Are subscription services curing our bad food habits?
Subscription services have transformed the way we access everything from entertainment to exercise. However, it’s food packages proving to be especially popular in the modern marketplace. As of April 2018, three out of the top five subscription box retailers in the US were in the food industry, with almost 2.5 million monthly visitors between them, while approximately 93 million Americans are still interested in trying a meal kit.
Considering their considerable convenience, it’s not surprising that so many people are choosing to have their meals delivered. But as well as allowing us to remove grocery shopping from our hectic schedules, subscription services also have the potential to overhaul some of our worst dietary habits.
Subscription services are encouraging us to experiment
It can often be intimidating to delve into cooking new recipes, especially if you feel anxious about trying unfamiliar flavours. As a result, it’s tempting to stick to the same tried and tested meals, making for a very boring diet indeed.
Luckily, subscription services are helping eradicate the fear of the unknown food. However, with the help of subscription services, there’s no need to spend time researching culinary terminology or worry about getting lost in the supermarket. Instead, a selection of interesting dishes can be sent to your home without you having to lift a finger.
This is particularly useful when it comes to foods which leave you spoilt for choice. For example, there are over 1800 different types of cheese around the world, which leaves casual browsers at the cheese counter reeling from the choice. Taking out a monthly cheese subscription makes this process much easier. Boxes from companies like The Cheese Geek give you the chance to try 60 different kinds over the course of a year, and always feature a mix of classics and lesser known varieties. This means that customers get to shake up their food habits in a way which may encourage them to embrace experimental eating in the future.
We can get healthy meals delivered to our door
Think of food deliveries and you’re likely calling greasy, fatty takeaways to mind. With food subscription services, however, the millennial wellness trend is the driving force. Offering delicious, nutritional meals on a regular basis, this model has proven immensely popular. Leading meal kit provider HelloFresh had 1.84 million customers as of January 2018, holding a 33% share of America’s meal kit market.
The company only delivers fresh ingredients, allowing subscribers to create brand new recipes loaded with vegetables and healthy protein options every single week. A subscription can also be catered to your lifestyle and dietary requirements, so whether you’re a couple following the paleo diet or a vegetarian family-of-five, everyone will be able to enjoy interesting, wholesome meals.
Easy-to-follow instructions are improving our cooking skills
A recent survey revealed that 90% of Americans don’t enjoy cooking at all. Not everyone is a natural chef, however, and many of us simply can’t be bothered to put in the care and attention required to whip up a satisfying home-cooked meal. However, plenty of subscription services are aiming to increase our talent and passion in the kitchen.
Subscription service Gousto, for example, makes the process so straightforward that even the most hapless home chefs will be able to put together an impressive-looking meal. By delivering perfectly measured portions of ingredients, customers are saved the job of organizing quantities and can focus entirely on the cooking itself. And though something like cod en papillote may sound daunting and complicated to create, Gousto splits the recipe into a series of easy-to-follow instructions, with accompanying photographs.
With subscription services simplifying the art of cooking, encouraging healthy eating, and providing an interesting variety of meals and snacks for us to try, this modern way of receiving food is helping many of us enjoy our most well-rounded diets yet.