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

UpEarly

I can make better meals - both cheaper and faster - on my own. I like some of the recipe ideas from Hello Fresh and Blue Apron, but that's about it.

I also dislike all the packaging - bottles, bags, boxes, and refrigeration packs. All that extra packaging is bad for the environment.

MarylandRose

seltzermint555 wrote: »

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.

We used BA or HelloFresh most weeks during a span of a year to a year and a half while we were both working full time+ and in grad school at night. It cost less than eating out, and took a lot of work off our plates. For three nights/week, no one had to:
-Decide what to eat for dinner
-Consolidate ingredient lists into a shopping list
-Check that shopping list against what is already in the house
-Decide how to fit a trip to the grocery store in (for me that would mean going shopping at 10 pm after my class ended, getting home at midnight, and getting up at 0530 am to repeat my day)
-Actually go grocery shopping

The relief was palpable. It was absolutely worth it to us to outsource the decisions to someone else - just like it's worth it to me to outsource my 401(k) investment decisions to an outside company, or others outsource cleaning to a maid service or changing their car's oil to a dealership. I paid for food and recipes, but I also bought myself more free time (actually homework time, let's be honest) and less stress.

We are happy and adventurous cooks, and BA in particular helped us find even more adventurous recipes to add to our collection. We weren't bothered by the prep or the prep time...it often took longer than advertised but we find that to be true for most recipes anyway.
Where we live, almost all the packaging was recyclable. The only things that we couldn't recycle were the same things we can't recycle from normal grocery shopping (some plastic wrapping (ie around ground beef)). Those boxes were our favorite week-worth-of-paper-recycling containers ever.

And seconding you on the graze - tried two boxes, tiny, tiny portions and also not fully recyclable.

gentlygently

I get a weekly veg box (with some dairy and eggs/bread) and every 2 months or so I stuff my cupboards and freezer - with everything from quick and easy (pasta, jar of pesto sauce - just add some peas and a salad ), to lazy treat (frozen breaded fish and oven chips) to proper food (meat joints, minced meat, fish steaks). Minimal shopping effort, hardly any waste, lots of healthy veg and food options , and a big range of food stuff in the house to sort my energy levels and desire to cook. Works really well for us...

Cbean08

For those concerned about the amount of packaging, how is it any different than how things are sent and purchased from the grocery store? Isn't produce sent to the grocery store in cardboard boxing with wrap around it to keep it on the crate? Spices are sold in little bags or jars. Herbs come in plastic containers. Many use the provided plastic bags to put their produce in. Meat comes wrapped in plastic and on styrofoam trays or frozen in heavy duty plastic. Either way, there is packaging involved. It just depends on how much of it the grocer removes before putting the food out to display and sell.

Noreenmarie1234

I didn't like them because I like to do what I want when I cook. I've never actually followed a recipe (except for baking) lol. I ended up making up my own dish an/or using the ingredients for different dishes so it was pointless for me.

ljmorgi

It irks me that there are options/companies that cater to food preference fads like paleo, but if you have an actual medical dietary need (low-sodium, in my case) you're SOL.

Packerjohn

ljmorgi wrote: »

It irks me that there are options/companies that cater to food preference fads like paleo, but if you have an actual medical dietary need (low-sodium, in my case) you're SOL.

Or you have a business opportunity. Talk to the guys and girls on Shark Tank.

Francl27

Budget-wise, I do wonder if it would be cheaper than buying things for one recipe, like someone said, then end up trashing what's left because you're not using it again.

Also worried about the calorie count and yes, the sodium. I've been tempted to try it when I had some offers, but I don't really care about 800 calorie entrees, and my husband has to watch his sodium.

