FARK.com: (9640639) Any of you Farkers use Blue Apron or other ingredient-delivery subscription? What do you think?

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		Any of you Farkers use Blue Apron or other ingredient-delivery subscription? What do you think? (fark.com)		114
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1623 clicks; posted to Main » on 26 Jun 2017 at 9:03 PM (6 years ago) | Favorite | share: Copy Link

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FlashHarry

Smartest (4) Funniest (1)

2017-06-26 5:50:25 PM

I'm considering it, if only to reduce food waste. I think I might end up saving money in the long run too.

HawgWild

Smartest (3) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 5:58:48 PM

My grocery store has a delivery service.

crustysandman

Smartest (2) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 5:59:52 PM

After using it for a month or so, my fiance and I stopped service. If you're a big eater, you'll need more food to supplement your dinner, as our portions were small. A couple of the deliveries also had old/rotting veggies in it. They say 'local produce' but local seemed to be NJ... I'm in Michigan. Otherwise, you can reuse the freeze packs they send a couple times, and their packaging is recyclable.

FlashHarry

Smartest (2) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 6:02:43 PM

HawgWild: My grocery store has a delivery service.

So does mine - I think the point is, they send you exactly the right amount of ingredients for a particular meal, so you don't end up wasting food.

crustysandman: A couple of the deliveries also had old/rotting veggies in it. They say 'local produce' but local seemed to be NJ...

I was concerned about this. That and the packaging waste. Hopefully it's recyclable.

HawgWild

Smartest (5) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 6:05:31 PM

FlashHarry: HawgWild: My grocery store has a delivery service.

So does mine - I think the point is, they send you exactly the right amount of ingredients for a particular meal, so you don't end up wasting food.

I don't waste food. I, for one, know how to plan.

markie_farkie

Smartest (0) Funniest (10)

2017-06-26 6:08:53 PM

www.bucketofnutrientpaste.com is my go-to online food source.

Try the mint-flavored paste. It's DELISH!!

JustToLetYouKnowFriend

Smartest (11) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 6:11:38 PM

My roomie uses Blue Apron.

The food is good quality, the recipes easy and interesting.

They are simply not worth the price for the average person.

Its overpriced for what it is.

Now with that out of the way, my roomie is not home a lot, he has a job that keeps him out at odd hours, and he doesn't get to go shopping that often. He likes it because its a nice at home meal he can easily make that fits his busy ass schedule. I can see the particular niche that they are filling.

Its not for everyone, it is clearly good for some people.

The question is, is it worth the money for you, or would that be better saved or spent elsewhere.

teto85

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 6:16:39 PM

HawgWild: My grocery store has a delivery service.

And there is a weekly farmer's market, a local bakery, Amazon Fresh and other stuff close enough.

We tried several of these services. Some are too salty, others too rotten and all in all, too expensive, even for a family of 4 with 2 teenagers. Easier, cheaper and fresher and just plain better to cook it our selves. We did keep the recipe cards and have made our own improvements, but that's nothing more than what you would do with any other recipe.

Do some research. There's this thing called the intertubes/web something that might prove helpful.

YMMV.

optikeye

Smartest (3) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 6:22:54 PM

Just use their website to get recipes and meal ideas.

rohar

Smartest (1) Funniest (3)

2017-06-26 6:41:10 PM

I don't use blue apron for two reasons. During the season, I need to serve well over 15k calories per day. Also, I'm capable of this mystical power called "cooking".

never trust a bunny

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 6:50:42 PM

We used it for a while. It's OK if you are learning to cook. The portions are a little small and your weekly menu is limited. If you are looking for a weekly subscription box I recommend Home Chef over Blue Apron. The portions are bigger and you have more options.

FlashHarry

Smartest (6) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 7:13:59 PM

rohar: Also, I'm capable of this mystical power called "cooking".

