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We tried a meal-kit service and I don't understand who their target market is.
An acquaintance had a coupon for a free "week" from Purple Carrot (https://www.purplecarrot.com/). I tried it after reading their terms and understanding that I could cancel at any point and not be charged. So I set up the account, and the coupon credit was applied immediately. This gave me a cash balance equivalent to three "meals" - ingredients for a dinner entree for two people. I'll cut-tag the narrative in case you don't want your friends page blown up with my saga.
I could have added more food if I wanted to pay for it, either in the form of additional items, such as desserts/snacks/side dishes, additional meals, or increased portions of the existing meals. (E.G. turn a dinner-for-two into a dinner-for-four for considerably less than 2x the base price). I did not choose any of these options.
The site was extremely clear and easy to use. Purple Carrot emphasizes vegetable-based eating though they do use milk products so not everything is vegetarian. I could select entrees that were vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. Delivery was also quite clear and timely. Each meal came (mostly) in one big plastic bag marked with the name of the entree the ingredients were for. A couple of large items were separated but obvious and easy to line up with the intended meal. Inside each bag the ingredients were wrapped or containered where necessary (e.g. some tablespoons of almond milk) or not if they were self-contained, such as a lemon or a head of garlic. Still, there was considerable packaging (waste) with each meal.
The box came with a standard full-color printed set of recipes in which I had to find the meals I had ordered. I infer that this is a print-once book that they just put into every box and don't go through the work of sending you just the recipes you ordered. Easier and less work for them but again more waste.
At this point I infer that they are targeting people who are concerned about eating healthy, maybe vegetarian, but are not price-conscious or overly concerned about plastic and other waste. My eyebrows start to go up.
Ingredient quality was superb. Everything was fresh and kept well in the fridge for days. I did not cook the meals quickly after the box arrived and was concerned that things would have wilted or lost quality. Whatever suppliers Purple Carrot are using and however they're selecting produce is top-notch. The delivered ingredients included everything needed except salt, pepper, olive or vegetable oil.
Preparing each meal turned out to be quite labor intensive. For example, one meal used a lemon. First you zest it, then cut it in half, juice one half and quarter the other half. Peapods are to be thinly sliced, etc. The recipes did not explain the cooking terms used (but hey that's what the Internet is for) so I now infer that Purple Carrot is targeting people who own a lemon zester but do not own red wine vinegar (an ingredient they supply). My eyebrows continue to go up.
I would estimate meal prep time to be 20-40 minutes. Often there were multiple stages that got combined. E.G. cook the quinoa, put some ingredients (that you have prepared) into that, do a thing, then add more ingredients later. Total time from opening the plastic bag to eating food was generally an hour to an hour-and-a-quarter. So Purple Carrot are targeting people who have an hour to prepare and cook dinner but no time to shop for ingredients or who live somewhere that finding high-quality ingredients is hard. At this point my eyebrows have disappeared into my admittedly receding hairline.
I am a tolerable low-skilled amateur chef with a silly amount of accumulated tools. Each of these meals felt within my skills but used up three or four prep containers (two saucepans and a big mixing bowl plus plus). Possibly a more experienced cook would have been more efficient, I dunno. The pre-measured quantities of various items saved a small amount of time, but really not much. Measuring two teaspoons of something is quite quick compared to the amount of time to zest a whole lemon. Possibly Purple Carrot makes these choices based on how easy something is to mess up? I have to assume that anyone who owns the set of knives and cutting boards required for these recipes is going to own at least one set of measuring spoons and know how to use them.
The recipes did not seem very complex and were generally simple to read and follow, again assuming you knew the terms used or were willing to look them up. There were some pictures to help, but not step-by-step. There were just a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients to prepare and it all took time. Maybe Purple Carrot is appealing to people who find this kind of labor relaxing or meditative? A way to wind down at the end of the day. Very not-me but perhaps those people exist.
The meals ranged from tasty to OK. Sample size 3 is probably too small to determine that, and I do want to find more plant-based things to cook. Purple Carrot's recipes seem to rely on tofu, beans, and quinoa for much of their substance so those are things to look into more.
