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Well, I grocery shop regularly in about five cities and infrequently in a lot more and find āsociabilityā everywhere I go. I find that you get back what you give out.
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wait.
You complain about the lack of sociability so I should find a new market.
When I said that my local market is so sociable that I end up there for longer than Iād planned, you say I should find a new market.
What exactly is your complaint here, and why is it I should find a new market?
Iām truly not following the trail of anger and bitterness here - youāre obviously upset at something, but I donāt know what me and my homey local branch of supermarket has to do with it, or why my going out of my way to shop at a supermarket where I donāt know tons of people would fix your issue.
To keep it relevant to the OP ā am I a good candidate for meal kits? Not that Iāve figured thus far. But Iām sure not going to sneer down my nose and piss in the meal kits of those who find it a wonderful thing.
Itās really cooking, and it itās real food. Iām cool with it.
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yes! I live close to several āretirement communitiesā ā thankfully, thereās another location IN the largest community, so the big vanloads donāt go to my store.
there are a few other groups that it would be unkind to single out, but weāll group them in with the amateurs for now. 
sunshine, I so agree with you. Perhaps if one lives in an uber-great-food-city then one may think no one else has anything any good. We used to live in SF and now live in Reno/Tahoe. Iām pretty blown away at all the choices we have.
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Thank you HT for your sarcastic wit. You got a true and deep laugh from me. Perfect assessment.
@eleeper - Weāll all be senior one dayā¦ If weāre lucky. One my favorite markets is underneath a senior living facility. Ughā¦ The men treat the salad bar like a free buffetā¦ and use their fingers! Itās driving store management crazy.
I think itās a good idea. Itās very useful for some people. Especially, busy families who donāt want to eat take-out a lot. I once received Blue Apron as a gift. It was fun. My problem was all the paper & plastic involved. Definitely not eco-friendly. But I love re-using the ice packs for picnics!
I donāt have a problem with the senior citizen vans. I actually think theyāre a great idea But if I want to minimize my supermarket time, Iāll pick a different day. (Sort of like,donāt go to Walmart on a Saturday if youāre in a hurry.)
And Iām already a senior.
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Honestly, parents with the kids in the car carts are worse!
I came across a car cart sideways in the aisle the other day ā tbh, I wasnāt even sure how she accomplished it, as the aisles are only marginally wider than the length of the cart!
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I donāt know your kids or their situation, so Iām not debating that these meal kit services may well be a great thing for them. But I donāt agree at all that grocery shopping in NYC (where Iāve lived for 30 plus years) is cumbersome and expensive, quite the opposite. And I lived in the 80ās in a series of apartments in downtown Manhattan that were not just small but had part of the kitchen space taken up by the bathtub. One of the tricks one learned was extreme efficiency - you put a board on top of the tub and used it as your prep counter. I never, ever had problems filling my kitchen with pantry staples no matter how small my place was. And if youāre in Manhattan thatās where the best stocked Greenmarkets are.
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I have a friend who is an attorney, and single. She works long hours, like 60-70 hours/week, sometimes more. She enjoys cooking, but doesnāt get time to shop much. She has been using Blue Apron because they do the shopping/measuring part for her and she still gets to cook. It doesnāt make sense for her to buy certain types of grocery items just for herself when it would take her months to go through it. So in her case, I think itās a good idea. She doesnāt use the meal boxes every night, but 2-3x/week. Itās better than eating frozen entrees or eating out every night.
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I think itās a good idea. Itās very useful for some people. Especially,
busy families who donāt want to eat take-out a lot. I once received Blue
Apron as a gift. It was fun. My problem was all the paper & plastic
involved. Definitely not eco-friendly. But I love re-using the ice
packs for picnics!
Exactly. My wife and I used Blue Apron for a while; we both work and we have a little one to take care of. We both like to cook (me more than my wife) and we donāt want to eat takeout all the time, but shopping and putting together meals every night is hard for us. Blue Apron made it easy; you have a meal planned out with all the ingredients. The notion that it isnāt ācookingā is absolutely ludicrous and could only be asserted by someone who never used the service or is extremely snobby/pretentious (sorry if one of you falls into this category, but itās true). They take out the shopping aspect, and in some instances (but not all) the measuring of spices or select ingredients. Otherwise, you do all the prep (cleaning/chopping) and all the cooking steps. How is that not cooking? How is it significantly different from seeing a recipe, saying I want to make this, and then making it? Outside of shopping for the ingredients, it isnāt.
