By Danaé Reid
Food services like Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and EveryPlate have stormed the nation due to the ease that it creates around meal prepping, cooking, and grocery shopping in general. I’d been hearing about the services for years. Curious to know how efficient they could really be and desperate to find a means to enjoy cooking, I made the decision to try a meal kit for myself and honestly, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.
When I was in college and my parents were funding my grocery trips, it mattered much less how much I was spending on groceries or if something went bad, because it wasn’t technically my money. But when I started paying for my own food, I became much more cautious about what I was buying, how much of it I was buying, and really checking to make sure that I was eating the food I was buying before it went bad.
In addition to having parents who paid for my food, back when I was living in Pennsylvania, I also had a car to travel back and forth to the grocery store, with the only inconvenience being that I had to transport the goods from my car to the third floor of my college apartment. But now that I live in New York with no car, lugging groceries from a considerable distance and STILL having to carry them up three flights of steps soon became unbearable.
I’d already had a distaste for grocery shopping because of how many options I had and the fact that I NEVER knew what I wanted to cook or knew of any new and different recipes. So as you can imagine, my discontent only grew from the parameters set on me by the reality of inner-city living. All of this resulted in a lot of ordering out, because I hated cooking, a lot of snacking, minimal food diversity and scarce eating. I was sort of miserable, to say the least, and I had no idea how to fix the problem.
In the midst of this frustration, a friend of mine had posted on her social media that a company named EveryPlate had given her four free boxes to send to friends to try — and that’s where my obsession began. Suddenly, all of the issues that I had surrounding cooking and food were eviscerated, and I actually started to enjoy cooking again. The ease of having the ingredients you need at your fingertips is so convenient, and now I hardly go to the grocery store unless it’s for snacks and small breakfast items.
As of today, I cook multiple times a day and rave about the service to as many people as I can. I’m a huge advocate for finding a means to make my life more efficient, and this was certainly my golden ticket.
The freshness of the produce, the star quality customer service, and the price make EveryPlate my favorite box, but there are a few others you can check out as well. These meal services often offer amazing deals and are really easy to use and navigate.
This is not a conclusive menu — there are a lot of others out there!
1. EveryPlate: best value
Cost: EveryPlate charges $4.99 per serving across the board, plus $8.99 for shipping.
2. Hello Fresh: considered best overall:
Cost: A Hello Fresh box is typically $7.49 per serving
3. Blue Apron: best for quick meals
Cost: The lowest price per serving for a Blue Apron Box is $7.49 and the lowest subscription cost is $48 for two meals per week with two servings per meal.
4. Martha Stewart and Marley Spoon: best for easy meals:
Cost: The lowest price per serving for a Martha and Marley box is $7 and the lowest subscription cost is $50 for two meals per week with two servings per meal. Shipping not included in total price… adds $9.
5. Purple Carrot: best for vegan meals
Cost: The lowest price per serving for a Purple Carrot box is $10 and the lowest subscription cost is $72 for three meals per week with two servings per meal.
Disclaimer:
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author’s organization, committee or other group or individual.
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