Delivered ingredients worth it?
June 1, 2015 2:11 PM Subscribe
I'm somewhat interested in the ingredient delivery systems like Plated or Blue Apron. I am not a busy mom, just a person who wants inspiration and is sick of throwing away leftover ingredients or looking at a nearly full jar of cream of tartar in my pantry.
Are these systems worth the money? Which is the best? Am I just a sucker for pretty packaging? Will my picky vegetarian-ness be an issue? I do hate grocery shopping, and I think this would push me to cook healthier meals. My very practical husband is suspicious about anything that arrives at our front door in a chilled box. What experiences have you had, for better or worse?
Are these systems worth the money? Which is the best? Am I just a sucker for pretty packaging? Will my picky vegetarian-ness be an issue? I do hate grocery shopping, and I think this would push me to cook healthier meals. My very practical husband is suspicious about anything that arrives at our front door in a chilled box. What experiences have you had, for better or worse?
How picky are you?
I really love Blue Apron (and I liked Plated, but BA was a smidge cheaper for 3 meals instead of 2), and it's how my husband learned to cook. And even though our budget's a little tight now, I still get a box one or two weeks a month just because I know he can cook those without getting too overwhelmed.
My primary complaint is that sometimes their spice mixtures are a) heavy on thyme and I absolutely loathe thyme, b) are meant to be used "to taste" and are kind of stealth spicy especially if you use too much. But generally he brings me any spice mixes and I sniff them and tell him how much to use, and problem solved. He'll eat anything, so it doesn't matter to him.
I don't mind having my menu dictated, and I'm a pretty adventurous eater (or I thought I was, but to be honest there's probably 20 things I'd rarely/never had before that are now in our regular rotation, like kale and parsnips and dukkah and pearl barley and homemade ramen). Every once in a while I review an upcoming week and I'm like meh, but more often I'm kind of sad that they don't really ever re-use a menu. There are some meals that we re-make ourselves from the recipe cards, they were so good.
The BA videos are useful and the comments are often worth reviewing before making a recipe as customers often point out a tricky step or make a suggestion (like a recent recipe that had an amaaaazing asparagus salad but they only gave us like 8 stalks of asparagus, and users suggested picking up an extra bunch at the store - it's really rare that I ever feel shorted, though, even though most recipes cap around 700 calories).
I've gotten vegetarian weeks from both services just a couple of times and they were great even to this omnivore.
We are kind of lazy and sometimes the box sits for an extra day after delivery and everything is still in the safe zone. All the packaging materials are recyclable or biodegradable.
If you want to memail me an email address, I can send you a free (2 meals for 2 people) week.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:39 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
I really love Blue Apron (and I liked Plated, but BA was a smidge cheaper for 3 meals instead of 2), and it's how my husband learned to cook. And even though our budget's a little tight now, I still get a box one or two weeks a month just because I know he can cook those without getting too overwhelmed.
My primary complaint is that sometimes their spice mixtures are a) heavy on thyme and I absolutely loathe thyme, b) are meant to be used "to taste" and are kind of stealth spicy especially if you use too much. But generally he brings me any spice mixes and I sniff them and tell him how much to use, and problem solved. He'll eat anything, so it doesn't matter to him.
I don't mind having my menu dictated, and I'm a pretty adventurous eater (or I thought I was, but to be honest there's probably 20 things I'd rarely/never had before that are now in our regular rotation, like kale and parsnips and dukkah and pearl barley and homemade ramen). Every once in a while I review an upcoming week and I'm like meh, but more often I'm kind of sad that they don't really ever re-use a menu. There are some meals that we re-make ourselves from the recipe cards, they were so good.
The BA videos are useful and the comments are often worth reviewing before making a recipe as customers often point out a tricky step or make a suggestion (like a recent recipe that had an amaaaazing asparagus salad but they only gave us like 8 stalks of asparagus, and users suggested picking up an extra bunch at the store - it's really rare that I ever feel shorted, though, even though most recipes cap around 700 calories).
I've gotten vegetarian weeks from both services just a couple of times and they were great even to this omnivore.
We are kind of lazy and sometimes the box sits for an extra day after delivery and everything is still in the safe zone. All the packaging materials are recyclable or biodegradable.
If you want to memail me an email address, I can send you a free (2 meals for 2 people) week.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:39 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
My experience with Blue Apron is that it is very high quality ingredients, interesting choices, but a little too complex for my skills and energy-level. If you are a gourmet novice/adept it would be perfect--for my non-zester-having-ass everything took 50% longer than it was supposed to and ended up being way more work than slapping some chicken on the pan.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:41 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:41 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
How to recycle your Blue Apron box
The gel inside the ice packs is not recyclable or compostable, but is nontoxic.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:41 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
The gel inside the ice packs is not recyclable or compostable, but is nontoxic.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:41 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have not used Blue Apron or Plated, but I had the same questions when I was meeting friends who had recently subscribed. They were happy with both services, but had a preference for Plated because of customization/choices. One of the more compelling benefits that they mentioned was the fact that the ingredients were all appropriately sized and that they weren't facing as much spoilage in their fridge/pantry as a result; but ethidda raises a good point about the environmental footprint of the packaging. Would it be possible to mail the packaging back to the vendor for reuse?
