We did BlueApron and HomeChef for a while but the prices started to get out of hand. They initially offer some super savings but the price quickly went up.

HomeChef did have some of the best chicken breast I every ate. They were on the small side but could cut them with a fork.

HomeChef meal pricing slow crept higher. Initially they were $10 meal then $12 meals starting becoming the dominant price.

It was a lot of work cooking. I would have multiple pans going and a ton of chopping.

Since you said you dont mind shopping you can go on HomeChefs website and get the meal recipes free.

I decided to give HelloFresh a try as they have an LE discount along with teachers and military. Just had to do verification via ID.me, which I have for Fenix flashlight discount. I will get 55% off each week’s order and free shipping for 52 orders. If I continued then it would be 15% off each order after that as far as I know. I can cancel anytime so we will see if I like it.

Edit: Now I see it is actually only 55% off first order and then 15% off each order after that. It said “Up to 55% off each order for 52 orders.” Then when I continued to look further I see the 55% is only the first order. Oh well, I will see if I like it.

I know three people that get weekly shipments.

All three are bachelors,
All three are over 55 y.o. ,
All three have tons of money.

All three are reasonably healthy , for their age.

All three work.
All own their own homes.
(Paid for in full)

All three have been doing this for more than a year.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
I know three people that get weekly shipments.

All three are bachelors,
All three are over 55 y.o. ,
All three have tons of money.

All three are reasonably healthy , for their age.

All three work.
All own their own homes.
(Paid for in full)

My gut feeling says I will only do one or two weeks of this. I just want to try it and see if I like it. I like the idea of new things, but you can always get new recipes. Dunno, we will see. The first set of meals look tasty. At the least I will now have the recipe for them after trying them.

My wife is having increasing trouble fixing dinners; and I don’t really like to cook.
We’re going to try Factor for a week. Looks like usual price is about $108 for 8 meals (4 servings x 2. Paid extra for a couple of meals (filet, salmon).

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
I decided to give HelloFresh a try as they have an LE discount along with teachers and military. Just had to do verification via ID.me, which I have for Fenix flashlight discount. I will get 55% off each week’s order and free shipping for 52 orders. If I continued then it would be 15% off each order after that as far as I know. I can cancel anytime so we will see if I like it.

Edit: Now I see it is actually only 55% off first order and then 15% off each order after that. It said “Up to 55% off each order for 52 orders.” Then when I continued to look further I see the 55% is only the first order. Oh well, I will see if I like it.

ALL of the meal kits give a really good initial discount. So once you're through HF, try Marley Spoon. Then after a few weeks HF will send you a cuopon to come back. LOL..... We bounce back and forth between those 2, but probably do Marley Spoon 3 out of 4 times.

We started doing the meal kits with covid and liked them so much we kept with it. It's as cheap as the grocery store if you do 4-5 meals a week. We used to eat out 3-4 nights a week, and cook at home 3-4 nights a week, and were in a rut of making the same 25 things over and over. NOW, we do 5 meal kits a week at about $115 (for 2 people), bbq 1 night at home, and eat out 1 night for something totally different:sushi, hibachi, pizza etc. There is SO much variety with the meal kits that we don't even have the urge to go out to dinner. We look at the menu's for both MS and HF for the upcoming weeks and decide which one and what recipes......it's all fresh good quality meats, veggies, sides, fresh spices etc.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
I decided to give HelloFresh a try as they have an LE discount along with teachers and military. Just had to do verification via ID.me, which I have for Fenix flashlight discount. I will get 55% off each week’s order and free shipping for 52 orders. If I continued then it would be 15% off each order after that as far as I know. I can cancel anytime so we will see if I like it.

Edit: Now I see it is actually only 55% off first order and then 15% off each order after that. It said “Up to 55% off each order for 52 orders.” Then when I continued to look further I see the 55% is only the first order. Oh well, I will see if I like it.

ALL of the meal kits give a really good initial discount. So once you're through HF, try Marley Spoon. Then after a few weeks HF will send you a cuopon to come back. LOL..... We bounce back and forth between those 2, but probably do Marley Spoon 3 out of 4 times.

We started doing the meal kits with covid and liked them so much we kept with it. It's as cheap as the grocery store if you do 4-5 meals a week. We used to eat out 3-4 nights a week, and cook at home 3-4 nights a week, and were in a rut of making the same 25 things over and over. NOW, we do 5 meal kits a week at about $115 (for 2 people), bbq 1 night at home, and eat out 1 night for something totally different:sushi, hibachi, pizza etc. There is SO much variety with the meal kits that we don't even have the urge to go out to dinner. We look at the menu's for both MS and HF for the upcoming weeks and decide which one and what recipes......it's all fresh good quality meats, veggies, sides, fresh spices etc.

Never heard of MS, but I will give your advice a try.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
I decided to give HelloFresh a try as they have an LE discount along with teachers and military. Just had to do verification via ID.me, which I have for Fenix flashlight discount. I will get 55% off each week’s order and free shipping for 52 orders. If I continued then it would be 15% off each order after that as far as I know. I can cancel anytime so we will see if I like it.

