I’m wondering if anybody here has used a meal kit service or has any experience with them. Thinking of gifting to young professional DS and roommate…He seems to enjoy the cooking part, but the shopping/planning part takes a reluctant back seat. It’s my understanding they can be stopped/put on hold at any time, but I’m wondering if one service is better than another. Thanks in advance for any insight.
We have used Hello Fresh and really liked it. It was easy to prepare, good variety, tasty. We just stopped it but only because my husband wants to try some of the others for awhile to see which he likes best. It does come with lots of wasted packaging but it can be recycled.
Two of my kids and their SO have used Blue Apron. One of them enjoyed cooking together as a couple and they were happy to not have to go shopping on a busy schedule. My D and her BF liked the food but didn’t like that there wasn’t enough food for her BF. He is a big eater and they also missed having leftovers. She also loves to cook and doesn’t mind grocery shopping,
We got a few boxes when my D forgot to cancel in time and had them sent to me. I felt the quality was good. I’m a cook but I learned some new recipes that I’ve added to my recipe box. I think the vegetarian meal (which at least when we got it was the third meal) was weak for the price.
I’ve only used BlueApron, so I can’t compare/contrast services, but I’ve really enjoyed it.
I’ve tried lots of new foods, and I’d say 95% has been delicious (with nothing inedible, just not my favorite).
I travel a lot for work and “Skip Delivery” for weeks I am going to be gone. During a complicated move I contacted BlueApron and had them suspend delivery for several months so I didn’t need to remember to log in and skip weeks manually. They show around 3 weeks in the future so it’s easy to manage.
Their customer service is good. I think there are 8 options a week to choose from (choose 3 of the 8).
They have a forum where subscribers can comment on the recipes of the week and make suggestions (add more garlic; lower oven temp or cooking time, etc) which I found helpful. They also have featured videos on their site demonstrating techniques.
It was an adjustment at first in prep time, because I had become somewhat lazy (cereal in a bowl is pretty quick).
Besides delicious food and new flavors, I especially appreciate not having to plan and shop.
My H and I usually had leftovers - enough for a lunch serving. But a few people on the forums complained they didn’t think the serving sizes were large enough.
It’s been a very positive experience for me.
I picked up a box of Purple Carrot meals that had mistakenly been delivered to my daughter while she was away. It was a vegan box, and the meals were very good and the prep and recipes were clear. Still, I don’t normally do certain things in the kitchen (like fry falafel balls), unless I’m making a lot and can save the extra. But H and I ate well and ate healthy for that time.
It was fun to try new recipes and have it all there but it just bothers me that it comes with so much packaging and is shipped. That part seems wasteful. A friend found a similar meal kit, all ready to go, at Costco that he liked. I think it’s called Chef’d. At least you skip the delivery part that way.
I have wondered why instead of these meal services people just don’t use the home grocery services (or drive through grocery services) for the ingredients they want/need??? I do understand the super convenience of the delivered meal kits (you don’t have to think about what you need) but on a regular basis I would think the grocery services would be more helpful.
We received the Purple Carrot meal boxes as a gift. We liked the food and it was easy to prepare–nothing to think about. I wasn’t really interested in continuing because we both enjoy cooking and trying new things. I felt like the boxes were good for folks who didn’t like to cook, didn’t really know how to cook, and didn’t want to think about meal prep.
My D has used Blue Apron, Purple Carrot and Sunbasket. She likes Sunbasket the best.
We tried both Chef’d and Blue Apron boxes found at Costco, and frankly I was not impressed. The meals were OK and tasty but not something for which I would pay that much. And so much trash (plastic!)…
D1 and her bf did Blue Apron, liked it but felt the cost was higher than they wanted to rely on.
Abasket, part of the idea is you get just the quantities you need. Not a whole spice jar or fuller bag of some ingredient.
H and I use Blue Apron. The major benefit is in not having to think about what we will have for dinner 3 times a week. I generally find the food enjoyable and it’s fresh and nutritious. They have simplified the prep in recent months so there is less time slicing and dicing.
I got Blue Apron as a gift, and, for the most part, thought it was fine. What I didn’t like is that you couldn’t get the full nutritional info until days before the box was shipped, so I usually had to make last minute decisions about what to include in the shipment since I have restrictions due to health concerns. For that reason & the cost, we chose not to subscribe after the gift subscription ran out.
I have given Blue Apron gifts to a couple of single family members. I recall they made a meal for 2 and then had a nice lunch.
They all like to cook and liked learning new recipes and experimenting with new ingredients (especially ethnic ones, as some of the menu options were more exotic) and reported that the quality was good. To @abasket 's point, both appreciated the “right sizing” of the ingredients as having to buy more than they need, especially of items that cannot be frozen, is a regular complaint. I think I gave 2 weeks of meals so as not to lock anyone in for too long. One relative continued and also later experimented with hello fresh, which she preferred.
