Blue Apron or Hello Fresh

2

Replies

  • pacingoamy
    pacingoamy Posts: 78 Member
    Regarding the waste, I did want to point out that a many local nonprofits can reuse these items (meals on wheels, pet organizations, churches, etc.) I was surprised to find how many of these organizations are LOOKING for refuse from these groups. Just check around :-)
  • DaniG_1987
    DaniG_1987 Posts: 40 Member
    We LOVE Hello Fresh. I did a little research and on average the HF meals are a little bit healthier than the Blue Apron (though the Blue Apron meals are a bit fancier--which is also fun). HF makes my life so much easier, we are actually saving money (and calories) using the service. We do 4 meals a week and it is nice to a) not have to think about 4 meals out of the week when grocery shopping b) I know a rough estimate of the calories I am going to consume for dinner for the 4 days so it makes planning out the rest of the food and staying within my calorie lane each day that much easier. We have also started looking at old HF recipes and making them on some of our non-HF nights. We have had several issues of meat packaging opening during delivery but HF is always quick to compensate for the issue.

    If anyone wants I have a couple of free box coupons I can send out or if I run out of those I have a coupon code for 40% off that is good for your first box.
  • DaniG_1987
    DaniG_1987 Posts: 40 Member
    mrstrod1 wrote: »
    I have tried Blue Apron, Home Chef and Hello Fresh, as well as Marley Spoon (Martha Stewart's version). They are all pretty similar but I have stayed with Hello Fresh because I have liked the meals a little better overall. Marley Spoon was my least favorite - surprisingly the food was super bland and I didn't really care for any of the recipes I tried. I find it a good way to incorporate meal planning and portion control with a lot of good variety. I've gone back to several recipes and make them on my own too.

    My biggest issue with all of them is packaging waste. I feel like Hello Fresh does the best with minimizing it, but you still have the cold packs that can't be recycled (they can be reused, but who needs that many cold packs). If it weren't for that, I would probably get a box every week but as it is, I only do it occasionally.

    I was a little put off by the shipping waste too - I mean I am not a real eco-girl but i do try to not create excess waste where I can. I have been wanted to try some of the meal programs for a while so I did a bunch of research and I found a company that answers the waste problem!

    Terra's Kitchen - seems to have very easy (many too easy) recipes, all foods are pre-cut and measured so that all the prep-work is done - you just cook. ley1nn0lcc5t.jpg They send your order in this reusable shipping box which they have picked up the day after your order arrives - The boxes can be used at least 100 times! I haven't gotten my first box yet, it is arriving Thursday but when I do I will post up my thoughts and impressions.

    Meanwhile I'll be cooking a HelloFresh meal for dinner tonight. :smile:

    I looked into this with Hello Fresh and according to their website almost everything is recyclable. The only packaging we don't recycle is the containers that hold the meat and the containers that hold honey or stock. You can even save the shiny material thing and mail them in for money off a future box. Our recycling company takes the ice packs after you drain them.
  • DaniG_1987
    DaniG_1987 Posts: 40 Member
    I have tried Blue Apron, Home Chef and Hello Fresh, as well as Marley Spoon (Martha Stewart's version). They are all pretty similar but I have stayed with Hello Fresh because I have liked the meals a little better overall. Marley Spoon was my least favorite - surprisingly the food was super bland and I didn't really care for any of the recipes I tried. I find it a good way to incorporate meal planning and portion control with a lot of good variety. I've gone back to several recipes and make them on my own too.

    My biggest issue with all of them is packaging waste. I feel like Hello Fresh does the best with minimizing it, but you still have the cold packs that can't be recycled (they can be reused, but who needs that many cold packs). If it weren't for that, I would probably get a box every week but as it is, I only do it occasionally.

    They sent out an insert a couple of weeks ago (I think) about how to recycle their packaging. Supposedly the ice packs are safe to be cut open and the liquid/gel flushed and then the plastic recycled. I'm too worried about what it'll actually do though to attempt it. The rest of the 'recycle your shipping' was pretty common sense. Just the ice packs part seems a bit frightening.

    Edit: Here's the web version of the recycle your package. The insert had a bit more to it (covering the summer packaging and winter packaging). https://www.hellofresh.com/recycling/

    We cut open our frozen packages and let them go down the drain over night. We have been doing this for several months and have not had any issues with plumbing. We do have to run a little water every once in awhile and stir up the goop to help it go down but I read that is was just plant material, so should be fine for the drain.
  • daj150
    daj150 Posts: 815 Member
    Blue Apron is great. They are all pretty great. For the most part, Blue Apron's selections have always been great for us, so we stayed with Blue Apron. In regards to all of the recycling talk, Blue Apron has ways for you to recycle all of the packaging. My only issues I ever really had were not with Blue Apron or the other companies, but rather our mail carrier leaving the boxes in the scorching sun all day and ruining the food by the time I got home from work, when we had a large sign that said leave by garage, which was almost full shade all day.
  • Babbs1977
    Babbs1977 Posts: 42 Member
    DaniG_1987 wrote: »
    We LOVE Hello Fresh. I did a little research and on average the HF meals are a little bit healthier than the Blue Apron (though the Blue Apron meals are a bit fancier--which is also fun). HF makes my life so much easier, we are actually saving money (and calories) using the service. We do 4 meals a week and it is nice to a) not have to think about 4 meals out of the week when grocery shopping b) I know a rough estimate of the calories I am going to consume for dinner for the 4 days so it makes planning out the rest of the food and staying within my calorie lane each day that much easier. We have also started looking at old HF recipes and making them on some of our non-HF nights. We have had several issues of meat packaging opening during delivery but HF is always quick to compensate for the issue.

    If anyone wants I have a couple of free box coupons I can send out or if I run out of those I have a coupon code for 40% off that is good for your first box.

