​Ding, dong, dinner is here

A few weeks ago as the northeast braced for what would be a historic winter storm, news outlets positioned teams around the area at various locations to capture every possible public nuance and one provided me a great laugh. The team covering New York City located themselves outside of a Whole Foods Market in Manhattan. Now anyone who has shopped at Whole Foods knows it is not only a great store and a great company but consequently not cheap. But you do get what you pay for without a doubt. I cannot imagine how expensive one could be in high rent Manhattan, which pretty much tells you who their clientele are.

A little known fact is that when a potential weather disaster is apparent the first items to fly off the shelves are bread and milk. Nobody is really sure why, I suppose they are both comforting and reassuring. So, as the keen reporters stopped people leaving this up-scale market, they asked them really news worthy questions like “What’s in your bag? “

The best one was to a rather posh, well-heeled older lady who seemed a bit batty and extremely agitated. It might have been the stress of the situation and the impending doom as she exclaimed “They are out of organic carrots, can you believe that there are no organic carrots?” I suppose she didn’t get the memo about bread and milk. Now, if she was using one of the new home delivery dinner services available these days she might not have had to sound so panicked about not having organic carrots.

The new trend of having your weekly uncooked dinners all packed up and delivered to your door along with recipes, photos of the how the finished dish should look and instructions on how to prepare them is taking off faster than a brush fire in southern California.

There are several major players in this burgeoning industry for those either too busy to shop and cook or just dreading the thought of having to come up with tasty dishes on a nightly basis. I suspect it is a combination of the two. Even though the plans vary a little they are basically very similar. Meals, mainly dinner, with three being the norm, are packed up to serve two, four and in some cases six people.

Each meal is broken down to ingredients with are labeled and packed individually along with a recipe card. clear instructions on preparation and a photo to help in plating. All are designed around a thirty minute preparation time with an average price of $9.50 per person per meal. Taking into consideration the value of your time and the quality of ingredients it’s not a bad deal.

Probably the most impressive attribute amongst them is their commitment to using suppliers that have sustainable food customs along with a community of farmers practicing ethical environmental traditions. This is a common theme of the big four and I applaud one over the other as they put this at the forefront of their dialogue.

There are many such companies spread out across the country offering this service but some are regional, the big four deliver nationally with some isolated pockets where they don’t deliver. Fargo is teetering on the edge with some, but these four encompass the eastern portion of our state. The big four are Plated, Hello Fresh, Home Chef and Blue Apron. Each one has some little tweak like Hello Fresh has signed on mega chef Jamie Oliver, Plated is the only one offering desserts, Home Chef also offers breakfast and Blue Apron has a wine program to pair with their food. They are all good but one stands out.

The Blue Apron worn by apprentice chefs in France represents constantly learning and growing. The three year old start-up Blue Apron is just that, and is working off a solid base buying direct from farmers, using seasonal produce and all their suppliers are unique and specialized. They also have a guest chef series and of all the companies they have the best recipes and cooking instructions. Not to mention their recipes all seem to be in the 500 to 700 calorie range.

Home Chef and Hello Fresh would be close seconds with Plated a respectable third. If you don’t want to cook at all, Home Bistro offers a wide variety of seemingly high end pre-cooked, heat and serve meals.

But there is something nagging me about the whole thing. You still have to go to the grocery store for breakfast foods like coffee and snacks along with staples like soap, paper towels and all the other things we use on a daily basis. So unless you are using the shopping and deliver services provided by stores like Cash Wise for example, you still are going shopping.

So when the next impending blizzard is on the horizon, get on the phone to Cash Wise and have them send you all the bread and milk they can muster, it seems to be the trend.