Overall, wrt to "is it worth the money" -- it's more expensive than grocery shopping but less expensive than eating out (your mileage will, of course, vary. I find that eating out in Boston tends to run at least $15-$20/person if you're aiming for something comparable to the entrees that Plated provides)
I personally enjoy grocery shopping and letting my meals be dictated by what inspirations I find at the store/farmer's market; but I feel like if that's the primary complaint then perhaps an online grocery delivery service like FreshDirect or Peapod would be more suitable?
posted by bl1nk at 2:44 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Overall, wrt to "is it worth the money" -- it's more expensive than grocery shopping but less expensive than eating out (your mileage will, of course, vary. I find that eating out in Boston tends to run at least $15-$20/person if you're aiming for something comparable to the entrees that Plated provides)
I personally enjoy grocery shopping and letting my meals be dictated by what inspirations I find at the store/farmer's market; but I feel like if that's the primary complaint then perhaps an online grocery delivery service like FreshDirect or Peapod would be more suitable?
posted by bl1nk at 2:44 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I have not used Blue Apron but wanted to suggest trying out a meal planning service instead of an ingredient delivery service. It would solve the problem of lack of inspiration and leftover ingredients at a significantly lower cost. Meal planning services provide a shopping list and weekly recipes. If you buy everything on the list you'll have enough to make all the recipes without much waste. Plus you get to try making different things each week.
A lot of the services are customizable, so you can get vegetarian only options, a set number of servings, ban disliked ingredients, etc. I use Mealime and really enjoy it. But there are other options such as eMeals or The Fresh 20. I believe all three of the ones I've listed provide a free trial if you'd like to try it out. I tried all three and went with Mealime since it fit my needs the best.
posted by Arbac at 2:50 PM on June 1, 2015 [19 favorites]
A lot of the services are customizable, so you can get vegetarian only options, a set number of servings, ban disliked ingredients, etc. I use Mealime and really enjoy it. But there are other options such as eMeals or The Fresh 20. I believe all three of the ones I've listed provide a free trial if you'd like to try it out. I tried all three and went with Mealime since it fit my needs the best.
posted by Arbac at 2:50 PM on June 1, 2015 [19 favorites]
I had a Plated subscription all spring and I loved it. I liked the variety of choices and that it encouraged me to try recipes I wouldn't have thought of on my own. Every single thing I made was delicious, too. However, if you're looking as it as an option to replace normal grocery shopping, it's expensive - Plated is $12 per serving, so $24 per meal for me and my husband. I used it during chemotherapy when I was feeling too tired to deal with grocery shopping or restaurants, and looked at it more as replacing meals where we would normally have gotten takeout. With that viewpoint it seemed like a good value. I cancelled it as soon as chemo ended, though; for regular life it seems a bit spendy.
And yeah, the packaging is very, very wasteful. You can recycle the box and they give you instructions for ice pack disposal, but even so every single ingredient is individually packaged and you've got styrofoam and other insulation in there too. It's a lot.
posted by something something at 3:02 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
And yeah, the packaging is very, very wasteful. You can recycle the box and they give you instructions for ice pack disposal, but even so every single ingredient is individually packaged and you've got styrofoam and other insulation in there too. It's a lot.
posted by something something at 3:02 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh, addendum: there was a lot of frying. Much more frying than I would do on my own. I think the Plated meals were actually less healthy, at least calorie and fat-wise, than the type of food I would normally make.
posted by something something at 3:03 PM on June 1, 2015
posted by something something at 3:03 PM on June 1, 2015
We tried Plated for a couple of months, and only stopped because it was really expensive compared to our usual grocery bill. ($12 per plate with a 2-plate minimum on orders, on top of doing usual breakfast/lunch shopping.) Literally the only complaint I have. No vegetarians in our household so I can't comment on their selection/menu-specialization, but I think I recall seeing that you can set a preference.
* Quality of ingredients was always high, and nothing was ever missing.
* Portion sizes were great and really helped us recalibrate what "healthy" means.
* Having the correct pre-measured amount of ingredients was a huge thing for us. I do miss this when I realize there's no sour cream or white wine or whatever in the house.
* Calorie counts were always present - definitely appreciated this. The meals we chose ranged from 500-700 per plate.
* We got to cook with a lot of ingredients we never otherwise would have chosen, and it made us more adventurous/brave in the kitchen.
* Instructions that came with the meals were very clear, and we have them saved in our own recipe folder now.
In all that time there was one delivery that ended up being a day late and it was due to Fedex/UPS/whatever it was they used being stupid. It didn't impact us at all so I didn't pursue this with Plated, but from what I heard they're very good about working with you and reimbursing your account if it's a problem.
If money isn't a problem I think it's worth trying something like this out, just because it does get you working with new recipes and foodstuffs that you wouldn't normally approach. If I ever had an option to do something like this again I'd probably go for a service that could wrangle breakfasts and lunches in as well, just to eliminate grocery runs once and for all.
posted by erratic meatsack at 3:04 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
* Quality of ingredients was always high, and nothing was ever missing.
