Discussion Thread: Grocery/Meal Delivery Services

Grocery and meal delivery services have been around for a long time, some of them needs-based and some of them convenience-based, but there's been an explosion of new services over the past few years. Especially those that deliver to areas outside major metropolitan areas.

Peapod has been around for a long time now, and some grocery store chains have their own delivery services. Meal delivery services like Blue Apron, Plated, and others are becoming increasingly popular.

Much of the conversation around these services that I've seen centers on people debating whether they're a luxury, without a whole lot of regard for the incredible usefulness they have for people with physical disabilities and/or anxiety disorders, among others.

Or even, say, a single parent who's working long hours and doesn't have a lot of time to go grocery shopping, or for whom an $8 delivery fee is cheaper than finding a sitter and/or worth it to not have to bring young children shopping with them.

Some of the meal delivery services are also super useful for people who didn't come from a family where they learned how to cook, in that you learn the basics of preparation and how to put ingredients together (and in what quantities). And they're cheaper than lots of cooking classes.

The point is: I think just talking about these sorts of services strictly as a luxury misses a lot about why people use them. Which is not to judge people who simply like them for the convenience!

Anyway. Here's a thread to talk about whether you've used grocery/meal delivery services, whether you've found them helpful and valuable (or not), which ones you've liked or not liked, whether you have access to them where you live, etc.

Recently, Iain got a thing to try Blue Apron at a discount. We've been doing it for a couple of weeks, three meals a week, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it yet. The meals themselves are decent, some better than decent, and I like that we get portions just for two people.

For example, I love cabbage but rarely buy it, because we can't get through a whole head of cabbage quickly enough to not waste a lot of it.

But is it worth the full cost? The jury is still out at the moment. I need to do a couple of more weeks of looking at what we're spending on groceries with reduced purchasing and see how it works out.

Discuss!