Food delivery is by no means a new idea, but new and disruptive companies are putting a radical spin on it – and they could change the way we eat.
The influence of technological advancement is all-pervasive. While we often tend to laud the advancements of computing in a strictly consumerist sense, the effect of computer-assisted logistics is too big to ignore.
The advent of the car saw the rise of dining and shopping centers, and the internet saw the cataclysmic rise of online shopping and shipping. Although goods like clothing and household objects came to dominance, the market always pined for an online food-delivery service that was more than the artery-clogging cheap meals that one could find at their local chippy. Enter ingredient-shipping shipping services like SunBasket and Hello Fresh.
Both services operate in similar fashion: a consumer selects the menu that they wish to receive for the week, and box containing the raw ingredients is shipped to their residence in a refrigerated box alongside a recipe book. From there, you get to put on your cute little chef’s hat and take to the grill yourself.
The added benefit of having to prepare the meal yourself is twofold: without having to trek out to the local store after having spent time selecting recipes that you both want to eat and won’t break the bank – you’ve that much more time to devote to learning how to cook like Gordon Ramsay.
That’s right, the main selling point isn’t that you’re chowing down on food you didn’t have to go out to collect – it’s that you’re horking down mind-meltingly good meals. We wish we were over-exaggerating, but the likes of SunBasket and Hello Fresh have absolutely ruined our capacity to go and eat out. Where we once might have marvelled at the local chef’s menu, we now can’t help but find ourselves spoiled by the offerings of these stellar services.
The only downside that we can even find to moan about is that we wish there was some sort of option for a full week of food that was built-in. As it stands, your best bet to ensuring a mold-free fridge is to have your meals delivered to you twice per week – once at the beginning and once more at the midpoint. Don’t assume that your beast of a cooler is going to keep fresh, and often organic, ingredients in an edible state until the end of the week.
Ultimately, it’s the liberation of time that makes ingredient and recipe-book delivery services win out against conventional stores. Sure, we’re not about to stop popping down to the corner shop to pick up a quick snack or get everyday items, but the fact that any time we used to spend stressing out over what to eat is now free to be used as we see fit – well, that’s worth the price of admission alone.
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