You cook Blue Apron meals. They ship you raw ingredients and recipes. They replace shopping, not cooking.

oldernell

Smartest (0) Funniest (1)

2017-06-26 7:21:59 PM

teto85: even for a family of 4 with 2 teenagers

Having gone through the 2 teens, I would think a meal service would bankrupt you.

bdub77

Smartest (7) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 7:42:28 PM

Ripoff if you don't live in a food desert. It's not hard to make healthy food with minimal work. They sell premade salads, you can bake or cook just about any kind of fish or meat in a few minutes. And the internet has tons of great recipes for food.

impaler

Smartest (4) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 8:01:01 PM

You may reduce food waste, but you end up with a lot of packaging waste.

FreeBirdInTheHand

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 8:11:07 PM

bdub77: Ripoff if you don't live in a food desert. It's not hard to make healthy food with minimal work. They sell premade salads, you can bake or cook just about any kind of fish or meat in a few minutes. And the internet has tons of great recipes for food.

This was my take on it as well. A friend got me started on it, and it was... okay? But I live in San Francisco, and I'm terribly spoiled for shopping and for food in general. My friend is in Kansas, and I can see why he likes it.

I dropped it after a month or so. The recipes are fine, but you can see them on the web site, I believe.

Pocket Ninja

Smartest (1) Funniest (24)

2017-06-26 8:21:11 PM

It's just entirely too much work. I mean, it might be worth it if they included a robot that would open the packaging for me and arrange it for preparation, and another robot to read the recipe. And even after all of that you've still got dishes to do, and the dishes don't, like, put themselves away or anything. So that's like two more robots, minimum. And the other night I realized that nobody had turned the light off in the kitchen, so it was on all night and now my electric bill is going to be higher and that's going to be like an extra number to type in the billpay website. Such a goddamn hassle, who has this sort of time? Plus, they don't even include any sort of announcement service to tell people that I'm using Blue Apron. I mean, how will people know how importantly busy I am that I have to use Blue Apron if I don't have an announcement robot telling them that I'm using Blue Apron? What, I have to tell people myself? That takes a lot of time and, I mean, I just spent like 3 minutes typing this, so that's 3 minutes I've lost elsewhere. It's a good idea, I guess, but ultimately doesn't make things any easier for a busy person like me.

Mr. Coffee Nerves

Smartest (1) Funniest (21)

2017-06-26 8:28:15 PM

Just don't make the same mistake I did and subscribe to the Blue Waffle home delivery.

johnsoninca

Smartest (0) Funniest (4)

2017-06-26 8:47:55 PM

My mom gets me food at the store. Does that count?

FreeBirdInTheHand

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 8:48:51 PM

impaler: You may reduce food waste, but you end up with a lot of packaging waste.

That too. Even recycling everything I could, there was a lot that just ends up in landfill. They say they've improved their packaging but it's not worth it to me to find out if that's true.

sno man

Smartest (1) Funniest (2)

2017-06-26 8:59:09 PM

rohar: I don't use blue apron for two reasons. During the season, I need to serve well over 15k calories per day. Also, I'm capable of this mystical power called "cooking".

This mystical power, in my experience, is right in there with Barry White voice. Teach those kids that, You'll barely ever have to cook again...

sno man

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:08:57 PM

crustysandman: After using it for a month or so, my fiance and I stopped service. If you're a big eater, you'll need more food to supplement your dinner, as our portions were small. A couple of the deliveries also had old/rotting veggies in it. They say 'local produce' but local seemed to be NJ... I'm in Michigan. Otherwise, you can reuse the freeze packs they send a couple times, and their packaging is recyclable.

We did a season of a food share thing with a local farm. Some of the stuff was clearly in the box 5 mins after we picked up the previous week's one. There was an abundance of WTFIT veg, depending on the week, too. AND you still needed to supplement veg and add meat and dairy and your daily bread. Waste of time. Not cheap, either.

abhorrent1

Smartest (2) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:13:09 PM

There's no reason to waste food. There are very few things that can't be frozen for later use

the money is in the banana stand

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:15:34 PM

Overpriced for what it is and small portions. The recipes are good, but some are pretty time intensive. It's a fun supplement, but if you're looking at it as your main meal option, I wouldn't recommend that. I work long hours, hate doing dishes, am always hungry when I get home, and hate losing a day meal prepping.