Overall an interesting experiene and a free way to learn that this is for Not Me. Honestly I'm still not sure who they are for - do you know anyone who uses a service like this?
I could have added more food if I wanted to pay for it, either in the form of additional items, such as desserts/snacks/side dishes, additional meals, or increased portions of the existing meals. (E.G. turn a dinner-for-two into a dinner-for-four for considerably less than 2x the base price). I did not choose any of these options.
The site was extremely clear and easy to use. Purple Carrot emphasizes vegetable-based eating though they do use milk products so not everything is vegetarian. I could select entrees that were vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. Delivery was also quite clear and timely. Each meal came (mostly) in one big plastic bag marked with the name of the entree the ingredients were for. A couple of large items were separated but obvious and easy to line up with the intended meal. Inside each bag the ingredients were wrapped or containered where necessary (e.g. some tablespoons of almond milk) or not if they were self-contained, such as a lemon or a head of garlic. Still, there was considerable packaging (waste) with each meal.
The box came with a standard full-color printed set of recipes in which I had to find the meals I had ordered. I infer that this is a print-once book that they just put into every box and don't go through the work of sending you just the recipes you ordered. Easier and less work for them but again more waste.
At this point I infer that they are targeting people who are concerned about eating healthy, maybe vegetarian, but are not price-conscious or overly concerned about plastic and other waste. My eyebrows start to go up.
Ingredient quality was superb. Everything was fresh and kept well in the fridge for days. I did not cook the meals quickly after the box arrived and was concerned that things would have wilted or lost quality. Whatever suppliers Purple Carrot are using and however they're selecting produce is top-notch. The delivered ingredients included everything needed except salt, pepper, olive or vegetable oil.
Preparing each meal turned out to be quite labor intensive. For example, one meal used a lemon. First you zest it, then cut it in half, juice one half and quarter the other half. Peapods are to be thinly sliced, etc. The recipes did not explain the cooking terms used (but hey that's what the Internet is for) so I now infer that Purple Carrot is targeting people who own a lemon zester but do not own red wine vinegar (an ingredient they supply). My eyebrows continue to go up.
I would estimate meal prep time to be 20-40 minutes. Often there were multiple stages that got combined. E.G. cook the quinoa, put some ingredients (that you have prepared) into that, do a thing, then add more ingredients later. Total time from opening the plastic bag to eating food was generally an hour to an hour-and-a-quarter. So Purple Carrot are targeting people who have an hour to prepare and cook dinner but no time to shop for ingredients or who live somewhere that finding high-quality ingredients is hard. At this point my eyebrows have disappeared into my admittedly receding hairline.
I am a tolerable low-skilled amateur chef with a silly amount of accumulated tools. Each of these meals felt within my skills but used up three or four prep containers (two saucepans and a big mixing bowl plus plus). Possibly a more experienced cook would have been more efficient, I dunno. The pre-measured quantities of various items saved a small amount of time, but really not much. Measuring two teaspoons of something is quite quick compared to the amount of time to zest a whole lemon. Possibly Purple Carrot makes these choices based on how easy something is to mess up? I have to assume that anyone who owns the set of knives and cutting boards required for these recipes is going to own at least one set of measuring spoons and know how to use them.
The recipes did not seem very complex and were generally simple to read and follow, again assuming you knew the terms used or were willing to look them up. There were some pictures to help, but not step-by-step. There were just a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients to prepare and it all took time. Maybe Purple Carrot is appealing to people who find this kind of labor relaxing or meditative? A way to wind down at the end of the day. Very not-me but perhaps those people exist.
The meals ranged from tasty to OK. Sample size 3 is probably too small to determine that, and I do want to find more plant-based things to cook. Purple Carrot's recipes seem to rely on tofu, beans, and quinoa for much of their substance so those are things to look into more.
Overall an interesting experiene and a free way to learn that this is for Not Me. Honestly I'm still not sure who they are for - do you know anyone who uses a service like this?