Why I Use Meal Delivery Services and 3 Things to Consider When Making the Switch
It’s been about a year now since I made the switch from traditional grocery shopping to getting most of my groceries delivered right to my home. For Mario and I, this has been a godsend with both of us working full time jobs and at the end of a long week, not always having the time and energy to go grocery shopping, meal plan, meal prep, and so on. With that being said, there are SO MANY delivery services out there now, that it was a little crazy at first trying to find the ones that would work best for us. After trying a few of these services out, I was able to break it down into the three factors that mattered to us most:
Price point. Think about how much you are spending on groceries now. Are you okay with that budget? Do you want that to go down? Do you have a little wiggle room?
Personal dietary lifestyle and flavor preferences. Do you have any dietary restrictions or preferences? Do you follow a plant-based lifestyle or have any other health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure?
Time dedicated to cooking. This is an important factor for everyone. How much time do you have or are willing to spend making your meals?
For Mario and I, we were spending roughly $100-150 per week, sometimes more, on groceries prior to getting our meals delivered. Now this may seem like a lot to some, but we live in the Bay Area where prices are more expensive, and sometimes we like to treat ourselves to the finer things 😁. Although, this often led to food waste if we overestimated how much we needed. But overall, price point wasn’t a huge concern for us when it came to these services since they fell within our typical budget. As for our lifestyle and food preferences, we both love variety & flavor. Coming from cultures that value spice, having recipes that incorporated plenty of spices was important. Otherwise, we are also very balanced, not very picky, and have no dietary restrictions. Finally, the time factor for us was moderately important. On most days, I don’t mind spending a little more time making dinner, but sometimes I just want food to appear on the table after a long day. Finding that balance can be challenging if you, like myself, don’t like to eat the same things all the time.
So now without further ado, here are my thoughts on the meal delivery services I’ve tried so far.
Purple Carrot
Purple Carrot has a completely plant based, vegan meal selection. Although I’m not vegan personally, I love to incorporate plant-based foods whenever possible. With Purple Carrot, not only are you getting balanced meals packed with fiber and micronutrients, their recipes are creative and gather inspiration from a lot of ethnic cuisines. I find their portion sizes to be adequate, and I often have enough left over for lunch the next day.
The only cons I have with Purple Carrot is that you don’t get to choose which day your meals are delivered, you sometimes have to be very diligent to make all your recipes within a week or else some of the produce will start to spoil, and they use more plastic than some of the other services I’ve tried. Definitely not a deal breaker for me, but these changes would make this service a lot better for the consumer experience and the environment in my book. Overall, I have really enjoyed Purple Carrot for their variety, plant focus, and creative recipes, and I see myself using Purple Carrot for the foreseeable future.
HelloFresh
Next is HelloFresh. They are the first delivery service I’ve ever tried, and also the one I have used the most. I feel their packaging is more cohesive to their brand, and they definitely use the least amount of plastic out of all the ones I’ve tried. As for their recipes, they also have a lot of variety and the most recipes to choose from week to week. Their meals taste very good and the quality of their ingredients has actually improved a lot from when I first started using them a year ago up to now. They do have plant-based options, but as of now they are only vegetarian and not vegan. It is also the most affordable out of all the services I’ve tried, with the cost per meal/person being $8.99 for the majority of their recipes.
My one con with HelloFresh is that their recipes tend to have less produce or variety of vegetables. They lean towards the starchier side with a lot of the recipes having potatoes and not much else in the vegetable department. Again, not a deal breaker for me, but a few times I have had to go to the store to keep some leafy greens in my fridge in case their meals get too heavy for me. Their portion sizes can vary, with some recipes leaving a lot left over and others having just enough for dinner that night. All in all though, HelloFresh is a very strong service, which is why I regularly alternate between them and Purple Carrot.
Sun Basket
The last service that I’ve tried, aside from Plated which is no longer available, is Sun Basket. I actually was advertised to switch over to Sun Basket as Plated was discontinuing their services. Sun Basket markets itself as a primarily organic meal service that caters to a lot of dietary lifestyles such as keto, diabetes-friendly, “lean & clean,” and Paleo. This didn’t matter to Mario and I since we’re a diet-free household. We just value a variety of foods from all food groups with a good amount of produce.
We tried Sun Basket out for a few months before deciding to switch back to HelloFresh. This was mainly because of the price we were paying for recipes that seemed kind of bland to us compared to Plated — which by the way, we absolutely LOVED, and were sad to see go — and HelloFresh. Don’t get me wrong, the quality of their ingredients was definitely there, and the meals weren’t bad at all, but for $95/week I wasn’t amazed with the selection. I feel this is primarily an issue of preference. As I said earlier, Mario and I come from cultural backgrounds that pack A LOT of flavor in their cuisines, and I felt that SunBasket offered a blander version of the ethnic cuisines that I love.
Final Thoughts
If you are considering a meal delivery service, that’s awesome! Since using these services, I’ve had more time on my hands (i.e. more time for me to blog!), less food waste (a huge pro for me, and a big money saver in the long haul), and I never get bored of what’s for dinner.
For a more comprehensive list of different services, I’d check out this article from epicurious.
What are your thoughts on meal delivery services? Let me know in the comments!
Hey There!
My name is Allison, and I’m a registered dietitian offering nutrition counseling for people looking to optimize their nutrition through a non-diet, intuitive eating approach — meaning I will NEVER have you counting calories or make you restrict foods or food groups. Instead, my goal is to help you feel confident in choosing foods and eating habits that help you feel your best. This includes being able to understand your hunger and fullness cues, giving yourself permission to eat foods you enjoy, and ditching toxic diet culture.
Whether you are managing chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, or simply looking for guidance on how to break the cycle of dieting and build a better relationship with food, weight-neutral nutrition therapy can help you to make peace with food and have you live your best life!
