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Dollars & Sense: Do meal kits make sense for your budget?

ABC10’s Lora Painter bought meal kits online to compare their prices with buying individual ingredients online through a grocery store

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Meal kit subscriptions were all the rage during the pandemic, promising a gourmet experience right in the comfort of your own home. But do they still make sense for your budget?

To find out the true costs, ABC10’s Lora Painter bought meal kits online to compare their prices with buying individual ingredients online through a grocery store. What she found will have you thinking twice about how much you spend on food.

To best replicate what a person would experience and to establish an affordable baseline for comparing meals, she bought two meals for two people from two companies. The ingredients and portion sizes were the same, then she followed the recipes for those meals using individual ingredients from a grocery store purchased online.

The first box from Home Chef included 20 ingredients for two different meals for two days for two people. It cost $35 and a similar box from HelloFresh cost $24.

It ended up being $59 total for meal kits and $66 in groceries, so not a huge difference in price, but what about the quantity of food?

“One thing you’ll notice comparing the meal kits to find the individual ingredients at the grocery store is the portion sizes. This is $66 for the food replicating the four different recipes I got in the meal kits and I definitely noticed the portion sizes are much bigger and you have a lot of leftovers. When you buy the individual meal kits, they gave you just enough of the condiments and spices to make the meal. When you go out and buy it yourself, you end up having a lot more than what you will need for one recipe,” said Lora.

Cooking at home without a meal kit typically involves finding creative ways to reuse available ingredients, resulting in meals with repeating elements or leftovers to limit food waste.

Something else to consider are the dramatic discounts meal service companies offer on plans for new customers.

Lora saved $11 on shipping and got $26 off her first order with HelloFresh. Without it, the food alone would’ve cost $50.

With Home Chef, she got a discount on her first order, which normally would’ve cost $48. Despite the discount, she did have to pay $11 in shipping.

Walmart typically charges for shipping too, but she signed up for a free 30-day trial of their Walmart+ membership with free shipping.

As you’re deciding whether to start of continue a meal kit subscription, ask yourself:

  • What is your typical grocery bill?
  • How much convenience is worth to you?
  • Does variety matter to you?

And keep in mind costs increase after the promotion ends.

Remember, prices will adjust according to your recipe selections. Also, compare the cost of home delivery with how much you spend on gas.

Lora saved a lot of time ordering the groceries and meal kits online, which alone might be worth the $10 for shipping.

For people with SNAP/EBT cards, you can use them to buy eligible groceries online through Walmart. Some meal companies accept them too.

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