Went to the grocery store and saw a whole section of 'budget meal kits' for $12 each

I was at the Kroger on Main Street yesterday, just grabbing some basics. They had a new display with these little boxes, each one supposed to be a full meal for two people. It got me thinking about how my mom used to make a huge pot of beans and rice for maybe $3 total that would last us days. These kits seem fancy, but they're still more than just buying the stuff yourself. Has anyone tried one of these, or do you stick to the old way of buying separate ingredients?

3 comments

3 Comments

leet291mo ago

It's the same thing with everything now. They take a simple idea, put it in a box with nice pictures, and charge three times what the parts cost. My grandma's soup recipe is pennies per bowl but they'd sell it as "artisanal bone broth" for eight bucks. These kits are for people who are too busy or scared to just buy an onion and a can of tomatoes. It saves time, I guess, but you lose something when food becomes just another product to unbox.

elizabethg531mo ago

Look at the ingredients list on one of those kits. It's just rice, beans, and a spice packet. You can buy a bag of rice and a bag of beans for the price of one box and eat for a week. Leet29 is right about the fancy box trick. The only thing you're buying is the idea that you can't do it yourself, and that's a waste of good money.

troyp3713d ago

Totally get where you're coming from, but you're missing the convenience factor. For a lot of people, that spice packet is the whole point, because they don't have a pantry full of random spices. @leet29 has a point about the fancy box, but sometimes the box is what gets someone to try cooking instead of ordering takeout again. It's a stepping stone, not a scam.