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Comment by jraines | Hacker News Reader

As someone who doesn't care too much about the health aspect (if it was all greasy blobs, I'd care) of it -- just taste and convenience, with some price sensitivity -- I'm a fan of Blue Apron.

It seems like the quality has gone up, too. Our last several boxes have been all hits, no misses, where 18 months ago there's always be at least one miss.

That said, we're slowly building a repertoire from our favorites, and with that knowledge combined with which "special" or "rare"* ingredients can be reused/replaced, we'll probably eventually stop using the service. But that date gets pushed into the future more to the extent they keep quality high.

*I know they're not "rare" to foodies, but we're pretty basic grocery shoppers.

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It seems like I'm getting sweet potatoes every other meal. My wife and I aren't big fans of sweet potato but I don't think there's a way to tell Blue Apron not to send them to me. I just throw them away and buy my own regular potatoes to supplement.

> I just throw them away and buy my own regular potatoes to supplement.

Please don't do this if you can avoid it. I used to do the same (not with Blue Apron admittedly, but food in general) until I volunteered at our local food shelter one day and saw how they survived on donations some of which were surprisingly small. Often those small donations would be turned into snacks that people could take with them for sustenance throughout the night. They would never turn down healthy, nutritious food that wasn't spoiled. I realize it can be a PITA and there may not be a shelter near you, but if it's possible please consider it as an alternative to throwing good food away especially something that stores pretty well.

I've worked with the homeless and I grew up on WIC and welfare and relied on the kindness of strangers so I understand the plight, but I'm not driving 15 miles into the city and paying for parking to donate one sweet potato every couple of weeks. They'd be better served with a $5 check.

> It seems like I'm getting sweet potatoes every other meal.

> ... one sweet potato every couple of weeks.

Which is it?

I'm with you there. I hate sweet potatoes and would expect to be able to block certain sides from being in my orders.

I have the same issue with Kale. I don't mind it, but I wish they would occasionally use arugula/romaine/butter lettuce/etc for leafy greens, and it leaves me with the impression they're opting for higher margins rather than quality recipes.

Throwing away perfectly good food, hand-delivered at a premium because of a preference, has to rank among the peaks of American excess. Après nous, le déluge.

Exactly, which is why I'm complaining that Blue Apron won't stop sending them to me. I don't want to throw food away, especially food I paid a good amount of money for. That's one reason why I'm not a Blue Apron subscriber anymore. I didn't ask them to send me food I don't like.

I fail to see what "Après nous, le déluge" has to do with the rest of your statement. I think you're misusing the quotation.

We have to be really doubling down on the irony if we don't understand the relevance of a quotation for "I don't care what happens after I'm dead" in this case.

I think I agree with your general sentiment, but can you explain what you mean more precisely? It seems you're trying to tie together food waste, economic privilege, and global warming.

Yeah, that's about it. A massive spike in food insecurity for wide swathes of the world is almost a guaranteed outcome of our current climate trajectory. Talking about needlessly disposing of overly packaged, hand-delivered food just struck me as...well, you read the quotation.

http://wfp.org/climate-change/climate-impacts

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