Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Recent survey data, including CNET’s own, shows that groceries remain the single biggest cause of sticker shock among shoppers in the US. These sticky high prices on eggs, bacon and bread has us wondering where the good deals on food are hiding in 2024, and we may have found them in an unlikely place — meal kits. Meal kits, once considered a splurge, haven’t seen the same levels of inflation as typical groceries. The reason? Meal kit services can’t afford to lose customers by jacking up prices. The result? Meal kits are a better deal than ever compared with the cost of buying the same groceries. You may have considered a meal kit service such as EveryPlate, Blue Apron or HelloFresh to save time, but you probably didn’t think one could save you money too. To see, I did the math to see how much meal kits really cost in 2024 versus buying groceries at an average supermarket.It turns out that not only are meal kits affordable in 2024, but some recipes are the same cost to or even cheaper than grocery shopping, depending on the service you enlist.Meal kits vs. buying the groceries Cost per serving (average plan)Cost of same ingredients at grocery store EveryPlate $6$5.40Blue Apron $10$9.75HelloFresh $10$6.55 Here’s a breakdown and how I got these figures. How I did the math I put on my math hat to see if meal kits are actually a good deal in 2024. Oscar Wong/Getty Images
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To see how much Blue Apron, HelloFresh and EveryPlate meals cost to make, I priced out the ingredients for two real recipes that are included in a standard subscription. When choosing groceries, I used the cheapest version of the same or similar ingredient I could find at Shop-Rite, a budget-friendly grocery store in my area. Because meal kit recipes include only the amount of ingredients needed, I prorated the cost by how much you would actually use for a recipe, not the full price of the bottle, jar, box or bag. I chose basic, nonorganic items unless it was otherwise specified on the meal kit recipe card or website.
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How I picked the recipes I picked steak and seafood recipes to compare since they represent the best value on most meal kit menus. David Watsky/CNETIf you’re looking to meal kits as a value proposition, you’ll have to be smart about which recipes you choose. Steak, chicken and fish tend to be more expensive to cook at home than plant-based meals, so I specifically chose recipes featuring those proteins. (I also recommend you take advantage of them if you’re signing up for a service).Not all services include steak recipes without a surcharge, but HelloFresh and Blue Apron do. Blue Apron typically offers at least one fairly high-end beef cut like sirloin steak with no added charge. HelloFresh offers one or two beef recipes per week, but it’s usually a cheaper cut like chuck steak. Seafood options are limited with a basic HelloFresh, but I found a barramundi recipe on this week’s menu, in addition to the ranch steak with Caesar salad. Budget-friendly services including EveryPlate don’t usually offer steak or seafood, which is how they keep consumer prices down. For my EveryPlate analysis, I chose a cherry beef meatball and pork chop recipe.Blue Apron presents the best value Blue Apron’s seafood recipes including steak, salmon and trout prove to be an excellent value in 2024. Blue ApronBlue Apron has the most high-end recipes of the three I chose to analyze. I picked a recipe featuring sirloin steak and another with fresh filets of steelhead trout.When I priced out the groceries to make these meals, they clocked in at $11.26 and $8.23, respectively, with an average price of $9.75 per serving. Both meals proved more expensive to buy at the supermarket than the $8 per-serving cost for the largest (cheapest) Blue Apron plan. As good as that sounds, Blue Apron’s largest plan is a whopping five meal kits per week with four servings each, and likely practical for most people. If you choose a more reasonably sized plan — let’s say three meal recipes with four servings each — the price per serving jumps to $9.50. That’s still cheaper than the cost of buying the groceries, but only by a little. Add the $11 weekly