Blue Apron or other meal delivery services?

[seriousthistime]

Just wondering if anyone here has tried Blue Apron or any of the other meal delivery services (Hello Fresh, Plated, etc.).

A friend of mine is starting Blue Apron and it looks great.  I'll be getting her review.

I live alone and work all day.  I don't mind eating leftovers. I am not creative in the meal department.  I think it's a form of rebellion after having to plan dinner for 5 people (3 kids, 2 adults), buy, prepare, serve, listen to complaints, and clean up most every day for years. I don't have to do it now, so I don't.  I also find that I try to buy nutritious foods at the grocery store but they often go to waste before I can use them up.  Other things I buy go to waist.  

With Blue Apron I could go with the 2 person plan (6 meals a week) for $60 per week. I would have to cook three nights a week (all planning and shopping done for me) and have enough for dinner most nights, and leftovers for lunch the next day.  I wouldn't forget to use something perishable because the recipes would remind me what to use. 

I am trying to eat more healthy.  I often overeat at lunch, skip dinner, and then end up snacking before bed. Not good. 

[wvugurl26]

I don't subscribe but I do check their recipes for ideas. I find that I like Hello Fresh better. Also they let you pick the meals if you do subscribe. Blue Apron just selects them based on your preferences. My roommates have tried Blue Apron. A lot of the dishes are just stuff I wouldn't eat. But I'm slightly picky and have food allergies.

[whoami]

I did Blue Apron for a few weeks. It was ok.

I wasnt a fan of a lot of the meals and they limit the combos you can do I assume because of the cost of the meals. I was ending up with one or two meals I really wanted and 1 or 2 that I would be willing to try. The vegetables are relatively fresh although I did get some that I never would have selected at the store.  There was also quite a bit of prep work which is fine if you like cooking and have decent knives. I really dont care to cook so it was a PITA for me. 

I am no tree hugger by any means but the amount of packaging waste is just unbelievable, wasteful and ridiculous. There were times I had no doubt the packaging cost more than the food inside of it. 

I ultimately quit because I was surprised by a shipment that never should have arrived. I had gone on the website and skipped a number of shipments as I was going to be out of town or there was some other occasion or holiday. I checked my calendar and all my skips were gone and I was charged for a box that I didnt want. I sent them an email which was ignored so I cancelled. In the end, it just wasnt worth the aggravation or the cost. The food I got for $60 was worth about $20 or less. 

[thyme4change]

I wish Whole Foods or any other grocery store would use the concept of the 'complete box.'  I would love to pop in, pick up a box that has everything I need, go home and cook.  If I don't like (or am not in the mood for) what they are offering, I can skip it.  Having it shipped and being stuck in it, and getting their 90 million marketing emails - boo.

[NoNamePerson]

Feb 14, 2016 13:21:28 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I wish Whole Foods or any other grocery store would use the concept of the 'complete box.'  I would love to pop in, pick up a box that has everything I need, go home and cook.  If I don't like (or am not in the mood for) what they are offering, I can skip it.  Having it shipped and being stuck in it, and getting their 90 million marketing emails - boo.

Fresh Market has something similar to this. But it is only on Thursday. I have done it twice. It's supposed to be enough for four people so I usually get at least 6 meals out of the ingredients. It cost $20. No substitutions but you do have choices of what makes up the "meal" Like you, I see what is included and if not to my liking I just skip it.

Not a lot of variety from week to week but I check out the email I get from them. 

[seriousthistime]

There is a natural foods store close to my work.  Otherwise, it's just the big grocery stores and Sam's Club.  

There's no Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or Fresh Market near me. Part of my motivation is that I'm bored with what's available locally.  That, and finally being motivated to cook only to find that I am out of onions or forgot an essential ingredient.

[zibazinski]

DD loves it. It's healthy, it reminds her to eat, and she's actually losing weight/toning up bcuz she doesn't eat crap on the fly. Any spare meals she eats on weekends.

[gooddecisions]

No harm in giving it a try.

[megaptera]

I use Full Circle Farm, which services Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. They have different sized produce boxes with additional grocery items (meat, diary, bakery, etc.) available every week. Deliveries can be skipped if not needed a particular week. I've just started it recently, and have enjoyed it so far.

I also use Azure Standard, which doesn't deliver, but orders are picked up at "drop points." They have a lot of bulk items, and items are ordered online and delivered to the drop points about every 4 weeks. We've been buying from them for a couple of years, and are happy with them. They deliver all over the U.S.

I believe both provide recipe ideas on their sites.

Between these two, I hardly ever have to go to the grocery store.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Feb 14, 2016 13:21:28 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I wish Whole Foods or any other grocery store would use the concept of the 'complete box.'  I would love to pop in, pick up a box that has everything I need, go home and cook.  If I don't like (or am not in the mood for) what they are offering, I can skip it.  Having it shipped and being stuck in it, and getting their 90 million marketing emails - boo.

I read recently that WF is, in fact, headed in that direction.

Their market research tells them that their customers want more prepared foods and "ready-to-prepare" foods.  

If you look around in their stores, some of the "ready to prepare" stuff is already available.  My store is probably one of their smallest, but, even so, I can regularly find packages of assembled, fresh, stir fry veggies, raw chicken strips for stir fries, pot roast and beef stew "kits", and other quick-prep meals.  And, I get to choose what dishes I want to make.  

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Feb 15, 2016 15:48:17 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Feb 15, 2016 15:19:25 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

I read recently that WF is, in fact, headed in that direction.

Their market research tells them that their customers want more prepared foods and "ready-to-prepare" foods.  

