Why pay you to do it, when I can do it myself?!

We’re not talking about fixing the odd thing around the house or saving money on cleaning services by doing it yourself each week (although why not pay someone to clean, so you don’t have to)! We’re talking about dinner time in all its glory!

We know that the kitchen can be a daunting place and creating something new and exciting for yourself, your significant other, or your kids can be a real struggle! We also know that if you’ve managed to build up the energy to peruse through an online magazine or blog about interesting dinner ideas, you’ve ran across obscure ingredients or long cook times that don’t coincide nicely with everything else going on in your life. These details can be the make or break moments between going back to the same old pasta or chicken dish that you ate last week that Rebecca refuses to eat, or trying something new!

What if you could remove the not-so-great moments from dinner and change it into a fun, new, and exciting time for yourself and the rest of the family? And, what if it didn’t cost very much more than if you went out and got all those ingredients, yourself? It’s true, even if you don’t believe it, meal-kit companies are dominating dinner time because they're offering recipes that are quick, fun, easy, and incredibly delicious for even the most discerning pallets and pickiest of eaters!

Let’s quickly check out some of the local stores here in Victoria, B.C. to see what the average person would pay to make this scrumptious dish we have as part of our recipe repertoire:

Chicken and Brie Flatbread with Pesto, Apple, and Pomegranate Seeds

Ingredients:

This meal, if you decided to go shopping and purchase everything yourself, would cost you about $29.34, as opposed to getting it from us for $20.96. Obviously, you’ll be able to use some of the ingredients you would have purchased for this meal in the future, so some savings are realized this way. You may also have some of these ingredients on hand; however, most of these are quite perishable, so unless you’re a wizard at making ingredients stretch over a few more days (pomegranate seeds in yogurt or atop dessert, etc.) the odds of them being around is quite low. You could also make the pizza dough yourself and save by not paying the $4 to have someone else make it for you!

So what? I’m still not convinced!

Let’s look at some more numbers and some reasons people choose to use or not use meal-kits –

According to an article written by CBC Business, the meal-kit industry has doubled since 2014, accounting for approximately $120M in consumer spending. The majority of people using meal-kits do so to replace their home-cooked meals.

Here are the top 5 reasons people choose to use meal kits:

1. All ingredients are provided
2. They had a coupon or discount of some kind
3. The use of fresh ingredients
4. They provide healthy eating
5. They are easy to prepare

Here are some of the reasons people choose to not use meal kits:

1. Too expensive
2. Discount ends
3. Portions are too small
4. Delivery schedule is off
5. Family didn’t like the recipes

Let’s focus for a second on some of the reasons people decide to not use meal kits. We realize some of these reasons are personal in nature, and others are perceived to be wide-spread throughout the industry. For instance, meal kits are too expensive compared to going out and getting the ingredients yourself. While this is sometimes the case, it really depends on the recipe you’ve selected. The other aspect that is rarely taken into consideration is one’s time going out to get the ingredients and the gas that’s associated with each trip. There are other counter balancing mechanisms that meal kit companies use to offset much of these cons, by not charging delivery fees and providing additional discounts when larger quantities are ordered, they pass their bulk discount pricing back to the customer. For some of the other cons listed, such as an inconvenient or variable delivery schedule, these are aspects within the industry that are constantly evolving. With the industry being so new to the market place, many companies are adapting and pivoting to meet the needs of their customers, resulting in some challenges that are being worked through as we speak.

For smaller companies that strive to work as often as they can with local suppliers, delivery and portion sizes can often be customized to meet the needs of customers within their geographical area. Small companies know what their customers want because they interact with them far more frequently and more personally than larger, national brands. Delivery is often far less complex when you’re dealing with a local company, than having your order shipped via ground courier or air.  

Packaging things up!

We’ve compared the cost of going out and getting a recipe’s ingredients, yourself; we’ve discussed factoring in one’s time in planning, preparing, and shopping for these items; and we’ve seen some of the reasons people choose to go with meal kits as their choice option for dinner time! Whatever your reasons for or against choosing a meal kit company to help with your dinner time adventure, we know this is a personal choice that is usually dictated by time constraints and energy levels after the day's events have concluded. Cooking dinner can seem like a hassle and a nail-in-the-coffin task, when all you’d rather do is kick your feet up and relax.

If we haven’t convinced you to give a meal kit a shot, at least have the decency to poach recipes from companies' websites for your own personal use! Often times, companies like ours, will make their weekly recipes available to the public. Because, while we’d love for you to give us a shot so we can WOW you with our service, we also like ensuring the general population is choosing the best dinner option out there! We do this to promote healthy eating and to give people the option to go out and shop on their own. 

When you have full control over what you make, there are no regrets, no second guessing how much sugar or sodium went into that meal - it's all up to you, the resident chef of Chez Moi.

Cheers and happy cooking!