BrianGriffin

Smartest (4) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:15:35 PM

We tried HelloFresh. After 3-meal shipments, we cancelled the service (so we thought), but they wound up re-upping us 2 months later (they refer to this as "suspending" the service, which we were unaware of). I went online and found a ton of complaints from people saying it was vey hard to get out of the program. I sent a very harsh email to their customer service department, threatening legal action if we were not removed and they did remove us. My complaints, other than how hard it is to extricate yourself from the program are the following:

Most meals are pasta-heavy
Produce is mediocre at best
Small portions
Unspecific recipe directions
Not all that creative when it comes to taste
Terrible packaging. To keep stuff cold, they use these freeze packs that, when thawed, are filled with some kind of jelly substance which has to be flushed down the toilet (per them). Not cool!
Way too expensive for what you get.

When I was married to my first wife (for 12 years) she did all the cooking. When I met Mrs Griffin 20+ years ago, she let me in on a cooking secret: read a cookbook. Cooking is NOT hard. It can be time consuming, but it is not rocket science. You have to work really hard to make a mistake bad enough to poison you or someone else. More than likely, you will overcook, not undercook the first few times (especially if you follow recipes). With the huge plethora of online sites with good recipes, all which have reviews from folks with very good suggestions for tweaking, there is no excuse for not cooking for yourself. There is plenty of produce that does not spoil overnight so if time on a weeknight is short, just plan ahead and meal plan on Sunday night for the week ahead.

fictional_character

Smartest (3) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:15:50 PM

Portions too small for the exorbitant price. If you are going to spend $70 for a meal for four, you might as well go out and get more than enough to eat.

Tasty enough, but just no good reason to spend dining out money on home cooking that uses more dishes and bowls for prep than Julia Child.

Rip_Rufus

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:16:16 PM

We do Hello Fresh some weeks. Two people, 4 meals each, $85. Food is pretty good, not too hard or time consuming to make. The biggest positive is that it has stopped the two weeknight arguments of "what do you want to eat tonight" and "which of us is stopping at the grocery store".

darkhelmet66

Smartest (8) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:18:16 PM

I live in Arkansas in the middle of nowhere. I'd have to drive 3 hours to get the quality of meat and veggies that I get from plated or blue apron. Considering a "value" meal from wendy's will run me $10 and I have to drive half an hour to wendy's. $10 a serving for a nice healthy fresh meal that is delivered to my house is a bargain. We are literally looking to move to somewhere that has farmers markets and groceries that aren't from Walmart and no Tom cotton, but for the moment meal delivery services have been great for us in the food desert.

TheRameres

Smartest (4) Funniest (1)

2017-06-26 9:18:31 PM

Fark Blue Apron. Ridiculously overpriced. Can't convince wife to stop getting it. Two meals a week, 4 servings per meal at $65. Half goes to waste because the kids won't touch it. Food is okay. Heavy on the garlic. Get yourself a cookbook and go grocery shopping once a week.

poison_amy

Smartest (4) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:21:40 PM

Hello Fresh was higher quality food and fancier recipes for the money but it's still kind of a hassle. The package is enormous and you have to break it down and store at least two to return to the company to recycle.

I got a coupon to try Blue Apron. Our box for two was cheeseburgers and potato wedges (so, 1/2 pound ordinary ground beef, 2 rolls, a red onion, an ounce of cheese, and a single potato) a pizza (lump of dough, little baggie of cheese, a tomato, a tiny jar of creme fraiche, and a baggie of spinach) and a salad (bag of greens, a handful of walnuts, one chicken thigh, vinaigrette, and a clementine). If i had paid the $60 for that, I would have been livid. It was seriously like $10 worth of groceries.

beezeltown

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:23:44 PM

It does take a few years of regular cooking to really begin to think strategically about a grocery trip in terms of planning a week's menu. I can't imagine the produce is in great shape in those packages, and the proteins could be suspicious, as well.

