Have you used any meal delivery service?

[tiffanistarr]

Hi everyone! I apologize if this has been asked before, I did search and couldn’t find anything right away so I assume it’s safe.

I was wondering if anyone has used meal delivery services such as Hello Chef, Plated, Freshly, etc. If you have or are currently using them what are your thoughts and opinions? Is it worth it? Are the servings worth the price? Any bad experiences?

I've used Green Chef a couple of times due to getting it free, but I wasn't that impressed. I’ve considered doing a different service but I’d like to hear some other experiences first.

Or feel free to just give any opinion on it even if you haven’t tried one! I used to think they were ridiculous, but as life gets busy it is convenient so i’m curious about other people’s opinions!

 

[Alienfish]

I haven't used personally but I know people who have done. Sure, they are convenient but if you live in the suburbs here they charge ridiculous delivery rates which really sucks. I dunno if they got better since the last time they used it but yeah. And unless it's like larger burger chains food prices can be ehh too.

 

[Violet Witch]

My mum and I have used two meal services (I think it was Guisto and Hello Fresh) but we weren't impressed with what we got and found the meals unappetising in comparison to what we usually eat for dinner. Our neighbours use meal delivery services at least once a week so I put it all down to personal preference and convenience around your busy life etc.

 

[Oblivia]

I use Gobble! I tried Blue Apron initially but they were consistently late with deliveries and kept forgetting ingredients that were paramount to the meals, so I cancelled with them and signed up for Gobble the same day. Their vegetarian options are absolutely delicious and definitely restaurant quality, though the claim that they take "only 15 minutes" is a little misleading - I'd say it's closer to 30-45 with one person doing all the cooking. They've forgotten an ingredient one time during the 6+ months I've been using them, but were quick to credit my account for the full meal which was definitely appreciated.

I also occasionally get meals from Sakara Life if I want to do a "detox" of sorts, and while I love the food and the cleanliness of the ingredients, I can't recommend them solely due to the outrageous cost. It's worth a try if you have cash to burn and are extremely serious about clean eating, but in all honesty you could probably make the majority of it yourself for less than half the cost.

 

[Kaiaa]

I’d love to do meal delivery services but my husband has celiac so that makes his options extremely limited. As far as I’ve researched, none of the delivery services offered are certified for people with celiac. Besides that, I live in the middle of nowhere, kinda doubt anyone would willingly deliver a box of fresh food out here haha!

 

[Antonio]

I tend not to buy my food from delivery services as I would rather go shopping for my ingredients. I feel like trusting somebody with my ingredients is a risk I'm not sure I'm willing to take.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I've always wanted to try a meal delivery service but I have been hesitant because I'm not sure if it will go as planned or that it will be worth it. I know quite a few people who use different ones and they all like them and say they are convenient... maybe in the next few months I will look into it and actually figure out which one would be worth a try.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

My husband and I have been using Dinnerly (here in Australia. It is owned by Marleyspoon) for almost a year now and we love it. It saves us a lot of money, the meals are almost always great, the ingredients are always fresh. Portion sizes are good too; not too big not too small. I learned a lot about cooking this year.
I highly recommend trying a meal service if anyone is thinking about it. If you don't know how to cook don't worry about it, you will learn!

 

[Corrie]

I haven't used a service like that but I totally understand the appeal. Meal planning, prep and shopping take up a lot of brainpower and time! The prices for them are usually pretty steep, at least around where I live so I feel like it's still not worth it to me.

 

[Pupperina]

Personally I haven't tried any, but my boyfriend tried Freshly before. He claims its simply "glorified" tv dinners that can be bought at grocery stores. However, the meals were put in the freezer when the instructions say to leave them in the fridge, therefore I'm not sure how affected the quality was when the food was consumed.
I do think meal prep deliveries could be worth the experience if you're a beginner at cooking and desire to learn new recipes.

 

[Princess Mipha]

We only have two things that deliver here. Not long ago it was just dominos Pizza. While I love their Pizza, my fiancé thinks it's too expensive for the "bad taste"

Since the pandemic started we are able to get food delivered with Uber Eats! Not a lot of places tho, BUT our favorite Burgerplace is delivering with it to us.. so we might get this delivered... once.. a week..

 

[DJStarstryker]

No. In my previous job I might've considered it due to lack of time, but they just feel too expensive.

Something to look into is an Instant Pot or a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker. I wish I had one when I still had a regular job that required me to commute and go to an office. It can cook a healthy meal for you super fast.

I've also found that if you do bulk preparation and either be willing to eat the same meal for dinner 2-3 days in a row, or have the space to freeze your leftovers, that helps a lot. Preparing a brand new complicated dinner every night of the week takes too long.

 

[Sanaki]

My family used to do HelloFresh when we were younger however the quality of the meals was somewhat lacking? I'm pretty sure nowadays they are way better, but everything was somewhat bland but I mean, it's up to the person cooking to season how they like it. I was young and didn't know how to cook so well so it was convenient, but a lot of the choices back then were also very bland.

I prefer just doing grocery delivery lately, I always thought it was way more expensive than it actually is. If you get a decent amount of stuff you can save on the delivery price. But I understand that not everyone has that time to set aside to be there for it, but you can schedule it for a certain day and time if you order a little earlier in the week. I like being able to look online and get/use coupons depending where you shop, so it saves some money, plus some places have rewards programs that go along with it so you can get money off for the future purchases.

Meal prep as mentioned by someone before can be nice too, I like to prepare meals that last like 2 nights so I don't get tired of it. I also prepare simple stuff that I can just heat up like rice, vegetables, chicken. Whole wheat spaghetti/rotini or penne with turkey meat and sauce (I usually use the cheap jarred stuff and then season it to my preferences) is something that has also lasted me for days for pretty cheap, but if you don't eat meat there's that too.

Mornings were rough for me when I was working more, but I usually just made a simple smoothie with fruit of my choice, plain yogurt with no added sugar, oat milk, either flax seeds or chia seeds, honey, and a banana. Usually had it with my coffee and it was easy to get down. There are ways to avoid having to cook for hours, however sometimes it's simply just hard for us all to. I recommend giving the meal delivery a try if that's something you're looking towards, I just think that the pricetag isn't worth what you get for the most part. I usually always think that I could just buy groceries with that money.

 

[Jolitaula]

Nah, I don’t use any meal deliveries. I used to before, but lately, I’m more into cooking myself, rather than ordering anything. I mostly order stuff from Aliexpress because it’s cheap and mostly quality. Sometimes I might just be really bored, and I’d just search for some random stuff to order. The only thing I don’t like is that the tracking system works badly, and it is impossible to track the order accurately. But, a couple of weeks ago, I started to use aliexpress tracking application, and since then, I was able to track my orders finally. It actually worked, and my package came on time as it should be.

 

[Shawna]

We use Door Dash on occasion. Door Dash is very hit-or-miss. It is very easy for your order to get messed up. We actually ordered IHOP from there a week ago from today. I believe my dad asked for all of our hash browns to be crispy, but only half of them were.

 

[Midoriya]

Yeah I have, but like the poster above me mentioned, they can be very hit-or-miss. Sometimes they get the order wrong and other times it ends up costing a fortune. Still haven’t found a good one around here yet…

 

[Whohaw]

Nope never. I had groceries delivered when I had covid.
But I can't see myself getting skip the dishes...I'd rather cook.

 

[Dinosaurz]

I am a “delivery partner” for Uber eats meaning I cycle around and do deliveries. Some people suck but some people are great