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Gobble Promises to Help Customers Make Delicious Meals in 10 Minutes or Less

61 points by yurisagalov 12y ago

chaostheory 12y ago
What's interesting is that I think Amazon Fresh does this as well.
droob 12y ago
Do you love packaging? Do you hate the two minutes it takes to cut things more than you like your money?
charlie_vill 12y ago
Read this and reminded me of Michal's Medium post- https://medium.com/@michalbohanes/seven-lessons-i-learned-from-the-failure-of-my-first-startup-dinnr-c166d1cfb8b8 https://medium.com/@michalbohanes/seven-lessons-i-learned-fr...
- personZ 12y ago
  Fantastic read. Thank you.
Someone1234 12y ago
> It costs $11.95 per person per meal So if you liken it to getting take-out, that isn't that crazy, maybe a little high. They also seem to have a lot of variety, and might help people segway into doing their own cooking. I can see the value in it. If you compare it to buying the raw ingredients yourself and then cooking them, yes, it is expensive. If you compare it to take-out (which is a convenience commodity, like this) it is within the ballpark (depends which takeout). Also locally to me there isn't much selection of healthy take-out. I mean if you want a burger then you have tons of selection. You might even be able to find a solid salad. But beyond that? Meh.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  Most places I get takeout are just normal sit down places, not labeled as takeout joints.
mikeryan 12y ago
On first scan I read that as Google instead of Gobble and though WTF Google?!? anyway. carry on.
dominotw 12y ago
I tried plated for a while. It was super expensive and came with insane amount of packaging. Like 1 onion was carefully packed in 5 layers of packaging. It was just absurd and silly.
- idlewords 12y ago
  My favorite was a Blue Apron recipe that called for a "farm fresh egg", which came in a cardboard box, which had a plastic egg tray inside, with a single (cracked) egg in it. I'm fine having sorrel or scallops pre-packaged for me, but getting a triple-boxed egg or an onion wrapped in bubble tape just felt sad.
  - dllthomas 12y ago
    It seems like ideally you could link up your pantry management app (and your menu planning, to know what's spoken for) and they could just send you the difference.
    - idlewords 12y ago
      I'd be happier with the low-tech solution of assuming you're not some feral monster who doesn't have eggs or flour in the house. Oddly, the one thing they don't provide for you is cooking oil. Who are these high-income loners living in a bare apartment with just a single bottle of olive oil?
      - dllthomas 12y ago
        You've never run out of eggs? Certainly I'd be happy enough with that approach, but not happier I think. Particularly if the pantry management stuff itself provided value.
        tptacek 12y ago
        If you acquire eggs for your cooking by waiting for them to arrive individually wrapped in recipe kits, you're basically always out of eggs. Just keep a dozen eggs in your fridge all the time.
idlewords 12y ago
My experience in trying Blue Apron (a sous-chef simulator): * extravagant, simply incredible amounts of packaging. There was easily a 4:1 ratio of packaging to food. I had to stop using the service out of packaging shame * The produce was often not that good because it needs to withstand transport and storage. The tomatoes were faint pink and could have probably made it through a baseball game without a lot of damage * It made me try recipes and ingredients that I wasn't used to, which I enjoyed. I feel like it's a kind of Guitar Hero for cooking. My understanding is that Gobble is taking this stuff one step further, by doing the prep work. I'll be interested to see how they address the problem of having stuff be freshly prepared and transportable/storable at the same time. This stuff gets marketed at beginning cooks, which seems unwise. If you're just getting started, fancy restaurant meals are not the way to go. Make an omelette or two.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  Omelets are actually hard for a non experienced cook since it is SOOOO easy to overcook eggs and omelets specifically require a bit of intuition (at least for me).
  - idlewords 12y ago
    Yeah! I meant that it's a great thing to practice on because the difference between a good omelette and a bad one is so vast, starting with the same exact ingredients. And eggs are cheap to practice on. Most of cooking is about mastering a few fundamental skills and developing a feel for how food reacts to heat. Better to ruin your first dozen omelettes (and similar simple dishes) and build up your base of experience than try to autotune your way through these elaborate dinners.
    - UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
