02 Mar 2017

An Adult Meal Plan

I was really lucky that when I chose to work at my last workplace that I had such amazing benefits. Coming into work every day and never having to think about what I was going to have for breakfast, lunch, or dinner not only saved me time and money, but a lot of stress in having to plan future meals. I know what people say about companies that provide all their meals to their employees. You want to spin this as a negative with companies pushing their employees to stay and work later than they need to by incentivizing them with meals. From my point of view, I can honestly say that I never felt this way. I really loved our meals; they were healthy, balanced, and delicious. And you know what? If I didn’t feel like eating at work one day, I wouldn’t and I would go out and get my own dinner and that was my decision. For employees that aren’t spending meal time with their families and are really just providing for themselves, this is truly a benefit that is a godsend.

So why are we posting about this?

Well, contrary to what others might believe, not every company in tech provides all three meals. Sometimes they don’t even provide one and that is totally fine. That’s most of the world. I haven’t been working at my previous company for a month now so I’ve actually been eating most of my meals out, but as I transition to my next job, I’ve been thinking a lot about the lifestyle I want to live. Even though I haven’t cooked for myself for almost 3.5 years, this is something that I really want to get back into again. I used to make meals for my friends (specifically Veronica) in college all of the time. I also was a terribly poor college student and because I lived alone, I would make one pot of pasta with all the sauce and eat it for a whole week straight for lunch and dinner. It wasn’t glamorous, but I got by! I was also super proud that I could be scrappy and that I could provide for myself and save money while doing so.

Lately, there’s been a huge rise in meal delivery startups. I’ve never tried any of them, but my friends have and now I think I’m ready to start. Some things I have been considering for myself are what I’m really looking for. The reason why I want to take this route is because I don’t want to eat out every night. It’s not sustainable and someday I’m going to be cooking for more than just myself so it might be a good time for me to get back into it. I’m considering two types of plans: 1 plan that sends me meals with ingredients so that I can prepare it for myself at home and do the actual cooking and another plan that sends the meals to my door already prepped, but just need to be reheated. Does it make sense to adopt two plans right away? I’ve heard that Blue Apron’s prep time (while detailed) is longer than most had hoped. This isn’t going to be ideal for me when I’m spending most of my day at work and commuting. At most, I think I’m willing to commit 30 minutes to prep and cook time maybe, which is why I’m also considering Hello Fresh. I’ve been reading articles like this hello fresh vs home chef review to learn a little more about my options but I’m still not sure which to use. There’s also Plated, Munchery, and Sprig, which I haven’t done too much research on.

Asking for myself here, could y’all share with me what your thoughts are on these types of plans and what recommendations you have? 🙂