If you look around in their stores, some of the "ready to prepare" stuff is already available.  My store is probably one of their smallest, but, even so, I can regularly find packages of assembled, fresh, stir fry veggies, raw chicken strips for stir fries, pot roast and beef stew "kits", and other quick-prep meals.  And, I get to choose what dishes I want to make.  

This is happy news for me.  A new WF is opening up less than a mile from my home.  This would be great. 

Your grocery budget will never be the same.  

It's great food, and I shop there faithfully at least once a week, but the prices are not for the faint of heart nor for the tight of wallet.  

[dogmom]

Out of curiosity, I ordered from Blue Apron.  Our first box arrived on Saturday. 

Jury's out if we will continue.  

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Feb 15, 2016 15:58:14 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Feb 15, 2016 15:50:42 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Your grocery budget will never be the same.  

It's great food, and I shop there faithfully at least once a week, but the prices are not for the faint of heart nor for the tight of wallet.  

Yes and no... at worst we'll probably break even.  Apparently MrSroo and I suck at meal planning.   We honestly throw out obscene amounts of food because we forget to prepare it and it goes bad.   Or we buy the main and then are missing one key ingredient and never get around to picking up that ingredient and the main goes bad. 

I think we'd do better with being able to stop in,  buy all the ingredients for a meal on the day rather than in advance. 

Great, the new, nearby, WF can become your new refrigerator.  

[bobosensei]

DH and I did blue apron for a few months.  I would have preferred a service that let us pick the meals we got each week.  Blue apron just went with our criteria when we signed up (ie did we need vegetarian or have other preferences).  In some respects not getting to pick had us try things we wouldn't have otherwise tried.  Like the time we had a sandwich with some sort of beets on it.  DH hates beets, and I usually only eat them raw but this was good.  The bigger issue for us was not having the up to 50 minutes to cook 3 times a week.  So where it saved time shopping it cost time in meal prep.  But we were eating a wider variety of foods.

And DH and I only had leftovers when Blue Apron sent us more raw ingredients than what we needed.  Dh was doing all the cooking at the time and didn't know how to use the extra so it was wasted.

If I do anything like this again it might be to buy "food boxes" from the local publix or whole foods.  Or I might pay to get meal plans online, then order my groceries online to be picked up in the store.

[Cookies Galore]

I think Blue Apron and the other meal delivery services are something you should try if interested. A friend gave us a free week so I jumped on it, and Blue Apron was just okay. I'm glad I didn't waste any money on those three meals! But some people really like it. The amount of wasteful packaging is also ridiculous.
A lot of grocery stores around here are doing the meal in a box concept, I'd probably try that over a delivery service. Unless you know someone with free weeks to give out!
I personally look through my favorite cooking blogs and Pinterest to get recipes when I am looking for something new.

[steph08]

A friend gave us a free week for Hello Fresh, so we gave it a try.

We got 4 meals for 2 people and it would have cost $80. 

We got 1 meal we loved, 1 that was pretty good, and 2 that were meh. 

I really liked having everything in one box and most portioned out, and also having the directions right there on a card. 

If it was cheaper, I might do it one week/month or so, but I don't think it's worth the cost.

[Sam_2.0]

What I really want is a way to pick out 4-5 recipes that I know we all like, and have the ingredient lists combined into a shopping list. Then I can easily take that list and order my groceries online. I've tried e-meals for the recipes & shopping lists, and it was ok, but DH is super picky and would only eat about half of the meals. Recipes.com, Kraft, and some other sites have kind of a way to do this, but if someone knows a better way I am open for suggestions.

[thyme4change]

Sam - I use Pepperplate.com to save recipes I like. You can go into several recipes and hit "add to shopping list" and it categorizes everything, so all the dairy is together.

The list is on the app, and you can check off the stuff you have. I haven't ever tried to print it from the website, but I suspect it works.

Also, you can import recipes from some websites, you can cut and paste, or enter them manually. It isn't a perfect app, but I like it.

[debthaven]

I am not creative in the meal department. I think it's a form of rebellion after having to plan dinner for 5 people (3 kids, 2 adults), buy, prepare, serve, listen to complaints, and clean up most every day for years. I don't have to do it now, so I don't.

Serious, I can't comment on Blue Apron or any of the other companies, but this absolutely cracked me up! Because, SAME HERE!

DS3 (our youngest) was SHOCKED to see that his (now) slovenly parents sometimes eat dinner on our laps in the living room now, instead of at the table, and invite him to join them. We NEVER did that when our four kids were growing up.

I'll be honest, I'm don't know that much about these meals, and I have never tasted them. But I do know some about them, if only because my students have to come up with a new and original idea and most of them find ideas that exist in the US or the UK but haven't yet made it over to France. So I have learned a great deal about these home-delivery meal services this year.

I'm not really sure I see the point. True, you don't need to shop, but you still need to cook (which means you also need to clean up). Like you, I'm still rebelling from having to cook for 6 every night for DECADES, and have been since our youngest left for college in Sept.

But like you, I have a bunch of family favorites (chili, meatballs, fake Olive Garden soup), and my kids still come home for dinner at least 2 or 3 times a month. And like you, I'm used to cooking in large quantities. So when I cook, I still cook those "family favorites" regularly (but much less often). If they're coming over, I only freeze the leftovers. If they're not, I (immediately) freeze half for later.

Personally, even if I could afford it and it was available here, I'd much rather cook from scratch less often, once or twice a week, because I know how, even if I don't want to, freeze what I don't use, build up a bunch of frozen home-cooked meals over a few weeks, and spend that money on going out / ready meals / take out for the other nights when I'm too lazy and I can have something I don't need to either cook OR clean up after.

YMMV, of course.