Turns out, there are a few meal kits out there that I haven't tried yet. After writing about Cincinnati-based Kroger Co.'s acquisition of Chicago-based Home Chef, I decided to give them a try.
I went to HomeChef.com to join.
I immediately got sticker shock.
I have a 5-person family, so the 6-serving kits were an appealing option. I picked Prosciutto Pasta Primavera and Chicken Chimichangas, two reasonable menu items, I thought.
$89
For two meals.
Wow. I have a pretty hefty grocery budget, but even this is stretching it for me. I ordered anyway, because I felt like this was good research.
What I got was plastic -- in a busted-up box, to boot.
In a move that’s great for logistics and product development for Home Chef, but terrible from a packaging conscious quasi-millennial, their idea of offering six servings is to just send you three 2-serving kits.
That’s
- three clamshells of parsley with exactly two sprigs in each;
- three little baggies of walnuts;
- three little cups of peas;
- three little plastic pouches of garlic;
- six individually-wrapped pats of butter;
- three little baggies of parmesan;
- six tubes of sour cream; and
- three plastic bags of pasta.
All of those were in three separate zip-top pouch bags, packed in a box with 12 gel ice packs. Two kits weighed 43 pounds, and the box was taped back together by FedEx.
Not a great start.
And then my squash was frozen. The tomatoes for my chimichangas, too.
This was a hot mess, much like my Facebook Live video of the whole process. You've got to see how this ends up.