When I lived in Washington, DC, grocery shopping was an utter pain in the ass. Back home now, in Lexington, KY, it's easy to get to multiple groceries, anytime. No need for a service here, but if one were living in a big city (with awful traffic, parking, crowds, etc) the service would be tempting.

Fat Old Broad

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:30:03 PM

It's so easy to throw together simple meals if you have access to a grocery store.

Salads, soups, pasta, tacos, simple sautees. Or do the crockpot thing. Or buy frozen food and jazz it up with herbs or cheese or extra meat/veg.

Or do the Apron thing if you must. TETO.

Marbleisheavy

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:32:00 PM

FlashHarry: I'm considering it, if only to reduce food waste. I think I might end up saving money in the long run too.

We tried a few of them with the new trial discounts. Hellofresh was better than Blue Apron for us. YMWV based on tastes. Most seem to have a first week or two heavily discounted. Neither was compelling enough for us to stick with.

I would try a few of them and see who has good you like. Hellofresh had better recipe cards that we've made a few times since then. For two of us, we had enough for 3-4 good sized portions. All ingredients were fresh, well packed from both.

Pay very close attention to cancellation requirements and dates. One of them required you to cancel before you received the meals for that week.

A one-pot or meal prep website with recipes would save way more money if you're close to a grocery.

GutFunk

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:33:34 PM

For blue apron... adding to the 99 people saying its too expensive for what its worth. They are aiming for a specific demographic; well off millennials that want to "feel good" about buying food. The food is very overpriced, the recipes usually require both of our sinks to be full of dishes / pans after each recipe, and unless you ate something beforehand youll probably be hungry still. They are also incredibly deceptive about thier free trial... read up on that at the bbb if youre curious. I forgot to mention most recipes take about an hour to make unless you are a very good cook. I will say youd be surprised how well the foid tastes for what little you get.

hubiestubert

Smartest (3) Funniest (1)

2017-06-26 9:33:44 PM

I suppose if you live in a food desert, it's one way to go, and expensive as heck, and really for those who have more money than their ability to cook or research how to cook, or could be bothered to learn to cook. It's essentially a nice way for hobby cooks who don't want to do all that messy learning and actually taking time to get decent ingredients and play a little. But they can pretend that they've got a hobby, and look cool while dumping out their ingredients.

For folks who like the idea of cooking, but not the actual learning, it's great. Which, for folks who consider themselves "foodies" in that they like to take pictures of themselves with food, it's a great option. And it's slightly cheaper than just hiring a chef to prepare meals for you weekly, so it's good for those who like to be shallow on a budget.

/Chef
//Part time caterer
///Thinking about expanding to the personal chef route, because it's CRAZY easy to package stuff and make people look good and feel good without a LOT of effort. And people are willing to drop BANK on that...

Cpl.D

Smartest (7) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:33:59 PM

All right! For once I can speak as an experience Farker in a very important topic.

Blue Apron is a godsend.

I moved in with my girlfriend almost a year ago. She's an accomplished cook, I'm an idiot who did bachelor style "boil the chicken and eat it because f*ck style*" cooking for a long long time. I'm a picky eater and new stuff makes me suspicious.

Blue Apron is amazing. Three meals we get per week, enough food for two people, perfect for us. There's an option for four people as well. Anyway. You get to pick the three for that week well ahead of time. They're always changing up the options because they try to source everything locally and they'll use what's available. The instructions are sufficient for your average garden variety dunderhead like me. They are not complicated dishes to make and they're farking AMAZING.

Some notes:

1.) If you have a backlog of dishes or need to take a vacation, the blue apron system lets you waive a week or more. It isn't a big deal.

2.) Food cost is ~$10 per person per meal. For how good the food is, it's well well well worth it.

3.) Keep the recipe cards because you can make your favorite dishes yourself later. If a recipe comes with a "spice blend" and you wanna know the details, five-star the recipe, and they'll send you additional info, INCLUDING absolutely everything that goes in to those spice blends, and in what proportion. They'll tell you absolutely everything.

4.) Even picky eaters like me are swayed by some of these dishes. I'm picky as f*ck, but there's been all of maybe three dishes I wasn't a super fan of, and none have been disgusting.

