Choosing Between Meal Delivery Services and Online Grocery
For those who don’t have time to wait in the queue at the grocery store, online grocery shopping is a game-changer. Online shopping is also perfect for those who spend too much time roaming around the supermarket deciding what to buy or for those who struggle carrying heavy bags from the store to the vehicle and from the vehicle to one’s home.
Indeed, online groceries are often more speedy and more convenient, but is it more cost effective than going to the grocery store ? Or are there alternative options?
If you often find yourself spending more than you intend to at the store, online groceries is a great way to avoid impulse buying. Furthermore, with online shopping, one can compare prices based on weight with different stores and thus online grocery shopping can definitely be more cost effective. Another cost -effective advantage to online shopping is the possibility of saving petrol driving to and from the store. Delivery services most often include additional costs, however this may still be cheaper than spending petrol on a trip to the store.
Online groceries is often a more preferable option as opposed to a trip to the grocery store, however the availability of meal delivery services is another alternative that must be explored.
The availability of meal kit delivery services is another way to avoid a trip to the grocery store. Not only is it one way to avoid the queues in grocery stores, but it also saves you time and energy spent over the whole fuss that comes with preparing your meals.
Meal kit delivery services bring to mind hot, delicious, ready-to-eat meals delivered at one’s doorstep. However, sadly this is not the case. A meal kit delivery service usually sends fresh ingredients for customers to prepare themselves. These ingredients usually come in small containers, with exact quantities and provide cooking instructions along with other additional nutritional information. Indeed, there are various options diets such as vegetarian or vegan. Meal delivery services have evolved into a trendy option for many people. Meal kit delivery services include Blue Apron, Plated, HelloFresh and Purple Carrot.
Meal delivery services are often more pricey than buying groceries oneself. If we take for example the meal kit service Hello fresh, each meal costs a minimum of 6.99 dollars and thus buying the ingredients ourselves would theoretically save money. However, for a lot of us , time really does equal money, so spending a little extra to avoid the hassle of meal prep could be majorly advantageous. Many people may choose meal delivery services over online grocery shopping as it saves the time spent measuring food and planning what to eat for every meal.
Another factor that must be stressed is that a lot of us end up buying more groceries that we actually need and thus a lot of our groceries may end up in the trash. Meal kits are the perfect solution for this issue as they specialise in sending correctly proportions ingredients so it is less likely that food will go to waste and cooking dinner becomes quicker and more simple.
Like me, if you often find yourself feeling lazy and too tired to cook and you resort to taking a frozen pizza and tossing it in the oven , joining one of these meal services would most definitely translate into more healthy meals with fewer calories. In the majority of these meal delivery services there is also a great range of meals to
choose from, and so there is less temptation to turn to other unhealthy meal options. Some meal services are more invested in the health aspect of the meals than others, which is too another huge advantage. For those who are dedicated to keeping to a strict healthy lifestyle, Hello Fresh for example has an in-house dietician who reviews each meal.
Whether specifically health-focused or not, these meal kit delivery services generally encourage a healthy life-style with the ability to have portioned meals under control. Not only is it much easier to cook as you have exact quantities in front of you but one eats correctly portioned meals that are enough to feel satisfied without feeling overly-full. Meal kits may also teach people new cooking techniques with the step by step cooking instructions , introducing them to spices they have never used before, opening up one’s world to different flavours.
Although meal kit delivery services are less time-consuming, more nutritional and perhaps more generally convenient, those who have an eco-friendly nature may feel guilty about the plastic containers and cardboard boxes that appear at their doorstep. Yet, much research has degraded this concern, claiming that meal kit delivery services actually have a smaller carbon footprint than going to the grocery store and preparing meals at home. This is mainly due to the fact that with meal kits, there is much less food waste due to exact quantities that are in the meal kits. In other words, although it may seem like the cardboard generated form a Hello Fresh service may be seriously bad for the environment, that extra fillet ordered online or bought from the store is much worse due to the energy and substances that had to go into producing that fillet in the first place.
Importantly, even if all the food bought from the store is consumed, it must be noted that grocery stores on a whole throw away large amounts of food and therefore the store you often buy from may be throwing away food before it may be purchased. Indeed, meal kit delivery services are most certainly aware of packaging concerns and therefore have put in much effort to attend to this matter. For example, HelloFresh recycles most of its packaging after consumers are done with them.
Online grocery shopping is a good option, but using meal kit delivery services is most certainly an upgrade; cooking is no longer a chore that is time consuming and leading a healthy lifestyle has never been easier. Additionally, if you are one that avoids meal kit delivery service due to environmental concerns, evidence suggests a re-evaluation of your stance. Online grocery shopping can actually lead to more food waste and less consideration for the importance of recycling.