Lately I have been keeping my eye on all of the new up-and-coming food delivery services out there, and when a friend decided to try it and highly recommended one of them, I decided to take the plunge!
So here is why I like the idea of a food delivery service:
1. I have a 1 year-old, and I’m pregnant
The idea that I actually wouldn’t have to think about what to create for dinner is amazing. Meal planning has become more challenging now, and my husband and I find ourselves coming home from work and asking each other what we want for dinner, then we get distracted, then ask again, and so forth and so on until the baby is asleep. We usually end up resorting to cereal, hot dogs, or take-out because by that time we are too tired to make any decisions, much less actually cook. I do still attempt to cook at least once a week, but it is becoming more challenging by the day.
2. Trying new recipes
I seem to get stuck in a rut of going back to the same meals over and over. The internet is filled with millions of recipes, and I just never know where to start to find a new favorite. This is perfect! There is usually some variety among the choices you can pick from, but it isn’t so overwhelming that you don’t know where to start.
2. Reduce food waste
I hate throwing away food, and it always seems like I either cook too much at one time, and we can’t eat it all fast enough, or the ingredients come in such large quantities that I have to throw away the remnants because they go bad before I find another use for them. Cleaning out my fridge is a pain.
3. Possible cost reduction
While this is a long shot because these meals are pretty expensive, it may possibly reduce cost because we may be less likely to go for take out. Also because we will be throwing less away, that may have a monetary effect. It may be hard to tell over a short time period what the difference in cost will be.
4. Healthy meal options
I usually attempt and prefer to eat healthy, but our time constraints tend to make that difficult. Most of the services offer healthy low-cal options for all sorts of dietary preferences – plus they taste great!!
And here is why I don’t like it:
1. It may end up costing more than traditional shopping and cooking
These meals are all pretty pricey. While less pricey than a restaurant meal, you still have to take the time to prepare the food, which so far has taken considerably longer than expected in all cases. Using a free web service like Pepperplate, which allows you to meal plan and creates a grocery list for you based on your planned meals, could be a more effective option overall. I plan on trying this out as well!
2. Food prep takes too long.
When grocery shopping, I tend to spend a little more money to buy my produce already chopped. When I am already pressed for time between diaper changes, bath time, bed-time, and actually spending quality time with my son and husband, chopping is not in my best interest. If the ingredients in the packages came ready to go – prepared and chopped – it would be considerably better. So far, I have only found one service that does this – and they only deliver in California and Nevada, which doesn’t help me. Plus they are loads more expensive than the competitors.
So here is the bottom line
– is it worth it? for me? A middle class, working mom? I am going to try out several different services, compare, and then decide if this is a worthwhile option for my family. I’ll update this post with my results! Here they are….THE RESULTS!
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