I agree with most of the examples at the end of the post, except HelloFresh.
I'm a huge fan of HelloFresh, and I think it solves an important problem which is one of waste. Before this service, I would buy odd quantities of ingredients (especially vegetables) that would invariable go bad and get chucked in the bin. The amount of lettuce, mushrooms, avocados, etc I threw away were obscene.
With these kind of services I get a tailored amount of perishable ingredients to a specific recipe on a specific day and great deal of mental energy is saved by outsourcing meal planning to them. I don't think I've ever threw away a single food item since using them. IMO this well worth the extra money.
On the other hand, food itself is renewable. The energy embodied within it (expended in its supply chain) may not be, but neither is the energy consumed during deliveries.
It may be that throwing away a few pieces of food obtained from a highly-optimized supply chain (such as a supermarket) is still better from an environment point of view than not throwing anything away but getting your food delivered.
I'm a huge fan of HelloFresh, and I think it solves an important problem which is one of waste. Before this service, I would buy odd quantities of ingredients (especially vegetables) that would invariable go bad and get chucked in the bin. The amount of lettuce, mushrooms, avocados, etc I threw away were obscene.
With these kind of services I get a tailored amount of perishable ingredients to a specific recipe on a specific day and great deal of mental energy is saved by outsourcing meal planning to them. I don't think I've ever threw away a single food item since using them. IMO this well worth the extra money.