No one likes going to the supermarket. Sure, walking down the aisles can be an existential experience. But enjoyable? Not so much. Yet, we are all cursed to shuffle through the throngs of everyday products we never intend to buy, but that somehow end up in our carts when we reach the register. For instance, my husband once came home from our local grocery store with Ponzu sauce. When I asked him why in the world he would buy Ponzu sauce he stated, “I don’t know, I was curious.” Where is that Ponzu sauce now? Where all condiments go to die: on the shelf of the refrigerator door.
Recently a number of services have popped up offering to make that zombie walk down grocery store aisles a thing of the past. Or, so they say. In order to get a better understanding of these services, (Blue Apron, Plated, Purple Carrot, Hello Fresh, and Marley Spoon), Bree Fowler bravely spent a month living in the boxed dinner world. Her main questions were affordability, time-saving value, healthiness and taste. Her findings are interesting, but as a busy, working mom, I think this sums it up for me:
The meal kits don’t yield leftovers, so that meant buying groceries for sack lunches or picking up takeout. Factoring out the substantial first-week discounts the companies all offer, my family’s weekly food budget grew by roughly 60 percent to cover the additional costs.
Paying $60 – $72 a week for three dinners for two, and then still having to go to the supermarket? Do you think that’s worth the “hassle free” meal making?
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