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

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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).