      Great point! Didn't think of it from that angle!! However - I don't think these services are trying to teach you how to cook any more than boxed mac and cheese is. They are for the "I want to have a home cooked meal but I don't want to make it." types. Speaking of eggs, I didn't know what I was doing wrong with them for a long time, they weren't bad by any means, just everyone else did them better. Then I was having a conversation with my mom about how she makes better eggs than me. She told me "eggs are done before they are done." Now I cook eggs like a champ.
Karunamon 12y ago
Am I the only one who finds it deceptive when companies offer something for "free" with a shipping charge attached? Free means $0, not $0 + $n.
- tehwebguy 12y ago
  I didn't see anything about shipping or free in that article
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    The comments section in the article has a rep from the company handing out a promo link.
cbhl 12y ago
The one thing that drives me nuts about these kits is that they're all designed for two people or more. I live alone. Am I forever destined to eat TV dinners to feed myself? Am I supposed to eat out, because it's cheaper than mailing the box? :/
- bitJericho 12y ago
  There's all kinds of things you can make for one... I make one person meals all the time, or two person meals and save the other half for lunch the next day. Hell I'll make 5 person meals like a pan of lasagna and eat that for the next 3-4 days. You usually wanna toss leftovers past the 3 day mark. My meals even where there's excess that's tossed cost generally 1-3 dollars per sitting. 12 dollar meals is completely absurd.
- idlewords 12y ago
  Learn to cook! You'll be glad you did.
- GrinningFool 12y ago
  The amount of variety possible with nothing more than pasta, simply cooked meat or fish, and fresh vegetables is truly impressive.
- tptacek 12y ago
  Buy deli cups, make braise dishes, deli cup the leftovers, have amazing lunches for a week. You can vary the carb and veg with each serving and get a variety of different meals out of a single low-effort evening at the oven: over pasta, as a sandwich, in an omelet, as a potato hash, saucing chicken breasts. A great thing about braises is that they're bulletproof. Almost the only thing you can do to mess them up is to pull them too early. 4-6 hours in a slow oven. Done when you bother to check and the meat pulls easily with a fork. We do carbonnade overnight. No knife skills required. ... not that I'm recommending the kit. Don't do that, if only because it'll drive you to try to cook fussy stuff.
- taude 12y ago
  When cooking for one, I used to cook a couple nights/week the staples, and then reheat them. For example, I'd make a cous-cous salad thing on Sunday night, then pair it with a fresh cooked fish or chicken on Monday/Tuesday, maybe swap out the veggie (usually something steamed). That way, I only cooked the really quick/easy things on a given night. On wed, I'd cook a fancy rice dish that would end up making it into lunch for Thursday/Friday. It's all about a little planning and getting into the habit. I found that while cooking, I could watch some tv shows, or listen to some pod casts, etc...
drcode 12y ago
It seems like a much better idea for 99% of people is: 1. Learn three or four fast single-pan recipes so that you can do them without this hand-holding. 2. Eat more things out of cans, for days you want variety beyond your standard pan dishes- Just because it's in a can does NOT mean it's unhealthy, if you choose the right cans. 3. Take the money you saved in steps #1 and #2 and use it to eat meals prepared by a real chef in a real restaurant, with real fresh ingredients.
- tehwebguy 12y ago
  My guess is that most people that would try this have fallen into believing that they simply can't cook, and that eventually they will realize that they don't need a service for them to make the same meals at home.
- buckbova 12y ago
  > Eat more things out of cans Most things that come out of cans, taste like the can they were in. Canned vegetables are terrible. I'd go frozen prepared veg over canned.
- jimmaswell 12y ago
  For cans, how do you feel about the BPA concern
  - roywiggins 12y ago
    Some fancier canned food now has "BPA free!" labels if you're worried about it. http://bpafreecannedfood.wordpress.com/bpa-free-canned-food-brands/ http://bpafreecannedfood.wordpress.com/bpa-free-canned-food-...
bambax 12y ago
I don't quite get the point of all these services; one of the joys of cooking is shopping for fresh ingredients, choosing them, prepping them. Putting pre-cut ingredients in a pan for a specified amount of time is not "cooking". You can get pretty good / excellent meals that have been separately cooked sous-vide in a factory, that you simply reheat in a microwave -- they're much faster, much cheaper, probably better tasting than these pretend-cook meals (and just as healthy).
