I love to cook so shopping and cooking isn’t an issue. I do tend to kind of make the same old things each week unless I come across a new recipe, which is usually on here.

I am curious if any of these meal delivery companies are any good that send you the fresh ingredients and recipe to make. Seems it might be nice to try new things.

Right now due to my wife suffering from bad acid reflux, we have not been eating dinner. Since I cook, I have to adapt to her needs. Basically we have just been eating a lunch each day. I guess you would call that intermittent fasting although that was not an intention. However, we have both lost 10 pounds slowly so far and are not starving ourselves. If we want a snack in the morning or evening, then we have it.

I saw an ad for Hungryroot and partially went through the signup process. It asked a lot about food likes and dislikes and seems I would be able to order just lunches for two people for me to make for about $108 per week.

I am curious if anyone has tried any of these companies such as Hungryroot, HelloFresh, etc, and what you think.

Thanks in advance.

My sister’s next door neighbor does Hello Fresh and he tells her to get his delivery off his porch and use them when he is out of town. I’ve cooked several and thought they were really good.

I used to have Sun Basket and it was one of the highlights of 2021. My fit and healthy neighbors used it and talked me into it. I was very pleased for a long time. However, I quit in 2022 after they:

switched from all fresh spices to spice blends. I have a garlic intolerance and used to throw away the garlic cloves. They put garlic in every blend.

must've had turnover on who chose the menu. Originally, they were amazingly varied and I tried a lot of new things that all tasted like it came from an upscale restaurant . After the switch, it was all a very similar palette, tasted more like chain restaurant quality, and unfortunately they were in love with one of the few spices I dislike (turmeric).

lowered quality and raised prices. Originally, it was good quality produce and meat (other than the steak), but it went downhill despite the price increase.

FEDEX got dodgy on delivery. Sun Basket begrudgingly refunded every time FEDEX was a day or two late, but it was a hassle calling plus I had to scramble to replace 4 meals. They didn't have enough insulation and dry ice for multiple days in 99% of Texas' weather.

My neighbors held out longer than I did, but quit too. Food quality declined further, food variety declined further, FEDEX got dodgier on delivering on the delivery day, and Sun Basket became more and more reluctant with refunds.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

My wife set us up with Factor. We aren't currently active with them, but we've used them a lot on and off for the past year or so. With us moving and everything being in flux with temporary housing, etc. it was helpful. Not as cheap as cooking for yourself, but a lot cheaper than going out to eat. Reliable, quality, and a rotating menu with a lot of choices. My wife was taking them to work because it was better than a sandwich and cheaper than the cafeteria at work. They get delivered by 8am in a heavily insulated box with giant ice block bag things. If you're interested in them, we have a promo/referral code thing I can give you for something like $150 worth to start, just lemme know and I can shoot you an email. You can cancel and reactivate with them on a weekly basis.

My family did Hello Fresh for a while (3 months or so) and liked it. The meals were very good, however, it was quite expensive for what it was, and we still had to make the weekly trip to the grocery store for milk, bread, and all the stuff for the meals for which we weren’t paying Hello Fresh. Then she found a company called EMeals (EMeals.com). They send you a list of recipes (they have different types of plans, Quick and Healthy, Low Carb, Family Friendly, etc) each week. You select which ones you want to eat, and it creates a grocery list for you. You can edit the list to take out things you already have (got frozen chicken breast in the fridge, take it off). Then that list goes to Kroger or Walmart (I don’t know if they’ve added any other stores yet, we use Walmart and have been happy) where you can then add the other things you need, like milk, bread, deli meat, etc), then arrange a time to pick it up. Easy peasy, and great if you have a family with young children that make the grocery store trip so much fun! Honestly, we pick 2 or 3 recipes a week, and while I won’t say it’s at the level of Hello Fresh, it is quite good and the interface works really well for us. kWe typically look at the menus on Friday or Saturday, place our order, and arrange to pick it up after church on Sunday, since the Walmart is close to church and it kind of gets us in mind for preparing for the upcoming week. We only have 3 in our house, so each meal always has leftovers, for us, 3 meals would be a week’s dinners most of the time with the leftovers and generally one meal out a week.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
My wife set us up with Factor. We aren't currently active with them, but we've used them a lot on and off for the past year or so. With us moving and everything being in flux with temporary housing, etc. it was helpful. Not as cheap as cooking for yourself, but a lot cheaper than going out to eat. Reliable, quality, and a rotating menu with a lot of choices. My wife was taking them to work because it was better than a sandwich and cheaper than the cafeteria at work. They get delivered by 8am in a heavily insulated box with giant ice block bag things. If you're interested in them, we have a promo/referral code thing I can give you for something like $150 worth to start, just lemme know and I can shoot you an email. You can cancel and reactivate with them on a weekly basis.

I have a work colleague who has been bringing Factor meals to work for about 6 months or so, rave about how good they are, but says it is pricey. I can also attest that they smell great, for what its worth.

We used Hello Fresh for a couple of months for a couple of meals a week. It was pretty good. We mainly quit due to problems with Fedex.

Most cities/larger towns have local chefs who do a similar program.

Might be worth checking out. They should be more responsive to individual preferences, but they may be less likely to be able to accommodate meal restrictions- unlikely to have a nut free facility etc.

I use Factor. Food tastes great but it is pricey.

I was gifted a 1 month trial sub to one of them (I think it was HelloFresh?) about 5 years ago. The recipes were good and easy to make, but it's wildly overpriced for what you get. It was fine to try for free, but there's no way I'd pay for it.

