Originally Posted by JBord

It's cheaper than going to a restaurant, but you don't get the service or even cooked food. So I'm not sure there's really any comparison. A more apt comparison might be using a grocery shopping & delivery service like Instacart. The advantages vs. a shopping service seem to be 1) you also get the recipe, and 2) if you don't have any salt in your house, you only pay for a tablespoon of salt instead of the whole carton. Which, as I think about it, has to be how they make their money. They can buy items in bulk/wholesale like a restaurant, split them up, and then sell them back to you at retail.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not criticizing the business or anyone who chooses to purchase these types of kits. I'd rather see people cook than eat fast food. But the way this industry has taken off fascinates me, and this is my first real look at it. For me to subscribe to one of these services, it would have to be really unique or use really expensive ingredients that were made affordable through their process -- such as paying for a teaspoon of saffron vs. a whole tin of it, when I rarely use saffron, or half a truffle, or whatever.