5.) It's healthy god damned food.

6.) I never had food show up in bad shape.

7.) I'm literally at my office now, with a big tupperware tub of miso soup I made after a recipe card, with udon noodles, hoisin sauce, bok choy because that shiat is the bomb, and grilled chicken because I didn't want to do a sliced egg. It's only uneaten at the moment because I just got in and I taped the container shut for transport and to delay my eating it.

Subby, get the Blue Apron. It's amazing, it's wonderful, it's opened up entirely new worlds to me, and even to my wonderful girlfriend, it's quality time cooking together, the food is fantastic and I learn something new almost every single time.

Dish:

https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/udon-noodle-soup-with-miso-soft-boiled-eggs

Look. Revel. Get hungry.

stuhayes2010

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:35:47 PM

We used it for a month. Food was great, but the trash of unrecyclable plastics was awful. We quit using it because if that.

McGrits

Smartest (6) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:38:25 PM

People keep using the term food desert for any where in the USA. How is this possible? Get a $100 chest freezer and a food saver (or other vacuum seal device). Whole chickens are less than $1 per pound. A typical 4-lb chicken will feed four over two meals with about $1.50 needed for sides.

Get a 6- lb at $0.99/lb pork butt or shoulder and eat for a week. Just add two onions, one quart stock and one cup flour and some spices. Cook two cups rice. It will take 4 hours to braise but you will eat all week and you can freeze if needed.

/I am not giving all the techniques but just look up country or southern or poor people cooking.
//these food things are scams in the ol' Barnum and Bailey fashion
///no, your time is not that valuable

mongbiohazard

Smartest (0) Funniest (5)

2017-06-26 9:39:06 PM

Mr. Coffee Nerves: Just don't make the same mistake I did and subscribe to the Blue Waffle home delivery.

That's not as bad as the mistake I made. I subscribed to the Blue Velvet service.

Oh shiat, daddy's coming home....

subfactorial

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:43:20 PM

Tried it briefly. Cancelled for reasons that have been stated but just to reiterate:

1) Very time consuming. I like to cook already and know my way around a kitchen. Was just looking for a bit of variety to spice things up and get ideas. Even so I'd spend 90m easy on these things.

2) Magic spice bags. One of the steps would by 'dump in this prepackaged spice thing' FUUU. Tell me what's in it!

3) Packaging waste. This one was rough. They'd basically ship you a mini insulated cooler every week. You can only save so many cold bags before you need to start tossing them and the insulation was pure trash.

So yeah. You're better off with the internet and a little motivation to try something new. Way cheaper too.

findthefish

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:44:33 PM

Blue Apron is pretty good. I have prepared some awesome meals from that company. After awhile the meats tend to repeat and the beef is not that good of quality. However, now you have many other options beyond the basic menu on your next delivery. I stay subscribed, but cancel many deliveries. Lots of package waste to deal with though most is recyclable. For two people each meal is the healthy amount, though you will spend a good hour plus preparing everything.

mongbiohazard

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:44:43 PM

FlashHarry: I'm considering it, if only to reduce food waste. I think I might end up saving money in the long run too.

It's definitely a service for particular people.

Cooking is my wife's hobby. She likes the meal planning, and trying different recipes. It's not for her.

But if you maybe have always wanted to prepare more meals, and try out different recipes - the busy urban aspiring chef - then it seems like a pretty good idea. Or maybe you just work a lot, and appreciate the time saved in planning and shopping, but still get to enjoy cooking your own meals.

There's definitely a niche for it.

hubiestubert

Smartest (7) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:44:50 PM

McGrits: People keep using the term food desert for any where in the USA. How is this possible? Get a $100 chest freezer and a food saver (or other vacuum seal device). Whole chickens are less than $1 per pound. A typical 4-lb chicken will feed four over two meals with about $1.50 needed for sides.

Get a 6- lb at $0.99/lb pork butt or shoulder and eat for a week. Just add two onions, one quart stock and one cup flour and some spices. Cook two cups rice. It will take 4 hours to braise but you will eat all week and you can freeze if needed.

