Do you believe that meal-to-cook services are only for wealthy consumers? This is not entirely true.
Hello Fresh, Goodfood Market, Chef Plate, Cook It, MissFresh: ready-to-cook services would reach nearly 8.4% of Canadians according to a 2021 study by Dalhousie University (compared to 12.8% in full pandemic). We are talking regarding a market exceeding one billion dollars.
According to CPA Canada, more than 150 firms compete on the planet, for a market that will reach 8 billion US dollars in 2025.
Are these services, which have emerged in Sweden, worth it when inflation is eating into household food budgets more than ever? It depends for whom. And I’m not just talking regarding rich people.
While 15% of Quebecers live alone, 58% live with a partner and one in two couples has no children, that represents a lot of potential consumers.
Waste and lunches
Remember that the formula for this type of service is very simple: you order your meals for the next week online and they are delivered to you in a box, at the door.
You pay with your credit card according to a subscription formula. Each meal is accompanied by a recipe, whose ingredients are individually prepackaged according to the quantities required. You cook and wash the dishes.
Criticized because they generate a lot of packaging, these services nevertheless have a very ecological advantage: they make it possible to fight once morest food waste.
Consumers are responsible for 61% of this waste, which would represent 10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to various sources.
But let’s get back to the question of money: according to researchers, a meal purchased from a ready-to-cook service would cost on average double that prepared from ingredients purchased at the grocery store.
But they don’t take into account food waste losses, which cost an average of $18 per household per week, according to the University of Guelph.
Thus, a subscription to Goodfood for three recipes per week costs between $75 and $85 (without desserts). But, in my experience, nearly 90% of the time, each recipe results in an evening meal and a midday meal. So that represents between $12.50 and $14.17 per meal, for two, or $6.25 to $7 per meal per person. Without any loss.
I don’t find it exaggerated
Tips
- All services offer vegan recipes or meals that are quick and easy to prepare.
- From a nutritional point of view, the recipes are healthy: little sugar or processed foods (you salt to your taste), varieties of vegetables, dishes and influences. It is possible to “stretch the sauce” to serve more than two people per meal, but not always.
- From a budgetary point of view, these services are much less advantageous for households of more than two people, especially if the family includes heavy eaters such as teenagers.
- The best way to save on the food budget is to plan your meals according to the specials posted on grocery store flyers or to do couponing.
