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Meal Kits -- anybody subscribe?

dawnmarch

dawnmarch

Pollywog
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We get 2 meal kits a week from HomeChef. I like them but I've been thinking about trying something new just for a change. Anybody have experience with other meal kits and recommend (or don't) any of them?
 
I really like the quality of Sunbasket, but they have gone up in price and I've been skipping lots of deliveries. In addition to the meal kits, they also have ready to heat individual meals, which work really well for me.
 
elseepe said:
I really like the quality of Sunbasket, but they have gone up in price and I've been skipping lots of deliveries. In addition to the meal kits, they also have ready to heat individual meals, which work really well for me.
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That's one I've been considering so glad you like it. I think the cost of everything has gone up! But cooking from scratch is one way to control costs, for sure.
 
We're really considering "Hello Fresh" - it's just the two of us and it might give us some different food options.
 
Cherylndesigns said:
We're really considering "Hello Fresh" - it's just the two of us and it might give us some different food options.
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We did Hello Fresh for a while. Great selection but we ran into issues with the freshness of the veggies (ironically, given the name). This was several years ago, tho, so I'm not sure if that's changed.
 
dawnmarch said:
We did Hello Fresh for a while. Great selection but we ran into issues with the freshness of the veggies (ironically, given the name). This was several years ago, tho, so I'm not sure if that's changed.
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Good to know - we haven't decided to try it yet. There are so many choices out there.
 
Personally I’ve never used them for a number of reasons…cost (I can do all my meals and snacks which include dietary restrictions for less than half of what the meal kits cost); dietary restrictions (I can get gluten free but not lactose free in the same meal); number of serves (to get the GF meal option I’d be having to order a 5 day meal kit for 4 people….I’m only cooking for one!).

I personally prefer doing meal planning, meal prep and in person grocery shopping….I know I’m strange but it’s the best way to stretch my budget given I pay more for certain items.
 
Here in Sweden those meal kits gets way more expensive than doing the shopping yourself. I guess I would consider it though, if I needed to save time, but I'm just working part time and have all the time I need to do the planning & shopping myself.
 
I don't do meal plan subscriptions either. We plan our meals out for the week and then shop for only the stuff we need. I look for sales on Chicken Breasts etc. I can get a package of 6 skinless Chicken breasts at 1.99/pound and get 12 meals + 3 nights of soup out of it! Hubby and I share a chicken breast per meal and so we grill up 2 at a time and we will have the grilled chicken breast on salad or something else for dinner for 2 nights + Thursday soup night. I really think the meal plan subscriptions are very expensive and all you need is a good cookbook and a few ingredients for an inexpensive and delicious meal.
 
I am in the UK and we have done Hello Fresh. Had a few issues with them not putting fresh items like herbs and salad items that need to be chilled in the actual chilled bag/with the other refrigerated food for delivery and a few problems with things being missing. Their customer service to resolve things wasn't that hot.

Some of the meals were nice, some of them were quite basic. We didn't stick with the subscription but used it in ebbs and flows as and when we fancied a change and we did end up finding a few favourite meals that we have ended up working into our weekly family meals when outside of the subscription. It's nice that you have the recipe cards, i have a little stash of our faves.

It was nice for a change but we didn't stick with it.
 
cfile said:
I really think the meal plan subscriptions are very expensive and all you need is a good cookbook and a few ingredients for an inexpensive and delicious meal.
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I agree totally, I’d rather invest in a few specialty cookbooks that I would use regularly than do the weekly meal delivery services.
 
cfile said:
I really think the meal plan subscriptions are very expensive and all you need is a good cookbook and a few ingredients for an inexpensive and delicious meal.
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Oh, totally agree. One thing I have come to accept about myself, though, is that I am not a planner and I do not love to cook so I really appreciate having two meals a week that I don't have to think about -- they are just ready to go. But you are definitely paying for that convenience.
 
We did Hello Fresh for a while. We had a 3 meal subscription and found we could stretch the meals for two people to easily feed three of us, and DD (20) would enjoy taking turns cooking. It's nice not to have to think about what's for dinner, sometimes that feels relentless. And it was really good for reducing the amount of times we had to go to the supermarket during Covid lockdowns when there were restrictions on customer numbers and queues.
 
We have tried almost all of them... our favorites were hello fresh and every plate which we found are owned by same company. Every plate was our all time favorite..and actually cheapest. ...but all had issues.. sometimes things would be missing or food would arrive late or spoiled..or even wrong food selection...

I now kinda just go through ads and than make menus based on what's on sale..works for us...
 
I've thought about trying a local subscription service because I'm the worst meal planner ever but I can't decide if my kids would eat any of the meals.
 
umyesh said:
I've thought about trying a local subscription service because I'm the worst meal planner ever but I can't decide if my kids would eat any of the meals.
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We did HelloFresh for a while because they had kid friendly meals but ended up stopping because there seemed to always be something my pickiest kid wouldn't eat. Now we are empty nesters and hubby and I eat just about everything (plus less incentive to cook) so it works again.
 
I haven't tried any. With all the food preferences and food allergies in my family, I'm skeptical they'd be a good deal for us. Plus, the idea of perishable food sitting, waiting, in a box on my west-facing porch bothers me. Though I did order organic meat via online order a couple of times around 2008. But now I think "yikes!"
 
I'm a vegetarian who lives with meat-eaters, which makes meal planning a bit tricky. We tried Hello Fresh (vegetarian option) for a while, and though we really liked the meals, and I really liked the service (no missing items, everything properly refrigerated), I just couldn't justify the price.

That said, I think meal kits are a great option for those who don't have the time to plan, shop, prep, cook...or who just need a break from cooking! As @LynnG puts it, it's relentless (turns out people expect to be fed every single day! and honestly, I don't know how my mother did it...).

I'm still kicking myself for not saving the Hello Fresh recipe card for a sweet potato curry that my son really loved. Have tried to replicate it, but never get it quite right.
 
mary kate said:
I'm a vegetarian who lives with meat-eaters, which makes meal planning a bit tricky. We tried Hello Fresh (vegetarian option) for a while, and though we really liked the meals

I'm still kicking myself for not saving the Hello Fresh recipe card for a sweet potato curry that my son really loved. Have tried to replicate it, but never get it quite right.
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If you go to the website and search around a bit, all the recipes are there!! BONUS!
 
We tried Hello Fresh for 2 months. First problem (missing ingredient) = reduction in price of next box.
Second problem (also a missing key ingredient, Christmas Eve special order meal kit) = could not reach until after holiday, offered us $8 off next box.
We dropped our subscription for 2 years.
Tried it again after a break. Our third week back, a raw chicken package leaked all over the inside of one meal bag and contaminated several items.

I still make a few of the recipes, just by purchasing the ingredients myself. The ideas were nice.
 
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