* Portion sizes were great and really helped us recalibrate what "healthy" means.
* Having the correct pre-measured amount of ingredients was a huge thing for us. I do miss this when I realize there's no sour cream or white wine or whatever in the house.
* Calorie counts were always present - definitely appreciated this. The meals we chose ranged from 500-700 per plate.
* We got to cook with a lot of ingredients we never otherwise would have chosen, and it made us more adventurous/brave in the kitchen.
* Instructions that came with the meals were very clear, and we have them saved in our own recipe folder now.
In all that time there was one delivery that ended up being a day late and it was due to Fedex/UPS/whatever it was they used being stupid. It didn't impact us at all so I didn't pursue this with Plated, but from what I heard they're very good about working with you and reimbursing your account if it's a problem.
If money isn't a problem I think it's worth trying something like this out, just because it does get you working with new recipes and foodstuffs that you wouldn't normally approach. If I ever had an option to do something like this again I'd probably go for a service that could wrangle breakfasts and lunches in as well, just to eliminate grocery runs once and for all.
posted by erratic meatsack at 3:04 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've been using Blue Apron for about 3 months and really enjoy it. My partner and I both work and enjoy cooking and eating good food. Blue Apron is at a reasonable price point and has simplified my life. I think the food is overall very good so far.
I also hate wasting food and it has remedied the problem of the chronic queso fresco going bad on the third shelf of the fridge.
Recommend.
posted by emmatrotsky at 3:04 PM on June 1, 2015
I also hate wasting food and it has remedied the problem of the chronic queso fresco going bad on the third shelf of the fridge.
Recommend.
posted by emmatrotsky at 3:04 PM on June 1, 2015
...from what I heard they're very good about working with you and reimbursing your account if it's a problem.
This is true - I had a delivery show up very late on a hot day and, although it wasn't their fault at all, Plated credited the cost of the entire order to my account.
posted by something something at 3:05 PM on June 1, 2015
This is true - I had a delivery show up very late on a hot day and, although it wasn't their fault at all, Plated credited the cost of the entire order to my account.
posted by something something at 3:05 PM on June 1, 2015
I'm also a big fan of Blue Apron, and am heartily enjoying my vegetarian dinner right now - fregola sarda pasta with snap peas, oyster mushrooms, ramps, walnuts and mint. I live in a place where I can recycle all of the packaging, though, and otherwise might feel more guilty about it than I do. It got me back into cooking during a period when I was too busy to do meal planning + grocery shopping + cooking, but could easily handle 30 minutes of cooking a few nights a week. I find that the vegetarian menus often give me more than 2 servings of food.
Memail me your name and email address if you want a free week (3 meals x 2 servings each). Or anyone else - they keep refilling my stock of 'em, I've been using it so long.
posted by amelioration at 3:07 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Memail me your name and email address if you want a free week (3 meals x 2 servings each). Or anyone else - they keep refilling my stock of 'em, I've been using it so long.
posted by amelioration at 3:07 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Upon rereading your question: I have to ask what skill level are you at? My husband is the awesome cook in the family, and we are able to cook a ton of things ourselves (easily) and don't have trouble following most recipes. (We also cook vegetarian.)
But if you have "a jar of cream of tartar in the fridge" (because unless there's another cream of tartar, it is a white powder used to stabilize egg whites when you beat them, e.g., to make meringues, and it doesn't really go bad), then you might benefit from something like Blue Apron that would teach you how to cook. My sister did not know how to cook, but has been learning a lot from Blue Apron and has a lot of fun with it. My mother reaps the benefit of eating the meals. So you can see it as a combo of food/convenience/tuition for cooking classes, and maybe that would make it worthwhile.
I looked at some of the recipes and they looked pretty basic, not something I would want to pay a premium to try. But I do have pretty strong opinions about what I want to eat next, so if you're looking for inspiration, it might be exactly what you want.
posted by ethidda at 3:35 PM on June 1, 2015
But if you have "a jar of cream of tartar in the fridge" (because unless there's another cream of tartar, it is a white powder used to stabilize egg whites when you beat them, e.g., to make meringues, and it doesn't really go bad), then you might benefit from something like Blue Apron that would teach you how to cook. My sister did not know how to cook, but has been learning a lot from Blue Apron and has a lot of fun with it. My mother reaps the benefit of eating the meals. So you can see it as a combo of food/convenience/tuition for cooking classes, and maybe that would make it worthwhile.
I looked at some of the recipes and they looked pretty basic, not something I would want to pay a premium to try. But I do have pretty strong opinions about what I want to eat next, so if you're looking for inspiration, it might be exactly what you want.
posted by ethidda at 3:35 PM on June 1, 2015
I use Blue Apron. Here is why it's worth it to me:
1. No time wasted grocery shopping.
2. No money wasted buying exotic ingredients I'll use once. I live in an expensive part of a major U.S. city, so this is nontrivial.
