Cooking from Meal Kits (Hello Fresh, Purple Carrot, Gousto, and so on)

[Allura]

We've been getting one for awhile now, actually (HomeChef). It got us cooking again, and it's a particularly customizable one,  so it suits us. My husband does the cooking, neither of us love to cook, but we're easily bored with the same ol'. At the same time, we're not super adventurous, plus we have a carboholic child.   It does the trick at this stage of our life. 

[MetsFan5]

I spent about 2 hours, ironically, researching the meal kit market and reviews and meals available currently. 
 

  Nothing appealed at all. The meals were either literally microwaveable or they offered stupid (as in I can make it already) meals or they had bad reviews and were unappealing. 
 

   I don’t mind using a grocery store meal kit— I can at least look at it and it’s subscription free. 
 

  I agree this market has collapsed. So much invested. 

[gfweb]

I think home delivery is a real niche, but meal kits don’t seem to solve a problem for most people. And they aren’t cheap. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

I think home delivery is a real niche, but meal kits don’t seem to solve a problem for most people. And they aren’t cheap. 

 

Last time I had this discussion with my son they used meal kits.  (Two teenagers, two adults.)  Can't see it myself.

 

[chromedome]

Bumping this to provide a view from the other side. This is a writer I follow (her historical Queens of Infamy series on Longreads is great fun), who's in her 30s and just never...quite...got around to learning how to cook before the pandemic rolled around.

 

How Meal Kits Changed My Mind about Cooking

[MaryIsobel]

My 25-year-old single daughter who is a CCRN at the local hospital's emerg, uses various meal kits, mainly Hello Fresh. She works 12 hour days and lots of overtime lately. This girls loves food and cooking and is not a fast food fan. She does some batch cooking on her days off, but also uses meal kits and she figures the saved time and lack of waste make it worthwhile for her. She chooses her meal orders judiciously, looking for recipes that will freeze or keep for a day or two. She often orders meals for 4 so that she can cook once and eat for 4 meals. Recently she has teamed up with a fellow single nurse working the same line as her, who also uses the meal kits, so they take turns providing each other with lunch (or dinner, depending on the shift.) Because she is a frequent flyer, she was able to get me 4 free meals for 2. I enjoyed the ease of prep and the recipes were quite good - I've saved a couple for future use. Also used some cuts of meat I don't normally buy (eg. scallops of turkey.) Because I have all the time in the world to prep and shop since I retired, I don't see myself making use of such a thing but for a single, working person who enjoys cooking and a variety of food, they are great.

[heidih]

@MaryIsobel Makes sense. My only exposure was through a temporary room mate. The sister, a nurse with husband who needed full time caregiver was stressed. Had packed on a few extra pounds. She enjoyed the portion control aspect and did like the exposure to different flavor combinations. The carer liked the leftovers to supplement her patient's meals and the dietary info was helpful to her.  She bought a short subscription for my room mate who disliked the environmentally excessive packaging at the time but enjoyed being able to try something new without searching out items she might not use again. She did not renew but it was a nice kickstarter. I think it was Hello Fresh.

[ElsieD]

I used Chef's Plate for a short while.  Everything was really fresh and tasty.  If I needed to use a meal kit again, I'd happily use Chef's Plate.   No duds among the ones I got. I saved some of the recipes I really liked and still make them.

[gfweb]

Took longer than I had thought

 

https://www.winsightgrocerybusiness.com/retail-foodservice/blue-apron-receives-nyse-delisting-warning?LID=35857737

[rotuts]

meal kits were mentioned in the WSJ Heard on the Street :

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/home-food-deliverys-questionable-value-for-consumers-and-investors-41b587fb?mod=hp_minor_pos20

 

for review purposes :

 

"""  Serving food with a side of technology was the perfect pandemic business model. Now old doubts are back with a vengeance: Just how many people will pay what it costs to have grub delivered to their door? """

 

''''''   HelloFresh HFG -4.04%decrease; red down pointing triangle shares fell 9% Tuesday after the meal-kit company said it was targeting revenue growth of anywhere between 2% and 10% this year, stripping out currency movements—a wide bracket but below most analysts’ forecasts at the midpoint. Its profit guidance also came in below expectations. ''''

 

''''   Based in Berlin, HelloFresh dominates the market for cook-at-home ingredient packages. In the U.S. it accounted for 78% of meal-kit sales last year, helped by various acquisitions, according to an analysis of consumer-purchase data by Bloomberg Second Measure. Home Chef, owned by supermarket chain Kroger, came next with 12%, followed by Blue Apron at 6%. Blue Apron’s stock has performed so badly that the New York Stock Exchange in December threatened to delist it. ''''

 

'''''    HelloFresh is clearly big in the meal-kit business. The question for investors is whether meal kits are potentially big in the food business outside a pandemic. They tend to be less expensive than eating out, but much more expensive than cooking from scratch: HelloFresh currently charges $60.95 to deliver a box of two meals for two people each. Bears argue they are little more than a niche solution for urban couples with busy jobs in boom times. '''

 

'''   All three companies wrestle with various forms of the same conundrum: Food is a huge market, but it isn’t well suited to e-commerce. Unprepared, it is bulky, heavy and of relatively low value, with complex refrigeration requirements. Prepared, it is of higher value but requires rapid delivery. Consumers are happy to take deliveries when the cost is subsidized by investors, but when it isn’t the market shrinks fast. ''

 

interesting niche.

