Hastened by the pandemic, food delivery companies have been a boom industry across the UK (and no doubt elsewhere) over the past few years. Long well established in metropolitan centres such as London, they are now increasingly well known but offer quite different means of doing the same thing.
Just for a change, I thought it worth going through four I have tried (in no particular order) for the variety they offer.
Hello Fresh
Hello Fresh may be the best known, essentially delivering a box of fresh produce to your doorstep with cards about how to cook it.
The advantage here is that all the produce is in the box; there is no shopping of your own (though it is assumed that you have basics, such as butter, milk or oil, in your cupboard). This does limit how often you need to go for groceries at all, so convenience here is high.
Arguably the disadvantage is that you are stuck with what is in the box come what may - if you don't like mushrooms you cannot easily substitute them, for example. Also, there can be quite a lot of waste - after all, an entire box of contents will have to be disposed of.
It is worth noting that point here is that the products are fresh - they do, therefore, typically need to be eaten quickly (although in fact not always - it is worth checking).
Pasta Evangelists
Pasta Evangelists is a smaller, London-based company which offers essentially the same thing as Hello Fresh but with pasta.
The significant advantage here is that cooking time is a lot shorter - the pasta can typically be cooked in a couple of minutes and an entire meal prepared and served in well under ten.
The disadvantage is that the selection is a little more limited (of course), and that somehow the waste seems to be just the same - entire boxes and various bits of paper and plastic all make their way into recycling. There may be a question over value too - yes, the ingredients are fresh but conversely that means you have to eat them quickly; is there really that much wrong with the pasta in the cupboard, which can surely be turned into a meal quite quickly anyway.
Simply Cook
Simple Cook is much the same idea as Hello Fresh except that most of the ingredients are not delivered; what arrives are just three small containers of sauce or seasoning, plus the instructions. The idea here is that you yourself order the meals and then buy the ingredients - by looking up what is required, adding it to your supermarket app, and going and getting them as normal.
The advantage here is that you can mix and match a little - if you don't like mushrooms, you can absolutely substitute. You may even, if you wish, simply use the sauce or the seasoning to do something else. Time pressure is also more limited - you can buy the ingredients whenever you wish, you do not have to have the meals straightaway.
The disadvantage is that, in the end, all you are really getting is seasoning. It may be dressed up with menu cards and such like, and so is much cheaper than other options, but that is fundamentally what it is. Other companies more overtly specifically deliver seasoning, if that is what you want.
Interestingly, the more popular Simply Cook options are now widely available in common grocery shops. Clearly the business model has changed already since delivery was all the range.
Parsleybox
An outlier is Scottish firm Parsleybox [what a glorious name - Ed], which goes to the other end of the scale completely and sends microwave meals, with the twist that they can be stored in the cupboard for months.
This is aimed at older people who may just want a meal quickly, and so the choice tends towards the more traditional. The real advantage is the option of having meals in the cupboard for use at any time; I used Parsleybox a lot for my mum when she was still living in her home, as a good way of ensuring she always had food she could make easily in the house.
The disadvantage is they are fundamentally microwave meals; they are not "fresh" as such. So this is not so much a rival to the other three, as a potential complement in certain circumstances.
Conclusion
In the end the choice of which one if any to go for (or which mix) will come down to the individual household. Some options will also exist in some parts of the UK but not all. Additionally, new rivals will emerge and existing companies, no doubt including the big supermarkets, will find their own way to challenge (not least through their existing delivery structures). We also should not forget local producers who will invariably be the freshest of all.
Over the tough winter ahead, no doubt a premium will also be placed on value. There is, of course, a delicate balance between wanting value for money on one hand and quality fresh produce on the other. At this stage, we appear to be in the period where there are lots of different options (which are often overlapping rather than competing directly); in due course, these will probably settle down to a select few.
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