- cylinder 12y ago
  So basically this is a takeaway restaurant where you just heat the food yourself. Give me a break, people. You are not busy, you are just wasting your time being distracted by your phone! It's about priorities.
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    Businesses everywhere would pay for your telepathic abilities to know what people you've never met are using their time on ;)
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  These kinds of services kinda make me think of "TV Dinner 2.0." Same exact concept but trying to class it up and make it more acceptable. For me the "annoying" part of cooking is actually the mess I make that I have to clean up afterwards. Not even spills, just dirty pans/knives/cutting boards. Of course I usually end up with a little bit of spill anyways, I'm messier in the kitchen than most others. If I was going to spend $12/person a meal I would get delivery or takeout especially since I would have to clean the counters and do dishes afterwards. And.... the plastic!
- realusername 12y ago
  Yeah, I was wondering the same thing, why not just order a takeaway from the restaurant instead if you just don't want to cook, it's almost the same price and it's also pre-cooked.
- personZ 12y ago
edmack 12y ago
We tried the Shitake Miso meal last night, it was tasty and fun to make. We work long hours, so it was a nice treat to cook without the time sink of shopping and prepping.
- ooshma 12y ago
  I made that meal myself last night! It's one of my personal favorites. It's good to hear you found the recipe fun and quick. If you have any other questions or suggestions for me personally, don't hesitate to reach out at ooshma@gobble.com. Perhaps a favorite dish that you want to see on the menu soon? :)
palidanx 12y ago
I wonder if it is better for these food start-ups to perhaps sell a food starter package? Something like all of the woks, knives, and small amounts of spices you would need for all recipes. But then, I'm not sure exactly how they would make money after that.
- ooshma 12y ago
  Great idea -- We're actually making a few starter kits: one of basic cooking equipment and one of spices for our customers. You can either buy or "earn" the kits as you go along with Gobble. It's exciting to see kitchen-averse folks take an interest in basic cooking and help everyone get up and running.
- bluedino 12y ago
  Check out the 'minimum viable kitchen' http://priceonomics.com/cookware/ http://priceonomics.com/cookware/
  - UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
    Really? That is a useless (to me) article that contains a whole bunch of expensive stuff you don't need. Your kitchen isn't my kitchen. The stuff I find important for my needs isn't the stuff you find important for your needs. No, you don't have to spend almost $30 on a damn strainer! I'm a big fan of only buying the stuff you actually need when you need it, not the stuff you might need in the future because someone else told you you need it. If you find yourself needing a blender, buy one. If you find the food you like to cook doesn't require one, don't buy one. This guy says get a stand mixer and not a slow cooker! WHOA THERE! I use a slow cooker all the time and never once in my life did I think about getting a stand mixer. The other thing is I (and probably 90% of everyone else I know) don't have room for a stand mixer. I don't even know a single person who has one due to their bulkiness and expense. And a kitchen scale because "Professional chefs measure many things by weight rather than volume since ingredient density can vary?" Um, well I mostly guesstimate my ingredients and my food tastes just as good. I even guesstimate some things when baking which people say will RUIN YOUR CAKE but I never had a problem with it. I also have never used a wooden spoon in my kitchen.
sboak 12y ago
My experience with Gobble went as follows: I was going to do their trial but bailed before completing checkout because their terms automatically subscribe you for weekly meals. I got a call a few days later saying that I was being sent the meals anyway and that, also, they weren't sure which meals I was supposed to be sent so they might be wrong. No offer to refund my money. They said the meals would be arriving the next day. It's now over a week later and I never received the incorrect meals that I never actually ordered but was charged for. I emailed customer service again about this and haven't heard back. Caveat emptor.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  Before completing checkout? So they billed your credit card without permission? That's pretty damn bad... Like maybe credit card fraud bad.