3. No food waste.
4. Minimal prep time. The typical recipe takes about 30 minutes to prepare.
5. I control what ingredients go in, and how much of anything.
6. Excellent for nights when I want a real meal for dinner. In my neck of the woods, a meal of this calibre would be $20/person easily, and take much more time with driving and waiting time, parking, etc. Much quicker and healthier than restaurant food.
posted by Atrahasis at 3:38 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
1. No time wasted grocery shopping.
2. No money wasted buying exotic ingredients I'll use once. I live in an expensive part of a major U.S. city, so this is nontrivial.
3. No food waste.
4. Minimal prep time. The typical recipe takes about 30 minutes to prepare.
5. I control what ingredients go in, and how much of anything.
6. Excellent for nights when I want a real meal for dinner. In my neck of the woods, a meal of this calibre would be $20/person easily, and take much more time with driving and waiting time, parking, etc. Much quicker and healthier than restaurant food.
posted by Atrahasis at 3:38 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
I have been doing Blue Apron for quite a while now. Here's my take on your questions.
Are these systems worth the money?
Yes. You can eat for cheaper by doing your own grocery shopping and planning inexpensive meals, but it would be difficult to eat the *same* stuff for cheaper. There's no way I could buy a restaurant meal of comparable quality for $10, taking into account tip, at least not where I live.
Will my picky vegetarian-ness be an issue?
I am an omnivore, but I have been selecting more and more of Blue Apron's vegetarian meals. For one, I am picky about the quality of meat, and I haven't liked Blue Apron's steaks that much. And I am tired of salmon. So every time there is steak or salmon on the menu, I pick one or more vegetarian meals. I think they have been really good.
Also, you don't have to get it every single week. You just skip any weeks you aren't interested in.
The packaging was my biggest concern, too. But boxes can be reused, and then recycled. Icepacks can also be reused, or donated, or emptied down the drain and recycled.
It's easier, and it's delightful!
posted by pizzazz at 4:13 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Are these systems worth the money?
Yes. You can eat for cheaper by doing your own grocery shopping and planning inexpensive meals, but it would be difficult to eat the *same* stuff for cheaper. There's no way I could buy a restaurant meal of comparable quality for $10, taking into account tip, at least not where I live.
Will my picky vegetarian-ness be an issue?
I am an omnivore, but I have been selecting more and more of Blue Apron's vegetarian meals. For one, I am picky about the quality of meat, and I haven't liked Blue Apron's steaks that much. And I am tired of salmon. So every time there is steak or salmon on the menu, I pick one or more vegetarian meals. I think they have been really good.
Also, you don't have to get it every single week. You just skip any weeks you aren't interested in.
The packaging was my biggest concern, too. But boxes can be reused, and then recycled. Icepacks can also be reused, or donated, or emptied down the drain and recycled.
It's easier, and it's delightful!
posted by pizzazz at 4:13 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think Blue Apron definitely be worth a try for you. We've had it for almost a year now, and skip about 1/3 of the weeks based on the upcoming menu. (You get a preview a couple weeks ahead of time so you can to decide to skip it doesn't appeal to you or you will be out of town.)
It will definitely help on the hate-grocery-shopping and inspiring new recipes. The vegetarian meals are usually very good even to our carnivorous family. We love trying the new ingredients and techniques that we never would have come up with on our own.
I don't think the packaging is that big of a problem, I recycle just about all of it.
As someone above mentioned, you will want to invest in a zester though!
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 4:19 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
It will definitely help on the hate-grocery-shopping and inspiring new recipes. The vegetarian meals are usually very good even to our carnivorous family. We love trying the new ingredients and techniques that we never would have come up with on our own.
I don't think the packaging is that big of a problem, I recycle just about all of it.
As someone above mentioned, you will want to invest in a zester though!
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 4:19 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
You can also use the side of a box grater (for cheese) with a piece of plastic wrap on top! Keeps all the yummy zest from clinging in between the grates.
posted by rubster at 4:25 PM on June 1, 2015
posted by rubster at 4:25 PM on June 1, 2015
I have used both Plated and Blue Apron. I like them, but I find that after about 2-3 deliveries I get frustrated with the price markup compared to just buying the ingredients myself, and so I pause or cancel and go back to cooking on my own.
I prefer Plated, both because you can pick exactly which meals you want to have delivered and because their recipes are pretty easy to make again on your own. Blue Apron gives you less flexibility in the meals you'll receive and tends to add one weird, hard-to-find ingredient to each recipe, probably in hopes that you won't try to revisit old recipes and will just keep ordering from them! So if you're interested in collecting recipes to make again by yourself, Plated might be the better option. (Some examples of what I mean by hard-to-find Blue Apron ingredients: saba, einkorn, coconut cream powder, tom yum paste.) Both of them send really delicious recipes, though - I don't think I ever had one I wasn't pleased with.
Both of them are very easy to use for vegetarians - I've had a number of great vegetarian meals from each service (as well as great meat-based meals from both, too). I did find that the Blue Apron vegetarian meals were frequently huge, way more than the two servings advertised, so your chance of having leftovers from them is high. Plated meals were generally much closer to the advertised two servings (sometimes three) and Blue Apron meat-based meals were generally also in the 2-3 servings range.
