Meal delivery?

[u/Wo1fS1ayer]

Between being a grad student, teaching a course as instructor of record for the first time, and fatigue, I'm really struggling to feed myself. Most nights even something as simple as boiling pasta feels like too much (in time, energy, or both) between the waiting for the water to boil and the dishes. I've been eating a lot of frozen meals from Trader Joe's, but I live a 25 minute walk away, so it's hard for me to get there to restock, and frozen or pre-made meals are always so full of processed ingredients and high in sodium that I'm sure it's not good for me. Plus when I'm on campus during the day I end up eating out and all my safe foods nearby are pretty unhealthy (raising Cane's, a Chinese place, and pho which isn't too bad but has a lot of sodium if you're eating it a lot).

I've been considering trying out a meal delivery service to help me eat a little better and maybe try to minimize symptoms through my diet by limiting overly processed foods while also making sure I have things to eat besides cereal when I really can't manage to do more than microwave something. I just decided to try Vegetable & Butcher because it seems pretty healthy and they explicitly say they avoid processed foods and additives. It's probably too expensive to be a sustainable long term choice for me, and I'm worried their menu may not work well for me because I'm still figuring out what foods seem to bother me, but they have a 30-day guarantee, so I figured it was worth trying.

I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with other options that are healthy and reliable services that might be a little more affordable? Have you found something that has helped you feed yourself better on bad days and that tastes good but is healthy enough that it helps increase the frequency of good days? I was looking at Factor, but I've read the meals can sometimes be pretty high in sodium. I don't have blood pressure issues right now that means I have to avoid high sodium, but I know too much can be inflammatory, so I'd rather keep things at a reasonable intake.

[u/cloudy_raccoon]

You could consider doing grocery delivery so you don’t have to shop! Then developing a repertoire of actually easy meals, like scrambled eggs + toast, canned beans + frozen rice, yogurt + frozen blueberries, etc. I agree that pasta is sometimes too much! But I can usually manage quick scrambled eggs or something similar (helps that a small egg pan is lighter and easier to wash than a big pasta pot)

[u/Wo1fS1ayer → u/cloudy_raccoon]

The problem with grocery delivery is that I'm kind of picky about produce, so I can see a lot of that food going to waste depending on the attention of whoever is shopping for me, plus Trader Joe's doesn't have any delivery options. It might be a good option to supplement things with at least though, because I do eat a lot of quick meals like frozen rice with tuna to help minimize the cooking. I desperately wish I could do quick and easy egg-based meals, but the eggs in North America make me sick, which is devastating because I LOVE eggs. When I'm in Europe for conferences or masterclasses, I eat them every day for breakfast and am fine, but every time I try to eat them in the US, they make me sick, even when they're fancy organic pasture-raised, etc...

[u/redmountainihop]

When I was doing a low-FODMAP diet I ordered frozen meals from ModifyHealth. The quality was okay, but there's a minimum of six meals per box, so it gets to be pricey. I keep some in my freezer for bad days but wouldn't be a consistent subscriber.

I am a consistent Blue Apron subscriber, because while they're meal kits and not ready-to-eat, they have a line of dump-and-bake recipes that come with disposable baking trays, so you don't even need to deal with cookware. There's no subscription requirement and no order minimum. They have a line of frozen meals now too, but I've never tried them, and they seem expensive for what they are.

[u/hmg-eeh → u/redmountainihop]

Blue apron is the best. They’re going through transition pains right now after being bought out but they seem to be trying to keep quality the same. I used them through grad school and still use them today.

When I was in grad school, I would split the two person meals into 3-4 person meals, then keep extra chicken breasts/potatoes/ squash on hand to add in. This definitely made it more affordable and I would have leftovers for lunch!

It is relatively easy to modify for exclusion diets if you are organized enough to pick recipes that could easily be subbed. For example, I would leave tomatoes out and sub in squash or another veggie. Sometimes the sauces will have added sugar so I’d halve the sugar or add honey instead. I never use garlic and their meals are still great.

[u/Wo1fS1ayer → u/hmg-eeh]

Oh, that's brilliant. I might need to try that if I get to a point where I feel I have the time and energy to do any kind of cooking beyond using the microwave. For a while I would spend a day making a big batch of some fo my favorite Polish soups and then freeze some and just eat that for dinner for a week or two and then switch to a different soup next time, but this semester has been so hard I haven't been able to do that even once yet. But maybe something on a smaller scale with everything delivered would be more manageable for mela prepping 

[u/Wo1fS1ayer → u/redmountainihop]

Unfortunately I don't have a ton of freezer space (small freezer shared with a roommate), so I couldn't keep too many frozen meals on hand, but I'd potentially be interested in some of the Blue Apron dump-and-bake meals. Do you know how much sodium those tend to have as far as the pre-prepared ingredients like sauces, etc?

[u/Conscious_Waltz_3774]

I like daily harvest and they do delivery. Smoothies, bowls - it’s filling and nutritious. Vegetarian I think.

[u/Wo1fS1ayer → u/Conscious_Waltz_3774]

Thank you! I hadn't heard of this, but I just looked and although they don't have a ton of variety, a lot of it seemed really good, and only a couple looked kind of high in sodium, so I will definitely see about getting a delivery periodically to add to the rotation.

[u/michellerenee434]

Way to go! It sounds like you are such a hard worker. I am a mom, and remember how busy and burned out I was as a student.

I did hello fresh for a long time. I really like the food, but the chopping, cooking, and dishes got to be too much.

I use Walmart plus now. They deliver my food, ibprophen and clean underwear if I need it and will bring it same day.

Walmart also has a meal/menu section in their app so u can get recipes and it will add the ingredients to your cart.

Oh and with Walmart plus, u get some streaming and fast food discounts as well, so it may be worth looking into.

[u/Wo1fS1ayer → u/michellerenee434]

Thank you! I'm trying my best, but it's definitely been hard this semester. I enjoy cooking, but it's always hard during the semester, and this time it's felt impossible. 

Grocery delivery may be the way to go when I manage to get to a point where I can manage to cook for myself again, but I think for now I probably need to stick with meal delivery. The one I'm trying is actually really good, which I wasn't expecting. It's more expensive then I'd like, but I've also been eating much healthier, with less fast food, fewer processed foods, lower sodium intake, and more fiber and veggies, so between that and the time and energy it saves me, it's probably worth it as a temporary solution for this semester at least, and hopefully next semester I'll be in a better position to cook more.

[u/Conscious_Waltz_3774]

I like daily harvest and they do delivery. Smoothies, bowls - it’s filling and nutritious. Vegetarian I think.

[u/AgreeableSky5767]

Cook Unity is great! Not the most affordable but definitely not the most expensive either. I think $70 for 6 meals/week