Pros and cons of meal delivery services

Meal delivery services can change how you think about meal planning. They’re trying to redefine the way we cook and eat all while being more convenient than going to the grocery store. What’s appealing about signing up for a meal delivery service? What might not be working for them? We’re here to help you weigh the pros and cons of meal delivery services. While there are a variety of them to choose from, many of them share the same pros and cons. If you see something here listed as a “con” that doesn’t mean it’s true for all meal delivery services, we’re just noting a trend that we’ve seen that many of them share.

Pros:

Convenience is the name of the game. Meal delivery services are hard-wired to be as convenient as possible. The meal kits land on your door and they are pre-packaged and portioned depending on your specifications. All you have to do is pick which meals appeal to you, schedule your deliveries, and cook. That’s about as easy as it gets. No grocery store runs, no recipe research, no overly complicated ingredients. All the stress and guess work is mostly done for you. Many services will allow you to schedule weeks or even months in advance and that means you won’t have to think about all the planning for days on end.

Meal delivery services offer you a chance to eat healthily and make better choices when picking your meals. You get to define “healthy” for yourself with these meal delivery service. With many of these services offering different options that will work for various diets and a calorie count for each meal, you know exactly what you’re getting and if it works for you. When you order food from a restaurant, you don’t always know all of the ingredients and how good or bad it is for you. You have an idea, but you’ll really know when you’re preparing the meals yourself. You can monitor all of the ingredients making sure only the things you want go into any dish. You can also look at these services as a way to make better choices and start a diet. It’s a great way to break old eating habits that might not be the healthiest, and helps to develop new ones.

Variety is the spice of life and trying new things is fun for most of us. When you cook for yourself and your family it’s easy to rely on the same handful of recipes time and time again. With a meal delivery service, you can try something new and keep your meals interesting. You can browse the available menus and see ingredients and cuisines represented that you might have never seen before. Not only will trying something new expand your palate, it will also give you a chance to cook using new techniques or in ways you might not of have thought of. That will make you a better cook and take your dinner skills to the next level.

Cons:

Many skeptics of meal delivery services always talk about price. They suggest that the price way outweighs the convenience. Some of the meal kits and meal plans do seem expensive at first. But, it’s important to think about how all the fresh ingredients got to you and where they’re coming from. You need to decide if produce is better or worse than what you’ll find at your local grocery store. Is the cost of getting it to you more than you’re willing to spend? In many ways it might seem that meal delivery kits are a luxury- and they are to an extent. But, consider throwing out spoiled food you never got around to cooking or buying too much of one ingredient and not knowing what to do with excess. Your time is worth a lot. The amount of time and energy you save with meal delivery services might outweigh the price. It’s different for everyone.

Excess packaging and trash is another complaint we see a lot. The meal delivery kits are shipped to keep them temperature controlled. All of the packaging ends up in the trash or the recycling and takes up space. To many it might seem excessive. However, you should recycle the packaging (the majority of it will be 100% recyclable).

Many people have a misconception about meal delivery kits that you’re locked into a menu or plan. That might be somewhat true. Many of these services are offering more flexible plans and allowing you to customize what’s delivered to you. When shopping for a meal delivery service, make sure you’re going to get the flexibility that you and your family needs. Many offer it.

There you have our list of pros and cons of meal delivery services. We hope you think about them when you consider if a meal delivery service is right for you and which one might be best. We all have busy lives and many of us have families to put food on the table for. Meal delivery services can help you achieve this goal with convenience, variety, and healthy options.