/I am not giving all the techniques but just look up country or southern or poor people cooking.
//these food things are scams in the ol' Barnum and Bailey fashion
///no, your time is not that valuable

...and if you don't have a car, and are relying on public transit? When folks need to budget a two hour block of time to go shopping for food, they are also likely to NOT be able to throw down the space for a chest freezer, or the extra cost of running it, or even purchase the dang thing in the first place.

Then again, those folks aren't looking at getting meals sent to them by even Weight Watchers, let alone something like Blue Apron. They ARE looking to maximize items that have a shelf life, which negates a lot of fresh options. You can eat damn cheap in this country, and you can eat fairly well and cheap, but if you're limited by transportation, it gets tough. Just sayin'...

corinthian66

Smartest (2) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:49:28 PM

I used Mealime for a while. It is a meal planner only so you still have to get the food on your own. They set up a weeks worth of recipes and a shopping list to minimize food waste. It was great when I was single and working in a cubicle. I made enough for dinner and lunch the next day. The meal planner has a good customization feature to suit your taste. If you have some kitchen skills you can tweek the recipes to taste also.

FrancoFile

Smartest (0) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 9:56:27 PM

I like to cook. And I'm pretty good at it. But I do Blue Apron about once a month or so, just to get something different. Here's how I break down the recipes.

1/3 of them, I already know how to do, and could do it better & cheaper (so I customize the recipe selection to avoid those if I can).
1/3 of them are specific ethnic cuisines (mostly Asian) that I don't have a lot of experience with. And you have to be in the mood for buckwheat noodles.
1/3 of them are something that I learn from.

I think their breads are disappointing most of the time, and will customize the recipe selection to avoid recipes with bread.
I think their meats are usually very high-quality - fish, chicken, beef, lamb, pork are all fresh, good quality, and trimmed well.
I like the portion sizes; every once in a while I feel like they cheaped out on me, but generally the portions are just right.
I don't use as much salt as the recipes call for.

TrixieDelite

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 10:08:57 PM

Blue Apron is the bomb, and here's why. It's not just because everything is proportioned, and if you need an egg, they send you an egg. Mostly, it's because I was introduced to new foods that I never would have considered purchasing or preparing otherwise. I made a crisp Cajun catfish with a spicy slaw that was to die for. I also have two very finicky kids, and they both went hog-wild for nearly everything I got from Blue Apron. Ironically, the worst thing we got was the pulled pork sandwich recipe. Just about everything else though was awesome, and if it weren't so damn expensive, I'd renew my membership. With all the discounts they offer for new memberships, it's totally worth giving it a try.

McGrits

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 10:15:07 PM

hubiestubert: McGrits: People keep using the term food desert for any where in the USA. How is this possible? Get a $100 chest freezer and a food saver (or other vacuum seal device). Whole chickens are less than $1 per pound. A typical 4-lb chicken will feed four over two meals with about $1.50 needed for sides.

Get a 6- lb at $0.99/lb pork butt or shoulder and eat for a week. Just add two onions, one quart stock and one cup flour and some spices. Cook two cups rice. It will take 4 hours to braise but you will eat all week and you can freeze if needed.

/I am not giving all the techniques but just look up country or southern or poor people cooking.
//these food things are scams in the ol' Barnum and Bailey fashion
///no, your time is not that valuable

...and if you don't have a car, and are relying on public transit? When folks need to budget a two hour block of time to go shopping for food, they are also likely to NOT be able to throw down the space for a chest freezer, or the extra cost of running it, or even purchase the dang thing in the first place.

Then again, those folks aren't looking at getting meals sent to them by even Weight Watchers, let alone something like Blue Apron. They ARE looking to maximize items that have a shelf life, which negates a lot of fresh options. You can eat damn cheap in this country, and you can eat fairly well and cheap, but if you're limited by transportation, it gets tough. Just sayin'...

Your argument is interesting. Your transportation points make me think a bit but then you counter them with the poor/unaffordable aspect.

