The Dirty Secret of Meal Kit Services

Kristin Appenbrink
Kristin Appenbrink
Kristin is the co-founder of Part Time Vegan and Silent Book Club. As a former editor at Real Simple, she is compulsively organized and loves solving people's problems. She has a weakness for desserts, especially ice cream.
updated Jun 9, 2019
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(Image credit: The Kitchn)

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. So how many plastic bags does Blue Apron use?

Buzzfeed News looked at the amount of trash generated by just one week’s worth of meals for two people, which is shown in the photo below.

(Image credit: The Kitchn)

They also point out that much of Blue Apron’s packaging is difficult to recycle since not all curbside programs accept the plastics included in the package. The company is now shipping 5 million meals per month, so you get a sense of just how big of a trash problem this could become.

We’ll be interested to see if Blue Apron users put pressure on the company to seek out more sustainable packaging.

→ Read more: These Are The Trashy Consequences Of Blue Apron Delivery from Buzzfeed

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