I bought a Fresh Market meal kit last night for dinner...

[Phentex]

You got a choice of chicken roll ups (cordon bleu, Parmesan, venezia, or mushroom), a side of pasta salad, a fresh veggie mix of broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and potatoes and 8 large chocolate chip cookies from the bakery. This will be two meals for us and to be honest, I couldn't even eat the entire roll up last night so I get part for breakfast. Cost was $20 plus tax. It's not the healthiest thing we could choose but it was good for very little effort. You toss the veggies with included fresh thyme and your own olive oil, salt and pepper and cook them on the same tray as the roll ups.

I'm going to spend some time meal planning today so I can avoid these after work shopping trips but I was pleased overall.

[MANative]

1. We've been using the Home Chef service for about six weeks...

and have been very pleased with it. They have 13 choices every week, and you can set a "food profile" so that they make recommendations for you. We opted out of beef and for low-fat and gluten-free choices. The meals have been really good with plenty to eat and everything you need to prepare the dinner. You only need olive oil, salt, and pepper. They even provide pre-portioned butter (usually a teaspoon at most) if the recipe calls for it. Cost is $10/meal/person and shipping is free if you order more than two meals. Easy to skip a week or change the number of meals if you need more or less for any reason. My husband does most of the cooking because I get home so late from NYC, and he's really having fun with it, too. He says he thinks it's making him a better cook because they really help you understand how to put a recipe together so everything is ready at the same time.

Might not be a big savings over grocery shopping, but definitely a huge savings over eating at restaurants!

[Phentex]

2. We used Blue Apron for a while

and I found it to be less expensive than what I would spend trying to make those items myself. And my husband really enjoyed the prep and cooking. We skipped for a bit because the heat was causing the boxes to be delivered crushed. I plan to start again after Labor Day.

Good to know about Home Chef.

[MANative]

3. My SIL was using Blue Apron and we chatted about the differences

She wasn't loving Blue Apron - felt like it got repetitive and very spicy food profile. We spent a couple of hours goofing around with menus and option for a half-dozen different services and both concluded that Home Chef was the most flexible, had the most options, and very reasonable cost. We've had no issues with the deliveries. The boxes were very sturdy and very well-insulated.

[Warpy]

4. These sound like good services, so far

and I wish they'd been there when I was working 12 hour night shifts. My diet between shifts and on my first night off was not great, it was heavy on frozen food because it had to be, no time for prep work.

However, this sounds pretty much like the way I cook now, clean and fairly simple, only I do my own prep work.

[PennyK]

5. I like Fresh Market in general

Prices aren't low, but they have lots of specialty items, and plenty of organic produce for my visiting daughter. And oh that candy and nut department! I love filling a bag with my choice of yummies.