  - sboak 12y ago
    Good point. I didn't really think about how that charge went through without finishing checkout.
  - enraged_camel 12y ago
    I'm not a lawyer, but doesn't fraud imply intent? In this case, it sounds like an accident (caused by a bug). Still serious of course but based on ooshma's post above it has already been addressed.
    - UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
      Which is why I said maybe. I haven't dove down into fraud statutes too much but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that when someone takes payment they have a legal obligation to verify the credit card holder actually authorized the payment they collect. At the very least Visa,etc,'s lawyers will care. There are also a whole bunch of other statutes that can apply too.
- timcederman 12y ago
  I've heard similar billing/delivery weirdness from folks using Gobble.
pbreit 12y ago
Sort of a neat service but at $12/meal, a bit on the high side. And amazingly inefficient with respect to packaging & delivery. It seems that what people might want are 1) simple guide to what basics I should have in the kitchen (spices, oils, etc) and 2) simple recipes where I buy the chicken/fish/veggies fresh. Probably not a fundable idea and likely already exists (although I haven't quite seen it).
- dreamweapon 12y ago
  Exactly: "Teach a man to fish," etc.
- techbubble 12y ago
  My wife's fledgling startup does something like this -- she makes meal kits with all dry ingredients and instructions that are designed to encourage experimentation with recipes. Her initial set is Indian cuisine, but she is working on other cuisines as well http://recipesack.com http://recipesack.com (I know I risk being down-voted, but this seems relevant.)
andrewhyde 12y ago
Also note http://forage.co http://forage.co which is more of recreating the famous restaurant dishes (they do all the lengthy prep and then ship it to you to do the final prep).
audiodude 12y ago
For 12 bucks a person, I'm sorry, I'm going to the local taqueria, getting my burrito cooked for me, and saving 4 bucks. Forget cooking.
- wmeredith 12y ago
  This was my first thought, and it's always my first thought when I read about meal delivery. For $24 my wife and I can go 5 minutes from our house and get good Mexican, Thai or Chinese (and serviceable Italian) made for us and brought to a table, and we get to walk away from the mess.
  - buckbova 12y ago
    This service isn't for you. I can see a market for seemingly fresh healthy ingredients for a well portioned meal shipped to the customer's doorstep to be cooked up in 10 minutes on demand during the week. I can cook a microwave burrito or a ramen package if I chose to much quicker and considerably cheaper than you can get a burrito or chinese takeout. This doesn't mean taquerias are a ridiculous concept.
divya 12y ago
i ordered these meals last week; the quality was better than any meal service i've tried, including fully cooked (micrawave/oven reheat) meals. The problem with other meal services is that when meat and fish are pre-cooked and then re-heated in a microwave, they get rubbery; Gobble solves this problem by doing everything EXCEPT the actually cooking. People on this thread say that the prep work is part of the joy of cooking; to them, I say that Gobble is not for you. Gobble is for people that want to eat delicious, fresh-tasting meals, but on the time-line/convenience of take-out. Price-point is also similar to take-out. Gobble is not intended to be an alternative to home-cooking, it's an alternative for take-out. And for that purpose, it's awesome. One suggestion to the Gobble team: list ingredients, especially allergens (on the website as well as in the package). We had to call every night to find out whether each dish contained egg, because we have a severe allergy in the family.
- ooshma 12y ago
  Thanks for ordering the meals and for the support! You're right -- Gobble is a much fresher and healthier alternative to takeout that takes even less time than ordering/waiting and costs the same or less. You just need one pan :) About allergies: We are adding that information to next week's menu (among other exciting improvements!). Stay tuned and you'll see a full ingredient list and allergy labels starting tomorrow.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  I don't think prep work is part of the joy of cooking and I still don't see the point of this. Why does takeout need an alternative? This is more expensive or just as expensive than takeout. It has all the downsides of home cooking with ZERO of the upsides So as far as I can see they are making takeout more expensive and less convenient.
  - jayzee 12y ago
