Do Meal Delivery Services Really Save You Money?

With the lingering effects of COVID-19, many of you might be looking for options for having things delivered to your home, including meals. But how feasible would subscribe to a meal delivery service be, especially if you are on a tight budget? Will it help you save more time and money than buying groceries and preparing your own meals?

What are Meal Delivery Services?

Meal delivery services are subscription services that send you a box of measured ingredients with a recipe to help you prepare a meal. You can also subscribe to diet-specific meal services as per your requirement. There are also services that will deliver prepared meals to your doorstep.

When compared with grocery delivery services such as Amazon Pantry and InstaCart, meal delivery services work out to be very economical and convenient. All you need to do is choose an online meal delivery service, go through their menu options, place your order according to the number and type of meals you require, select the delivery date, and make the payment.

Most meal delivery subscription services use insulated liners while packaging meal delivery kits (MDKs). There are many services that store their MDKs in cooling packs so that the ingredients in the kit will be cold and fresh when you open them up to prepare.

What Kind of Options Are There?

There are many kinds of MDKs available across the world. You can choose any based on your requirements and preferences. There are vegetarian or even vegan MDKs for those who don’t prefer to eat meat or eggs. You can find healthy and low-calorie options if you are diet-conscious.

If you don’t want to go overboard there are also many low-budget MDK options you can opt for. It doesn’t matter what your preferences are, make sure you always choose meal delivery services that offer the most value.

So, Do They Save Money?

It doesn’t matter whether you are an expert or a newbie to cooking if there is one thing that you will agree upon it is that meal preparation can take up a lot of your time.

Here are a few basic steps that you may have to follow:

• First, you have to figure out what you need to prepare
• Then you make a list of ingredients that you would need to prepare the meal
• You rush to the grocery store to hunt for the ingredients you may not already have
• You make your purchases and get your groceries home
• You do the necessary preparations for preparing the meal
• And finally, you cook the meal

If you need a ready-made option wherein you get all the pre-prepared ingredients in the right measure along with the required recipe, it would be wiser to go with a meal delivery service. Nevertheless, there are a lot of factors that you need to consider before deciding if a meal delivery service would be an economical option for you.

Whether a meal delivery service will work for you depends on how often you eat out or order food and how much you spend on buying groceries. Also, take into account the amount of time you require to prepare a meal and cook.

Here are a few things you need to know about subscribing for a meal delivery service:

• Saves Time on Purchasing– It takes quite a lot of time to run to the grocery store every time you need to prepare a meal. Even if you decide to buy your groceries online, you will have to make sure you order collectively so that you save money on shipping. A lot of such time can be saved by opting for a meal delivery service.
• Zero Wastage– Whenever you buy groceries, you need to know that you won’t be using all of these ingredients in their entirety to prepare your meals. However, the case is quite different from meal delivery kits. The ingredients are pre-measured and have to be used in full to prepare the meal according to the recipe.
• Saves Time on Meal Preparation– Washing and cutting vegetables, getting the species and the seasoning ready, can all take a very long time. In a meal delivery kit, you get pre-cut vegetables in the quantity that you need. So you can actually save a lot of time on meal preparation.
• Fresh and Healthy Ingredients– Groceries usually have a longer shelf life than meal delivery kits and hence you may not get fresh and healthy options every time you order groceries. Meal delivery kits, on the other hand, need to be consumed immediately and hence contain fresh and healthy ingredients.
• Portion-controlled Meals–Those who find it difficult to stop overeating can benefit a lot from ordering a meal delivery service. The portions are controlled and are very good for people with diabetes, high BP, and heart disease.

Choose the Best Meal Delivery Service

One way to stay healthy and to achieve a healthy and active lifestyle is to subscribe to a good meal delivery service. Make sure the service is reliable and of good quality. It’s always worthwhile to check reviews before you decide on any meal delivery service to ensure that it will be worth your money.