Shoutout to the guy who told me to stop wasting money on meal kit boxes

I got stuck in a rut with HelloFresh for like 4 months straight, throwing $70 a week at it. Then my neighbor pointed out I was paying for convenience on ingredients I could grab at Food Lion for half that. So I tallied it up last Sunday and realized I had blown nearly $1,200 on those boxes since January. Anyone else just give up on meal kits after doing the math and switch back to regular shopping?

3 comments

3 Comments

terryk2813d ago

That $1,200 number hits hard, I did the same math a while back and it made me feel sick. Meal kits are great for getting started cooking but they definitely charge a premium for the convenience.

finley_price2413d ago

Man, I feel that pain. I was in the same boat staring at my credit card statements. What finally worked for me was switching to a simple grocery list of like 5 staple ingredients and just rotating recipes around them. It saved so much money and honestly I eat way better now than with the kits. Have you tried just picking two or three meals a week to cook from scratch? Once I stopped trying to be fancy it all clicked. The meal kits are fine for learning but the markup is insane once you realize how cheap rice and beans actually are.

nora_walker578d ago

Gosh, you really hit on something there with the staple ingredients approach. I did the same thing after my credit card started crying and now I basically live off the same six items that I rotate through the week. What finally clicked for me was realizing I was spending all this mental energy on fancy meals when a well seasoned can of black beans and some rice with a fried egg on top actually tastes better than half the stuff I got from those kits. The trick is learning a few basic sauces or spice blends that make the same cheap ingredients taste completely different each time. My grocery bill dropped by like 60 percent once I stopped chasing recipes that needed thirteen different spices I'd use once. You're right that the markup on meal kits is wild when you break it down per serving.