About Cook, Gousto, Hello Fresh, et al?

[Famalamaringwrong]

Hit me. Which is the best of this kind of box? I want to start using one for my family not sure what to try and how the delivery works if you're not in etc? Thank you!!

We really enjoyed Simply Cook but eventually it gets repetitive.

I don’t get the point of these at all. Why not just read a recipe and buy?

Erm yes, that is the point of the boxes. You choose the recipe and buy. Like online shopping but with no waste as the exact ingredients are supplied with your choice of recipe

Simply cook I hated. It's basically just the spices to add to the recipe but these were not fresh and supplied in the form of those glooky stock pots you can buy. Recipes just tasted artificial and horrible.

Really enjoyed using gousto. Great range of recipes and the food was really fresh and good quality. I preferred the gousto recipes to hello fresh so just never bothered with them. I used Gousto 3 meals per week. Great for those days when you are rushing around trying to get out or getting in late for work.

glasgow i'm very glad that you dispair about people whos circimstaces you have no idea about.

For me, they are a life saver, tbh a literal one.

I'm autistic, supermarkets are overwhelming, the lights, the noise, the people. I have no support. When i did have support my suport worker would take me tl a supermarket, the only way i cpuld cope with even being in one would be to p8ck up my five favorite foods and run (unrelated foods that you cant make a meal out of)

For the last year i've been getting gousto delivered. Yes i get my food delivered to the door. So what?

Sorry i kknow i come over as rude but your 'dispair' rather upset me. If you cant see for some people they have a very real use.

Like i said its been a life saver for me. Slightly expensive, as in yes i could get food cheaper in the supermarket, but i'm realustically not able to access the supermarket in a way that doesnt exhaust me. On top over the over sensory stimilation i don't drive and public transport is difficult.

Gousto has changed my food from limited ready meals and sandwiches and pub meals to actually giving me the indipendace to cook. As has been mentioned the quality of ingredience is great. I perfer the selection of menus to those that are on HF, (HF seems rsther meat heavy)

I give my reciepe cards to my step dad who is a very good cook. He loves them. The home economics, as in very easy to follow easy techniques, but the taste is brilliant.
He gets the ingreditants from a supermarket and recreates them. And resently hes actually been at mine and been able to use the stuff thats delivered which hes been impressed by too.

It's much more convenient Gilbert to just choose the recipes you like and be sent the ingredients rather than trawl through the supermarket, even if it's an online shop.

But you can order online? Look at a recipe and then buy?! What has autism got to do with ordering food online?

I still despair.

We will look back on these years as the worst of lazy consumerism.

And yes I work and have kids and somehow manage to feed everyone reasonable food and I’m no chef

The appeal is not having to use brain power trying to decide what to eat, having to work out how much of something to buy and when, then cook it, etc. It is a relief to have a night off from all that mental load

This sums it up for me. When you're run ragged trying to balance long hours at work with kids, family etc it's great to not have to get in and start wondering what to cook. The meals are quick, tasty and healthy. I love to experiment and cook so wouldnt do it 7 days a week but for those busier nights it makes life alot easier

glasgow what on earth is there for you to despair about in people getting food delivered to their door. No different to you looking at a recipe and going to the shop other than the food needed for the recipe is delivered to you. Bizarre

I’ve used Gousto and HF. I preferred Gusto for the variety of recipes and regularly make a lot of my favourites again with ingredients from Tesco if I can get some of the more obscure ones. I found I was always tweaking the recipes from HF if I made it again because it wasn’t quite right or the recipes were a bit confusing. Not used either of them for a while though.

I’d class myself as a fairly experienced and adventurous cook but sometimes just need some inspiration without the rabbit-hole Pinterest provides. It has also introduced me so some things I probably wouldn’t have tried previously.

Most things recycled or on the compost too but agree it is over packaged at times.

Gusto is fab!!

Oh and I felt it was a bit more fun and relaxing than the usual mid week meal cooking to be honest!

We used hello fresh for ages but found the quality of the ingredients reduced and they kept making errors in their packing the bigger they got (as a company).

Tried cook but got bored really quickly as limited range.