    So I tried it and here is the upside compared to takeout: - It tastes better. There IS a dramatic difference in the taste when something is served hot straight from the pan as opposed to something that had been cooked 45 minutes ago and has been winding its way towards you in a brown bag - You can control ingredients like butter/oil/spice etc. You can add/remove and customize it to your taste. - It is fun. You can cook something tasty and unique and interesting and learn how to cook new dishes.
dreamweapon 12y ago
Just goes to show: the more The Current Bubble continues to purr and hum along, the more gimmicky-er, patently implausible (business-wise) & just plain wasteful the business models become.
computerjunkie 12y ago
Here is my take on all these pre - made food services. I love cooking, but I'm not great at it yet and probably never will be a master chef. Over the year, I have learned (the hard way sometimes) ingredients that work well together and one that don't. The whole experience of going to the supermarket, preparing food and cooking it at is somewhat therapeutic really. The best part is when it works out so well you feel satisfied...something like programming and you get it to work, bug free. I'm sure we here have heard the of the phrase "Cooking is like programming", it really is in a way. But I guess we live in an age where people think its a chore. Cooking is a craft, just like every other skill. Take some time out and learn the basics of cooking and you will be fine.
mmanfrin 12y ago
https://gobble.com/signup https://gobble.com/signup -- Page says 'select 3 kits', shows only 2, does not allow continuing unless 3 are selected.
- ooshma 12y ago
  We're selling out so quickly! More kits and a new menu will be live in 5 minutes.
gatsby 12y ago
It'll be interesting to see how food delivery plays out over the next few years. From a quick Crunchbase & YC search, I see Instacart, Sprig, Chefday, Munchery, Plated, PlateJoy, Spoonrocket, Postmates, Goldbely, Doordash, Plate, Zerocater, Delivery. com, Orderup, Tasteio, Zesty, Ezcater, Table Runner, and Gobble. I think most of these players serve similar geographies, and while they all have their own unique spin (which usually involves speed of delivery, pricing, or ingredients vs. already cooked), that seems like a lot of competition in an industry with tiny margins.
adamb 12y ago
Working nonstop at my computer has always made eating 3 meals a day tough for me[1]. Even with OrderAhead and DoorDash, nearby restaurants get played out fast. I first tried Gobble when I saw a trial card over at Zombie Runner on California Ave. Back then, Gobble delivered fully cooked dinners at 7pm on weekday nights. I used Gobble about 3 nights a week for a few months. Dinner went from something I had to figure out, to the highlight of my evening. We'd get to eat something new and delicious a few times a week without playing out local restaurants or the handful of dishes that we'd normally cook. Gobble actually improved my relationship with my girlfriend. At the time, my primary complaint was that I had to reheat the food and eat out of a takeout container. About a month ago, Gobble switched to delivering these meal kits. Having just met Ooshma in person, I (naturally) gave her a really hard time about this. Cooking takes too long and I have other things to do. There were fewer choices than before, I needed to wash a pan (sometimes two, if pasta was involved), and I needed to actually get off my computer to help make dinner happen. That was 15 meals ago. I still think about the first Gobble dinner kit I made in back August. I actually woke up the next morning thinking about how good perfectly the fresh mozzarella balanced the spicy kick of the chili flakes. Dinner-Kits Gobble is the best Gobble yet. Now I actually eat dinner like a real person. Sometimes dinner takes a little longer than 10 minutes to prepare, end to end, and sometimes it needs more than one pan, but it ends up tasting so good that I feel stupid complaining about either of those things. Out of 15 meals, about 8 of them have been wish-there-were-more-leftovers-amazing about 5 of them were good enough order again, and a couple were just ok. All of them were worth way more than the $12 and ~10 minutes of effort. I have never had a problem with Gobble that a message to Ooshma didn't fix. Yesterday I got an email from Gobble with 3 invites for 100% free boxes. I've got two left. I think you still need to sign up to use it, but I'm pretty sure you can cancel immediately. If you want one of the invites, first come, first served. [1] Unless a double espresso and a nice piece of bread counts as a meal.
- Swizec 12y ago
  I cook up to three times a day and eat five meals every day. My schedule literally revolves around food. And yes, I work nonstop at my computer all day. Therefore I'd love to take you up on the Gobble invite offer. I need to try this. -> swizec@swizec.com

