Some of you may have seen my recent review of the meal delivery service Blue Apron recently. I was excited to try out Blue Apron but concluded that it was not for our family. You will recall that I said that Blue Apron simply wasn’t how I cook. The meal took too long to make, there were no leftovers and it required a lot of cleanup. Well, I recently had an opportunity to try out ScratchDC, which is another meal delivery service (but local to the DC area), and I was interested to see how they compared. Read on for my ScratchDC review. note: I received a ScratchDC meal free of charge from a blogger event I attended recently. I was not asked specifically to blog about my experience but wanted to share my thoughts particularly since I wasn’t that impressed with Blue Apron. All thoughts and opinions are mine.
ScratchDC works with locally sourced ingredients to prep delicous meals that are then delivered to your home or office. So, what makes Scratch different than Blue Apron? Here are a few ways:
- ScratchDC lets you choose each and every meal you want. I was thrilled that ScratchDC works with the customer going to the website and specifically choosing a meal they want. No dealing with something that someone in your house won’t eat – you are picking the meal yourself. This was really great and not an option with Blue Apron (I have heard that you can choose what you’d like with Blue Apron after your first order, but I wasn’t able to choose a meal so I can’t confirm that).
- Same day delivery, y’all. Yes! I ordered our meal – chicken caprese with asparagus at 11am Monday morning. It was on my doorstep at 3:45pm that same day. AND they texted me to let me know it was coming and to confirm that it had been delivered. That I really appreciated!
- Local food. In the box was fun instructions AND a list of where all the food was from. As we are trying very hard to eat local as much as we can, I really appreciated this info.
- On time delivery. I mentioned delivery above, but our Blue Apron meal was delivered after 9pm – I found that to be ridiculous. Having ScratchDC deliver, ya know, before dinnertime was kinda amazing.
- Simple preparation. My main gripe with Blue Apron was it just took too dang long to make the meal. Each time I made a Blue Apron meal, I was cooking/prepping/chopping for around 45 minutes. Ain’t nobody got time for that. With our ScratchDC meal, dinner was on the table in less than 20 minutes. That’s what I’m talking about, y’all.
- Free dessert! With every ScratchDC meal, you get two little balls of cookie dough! Total win. I of course, didn’t cook ours and also didn’t tell K about them. #Sorrynotsorry. Some things are just for the lady of the house. 🙂
ScratchDC really wowed me. After I posted about Blue Apron, a couple folks shared a few horror stories about wrong orders, orders that just didn’t come and the like. I’m really glad that I tried ScratchDC and while it is more expensive than Blue Apron (our meal retails for $28), it’s a service that fits into my life much better and I’m pretty sure I’ll be ordering the Hoisin Glazed Salmon in a couple of weeks because it just looks amazing. I mean, look at the ingredients. It’s like all my favorite things. Yes, please.
If you are in the DC area and eager to try ScratchDC, use promo code EATPRAYRUNDC for $15 off your order. I really hope you’ll be as pleased with it as I was! This isn’t something we’ll do all the time but in a pinch or for a special night, we will absolutely use ScratchDC again!
What do you think? Are the perks of ScratchDC worth the cost?
Interesting! I’ve not heard of this company before. It’s great that they deliver so quickly. I am not sure if it’s worth $28 or not. If you go to the store and buy proteins and all the sides it could be the same price.
Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner recently posted…Spicy Summer Gazpacho-Meatless Monday
Sure, it is definitely more expensive. But for a special night or when you’re in a pinch, it’s awesome!
Hi Deborah!
My name is Kathleen and I am part of the scratchDC team :). We actually test out this theory out on a regular basis, and you will find that we are often cheaper than going to the grocery store (while also taking care of the shopping and all the prep work). One of the many great things about our product is that you aren’t having to buy more than you need for the recipe and eliminate wasting any food. Our bundles feed two adults generously and you will also often find that you have left overs. I encourage you to use the $15 off promo code that Courtney has set up for you and to give us a try! We would love to hear what you think 🙂
Have a great day and thank you for your interest!
Best,
Kathleen
I almost signed up for Blue Apron last week but I didn’t like that you had no idea what meals you would get… and that each one took about 40 minutes to make. I’ll have to take a look at ScratchDC 🙂 It sounds more my style!
Amanda Brooks recently posted…MUST HAVES | My pool bag is ready for summer!
Yeah those were big issues of mine with Blue Apron too!
Even though I know these services are more expensive than just buying the food itself, I LOVE that I can have ZERO wasted food without a lot of meal planning (though I know you LOVE some meal planning 🙂 ). We do Hello Fresh on short weeks (like when we are going away, or know we are eating out all weekend, etc) or weeks that I am out of town (as my husband could not make a meal out of a bun, a hamburger, and some sliced tomatoes if his life depended on it). I am excited to try this one!
Chrissy @ Cooking Up Kefi recently posted…Easy Kale Cabbage Salad
It’s really fantastic. Yes, more expensive but nice for a once or twice a month treat!
Can’t wait to hear what you think, Chrissy! My name is Kathleen and I am the Director or Sales & Marketing with scratchDC. As I stated in my post above, you will actually find that a lot of the times our bundles are cheaper than going to the grocery store, because you aren’t having to buy more than you need. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at anytime 🙂
Thanks for your interest and have a fantastic day!
So I’ve never heard of this! Love the concept, but the pricetag turns me away. If only money grew on trees 😉
Try it with the discount!
Hey — gave the promo code a try, but it didn’t want to take. :/ Did it expire already?
No, it didn’t expire – let me check!
Sounds like a great option to get local food. If only I lived in DC, I would totally try out something like this.
Fiona @ Get Fit Fiona recently posted…Planting the Garden
I really loved it! Maybe there is something similar in your area?
Oh, it’s great to hear about a more locally focused option. Now, if someone could just finish my work so I could be home for dinner …
Coco recently posted…Coping With A Running Injury
haha, I think those people are called associates? 🙂