Home Meal Delivery Services

[GrantDawg]

How many people have tried home meal services, and what have you tried? With my wife and I semi-empty nesters (my daughter lives here in theory, and my son off to college), we figured we give these a shot. We are trying to eat more healthy, and also make dinners easier.
This week we ordered from Every Plate. It was among the least expensive ($4.99 a serving). It didn't offer much variety as far as diet types (I think they just had like a lower carb option). We did get 13 different menu items to choose from. Anything like steak or salmon had a big upcharge ($3.99 to $5.99), which was excessive. The food came in one box with the ingredients together (though the meat was separate, and put inbetween the ice packs). I have only done one meal so far (Moo Shu Beef Bowl), but it was tasty. Portions were big and filling. It took about 30 minutes to make, and required a good bit of chopping and slicing.
Next week, we are getting Home Chef. We are trying the oven/grill ready options. They require no prep, just put them in the oven or on the grill and bake. Home Chef has way more menu choices and dietary types. It is also almost twice as much or more ($8.99-$12.99 a serving).

Anyone have experience with other services? I am looking for the best quality and quickest at the lowest price. Just trying to find the sweet spot between the three.

[cartman]

I signed up for Home Chef back in February, which was perfect timing. Right before the rush on grocery stores happened.

I've been very happy with the meals. They are easy to prepare, and taste great. Plus you get the list of stuff to buy if you want to make them yourself.

[Atocep]

We tried hello fresh last year and loved the meals, how easy they were to prepare, and how it taught you new things to cook. We stopped using it primarily because it just wasnt working for us. My wife and I were enjoying it, but my son is trying to put on weight so the meals weren't a good fit for his goals and cooking 2 separate meals kind of defeats the purpose of home meal delivery.

[thesloppy]

I hold a deep seated disdain for the meal delivery services, which I think is common for folks who already want to consider themselves home cooks, but in reality it would be perfect for me as I practically never shop properly for ingredients, end up making do with whatever I've got on hand, and suffering for it. The significant extra layer of cost would never settle with me, tho.

[Bee]

Is there one that they come to your house and cook it for you too? That's what I need.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I hold a deep seated disdain for the meal delivery services, which I think is common for folks who already want to consider themselves home cooks, but in reality it would be perfect for me as I practically never shop properly for ingredients, end up making do with whatever I've got on hand, and suffering for it. The significant extra layer of cost would never settle with me, tho.

The cost is the big thing for us as well, but we really needed two things. First, more variety in what we eat. We have a very limited menu of what we can make during the week. Most meals end up being a big meat and maybe one vegetable. I am hoping this will broaden our meals. Plus, choosing meals sucks. Having a menu to choose from instead of pulling it out of the air is going to help. Second, if we don't do something like this we are going to eat out constantly. With just two of us, the "lets just pick up something up" becomes less expensive and more tempting. I am already way too big. I will explode unless we change our diet.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Bee

Is there one that they come to your house and cook it for you too? That's what I need.

Actually, there is one that is two-three minutes heat and eat. It is pricey. Freshly - Home

[stevew]

I just need an app that will tell me what to make for dinner. I'm out of ideas.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

The cost is the big thing for us as well, but we really needed two things. First, more variety in what we eat. We have a very limited menu of what we can make during the week. Most meals end up being a big meat and maybe one vegetable. I am hoping this will broaden our meals. Plus, choosing meals sucks. Having a menu to choose from instead of pulling it out of the air is going to help. Second, if we don't do something like this we are going to eat out constantly. With just two of us, the "lets just pick up something up" becomes less expensive and more tempting. I am already way too big. I will explode unless we change our diet.

All of that totally makes sense, and I find even the basic portioning aspect appealing. Like you say even choosing a weekly menu is a significant 'hidden' hassle, and then trying to properly shop, cook & store it IN PROPER PROPORTIONS becomes some kind of mental Tetris, regardless of whether you're talking about one person or ten.

[ISiddiqui]

We always liked Blue Apron. It has quite a bit of varied cuisines, which teaches us how to do different styles of cooking. It's about $64 for 3 meals for 2 (so 6 meals total). Unfortunately we've had to skip the last few weeks (we used to get it every other week) because FedEx has been so terrible lately and doesn't delivery it on time. And if you don't deliver it on the day, the ice all melts and ruins the box (thankfully - can go to Blue Apron and tell them FedEx can't deliver the box, rather than them delivering it a day or two late and all the meat has thawed).

[NobodyHere]

So here's my experience with Home Chef.

This is the meal I attempted today:

Tuscan Tomato Shrimp with Parmesan (as pictured by Home Chef website)


These are the ingrediants:

Spoiler

This is one of Home Chef's "Oven Ready" recipes which basically means an idiot like me should be able to make it. It's basically mix the noodles with the sauce and the tomatoes and stir it up in the provided baking pan, then place the shrimp on top. After baking then top the pan with the Parmesan. It's an easy recipe to follow.

