Anyone every try a Meal service?

[nw6675]

Admittedly, I did not read the replies, but we've used Hello Fresh.

1. Multiple packing and/or delivery problems
2. Customer service stating they will refund and they did not - had to follow up
3. Sooooooo.many.potatoes
4. They did have a few good meals, but after a few weeks it was like eating Taco Bell where the same three ingredients are used just changing up a bit.

 

[nene0182]

We’ve used Home Chef since August. Typically our cost is about $90/week for 2 servings/4 meals total. We enjoy it. Once our household became just the two of us, I had problems cooking for two and since neither my husband or I are big fans of leftover, there was so much food waste. I think of it as a luxury/convenience thing since it doesn’t really save us money but saves me time from having to shop and meal plan. We just run to the store quickly once a week to grab the rest of our weekly food. I also enjoyed that in January they had some Skinnytaste meals since I cook a lot of her recipes anyways. Our 19 year old son and his roommate also get it. For them it does save money from not eating out so much (neither of them are good at meal planning or putting meals together).

 

[DL1WDW2]

Do they have low calorie , low salt selections?

 

[Caseheidi]

Do they have low calorie , low salt selections?

I put in our first order with Home Chef, and they did have low calorie and low carb choices. I did not see anything about salt.

I tried Hello Fresh first, but they are not delivering in our area currently, which is surprising. We are in the Portland Metro Area, so not a difficult area to deliver to. I am eager to see what my family thinks, since they are picky eaters. I also have the issue of there are three of us, and had to order food for four. Hopefully I like it well enough to use leftovers for my lunch the next day.

Thanks for all the feedback. It is good to hear from real people instead of trying to decide if the comparisons I have found online are real or advertising.

 

[RangerPooh]

We tried Dinnerly for a while, but found that it was much more expensive than my weekly shopping trip. It's designed for a family of 4, which is smaller than ours. So I doubled the quantify for a couple of that weeks meals, making it 2.5 days of meals. Not worth the $100+ price tag. What it did provide were meal ideas. If we were single or a smaller family then it would be worth if for the ease of planning and cooking.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Do they have low calorie , low salt selections?

IME, low calorie, yes, low salt, no.

But they have us add the salt from our pantry -- you're really in charge of the sodium in the recipe.

 

[Mysterian]

ChumBucket™ is a mystery bucket of food every Tuesday. Made from some of the best leftover bits from all the other major meal services, and as well as Lunchables that have been returned to Target. This is high-end stuff that usually only racoons and possums can get a hold of.

 

[_19disnA]

Apparently Freshly has gone out of business. Probably not the last to do that.

https://discontinuednews.com/is-freshly-going-out-of-business/

 

[OneOftheB's]

We’ve used several over the years- Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Green Chef come to mind. Hello Fresh and Blue Apron were pretty good, Green Chef was inedible.

I like collecting the recipes of our favorites to eat later and to get new ideas for meals but find the meat quality is very poor. I need to find one that sends a recipe and maybe the hard to find or proprietary seasonings and you provide the actually food items. That would be my preference (we order meat from Crowd Cow and have been extremely pleased with the price & quality compared to buying from the grocery store).

 

[lovesmurfs]

We’ve used several over the years- Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Green Chef come to mind. Hello Fresh and Blue Apron were pretty good, Green Chef was inedible.

I like collecting the recipes of our favorites to eat later and to get new ideas for meals but find the meat quality is very poor. I need to find one that sends a recipe and maybe the hard to find or proprietary seasonings and you provide the actually food items. That would be my preference (we order meat from Crowd Cow and have been extremely pleased with the price & quality compared to buying from the grocery store).

Blue Apron does include the ingredient amounts on their cards. There's a few proprietary seasonings, but I've found pretty easy replacements by googling online (just making sure not to use additional salt).

 

[Praying Colonel]

We've used Blue Apron off and on for about 5 years now. DW likes to have all the ingredients there and directions, and she likes the variety of choices.

 

[disykat]

I have never used them, but I do look at menus sometimes for ideas. I have also bought similar products of ready to make meals at the grocery store on occasion. I have considered using them if/when we go on a long vacation to the beach. (Dreaming of a retirement trip where we spend a month in one place, just walking on the beach every day pretending we live there.)

 

[tasha99]

We've tried Hello Fresh, Everyplate, and Factor. Factor was more like tv dinners than a kit. They were all only okay, and even at the intro prices, too expensive. I just bought them to get diamonds in a game I play. The meals for HF and Everyplate were pretty simple. It was nice to not have to plan for a few days, but they were wayyy under my cooking level. Everyplate tasted exactly like something my mom (who wasn't a very good cook) might make.

 

[Karin1984]

Oh, forgot to add one more thing. I often have one vegetarian dish among my chosen meals. Not because I am a vegetarian or any ethical point of view, but because it looks like a tasty recipe (it often is). It makes it easier to eat less meat, so good for the environment?

 

[lovesmurfs]

Oh, forgot to add one more thing. I often have one vegetarian dish among my chosen meals. Not because I am a vegetarian or any ethical point of view, but because it looks like a tasty recipe (it often is). It makes it easier to eat less meat, so good for the environment?

LOL. And we've stopped getting vegetarian meals because "if we're paying so much for a meal service, there better be meat" - DH.

 

[Caseheidi]

So we tried our first meal tonight with Home Chef. DH and I really liked it, but picky DD (13) not so much. Of course, she dislikes almost all veggies, and wouldn't try the red pepper pesto butter on her chicken. I think we are going to get through these three weeks of lower cost, then look for another service to try. Talking with my cousin who has been doing many of these companies, she mentioned that she keeps meaning to (but has yet to do so) make her meal plans, buy the ingredients and put together her own kits on the weekends to make prep easier after she gets home from work. I may need to try that myself. Maybe I should try doing that for the days I don't have their meals and see how it works. It does mean that my day off becomes much more of a work day, but we will see.