At-home meal prep services effectively did away with night after night of plastic utensils, straws, lids, and bags from delivery and takeout, but now meal prep services like Blue Apron are preparing to get even more sustainable. 

Meal prep services save time without the waste of takeout meals or unused groceries. By providing all the necessary ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes, these services encourage customers everywhere to step up their cooking game without sacrificing convenience. Consumers enjoy the satisfaction of a healthy, home cooked meal that basically arrived on their doorsteps.

Sustainability is the name of the game with services like Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, and other favorites, especially when considering that meals arrive with exact ingredients, specific instructions, and minimal packaging. Companies use the smallest boxes possible for orders to cut down on waste and keep shipments cold with drain-safe gel packs that recycle after the water is drained.

Blue Apron announced that it will shift to using only 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable material by the end of 2025. Their competitor, Hello Fresh, already uses recycled packaging and announced that they will cut carbon dioxide emissions from its global operations by 60 percent in the next year as a part of their sustainability initiatives, according to Grocery Dive. 

This news comes at the same time as continued reports of increased plastic waste from fast food and takeout services. In 2017, the United States produced 80.1 million tons of plastic packaging waste, according to Vox. The average American is responsible for 234 pounds of plastic waste per year, but no more than nine percent of that plastic is ever recycled, the rest is left to take up space in landfills or worse, the oceans. 

Another way that at-home meal prep companies are helping the environment is through the How2Recycle labeling program, which directs consumers on the best ways to recycle purchased products. While many profess wanting to care for the environment, sometimes it’s easier to just toss items into the trash. This program makes recycling easier.

At-home meal prep services can be a refreshing and sustainable addition to anyone’s routine, swapping out both fast-food waste and plastic packaging found in a lot of grocery store products for sustainable packaging alternatives. Plus, cooking a meal at home usually comes with fewer chemical additives, hormones, sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, and calories, according to HelpGuide.org. 

At Golden Arrow, we work every day to create beautiful, durable, and sustainable packaging alternatives in an effort to make the packaging industry more sustainable.