Use mindful chef now and have for over a year now. Great recipes, variety, easy to make, good quality ingredients. No plans to change from them at all now. And they're ethical.

recipe and then buy?! What has autism got to do with ordering food online?

no because i have to open the door to a complete stranger, make eye contact with a complete stranger, be in to see the stranger. All massive things that certianly i struggle with and a lot of autistic peopke struggle with. My box is left in my safe place, the delivery driver might knock to let me know its there but more often than not he doesnt even do that. I get a text on my phone to say that its there.

As for ordering on line, do you know much about autistic peoples diets? They can be very narrow, like i said all i'd buy is my five favorite foods, mine are actually fairly "healthy" but even so having such a narrow diet leads to problems with the digestive system (conditions like servre consetpatiom is not uncommon with people woth autism and LD) Skin problems, weight problems. So yeah i coukd buy on line if i wanted to be in pain.

And yes I work and have kids and somehow manage to feed everyone reasonable food and I’m no chef*

Good for you, do you want a medel??? Have one for being abled bodied and neurotypical

We use Gousto once a week (sometimes twice!) as I couldn't face the 'whats for dinner' conversation anymore! Its brilliant for midweek meals, the portions can occasionally feel small but thats only because we've got used to eating portions that are too big - these are the right size! We have certainly saved money using it as it stops me going to the shops all the time, we're eating healthier and different meals every night instead of having the same 6-7 on repeat because I cant think of anything else! We cancelled the subscription and just log on each week and order so if we forget they don't send us something random. We started it when baby came along and its been a god send.

Well I’m sorry if I upset you and can understand then if they can leave it in a safe place. Fair point

But in the main, I am desperately trying imreduce packaging/environmental loan and I see thesw companies as the exact opposite of that. I get my veg delivered weekly - no packaging - (ironically also in a safe place). I don’t meal plan and I maybe should more but I wish that everything wasn’t just at the expense of the environment. Even the cooling packaging - it goes in landfill.

I find this kind of waste revolting. (I can now understand how some people would need it)

I find this kind of waste revolting

The gousto packaging is mostly fully biodegradable and recyclable and as you receive exact amounts for recipes there is no food wastage. So probably more environmentally friendly than your supermarket shop glasgow

Gousto fan here; tried Hello Fresh as well. There's a lot of packaging but all or nearly all is recyclable.

This recent study found that, compared with grocery-bought meals, meal kits are associated with lower average greenhouse gas emissions and food waste.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344919301703?via%3Dihub#abs0010

www.thedailymeal.com/eat/meal-kits-carbon-footprint-better-than-grocery-shopping/042519

In terms of packaging glasgow i agree it is a massive issue. But i'd get the same of packaging in a supermarket. And actually even in the year i've had it i've seen it be reduced massively.

Also my insulating material does not go in to land fill its natural fleece and it goes in to my mums compost heap, or her hugel cultures, or is used to insulate her beddimg plants over winter.

The vegetables come in the main loose, (onions, cougetes, obegines, peppers, even the tomatos are just in the box loose) cherry tomotoes cone in a cardbord tray, mushrooms come in a paper bag, yes the smaller vegables (beans, peas, etc) come in plastic bags but they do at the supermarket too.

The box its self is either recycled or given to my mum for composting.

The one thing i have a massive problem with is the ice packs but their just water so i snip them open put the water down the drain and recycle the plastic.

Oh yes and absolutrly no food waste in four weeks i fill one small tuperwear box - how much foodwaste do yoy have glasgow

If you want to be so superior

Used Gousto and Hello Fresh a few times each but got 3 boxes with meat that was off, from around 6 boxes in total. Gave up as meat was thrown away.

I don't talk to any one in the pub gilbert

In fact my diet was so predictable the staff would see me walk in and there woyld be a coke on my table before i even got to it and i'd hand the person the £15 and they'd come back with the change.

Ok you've all convinced me! I think I'll try the gusto box as the recipes look interesting. Could anyone send me a discount code please? I don't know how to send messages on the mobile app sorry.

I've not used any of these (except occasionally Cook which is like posh Iceland), but when we had veg boxes delivered (from Abel & Cole) there was v little packaging/waste, loads better than the supermarket. Aren't these boxes similar?
I now try to shop at the supermarket to save money, but the packaging there is awful. I don't imagine these box services are particularly environmentally terrible. A bit / lot more expensive, yes. But totally get why they appeal and out of all the lazy/consumer culture type things you can do, I don't think these are that bad?!

I love the Abel and Cole make your own meals. I've been doing it for years, never had the same meal twice, always tasty, I've learnt so much.