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Comment by notyourwork | Hacker News Reader

Because the ingredients provided are the exact amounts needed for a meal. If I was making the same meal doing my own shopping I will probably purchase slightly more than I need of some perishable ingredients. These will in a lot of kitchens end up as waste and not used in other meals.

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It's not so much that people end up with a lot more food than they need and throw it out. It's the wastage at the supermarket and elsewhere in the distribution chain. Furthermore, I suspect the meal kit companies are tending to replace takeout of various sorts and eating out more than they're replacing conventional shopping and cooking.

And there's lots of waste throughout in those cases even when it's not visible.

It's hard to quantify any of that but, plastic bags or not, I suspect Blue Apron is relatively environmentally friendly.

That's fair, but when I shop I don't buy food with just one meal in mind. Sure, at home maybe I'll have a bit less onion one day then I would prefer because I used half of it the night before, but storing excess in the fridge and buying with leftovers in mind or multi-use items (bulk bag of carrots) means I have very little excess food waste. Certainly excess food waste is far, far less than packaging material from these companies.

You are the exception though. The statistical fact is that most people are like notyourwork, myself included. I'm absolutely horrible at this. I buy a huge bag of potatoes because even if I waste half the bag (although usually I'm not that bad) it's cheaper than buying a few as needed. I want to use them all but I just don't get around to it in time.

You can bake them in the microwave and put them in the freezer until needed. There's a lot you can do with a baked potato. I like to cut those freezer pot pies with them so they're actually filling.

Why is this being downvoted? It's like almost every post here is interpreted as right/wrong in the context of The Great Argument, and as such, folks are punished for sharing in general. rainbowmverse contributed an idea I'd never thought of (being in notyourwork's camp myself), yet they are being downvoted because their post does not directly support The Most Correct Parent.

Like, can we just talk, sometimes?

And sometimes life happens and food goes bad before I have a chance to cook everything I purchased. I cook a lot so I am aware of the versatility of perishable ingredients. That doesn't change the premise of my point.

Leftovers?

One word answer's with a question mark are usually always the answer, thanks for contributing to the conversation.

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