With a little bit more effort, you can find millions of new recipes online and purchase the ingredients to make them at the store, and try tons of new meals for a fraction of the price of one of these subscription services. I tend to sit down for a half hour or so on Saturday mornings, to plan out my meals for the week and build a grocery list, and try to find 1-3 new recipes to try each week. It really doesn't take all that much time.

There are even sites that will generate a shopping list for you, based on what's needed for the recipes you've selected. Or, approaching it from the opposite angle, there are sites that allow you to search for recipes based on what you already have in the fridge/pantry. All for free.

Sites I like and use include:
Delish.com
Allrecipes.com
Epicurious.com
Spendwithpennies.com
Simplyrecipes.com
Averiecooks.com
Downshiftology.com
365daysofcrockpot.com
Bonappetit.com
But there are thousands of recipe sites out there, and sometimes I just Google stuff like "chicken asparagus recipes" or whatever and find recipes that way.

Basically, these subscription recipe plans are for people who don't mind paying a huge premium in order to have ingredients pre-portioned and delivered to your door.

We had a gift of Hello Fresh for a while, food was fresh, interesting to get some meals planned out, cooking them was good. A nice change of pace.

we are using hungryroot now,

pricing seems high till you go out and buy a meal in a foodie joint,
overall tho, the cost is similar to what we have been spending, and we toss much less food out,


you can pick the number of meals, and type of meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner etc)

we started with 4 and a breakfast but have trimmed that down to 3 or 4 with no breakfast,

you can select food types, allergens etc, and you get an email with your upcoming meals that you can opt out or change,

so far, in about 4 weeks or so, it has been 95% good, as in we loved most of the meals, and a couple or so were not something we would eat again,


not had a problem with delivery or food spoilage,
have had one item subbed, but the sub did not really fit the planned menu, and had one item that was not what it was supposed to be (mix up apparently at the packer) ,
for that mixup, we got about $16 in credit,


food is relatively quick to prepare, and tasty,
good for 2 , and we sometimes have just a bit leftover for a lunch for one the next day

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
pricing seems high till you go out and buy a meal in a foodie joint

True. And that's likely one of the markets they're aiming at: Folks who otherwise would just eat out most every meal. (I know several 20-somethings who do just that... they literally eat out/order in every meal except the occasional bowl of cereal at home.) In that light, it'd be cheaper. But it's still significantly more expensive than sourcing the recipes and ingredients yourself. Especially if you keep standard pantry staples and cooking ingredients on hand anyway.

I can meal prep 21 meals for the week for what 2 of those dinners cost.

My wife got a free trial for 3 days of dinners and meals, and while they were okay, they just seemed like they were geared for the person who has no idea how to cook.

Maybe for those folks they work well but a little to basic of a recipe and ingredients, especially at that cost.

If your local grocery has a single-serving frozen entree aisle, you can cut that cost in about half, by shopping wisely.

This has been the cornerstone of my 110 pound weight loss.

I’ve used several different companies for about two years time. What I like is that it gets you to try new ingredients that you might never have tried before. It helps you try new cooking techniques that you haven’t tried before. So while it is more costly than store bought groceries, you are paying for an education. It helps one become a better cook. I’m able to go to the grocery store now and see more options in my head because I know how to use artichokes now, or how to use bok choy or egg plant or whatever.

So I think it’s worth trying for a few months. Try several different companies and see which ones you prefer.

And yes, in the summer if it sits on a delivery truck for an extra day be prepared to throw it all out and call and get a refund. These companies need to put more ice packs in for summer delivery.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
...But it's still significantly more expensive than sourcing the recipes and ingredients yourself. Especially if you keep standard pantry staples and cooking ingredients on hand anyway.

One aspect I did like was breaking me out of my rut. Tried recipes I had never heard of (eg shakshuka) and produce wound up in my kitchen for the first time (eg parsnips).

Enough details on the directions card that I can now buy the ingredients much cheaper from the grocery store.

If you find yourself in a recipe rut, try Youtube for inspiration. Channels like Ethan Chlebowski, Adam Ragusea, or Babish are great ways to find new and exciting dishes, ingredients, and techniques to try. And they're entertaining.

Any you decide to try make sure to google for a discount code before signing up. I know some sponsor YouTube videos for different creators. Matt (Demolition Ranch) is sponsored often on his family channel Off The Ranch and he usually has a discount code for his viewers for Hello Fresh for like 16 free meals with the first order. I’m sure they all do something similar as well.

Youtube has a bunch of great gems as well, from the more polished channels Rogue mentioned to some foreign grandmas cooking in their kitchens. To add on to the ones he mentioned I’ll suggest:

Pressure Luck (Mostly Instapot recipes. Jeff also has a website to print out recipes and has 4 cookbooks out all based on the one pot device.
Views on the Road nice lady out here in Colorado who does some great Mexican food recipes.
Pro Home Cooks Mike not only has a bunch of good meal videos, he has a bunch of tips videos on everything from cooking to meal planning prep to 15 min dinners.

I guess I will probably just to sticking to what I already do. I usually try to just do a meat protein and a fresh vegetable to keep it simple and healthy. Sometimes I like to make a more complicated and involved recipe.

I just wondered if the food meal plan might be an option but sounds like it is more expensive. From what I currently make we then usually have leftovers the next day.

This Hungryroot had 40% off for the first order and thought of just trying it for the one order, but I bet they are all about the same and didn’t hear anyone mention using that company.

Now that we are just eating lunch, I just don’t have as much time to make those meals as I do when I was making dinner.

I appreciate all the feedback.