Who is doing meal delivery?

[Vipergrün]

Anyone doing Blue Apron or other food delivery? Good/bad/ugly?

In the near-term, it's just myself and it's too easy to just walk to the local Yard House, Sushi, Italian place and each/drink too much.

Looking for a somewhat healthy option with good tasting food.

I did meal prep for a while, but was running to the market almost every other day (Trader Joe's)

Thought I may want to try something new.

I plan on doing bootcamp workouts 4-5 times a week and want to make sure a meal plan compliments that.

Ideas?

Thanks!
-Brad

[Hugh R]

We use Blue Apron 2x per month and like it. Not too much work and good recipes.

My daughter lives in Manhattan and with her husband who travels for work she thinks it great with a 1 and a 3 year old, going shopping is a pain.

[Nickshu]

We have been doing Blue Apron for a few months. Generally we like it. My only complaint is 95% of the meals are pan fried...which stinks up the house and makes a mess to clean up. We generally grill outside and aren't used to the messiness of pan frying. The chicken they supply is sometimes rubbery. Other than that it's been good and worth it.

[rusnak]

Oh my God.

Healthy? Well first of all, stop shopping at Trader Joe's.

You have so many healthy grocery stores in your area. I looked up Newbury Park, and you've got to have a Bristol Farms or something similar in your area. If not, look at so many of the stores doing in-store meal prep. Even Smart and Final is now doing rotisserie chicken.

[Vipergrün]

Originally Posted by rusnak

Oh my God.

Healthy? Well first of all, stop shopping at Trader Joe's.

You have so many healthy grocery stores in your area. I looked up Newbury Park, and you've got to have a Bristol Farms or something similar in your area. If not, look at so many of the stores doing in-store meal prep. Even Smart and Final is now doing rotisserie chicken.

LOL To be clear, I try not to buy too many prepared meals from TJ's, but mainly try to keep fresh fruits and veggies, chicken, etc.

[rusnak]

^ Actually the produce is what I was referring to.

I think you are totally onto something by cooking at home. But if I may, try to increase the ratio of unprepared food to packaged food, and buy fresh produce. Try to get it locally or California grown, for two reasons: food safety, and nutrient density. Produce such as row crops will lose their nutrition value pretty quickly, so it's not just about looks.

Generally speaking, the worst produce (we're talking #2s or worse) are at Target, Walmart, Costco, Trader Joe's, and Smart and Final. The better stores have better produce, such as Andronico's, Draeger's, Nob Hill, Whole Foods, Molly Stone's, historically Bristol Farms has done well too, depending on their produce buyer, and in Southern California you have a wonderful grocery store chain called Gelson's.

[sugarwood]

Why is trader Joe's bad?
What is good vs bad produce?

[pcardude]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Why is trader Joe's bad?
What is good vs bad produce?

I'd like to know this as well

[Yorkie]

My GF is French and in her opinion (just an opinion) the produce in TJs is picked too soon and not given enough time to mature and let the flavors develop. I think we also might over water the produce here in CA to make it grow quicker as well. But I'm not a farmer so I could be spouting bollocks but I have to say that the taste of the produce in her home town (Toulouse) is so much tastier than the stuff I find here in my local TJs, and Vons. I should try Whole Foods...

[jcommin]

Originally Posted by Yorkie

My GF is French and in her opinion (just an opinion) the produce in TJs is picked too soon and not given enough time to mature and let the flavors develop. I think we also might over water the produce here in CA to make it grow quicker as well. But I'm not a farmer so I could be spouting bollocks but I have to say that the taste of the produce in her home town (Toulouse) is so much tastier than the stuff I find here in my local TJs, and Vons. I should try Whole Foods...

My opinion is just the opposite - the produce is past their prime. TJ's is great with is small serving prepackage produce to be used within a short time frame. My grandfather was a food purveyor and my dad was fussy about food quality. I leaned from him. I am an single empty nester and I only buy what I need and in small quantity.

If you go to farmers markets and buy produce in season, it is fresher and has a longer shelf life. You can see/taste the difference.


