Over the last few years, mealkit delivery services have started popping up. These are different from how we typically order food, like pizza or Thai, where it shows up at your door fully cooked, smelling delcious, and ready to eat. Mealkit delivery services are the Ikea of the food industry. Meals show up at your door in a box with raw, individually-wrapped ingredients and step-by-step cooking instructions.
We’ve used one of these services for a couple weeks here and there. While reflecting on the pros and cons, I came up with a few that may persuade or dissuade you from trying them, check them out below.
Mealkit delivery services are the Ikea of the food industry.
Tweet3 Reasons Why You Should Try a Mealkit Delivery Service
1. You will learn cooking skills and kitchen techniques
If you consider yourself an unseasoned chef fumbling around in your own kitchen, this is the most valuable reason to try one of these services. You will learn useful and transferable kitchen skills. The step by step instructions provided with the meal will help you learn your way around the kitchen.
For example, you will learn different ways to prepare vegetables, like roasting them in the oven. From carrots to brussel sprouts, this is a directly transferable skill to almost any other vegetable. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and even broccoli can all be roasted in the same way you would roast brussel sprouts. You will also learn tips and tricks for seasoning meats, fish, or tofu, and how to put everything together at the end.
Bonus tip: Get your kids invoved in the prep. The step by step instructions can also be great learning tools for any kids interested in helping out in the kitchen!
2. You can plan your week around the delivered meals
Each meal delivered is one night of the week you don’t have to decide what you’re having for dinner. The more you can plan your week in advance, the smoother it will go. You’re more likely to stick to a plan if you have one!
Whether you want to to eat more meals at home, eat more vegetables, or just eat more healthful meals in general, planning your week in advance can make a big difference in reaching your goals. It will also relieve some of the pressure you will experience when relying on willpower. We know that willpower is a limited resource and planning your week in advance is one of the best ways to keep it stockpiled.
I talk a bit more about how willpower is a limited resource in this blog.
3. You will get to try new foods
Trying new foods can be intimidating, especially if we don’t know how to prepare them. A mealkit delivery service gives you the opportunity to try meals with unique or new-to-you ingredients. When my partner and I tried out a mealkit delivery service for a few weeks, we learned how to cook foods we’d never tried before. We learned to cook with vegetables like bok choy and shallots, whole grains like quinoa, plant proteins like tofu and beans, as well as new and tasty ways to prepare lean meats.
You’re also given just the right amount of these foods to give them a try. This means less food waste if you don’t like it and if you do like it, you can get more at the grocery store in bigger quantities.
3 Potential Downfalls of Trying a Mealkit Delivery Service
These services can be expensive
While these services can be touted as cost-saving, the reality is that they can be pricey, especially when factored into a week’s worth of groceries. For many, this is crucial in deciding whether to try a service like this or not. It can add a significant amount to your grocery bill if you’re not careful. Though most companies do throw around big discounts for your first order like Oprah giving away free cars. If you know somebody currently using this service they likely receive coupon codes to give to friends, reach out and see if they have any kicking around.
Recipes often require multitasking
Though I don’t consider this a major deterrent, I thought it deserved a mention. I think this downfall is worth it because at the same time as being tested in the kitchen, you’re learning and practicing useful skills. The instructions make it look like there are only 6 or 7 steps, which is true, but when you’re in the kitchen doing the work it can sometimes feel like this:
There can be a lot of plastic waste
Realistically, anytime you buy food there is waste, unless you’re buying exclusively from a zero-waste shop. What’s different from a mealkit delivery service is that you’re receiving [sometimes] very small portions of foods which all come individually packaged (though usually in recyclable material at least). Some companies, like Hello Fresh, discuss on their website how the company is carbon-neutral while relying on sustainable farming practices.
Final Thoughts
If you approach this as a learning opportunity, it will be totally worth your time and you will be proud of the delicious meals that you create.
Thank you for reading!
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