61 points by yurisagalov 12y ago

chaostheory 12y ago

What's interesting is that I think Amazon Fresh does this as well.

droob 12y ago

Do you love packaging? Do you hate the two minutes it takes to cut things more than you like your money?

charlie_vill 12y ago

Read this and reminded me of Michal's Medium post- https://medium.com/@michalbohanes/seven-lessons-i-learned-from-the-failure-of-my-first-startup-dinnr-c166d1cfb8b8 https://medium.com/@michalbohanes/seven-lessons-i-learned-fr...

personZ 12y ago
Fantastic read. Thank you.

Someone1234 12y ago

> It costs $11.95 per person per meal So if you liken it to getting take-out, that isn't that crazy, maybe a little high. They also seem to have a lot of variety, and might help people segway into doing their own cooking. I can see the value in it. If you compare it to buying the raw ingredients yourself and then cooking them, yes, it is expensive. If you compare it to take-out (which is a convenience commodity, like this) it is within the ballpark (depends which takeout). Also locally to me there isn't much selection of healthy take-out. I mean if you want a burger then you have tons of selection. You might even be able to find a solid salad. But beyond that? Meh.

UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
Most places I get takeout are just normal sit down places, not labeled as takeout joints.

mikeryan 12y ago

On first scan I read that as Google instead of Gobble and though WTF Google?!? anyway. carry on.

dominotw 12y ago

I tried plated for a while. It was super expensive and came with insane amount of packaging. Like 1 onion was carefully packed in 5 layers of packaging. It was just absurd and silly.

idlewords 12y ago
My favorite was a Blue Apron recipe that called for a "farm fresh egg", which came in a cardboard box, which had a plastic egg tray inside, with a single (cracked) egg in it. I'm fine having sorrel or scallops pre-packaged for me, but getting a triple-boxed egg or an onion wrapped in bubble tape just felt sad.
- dllthomas 12y ago
  It seems like ideally you could link up your pantry management app (and your menu planning, to know what's spoken for) and they could just send you the difference.
  - idlewords 12y ago
    I'd be happier with the low-tech solution of assuming you're not some feral monster who doesn't have eggs or flour in the house. Oddly, the one thing they don't provide for you is cooking oil. Who are these high-income loners living in a bare apartment with just a single bottle of olive oil?
    - dllthomas 12y ago
      You've never run out of eggs? Certainly I'd be happy enough with that approach, but not happier I think. Particularly if the pantry management stuff itself provided value.
      - tptacek 12y ago
        If you acquire eggs for your cooking by waiting for them to arrive individually wrapped in recipe kits, you're basically always out of eggs. Just keep a dozen eggs in your fridge all the time.

idlewords 12y ago

My experience in trying Blue Apron (a sous-chef simulator): * extravagant, simply incredible amounts of packaging. There was easily a 4:1 ratio of packaging to food. I had to stop using the service out of packaging shame * The produce was often not that good because it needs to withstand transport and storage. The tomatoes were faint pink and could have probably made it through a baseball game without a lot of damage * It made me try recipes and ingredients that I wasn't used to, which I enjoyed. I feel like it's a kind of Guitar Hero for cooking. My understanding is that Gobble is taking this stuff one step further, by doing the prep work. I'll be interested to see how they address the problem of having stuff be freshly prepared and transportable/storable at the same time. This stuff gets marketed at beginning cooks, which seems unwise. If you're just getting started, fancy restaurant meals are not the way to go. Make an omelette or two.

UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
Omelets are actually hard for a non experienced cook since it is SOOOO easy to overcook eggs and omelets specifically require a bit of intuition (at least for me).
- idlewords 12y ago
  Yeah! I meant that it's a great thing to practice on because the difference between a good omelette and a bad one is so vast, starting with the same exact ingredients. And eggs are cheap to practice on. Most of cooking is about mastering a few fundamental skills and developing a feel for how food reacts to heat. Better to ruin your first dozen omelettes (and similar simple dishes) and build up your base of experience than try to autotune your way through these elaborate dinners.
  - UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
    Great point! Didn't think of it from that angle!! However - I don't think these services are trying to teach you how to cook any more than boxed mac and cheese is. They are for the "I want to have a home cooked meal but I don't want to make it." types. Speaking of eggs, I didn't know what I was doing wrong with them for a long time, they weren't bad by any means, just everyone else did them better. Then I was having a conversation with my mom about how she makes better eggs than me. She told me "eggs are done before they are done." Now I cook eggs like a champ.