Both services have a focus on local, sustainable ingredients, and I've never had any complaints about the quality of the ingredients I've received. The downsides are really just cost (it's more expensive than doing your own grocery shopping, but cheaper than eating out) and the amount of packaging involved.
posted by jessypie at 4:28 PM on June 1, 2015
I prefer Plated, both because you can pick exactly which meals you want to have delivered and because their recipes are pretty easy to make again on your own. Blue Apron gives you less flexibility in the meals you'll receive and tends to add one weird, hard-to-find ingredient to each recipe, probably in hopes that you won't try to revisit old recipes and will just keep ordering from them! So if you're interested in collecting recipes to make again by yourself, Plated might be the better option. (Some examples of what I mean by hard-to-find Blue Apron ingredients: saba, einkorn, coconut cream powder, tom yum paste.) Both of them send really delicious recipes, though - I don't think I ever had one I wasn't pleased with.
Both of them are very easy to use for vegetarians - I've had a number of great vegetarian meals from each service (as well as great meat-based meals from both, too). I did find that the Blue Apron vegetarian meals were frequently huge, way more than the two servings advertised, so your chance of having leftovers from them is high. Plated meals were generally much closer to the advertised two servings (sometimes three) and Blue Apron meat-based meals were generally also in the 2-3 servings range.
Both services have a focus on local, sustainable ingredients, and I've never had any complaints about the quality of the ingredients I've received. The downsides are really just cost (it's more expensive than doing your own grocery shopping, but cheaper than eating out) and the amount of packaging involved.
posted by jessypie at 4:28 PM on June 1, 2015
I used Blue Apron a few times before cancelling my account (I might go back at some point but there's no option to pause indefinitely). Other than the one time I received rotting fennel, the quality has been good; I'm a semi-picky omnivore and have no complaints about the meat. I also cook dairy-free for the most part, so sometimes I have to skip weeks if the dairy ingredients are more involved than butter (easily subbed with olive oil as I don't keep Earth Balance on hand). I've learned to cook way more complex meals from Blue Apron than I would have otherwise, since I don't have the patience to shop for specific ingredients for specific recipes.
Reasons why I cancelled:
- Price didn't seem worth it when factoring in labor. It usually took me 45 min to an hour to cook each meal; takeout/delivery is about the same price but no-effort.
- I was too lazy to recycle the ice packs correctly (you have to let them thaw, cut each one open, drain in the sink) and felt bad throwing them out.
- Customizing to my specific dietary preferences (meat protein with no dairy) was manual and annoying.
posted by serelliya at 5:01 PM on June 1, 2015
Reasons why I cancelled:
- Price didn't seem worth it when factoring in labor. It usually took me 45 min to an hour to cook each meal; takeout/delivery is about the same price but no-effort.
- I was too lazy to recycle the ice packs correctly (you have to let them thaw, cut each one open, drain in the sink) and felt bad throwing them out.
- Customizing to my specific dietary preferences (meat protein with no dairy) was manual and annoying.
posted by serelliya at 5:01 PM on June 1, 2015
We've done the vegetarian Blue Apron for a few months now, and really love it. It's a bit pricey, but our justification is that we generally spend $60 when we go out to dinner, and we definitely go out to dinner at least one less night a week, so it's a break even.
The quality has been very good. Recipes do require a lot of prep/chopping, but don't require much equipment and the cooking techniques are pretty easy. They use a wide range of vegetables, many of which you can't get around here except at Whole Foods, which would take a special 30 minute trip so we don't do it very often. They are very seasonal too... lots of asparagus and peas now that it is summer.
What I really like is that it finally got us to to actually cook interesting recipes, instead of just saying we would cook recipes and then forgetting to go shopping and then making pasta or pizza again, for the n-th week in a row. And it's a fun 30 minutes of together time three times a week, or one of us can cook as a treat for the other. Very highly recommended.
posted by smackfu at 5:11 PM on June 1, 2015
The quality has been very good. Recipes do require a lot of prep/chopping, but don't require much equipment and the cooking techniques are pretty easy. They use a wide range of vegetables, many of which you can't get around here except at Whole Foods, which would take a special 30 minute trip so we don't do it very often. They are very seasonal too... lots of asparagus and peas now that it is summer.
What I really like is that it finally got us to to actually cook interesting recipes, instead of just saying we would cook recipes and then forgetting to go shopping and then making pasta or pizza again, for the n-th week in a row. And it's a fun 30 minutes of together time three times a week, or one of us can cook as a treat for the other. Very highly recommended.
posted by smackfu at 5:11 PM on June 1, 2015
Have you investigated whether there is a smaller, local version of food delivery? We live in a small town, and have a wonderful organic (and local when possible) fruit and vegetable delivery service. It's not a CSA; there's lots of flexibility in what we get, and in how much (more food equals more money, of course). They include recipes, frequently new to us, with every delivery. It's made a huge difference in how well we eat, and in planning meals -- the biggest bugaboo for us. We're getting a cauliflower so we plan a curry or roast it with potatoes. And on to the next vegetable. So much easier than standing in the produce section, or trying to plan meals without knowing what might be fresh.
