Anyone Subscribe to My Food Bag?

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sonyxperiageek

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#198697 19-Jul-2016 14:22

Just wondering if any Geeks here subscribe to My Food Bag? Is it worth it in terms of meals provided? I had a look at their site and it seems very convenient to have quality supermarket food delivered straight to your door with recipes included, but are the portions decent?

Sony

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#1595057 19-Jul-2016 14:31

I have done a couple of times for a few weeks at a time.

The costs are definitely more than going to the markets and buying things yourself, but the cost of my time to do this, and then think of quick-ish recipes, outweighed this for the time I used it.

We had the gourmet bag first, and found much of the ingredients were things we would never buy, and had excess of after the recipes were completed so could use this in other meals. We also then had the recipes so have been able to re-create the meals at later dates. This was in the infancy of the system though, so they may have changed how much excess ingredients there are.

We've more recently used the family bag for meals when we were moving house. It made life just a little bit simpler by not having to worry about shopping, and we knew the meals would be OK. We did find a fair bit of repetition in the week to week recipes provided (meatballs, fish, vege, salad, pork/beef, lots of courgettes and carrots grated up, cabbage etc etc). I suspect this is mostly just due to seasonal availability, but we got tired of the same things each week so stopped the repeat order.

I think there is a very real value in the system, and will likely use it again, and gift it again too. But for the time being, the recipes we got from the last time we used it are enough to supplement our go-to recipes.

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Sideface

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#1595064 19-Jul-2016 14:41

My wife and I tried the "for two" foodbag for three months, and then cancelled.

PLUS: nicely presented, convenient, generous servings, good variety

MINUS: expensive, a lot of waste, many recipes are far too complicated for just two people, we disliked about one recipe in four

The straw that broke the camel's back was missing (but listed) ingredients for several weeks in a row - so we cancelled.

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jonathan18

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#1595068 19-Jul-2016 14:42

I was talking to friends in the weekend about this; they've been using it for a few weeks. One comment they made was that portion sizes weren't always consistent, with some meals being just enough for two (they have the vegetarian service that's designed for two) while other meals providing excess. The did say there were always an overly generous supply of the extras like herbs and spices. Overall happy with the meals.

Another friend has used it constantly for two-three years, and swears by it; I think she gets the family pack, given it feeds their family of four. Apparently been great for encouraging their young kids to eat a wider selection of food.

Both sets of friends make use of the provided recipes to re-make their favourites (noting they don't supply seven meals!).

I recall reading a review of the new, more basic offering from the same company - this offers more traditional (but affordable) meals.

I'd certainly give it a go if I had the spare cash...

kobiak

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#1595077 19-Jul-2016 15:00

We subscribed to bargain bag over the weekend. First delivery scheduled this coming sunday. I found mixed reviews for original "food bag" on the webs/from friends, some people loved it, some just did not because of completely different meals to what they would normally eat (I fear I will be in that category. I don't eat Chinese, or lots of veges, food for me has to be simple and delicious. Steak 3 nights a week - easy :)).

helping others at evgenyk.nz

jonathan18

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#1595084 19-Jul-2016 15:09

kobiak:

We subscribed to bargain bag over the weekend. First delivery scheduled this coming sunday. I found mixed reviews for original "food bag" on the webs/from friends, some people loved it, some just did not because of completely different meals to what they would normally eat (I fear I will be in that category. I don't eat Chinese, or lots of veges, food for me has to be simple and delicious. Steak 3 nights a week - easy :)).

Yeah, given your preference for more "normal" good, Bargain Box may be more suitable, whereas it's the exposure to new ingredients and dishes in the My Food Bag options - without the hassle of having to think of it or buy the ingredients - that appeals to me. If only my kids were as interested in a varied cuisine!

Here's the article/"review" of Bargain Box I found on that most august of websites: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/81855453/Does-cheap-n-choice-new-meal-delivery-service-live-up-to-the-hype

dejadeadnz

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#1595092 19-Jul-2016 15:15

My wife and I are both ectomorphs who nonetheless hit the gym a lot and have pretty massive appetites. We subscribed to their most expensive option for a while and whilst the ingredients were good and the price not expensive compared to buying our own stuff (I do most of our shopping as I work from home mainly and I avoid places like Pak N Save), the portion sizes can be inconsistent and we often didn't feel full. We eat reasonably simply and prefer lots of lean protein and veges of different colours. Ultimately, MFB couldn't really meet our needs.

