Forget meals on wheels, now it’s meals in a box
Back in my university days, I lived in a co-ed residence in downtown Toronto. It quickly became apparent that many of my male roommates were very poorly prepared to live on their own. Even the basics like cooking, cleaning and laundry were totally off their radar.
One fellow in particular sticks out in my mind – Nick, who was from an Italian background. Each weekend Nick would head home where Mama would do his laundry and send him back with a weeks worth of “Mama” made home-cooked meals. Needless to say I was a bit envious, but it also left me feeling sorry for his future wife. Nick was studying to be a civil engineer, with no interest in engineering his own meals or laundry!
Fast forward 30 years (yikes) and I have two teenage sons that are capable of doing their own laundry, cleaning the bathroom (not without major complaining) and cooking a dozen or so different meals. I guess Nick left a lasting impression on me. I was not going to be raising Mama’s boys. Which is why I am both hesitant and curious about the newest trend of online ordering meal-in-a-box businesses.
Part of me feels the meal-in-a-box option is the lazy way out. Have we got to the point in our lives that we can no longer read a recipe, prepare a shopping list, shop for groceries and prepare a meal from the pantry? Now we simply use our technology to order from a menu and have a box shipped from a warehouse to our door?
Truth be told, though, the other part of me wishes something like this existed when I was on maternity leave with two young kids and couldn’t logistically get to the grocery store!
There are a multitude of reasons why someone would use a service like Chefs Plate. In fact, here is an article that touches on the supply, demand and economics side of this growing business.
For now, I think our family is going to continue with our in-house home economics lessons. Hopefully, the boys’ future wives will thank me for their ability to make them dinner.