I frequently ordered from Chef’d but it is no longer available - now retail only which is disappointing. I ordered from Purple Carrot recently and I found it very overpriced plus the produce was WELL past it’s prime - nothing like a box of rotting zucchini! I will have to stick with meal prep Sunday and cooking at home I guess.
Friends of our used Blue Apron for a while and invited us over for dinner several times. My H and the male half of the couple both enjoy cooking and they did that part of it. We were all dismayed by the amount of waste packaging. My friend (the female half) makes her own perfumes and she re-used the little bottles, etc. for that purpose, but the box was much bigger than was needed and there was a lot of extraneous packing material. The quality of the food was excellent and it was very nice to try something new, like a spice we hadn’t tried previously, in a small quantity. We found a couple of things we liked and went out and bought larger sizes for use at home. The things we didn’t care for were over and done, not like having to buy an expensive jar of a spice to try it and discovering you don’t care for it. The exposure to new things was the best part of the program. With our friends, we supplemented the meal package with a related appetizer or salad to fill out the meal and make it last for 4.
H really likes to cook so what we now do is shop at Costco for staples and stop every other day or so at a local market to pick up produce, fruit and some treats, like cheese.
Overall, I would recommend the meal packages for people who don’t want to rely on takeout pizza or Chinese food, but don’t have a lot of time to shop or can’t get fresh food delivered.
I recently switched from Blue Apron to Hello Fresh. I think Hello Fresh has more choices, and slightly less shredding/chopping than Blue Apron. Hello Fresh expects you to provide your own sugar and butter, in addition to oil, salt and pepper, which Blue Apron also requires. I gave up on Blue Apron after a number of deliveries where my fruit or veggies were spoiled or got frozen en route. Also, a couple with missing ingredients. I think they are growing too fast. I did prefer the Blue Apron website and app to the Hello Fresh versions.
D2 is in law school and at her school, the 3L year is the hardest and most all consuming. I got her Blue Apron so that she doesn’t have to even think about what to cook or buy 4 days a week (comes with enough for 2 per meal and she is single). Otherwise, she’d probably be skipping meals or subsisting on junk. She has been very happy with them (and very grateful for the gift as well). Not sure how it would compare to others.
I got into a pretty bad funk about not cooking, and my hubby was pulling his hair out - he’s a dinner guy, I’d be fine with a bowl of cereal. He was cooking constantly. So I signed up for Blue Apron - I get 2 a week. I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I got tired of cooking the same old thing and didn’t feel like figuring out new recipes. My least favorite part of cooking is hunting down all the ingredients, either in the store or at home. I like just having them all lined out on the kitchen when I start. No measuring, just a little chopping and sauteing. It’s helped me get out of my slump.
We stopped using Blue Apron mainly because of the amount of dicing and chopping. And pickling, what is up with all the pickling? At the time Blue Apron had some crazy way of figuring out which meals you could get, you couldn’t always just get the three you wanted. I think they’ve fixed this.
We’ve also tried Just Add Cooking, which is a regional New England one whose shtick is that everything is as locally sourced as they can make it, but found the recipes very bland, and they were $10 (now $15) more per week for three meals than the competition. Not worth it.
We’ve been using Home Chef for quite a while now, the meals are generally very tasty and the prep is pretty easy. They ship through Atlanta (for us anyway, for other regions it might be different) so whenever there are disruptions down there like bad storms, it can delay getting the food by a day. One of the hurricanes took them out for a week, and we didn’t get anything that week.
I do think about the waste - lots of cardboard, non-recyclable insulation, small plastic bottles of stuff, plastic bags, 4-5 “ice” packs (what is in those anyway? I wish it was just water, so I could put it into my septic system), and the fuel to fly that box half-way across the country and deliver it to my house, but it’s very convenient.
In terms of quantity - most meals run from 600-900 calories. Most of the time it’'s enough food, occasionally we’ll still feel a little hungry. We definitely eat less though than because the portions are controlled, than when we cook ourselves. Full nutritional info is available when you choose your meals, which is a couple weeks ahead of time.
We never have leftovers.
My biggest complaint would be that they overuse cilantro IMO, and neither of us like it. So we just leave it out.
Have used both Hello Fresh and Blue Apron. Agree with many comments above (dicing, no leftovers, etc.) Very fresh ingredients…and got me to try some stuff I normally wouldn’t have. I did feel with Blue Apron that I ended up washing a LOT of pans if you followed the instructions. I kept a number of the recipe cards to try again. Ended up dropping mainly due to cost (heck, I’m retired, I can get to the store)…and due to the insane amount of packaging…even with only two meals a week.
I do know that goskid #1 uses many of the services due to working full time and part time grad school. Lifesaver for her. She has found that if she cancels one service and goes to the other, shortly an offer for to re-try for $$ off will appear. Doubt she has ever paid full price. And yes, when I cancelled, my mailbox and email got lots of offers.
But to OP…I think it would be a great gift for the young professional…