For two months I tested 3 different home delivered services: 1) Green Chef 2)Hello Fresh 3) Blue Apron.

They all basically offer plans of 6 or 8 “meals” a week. I put quotes around meals because they call them recipes, such as 3 recipes, that will serve 6 meals. They are all sent to arrive fresh, with protein frozen, and ready to cook.

The trial period of one week is fairly inexpensive if you have 6 meals for $5 each but then they almost triple in price.

The portions might be enough for thin people and/or people who want to lose weight but, for me, most cases I had to make each recipe for 1 dinner or add, in some cases, a 10 ounce jar of mushrooms, sometimes a half of a baked potato or something to give it substance. For each meal I would add a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and light dressing plus a 10-12 ounce defrosted package of fresh fruit.

I had 12 recipes which were suppose to make 24 meals but I had approximately 14-16 meals from those 12 recipes. The protein portions may be what is recommended these days like a steak being the size of your palm but that doesn’t work for me.

The recipes were all tasty but I saved a lot of time combining or skipping a lot of cooking steps they suggested while also substituting some items. I do suggest being careful with some of the spices and condiments if you are unfamiliar with or haven’t cooked with them before.

You have to careful with changing orders, skipping a week or two or canceling deliveries because you are given little leeway time wise to do either without being charged. There are no contracts with the companies so you can stop getting orders whenever you want.

Refreshingly the representatives with all 3 companies are easy to contact and talk to.

The main reasons I will not continue with any of the plans are that ‘one dinner’ is too small for me and it can cost $10 or more, plus shipping charges, for one dinner before any additions.

I, also, tested 2 items, SMARTMADE and Smart Ones. The latter frozen meals were started by/for Weight Watchers as part of their program in the 1980s if I remember correctly and are, now, really a waste of time.

SMARTMADE is the best of all I tasted, as fresh looking and tasting as the home delivered meal, filled up a plate nicely, had enough varieties, were certainly easier to prepare and, in the long run, were less expensive. I may not have them too often but will certainly buy them once in awhile and at $3.99 or less they are a good deal.

And now back to my way!!