My result:

Spoiler

The recipe says to bake the meal for 14-16 minutes and I initially did 15. As you might be able to tell from the photo that some of the shrimp was still a little grey. To my knowledge shrimp shouldn't be eaten grey so I let it sit in the oven for a little bit longer and even microwaved it for 30 seconds when I became impatient.

The end meal turned out very well. The tanginess of the tomatoes came through and the noodles were well textured. The shrimp (now pink!) had a good flavor as well.

Overall I'd rate the meal an 8/10


Next up: Spaghetti Bolognese!

[Edward64]

The obvious question is ... are these meals filling?

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

We always liked Blue Apron. It has quite a bit of varied cuisines, which teaches us how to do different styles of cooking. It's about $64 for 3 meals for 2 (so 6 meals total). Unfortunately we've had to skip the last few weeks (we used to get it every other week) because FedEx has been so terrible lately and doesn't delivery it on time. And if you don't deliver it on the day, the ice all melts and ruins the box (thankfully - can go to Blue Apron and tell them FedEx can't deliver the box, rather than them delivering it a day or two late and all the meat has thawed).

Found HelloFresh much better than Blue Apron for two reasons - one because the food just tastes better (but is slightly more unhealthy for that reason) but secondly because their packaging is way more solid and we haven't had a single delivery ruined in the CA heatwave - and it's far more eco-friendly if that matters to you as well.

[GrantDawg]

Will say the two meals we had so far from Every Plate was quite filling. I am curious about Home Chef.

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[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

All of that totally makes sense, and I find even the basic portioning aspect appealing. Like you say even choosing a weekly menu is a significant 'hidden' hassle, and then trying to properly shop, cook & store it IN PROPER PROPORTIONS becomes some kind of mental Tetris, regardless of whether you're talking about one person or ten.

Yup - this. I mean I can get everything needed for a Hello Fresh or Blue Apron meal from the store (typically), but that's just a way to end up with 80% spoilage cooking for two or an overflowing freezer with stuff I'll likely forget is in there and throw out in 5 years.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Will say the two meals we had so far from Every Plate was quite filling. I am curious about Home Chef.

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Thanks, I'll check it out.

[britrock88]

We gave up on Blue Apron because they couldn't reliably seal their chicken packaging, which led to multiple ruined deliveries.

Have been using HelloFresh since and are content with it. We come from the perspective of both enjoying cooking/eating, but being a two-professional household that's probably pretty pooped by the time we need to cook dinner on a weeknight. It works well in that sense.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Found HelloFresh much better than Blue Apron for two reasons - one because the food just tastes better (but is slightly more unhealthy for that reason) but secondly because their packaging is way more solid and we haven't had a single delivery ruined in the CA heatwave - and it's far more eco-friendly if that matters to you as well.

If the Blue Apron box actually gets to us on the day it was scheduled, it won't be ruined in the slightest. It's only if it's late. Which is good, because then we can point BA to FedEx not delivering due to damage (because they waited too long to deliver something with food in it!).

FedEx has been decidedly poor in the Atlanta region lately. There have been local news stories on the massive delays.

[GrantDawg]

And as you say this, my Home Chef delivery that is supposed to be today has been pushed to tomorrow by Fed Ex.

[GrantDawg]

As an update on Every Plate: We did our original four meals, and would give them 3.5 to 4 stars. Ingredients were of good quality, at least Kroger level. The recipes where easy enough to follow, though I will say they could be pretty involved. All meals took 30-40 minutes. For the price, it was a real winner.

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[GrantDawg]

Two meals into Home Chef, and I am not overly impressed. The meals are easier, but still require some assembly. The quality is good, but not spectacular. Considering it is twice the price, it is definitely not worth it. I think I am going to stick with Every Plate.

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[NobodyHere]

So right now I'm trying Factor75. It's a home meal delivery service. The food is pre-packaged so no cooking involved. I think it falls under the HelloFresh umbrella.

And so far I am underwhelmed. They give you a 50% discount first box and servings are still between $6 to $7. The food is decent but not close to being worth the price. And there's absolutely no way I am paying full price for these meals.

Anyone else have experience with them?

[Vegas Vic]

My wife and I occasionally use Hello Fresh. The meals are not prepackaged. They only ship you the ingredients. The big advantage in my opinion is that to go to the store and purchase all of these items (especially some of the herbs and other relatively obscure ingredients) would make the meals fairly expensive to prepare. They're able to ship these at a low cost because they've bought everything in bulk and pass the savings along to the customer.

[flere-imsaho]

What kind of obscure ingredients?

[MJ4H]

We've looked at these and the problem is we can't find a service that provides meals for 3 people. It's either 2 or 4. 4 is way more expensive and too much, and 2 is just not enough.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

So right now I'm trying Factor75. It's a home meal delivery service. The food is pre-packaged so no cooking involved. I think it falls under the HelloFresh umbrella.

