Meal Subscriptions: New Year, New... Food?

Hey everyone!  I'd like to first start off by apologizing for taking nearly a whole year to post something.  It wasn't my intention to wait this long, as I had intended to post an update mid-quarantine last Spring, but I just couldn't bring myself to do anything creative.  I know there's a lot of individuals in the same boat, too scared and too anxious to do almost anything.  You're not alone, we're all living through one of the most challenging times in our history, and the world is changing all around us with little to no input of our own.  The COVID-19 pandemic is a very serious topic, that I could write about for paragraphs, but I think for now, I want this post to go in a different direction.  (P.S. wear your damn masks, people!)

One of the things my wife and I have found challenging over the past year, is grocery shopping.  From having nightmares about forgetting my mask, to the shortage of many different items, it hasn't been the easiest time to go out and get food.  Especially since my car has sat unused for the better part of the last year, and my desire to leave the house has waned significantly as well.

Enter the scene: subscription meal boxes.  Having lived in a small rural town in Manitoba, when I had first heard of subscription meal boxes I thought it was a fantastic idea - but also something unachievable in such a rural area.  I still can't vouch for how well these services currently work in a remote setting like my hometown, but it took longer than I care to admit to realize that I now lived in an area that has the ability to receive fresh food to our door.  As always, it's as if my wife and I have a telepathic connection, because she turned to me not a week later and said something along the lines of, "I don't know what to do for dinner - we should look into Hello Fresh or Blue Apron."  Thus, we began our journey.

Our goal is to try out a different subscription meal box every month and compare each of them, looking at the price, meal options, and ease of prep, among other factors.  This whole experiment is going to be paid for out of pocket by us, so we're not sponsored by any of the boxes we'll be looking at, but there are a few that have affiliate links or codes that will give you money off your purchase and also give us a little kick-back as well.  I'm going to be completely transparent about any of these links, and if by some grace of God we get sponsored, I'll be explicit about that too! 

The first meal kit service we're testing out is Hello Fresh. ("HelloFriends" link: by signing up using our personal link, you'll get $70 off total over four deliveries, and also give us a $10 credit towards our next box!) 

There was no specific reason why we chose Hello Fresh as our first subscription service, but we have experienced a box from them in the past that was given to us by some friends who were afraid that they weren't going to be able to use it within its expiration date.  Grateful for any free food, my wife and I enjoyed two meals that we wouldn't have chosen ourselves in a normal shopping situation, but did open us up to a food choice my wife had previously despised: green beans.  From a very real gagging response to asking if we could buy some green beans for dinner one shopping trip, it was a revolutionary change in our household.

Over the next four weeks we're going to receive a box from Hello Fresh (we are paying full price - sans the discounts you receive when you first sign up, so no bias here!).  These boxes will contain 5 meals for two, at $8.99 per serving plus $8.99 shipping for the box, totaling to $98.89 per shipment - which is honestly the max end of our budget, and thankfully with their starting discounts it's a little more affordable for the first few weeks.  We will likely bump down the amount of weekly meals once those four weeks are up, if we choose to stay with Hello Fresh after trying out multiple different boxes, simply for budget reasons.  As lovely as these subscription meal boxes are, we still have to have money left in our budget for other food expenses throughout the week, as these boxes usually only cover one main meal during the day.

The first box is expected to arrive today, and as my wife is working until 10pm tonight, it couldn't have been on a better day.  I enjoy cooking, but I often find myself uninspired to start if we don't have everything prepped or planned, but the pre-portioned and step-by-step instructions provided by these subscription boxes are able to spur me out of my slump and into creating wonderfully tasting meals without over-portioning or un-balancing the nutrition of our meal.  So tonight, I'll prepare our first Hello Fresh meal to be hot & ready for when my wife arrives home, and I'm excited!

Our first box contains five meals, serving 2 people per meal, totalling $68.89 (after discounts):

1. Pork & Poblano Tacos with Kiwi Salsa & Lime Crema
2. Brown Sugar Bourbon Pork Chops with Apple Pan sauce, Scallion Mashed Potatoes, & Roasted Green Beans
3. Caramelized Onion Swissburgs with Roasted Garlic Horseradish Aioli & Seasoned Potato Wedges
4. Mushroom & Herb Shepherd's Pie topped with White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
5. Sweet Chili Chicken Bowls with Bell Pepper & Candied Peanuts

I look forward to trying each of these meals over the next week, and I will update the blog with the contents of the next box, and our opinions of each of these meals after we've prepared them.  Depending on how well this goes, and my ability to remember to post, I'm aiming to keep this up as a weekly series on this blog to hopefully keep me inspired and writing.

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next week!

Matt

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Update 3 hours after posting:  I received an email that our box is delayed for unknown reasons, with no indication of when we should expect it...  This is a very bad first impression, and I sincerely hope they improve their customer service from here out.