 

I did n to realize delivery costs are so high

 

$ 60 for 4 meal-equivalents is pretty steep.

Edited March 8, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[gfweb]

Blue apron is fading

https://www.winsightgrocerybusiness.com/retail-foodservice/blue-apron-sell-its-operational-assets-freshrealm-50m?LID=35857737

[lindag]

My good friend has signed up for a meal delivery service that I'd  never heard of, I think she said it was Factor.  Her first delivery is coming tomorrow so I'll post her reaction.  I've read that the service with the highest customer satisfaction rating is Homme Chef.  I've not tried any of these myself.

[BeeZee]

@lindag, I had subscribed to Factor last year for a short time, my husband needed to eat dinner early a couple of days during the week when he played softball. They ship refrigerated, heat in the microwave, and the quality was pretty good, but it was just too expensive once the promotional discounts ended. Plus I hated dealing with the packaging material, some kind of weird frozen gel block.

[MaryIsobel]

I signed up for a promo with Chef's Plate (apparently same parent company as Hello Fresh) as I thought it would be helpful for meal planning while I am somewhat out of comission. I can cook just fine for the most part, doing a lot of prep sitting down and in spurts and having help taking things on or off the stove or in or out of the oven. It's the shopping that is problematic. My husband is willing to go but doesn't "think on his feet" like I do when shopping, so we get some rather "unusual" substitutions which sometimes makae my planned meal impossible. Anyway, I ordered 3 meals for 4 people and it was 48.00 Cdn. They were fine at that price but I would not pay the normal price, which is twice that. All were recipes that I would make again and I did glean a great tip; when using ground turkey for meatballs, add chicken bouillon too ramp up the flavour.

Being an experienced cook, I largely ignored their prep instructions, but they were a bit odd. For a Cajun Dirty Rice dish, they had you making the rice and once it was cooked, to start cooking the meat and veg which would be added. Obviously cooking the meat and veg WHILE the rice was cooking is a more streamlined approach.

[ElsieD]

43 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

I signed up for a promo with Chef's Plate (apparently same parent company as Hello Fresh) as I thought it would be helpful for meal planning while I am somewhat out of comission. I can cook just fine for the most part, doing a lot of prep sitting down and in spurts and having help taking things on or off the stove or in or out of the oven. It's the shopping that is problematic. My husband is willing to go but doesn't "think on his feet" like I do when shopping, so we get some rather "unusual" substitutions which sometimes makae my planned meal impossible. Anyway, I ordered 3 meals for 4 people and it was 48.00 Cdn. They were fine at that price but I would not pay the normal price, which is twice that. All were recipes that I would make again and I did glean a great tip; when using ground turkey for meatballs, add chicken bouillon too ramp up the flavour.

Being an experienced cook, I largely ignored their prep instructions, but they were a bit odd. For a Cajun Dirty Rice dish, they had you making the rice and once it was cooked, to start cooking the meat and veg which would be added. Obviously cooking the meat and veg WHILE the rice was cooking is a more streamlined approach.

 

I used them for a short while some years back and was happy with them.  The dinners came with full size recipe cards (do they still?) And I kept some of them.  There are a few I still make to this day.

[MaryIsobel]

49 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I used them for a short while some years back and was happy with them.  The dinners came with full size recipe cards (do they still?) And I kept some of them.  There are a few I still make to this day.

The recipe cards are full 8.5"x11" sheets. I'll definitely hang onto them.

[ElsieD]

38 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

The recipe cards are full 8.5"x11" sheets. I'll definitely hang onto them.

 

Nice to hear they are still that size. 

[lindag]

One of my friends subscribed to Hello Fresh for a period of time for her family  of four.  They liked the meals well enough  but felt they repeated too often.  Not quite enough variety, I guess.

[MetsFan5]

As a single person I can see the benefits of Factor. Very little effort or thought, the meals are easy. I’m doubtful if they are rewarding for the price, if the taste is there. 

[lindag]

My friend got her first delivery yesterday from Factor and was pleased with what she saw.

I was rather surprised that all the meals  were made for the microwave, that alone would have put me off.   

[MetsFan5]

6 hours ago, lindag said:

My friend got her first delivery yesterday from Factor and was pleased with what she saw.

I was rather surprised that all the meals  were made for the microwave, that alone would have put me off.   

It’s  my understanding that they can also be heated in the oven. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by MetsFan5 (log)

[MetsFan5]

Well I have an order coming from Factor on Tuesday. One of my neighbors uses it and with a 50% off the first week and being able to cancel at any time I signed up. 
 

 I’ll follow up once I get my delivery. 

[lindag]

My friend had a subscription short time, however, she soon cancelled because she didn't enjoy most of the meals.

[MetsFan5]

On 7/14/2023 at 8:38 AM, lindag said:

My friend had a subscription short time, however, she soon cancelled because she didn't enjoy most of the meals.

I don’t have high hopes but the 50% off deal and the ability to cancel at any time is enough to motivate me to try it. 

[BeeZee]

I found a couple of meals were OK, IIRC they had a chicken breast with peanut sauce that had good flavor. The chicken is good quality, none of that injected spongy textured stuff.