I Could Get Used to This

business, family, happiness, health related issues, lessons learned, Teaching and Education 2 Minutes

Currently, there are over 20 home-meal delivery services.

These services run the range from meals that contain all the ingredients but you still need to do some prepping to meals that just need to be heated up.

I came across a few good overviews of the various options:

Good Housekeeping has a story about what it considers the 20 best meal delivery services. Ranging from guided cooking kits to fully prepared, individually portioned meals, the list includes meals that cater to a variety of clients, such as singles, families, vegans, carnivores, as well as others.

CNET also had a couple of useful stories. One that looked at the Best Prepared Meal Delivery Service and included meals that ranged from keto to comfort food and everything in between and just required the user to heat up the meal. The other looked at the Best Meal Kit Delivery Service where all the ingredients for dinner are premeasured and include easy to follow recipes for preparing meals for a variety of dietary preferences.

I had never tried one of these services until tonight. My nephew called us the other night and said that he had an extra meal from HelloFresh, and asked if we wanted it. We said sure, and tonight was the night we prepped and cooked that meal. Actually my wife prepared the meal, and I did things like get the salt and pepper out of the cabinet, measure out a cup of water, etc. You know, things a six-year-old can do.

The meal was Tilapia with Scallion Sriracha Pesto with Ginger Jasmine Rice with Green Beans, and is the photo shown above, and I am happy to report that it tasted as good as that picture looks.

There was actually enough food to serve my wife and me dinner for two nights, so I am already looking forward to tomorrow night’s dinner. All we have to do is heat up the leftovers.

The cost seems reasonable (especially when it was free like tonight’s meal 🙂 ), but it certainly seems less expensive than going to a restaurant for a similar meal. While it may be a bit more expensive if you were to do all of your own shopping for the ingredients, shopping takes time and could lead to unnecessary purchases.

So I would gladly try more of these services to see which one best meets our needs. Many of these services offer great deals for new customers, with multiple extra meals included at no cost.

And who knows, this may give me an opportunity to get a bit more useful around the kitchen…

*image from HelloFresh

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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50 thoughts on “I Could Get Used to This”

  1. It does look delicious. I have never tried one of those services. Meal planning is tedious at the best of times so I can understand the attraction. I also love a two-meal meal. The second day is so easy. That’s a win win.

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  5. It looks really great. Your nephew is really thoughtful for gifting two nights worth of free food! I haven’t heard of other brands but I know Hellofresh. I’ve seen enough ads on YouTube about it.

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  6. These food services could be great. The prices seem reasonable. I think my biggest concern would be not knowing if I will like the taste of a particular meal. I’m not a great cook, but I know what I prepare will taste like.

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  7. I also have never tried one of these services, but I think there’s a market for it. Some people are too busy to cook or don’t enjoy it and look for healthier choices.

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    1. given how many of these food services there are, there definitely seems to be a market for it. I wonder if a big part of that growth was beuase of the pandemic, and if we’ll see a cutback in the number of such services as well as how much they are used…

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  8. We haven’t tried anything like this either. I can see why having the set amount of certain ingredients delivered is appealing, as there’s less waste and you don’t end up with things in your cupboard that you’ll never use again. Your meal looks yummy and you made us laugh with the description of your culinary assisting skills, Jim.

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  10. You prepared meal looks delicious! I can see the appeal for services like these. I am concerned about the expense in comparison to shopping locally, but it many circumstances it may well be a cost savings. Good to see you in the kitchen instead of checking your stats for the 29th time today!

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    1. It was quite good. And I guess one has to balance the extra cost with the convenience of such a meal service. And no worries, I was able to check my stats while the rice was cooking… 🙂

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  11. “Tilapia with Scallion Sriracha Pesto with Ginger Jasmine Rice with Green Beans.” I feel suspicious of any meal with such a long, fancy name. Why not just call it, “Fish, with rice and green beans”? But maybe when my wife and I get too old to cook, this would be a good way to go. In the meantime, my meal service consists of my wife saying, “Tonight we’re having (such and such), and we’ll be eating leftovers for the next three days.” Then I say, “Okay,” and then promptly forget what we’re having for dinner. So every meal is a surprise for me.

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  14. I’ve never tried any of these… the only downer I hear about some of these is the amount of packaging used.. probably because everything is separately portioned… I wonder if there were a way these companies could work on a lesser footprint… but yea that meal looks soooo good! This is something I could get my husband to do! Seems like a fun date night! 😉

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  15. The prices look reasonable. I checked out one service and it delivers to our area. We still go shopping so we’re good right now and don’t need the services, but it’s good to know the availability. Great post, Jim.

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  16. I used this during Covid to both support local business + have some convenience of meals (which I had to adjust to since I wasn’t on campus anymore able to eat at dining halls). Makes me want to get into meal prep as well

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  20. I have never tried these and not sure they are available here but my daughter in the UK does when she is busy at work and as she cooks for herself only she doesn’t have to buy anything she maybe not use again and finds them quite economical and she doesn’t like cooking too much so to have everything portioned out suits her 🙂

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    1. I think there are pros and cons of each one. it certainly is convenient having the food delivered right to your door. but there was still some prep involved, whereas when you go to a restaurant there is nothing for you to do…

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