Americans spend $237 a month eating out and on food delivery from restaurants on average, as well as waste an average of $125 a month on groceries that are not completely used, according to CNET.
Meal kits that have proliferated since skyrocketing to popularity after the pandemic are designed, in part, to fill that gap. But, a CNET editor said they have several shortcomings.
The churn rate is high for many meal kit delivery companies, with as high as 50% of customers canceling their subscription after a few months.
鈥淲hen we start thinking about subscriptions, for a lot of people, that鈥檚 another bill. Let鈥檚 say you鈥檙e not happy with the meals. Let鈥檚 say that you don鈥檛 want as many from week to week, of course you can cancel, but those can come with restrictions,鈥� said Dashia Milden, consumer insights editor at CNET.
HelloFresh, she said, has the model right. It does not charge a subscription, but lets customers place orders for however many meals they want on a weekly basis, and charges for delivery.
With those prices and often delivery commitments, introducing meal kits into your household requires some math.
鈥淚 would not say get a meal kit for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I would say think about the times that you think that you really need to have a meal handy, and see what that math looks like. Is it cheaper than DoorDash or Uber Eats? Is it more of a time saver than other things that you are doing?鈥� Milden said.
She said another area for improvement is customization and flexibility. Menus can become repetitive, and more companies should provide choices based on individual nutritional and dietary needs.
Meal kits may not always be as easy to prepare and as healthy as they look either.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e cooking and how we鈥檙e cooking it. Even just the temperatures in mind is another thing. Overcooking or undercooking is another. If you are looking into a meal kit, my recommendation is to treat it just like you would if you were creating a meal from scratch or going to the grocery store. Really looking at that sodium intake and some of those nutritional facts.鈥�
The meal kit business is fragmented.
CNET said HelloFresh is the sales leader in the U.S., but that it only accounts for about 10% of total sales. Despite room for improvement, meal delivery kits remain a consumer force.
Sales in the U.S. are expected to top $6 billion in 2025.
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