Meal preparation services experiences?

[W2R]

I like that Chefd has an entire collection of 10 minute meals, that you don't have to subscribe, and that it delivers to every zip code in the country.

If meal costs $26 and is enough for two people, I would save at least half for dinner the next night. To get $40 worth for the free shipping, I'd probably order two different types of meals so for a single person like me that's at least 4 meals. Depending on their portion sizes it might be enough for dinners for the entire week. Personally I would not get bored of the two meals in just one week, and the next week I could order something different. I'd be cooking a total of 20 minutes per week if two types of meals was enough for me. As one who is not fond of spending much time cooking, that sounds pretty good.

I agree it's expensive but I don't travel or buy expensive things, so if I want to do this then why not. Still thinking about it and I need to browse the site some more, check out the nutritional information, and so on.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElizabethT I have eaten and cooked many a Blue Apron meal at my daughter's during the time right after our grandchild was born, and they relied on the service. Pros: The food is very tasty, and someone has done the shopping and measuring for you. Cons: The fairly high cost for pretty minimal work - someone shopped and measured. The biggest con for me is the incredible amount of waste. So much waste - we are talking cardboard galore, plastic, paper, and all for one meal. So personally, I couldn't do it simply due to this. YMMV

This reminds me of a news story I heard a few years ago. One of Hollywoods superstars drove a small hybrid car to the Oscars. He was saying how green he was and against waste etc. A reporter shouted out "what about your 20,000 sq foot house you and the wife live in?" This was in the 17 year stretch I lived in a 440 Sq Ft apt with a dog and 2 other people. I took the bus to work which got infinitely more MPG per passenger than his hybrid car.

[MichaelB]

WADR, let's stick to the thread topic.

[braumeister]

Haven't been interested in trying one of these (I like to cook and also to shop for grocs).

However, we do have a local meal preparation service that I've used innumerable times.

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Hi, I'd like to order a large pizza, please. Oh, hi braumeister. The usual?

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by braumeister Haven't been interested in trying one of these (I like to cook and also to shop for grocs).

Now that is pretty cool! Especially if you independently do all of the meal planning, independently determine which groceries and utensils are needed, reliably keep it all within a reasonable budget, and do all of this plus cook everything to perfection and serve it without complaint or hand-holding (which IMO is really what the complete job is all about). I'm sure you do. I guess I did all of that for about a third of a century but it has grown old, and so have I.

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister However, we do have a local meal preparation service that I've used innumerable times.

Pizza is high in calories and not very nutritious. I'm scrutinizing these services carefully to make sure they support life and good health a little better than constantly calling out for pizza.

[zinger1457]

I've tried both Blue Apron and Hello Fresh using their 50% off promotion several times. I thought they were both good, easy to follow recipes, quality food. I liked the Hello Fresh packaging better, they grouped each meal in it's own separate box, Blue Apron kind of threw everything together in one box. Someone mentioned that the portion sizes were big and be ready for leftovers. That was not my experience with either service, I thought the portion sizes were adequate or a little on the small size, never had any leftovers. For me I liked the meals but didn't feel the $10/meal cost is worth it. I do find myself reusing some of the recipes on my own.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Now that is pretty cool! Especially if you independently do all of the meal planning, independently determine which groceries and utensils are needed, reliably keep it all within a reasonable budget, and do all of this plus cook everything to perfection and serve it without complaint or hand-holding (which IMO is really what the complete job is all about). I'm sure you do. I guess I did all of that for about a third of a century but it has grown old, and so have I.

This is exactly what one of my friends said last week.

[Katsmeow]

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Originally Posted by Meadbh Dear Katsmeow: On point #5: I'm glad you don't have to be home for the delivery. Presumably they can leave it on your doorstep without fear of theft or animal damage. Doorstep delivery wouldn't work for me, as I live in a condo building. Your analysis includes many constraints, such as the "no beef" rule, days of the week for delivery, exact price, etc, that may make it difficult for any company to completely meet your needs. One suggestion would be to contact the company to see if they could devise a customized package for you. I suspect that would be expensive, though. Or you could hire a cook.....

We live in a house in a gated community so not worried about delivery. And, most of the time one of us is here anyway.

I don't think I have that many constraints. I don't eat beef at all but at most places beef is definitely a minority of the meals so that hasn't been a problem so far. The delivery date being from, say, Monday to Wednesday is a deal breaker so I have to check that. Not sure what you mean by "exact price." I don't require that there be a set price for each meal. I'm cool with Chef'd and the variable pricing. I do have to consider whether its greater flexibility is worth and extra couple of bucks for meals and tend to think it is.

I will probably narrow down to 3 services and try them all and see what I like best.

[Sunset]

I encourage OP to try all 3 services, and let us know what they are like.
I've certainly been tempted by them.
Then I won't have to come up with another meal: Tonight is salad with crab meat.

Soon we will have garlic butter fried scallops, but I don't know what side dishes to make... ?

These services would make it easier, and I know I would save the recipes for later just in case I found the delivery awkward.

[Walt34]

No direct experience here but DW's niece orders from Hello Fresh once in a while and seems happy with what she gets, and I frequently see a neighbor's Hello Fresh boxes out on trash day, so presumably they are happy with what they're paying for.

