Meal Delivery Services

Delivered to the Front Door!

As I continue to do research on everything about food, I thought I should share with you some of the food delivery options that I have tried.  In the category of eating at home, there has been a plethora of new options to become available in the last few years. The first category is meal preparation kits.  These services will deliver the ingredients and recipes for a meal.  I have tried several (Hello Fresh and Blue Apron) but have settled on Home Chef as the one that best suits my needs.  

Home Chef seems to have the most choices and flexibility in ordering.  The meals are about $10 a serving and once your order is over $50 you get free shipping.  I usually order two servings of three different meals for an order of about $60.

Pros:

• Little or no waste of ingredients.  You know how you get a bag of carrots for a recipe and only use two.  Then the bag gets pushed to the back and thrown out months later.  This eliminates that.  
• Learn new techniques and ingredients.  I have picked up on several simple cooking techniques and try new spices and ingredients.  These are things that I can use in future cooking.  
• Answers "what's for dinner?" question.  It is nice to have something already available to cook for dinner.  No thinking involved.  

Cons:

• Since it is a subscription, you must review the choices before the deadline if you want to make changes.  You can also cancel any week that you want as long as it is before the deadline - which is a week before the delivery.  
• The portions may be small for some people.  I find myself eating two servings sometimes.  This also increases the cost of your meal.  

Here is an example of what is in each kit (you supply the olive oil, salt, and pepper):

I have been getting meals from Home Chef off and on for about three years.  

I have recently tried some fully cooked meal deliveries from a local chef and have been very pleased.  This service is offered by Bryan Poche' at Fine Thyme Catering.  Besides being a former student of mine, Bryan is a wonderful chef.  

He offers several options for catering events and picking up meals, but on Wednesdays he offers a meal for delivery.  I have tried several of them and have been very please.  The cost is between $9 and $11 per meal depending on the meal.  I have tried a grilled catfish with crawfish sauce, chicken and waffles, and a ramen bowl (pictured)

Special effects added by my Korean exchange student.  He loved it!

The price is very reasonable for the serving size and the quality of the food.  The food is delivered (usually still slightly warm) in a nice microwaveable serving dish.  I've kept the containers and used them again for storage and sharing of food.  It's nice to have the meal already prepared and all I have to do is heat it up.  This is especially helpful for those busy days.  

The last option that I have tried is Berry Hill Farm and their Farm to Door weekly deliveries.  Berry Hill is a CSA in Loranger.  They have a Fall and Spring session where they bring fresh fruits and vegetables from their farm to your home for $40 a week.  In addition to the produce, there is a half-dozen eggs, fresh bread, and fresh flowers in the bag of goodies.  They also include another homemade item like blueberry jam or hummus.  The hummus is outstanding.  Although some weeks were better than others, it was nice to have some farm-fresh produce ready to use.  It also felt great helping support a local farm.  Each week there was a nice note to each subscriber explaining the contents of the bag and some suggestions for use.  There was also information about the crops.  

I look forward to signing-up for their fall deliveries beginning in September.  

As you can see I have been busy eating!  I hope the information is helpful.  If you have any questions, please free to ask.