To think meal prep box costs are hard to justify

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I finally decided to try one of those meal prep boxes. Always resisted due to cost but wanted to at least give them a try.

It was easy my to prepare, tasted nice etc but doing the sums just don't see how cost can be justified long term.

If I bought the ingredients in the supermarket individually it would be at least 50% less.

I know the whole point is paying for the convenience and not having to spend time shopping and meal prepping but the premium just seems sky high! We could afford it now if we wanted to but when I compare costs of 4-5 boxed meals for two vs what we'd get for same money in supermarket it seems insane!

I feel like I must be missing something as I know these boxes are really popular and I'm constantly bombarded by marketing messages for them - is it all just hype??

There’s always codes though. So you order at 60% off. Then cancel. Then after a few weeks they send another discount. Husband can sign up too. I’ve tried hello fresh and gousto but only 50% off.

As pp says, codes. We used them for a while as an alternative to eating out/takeaways and they were certainly cheaper than that..

I use them regularly but as above always on a discount - my husband and I both have HF and gousto and between those 4 accounts someone is alway offering at least 20% off, sometimes as much as 50 or 60%. Yes, we could do it cheaper ourselves but it’s convenient, we eat a better variety of meals, and for now we can afford it.

Really interested to see the responses on this as I think they are really expensive. I’ve never used them as we are a family of five including teenagers, who I usually increase the portion size for, so the boxes don’t work for us.

For us they are cost effective, I choose recipes which are more expensive to construct for just 2 because of the ingredients proportions and never pasta

I don't think people really use them long-term for every meal.

They're used either occasionally or for a period of a few weeks/months when people are busy/have a discount code/need some inspiration for new recipes.

They are not cost-effective for me, because I already have a fully stocked spice cupboard. I find them really fiddly and full of plastic waste. But I have time to cook and I don't have small DC.

I can see that they might be useful for people who work long hours and with small children.

I've used them in the past as it took away some of the mental load of meal planning/shopping & some of the meals were really nice. Also got to try some new flavours. The biggest issue I had was the quality of some of the ingredients, especially the meat and fish.

I’ve used Hello Fresh and Gousto in the past, but only with a discounted offer, as other PP have mentioned.

I now have a monthly subscription with Simply Cook which costs £9.99/month for 4 recipe kits and recipe cards. Each kit contains 3 pots of mixed herbs, spices, sauces, etc for that meal. There are shopping lists included for each meal which is never usually more than 3 or 4 ingredients that you’ll need to buy (e.g, chicken breasts x 2, mushrooms, onion and potatoes)

There’s a lot of different choices too, especially if you’re vegetarian like me.

I’m not the greatest cook, but my family loves them and they’re always delicious!

PM me if you’d like me to send you a link for a free box or if you Google ‘Simply Cook’ I think you can get a good discount when you sign up.

I use Simply Cook, £9.99 for 4 strips (3 pots of spices/herbs/stock for the recipe) and buy the fresh ingredients. The pots last for ages so no pressure to use quickly.

We love them as we cook things that we’d never try such as Brazilian, Balinese, Japanese meals and lots of veggie too. Also I love them as it means I don’t have the brain melt of what are we going to eat. All my lot love the food, never had a bad meal, and they are a really fussy bunch.

I find the portion sizes quite generous (and I'm not a mumsnetter who eats tiny portions)

They are very expensive. I use Gousto from time to time simply because the recipes are so good and it's an easy way to try new recipes. Loads of the meals I cook on a regular basis now we're originally Gousto recipes.

I love Simply Cook! If you go through the cancellation process, they'll probably offer you a discount. Mine is £5.99 a month at the moment

They're made for convenience, they're not made to be cheap or cost effective really. Whether you can justify them ultimately depends on the value you put on your time.

I agree. I think the costs are exorbitant for what you get. I tried Gousto and Hello Fresh when I saw 60% offers a couple of years ago and was so disappointed with the quality and quantity of the ingredients. I thought they were both expensive even with the discount and swore I would never buy them again. But I succumbed to an offer for Mindful Chef a couple of weeks ago and was again very disappointed with what I received. I cancelled the subscription within five minutes of unpacking the box and had to check that I'd ordered two person meals rather than single portions. The amount of meat included for each meal was tiny and I had to supplement the meat for the two meals I cooked. The first meal was ok but no more, and the second was foul, to the extent that we gave most of it to the foxes, along with the tiny bit of meat for the third meal. I paid £39 for three meals for two with the discount and I could definitely have made much nicer meals using similar but better quality ingredients, with a normal amount of meat. I think I really have learnt my lesson this time!

I should have added that I have used Simply Cook, which I found much better. The recipes I used were quite nice and because you only get the spices and sauces needed for each recipe, you can add a normal amount of meat or fish, and can use good quality ingredients.

We’ve used Gousto but only ever on a special offer. Otherwise it’s too expensive.

We've used Gousto for about 4 years now and it's well worth it for us. The convenience when we both work full time (and no wfh) and have small children means we eat much better than we would otherwise. I'm also not convinced it is that much of a premium per portion as long as you're not just ordering pasta and/or vegetarian options

We use Gousto weekly and can’t imagine not using it. We eat much more healthily as a result and I love not having to meal plan and instead pick out a recipe card and have all the ingredients.

We get a box once a fortnight

I would agree it's not cheaper than the supermarket but we a) value the convenience, b) enjoy the variety and c) we I value the portion control

We’ve been having Hello Fresh, it started at 50% off for 4 weeks now it’s 20% off. It was definitely worth it at half price, just to get a bit more variety of meals and not have to think too much about what’s for dinner. We probably won’t have as often now it’s only 20% off and certainly won’t buy at full price. We have kept the recipe cards of the good meals so we can copy.

I am a useless cook and had got to the point of just not knowing what to buy in the supermarket and then what to cook. I was wasting a lot of food, buying a lot of microwave meals and getting quite a few takeaways.
I have over the past couple of years bought about 8 or 9 gousto boxes when I am sent offers. I now have a bundle of menus for food we really enjoy. I sit down once a week and decide what we are having each day. I write a shopping list and I use the food that I buy.
We now rarely have takeaways, I waste very little, my shopping is cheaper and we really enjoy the meals.

I never understand who pays for these. I love cooking but my favourite part is creating something! A recipe box would take all the fun out of it for me. You get the effort of cooking but you're not really making anything - what's the point? Might as well have a nice ready meal and enjoy 20 minutes on the sofa instead.

From my point of view the value didn’t just come from the cost of ingredients but also the convenience and having the recipe steps and very little prep to do… for people that have disabilities things like this and other prepared veg and fruit can be life savers. I remember a Twitter thread where some chap pontificated on how outrageous it was that Waitrose sold peeled garlic and he rightly got told to mind his own beeswax because sometimes people have a need for stuff like that and it’s not just a lazy luxury.

The target market is people who value convenience over price. I used to buy them all the time before I developed allergies. Haven’t yet found a service that can handle my allergies. I didn’t start cooking regularly myself though. I don’t have the time or energy for that. Instead, I have a shortlist of restaurants that do safe, healthy meals to-go and I order from them regularly. It would be far cheaper to go back to a food prep box if I could find one.