I can't believe ours is the only town with a delivery service like this. But then our town is pretty special. :-)
posted by kestralwing at 5:19 PM on June 1, 2015
I can't believe ours is the only town with a delivery service like this. But then our town is pretty special. :-)
posted by kestralwing at 5:19 PM on June 1, 2015
I've been using HelloFresh and it's really good as well. I consider it more of a cooking class, because I can easily replicate the meals later with ingredients I buy myself. It's definitely widened my horizons a bit and given me new meal ideas. And the portion sizes are definitely substantial (my husband and I have good appetites. Maybe too good.)
You get to choose 3 out of 5 meals for each shipment, which is nice.
posted by pyjammy at 6:43 PM on June 1, 2015
You get to choose 3 out of 5 meals for each shipment, which is nice.
posted by pyjammy at 6:43 PM on June 1, 2015
Another happy Blue Apron customer here. The ingredient cost is more than made up by the fact that the decision-making energy required comes down to which meal to cook when. And as others have said, it has led to trying a lot of ingredients and techniques I wouldn't have taken the time to seek out on my own.
We had a box arrive a day late once, but Blue Apron gave us credit for it with no hassle.
posted by jimw at 9:41 PM on June 1, 2015
We had a box arrive a day late once, but Blue Apron gave us credit for it with no hassle.
posted by jimw at 9:41 PM on June 1, 2015
My wife and I tried Plated for a while, and cancelled after about three months. We were unimpressed.
Here are the issues we had that caused us to cancel the service:
* There's a minimum order of two servings of two meals each time you decide to order. Even as a member, this gets expensive.
* Often, we didn't have time to cook. Fresh ingredients would go bad or spoil. By the time we were ready to make a recipe, we had to make a trip to the grocery store to replace what had spoiled.
* The recipes often seem to be written for experienced cooks. Directions are often vague. Important details are often left out. A recipe that said it took 30 minutes to prepare and cook would often end up taking us two hours or more and leave us frustrated.
* My wife is vegetarian, meaning no meat, chicken, or seafood. I'll eat just about anything. Often, she would have one choice in the meals available for each delivery period, but she would not like that option. So then we'd order four plates of meals for me, and I'd have a lot left.
* We live in a somewhat rural area. FedEx would sometimes be liberal with the definition of "overnight" shipping, and leave the box on our hot doorstep when no one was home for several hours. Result: fresh ingredients would sometimes be spoiled right out of the box.
On the other hand, nearly everything we made from plated recipes turned out to be amazing, so we saved the recipe cards for future use and made notes on them.
I'd be much happier with a service that just offered the recipe cards, access to some YouTube directions on how to make the recipe, and pre-made shopping lists for each recipe. Of course, I'm not willing to pay as much for that as Plated or Blue Apron charges.
Yes, there IS a lot of packaging, but that's necessary to ship the small portions. About half the box is usually dry ice.
posted by tckma at 6:26 AM on June 2, 2015
Here are the issues we had that caused us to cancel the service:
* There's a minimum order of two servings of two meals each time you decide to order. Even as a member, this gets expensive.
* Often, we didn't have time to cook. Fresh ingredients would go bad or spoil. By the time we were ready to make a recipe, we had to make a trip to the grocery store to replace what had spoiled.
* The recipes often seem to be written for experienced cooks. Directions are often vague. Important details are often left out. A recipe that said it took 30 minutes to prepare and cook would often end up taking us two hours or more and leave us frustrated.
* My wife is vegetarian, meaning no meat, chicken, or seafood. I'll eat just about anything. Often, she would have one choice in the meals available for each delivery period, but she would not like that option. So then we'd order four plates of meals for me, and I'd have a lot left.
* We live in a somewhat rural area. FedEx would sometimes be liberal with the definition of "overnight" shipping, and leave the box on our hot doorstep when no one was home for several hours. Result: fresh ingredients would sometimes be spoiled right out of the box.
On the other hand, nearly everything we made from plated recipes turned out to be amazing, so we saved the recipe cards for future use and made notes on them.
I'd be much happier with a service that just offered the recipe cards, access to some YouTube directions on how to make the recipe, and pre-made shopping lists for each recipe. Of course, I'm not willing to pay as much for that as Plated or Blue Apron charges.
Yes, there IS a lot of packaging, but that's necessary to ship the small portions. About half the box is usually dry ice.
posted by tckma at 6:26 AM on June 2, 2015
Oh, and some addenda:
* Once we had a box arrive late and the ingredients were almost all spoiled. Plated credited us immediately in the form of coupon codes for 4 free plates. They *are* good with customer service.
* Although I appreciated having the correct amount of each ingredient pre-measured, this was not a help when spoiled ingredients needed to be replaced by grocery shopping.
* For the price, we found it was better/less hassle to go out to eat to a favorite restaurant. If you're trying to save money on grocery shopping, these services are definitely not for you. Grocery shopping is cheaper.
We have not tried Blue Apron or newer competing services, and have no desire to, because we feel the issues would be similar.
posted by tckma at 6:31 AM on June 2, 2015
* Once we had a box arrive late and the ingredients were almost all spoiled. Plated credited us immediately in the form of coupon codes for 4 free plates. They *are* good with customer service.