For people who mentioned Graze, it was worth it to me when they started, but they increased the price eventually and I gave up on it (and the stuff was too good and I would spend too many calories on it, lol). Also, things were always 10 to 20% heavier than what the package said (hello 300 calories flapjacks).

ashirley695

We order boxes with three kits each week. I've tried maybe 4 brands of kits. Currently I alternate between Home Chef and Marley Spoon, have a coupon waiting for BA. We did not care for HelloFresh, as their meals are complicated and very unhealthy (but tasty! And big portions) and I hated that you had to choose basically adult or kid plan with different recipes on each. Home Chef was my starter box 2 years ago, and now I can see how they often lack in variety, often smaller portions, etc and some meals feel incomplete to me.
Why do I order? I'm a full time student, mother of 3, my partner works nights so usually isn't available for weeknight dinner prep. I HATE HATE HATE cooking. I would rather scrub the toilet for the length of time an average dinner takes to cook. I go to stupid lengths to avoid cooking, it's likely a diagnosable disorder at this point. A 2 person serving meal kit will, with rare exceptions that I add another side like fruit or a roll, feed myself and the three kids together. Most meal kits are simple enough that I can help or very minimally guide my 10 year old in prepping as I work on chores, little kid's homework, my homework, etc. Big guy earns video game time for helping and I get out of cooking!
In terms of waste, this was my selling point. Since I am damn awful at cooking I am also awful at planning. 7 days minus 3 dinners helps a ton. I hate leftovers, won't eat them, so to cook with portions left over is only a waste, I cook to exact portions only after years of experimentation with leftovers. Go ahead, be shocked lol. Packaging is often recyclable from these kits, which we do. In terms of ingredients, yes it's cheaper to buy all ingredients in normal store packaging size and then use over a few meals, but since I'm rotten at cooking and planning, this doesn't happen in my house. One open pack of meat or special herb, or fancy sauce, etc typically goes bad before we reach for it a second time. Meal kits eliminate food waste for my house, but of course not in better organized homes.
My biggest gripe on meal kits is that it can be challenging to fully comprehend ingredients before ordering. I'm on an allergy elimination diet, so often I get let down by our delivery even when I prescreen the order. It still feeds kids and my portion can go in Mister's lunch box but still, disappointing sometimes.

ahamm002

fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »

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...

I love those services. Yes, they aren't easy to make and I'm not an inexperienced cook. But they save SO MUCH TIME and energy because meal planning and grocery shopping for a family is a massive endeavor. I also think they save money too because I used to have so much waste whenever I made a recipe. There would always be like ten bottles of barbecue sauce, etc., sitting in my fridge as left overs which would usually eventually expire and be thrown out.

Just cooking for yourself is tough because cooking (and clean up afterward) takes a lot of time. So unless you enjoy it it's hard to keep it up. If you're only getting food for yourself, you might consider a service that actually makes the food for you like Territory.

MegaMooseEsq

ashirley695 wrote: »

We order boxes with three kits each week. I've tried maybe 4 brands of kits. Currently I alternate between Home Chef and Marley Spoon, have a coupon waiting for BA. We did not care for HelloFresh, as their meals are complicated and very unhealthy (but tasty! And big portions) and I hated that you had to choose basically adult or kid plan with different recipes on each. Home Chef was my starter box 2 years ago, and now I can see how they often lack in variety, often smaller portions, etc and some meals feel incomplete to me.
Why do I order? I'm a full time student, mother of 3, my partner works nights so usually isn't available for weeknight dinner prep. I HATE HATE HATE cooking. I would rather scrub the toilet for the length of time an average dinner takes to cook. I go to stupid lengths to avoid cooking, it's likely a diagnosable disorder at this point. A 2 person serving meal kit will, with rare exceptions that I add another side like fruit or a roll, feed myself and the three kids together. Most meal kits are simple enough that I can help or very minimally guide my 10 year old in prepping as I work on chores, little kid's homework, my homework, etc. Big guy earns video game time for helping and I get out of cooking!
In terms of waste, this was my selling point. Since I am damn awful at cooking I am also awful at planning. 7 days minus 3 dinners helps a ton. I hate leftovers, won't eat them, so to cook with portions left over is only a waste, I cook to exact portions only after years of experimentation with leftovers. Go ahead, be shocked lol. Packaging is often recyclable from these kits, which we do. In terms of ingredients, yes it's cheaper to buy all ingredients in normal store packaging size and then use over a few meals, but since I'm rotten at cooking and planning, this doesn't happen in my house. One open pack of meat or special herb, or fancy sauce, etc typically goes bad before we reach for it a second time. Meal kits eliminate food waste for my house, but of course not in better organized homes.
My biggest gripe on meal kits is that it can be challenging to fully comprehend ingredients before ordering. I'm on an allergy elimination diet, so often I get let down by our delivery even when I prescreen the order. It still feeds kids and my portion can go in Mister's lunch box but still, disappointing sometimes.