Edit: Now I see it is actually only 55% off first order and then 15% off each order after that. It said “Up to 55% off each order for 52 orders.” Then when I continued to look further I see the 55% is only the first order. Oh well, I will see if I like it.

ALL of the meal kits give a really good initial discount. So once you're through HF, try Marley Spoon. Then after a few weeks HF will send you a cuopon to come back. LOL..... We bounce back and forth between those 2, but probably do Marley Spoon 3 out of 4 times.

We started doing the meal kits with covid and liked them so much we kept with it. It's as cheap as the grocery store if you do 4-5 meals a week. We used to eat out 3-4 nights a week, and cook at home 3-4 nights a week, and were in a rut of making the same 25 things over and over. NOW, we do 5 meal kits a week at about $115 (for 2 people), bbq 1 night at home, and eat out 1 night for something totally different:sushi, hibachi, pizza etc. There is SO much variety with the meal kits that we don't even have the urge to go out to dinner. We look at the menu's for both MS and HF for the upcoming weeks and decide which one and what recipes......it's all fresh good quality meats, veggies, sides, fresh spices etc.

Never heard of MS, but I will give your advice a try.

Here's a free box: https://marleyspoon.com/v/REF-3Z1LMD2Z-20230717

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
I decided to give HelloFresh a try as they have an LE discount along with teachers and military. Just had to do verification via ID.me, which I have for Fenix flashlight discount. I will get 55% off each week’s order and free shipping for 52 orders. If I continued then it would be 15% off each order after that as far as I know. I can cancel anytime so we will see if I like it.

Edit: Now I see it is actually only 55% off first order and then 15% off each order after that. It said “Up to 55% off each order for 52 orders.” Then when I continued to look further I see the 55% is only the first order. Oh well, I will see if I like it.

ALL of the meal kits give a really good initial discount. So once you're through HF, try Marley Spoon. Then after a few weeks HF will send you a cuopon to come back. LOL..... We bounce back and forth between those 2, but probably do Marley Spoon 3 out of 4 times.

We started doing the meal kits with covid and liked them so much we kept with it. It's as cheap as the grocery store if you do 4-5 meals a week. We used to eat out 3-4 nights a week, and cook at home 3-4 nights a week, and were in a rut of making the same 25 things over and over. NOW, we do 5 meal kits a week at about $115 (for 2 people), bbq 1 night at home, and eat out 1 night for something totally different:sushi, hibachi, pizza etc. There is SO much variety with the meal kits that we don't even have the urge to go out to dinner. We look at the menu's for both MS and HF for the upcoming weeks and decide which one and what recipes......it's all fresh good quality meats, veggies, sides, fresh spices etc.

Never heard of MS, but I will give your advice a try.

Here's a free box: https://marleyspoon.com/v/REF-3Z1LMD2Z-20230717

That link said the voucher could not be applied. I will still look into this. I wish I had taken a picture of today’s Hello Fresh meal. It was really good and presentation was great. It is just a lot of work compared to when I just made a protein and vegetable. For me, it takes twice as long to make than the recipe says, but so far all have been great. I just won’t ever pay full price.

If I do continue HF for a while and then want to switch, then I will switch to MS as they also give a “hero” discount.

We've done them a couple times. We hang onto the recipes we like and buy the ingredients locally for much less. It's been a nice way to force us into some variety. Obviously there are recipes everywhere for free, but we've found that the box of ingredients makes it easier to commit to trying them.

I know we've used Hello Fresh but I'm not sure if the other one was something else or not.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It's as cheap as the grocery store if you do 4-5 meals a week
...
we do 5 meal kits a week at about $115 (for 2 people)

That's $115 for 10 servings, or $11.50 per meal serving. Wow. If that's "as cheap as the grocery store", then grocery costs much be significantly higher in your neck of the woods. That's not even "as cheap as eating out" around here!

Consider that I eat 2 meals per day, and eat out about once or twice per week, and I typically spend around that much - $115ish - every other week on groceries for one person. That works out to around 24-26 meal servings per grocery order, or roughly $4.50 per serving. (Well, it would be, if all that grocery total was just food, but it usually also includes additional household supplies like toilet paper, deodorant, trash bags, etc., so the actual per meal food cost is even less than that...)

So call it $3-$4 per meal, compared to $11.50! This means that for me, buying groceries and cooking recipes I find on my own is about one third to one quarter of the cost of that delivery meal service. And I eat well, always trying interesting new recipes that I find online. Tonight was chipotle chicken wraps topped with homemade pico de gallo:
https://www.ethanchlebowski.co...e-chicken-snack-wrap
https://www.thepioneerwoman.co...479/pico-de-gallo-a/

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It's as cheap as the grocery store if you do 4-5 meals a week
...
we do 5 meal kits a week at about $115 (for 2 people)

That's $115 for 10 servings, or $11.50 per serving. Wow. If that's "as cheap as the grocery store", then grocery costs much be significantly higher in your neck of the woods.

