Meal Delivery Services - Are They Budget-Friendly?

Recently, I read a blog from a woman in one of the travel groups I am in on Facebook titled "How to Save A Ton of Money Using Meal Subscription Service Promotions". It quickly piqued my interest and so I decided to do a little test run of these services.

If you're anything like many people, life can get super busy. The hours roll by so fast that it seems as though out of nowhere, 4 p.m. rolls up on a weekday rather quickly and now you have to figure out what to make for dinner. Yes, meal planning can be so helpful with this, but some days I just simply forget. Maybe I planned on having leftovers, but, either my husband or one of my kids took them to work for lunch and now there's not enough left for everyone for dinner. Some days I will forget to take something out of the freezer, which, by the way is a deep freezer and meats or pre-made meals just don't defrost as quickly as in a traditional freezer.

Cooking dinner for a family can get really redundant. Boredom can easily set in when you're  making the same 15 meals or maybe it just seems like you're making the same 15 meals. Whatever it is, after 18 years of marriage I was in some serious need for some serious foodspiration.

I saw some ads on tv for the various meal delivery subscription services available (Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Plated, etc) and I happened to stumble across Rachel's blog the same day. I got the basic gist of applying the various promotions across the many services available and decided to give it a whirl. It worked out surprisingly well.

I knew I definitely needed to tweak this, however, to fit our family's needs. My kids - we have 4 - aren't super picky eaters, but they're not gourmet either. So, I decided that I would cook big 4 nights per week and order 3 meals weekly for 2 people. The 3 nights that we were cooking our boxes, the kids could eat leftovers. We called it our "date-less date night". For less than the cost of a dinner for 2 at our favorite restaurant, we could have three restaurant-quality meals. I was sold. I used the links from the blog post and began this exciting, quickie, culinary journey. Bonus points that most meals are 30 minutes or less!

Our first week was Blue Apron. I had someone e-mail me a free box the same day that I signed up using the link. I ended up gifting that one to my parents and using the 2nd box for myself. Blue Apron looked something like this:
1 week - 3 meals, 2 servings
Total: 6 meals
Retail Price: $59.94
Promo Code: $30 off
Bonus Promo Code: $7.50 off stacking with Rakuten
Price with Promo Code(s): $22.44
Price Per Meal: $3.74
Want a Free Box? E-mail Me!

The following week we tried Hello Fresh. I must say, this probably has the best packaging of all services we had tried because the entire meal comes in small, thin cardboard boxes that not only take up minimal fridge space if you stack them, but it's just as easy to recycle as well.
1 week - 3 meals, 2 servings
Total: 6 meals
Retail Price: $59.94
Promo Code: $40 Off
Price with Promo Code(s): $19.94
Price Per Meal: $3.32
Click here for $40 off your first delivery!

Week 3 and now it was time to try Plated. Now, this one was a little different in that I ordered a family box. This consisted of 2 meals with 4 servings each. I believe at the time, the promo was 3 free meals or so as the promo price doesn't reflect a whole dollar amount off. The kids actually loved the pork tonkatsu and the chicken bruschetta.
1 week - 2 meals, 4 servings
Total: 8 meals
Retail Price: $79.60
Promo Code: 3 free meals
Price with Promo Code(s): $55.70
Price Per Meal: $6.96
Click here for 50% off your first delivery (exp 9/27/17)

Lastly, we tried Green Chef. Eating organic is really important for myself and my family. I found this to be the one thing most of these delivery boxed lacked. Green Chef hits the nail on the head with organically sourced produce and meats. The food was absolutely delicious. It is the most expensive even with the promotional offer, however, in my opinion it was the best one. The only thing I didn't like about the service was that the menus are pre-made and there is no changing them. You pick a "diet" that you follow (vegetarian, paleo, omnivore, etc) and they will send you however many meals you choose to receive based on those selections. Thankfully, I loved all 3 of my meals. Green Chef does charge $9 for shipping.
1 week - 3 meals, 2 servings
Total: 6 meals
Retail Price: $71.94 + $9 shipping
Promo Code: 4 free meals (-$53.96)
Price with Promo Code(s): $26.98
Price Per Meal: $4.50
Want 4 free meals too? CLICK HERE

