slop Bowls a Scam?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=XsQAuVJLYzI'
video_id: 'XsQAuVJLYzI'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 957
---

# Are Slop Bowls a Scam?

> Source: [Are Slop Bowls a Scam?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=XsQAuVJLYzI)

## Summary



## Transcript

This spicy lamb cobba bowl just cost me
$16.25.
Now, if I took $16.25 into this grocery
store behind me, there's absolutely no
way that I would be able to buy
everything I need to make this at home.
But what if I had $46? Because that's
what I actually spent on these three
different Cava bowls. So, in this video,
I have two big questions. First, how
many Cava style bowls can I make with
just a $46 grocery budget? and two, how
much time does this really take compared
to buying them? So, I'm going to keep
track of all the monetary and time
related costs such as driving and
ordering Cava versus doing a grocery
trip, picking it up versus the prep
work, the cooking, and the cleaning. And
by the end of this video, I hope to give
you a transparent comparison between
cooking at home versus ordering out. And
of course, we'll be ending the video
with a sideby-side taste test. So, let's
break it down. So, to start, I had to
actually order some Cabba. And my
closest one happens to be an 18-minute
drive away, but since I went around 2:00
p.m., the line was basically empty. I
flew through, ordered three different
bowls, and was back out the door in 2
minutes. Then I drove the 18 minutes
back home and unpacked everything. And I
ended up getting three bowls that I'm
going to break down. So the chicken and
rice bowl was $1.35.
The steak and harissa bowl was $14.85,
and the spicy lamb and avocado bowl was
$16.25.
And with tax, this brought the total to
$45.95.
Now, I probably won't have enough money
to get groceries for all three
variations. So, what I'm going to do is
taste test all three and then figure out
the two best ones that I want to
recreate at home. Okay, so let's start
moving down the line. Each one of these
came with a slightly different sauce.
So, let's start with our chicken rice
over here.
Chicken itself is nicely seasoned.
Definitely chicken thighs. Little sweet,
nice and salty, too. Got hummus, that
whipped feta underneath.
I forgot I was going to try to weigh
each bowl before I started just to see
what I'm working with. 440 there. But
yeah, the chicken rice bowl, very solid.
Um, definitely a good option. Let's now
move to the lamb and meatball. And I'll
weigh this guy. 650.
Like 24 g meatballs. And we got what,
four meatballs. So around 100 g of lamb
there.
Decently spicy. Pretty good.
Kind of a different texture than like
the ground lamb that I would be used to.
So, the lamb is really solid. Um, I like
lamb. I like meatballs. Spicy lamb
meatballs. Great. Definitely going to be
making a version of this one. And then
we'll see between chicken and steak. But
yeah, very solid. Um, let's move to the
last one here.
580 gram on this guy.
And then
try the steak.
Okay, so the steak is good, too. And all
in all, all of these are quite good. I
definitely want to make lamb. I don't
think I'll have budget for a steak, so I
think I will probably go with chicken.
We kind of got to go see what's
available and what's on sale at the
store. And some of the stuff I
definitely already have, like spices. I
may not buy everything. So, let's start
putting the list together. See what I
already have and then see what we need
to go and buy and then I'll meet you
back here and we'll start cooking and
batch prepping our Cava Bowls. Now,
before we head to the grocery store, a
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Mint for sponsoring this video. But now,
let's go get some groceries and see if
we can stay under budget. Okay, so to
start, I had to put together a list of
like 14 items that I needed, which took
me about 3 minutes. And after taking 13
minutes to drive to the grocery store,
I'm ready to shop. My produce items were
arugula and a power greens mix, mini
cucumbers, two avocados, two lemons, and
a container of cherry tomatoes. Then for
the meat, I grabbed a pound of ground
lamb, and a big pack of chicken thighs.
Then to round it out, I bought some
store-bought hummus, feta cheese, pita
bread, ground cumin from the bulk aisle,
some lentils, and plain Greek yogurt.
And now I'm off to the selfch checkckout
and back to the car in about 12 minutes.
Then another 13 minutes back home.
Okay, so I just got back from the
grocery store and I ended up spending
$46.73
for everything you're seeing here. So
technically I went a dollar over budget,
but I think we did pretty well. Over 3
12 lbs of meat. So definitely enough
meat for more than three cava bowls. And
I'll link this full grocery table down
below if you want to check out
everything in detail. But I do find it
interesting to look at the five most
expensive items to kind of see where
your money is going. So the ground lamb
was the big one at $10.99
for just a pound. The chicken thighs
were $82, but for over 2 1/2 lb, which
is a crazy good deal. Then this bag of
red lentils was $3.18.
And honestly, I probably could have just
skipped the lentils. Um, but I kind of
wanted to try them out. Haven't had
lentils in a while. And the black
lentils were good in that one salad, so
why not? Then several other of these
items were all priced at $2.98.
And as you can guess, your proteins are
