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Comment by foolfoolz | Hacker News Reader

maybe just me, I don't see meal kits going away but I think they are niche and temporary subscriptions at best. people are paying for convenience. an obligation to making a big dinner is not convenient

if they were much cheaper, and give you more choice on what says its active, and faster activation turnaround (maybe at 3pm I decide if I want the dinner kit for tonight) then it might make more sense.

I do not buy the "young people don't know how to shop and need us" argument. sounds like a forced effort to get the word millennial in your message

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>an obligation to making a big dinner is not convenient

As someone who likes to cook (and has test-driven 3 or 4 of these services), I don't see them as that at all. Blue Apron, et al are paint-by-number compared to actually cooking from a normal recipe where you have to measure and prep. I liked having them as an option, but they didn't scratch my "cooking" itch at all. They were more like a convenient way to put a decent, healthier dinner on the table in almost the same time you could do Hamburger Helper or some frozen bag meal.

There's no way I'm doing a subscription.

I'm open to trying new things, and regularly do when I'm traveling, but at the end of the day I'm a midwestern, meat and potatoes type of person.

I've yet to see one of these services that would work for me without feeling like I'm wasting my money more often than not.

I'd LOVE to have a paint-by-number, better than hamburger helper, set of options I can pick up from the grocery store on the way home. Give me a rotating choice of two or three meal kits as a regularly stocked, non-subscription item, and I'd be thrilled. I'm sure there would be some I'd really enjoy, some I'd like to try, and others I'd avoid.

Dinnerly is $6/portion and pretty basic.

I think you are the niche. my friends cancelled blue apron because the recipes were too complex, took too much time, and had too much to clean. they would rather spend the same amount of money on delivered food ready to eat and throw away the containers

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