Most fridges have freezers, but space can be a premium. Especially with medium to larger families. So I think to understand a basic staple across where people live can help the conversation.

I ask this to all:

What does a 10-lb bag of chicken leg quarters cost where you live? $0.70/lb? $1.00/lb? $1.50/lb?

The follow on question really is how can any of these home delivery things ever compete with a 10-lb bag of food that can be cooked a myriad of ways.

Thosw

Smartest (1) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 10:15:48 PM

My wife does most of the cooking. She enjoys it for the most part, but would like a break every now and then and have me do the cooking. The problem is that I can't cook anything that doesn't come in a box or without a recipe. I basically say "screw it" and we go out.

Having said that, my mother signed up for the trial of Hello Fresh (and had the same issues as others with trying to stop the service and the next box showing up, like, three days after the first one), and gave us one of the boxes because she realized she wasn't going to to cook enough since it's just her.

It was fairly straightforward as far as what to do, and I enjoyed making it happen. The recipes seem to be laid out so things are timed correctly and come together at the end (something else I can't do to save my life).

As far as portions go, you do know that those are actually portioned for normal people, right? If you want to complain about value per portion, then complain about that. No wonder the average American is overweight. (Disclaimer: I'm what is considered "morbidly obese" and, having been attending Weight Watchers for over a year and learning how to moderate portion size as well as food quality, feel that the portions are adequate for an evening meal.)

We've discussed signing up, but I can't justify the cost/hassle of scheduling. I'd be more than happy to actually sign up if we could get a box twice a month, but a lot of these services don't want to do that - probably because it messes with their revenue stream.

So for now, we spend one day a week doing a crapload of cooking for the week and have invested in a lot of plasticware so we can portion out food for lunches and have something to reheat several nights a week.

DO NOT WANT Poster Girl

Smartest (5) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 10:18:34 PM

We tried Blue Apron and ended up cancelling after 2 months. You get only four or five choices and if three of them are unappetizing or unhealthy sounding, you're out of luck.

The cooktime is outrageous too. I'm a very experienced cook and I can whip together delicious meals from scratch in 30 minutes. It helps that I have a huge spice drawer and a lot of staples in stock. But BA was at least 60 mins for prep/execution.

Package waste was insane. Not to mention the inefficiency of shipping a cold pack by courier. Cost was too high for what it was.

For $4 I can buy 2lbs of chicken breasts, cube them, fry and add masala mix, veggies, simmer for 20 mins while rice is cooking in my electric pressure cooker, for about $6 there's food for 4-6 people.

Lunakki

Smartest (3) Funniest (0)

2017-06-26 10:19:32 PM

My husband and I have used Blue Apron for a few months now. Yes, it's more expensive than buying the same things from the grocery store, but it's cheaper than eating out, especially if you get drinks. Plus you can't buy items in that small of a quantity generally, so I'd end up wasting most of it. Probably the nicest thing about it is that we don't have to think about what to eat. Worst case scenario, you shuffle the recipe cards and pick one.

I don't understand all the people who say the portions are too small. They run 600-800 calories a serving, which should be plenty for most people. One of the things I like about it is that you can get a full meal that's not 1000+ calories like in a restaurant, but you still get the variety of new dishes you wouldn't think to try on your own. We often have enough leftovers for lunch for one person, and I've never felt the need to supplement with more food.

I will agree that the packaging leaves something to be desired. The boxes say you can send all the packaging back to them to be recycled for free, but I've not looked into the details. I have gotten squished bread, wilted greens, broken sauce containers, incorrect items, etc. Generally I can work around it, but it is annoying.

IMO the meals don't take any longer to make than you'd spend in a restaurant, especially if you cook them with your spouse. It's a good bonding activity for us. The instructions are very clear, and the results will come out decently even if it uses techniques you aren't familiar with.

I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is pinching pennies or for whom planning meals takes no effort. I would recommend it to someone who has a habit of eating out, wants to cut back, but is too lazy to go through the planning to make it happen.

We also did Plated for a bit, but those took a lot more time and effort to prepare, and we didn't like the food as much.

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