Just a heads up, but if you found the Hello Fresh recipies to be complicated, you will most likely find Blue Apron to be even worse - we alternate between those two and my husband often switches to Blue Apron when he's bored with Hello Fresh and wants more of a challenge. I would also think that Blue Apron would be less kid friendly than Hello Fresh - I know as an adult I sometimes find it a little heavy on the kale and grains I've never heard of.

Lounmoun

I've looked at them a few times but they are too expensive for my family. My dd is picky and would not want to try new things so it would be for just dh and myself. I like menu planning, shopping and cooking for myself. We do not eat out much so it is comparing homemade food to homemade food with pricier ingredients. As another poster said I would not buy an ingredient for just one recipe so I wouldn't be creating less waste.

I think these services may be good for people who are intimidated by meal planning and cooking and have money to throw at it.

deannalfisher

i used homechef for a while a couple of years ago, but ultimately it became too expensive. yes, if you individually price out the food - it can be cheaper than buying stuff that may go rotten prior to using again and i liked the variety; but i didn' thave the hour+ to prep/cook each night which many of those recipes required

lucerorojo

Graze was ridiculous. I tried that for a couple of weeks when it first came out. Snacks are high calorie and most weren't organic.But they were good so I'd eat more than one portion and that defeats the purpose. Too expensive too.

migratorius

I've been using Blue Apron intermittently for more than a year and I love it. I'm cooking just for me and often "didn't bother" to cook a good meal and/or would get in a rut--or try to eat so healthy that it wasn't particularly tasty and I'd end up eating out instead. I find almost every BA meal both very tasty and interesting--I've learned some new techniques and ingredients, but more importantly, I really look forward to food I'm cooking myself and don't buy groceries that then go to waste.

I've also learned better portion control. I typically add some veggies and then each "2-person" meal gives me one dinner plus 2-3 lunches that I bring to work, which brings the calories easily within my goals. I've saved both time and money (especially when I don't buy food out for lunch). I also get a raw veggie box every other week through Imperfect, which is cheap and easy--and between these, almost never go to the store anymore except to pick up occasional eggs and dairy. I know there are cheaper ways to eat, but as a single eater, BA has been key to getting me actually cooking and I plan to use it indefinitely!

svel713

I remember seeing ads for these services and how they could be "as cheap as $9.99 per meal."

So 3 meals a day times 30 days is $899.10 per monthl for one person.

I tally all of my receipts and divide them by categories into an excel sheet and I average $150/mo across all consumed food.

I assume the kits are targeted to the wealthy and not me.

goatg

mrsnattybulking wrote: »

It may be because I'm getting old but going grocery shopping is one of my only joys lol

Seriously. It’s one of the highlights of my week.

th1nr

I also receive a lot of spam for these services... If I ate meat maybe I'd try it but the vegetarian options don't seem to be worth it. It looks like they charge you like $10 just for some cous-cous and veggies (and no protein)? For that price I would just get take out and not have to worry about preparation.