Disrespective

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#1595097 19-Jul-2016 15:22

My wife and I eat very varied meals and will rarely have the same meal twice in a fortnight (let alone week) so enjoyed the variation to begin with, but as mentioned above, we found the recipes repetitive after two weeks.

Expect a fair bit of vegetables as they're cheaper than meats... I also agree with the notes above about portion size being inconsistent. Several meals included salads which were outrageously large (and I suspect only this way to use up the ingredients because if they supplied the right amount in the bags you'd feel a little hard done by).

myopinion

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#1595099 19-Jul-2016 15:23

Too much cabbage and salad but otherwise really good.

Jaxson

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#1595107 19-Jul-2016 15:44

Timely, we received our first family bag this weekend and had the first meal last night.

Enough for 4 full meals and we enjoyed the experience.

I think that's the core of it really. The ingredients were really good, and the recipe was ok. The price is expensive, but you're paying for the experience, and the convenience. I think if you can get your head around that then it will be enjoyable, maybe as a one off.

It's very easy to pull it apart price wise etc, but I don't think that's the full story. I think it would be fun if you lived in an apartment, in a city and didn't use the car often etc.

Countdown delivers now, so if you want to take more control and think long term about bulk purchases etc, then you could easily do better. But that's your call.

mattwnz

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#1595111 19-Jul-2016 15:51

It does seem expensive for what you get, especially as you are doig the cooking too. So you also have to add your time, plus power needed to cook it. But I think if you did live in an apartment as a couple, without a car, it would probably work out quite affordable. I think supermarkets are going to likely do something similar, as they are now really getting into the home delivery service. Also it allows them to add on extra value easily.

How does it handle meat and keeping it cold? Also how much packing waste does it create as I presume there is a lot of polystyrene insulation needed for the perishables?

myopinion

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#1595114 19-Jul-2016 15:54

mattwnz:

It does seem expensive for what you get, especially as you are doig the cooking too. So you also have to add your time, plus power needed to cook it. But I think if you did live in an apartment as a couple, without a car, it would probably work out quite affordable. I think supermarkets are going to likely do something similar, as they are now really getting into the home delivery service. Also it allows them to add on extra value easily.

How does it handle meat and keeping it cold? Also how much packing waste does it create as I presume there is a lot of polystyrene insulation needed for the perishables?

Its all about convenience and not having to plan the meals for the week for us, with 3 kids to feed.

The meat/perishables come in a insulated box with a cooler pad. Both get picked up for re-using when you get your next delivery. That's it no packaging waste other than normal.

ToPGuNZ

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#1595116 19-Jul-2016 15:56

We (family with 2 kids under 13) have been using My Food Bag almost since inception and I only like a few vegetables. We have tired the Classic, Family and now Bargain Box. We have also used the Fruit box which is an additional option.

My opinion is that it is great. The quality of product (much better than the supermarkets I visit) and the introduction to new produce and meals is worth the negatives. Most of the veges are used within the meal so can make it easier to eat. The hardest things would be the amount of veges and salad which can be very hard to get through and very hard to get the kids to eat. There is also loads of kumara and pumpkin (which I love but the rest of my family do not). The classic and family offer up some options that the kids just do not touch so can be hard unless the kids eat a wide range of food. Salmon on couscous with a coleslaw is a hard sell to the kids no matter what the quality is like. The benefit is there can be leftovers, we have tried all sorts of new things, have much more fish than we have every had, the recipes can be used again and I am not bad at cutting up loads of veges now. The bargain box is simpler but does increase the carbo load while decreasing the veges. I found the fruit box excellent with very high quality fruit. I did a price comparison early on and found we did not spend more on a weekly basis.

We get it every two weeks which helps with having things repeat to much but I much prefer this than opening a pre packaged, frozen or basic prepared meal any day. You can also place it on hold and they have amazing service. Highly recommend at least trying it so see if it suits as you can cancel easily. We must be into our third year now and we have only have a couple of times when something is missing and that would usually be a vegetable and they provided a refund immediately.

myopinion

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#1595120 19-Jul-2016 16:00

As above, the quality is generally very good, especially the meat in our experience (much much better than supermarket stuff). We also use the once every two weeks delivery service so we can still cook our own favourites.

sonyxperiageek

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#1595139 19-Jul-2016 16:54

Thanks for the responses guys! Think I may have to give it a go sometime soon, even if it's just for a week!

Sony

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#1595165 19-Jul-2016 17:24

If you're not a foodie its worth giving it a go for a few weeks just for trying new recipies. We've switched to bargain box which works for us as the food is more kid friendly as prep time seems less.

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