Am I the only one who hates these food delivery services?

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fastfoodietofitcutie
fastfoodietofitcutie Posts: 522 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I get so many coupons for Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Home Chef, etc.. I decided to try it. I'm not a cook. I decided to order Hello Fresh for the week. I found the portion sizes to be a bit on the small side (3oz of green beans, I need more) and they were very time consuming to make. I was under the impression everything was "prepped" and you just had to throw it together but it's the complete opposite. You have to peel, chop, dice, etc.. I spent a good amount of time de-stemming parsley for one recipe. Too complicated for me but at least now I know what all the fuss is about...
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  • AmandaDanceMore
    AmandaDanceMore Posts: 298 Member
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    I tried one for a few weeks, and while I liked the recipes (I do enjoy cooking) I found them to be VERY expensive for one person. And, yes, time consuming. And trash making. So much packaging! I prefer to just cook and experiment or use recipes I find. I’m not wild about grocery shopping but I’m perfectly happy to do it.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Besides, with some planning bulk cooking makes many meals. Not scratch cooking every night! Chilli and stew is even better the second night and nobody can beat the price of leftovers.

    I pick a menu based on what is ready in my fridge and freezer, typically based on my chosen protein source and the veggie begging to be used up.

    That’s why I made coleslaw this week.
  • trimsplace5
    trimsplace5 Posts: 1 Member
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    I do Dream Dinners once a month and I really enjoy them. You assemble the meals at their store or you can have them assemble them for you.
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
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    I don't like them because I don't like to cook. But, I don't buy any of those ingredients at the store either. I buy things that are already made. Or I eat out.

    My friend likes them because they take care of the decision making and planning. He doesn't have to decide what to make, what to buy or how to prepare it. He has the time and skill to cook well, but doesn't like the planning and shopping. He orders a couple meals a week so there is something in the house to eat on the nights he doesn't order pizza.
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
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    I got a free Blue Apron box from one of my friends and absolutely loved it. The food was delicious, came with everything required. I also love to cook so it worked out well.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
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    I have a friend who uses one of the services. It's useful for them and their husband because a. neither of them have a whole lot of time to go grocery shopping b. neither of them are terribly adventurous in terms of cooking (eating yes, cooking no). They get 1 meal's worth of ingredients delivered once a week, maybe once every other week.

    I don't think it would be terribly useful for me for a number of reasons. I only cook for one, I'm very confident in my cooking ability, and it's easy for me to get quite a number of different types of ingredients from various parts of the world.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    AmandaDanceMore wrote: »
    I tried one for a few weeks, and while I liked the recipes (I do enjoy cooking) I found them to be VERY expensive for one person. And, yes, time consuming. And trash making. So much packaging! I prefer to just cook and experiment or use recipes I find. I’m not wild about grocery shopping but I’m perfectly happy to do it.

    They compare it to buying everything from scratch, because evidently, you are going to buy a bunch of rosemary and throw out what you don't use for this recipe. Which isn't much different than all the packaging they use.
  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
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    I like them. I've use blue apron and sunbasket. I tried home chef but I didn't like it. If I had more money I'd do it every week. It's much easier for me and cheaper than takeout. I like to cook (used to love it) but I don't have time to go grocery shopping which is also expensive since I live in a city. I don't have a car so it is at least a 4 hour event to get a week's worth of groceries and a nightmare in the winter. I use delivery for groceries sometimes, but uin that case it's not much different from meal delivery in terms of price but also wastes more since I have to purchase a whole thing just for one. If you have a car in a suburb then it is not going to be cost effective or a time saver.
  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
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    fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »
    AmandaDanceMore wrote: »
    I tried one for a few weeks, and while I liked the recipes (I do enjoy cooking) I found them to be VERY expensive for one person. And, yes, time consuming. And trash making. So much packaging! I prefer to just cook and experiment or use recipes I find. I’m not wild about grocery shopping but I’m perfectly happy to do it.

    Yes, I forgot to mention all the packaging and garbage. I just made another dinner tonight and it was okay. The cook time was way off and I had a lot of clean up. I'm searching for the middle ground between fast food/processed food and 100% from scratch whole food.

    Sunbasket has very minimal prep. I found most of their recipes really easy and done in 30 minutes. Much easier than Blue Apron, which has some complicated preparations. BA is more gourmet/ restaurant level meals. Sunbasket is good though. Not like a gourmet restaurant but tasty and quite healthy.
  • fuzzylop72
    fuzzylop72 Posts: 651 Member
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    if there was one out there with decent protein and was vegan (or had vegan options) i'd probably be interested. As it is, though, it's not worth it to me.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
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    I have better things to do with my money
    Peersonally don't believe the lower cost, less time thing.
  • saragd012
    saragd012 Posts: 693 Member
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    I personally really enjoy planning out our meals for the week, and grocery shopping, so these services have never appealed to me. If you plan your week to have overlapping ingredients you can make equally delicious meals without all the waste for a heck of a lot cheaper. I could see how it could be convenient if you're strapped for time, or aren't feeling creative, but even then I have found those free/cheap online meal plans to be plenty sufficient at helping map out a quick shopping list when I'm overbooked on the weekend.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I like grocery shopping, but I've tried them and see the benefits, although it's not for me. I gave free meals to my sister and a friend who is just getting into cooking and they liked it and still use it from time to time. I was sold on trying it from a couple I met during a running trip who loved them.

    I can see how it would be useful if you are in a cooking rut and just want some easy ideas that don't take any effort, and I thought it did cut down on work and was pretty much exactly the time advertised (and I doubled the vegetable element by adding in my own). What prevents me from wanting to use it more (and why I cancelled after trying it) is the garbage issue, and the cost, and that I like to make up my own meals and shop. It did get me a few ideas I have incorporated into my own cooking, though -- although I can't now remember what they were, heh, because they have been incorporated.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    I haven't tried them myself but based on my observations (friends' experiences) it's a mega joke & very overpriced! I'm always wondering who uses and loves the kits because most people I know either already cook pretty adventurously, or they are like my stepsister and are just grossed out by the "exotic" ingredients (she thinks anything outside of steak, chicken, corn, is exotic)

    Something I did try (not meal kits) were the graze snack boxes that were big 4-5 years ago and those were hilariously small portions IMHO! My husband and I split the box in one night and it was just laughable.

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