Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, et al

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

A family member who lives out of state is having her first child.

She and her DH are foodies.

I am debating getting them a gift card to one of the meal delivery services for those early, sleepless, days of parenting since they live too far for me to drop off a meal or two.

Anyone have any experience with either? Quality ingredients? Tasty? Relatively simple to prepare for those who know their way around a kitchen?

[nittanycheme]

There's another thread that is talking about this on the main board, too, although from a different point of view.  I have been getting Blue Apron, and while I really like it, I don't think that it would be good for a brand new parent.  Most of the meals take around 30 to 40 minutes to fully make, since you need to prep all the ingredients in addition to cooking.  Most of my friends who just had their first newborn were so exhausted that I don't think they'd have that kind of energy.    I think most of the the delivery services are the same way, with some slight differences.  Of course, if your friends really enjoy cooking and it would be kind of a "break", maybe it would be good.   Blue apron does 3 dinners a week for 2 or 4 (depending on the plan).  So, if they got the 4, they could have leftovers for the next day.  Since I'm the only one who uses it in my household (my DH just eats frozen meals, and yes - its his choice to do that), I get 2 to 3 meals out of one, so I don't need to go to the grocery store that much.  And they definitely give me recipes that I wouldn't have done on my own, even some of the more simple pasta ones.  I'm not that creative in the kitchen.

I know that you can hire home chefs that will come in and prepare x meals, so you can freeze them - maybe that is an option?  You know your friends best.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

On other groups, I have been seeing that there are quality issues these days with Hello Fresh.

However, from my understanding of these boxes, it only takes shopping out of the equation, the prep can be rather involved.  You might want to consider a meal delivery service instead.

[giramomma]

BIL and SIL received a Blue Apron GC.

They liked it. They thought it was great because it was cheaper than eating out.

I think it can be a good idea.

There's two parents and one kid. There shouldn't be a reason why one adult wouldn't be available to do some level of basic chores for an hour a day.

They also have the freedom to use the GC whenever fits them the best.

You also don't know what kind of kid they are going to get and feeding choices.

I formula fed all my kids. For the first two, they were eating about once every 3 hours..rather than on my boob all the time. The peanut was a pretty sleepy kid at first, and we had to wake her to eat every 3 hours. Once she got out of the sleepy newborn phase, that's when it got bad.

We weren't sleep deprived with our first two. But, they were sleeping 12 hours straight by 10-11 weeks and got themselves on predictable schedule very quickly.

With our first, DH and I watched several seasons of the Sopranos that first month or so. During the day. DS didn't like to be held to sleep. He needed to be put down, in his own space, to sleep. We didn't know that we could go about doing things while he was sleeping..we thought we were just supposed to hang loose until he needed us again..

[alabamagal]

Like others said, they do the shopping, but cooking can still be pretty involved.  Maybe the GC would do well.  

Where I live, Publix has several pre-made family meals that you just pop in the oven.  Also Costco and Sams club do that.  I'm sure most high end grocery stores do this also.  Publix also has grocery delivery through Shipt, so I think you can order a pre-prepared meal and have it delivered?

[yogiii]

How about something like Omaha Steaks?  They have a few casserole type things that you just throw in the oven, or steaks and burgers that Dad (or Mom) could throw on the grill.

[thyme4change]

There are a lot of places that will ship heat and eat dinners. They range in price and quality. Foodie or not, there might be some days that filling the hole is the number 1 priority and anything will do.

Although Giramomma appears to have had an idealic post-partum experience, everyone is different. I loved having some meals in the freezer because my husband wasn't around after my son was born. And I needed a lot of help when I returned to work after 6 weeks. Blue Apron would have been a chore. If I didn't cook it in a few days time frame, it would become useless. Especially with my first child - I just didn't know what I was going to be up against a couple of days from today. So planning on having the motivation to prepare an expensive meal on Thursday would have been a lot of pressure.

[yogiii]

Jul 29, 2017 17:22:15 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

There are a lot of places that will ship heat and eat dinners. They range in price and quality. Foodie or not, there might be some days that filling the hole is the number 1 priority and anything will do.

Although Giramomma appears to have had an idealic post-partum experience, everyone is different. I loved having some meals in the freezer because my husband wasn't around after my son was born. And I needed a lot of help when I returned to work after 6 weeks. Blue Apron would have been a chore. If I didn't cook it in a few days time frame, it would become useless. Especially with my first child - I just didn't know what I was going to be up against a couple of days from today. So planning on having the motivation to prepare an expensive meal on Thursday would have been a lot of pressure.

Definitely.  My son was screaming 18 hours a day, and we were lucky to get sleep in 20 minute chunks.  I would have cried if someone gave me Blue Apron. 

[whoisjohngalt]

You know who I picture using Blue Apron and such?

Young married couples, who just got home from work and chit chatting while drinking wine and cooking and drinking wine and music is one and there is a bit of cooking going on....

You know who I DON'T picture using Blue Apron

A new mother who might be dealing (in no particular order)
sleep deprivation
screaming kid
an already messy kitchen from 5 previous meals
feeding a kid - either nursing or trying to get the bottle ready

all while reading instructions and cooking a brand new recipe from Blue Apron

[zibazinski]

When DH's former stepson and his wife had their second child we showed up for dinner one evening. I had shopped st Costco and got two chickens and a bunch of other stuff. The stepson didn't work and his wife was on maternity leave which cracked me up because she didn't have the child and she lasted at home a little over a week before she said F this and went back to work! Anyway there was enough left over chicken for lunches and another dinner even. If you're not around to drop food off, a gift card to a grocery store is great. Most stores have ready to heat meals now as well as prepackaged salads and sides.