That said, we ditched Blue Apron. The meals were ok, a little hit and miss but decent. It was expensive (though less expensive than it seems for some, as it eliminates food waste). Moreover, it was kind of stressful; in order to make the timing work for their advertising, the cooking process is demanding. You have to charge it in the kitchen for 30-45 minutes, and that isnāt pleasant for me. Plus, we found that we could do better if we just focused a little more on meal planning.
Meal delivery kits may not be for everyone, and they may vary by specific service, but the notion that they are not ācookingā is just absurd.
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[quote=ālurkerdan, post:35, topic:4586ā]
You have to charge it in the kitchen for 30-45 minutes,
[/quote] Charge what?
I donāt use the meal kits but they donāt bother me. They reflect very basic truths about cooking: 1) It requires shopping and prep; 2) In the US, a lot of us have grown up watching tv cooking shows where ācookingā starts with the shopping and mise en place already done; 3) 30 Minute Meals blah blah notwithstanding, preparing a meal takes not just time ā which a full-time job and family make limited ā but mental energy for planning the whole shebang.
Has the NYT not heard of ādivision of laborā?
As far as I know, thereās no sign in my kitchen that reads, āYou Must Be This Worn Out To Have āReallyā Cooked.ā
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We just had some āGreen Chefā dishes at a friendās house. The Sweet Potato Corn Fritters were very good, but the rest (Quinoa with Red Swiss Chard as a side to the fritters and Ratatouille with Mashwere just okay, nothing better than one could make on their own.
The big advantage for our friends is that they are only two people living in a small house with a small kitchen and want to eat vegan food, so the quantities of food they get is perfect. They donāt want a lot of extra spices, sauces, etc., cluttering up their cabinets. And while itās pricey, they see it as a replacement for eating out (especially given the minimal vegan options in their area).
They have just started, so the question is whether they will find this good on a long-term basis, and whether the company will have the many problems I have seen mentioned (incorrect ingredients, ingredients gone bad before they arrive, etc.).
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If people want to buy kits no one should (<-opinion) speak badly of that. We spend about 15 minutes a week on meal planning. Grocery shopping is about an hour a week. Why is this hard for people? I really donāt understand.
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I posted upthread about some of this but a couple of points to emphasize:
-15 minutes a week on meal planning is way less time than it would take me. And Iām totally at home with the process. But figuring out 7 days worth of eating stuff means a fair amount of inventive ways to use up the inevitable bits that wonāt get used or become leftovers. Also, Iāll happily eat the same thing for 3 or 4 nights but my spouse wonāt so itās not like making two big batches of something. Then thereās checking to see what basics we actually have that I think we have enough of (oils, mustard, herbs, onions, etc.) Again, I enjoy this and Iām pretty well-rested. If I was tired, frazzled ā much harder.
-Grocery shopping in a lot of places, for many people, means getting to/from the store(s) at peak traffic times and then shopping when the stores are busiest. Doing it in under an hour ā maybe. But then thereās the hauling it into the house and putting everything away. More time, effort.
Thatās my answer for why some people say this stuff is hard. Personally, I think itās the mental take-charge-and-organize-ness of it all. Thatās a hurdle, at least as compared to: āHere are your meals. Here are your ingredients. Open the baggie with the basilā¦ā
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Soā¦to dig up an old threadā¦
My best friend uses Blue Apron, and she sent me a referral for a free week. Heyā¦Iām in! It was not quite free, but I coughed up a whopping $12 for three meals.
Since I last posted, Iām now a single mom with a long commute and a teenager who works odd hours.
First meal was a pork Bolognese over pastaā¦simple but tasty, enough for 3 people.
Tonight was a crispy panfried chicken breast with a fig and butter pan sauce, with roasted winter veggies (carrot, potato, beetroot, and shallot) with a brown butter and roasted chestnut sauce. Deliciousā¦Iām keeping the recipe for another day.
It keeps me from shopping while hungry and desperate (read: processed foods and stuff I donāt need), i can just frigging go home, and all the ingredients are fresh and crisp.
Not ready to declare love, but I kinda like it
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