Meal Prep Delivery Service vs. Food Delivery Apps vs. Grocery Shopping
By Carrie Walco-Bowman
Are you wondering if meal prep delivery services are better than using food delivery apps or doing the grocery shopping, food prep, and cooking on your own? If you’re like most people, you are. Higher prices, inflation, and shrinkflation are affecting everyone these days, causing us to make hard choices when tightening our grocery, supermarket, and meal planning budgets, while still eating healthy and nutritious meals.
Thankfully, you’ve come to the right place for answers. Here you’ll find the time and food cost analysis and the research about the actual costs of food, groceries, meal prep, and food delivery services. So, now you can make an informed decision about using a budget-friendly, local meal delivery service (such as MightyMeals), grocery shopping and cooking on your own, or ordering through a meal delivery app, such as Uber Eats.
Healthy Chef-Prepared Meal Delivery vs. Food Delivery Apps
How much do food delivery app meals cost?
After taxes, discounts, delivery costs, and fees, MightyMeals comes out as the winner with an average price per meal of only $11.40, versus the average cost per meal for Uber Eats, which is $25.25 (Source: NY Times).
How long does it take to cook each meal?
With MightyMeals there is minimal cooking time to heat your meals, between 1-3 minutes, and they are ready to eat. Your meals from Uber Eats may arrive at the right temperature, or you may need to reheat them.
What is the travel time per food order?
Uber Eats and MightyMeals both deliver your meals to you, so you don’t need to use your gas and time to get them. However, Uber Eats will charge you a premium fee for delivery, fees, and, if you’re nice, you’ll probably need to tip the driver.
How much food goes to waste in restaurant meals?
Fast food and dine-in restaurants offer meals that are 15% over portioned on average (Source: Consumer Reports). Over-portioning leads to quite a lot of food waste when you throw out the rest of the meal you can’t eat. MightyMeals are perfectly proportioned so that you feel full, and satisfied, and there is zero food waste.
Does a chef prepare meals delivered by delivery apps?
If you aren’t ordering your food delivery from a higher-priced restaurant, it’s most likely fast food that a chef has not made. Chefs in our local kitchens always prepare our meals after you place your order, ensuring they are freshly made, just for you.
Has a dietitian approved every meal?
A dietitian has approved every healthy meal from MightyMeals before being added to our menu. But unfortunately, when you order from Uber Eats, the meals from restaurants are rarely approved by a dietitian.
Are the meals from restaurants healthy and nutrient dense?
You probably know that restaurant meals are rarely healthy if you read the news. However, the macros and nutrition in every MightyMeals are always balanced, consistent in every meal, and clearly labeled on the package and our site.
Freshly Made Meal Delivery Service vs. Grocery Shopping
What’s the average cost of MightyMeals versus grocery shopping?
If you were to make the same meal from MightyMeals by grocery shopping and cook it yourself from scratch with premium ingredients, it would cost you $14.47. Instead, you could save money and time by ordering it freshly made from MightyMeals at $11.40 per meal (after taxes, discounts, delivery costs, and fees).
How long does it take to cook meals and clean the dishes?
MightyMeals chef-prepared meals don’t require any cooking time, so there is zero prep and zero mess, except for reheating (1-3 minutes). On average, it will take 1 hour to prepare and cook a meal and clean the dishes afterward.
How much time does it take to grocery shop each week?
Driving back and forth to the grocery store eats up 1.5 hours of your time per week (Source: Credit Donkey), not to mention the gas costs. You save travel time with MightyMeals food delivery and gas.
How much grocery food is wasted or thrown away?
27%! That’s a lot. According to the USDA, this is the average amount of food wasted on groceries that had to be thrown away. With MightyMeals, there is zero food waste due to our perfectly-portioned meals every time.
Are your meals chef-prepared?
If you are doing the grocery shopping and cooking, probably not. Most Americans do not have a chef to prepare their meals at home. However, it’s easy to get chef-prepared meals made in our local kitchens delivered right to your home with deliveries 2-4 times a week.
Has a dietitian approved every meal?
Probably not, if you are preparing your meals yourself. If you are ordering MightyMeals you can be assured that a dietitian has approved every meal before we ever place it on our menu.
Which is healthier, healthy meal prep meals or meals I make myself?
Yes, you certainly can make healthy meals at home. You’ll need to read all the ingredients and nutrition labels on all the ingredients that go into your meals to ensure that they are healthy. However, more nutritious food items at grocery stores are usually more expensive than ordering macro-balanced meals from MightyMeals. We consistently check and balance all the macronutrients and nutrition facts on our meals to ensure they are the healthiest they can be. Learn more about how MightyMeals became the best premade local meal delivery service in the DMV and what makes our freshly made meals healthier and more flavorful on our blogs:
Sous Vide: How MightyMeals Cooks Food Perfectly with More Flavor, Nutrients, Quality, & Taste