Smaller family owned grocery stores have the same type of produce. They all have a shelf life range and quality (blemishes). The shorter the shelf life and more blems, the lower the price. It doesn't mean the food is bad, you need to use it sooner.

[fastfredracing]

We do hello fresh, 3 meals a week. Been about 6 months, and We both like it . Healthy, locally grown, and we have tried quite a few things that we would have never come up with on our own. We cook quite a few meals together a week now.
Been a nice change of scenery in the eating department . We were getting stuck in the chicken, beef, fish routine

[craigster59]

Not the whole meal, but I used to get a box a week from these guys. Pickup is in T.O.
Abundant Harvest Organics | Get a Weekly Box Delivery of Organic Fruit & Vegetables in California like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

[Deschodt]

Re:blue apron - no idea re: others...

Wife signed us up so I'm not aware of details (choices?). Not a fan overall after 6 weeks... but it depends what you like... IMO there's *a lot* of packaging to dispose of for 2 meals (I live in an area where you recycle a lot and garbage cans are tiny).. They individually box tomatoes ! The ice packs are huge and smell after a while... I don't much like the sides they give you (Corn, always corn, that's live stock food!)..and you're not always in the mood to cook what they sent ya, that day (but more is coming so you'd better).

Overall we've had 1 great meal out of it - really good - kids helped and it was fun, then 2 or 3 "meh - could have done that better with my own ingredients", and 2 that I've trashed because I did not get to them on time / didn't know how long their box sat outside. It takes discipline & planning, and apparently I have none when it comes to cooking... Time too... Cooking is work, I generally cook what I feel like eating that day, it sometimes annoys me to cook what they send me instead (if there's a choice then that's between me and my wife, not their fault, but still you are committed weeks in advance regardless)...

A lot of it so far has been pan-fried too, which makes a mess and I'm more of a pressure cooker guy... We cancelled for now - or postponed, not sure.... But I can see cases where it makes sense, if you have free time and no clue it must be great. Recipes are not bad !

Seems pricey to me considering you cook !!! I can see those prices for cooked meals, but at the end of the day I gotta cook it, clean the entire kitchen so it seems expensive to me. And my trash can and recycle bin are maxed out faster...

[rusnak]

TJs is antithetical to your typical green grocer. They are not really geared to move a highly perishable product through their system in the way a grocery store does.

Stores "go on ad", meaning that they advertise special prices for produce, then they will lean on the larger farms who ship direct from the field, or they will go through brokers. These are often times the freshest produce because it hasn't sat in a warehouse. Either way, they buy #1 grade quality to start with, and then the freshness will be dependent on how far you live from where the produce was grown. That's why I say don't buy foreign grown produce.

The market for, lets just say, lesser quality produce is more dicey. It can be re-bagged, or it can have changed hands several times before it gets to the store. It may have sat in cold storage for months. Costco, Smart and Final, and to an extent TJ have been known to do this. They need the markup. So they buy cheap. It's all about margin, and they don't have the lightning fast distribution systems in place that a green grocer has. They care about two things: price and volume. To an extent, all stores do really, but the grocery store will make it's living on either freshness, or on cheap pricing. You can't have both.

The best way to educate yourself is to just go buy produce at these stores. Compare freshness and quality. Try not to buy produce that is bagged, such as carrots, oranges, tomatoes, etc. Sometimes it's unavoidable, such as when you buy berries or grapes, but for the most part, you want to really look at produce before you buy it. Don't buy apples at a gas station. They get produce from distributors like Coremark and the like. That produce is as bad a Trader Joe's.

[URY914]

I've been trying the delivery service where you wait at the table for your wife to bring it to you. Not working. Been wainting 24 years.

[Vipergrün]

Great feedback, thank you! Craigster, I like the looks of that produce delivery. I've made a couple of trips to Whole Paycheck recently. I am not noticing huge difference in taste or quality, but my wallet is lighter and I guess I feel better emotionally buying there. :*)

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by Vipergrün

I've made a couple of trips to Whole Paycheck recently.

LOL, I thought we were the only people who called it that.