I never thought I'd take the leap and sign up for one of these ingredient-delivery services. But I don't know why I was slightly resistant. I had, after all, been a pretty regular subscriber to one CSA (community supported agriculture) box or another over the years.
This was just one step beyond that. The ingredients were simply measured for a specific recipe instead of being whatever was freshly harvested from the farm.
Once I read this post on the Blue Apron website, which discusses how the meal delivery service can save money, I made the leap.
Once I tried it for myself, I could affirm that this does, in fact, make for less waste. I don't buy three onions because they're on sale-- I've bought one onion because that's what the recipe included calls for.
I'm not going to lie-- even though going grocery shopping (alone! Kids are a ton of fun but make it more complicated and time-consuming and sometimes tear-filled)) is a shortcut to happiness for me, getting ingredients delivered along with a meal someone else already planned was heavenly.
How heavenly? The produce was some of the most beautiful I've seen, and for someone who reveres good produce, and the farms it grows on, and the people who plan, plant, pick, and deliver it, that's saying something.
This lacinto kale, for example had not one blemish-- no brown spots, no tough dried spots where it'd been cut, no bruises.
It was happily nestled in an insulated bag inside the cardboard box atop a couple ice packs like this:
And on top of everything, there was a card introducing some of the produce in the box, the way you sometimes get with a CSA box, and a couple of gorgeous recipe cards.
I'd been able to choose these two meals, sized for a family of four (giants). There was easily enough for leftovers for at least another dinner. We've got practically enough here to really take care of dinners for the week if I stretch (for example, there was a TON of kale quinoa salad, which I might serve again alongside scrambled eggs).
This means when I grocery shop, I can just grab milk, eggs, yogurt, bread, butter, fruit and be done. The more I think about it, the more I think just the savings in the time of meal planning and shopping, coupled with the interest/novelty of being forced to try new things (I would never have chosen to make the roast pork but it was incredibly delicious) is making this more than worth it.