typically going to take up the biggest
chunk of your grocery bill. That being
said, I am going to be using some
pantry, fridge, and spice staples that I
didn't need to buy, but I'm going to be
adding the itemized cost for those to
that final grocery list. Now, you can
argue whether this is fair or not, but
even this Orisa paste, it's been sitting
in my fridge for like 3 months. I need
to use it up. Didn't need to buy a new
jar. Pickled onions. I made these for a
deep dive video last week. I typically
have this in my fridge anyway. And then,
you know, salt, oil, spices, MSG are all
pretty basic pantry staples. And up to
now, grocery shopping and planning out a
list definitely will take some more
time. So, we need to start making our
time back. And we can do that by
prepping and batching the protein. So,
we're going to start with our spicy lamb
meatballs and some grilled chicken. So,
let's get cooking. For the spicy lamb
meatballs, I grabbed out a bowl and then
tossed in the ground lamb and set it
onto a scale. And into that, I added 4 g
of salt, a 20 g spoonful of herissa, 3 g
of cumin, 2 g of smoked paprika, 2 g of
some dried minced garlic, and a sprinkle
of MSG. I mixed all that together and
instantly we have this really nice
aromatic salty and umami base. And once
everything was combined together, I
formed that mixture into nine meatballs.
And when I tasted the Cabba version,
their meatballs seem to be slightly
flattened. So, I adopted that approach
here. And pressing them down a bit
should help with more even browning and
maybe shave off a bit of cook time. Now,
after forming, I definitely could have
just pan seared these. But to keep it
simple while I prep the chicken, I
tossed them into the broiler on low in
the oven. And in total, it took me about
7 and 1/2 minutes to mix, form, and get
these into the oven. And away we go. And
while those cook, let's prep the
chicken. For the chicken thighs, I
spread them out all on a baking sheet
and then just trimmed off any stray
pieces of like fat or skin that I didn't
want. To season them, I added a big
sprinkle of salt all over the top,
followed by a big sprinkle of that
ground cumin. After that, I added two
whole cloves and a bit more dried minced
garlic that I had ground up in a mortar
and pestle. And I really love what the
clove does here, but you really only
want one or two whole cloves at most.
Any more, and it completely takes over
the aromatics of the dish. Now, to match
the touch of sweetness I got from
cabbage chicken, I added a small drizzle
of some agave syrup and then finished
that with a spritz of oil and mixed
everything together. And just like that,
the chicken was ready to go. Now,
checking back on the meatballs, you can
see that that fat is rendering out and
the tops are starting to brown. So,
while they finish, I did a bit of
cleanup and also started the white rice.
And after about 12 minutes in total, the
meatballs were done, beautifully
browned. So, I pulled them out and slid
the chicken under the broiler, but now
on high. So, to cook the chicken, I let
them go for about 5 to 6 minutes on one
side before flipping them over. And
after about 14 minutes in total, they
were cooked through, juicy, flavorful,
and perfect. And just like that, we have
some protein prep. I weighed out
everything and ended up with about 360 g
from the batch of nine meatballs. And
for the chicken, I chopped those thighs
into bite-sized pieces and then added
them to a container as well, which was
about 800 g worth in total. And this
took me about another 3 and 1/2 minutes
to put everything away. Now, the hardest
part of protein prep is trying not to
eat it all before the other components
are ready. I really wanted to take a big
big old bite of a meatball, but we'll
wait until I have the other components.
But we have a lot of protein here. So, I
think we get like six bowls worth of
chicken, probably three bowls worth of
lamb. And I actually may go ahead and
vacuum seal some of this chicken and
throw it in the freezer cuz I know I'm
not going to eat it all this week. But
now, all that's left to do is make our
sauces and then chop some vegetables.
And then we're ready to make some cava
bowls this week. For the sauces, I
decided to keep things simple and make
two different dressings that you can
store in the fridge. And these only took
me 10 minutes to throw together. First
up is kind of a satsiki style cucumber
dill sauce. And all I did was take a
mini cucumber, slice it into planks,
then into matchixs, then across for a
small dice. I also sliced up two lemons
and then minced a clove of garlic. And
from there, it's really straightforward.
I added two containers of plain yogurt.
These are 5% fat, to a jar and then
squeezed in the lemon juice, added a
drizzle of olive oil from the pantry,
then tossed in the cucumber and garlic.
And after that, I added a generous
sprinkle of dried dill. Fresh is
amazing, of course, but dried dill is
such an underrated one to just have in
your pantry. And just like that, we've
got a simple cucumber dill sauce. It's
going to pair perfectly with those spicy
meatballs. Now, while I was doing the
sauces, I also got some of those lentils
boiling. Just trying to batch task
wherever I can. And next up is the herby
vinegrett. To another jar, I squeezed
the other half of the lemon. Added a
splash of vinegar and then fill the jar
with about three parts of oil. Give that
a quick blitz. Then I seasoned with
