Mid-February I decided I was in a meal slump. My sister had tried the meal service, Hello Fresh, and she sent me a discount code to try this out. I remembered seeing discounts on Groupon, so I purchased a few other meal services coupons, deciding that this may be my way out of my lack of desire to come up with dinner ideas.
So I began Hello Fresh mid February. It was delightful. What a great break! There is a huge selection of meals - meat, chicken, veggie. They were good, and decent priced. All meals were packed separately, with menu cards included. They used lots of sour cream and cream cheese, which didn't make them super low-cal. However, the 2 person option ended up being enough for leftovers for Scott the next day. The downfall, really, is I keep getting emails for "deals" from them, but only for a new subscriber. I know I can unsubscribe, I keep hoping though . . .
The following week, I used Sunbasket. This began the week Scott fell out of a tree, pruning my daughter's orchard, ruining his right shoulder, having surgery, and just now, 12 weeks later, getting strength and motion back. Sunbasket was a god-send! Super expensive, good-sized servings, great containers, good recipe details, and each meal packed separately. These were easy to fix, the chicken was tender, and veggies were fresh. I would choose them over all I tried, if the price was right.
Next came Every Plate. They are owned by Hello Fresh. Good sized meals, excellent price, although options are limited. The drawback was that all meals were packaged together in one box. I had to separate. No biggie, just a little more time. And I'll probably use them again. However, I do hate getting "come back" emails, with no real enticing deal.
Home Chef was similar. Sadly, I had a few things either missing or replaced with a different item. I was getting tired of broccoli! When I ordered a meal with green beans, and broccoli arrived in its place, I frowned. Customer service was great (I didn't call to complain, just to change weeks, and they were very good).
Blue Apron came next. Beautifully marketed, great packaging, yet again, nothing spectacular. Cancelling my one-week run with them was not easy, online, but their customer rep was great.
Next I tried Gobble. They were expensive, and I wasn't terribly impressed. The options were limited. The meals were divided, but I still had to unload and semi-separate. And the meals came a day later than ordered.
Next was Green Chef. Expensive as well. And, by now, after several weeks doing this, tasted about the same as Gobble. All meals were packed in one box, that I unloaded and separated.
I tried Dinnerly last. I purchased 3 weeks of their meals for a discounted price. I canceled the first week because we went out of town, yet I received an email saying it was arriving. I called customer service, they apologized, told me I could keep the meal. Since I was out of town, I gave it to my niece, next door, who had just had a baby. I then received 3 weeks of Dinnerly, with my last 2 meals being this week. By now, I'm begging for summer foods, and although their broccoli and carrots were fresh, I'm not eating broccoli any time soon, and I'm tired of the 3 ways to cook chicken (that all plans use). Their meals come packed together, yet veggies are in their separate meal containers. I had to print or reference the recipes online rather than being included in the box, like all other services.
So -
Sunbasket was my favorite, although 2nd most expensive next to Blue Apron. All, without discount codes, are pricey. When we go out to eat semi-fast food, we plan on spending less than $25, for two, including drinks. Each of these plans, for two, ended up being about $18 per meal. That's not enticing enough for me to continue any of them.
We did end up eating out a lot less than we would have, just because there was food I had to cook!
We ate less, just because the meals were limited in size, yet I did miss left-overs for the next evening's meal.
I spent less on groceries. Usually I spend about $65 dollars a week, and now buying only a few veggies, some staples, and fruit for breakfasts, spent about $65 for two weeks. Not going to the grocery store was a huge benefit.
I didn't have to think about what to cook for meals, and I didn't have to do a lot of prep. This was a valuable time-saver.
The best meal plan, for me, quality, time, money, was Every Plate. I'll probably purchase the plan, at $5 per plate, again.
Mostly though, this was an amazing experience, just because of Scott's inability to help me with anything besides sautéing. For the first two months he couldn't drive, which meant grocery shopping was up to me, and yet, without having to meal plan, it was so simple. Scott is also my chopper, helping me prep on Sundays, for the entire week. Again, no prep with these meal plans.
My biggest piece of advice - purchase these plans on Groupon - I didn't pay more than $30 dollars a week for these meals, or reach out to me, and I'll give you a referral, which could mean a week's worth of meals free. Hurray!
