I've ordered pre-made meals before. Having ingredients delivered doesn't make sense to me though. Enough energy to cook but not enough energy to go to the store? I'm sure there are a million excuses, but just buy some produce at the store people.
We get tired of cooking the same homemade Indian food and the same dozen dishes. We only know how to cook about two dozen dishes total. If we want to try something different, the only option is restaurants, which can be pricey when you eat out often, and also often not terribly healthy.
Blue Apron and similar products allow us to try new dishes without having to think about what to try. They allow us to try different cuisines without having to research ingredients and buy the wrong amount.
Yes meal kits are more expensive than cooking at home. But for us, they gave us often the same amount of food "newness" as a restaurant, without spending as much. That was worth it.
Space is expensive, so stores often have pretty narrow aisles in order to cram in as much as they can. You're almost always blocking people the second you stop moving for any reason.
Trader Joe's is so popular that it's not uncommon for there to be a line just to get into the store. The checkout line moves quickly, but because it's so large you'll still probably spend 20-30 minutes waiting in line to check out.
Anyway just shining a bit of light on why people might hate grocery shopping. I still think grocery delivery services make way more sense than something like Blue Apron, though.
Both myself and my partner have struggled with depression for a number of years. Cooking (and eating freshly cooked food) is one of the few things I can rely to lift my mood.
Having to work out what I want to cook on the way home, figuring out whether I have ingredients, go to a shop to obtain them if not are things I can reliably _not_ do. If I hit this point we end up eating ready meals or takeaway.
I'd be the first to admit it's an expensive service, but honestly the extra capacity I gain from using it is absolutely worthwhile.
For me, Blue Apron lowers the time commitment of cooking at home below that of “go out for a quick dinner”. At the end of a day at a desk, I enjoy doing completely brainless work with my hands for a half hour or so, but the cognitive load of figuring out what to cook is more than I care to do on a regular basis.
Also, depending on where you are, urban grocery shopping is often a terrible experience.
Families have been cooking dinners for a long time. Nothing new here.
For me, given the choice of "$30 + the time to plan meals and go shopping" vs "$60", I'll take the latter.
If I had a choice between "$80 + the time to plan meals and go shopping" vs "$160", that time is worth a lot more money.
In addition, set all of this in a New York apartment, where the ability to maintain a well-stocked pantry is limited.
I mostly use instacart, but my parents have gotten me food delivery services as gifts and it is pretty nice. The thing I find frustrating about it however are the portions.
I'm probably outside of the norm, but I don't mind eating the same thing all the time. I would love to cook a bunch all at once and eat it all week. With the portions offered, I can usually eat 2 of the meals as a single meal.