If you are too busy to grocery shop, but still want to cook a healthy meal for the family, have you considered trying a home delivery service? There are a number of companies that will put the ingredients together for you and include the recipe to create a healthy meal. On this page I compare Blue Apron, Plated, and Hello Fresh. All three offer the same type of service, and all ship within the United States only.
This page is written as much for myself as for the reader, because I find the concept appealing. In this super fast-paced world, grocery shopping is an unappealing task. Between finding a good store to purchase quality fish, meat and produce, then driving there and back, unpacking, freezing, storing and organizing the food, shopping is a giant chore.
My first thought is that having a food delivery service would be too expensive to use. So I want to find out the cost, the quality of ingredients, and the products available. Is this a feasible idea for a family or a single person or both?
On this page I'll compare three services that basically supply the groceries needed to cook the meals. The upside is there is no meal planning or shopping, but cooking is required.
PLEASE NOTE: The photos shown are not the meals you can buy. None of the food photos on this page are from the home delivery websites. They were chosen to enhance the page, and all images came from Pixabay.
Have you used one of these meal kit services? Please tell us about your experience.
I would probably not use any of these delivery sites for the reason you mention. I also have to be very careful of sodium due to health issues. And I am cutting out bread & pasta as much as possible. I have made some of the recipes offered at Blue Apron, but I adjust them where needed. It sure would be nice to get the break from cooking a few times a week.
Probably the better solution for us is to make our own food, in bulk, from healthy ingredients and freeze some for future use. That is what I am doing these days.
We have used Magic Kitchen, which sends fully prepared frozen dinners. We appreciate their diabetic friendly and low sodium options, as my husband's diet is highly restricted die to health issues. Using their dinners a couple of times a week gives me a break from preparing meals from scratch. Hoping you'd found me another source, I checked Blue Apron, and couldn't find nutrition information, which rules them out for us. Oh, well.
I agree Mira that this service fills a need that many people have been looking for. If the meat, fish and produce is high quality, as they claim, the price is not all that high in some cases.
I'm wondering if these meals are large enough to fill a man's stomach.
I found this article very interesting. I think it's a great business idea to have these meal kits, and good for society too, because it encourages people to cook. Sometimes shopping for groceries can be difficult, especially if you don't have a car. Also, remembering to make lists and remembering to pick up the list can sometimes be a hassle when you feel you have more important things to do.
Price is a little high and there's the drawback of all that packaging, but as you and Henry said, this is a practical solution for many. I also think there are many people who dine out all the time (not only at good restaurants but also at cafeterias--some companies have their own), so this is a good way to get them started as cooks :)
I've read comments saying that it's a good way to learn to cook. The recipe cards look beautiful and the directions are easy to follow from the ones I've seen.
Good for him. A lot of men don't think they need to know how to cook.
One of my husband's friends is doing this to learn how to cook a meal, instead of eating out. He keeps the recipe cards and each week cooks a meal after going shopping. This might not sound like much, but he used to eat out for all his lunches and dinners. (He finds shopping to be the most difficult tasks.)
I think so too. You are not locked in to more than a few meals, just in case it doesn't work out.
This is a very practical solution for many people.