[thyme4change]

Jul 29, 2017 21:26:17 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

You know who I picture using Blue Apron and such?

Young married couples, who just got home from work and chit chatting while drinking wine and cooking and drinking wine and music is one and there is a bit of cooking going on....

In my world (because this is where I am in life) it is newly empty nest couple, who just got home from work and chit chatting while drinking wine and cooking and drinking wine and music is on and there is a bit of cooking going on....

[whoisjohngalt]

Jul 29, 2017 22:10:07 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Jul 29, 2017 21:26:17 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

You know who I picture using Blue Apron and such?

Young married couples, who just got home from work and chit chatting while drinking wine and cooking and drinking wine and music is one and there is a bit of cooking going on....

In my world (because this is where I am in life) it is newly empty nest couple, who just got home from work and chit chatting while drinking wine and cooking and drinking wine and music is on and there is a bit of cooking going on....

Oh absolutely! 

[giramomma]

Jul 29, 2017 17:22:15 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

There are a lot of places that will ship heat and eat dinners. They range in price and quality. Foodie or not, there might be some days that filling the hole is the number 1 priority and anything will do.

Although Giramomma appears to have had an idealic post-partum experience, everyone is different. I loved having some meals in the freezer because my husband wasn't around after my son was born. And I needed a lot of help when I returned to work after 6 weeks. Blue Apron would have been a chore. If I didn't cook it in a few days time frame, it would become useless. Especially with my first child - I just didn't know what I was going to be up against a couple of days from today. So planning on having the motivation to prepare an expensive meal on Thursday would have been a lot of pressure.

You ARE right in that it just depends.

And it does make a difference when you have a spouse at home, for any length of time. DH didn't have anything else to do other than be a SAHP with #1. He had finished with school..and was just pretty much waiting for his new role to start.

Feeding makes a huge difference too. I'm not naive enough to think that breastfeeding is easy. I know it's super hard, and time consuming.

BIL and SIL were also in a same situation as us, where both parents were available for the majority of the time of leave. They managed with maternity and paternity leave, and flexible/reduced schedules.

I'm bracing for this go around to be pretty bad...not because of the baby, but because of everything else that's going on. Worst case scenario is that I'm giving birth during finals and less than a week before Christmas..and having to back to work 4ish weeks later. (Leave is funky for me.) This baby is going to be smack dab in the middle of extra school activities for the older kids too..concerts, activities, and DS will be working on the transition to HS. Most of this won't be able to wait for a baby. And we're just going to have to figure out how to push through to get the most important things done...no matter what kind of kid we get.

Even, still, cooking is not so bad for us.

Housecleaning, laundry, and outside chores is where, if someone was going to offer help, in terms of a gifted paid service...this is what I'd want.

When it was just me and the girls..the extra things that got me were the laundry and the household chores. I did hire out getting our lawn mowed, because there just hardly wasn't any time for that.

I have a weird thing about letting others that know us handle our laundry. I wouldn't care of strangers handled our laundry...but non nuclear family is a big nope.

[zibazinski]

It's hard to know what to do to help. Is someone cleaning your house more a burden than a help because you feel you must pick things up before they come and that's a burden. Are you uncomfortable having someone do your laundry? Bringing meals over and grocery shopping for you, good or bad?

[thyme4change]

Cooking wasn't necessarily a problem for me either, but if I could heat up an already prepared meal, it freed up just a little bit of time and energy that I used to clean up or do laundry.

I agree that dropping off a meal is less personal than folding someone's undies, or even mopping their floor. Someone can come and go in a minute with a meal, but not if they stop by to scrub my toilet.

[Anne_in_VA]

A friend just sent me a link to Hello Fresh where I can get a weeks worth of meals for free.  I signed up and will probably keep getting it every second or third week.  I'm in such a cooking rut.  DH doesn't really care what I cook and if I ask what he wants for dinner he answers "whatever you cook will be fine".  

Maybe once I have a few new meals that we've tried and liked, I may stop getting it and add those meals to our rotation.

[weltschmerz]

Jul 29, 2017 9:43:16 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

A family member who lives out of state is having her first child.

She and her DH are foodies.

I am debating getting them a gift card to one of the meal delivery services for those early, sleepless, days of parenting since they live too far for me to drop off a meal or two.

Anyone have any experience with either? Quality ingredients? Tasty? Relatively simple to prepare for those who know their way around a kitchen?

Cab you have a ready-to-eat meal delivered to them from some of the local restaurants?
That might be better. No prep.

[Miss Tequila]

What a great sentiment...but I had a colicky baby from hell so I would not have been cooking anything. I was fortunate that I had a lot of family that brought us food for the first couple of weeks. My ex took two weeks vacation and then he was back working out of town...there were days I'm not sure that I even ate! On the plus side, my baby weight slid off me!lol

I do like the idea of having some fully cooked meals delivered. I loved having my babies but I was completely overwhelmed the first couple of months. 

[chiver78]

I'm with those that suggest the fully cooked/heat and eat meals instead, but if you want to stick with a Hello Fresh sort of idea, take a look at Sun Basket. I've got a couple friends that use this company and they say that the quality of the ingredients is leaps and bounds better than the other companies of this nature.