I recall reading recently that these box food companies had a bit of a problem for as when people started to use them they learned how to cook themselves and started just buying the ingredients directly from the supermarket.
You might want to go into this thinking of it like you are taking cooking classes. That is, have the attitude of enjoying the process of learning to cook new things rather than as an efficient way of making dinner. Over time, you will likely get the hang of how to prepare things, which ingredients you like, how to cook things in general, and so on. Eventually you’ll be able to go to the store and just buy basic ingredients and whip something together based on whatever you feel like.
If you don’t have a good kitchen setup, make an investment in that. Don’t go crazy expensive, but buy a good knife or two, mixing bowls, cutting board, and stuff like that. Good pots, pans, and ovenware are well worth the money since they can last a lifetime. Get a probe thermometer so you can cook meat perfectly when it’s in the oven. Having a good setup will greatly enhance your cooking experience. It makes it much easier to prepare and stuff will cook much better.
Grocery stores are actually making it really easy to do quick prep. You will often find pre-chopped veggies, marinated meats, sauces, premade rice, lots of pre-cooked frozen ingredients, etc. If you have a little cooking experience, it’s not much trouble to throw together a lot of these semi-prepared foods and end up with a great meal.
Ya, I doubt many of their customers stick with it very long. Like I said, I’ll be doing my own shopping now. They acknowledge on some of the recipe cards that people will do this. “Like the fig-glazed pork tenderloin? Try making it with chicken instead of pork, or cherry jam instead of fig jam”. Or, “Now go make another batch of this aioli for dipping fries.”
My wife and I used Home Chef where we cook it. Not being chefs or interested in cooking, it was interesting for a while but quickly became tedious to us. If you like to cook, as others said, it gives you exactly what you need and pretty decent directions to cook.
Now we get Freshly meals. We love them! Yes, they are only refrigerated and must be eaten within a week or frozen. They do vary the meals but only have about ten to fourteen different ones at a time? They are all around 550 calories a meal. We have had some we don’t like but have never found the quality poor. We get nine suppers and it works out for us. Since we don’t cook and get pre made anyway, this is at least better for us. We hope.
As for packaging, we put everything into recycle. The ice packs, the insulation, the box. They can all be recycled no problem.
A lot of recycling programs aren’t able to find a purchaser for their materials and the stuff ends up in the landfill anyway. If this is an important issue for you, be sure to look into your specific recycling program to see what actually ends up being recycled.
I’ve never used them since we both like to cook too much, and we have an extensive pantry with oils and spices.
However BlueApron sent me recipes (for free) for a while, and I save the ones I liked. I’m not sure I ever made any of them, but I should look through the list.
For variety, find food on sale that week and search for interesting recipes. (We have lots of cookbooks and I sometimes look through them for interesting things.) Sure the first month or so you might spend more on spices, but that settles down.
Also, if you make recipes for four say when you are only a couple, you produce leftovers, a big plus!
I only tried it a couple of times because I don’t have time to cook but I found it useful for one person. When you have more people it is easier to buy in bulk. If I buy ingredients at the store I often will have to eat the same thing for several days because it’s hard to find single servings. For example, I also wanted to try cooking a duck breast and they sent me one duck breast which is great. I found that most leftovers were good the next day.
The PA/OH chain Giant Eagle (different than Giant!) started carrying their own meal prep boxes too. I can’t for the life of me tell if they’re 2- or 4-serving, though.
FYI, you can look at a lot of the recipes online, complete with ingredient lists, etc…
For example:
https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/sweet-chili-saffron-cod-with-garlic-rice-roasted-broccoli
So I would guess that the way you’d get this packaged is as follows:
[ul]
[li]2 cod fillets, vacuum packed.[/li][li]1/2 cup jasmine rice (in a little plastic bag)[/li][li]One Orange[/li][li]One Lime[/li][li]A head of broccoli weighing around a half-pound.[/li][li]One head of garlic[/li][li]A little bottle of sweet chili sauce holding 3 tblsp[/li][li]1/4 cup rice flour in a little plastic bag[/li][li]3 tbsp roasted peanuts in a little plastic bag[/li][li]A pinch of saffron in a little plastic bag.[/li][/ul]
All of the above would be in a bag, along with the other ingredients for the other 3 recipes that week, all in a insulated thing with ice packs, all in a heavy cardboard box.
That’s pretty much how HelloFresh does it, except the meat and seafood are in a separate part of the shipping box below the bagged meal kits, the garlic is peeled and pouched in plastic, and seasonings such as saffron would be in a paper pouch. A thick sauce like sweet chili might be in a foil pouch, or maybe a tiny glass jar.
So does Kroger. I’ve been tempted a few times but have never tried any of these things. The biggest barrier to me is they are all fairly pricey. I get it if someone is not comfortable cooking and needs direction, but I have a family of 4 and my caloric needs are high. I just went and stocked up on 99 cents/lb chicken thighs and 1.99 breasts and i’ll be eating pretty simple recipes this week to get by. Maybe I will try one and eat both servings for my lunch/dinner and reheat at work.
Oh, my god, I’d almost do this just for the cute little jar! That’s a feature not a bug.