Are the food boxes really worth the hype?
Are you bored with the same old food but have no clue what to do about it? Are you too busy to be looking through cookbooks and shopping before you then have to cook the meal? Well it seems you’re not alone.
Just lately there have been a surge in companies ready, willing and able to provide you with a whole week of meals prepped and delivered to your door with fresh ingredients measured and weighed, and tailored to how many people you need it for, all you have to do is cook it.
This to some people is the ultimate in convenience food without having to resort to the dreaded ready meal, well known for its unappealing taste and even more unappealing look. But are they really the answer to our prayers?
I recently tried two of the leading companies providing these, HelloFresh and Gusto, but buyer beware when you sign up for this ultimate convenience they will automatically re-new your subscription and deliver you a box every week, charging you up to £60 for the privilege. You may be lured in with the half price off your first box offer from Gusto or buy the Groupon for the Hellofresh boxes that seen to be a constant, but that one time cheap alternative to the supermarket could turn into a very costly experience.
Don’t get me wrong the option to substitute a few of the meals for those more tailored to your taste and the excellent recipes that I had to choose from were really good, but you have to remember to either pause or cancel your subscription to suit you.
But are they really value for money? With the codes or the discounts I’d say yes, however a lot of people have pointed out that to buy the ingredients individually in the supermarket would cost less than the full price boxes, to which the companies usually reply that they are not that much more expensive and they provide “higher quality ingredients” than those supplied at your local supermarket. Then you have them “delivered to your door and weighed and measured for your convenience.”
The best advice I can give you is to try them while they are on offer. Gusto boxes are half price for your first order and have a variety of meals and boxes to choose from, as well as a very easy website to manage your orders. Hello fresh seem to be on Groupon a lot so you could try it that way. If you like them, cancel your account…….
Yes you heard me correctly, within a week or two they will be emailing you online codes trying to tempt you back with anything from half price boxes to £15 off. Order, cancel repeat. Shopping without the temptation of the supermarket, and let’s face it who actually comes out with just what you went in for?
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