I'm tempted to try an order or two myself but haven't looked at all the options so will wait a while. Seems kinda pricey but cheaper than a restaurant. I generally don't mind some cooking but if a recipe has more than about half a dozen ingredients or stuff that we normally don't have around, I'm not going to make it. When I see these recipes that have a dozen or more ingredients, half of which I've never heard of, that's a definite turn-off.

[newtoseattle]

I've used both home chef and sun basket.
On the one hand - I feel ridiculous knowing I could just go buy the ingredients and cook it myself for cheaper - but the reality is, I don't/didn't. So, for me, I think I cook more at home and eat a little (?) healthier.

Home chef - liked the meals, similar to what I'd normally make, better price

Sunbasket - "organic"; healthier options, things I'd never cook on my own, but taste good and I feel "healthier". Much more expensive- but ingredients I don't usually have on hand, so really a bit hard to compare

I wish there was some way to reduce packaging - yes, its all "recyclable" - but its still a lot!!!

Bottom line - its definitely a luxury, but worth it to me right now and has reduced our eating out...

[Bestwifeever]

These are the meals DD's service offers for this week, per the email I just received:

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miso marinated pork tenderloin, scallion pancake, soy glazed carrots, bok choy roasted chicken breast, baked sweet potato fries, shaved beet salad, marinated feta cheese, roasted garlic vietnamese pho, ginger-spiced grass-fed beef meatballs, shaved vegetables, fresh herbs roasted salmon, ricotta & summer vegetable ravioli, kale, green garlic pesto grilled mahi mahi tacos, avocado, savoy & pickled vegetable slaw, lime dressing 'family-friendly meal of the week' baked sausage & orecchiette pasta, peas, carrots, creamy tomato sauce

They are $15 to $19 for a single serving. DD will probably get the family friendly meal of the week rather than the more exotic ones. All come for a few dollars less, in a vegetarian version.

OTOH, without a service's help, tonight I am making roasted salmon tacos with fresh pineapple and red pepper salsa, plus some roasted zucchini maybe mixed with quinoa and some of our garden herbs, because that's what I have on hand, no recipes needed.

[nash031]

Since the birth of our daughter, we've replaced our nights out with Blue Apron or Hello Fresh prepare by yours truly. We are saving money by not eating out, even with the more expensive individual meals at home. I highly recommend both services, and would happily send you (or anyone) a week of free meals on either one until I run out of them! PM if interested.

Thoughts on the services:

Blue Apron's food tends to be more exotic and usually a little bit more complex. You can get into some real "chefing" with some of their stuff. Prep and cooking times range from 30-60 minutes. I generally like the food from BA better than HF.

Hello Fresh seems to focus more on healthier and quicker options. Most meals are 30-40 minutes. Things like garlic cloves come individually wrapped and peeled rather than BA which sends an entire "head" of garlic and you do the work. Their food is less exotic, so you may branch out a bit, but not like with BA.

we alternate services week to week. 3 meals each week, and we just pick which one looks best to us. Usually set it up once a month and then just enjoy.

I've saved a dozen of the recipes and made a few of them on my own or with some kind of modification.

DW and I arent big people, so we often have leftovers which I take for lunch the next day. Makes the financial hit even less!

On waste: both hello fresh and BA containers and shipping materials are 100% recyclable. HF recently switched from individual boxes for each meal to a paper bag for each. BA just ships all the ingredients loose in a chilled box. So yeah, more waste, but recyclable waste at least.

[tulak]

For those interested in Blue Apron, Costco sells Blue Apron gift cards. If I remember correctly, it's $85 for $100 gift cards.

We tried Blue Apron and enjoyed the meals. It really didn't work well for us though, since we tend to be busy and it was difficult for us to make all of the meals within a week.

I also agree with the packaging waste. That bothered us and if we continued to subscribe, we would have looked into shipping back the packaging.

[windyblonde]

We used Gobble Box for a period time last year and enjoyed it. Liked trying different types of foods. We ordered items that we would not normally cook. The cost is the main reason we stopped. I had hoped that the cost would reduce my grocery bill some but it did not. I might go back to them at some point.

[Amethyst]

That is one of the funniest names I have ever heard. Made me laugh out loud.

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Originally Posted by windyblonde We used Gobble Box for a period time t.

[W2R]

Katsmeow, thank you so much for starting this thread.

I have never used a service of this type but ChefD sounds like it is made for me. So, just now I ordered two 2-person meals from them. It was very easy to do. I got to choose the day of delivery, and they will be delivered a week from today.

I will let you know how it goes, but so far the website interface was flawless and very professional.

[Ally]

I haven't tried them myself. My daughter's family had used Hello Fresh a few times and liked trying new dishes. The recipes were fairly easy. My son's family tried Blue Apron and found the prep was longer and more intensive than he liked.

[Moemg]

Can you pick your delivery day ? I would only use them occasionally when I have run out ideas of what to cook . They are a great idea for working couples especially if they have children .I don't mind cooking or shopping but sometimes I would like someone to tell me what to cook that week . Occasionally my SO has a request but not often and He also cooks especially if it goes in a smoker .

[audreyh1]

I don't mind shopping for groceries and I have lots of recipes I've developed over the years. It's the in season or available ingredients that inspire new recipes. If I have to do the food prep I'm not interested in buying from a meal service.

Now hiring someone to create freshly made ready to eat meals and delivering them to my house - I might be interested!!!