After a few weeks (about 8) I received an e-mail from Hello Fresh. If I reactivated my account, I would get 50% off my next box. Once again, I happily obliged. This time, I picked the family box. I skipped all the weeks up until September 1st because I already have other boxes coming. This will work out great for those first few days of the back to school craziness.
1 week - 2 meals, 4 servings
Total: 8 meals
Retail Price: $69.92 (NEW LOWER PRICE!!)
Promo Code: 50% off
Price with Promo Code(s): $34.96
Price Per Meal: $4.37
Want to try Hello Fresh? Click here for $40 off!

Another great service (and is probably my favorite at the moment) is Home Chef. Holy smokes these meals are easy and delicious! The packaging is great and easy to just toss right into the fridge. This service looked something like this:
2 weeks - 3 meals, 2 servings
Total: 12 meals
Retail Price: $119.40
Promo Code: $50 off given as $35 off 1st box/$15 off 2nd
Price with Promo Code(s): $69.40
Price Per Meal: $5.78
Want to try Home Chef? Click here for $30 off your first box!


Overall opinion on each service? Well for starters, if you're trying to save the environment and would like to avoid extra packaging, meal boxes may not be for you. They come with an excessive amount of packaging. The silver lining is that most of which can be recycled or reused.

Green Chef's Corn Pesto Flatbread

Green Chef has a bunch of little containers that has all of the additives pre-chopped. Each container or plastic bag has a color-coded label on it that coincides with the recipes. It's easy to get the kids involved in cooking when you can tell them to open the fridge and grab out everything with a blue, purple, green, etc. sticker. These containers are great to reuse for salad dressings or small snacks for lunch and kids. The fact that he bulk of the produce and herbs are pre-chopped also saves on time. The meals were packed with flavor and I really loved Green Chef. It was, however, the most expensive even with the promo, but that is to be expected when the entire box is organic. This would have been my favorite by a landslide had I had more recipes to choose from and more control over my boxes. I don't like that the meals are basically chosen for you based on the diet you select. It does, however, open your palate to try new things. When I am grocery shopping or cooking outside of the box I am MUCH more likely to buy organic produce and condiments. For boxes, I'd prefer that and plan on trying Sun Basket next.

Blue Apron's Crispy Catfish with Curry Vegetables

Blue Apron has quite likely been my favorite service so far. They have A LOT of different meals to pick from weekly and they don't seem to repeat themselves so I feel like, for me, this gives me the most choices. You can skip up to 6 weeks in advance. The recipes are slightly more involved than some of the other services but they are still between the 30 and 40 minute range to cook. I want to add as well that the recipes are absolutely beautiful! They're visually pleasing and make you feel fancy, which my husband and I love since we're using these for our "date-less date night"! Each insulated delivery box comes with all of the ingredients pre-packaged but not grouped together for each meal. I use Ziploc take and toss large containers and put the ingredients for each meal together in separate boxes. The boxes alsome come with a little brown bag of "knick-knacks" which are extra condiments. I refrigerate these as well as sometimes they come with parmesan cheese or butter.

Hello Fresh's Chicken Parmesan Salad

Hello Fresh by far has the best use of packaging and fridge real estate. It runs head to head with Home Chef. I have a small fridge. We bought it before we had 2 more kids. It worked for a family of 4 but it's challenging for 6. Hello Fresh comes in these small-ish boxes. Like think of a woman's size 5 shoe box that you can stack. I can manage to stack 3 high on the bottom shelf of my fridge. I wasn't a huge fan of the ground beef in Hello Fresh, but for the other items I did order I found them to be very tasty and very simple to make. I felt like Hello Fresh had these eye-opening recipes that had me thinking "Wow, why don't I make my own salad dressings?" or "Wow, this is a 6 ingredient meal and packs so much flavor!" Any food that can inspire you to make other sauces, meals, etc based on the ingredients given is a winner in my book. I have since started making my own varieties of viniagrettes. I LOVED the Chicken Parmesan Salad. To me, it was such a light, tasty dinner that was satisfying and yet didn't leave you feeling bloated. Hello Fresh has a variety of recipes to choose from and you can login and skip up to 4 weeks.

