During the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I was living in Central Nebraska. It was the first and only time I never actually took advantage of grocery pick-up ordering; that is, I would order in advance, park at Walmart, and have the staff member put the items into my trunk. Why risk being exposed to other people when you didn’t have to during 2019-2020?
But that was a phase given the time/place. After giving it some serious thought — and seeing way too many YouTube Sponsorships for meal kit delivery services (HelloFresh, Factor, Blue Apron, HomeChef, etc.) — I know I would not jive with these and would never actually use them.
Don’t get me wrong — I know these meal kits can probably be very useful for busy people, but my problem is: I enjoy cooking. I actually like cooking. I actually like the process of flipping through my cookbooks or finding something yummy to make online), buying the ingredients for it, and then cooking it. That period of time living in Nebraska (c. Aug 2019 to May 2021) was where I really got into cooking/baking and making recipes I wanted to make.
But the idea behind something like Hello Fresh (to me, at least), is that it’s for people who: have busy schedules; aren’t super passionate about cooking/meal planning; don’t want to grocery shop; and/or just need some help getting food on the table. Everyone’s different, but for me, I could never see myself using a meal kit delivery service because if I did, why would I have my cookbooks? When would I get to make the recipes that I really like? I guess it could probably work if my subscription was every once in a while or for a short period of time (i.e. when I’m moving into a new place), but then it comes down to if that’s even possible or worth the cost.
I’m confident though that in this season of life, I could never be a regular or frequent meal kit customer. I like doing my own thing way too much.
