Meal Delivery

Pre-packaged meal kits have become increasingly popular over the last few years. While the convenience of these kits may win you over, there’s another important aspect to consider: the astonishing amount of packaging they require. With many of these kits, each ingredient comes individually packed and clearly labeled to eliminate the need to measure at all. If you need one carrot, you’ll get one carrot in its own bag with a label that says carrot.

Item: Chef’d Meal Kits Price: Prices vary pretty widely, but most two-serving meals are around $30. Shipping is extra for orders under $40, but it’s free above that threshold. Overall impression: Interesting recipes with high-quality ingredients. Although Chef’d might be a little too expensive to have every day, that’s not really their aim.

Service: Plated Price: All of the meal kits serve two people at $12 per person. You can choose anywhere from two to seven dinners per week, and shipping is free unless you select just two dinners, in which case shipping is $6. In addition, you can upgrade any dinner to a Chef’s Table dinner, which includes specialty cuts of meat and seafood, for additional $2 to $18 per person, per dinner. You can also add dessert to the box for $4 per person, per dessert.

Service: PeachDish Price: Prices vary based on how many servings you order. The minimum order is $50, which is the standard box that includes two meals each with two servings. There’s also a variable shipping charge should you choose to order without a subscription. Overall impression: PeachDish is a meal kit delivery service offering Southern-infused seasonally inspired recipes to cook at home. There are eight different meals offered each week (four meat/fish and four vegetarian).

Service: The Purple Carrot Price: The Purple Carrot has two offerings. The first is for two people, three times a week, for $68. The second offering is for four people, twice a week, for $74 dollars. Overall impression: Mark Bittman knows what he’s doing. If you’re in a cooking rut, but want something easy and healthy, The Purple Carrot is for you. This delivery service offers creative and delicious meals you can make in under an hour.

Service: Terra’s Kitchen Price: You’ve got quite a few options. First you can choose between vegetarian or “I like it all.” From there you can choose three dinners for two people ($74.99), four dinners for two people ($99.99), or two dinners for four people ($99.99). I opted for two dinners for four people.

The growing number of direct-to-consumer meal plan companies and the ease of use belies a deceptively complicated business model. It takes a lot of planning, and a lot of people, to get that big box of ingredients for pad Thai burgers and ginger salmon cakes to your front door. For the folks at Plated, for example, it takes close to 500 people with multiple areas of expertise, from recipe development and sourcing, to packing and shipping, to technology and marketing.

Service: Blue Apron Price: $65.94 for three meals serving two people each Overall Impression: Great for busy weeknight meals and to shake up your cooking routine. There are some weeks I just don’t have the time to meal plan ahead of time. And then those weeks turn into days when I just don’t have the time to think about what to make for dinner. Enter: Blue Apron.

Those of us in the Midwest know that going to the grocery store is 100 times more awful in the middle of winter than it is any other time of year. It’s basically scientific fact. Even people who consider grocery shopping date fodder (me) can admit that the allure of a delivered option is strong in March. Receive food without putting on pants or a scarf? Count me in. Here are a few options for the grocery-phobic. You literally don’t have to think.

Meal kits have much to offer. They’re relatively simple to use, they can be catered to your dietary needs, and an increasing number of companies are using local and organic ingredients. Not to mention the obvious: Having all the makings of dinner delivered means you don’t have to make a trip (or trips) to the grocery store or even think about what to cook tonight. But those direct-to-your-doorstep boxes also come with a little baggage.

Meal kits are certainly convenient, and they’re also not as wasteful as you might think, but are they ever a good deal? To find out how meal-kit costs compare to traditional groceries, I ordered kits from Green Chef, Purple Carrot, and Hello Fresh, and then I went shopping for the same ingredients at the supermarket.

If you’ve been tempted to try Blue Apron but have been scared off by the price, we might have the perfect trick to make it more enticing for you. Turns out, you just need a Costco membership — or a friend who’s willing to help you out. See, Costco’s online gift card selection, which is seriously worth checking out, has one little section called “Weight Management & Food Delivery.” Click on that and you’ll find a deal for two $50 Blue Apron eGift cards.

I was spending close to $300 a month on weekday lunches out, and something needed to change.

How we grocery shop is changing, and Albertsons Companies — one of the largest grocery retailers in the United States — is trying to adapt. On Wednesday, the company (which owns the likes of Safeway, Kroger, Food Lion, Ralphs, and Winn-Dixie) announced its acquisition of the popular meal kit company Plated. While talks for the deal reportedly began months ago, Albertsons made the official announcement this week.

In the last couple years the meal kit industry has exploded, and it’s not hard to figure out why. Trying to find the right recipe to fit your dietary needs, plus grocery shopping, and then prepping all the ingredients to actually make the dish takes time. Meal kits offer you back time in the kitchen, without having to order takeout (again) or going with another bowl of cold cereal. The only problem with meal kits, of course, is that they’re normally pretty expensive.