OFFICIAL THREAD: General Cookery and Discussion

[Lizard23]

They had sone really nice looking mushrooms at the market this morning. Thinking of making a simple mushroom ragu with white wine, thyme, rosemary to go with some homemade gnocchi. (Red sauce for the kids who are anti mushrooms). Figure it will go well with a nice glass or three if white wine.

 

[Piobaire]

Sofrito with some pork and beef I just ground.

 

[Fueco]

Cheaper (and healthier) than whatever you are getting on doordash?


If you account for food waste and shopping time, maybe it isn't terrible, especially if you would have shopped at an expensive grocery store.

but that last point works against them. People don't recognize the waste so they simply see "I could buy that at the store for half the price AND have leftovers" even if they ultimately throw away half of what they buy (especially spices, staples, sauces...if you buy a $10 bottle of seasoned rice vinegar for 1 dish and then never use it again, that's a lot of waste).

I'm a cheapass though so I cant justify it myself... Maybe if they could bring the prices and packaging down by selling it as more of a weekly meal plan rather than completely independent dishes.

We bought stuff in bulk to freeze in premeasured portions. My wife arranged the recipes in weekly plans to allow for multiple uses from like ingredients. The cost IS about half of what Hello Fresh and others charge, and it’s pretty easy.

Of course, we already had a three inch stack of recipe cards from recipes we liked.

 

[venividivicibj]

I do hello fresh when they offer the promo codes/discounts, never at full price.
Also do what @Fueco does, and keep my favorite recipes so I can re-make on my own

 

[brokencycle]

Cheaper (and healthier) than whatever you are getting on doordash?


If you account for food waste and shopping time, maybe it isn't terrible, especially if you would have shopped at an expensive grocery store.

but that last point works against them. People don't recognize the waste so they simply see "I could buy that at the store for half the price AND have leftovers" even if they ultimately throw away half of what they buy (especially spices, staples, sauces...if you buy a $10 bottle of seasoned rice vinegar for 1 dish and then never use it again, that's a lot of waste).

I'm a cheapass though so I cant justify it myself... Maybe if they could bring the prices and packaging down by selling it as more of a weekly meal plan rather than completely independent dishes.

At high end you're pushing into inexpensive restaurant territory. Certainly above fast casual places.

There is also no reason grocery stores can't reproduce this for less and some are already trying.

The only advantage I see if these places is you don't have to buy a big bottle of special sauce or vinegar or whatever and they can deliver specialty products (particularly produce) that is hard to find.

I think there is a set of people who like the easy, pre-portioned stuff; however, as they use the service more and get more comfortable cooking, they probably will branch out and not need the service.

Plus, unrelated to all that, there are a million offerings, no barriers to entry, and no switching costs for the customer.

 

[Piobaire]

Hmm. Someone give me a link where I get a free delivery service to try and I'll do the trial period.

 

[otc]

I think there is a set of people who like the easy, pre-portioned stuff; however, as they use the service more and get more comfortable cooking, they probably will branch out and not need the service.

Plus, unrelated to all that, there are a million offerings, no barriers to entry, and no switching costs for the customer.

I think I'm a pretty decent cook, but I gotta say there is something nice about choosing from a limited set of options and having the ingredients all still show up. Beats delivery food showing up cold and crushed... And I think putting together a grocery list has been the hardest part of the pandemic.

If it were perpetually $5-6 a portion, I'd probably have a standing order for 3 or so meals a week.

I wonder if any of them have figured out how to build a barrier by building up a pantry or something. Send you a bigger container of spice X and then reduce the price of future dishes based on the ingredients they know you already have. Sort of a loyalty discount that grows if you remain in their system but can be spun as a green effort to reduce waste on common ingredients.

Hmm. Someone give me a link where I get a free delivery service to try and I'll do the trial period.

Does your Ritz Amex have Amex offers? If you have the home chef or hello fresh offer, you can stack that with a promo for maximum effect. I'll check, I probably have referral codes, often they are good for at least the first order almost free.

 

[otc]

All clad seconds sale is live right now:

Home - homeandcooksales.com

All Clad, Cookware, Pots and Pans, Kitchen Electrics, Tools, Made in USA

homeandcooksales.com

No extra % off right now and I don't see any particularly crazy deals, but still not bad if there's something you need.

 

[Piobaire]

Does your Ritz Amex have Amex offers? If you have the home chef or hello fresh offer, you can stack that with a promo for maximum effect. I'll check, I probably have referral codes, often they are good for at least the first order almost free.

Ritz is through Chase and I gave up my Platinum as the Ritz card beats it in every way.

 

[brokencycle]

All clad seconds sale is live right now:

Home - homeandcooksales.com

All Clad, Cookware, Pots and Pans, Kitchen Electrics, Tools, Made in USA

homeandcooksales.com

No extra % off right now and I don't see any particularly crazy deals, but still not bad if there's something you need.

You have to watch out with the percentage off because they resist the price. I bought something from them during one sale then the next one had a higher extra % off, and the stuff I bought during the first fake would have cost me more.

 

[otc]

You have to watch out with the percentage off because they resist the price. I bought something from them during one sale then the next one had a higher extra % off, and the stuff I bought during the first fake would have cost me more.

For sure--the end price is what matters, and they seem to set these seemingly at random based on how many they have on hand (looks like they have finally burned through all of the TK line stock). Just that sometimes there is an extra code--15% off todays price because you know the code is better than 0% off because you don't.

The only thing I am really wanting for right now is the flared roaster, but I think the XL is too big and last time I checked, the rack wasn't included with the seconds....

 

[Lizard23]

Ritz is through Chase and I gave up my Platinum as the Ritz card beats it in every way.

I gave up my platinum for chase sapphire reserve for similar reasons.

Have to take a look at this ritz business, although in covid times i am guessing it makes less sense.

 

[Piobaire]

I gave up my platinum for chase sapphire reserve for similar reasons.

Have to take a look at this ritz business, although in covid times i am guessing it makes less sense.

Definitely makes less sense but I'm keeping this as it's grandfathered and I don't think they're issuing new ones with the Marriott BonVoy takeover. I've saved so much money with this card I don't think I'll ever let it go. When we stayed at the Ritz in Cancun a week's stay on the concierge floor, in an upgraded one bedroom suite, was all of 2.7k. Rack rate was nearly 10k. You also get platinum elite as long as you have the card at all Marriott properties, so swag and upgrades galore.

 

[Piobaire]

This was ******* incredible. A riff on creamed cod. I used wild caught hoki. My smashed spuds on the bottom, a nice cream sauce with dill, lemon juice and zest, topped with Parm. Baked for 15 minutes at 450 and a side of baked Brussels. Just perfect with an Aligote.

 

[brokencycle]

Definitely makes less sense but I'm keeping this as it's grandfathered and I don't think they're issuing new ones with the Marriott BonVoy takeover. I've saved so much money with this card I don't think I'll ever let it go. When we stayed at the Ritz in Cancun a week's stay on the concierge floor, in an upgraded one bedroom suite, was all of 2.7k. Rack rate was nearly 10k. You also get platinum elite as long as you have the card at all Marriott properties, so swag and upgrades galore.

You mean this one?

Cardmembers' Guide to The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card

Get the most out of The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card from Chase - earn points faster, maximize your card benefits, log into your Marriott Bonvoy account, and more.

creditcards.chase.com