Time may be finite, but I certainly try to bend the rules and cram as much as humanly possible 
into 24 hours. Sometimes this works, but eventually energy and motivation wane and the basics necessary for comfortable living take a hike. Namely, household tasks like laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning become exhausting propositions. Or, those tasks are impossible to do because I am at one job or another and not even available to complete them.
Some services realize that we all have a price and have been sending me coupons with gradually increasing discount amounts. This week, two services hit the sweet spot and our family will be giving them a try.
First up, Daily Harvest. This subscription service will put superfood smoothies in my freezer every week if I want. It seems like the ability to skip shipments or change what the order contains will be easy enough. I just have to set up my phone reminder to go in and make those changes prior to the next shipment date.
I love the idea of smoothies. And, when I have plenty of time, I love selecting ingredients for recipes I find on the internet and then making them each day. In reality, if I make it past the point of purchasing the ingredients, I very soon have past ripe or freezer burned fruit on my hands. It’s hard to work in variety without spending lots of money or having ingredients turn before I have used them.
On Thursday, a box will arrive with six different smoothies. I plan to keep track of my reactions to the service itself, the ease of use of the products, and the taste of each of the six smoothies I selected for this first delivery.
I decided to try this service because I want to evict poor food choices from my life. Necessity often forces my hand and I eat whatever is available because I have not planned properly, but I’m famished. Having the ability to crank up the blender for 30 seconds and whip up a smoothie from prepared cubes of frozen smoothie goodness means the potential to skip garbage and fill up with good ingredients.
The cups that are full of the frozen smoothie cubes double as the cup you drink them from and I purchased glass straws as an add-on item from Amazon so I can reduce the amount of garbage I create with my smoothies.
The second service our family will be trying is Blue Apron. I couldn’t resist the coupon that landed in my email inbox this week. We are scheduled to receive our first delivery this Friday. Our box will contain the ingredients and instructions for two meals that each serve four people. I imagine my youngest will turn up her nose most of the time, but will also be the most enthusiastic sous chef in the house.
Our family spends a king’s ransom eating out each month. The food we eat is rarely healthy. We would be hard pressed to make a meal or buy a meal out with the per person price Blue Apron offers. By having two meals arriving each week that I don’t even need to think about, we are much more likely to have a hot, balanced meal from our own kitchen on the other nights of the week. If we do this correctly, Blue Apron could end up saving us a serious amount of time and money.
When both adults are working upwards of 65 hours a week, subscription services could provide convenience, saved time, and even saved cash. I am hoping all that is true and I would LOVE to hear if you have tried these services and what they were like for you!