* Although I appreciated having the correct amount of each ingredient pre-measured, this was not a help when spoiled ingredients needed to be replaced by grocery shopping.
* For the price, we found it was better/less hassle to go out to eat to a favorite restaurant. If you're trying to save money on grocery shopping, these services are definitely not for you. Grocery shopping is cheaper.
We have not tried Blue Apron or newer competing services, and have no desire to, because we feel the issues would be similar.
posted by tckma at 6:31 AM on June 2, 2015
Last one I promise.
Plated sometimes uses the same ingredients for each recipe. When you unpack the box, there's a bag for each meal containing the ingredients for that meal (with some very understandable exceptions -- a chicken breast will be packed separately, on the bottom nearest the dry ice, for example). But once you unpack that bag to check your ingredients for spoilage, each individual baggie is only labeled (for example) "pecorino cheese" or "red pepper flakes."
When you go to make the recipe, you're left wondering "is this the 2 tbsp pecorino cheese for the Cheesy Pasta and Herbs, or the 2 1/2 tbsp pecorino cheese for the Chicken and Bacon Surprise?" (Not actual dish names.) So you end up guessing or re-measuring.
posted by tckma at 6:41 AM on June 2, 2015
Plated sometimes uses the same ingredients for each recipe. When you unpack the box, there's a bag for each meal containing the ingredients for that meal (with some very understandable exceptions -- a chicken breast will be packed separately, on the bottom nearest the dry ice, for example). But once you unpack that bag to check your ingredients for spoilage, each individual baggie is only labeled (for example) "pecorino cheese" or "red pepper flakes."
When you go to make the recipe, you're left wondering "is this the 2 tbsp pecorino cheese for the Cheesy Pasta and Herbs, or the 2 1/2 tbsp pecorino cheese for the Chicken and Bacon Surprise?" (Not actual dish names.) So you end up guessing or re-measuring.
posted by tckma at 6:41 AM on June 2, 2015
I subscribed to Hello Fresh for a while, and ultimately quit for a few reasons...
* No choice for vegetarian meals, and I'm picky enough that I would end up not wanting to use at least one or more ingredients from each batch of meals
* Food quality was so-so...in each delivery there was at least one item that was spoiled or headed that direction
* NO leftovers! If I am going to spend 30-45 minutes making a meal, I want something leftover for lunch the next day. YMMV - I know some people hate leftovers! - but for me this was a big sticking point.
* Way more expensive than grocery shopping
I will also add -- at least for me, this didn't actually save time on grocery shopping. For Hello Fresh you order 3 meals per week, but even if you're doing a service where you order 5 meals per week or something, you still have those extra dinners to plan and shop for as well as breakfast and lunches. So it's not like it replaces grocery shopping -- just possibly makes it slightly less time consuming. If grocery shopping is what you hate, I would suggest Instacart or another grocery delivery service. I got turned on to Instacart and use it probably half the time instead of going to the store. It's a big time saver and I think much more of a value/worth the money than the meal delivery services. (In fact, I often feel like I have a lower grocery bill with Instacart even with the fee/tip because it makes comparison shopping easier and because there is no opportunity to make impulse purchases.)
Someone mentioned meal planning services above -- I think if you combined a service like this with Instacart (or another grocery delivery service - many stores have them for a reasonable cost), you would come out ahead financially and get many of the same things you're looking for.
posted by rainbowbrite at 12:43 PM on June 2, 2015
* No choice for vegetarian meals, and I'm picky enough that I would end up not wanting to use at least one or more ingredients from each batch of meals
* Food quality was so-so...in each delivery there was at least one item that was spoiled or headed that direction
* NO leftovers! If I am going to spend 30-45 minutes making a meal, I want something leftover for lunch the next day. YMMV - I know some people hate leftovers! - but for me this was a big sticking point.
* Way more expensive than grocery shopping
I will also add -- at least for me, this didn't actually save time on grocery shopping. For Hello Fresh you order 3 meals per week, but even if you're doing a service where you order 5 meals per week or something, you still have those extra dinners to plan and shop for as well as breakfast and lunches. So it's not like it replaces grocery shopping -- just possibly makes it slightly less time consuming. If grocery shopping is what you hate, I would suggest Instacart or another grocery delivery service. I got turned on to Instacart and use it probably half the time instead of going to the store. It's a big time saver and I think much more of a value/worth the money than the meal delivery services. (In fact, I often feel like I have a lower grocery bill with Instacart even with the fee/tip because it makes comparison shopping easier and because there is no opportunity to make impulse purchases.)
Someone mentioned meal planning services above -- I think if you combined a service like this with Instacart (or another grocery delivery service - many stores have them for a reasonable cost), you would come out ahead financially and get many of the same things you're looking for.
posted by rainbowbrite at 12:43 PM on June 2, 2015
I've been using Plated for a few months and have been generally happy with it. And I live alone, and like to think that I'm reasonably accomplished in the kitchen, so I could just get recipes like those and buy the ingredients and make them on my own. But I like it all the same, for several reasons:
Saves the time of meal planning and grocery shopping
I get just enough for each recipe, so I'm not wasting food. (Yes, as others have been pointed out, this is perhaps more than offset by the increase in packaging that gets thrown out, but on an instintcual level throwing out food bothers me more than throwing out packaging.) Even though, since there's no way to say "I already have this ingredient" that does come to border on absurdity sometimes (You're sending me a tablespoon of soy sauce, even though I have a two-thirds-full bottle of soy sauce on hand?)