dried oregano, some garlic powder, a
zitar mix, and black pepper. And this
one can just live in your fridge. And
then you shake it up right before you're
ready to make your cava bowl. Okay, so
now that the sauces and the proteins are
prepped, all we got to do are chop up
some vegetables, assemble the bowls, and
take a look at the final numbers. So all
coughables essentially follow the same
five component framework. And first is
the base which is typically greens grain
or mix of the two. For the lamb bowl I
use the power greens mix and the red
lentils. Then for the chicken and rice
bowl I use some rice and arugula on the
side. Second we have the seasoned
protein which brings that savoriness and
substance. And obviously we have the
spicy lamb meatballs for one and that
chicken for the other which you can heat
up in the microwave or crisp it on the
stove like I did. Third, we have the
vegetables, which can be fresh, cooked,
or pickled to help give you contrast,
color, and texture. I use cherry
tomatoes, pickled onions, and a
beautifully sliced avocado for that lamb
bowl. Then cucumbers, tomato, and some
freshly sliced shallot for the chicken
bowl. The fourth component are what I
like to call crunchies, creamies, chewy,
or salty things like feta, hummus, pita
bread, or chips. These are the little
things that keep each bite interesting.
Then the last component, we have the
dressing. So for the lamb, I added a big
spoonful of the cucumber dill. And the
chicken bowl, I drizzled that herby
vinegrett over the entire thing. And in
just 3 to four minutes, that is how
simple it is to assemble these bowls and
have something delicious. Now, let's
look at the numbers. So, in total, I'll
be able to make nine different style
bowls with the groceries, which were
$46.73,
but I'm going to add another $4 or so
for the itemized cost. And this brings
our per unit cost for the homemade bowl
to roughly $555,
which if we're using the average cost of
the Cabba is about 64% cheaper per bowl.
Now, obviously, we have to factor in the
time, and the grocery store run and
cooking at home will obviously always
take more upfront time. But now, what's
great about prepping the protein and
bases is that you can make these
fiveminute variations of the bowls all
throughout the week. So, if you compare
that to going out three or four times a
week, you'll quickly spend a similar
amount of time. Not to mention, it's fun
to experiment and create your own
versions at home. So, let's do a final
taste test between Cabba's spicy lamb
bowl and my spicy lamb bowl. Okay, I am
starving. So, let's get right into these
and compare them. All right.
Obviously, a solid option. Like we said,
range of textures, flavors, and if you
can really think about kind of textures,
taste, aromomas, flavors when you're
putting together salads, this is one of
the best ways to like start
understanding why foods taste good and
how you can make really good versions of
kind of bowls and salads at home. So,
let's dive into mine. So, I'm going to
go plain um we'll go plain meatball
first.
Yeah, my meatballs more heavy-handed
with the harissa and then mine was an
extra spicy harissa, which I really
like. So for me, like I made this
exactly how I would want my meatballs.
They probably can't make these that
spicy just because they're serving for a
mass amount of people and if they were
too spicy, then you know, people would
need it versus when you're at home, you
can customize it exactly how you want.
So this is what I'm after. A little bit
of spiciness. And then that's going to
pair super well with this dill sauce.
Um,
we've got our hummus in there, the
vegetables, little bit of pa.
And that was another thing, too, like
you could just make the meat and make
little pas instead of bowls. Like you
can change the form factor. Um, I could
have added rice to this one. I kind of
made the rice for the chicken one. Um,
but all really good options.
Okay, so both of these are great
options. Um, I definitely like my
meatballs better. I will say the the
vegetables are really nice in this. They
definitely season them with salt and
dress them with some oil, too. So, that
feels a little bit more luxurious when
you get to the vegetables in here. But
um as far as everything else, I love the
lentils and kind of the addition of that
makes it feel a little bit heartier um
and can make the meat go a little bit
further if you're trying to save some
money by tossing in some you know extra
lentils with your greens or your rice or
whatever you have it. Um but ultimately
hopefully you guys can see like you know
pretty fair comparison between the both.
Like you're definitely going to save
money over time um if you kind of
especially if you batch and prep a lot
of that protein ahead of time. You can
turn it into salads, you can turn it
into rice bowls, you can turn it into
wraps and things of that nature, you can
freeze it and throw it in the freezer.
Um, versus if you always go out and buy,
you're kind of just starting from
scratch over and over and over again.
Um, that being said, Cabba is still a
good option. Um, definitely if you're in
a pinch, like I mean this is this is a
great thing to pick up. But anyway,
hopefully you guys have enjoyed the
video and like this breakdown. Um, if
you want to see some more videos like
this, just let me know down in the
comments. But that is going to wrap it
up for me in this one. I will catch you
all in the next one. Peace y'all.