Consider that I eat 2 meals per day, and eat out about once or twice per week. I typically spend around that much ($115ish) every other week on groceries for one person. That works out to around 24-26 meal servings, or roughly $4.50 per serving. Well, it would be, if all that grocery total was just food, but it usually also includes additional household supplies like toilet paper, deodorant, trash bags, etc., so the actual per meal food cost is even less than that...

So call it $3-$4 per meal, compared to $11.50! This mean my groceries are about a third of the cost of that delivery meal service. And I eat well, always trying interesting new recipes that I find online. (Tonight was chipotle chicken soft tacos with homemade pico de gallo.)

It depends on what you eat. For equivalent meals it would cost more in most cases, grass fed ground beef, top quality B/S chicken.....etc....etc.. Some you may save money at the grocery store. Shrimp pad thai for 2 people for $23.......by the time you add up all of the ingredients all fresh herbs and spices, etc. There are a lot of recipes with a lot of ingredients and if you had to buy 4 bottles of this and that condiment, that you'd probably never use all of........Any kind of fresh spice at my grocery store is around $3 each for a small plastic packet...... Here, you can click on the date on the left, scroll down and see the choices available for that week, click on the meal and it will list all of the ingredients. Sure if I want to bbq chicken breasts (with the bones and skin), a can of baked beans, and a tomato/cucumber salad) I can do that entire meal for 2 for $11-12, but that's not the type of meals these are. They also have a lot of specialty ingredients that you just aren't finding at Publix.

https://marleyspoon.com/menu

***this is a response to an old thread***

Wife and I are down to just my 14 year old, who tends to just want mac-n-cheese for dinners. My wife has been cooking out of the same basic recipes for nearly 28 years of marriage and she has been struggling with wanting too.
So we started slipping into eating out more.

Anyway, we have started Hello Fresh, and yes it is expensive but the food is fantastic. Yes, it is more expensive than hamburger helper. But it is infinitely more flavorable.
But here is the reason I am bothering to post this.
My wife and I cooking together 3-4 nights a week has been very good for our marriage. We are learning new ways to cook and being forced out of old eating habits. We are enjoying cooking and eating together again.

IN summary, more $$ than making 'basic' food ourselves. Less $$ than eating out.
We are eating better, and enjoying cooking again.

How long we do this, I have no idea. But we have already had some of the greatest meals we have ever cooked ourselves.

I love that it’s been good for your marriage. What a great way to reconnect.

I know of a few "retired" chefs who offer something similar - kind of a fun idea - get to keep creating/using your network, but without the crazy part.

Might be worth looking into, for those who live in a area with a robust food scene.

Thanks for the necropost!

I posted back in '23 that we were trying Factor. It didn't work out for us; really good meals were quite expensive; most of the meals were overly spiced for us.

I'm wondering about looking at Hello Fresh. My wife is dealing with growing generalized anxiety problem, not tolerating any meds tried except for benzodiazepines. Cooking meals is a chore. I agree that if we cooked together it would likely be a good thing. BUT we go back and forth between northern and southern Cal, and so a regular subscription delivery would not work for us.

Does anyone offer a service where you just pick what you want for ONE WEEK and not have to have a continuing subscription, like Factor did?

Edited to add: looks like HF makes it easy to start and stop.

We do Hello Fresh at times. With them you can skip weeks and plan around your schedule to deliver. I have skipped six months and it started back up without any issues. The nice thing with Hello Fresh is that all of their recipes are available online.

We just began using their recipes, but buying our own groceries to make them. My wife has been keeping tabs on the cost savings and we usually save $40-$60 a week by doing it this way. By purchasing what is on sale really helps with this.

She is my prepper and I am the cooker. It works out this way as neither of us feel overwhelmed by cooking a meal for the night.

Yes,
I use sunbasket and csn put the subscription on hold, skip, and send it to another address if I want. I’ve only been doing 2 meals a week for a few years now and I’ll probably stop soon, but I’ve enjoyed it.

Daughter #1 uses/used Hello Fresh and has given me several when she was going out of town.
I really liked the ones I tried. Everything was fresh and complete. Simple instructions and the portion size was good. They tasted great.

We started using Hungry Root about a month or so ago and I am surprised how much we like it.
We get 3 meals a week, a protein, and a bunch of little odds and ends. It’s like $80 dollars.
I nor my wife are creative with foods and my wife has a few allergies.
The time that it saves me at the grocery, the high quality of the foods, and lack of crap ingredients it is worth it.
We chose the quick prep meals which prep and cook time is under 30 minutes.

Could I go shopping and it be cheaper? Almost certainly but add 2 hours of time at the groceries and me scouring cook books trying to figure out what to eat and what ingredients we need.

When we signed up our perk was a “free” protein (yes, I know). So I toss that in the freezer and have a bunch of frozen veggie bags and those make a quick meal if we need more meals for the week.

It’s certainly cheaper than eating out and way better food. Had the day off yesterday so took my wife lunch at work.
Jimmy Johns was $28 for the two of us.

I am buying less crap at the grocery. Been doing this a little over a month and I am down 7 pounds. We eat a larger variety compared to before and way better tasting than whatever we would come up to make.
Throwing less food out each week.

It’s not cheap but we are eating better and saving money over what we were doing.