shipping cost and the Blue Apron creeps over the cost of buying the groceries, but only slightly. When you consider the convenience a meal kit provides, it’s hard to argue that Blue Apron isn’t a good value in 2024.Blue Apron vs buying the groceries Trout with feta, couscous and vegetables Ingredients: Cost:Steelhead trout filets, 10 oz $11.50Pearl couscous, 1/2 cup $24 oz. grape tomatoes $1.251 red onion $1.29Crushed pepper flakes $0.10Feta cheese, 1/2 oz $2Spice blend, 1 tbs $0.25Green beans, 6 oz $3Roasted sunflower seeds, 2 tbs $0.50Pitted niçoise olives, 1 oz $0.64Total:$22.53Per serving:$11.26 Mexican steak with green beans and sweet potatoesIngredients: Cost:2 sirloin steaks, 11 oz $7Guajillo chile pepper sauce, 1/3 cup $1Lime, 1 $0.50Raw pepitas, 2 tbs $0.59Cotija cheese, 2 tbs $0.60Sweet potatoes, 1 lb $3Green beans, 6 oz $3Smoky spice, 1 tbs $0.25Garlic, 2 clove $0.20Worcestershire sauce, 2 tbs $0.46Total cost:$16.55 Per serving:$8.23 HelloFresh was the worst value of the three HelloFresh meal kits cost $10 per serving but only around $6.50 per serving if you were to buy the groceries yourself. HelloFreshHelloFresh might be the most popular meal kit service, but it was also the worst value of the three. I chose a barramundi recipe and chuck steak meal kit to compare with local grocery prices. By my calculations, HelloFresh meal kits would cost just $6.55 per serving to buy the groceries and make the meals yourself. That’s about $3.50 cheaper than HelloFresh’s cheapest meal plan of $10 per serving, and that’s all before factoring in your weekly delivery cost of $11. If you were to spread that shipping fee out across two or three meal kits, the actual per-serving cost is more like $11 to $12. HelloFresh may have one of the largest weekly menu of meal kits and user-friendly ordering interface, but as it turns out, the popular service doesn’t offer as good of a value as some other meal kit companies in 2024. HelloFresh vs buying the groceries Barramundi with lemony carrots & couscous Ingredient: Cost:Barramundi, 10 oz $7.56Carrots, 12 oz $1.50Lemon, 1 $0.57Cumin, 1 tsp $0.23Israeli Couscous, 2.5 oz $0.75Cilantro, ¼ oz $1Garlic, 2 cloves $0.20Chili flakes, 1 tsp $0.23Veggie stock concentrate, 1 packet $1Total: $13.04Per serving:$6.52 Balsamic-glazed steak tagliata Ingredient: Cost:Potatoes, 12 oz $1.50Lemon, 1 $0.57Italian seasoning, 1 tbs $0.50Garlic powder, 1 tps $0.23Ranch steak, 10 oz $6Mixed greens, 2 oz $0.70Caesar dressing, 1.5 oz $0.45Croutons, 2 oz $1.00Parmesan cheese, 3 tbs $1.50Balsamic glaze, 5 tsp $0.80Total:$13.17 Per serving:$6.59 EveryPlate is a good deal, about the same as buying groceries EveryPlate meal kits clocked in at $5.40 per serving when ingredients were purchased at the store. That’s just a hair cheaper than the service, making it a great value if you’re trying to save time and energy. David Watsky/CNETEveryPlate’s two meal kits cost $4.98 and $5.82 when purchased a la carte at the grocery store, which averages out to $5.40. That’s just 60 cents less than the per-serving price of EveryPlate’s meal kits, which cost $6 per serving no matter which plan you choose.Add the $10 shipping cost per box and the meal kit cost creeps up a bit, but it’s still around the same price as buying all the groceries yourself.EveryPlate’s meal kit menus don’t feature much in the way of steak or seafood so you can expect more budget-friendly proteins such as chicken, ground beef and pork chops. EveryPlate meals are also easy to make and satisfying, making it our top pick best cheap meal kit service in 2024.EveryPlate vs buying the groceries Cherry meatballs with zucchini and garlic mashed potatoes Ingredients: Cost:Potatoes, 12 oz $1.50White bread, 2 slices $0.50Zucchini, 1 $2Ground beef, 8 oz $3.50Cherry jam, 1 oz $0.85Garlic powder $0.10Sour cream, 4 oz $1Soy sauce, 1 oz $0.50Total$9.95Per serving$4.98 Smothered pork chops with potatoes and carrotsIngredients: Cost:Carrots, 12 oz $1.50Potatoes, 12 oz $1.50Yellow onion, 1 $1Scallions, 2 $0.50Boneless pork chops, 10 oz $4.93Chicken stock concentrate $1Cayenne pepper $0.25Sour cream, 4 oz $1Total$11.63 Per serving$5.82 To get the most out of your meal delivery, see my guide to hacking a meal delivery subscription in 2024.
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