Even though I consider myself reasonably good in the kitchen, Plated has still introduced me to new ingredients and techniques, e.g.:
I'm not a vegetarian, but I think a vegetarian could be reasonably content with Plated if they had no other restrictions; out of the ~9 choices each week, usually ~3 are vegetarian. (I often end up choosing one of the vegetarian options anyway, since I'm going to be saving half of each recipe to eat as leftovers, and I try to consider which recipes will either reheat well or can be eaten cold; the vegetarian recipes often seem like they would do better than the meat recipes on that score.)
As for the recipes I've been happy with most of them. There's a couple I wasn't completely satisfied with, but even those were more of "if I got that again I would tweak the recipe in such-and-such way" not "I would never get that again." Most of the recipes I've quite liked.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:27 PM on June 2, 2015
Saves the time of meal planning and grocery shopping
I get just enough for each recipe, so I'm not wasting food. (Yes, as others have been pointed out, this is perhaps more than offset by the increase in packaging that gets thrown out, but on an instintcual level throwing out food bothers me more than throwing out packaging.) Even though, since there's no way to say "I already have this ingredient" that does come to border on absurdity sometimes (You're sending me a tablespoon of soy sauce, even though I have a two-thirds-full bottle of soy sauce on hand?)
Even though I consider myself reasonably good in the kitchen, Plated has still introduced me to new ingredients and techniques, e.g.:
- I'd always been a little intimidate by whole artichokes, but since a Plated recipe walked me through preparing them step-by-step I'd be willing to use them in my own recipes now
- a pasta recipe where, instead of the usual draining of the pasta after cooking it, a smallish amount of cooking liquid was used, which being thickened by the starch from the pasta plus just a little added cream and Romano cheese, became the sauce.
- getting a recipe on my own from a cookbook or the internet often gives me a "serves 6" or "serves 8" recipe, yet I invariably end up eating half of it right after I make it. With Plated — 2 servings per recipe — I actually do manage to eat only a single serving when I make it, and save the other half to have as leftovers later
- for small amounts of ingredients that I don't already have on hand, I'm not tempted to snack on the excess. If a Plated recipe calls for a tablespoon of peanut butter, I get a tablespoon of peanut butter. If I'm making a recipe on my own that calls for a tablespoon of peanut butter and I don't already have it on hand, then I have to by a jar of peanut butter, and I end up snacking on the 14.5 oz that I didn't use in the recipe in the days afterwards.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I think a vegetarian could be reasonably content with Plated if they had no other restrictions; out of the ~9 choices each week, usually ~3 are vegetarian. (I often end up choosing one of the vegetarian options anyway, since I'm going to be saving half of each recipe to eat as leftovers, and I try to consider which recipes will either reheat well or can be eaten cold; the vegetarian recipes often seem like they would do better than the meat recipes on that score.)
As for the recipes I've been happy with most of them. There's a couple I wasn't completely satisfied with, but even those were more of "if I got that again I would tweak the recipe in such-and-such way" not "I would never get that again." Most of the recipes I've quite liked.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:27 PM on June 2, 2015
Plated sometimes uses the same ingredients for each recipe. When you unpack the box, there's a bag for each meal containing the ingredients for that meal (with some very understandable exceptions -- a chicken breast will be packed separately, on the bottom nearest the dry ice, for example). But once you unpack that bag to check your ingredients for spoilage, each individual baggie is only labeled (for example) "pecorino cheese" or "red pepper flakes."
Just to follow up on this, Plated has since resolved this and is now labelling the individual ingredients with both the ingredient name and the recipe it's for. So one baggie is now labelled "Pecorino cheese / Cheesy Pasta and Herbs" and one is labelled "Pecorino cheese / Chicken and Bacon Surprise."
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:49 PM on June 23, 2015
Just to follow up on this, Plated has since resolved this and is now labelling the individual ingredients with both the ingredient name and the recipe it's for. So one baggie is now labelled "Pecorino cheese / Cheesy Pasta and Herbs" and one is labelled "Pecorino cheese / Chicken and Bacon Surprise."
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:49 PM on June 23, 2015
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1. I hear that there is *a lot* of packaging. As in paper boxes, and also ice packs. So you're not throwing away more ingredients, but you are throwing away a lot of stuff still. And arguably, food waste is compostable while ice packs are not.
2. It's $10/person/meal. For that much, I could go out and eat. Or cook with a ton of leftovers and still end up saving money.
But, I know that Blue Apron at least has a free trial. So you can try it for a week and decide if you like it. (Maybe get it from an existing Blue Apron member, as I suspect they would also get some sort of kickback.)
posted by ethidda at 2:32 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]