    I'd love a code if you don't mind. :)
  • Jinsenj
    Jinsenj Posts: 27 Member
    I use home chef and love it. Sooooooo good
  • moesis
    moesis Posts: 874 Member
    When we used to get Hello Fresh, we found the meals to be hit and miss. After looking back on it, My family probably only enjoyed 30-40% of the meals that were sent to us. With that much food waste, HF was too expensive for us to continue. Not to mention their customer service was horrible to deal with when they missed an ingredient.

    Minnesota Homegrown was a much better option, the company owner drives around every other week, drops off your new meals and picks the reusable packaging. A big plus for me was that all the ingredients were locally sourced and organic. The big downfall is for everyone else is that it is only available to those in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN metro area.
  • MayaSPapaya
    MayaSPapaya Posts: 735 Member
    I just am trying Hello Fresh this week, but have had lots of Blue Apron in the past (my dad has a subscription). Both are tasty, but Blue Apron's dishes are "fancier" and more different, like I find they have me making things I would never have thought of making whereas Hello Fresh is more basic dishes. So i prefer Blue Apron, but both are very good. It just depends on what you're looking for.
  • king_laceyii
    king_laceyii Posts: 28 Member
    I have used blue apron before here my quick synopsis:

    Pro:
    - You get to eat and cook foods you normally wouldn't
    - Everything comes portioned and the recipe is easy to follow
    - The food is really good

    Con:
    - The time it takes to prepare each meal is grossly underestimated for the recipes
    - Sometimes you are forced to get a meal you didn't want to necessarily try
    - Can get pricey after a while
  • redversustheblue
    redversustheblue Posts: 1,216 Member
    I use Home Chef on and off too and I quite like it. I love that you can choose from a variety of like, nine different meals every week and can choose any one that you want. The variety makes it worth it, although sometimes the meals are a bit high calorie for me -- but a lot of times I'm able to get 3 meals instead of the typical 2 out of one recipe (I live alone so this is great). It is a bit expensive though, so I just get a box 1, maybe 2, times a month.
  • dw920
    dw920 Posts: 41 Member
    My mom sent us a free week of Blue Apron, and then we stuck with it for a couple of months. Only have it paused now since I'm doing a Whole45 until the beginning of April. We really like it. Every meal has been really good and I love trying new things. I like that I can see ahead of time what's on the meal plan and can skip weeks that don't really have anything we would like. The meals do typically take longer than they say, but I don't really mind. I don't love that the two-person plan doesn't often leave leftovers, as that is what my husband and I usually eat for lunch next day, so on BA weeks I try to have frozen soups/chilis or sandwiches available. For us, BA meals are like date nights at home, and we like to work it into our budget a few times a month.
  • kikicooks
    kikicooks Posts: 1,079 Member
    Stella3838 wrote: »
    I have tried both, but ended up with Home Chef for about 6 months while the budget allowed. I thought they had better meal choices.

    I agree, I like Home Chef better of the 3. Plated and Terra's are really great too but more expensive. I think Plated has had my favorite meals. What I dislike about Blue Apron the most is that if there are 6 options to choose one week, you might not get your favorite 3, picking one sometimes makes the option of one of the others go away. There are no other meal delivery services that I've used that do that.
  • Bbeliever215
    Bbeliever215 Posts: 234 Member
    I just signed up for a free meal from Green Chef so I am excited! I usually lurk and on another post a member suggested this brand and how to get a free meal and free shipping. I will update once I receive my order. Hopefully it's enough to feed a family of four.
  • FreyasRebirth
    FreyasRebirth Posts: 514 Member
    edited March 2017
    Another option might be Shipt. Locally, we get our food through Meijer. Organic is totally an option and you can get a delivery in as little as 2 hours I believe. It isn’t meals but I've always used online recipes and ordered what I didn't already have.

    http://share.shipt.com/h6CVj ($10 off and 2 week trial)
  • FreyasRebirth
    FreyasRebirth Posts: 514 Member
    A side note, like $9 per serving for those two? Whoa.
  • smelius22
    smelius22 Posts: 334 Member
    I've been on Blue Apron for the past 6 or 7 months. My husband and I love it. You can see what is coming up in the next few weeks, change menus, skip deliveries. You can also print out shipping labels and ship their packaging back to them (for free) to reduce waste. We love that they give you literally every ingredient you need and it's all pre-measured.
  • shonna77
    shonna77 Posts: 4 Member
    We have used Blue Apron and loved it. It was too high in calories though for us. I did switch out items (ex. cauliflower rice for regular rice) and not use the olive oil they want you to cook in. We tried Chef'd which has a weight watchers option. While the food was good, it was overpriced for what you get. Because it is low calorie it was simple stuff - chicken and veggies for example. Then we tried to do it on our own and we find that the delivery service actually saves us money so we signed up with Terra's Kitchen and this is perfect for us.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    I found Blue Apron considerably more time consuming than Home Chef, both good. For example, if a recipe calls for corn, Blue Apron sends an ear of corn, whereas Home Chef sends it already off the cob. More low calorie options with Home Chef. Ultimately I got tired of both. But FYI, the recipes and nutrition info for every meal are online.
  • kikicooks
    kikicooks Posts: 1,079 Member
    nowine4me wrote: »
    I found Blue Apron considerably more time consuming than Home Chef, both good. For example, if a recipe calls for corn, Blue Apron sends an ear of corn, whereas Home Chef sends it already off the cob. More low calorie options with Home Chef. Ultimately I got tired of both. But FYI, the recipes and nutrition info for every meal are online.

    This is one of the reason's I love Terra's Kitchen. Everything is chopped up for you and ton of meal options. Just wish it was cheaper, but I understand you pay for better quality and convenience so I only do it occasionally to try new things.