However, I do occasionally get my groceries delivered. I live in a city without a car so it's nice to have like a 10 lb bag of potatoes and 5lbs of rice delivered and not have to carry it. While I enjoy grocery shopping, I don't like trying to find all the ingredients for a recipe because you get to the checkout aisle and you realize you still need crushed tomatoes which are on the other side of the store and you have to look through three aisles to find cumin because it's not with the rest of the spices it's with the Spanish food...
My point is that if you're thinking about these services maybe try getting your groceries delivered instead? It's the same convenience. For me it's like $10 in delivery fees and I only get it every few months to stock up on cooking ingredients

no1racefan1

DH and I have been using Home Chef for about a year and a half and we love it. We were getting a box every week but it just got way too expensive, so now it's more like once a month. I like to cook but I am really uncreative in the kitchen. I also hate meal planning and am not very good at it. Most of the time when we don't have Home Chef coming, we just 'wing it'. DH is better at that than me and luckily he likes to cook.

Even though it's obviously more expensive than just a regular dinner we'd buy at the grocery store, for us it's the whole experience that makes it worth it. We usually make our HC meals together and it feels like date night. It's fun. Also, most of their packaging is recyclable.

I find HC portions to be plentiful; we even tend to have leftovers from some of the recipes. The downside is that most of them seem to be higher calorie than what I would like in a meal--600-900 calories seems to be average.

lucerorojo

svel713 wrote: »

I remember seeing ads for these services and how they could be "as cheap as $9.99 per meal."

So 3 meals a day times 30 days is $899.10 per monthl for one person.

I tally all of my receipts and divide them by categories into an excel sheet and I average $150/mo across all consumed food.

I assume the kits are targeted to the wealthy and not me.

The kits are not for people on a budget. However, they are only for dinner or lunches. Most do not include breakfasts. I like Blue Apron and have also used Sunbasket. I used to eat mostly take-out (including breakfast) at my previous job. I just did not have time to cook. A lunch out would run about $12-15, and a dinner the same or more. Breakfast would be about $7.00 So in a day I spent about $30 on food. That's $900 for eating out on the cheap--some restaurants would be more expensive, $20 a meal. However, I found Blue Apron cheaper since often I would have extra--rather than 2 meals, it would be 3 or 4.

Gisel2015

I don't like to cook (but I do it all the time), or follow recipes in details. It seems that Blue Apron provides all the ingredients and the person has to do the chopping and follow the recipe in detail. Not for me; I prefer to do my own thing, choose the ingredient, and the simpler the better. Besides, since I am retired I have time to go food shopping and do my own cooking. When I don't feel like cooking, my husband and I go out. Problem solved

FitPhillygirl

I don’t hate them, but I also would never use them unless I was unable to ever get to the store. My husband and I usually go food shopping together after our big family dinner on Sunday.

jwilk241

I've ordered 3 boxes from Hello Fresh and it's been hit or miss. My first box was good and I loved it. However, ym next 2 had spoiled ingredients or bad quality meat (the steak was so chewy you couldn't eat it and the chicken pack had a hole in it). They offered me a discount on my next box both times and I don't think that's acceptable for repeatedly bad boxes. The recipes were great and I held onto the recipe cards and use several of them quite frequently but I won't be ordering again.

RachelElser

I like to try new recipes and not have to buy a WHOLE bottle of a new sauce because if I don't like it I don't waste it. But I only buy one box every couple months, just to shake things up.

My friend has NO IDEA how to cook. Her mom never cooked so she never learned, so Hello Fresh is great for her because it give step by step directions, all timed out so everything is ready at the right time.

gaelicstorm

I cook mainly from scratch on my own and plan my grocery shopping weekly by what is on sale. Doing it this way I'm able to feed a family of 4 in a medium cost-of-living area for about $550/month. I think the boxes sound like a fun addition to the menu if you are a couple or a single person but for our family, no way. Not only is it too expensive but I often have to customize meals for my younger son (he is autistic).