And so far I am underwhelmed. They give you a 50% discount first box and servings are still between $6 to $7. The food is decent but not close to being worth the price. And there's absolutely no way I am paying full price for these meals.

Anyone else have experience with them?

I have not. It is funny my last post was sort of negative Home Chef, but it is actually the service I have used the most. We have tried a few, and this is my opinion on each:
1. Every Plate: Best prices by far of the home delivery. The negative is you are getting completely on prepared ingredients where you have to do all the measuring, chopping, and cooking. You even have to sort the ingredients out of the box. Ingredients are very cheap/low end. Basically every meal is half rice or half potatoes. No low carb options.
2. Hello Fresh: Generally better selection of ingredients than Every Plate (same company), but still heavy on starches/carbs. Claims to have low carb choices, but you will be lucky once again to find a meal without rice/potatoes. Kits come divide in the box, so no hunting ingredients. Much better ingredient quality. Still a good bit of cutting and sitting over the stove.
3. Home Chef: Meals well divided. Usually several low carb/keto type choices, as well as a better selection of healthy choices. The best thing about Home Chef if the "oven ready" and "fast and fresh" and "express" meals. Way easier than the other kits to make, but still very good. At $9.99 a meal, basically the same price as Hello, Fresh.


We also did emeals for a good while. That one is just a recipe suggestion one, but then you can push a button and will fill your online cart for a local grocery store. That with Kroger pickup was a good time saver. Cost about $10 a month if I remember correctly. The weakness with it was the fact you had to over buy many ingredients at the grocery store, so there was a good bit of waste. Also, most meals were still pretty time and labor consuming.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

We've looked at these and the problem is we can't find a service that provides meals for 3 people. It's either 2 or 4. 4 is way more expensive and too much, and 2 is just not enough.

With Simon home. that's what we are dealing with now. Since we are doing more calorie restricted meals, we are just buying the 4. Simon eats two portions. Oh, to be 19 again.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

We've looked at these and the problem is we can't find a service that provides meals for 3 people. It's either 2 or 4. 4 is way more expensive and too much, and 2 is just not enough.

This is the exact problem we've had. We tried Hello Fresh and genuinely liked it the best of the home meal kits we've tried. It's just difficult to justify when you're cooking for 3. Especially when the 3rd is constantly trying to put on weight during his offseason or maintain weight during the season.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I have not. It is funny my last post was sort of negative Home Chef, but it is actually the service I have used the most. We have tried a few, and this is my opinion on each:
1. Every Plate: Best prices by far of the home delivery. The negative is you are getting completely on prepared ingredients where you have to do all the measuring, chopping, and cooking. You even have to sort the ingredients out of the box. Ingredients are very cheap/low end. Basically every meal is half rice or half potatoes. No low carb options.
2. Hello Fresh: Generally better selection of ingredients than Every Plate (same company), but still heavy on starches/carbs. Claims to have low carb choices, but you will be lucky once again to find a meal without rice/potatoes. Kits come divide in the box, so no hunting ingredients. Much better ingredient quality. Still a good bit of cutting and sitting over the stove.
3. Home Chef: Meals well divided. Usually several low carb/keto type choices, as well as a better selection of healthy choices. The best thing about Home Chef if the "oven ready" and "fast and fresh" and "express" meals. Way easier than the other kits to make, but still very good. At $9.99 a meal, basically the same price as Hello, Fresh.


We also did emeals for a good while. That one is just a recipe suggestion one, but then you can push a button and will fill your online cart for a local grocery store. That with Kroger pickup was a good time saver. Cost about $10 a month if I remember correctly. The weakness with it was the fact you had to over buy many ingredients at the grocery store, so there was a good bit of waste. Also, most meals were still pretty time and labor consuming.

I think Hello Fresh is great if you're wanting to learn how to cook or expand your cooking ability. The ingredients and recipes are great and the quality is very good.

If you're a single guy or a busy husband/wife Home Chef isn't a bad choice. The meals are quick and easy to make, but the quality is definitely a tier below Hello Fresh IMO.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

So right now I'm trying Factor75. It's a home meal delivery service. The food is pre-packaged so no cooking involved. I think it falls under the HelloFresh umbrella.

And so far I am underwhelmed. They give you a 50% discount first box and servings are still between $6 to $7. The food is decent but not close to being worth the price. And there's absolutely no way I am paying full price for these meals.

Anyone else have experience with them?

I tried them like 6 months ago. Similar deal (I think it was 6 meals for $20).

The food was fine. I liked them because they offered some meals I would never cook on my own or find in the frozen food aisle. And some of them were healthy and I figure I should be eating a few more veggies.

My biggest issue is the cost. I'd be fine at $5-$6 each, but after the promo, it jumps to $12-$15 each. That wouldn't be bad if they were big meals, but most clock in at around 400-500 calories. That's not even a full meal for an adult.