Plated's Pork Tonkatsu

Plated allows you to skip 4 or 5 weeks as well. I found these recipes to be varied and easy to prepare. Another feature that I really liked about Plated is that all of the meals are pretty much bagged together, with the exception of a few items, when the box is delivered. They are also labeled really well with what meal they belong to and so that makes any extra items easy to find thus cutting back time on gathering items. I have 2 older kids (1 just turned 18, 1 is 17) who really loved the pork tonkatsu. I also found that I definitely think of salads as a meal and don't utilize mixed greens nearly enough as a side. Once again, the recipes were relatively simple and tasted great. I recently was sent an e-mail offer, giving me $15 off of my next 2 deliveries if I reactivated. I reactivated, and tonight we're having peanut curry chicken over sticky rice.

In my opinion, Home Chef has the best packaging along with . There are some services that throw all the ingredients in the box which you then have to sort into meals. Home Chef does not! They all come in little baggies that zip, kind of like a bag of grapes. All the ingredients are in each bag and then there is a larger bag containing all of the proteins (meats, fish, etc), each individually vacuum packed. The meals are REALLY delicious and visually gorgeous. One of the meals I had was a seared salmon in a

Home Chef's Seared Salmon in Ginger Scallion Sauce

ginger scallion teriyaki glaze and it was not only beautiful but it tasted twice as beautiful as it looked. The chicken marsala was also incredible. Really easy overall from the time you open the box until you open your mouth and take your first bite.

Each delivery service was cancelled or "skipped" after the first week (literally the day after receiving the meals) to avoid getting any unexpected boxes or billing hassles. About 4 weeks later, I started getting e-mails featuring new promotional offers if I reactivated my account. I happily obliged. Plated offered a $30 credit, so this was applied as (2) $15 credits on my next 2 deliveries. Blue Apron offered a $15 credit for each box ordered in the month of July. This was a rolling credit, up to $60 that would be applied to my August deliveries. They also sent me a $10 coupon so between the 2 boxes and the (2) $15 credits, I now have a $40 account credit with them.

When I reactivated my accounts, I immediately went into my orders and "skipped" as many weeks as it would allow me. This not only gives me time to try the recipes but also to once again avoid billing hassles. One thing I may add is that all of these companies have made cancelling VERY easy.  For most of them, there is a button to click under the accounts section. With Blue Apron, I sent a secured message and they replied back with a cancellation link in a very timely manner.

It has been 8 weeks and the boxes are still coming and I do believe that I would likely keep 1 or 2 services in the long run, even if not using a promo. After all, some things we do pay for convenience.  Overall, I really like the service and they have made cooking exciting again. I am trying new foods and mixing flavors that maybe I wouldn't have done before. I'm amazed at the simplicity of the ingredients and how they yield interesting, complex flavors. The recipe cards are easy to follow. The meals are visually pleasing. I punch each set each week with a 3-ring hole punch and keep them in a binder. I don't order boxes every week, but I do order them quite often. So far, to date we have spent about $290 on 60 meals. It's absolutely budget-friendly if you're even just looking at it from a "date night" standpoint. 60 meals is the equivalent of 30 "date night" dinners and we would have spent way more than that had we gone out. I mean, really, where are you both going out to eat for an average of $10 a clip? We lack readily access to childcare and so when we do go out, it's few and far between. We are now enjoying our infrequent time alone taking walks along the boardwalk and not spending it in a restaurant eating. In other words, something we can do at home.

Have you tried any delivery services? If so, how have they worked out for you?