Meal delivery services: What you should know 

Meal delivery services have become a popular trend in the food industry. Rather than running through a fast food joint, or slogging to the grocery store, meal delivery services bring fresh food right to your doorstep. These services equip you with a variety of ingredients throughout the week and easy instructions on how to turn those ingredients into a fresh meal.

A dietitian’s take

“I think, by and large, these services can be positive for people,” said Samantha Bulgrin, a registered dietitian at Marshfield Clinic Health System. “It provides people with a good opportunity to get a meal that they maybe wouldn’t otherwise go get the ingredients for themselves if they were doing their own grocery shopping.”

Bulgrin added that many of these services allow for personalization so people can pick the variety of meals they want. Most services will have more than one general meal option, as well as vegetarian options.

“Whatever works best for you, as long as you’re buying ingredients that will help you create healthy meals, it doesn’t matter if you go to the grocery store or have the meal delivered to your front door,” Bulgrin said. “Meal delivery services are really a nice option for busy people that may not have much time to get to the store, but still like to cook and want to create healthy, well-balanced meals.”

Shop around

One consideration Bulgrin noted was cost. Some meal delivery services are pricier than others.

“I always recommend people do their research before picking a meal delivery service. Look at cost. Look at how much you can customize your meals, especially if you are on a strict diet or have certain dietary restrictions,” Bulgrin said. “It’s also not a bad idea to try a few different delivery services and see what you like.”

The bottom line is to try to use a food service that provides ingredients from multiple food groups so you can cook a well-balanced, healthy meal.

“And because these meals are typically designed for 2-4 people, you’re generally not going to have an overabundance of food. So these services can really help you with controlling portion size,” Bulgrin said.

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