Karunamon 12y ago

Am I the only one who finds it deceptive when companies offer something for "free" with a shipping charge attached? Free means $0, not $0 + $n.

tehwebguy 12y ago
I didn't see anything about shipping or free in that article
- Karunamon 12y ago
  The comments section in the article has a rep from the company handing out a promo link.

cbhl 12y ago

The one thing that drives me nuts about these kits is that they're all designed for two people or more. I live alone. Am I forever destined to eat TV dinners to feed myself? Am I supposed to eat out, because it's cheaper than mailing the box? :/

bitJericho 12y ago
There's all kinds of things you can make for one... I make one person meals all the time, or two person meals and save the other half for lunch the next day. Hell I'll make 5 person meals like a pan of lasagna and eat that for the next 3-4 days. You usually wanna toss leftovers past the 3 day mark. My meals even where there's excess that's tossed cost generally 1-3 dollars per sitting. 12 dollar meals is completely absurd.
idlewords 12y ago
Learn to cook! You'll be glad you did.
GrinningFool 12y ago
The amount of variety possible with nothing more than pasta, simply cooked meat or fish, and fresh vegetables is truly impressive.
tptacek 12y ago
Buy deli cups, make braise dishes, deli cup the leftovers, have amazing lunches for a week. You can vary the carb and veg with each serving and get a variety of different meals out of a single low-effort evening at the oven: over pasta, as a sandwich, in an omelet, as a potato hash, saucing chicken breasts. A great thing about braises is that they're bulletproof. Almost the only thing you can do to mess them up is to pull them too early. 4-6 hours in a slow oven. Done when you bother to check and the meat pulls easily with a fork. We do carbonnade overnight. No knife skills required. ... not that I'm recommending the kit. Don't do that, if only because it'll drive you to try to cook fussy stuff.
taude 12y ago
When cooking for one, I used to cook a couple nights/week the staples, and then reheat them. For example, I'd make a cous-cous salad thing on Sunday night, then pair it with a fresh cooked fish or chicken on Monday/Tuesday, maybe swap out the veggie (usually something steamed). That way, I only cooked the really quick/easy things on a given night. On wed, I'd cook a fancy rice dish that would end up making it into lunch for Thursday/Friday. It's all about a little planning and getting into the habit. I found that while cooking, I could watch some tv shows, or listen to some pod casts, etc...

drcode 12y ago

It seems like a much better idea for 99% of people is: 1. Learn three or four fast single-pan recipes so that you can do them without this hand-holding. 2. Eat more things out of cans, for days you want variety beyond your standard pan dishes- Just because it's in a can does NOT mean it's unhealthy, if you choose the right cans. 3. Take the money you saved in steps #1 and #2 and use it to eat meals prepared by a real chef in a real restaurant, with real fresh ingredients.

tehwebguy 12y ago
My guess is that most people that would try this have fallen into believing that they simply can't cook, and that eventually they will realize that they don't need a service for them to make the same meals at home.
buckbova 12y ago
> Eat more things out of cans Most things that come out of cans, taste like the can they were in. Canned vegetables are terrible. I'd go frozen prepared veg over canned.
jimmaswell 12y ago
For cans, how do you feel about the BPA concern
- roywiggins 12y ago
  Some fancier canned food now has "BPA free!" labels if you're worried about it. http://bpafreecannedfood.wordpress.com/bpa-free-canned-food-brands/ http://bpafreecannedfood.wordpress.com/bpa-free-canned-food-...

bambax 12y ago

I don't quite get the point of all these services; one of the joys of cooking is shopping for fresh ingredients, choosing them, prepping them. Putting pre-cut ingredients in a pan for a specified amount of time is not "cooking". You can get pretty good / excellent meals that have been separately cooked sous-vide in a factory, that you simply reheat in a microwave -- they're much faster, much cheaper, probably better tasting than these pretend-cook meals (and just as healthy).

cylinder 12y ago
So basically this is a takeaway restaurant where you just heat the food yourself. Give me a break, people. You are not busy, you are just wasting your time being distracted by your phone! It's about priorities.
- Karunamon 12y ago
  Businesses everywhere would pay for your telepathic abilities to know what people you've never met are using their time on ;)
UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
These kinds of services kinda make me think of "TV Dinner 2.0." Same exact concept but trying to class it up and make it more acceptable. For me the "annoying" part of cooking is actually the mess I make that I have to clean up afterwards. Not even spills, just dirty pans/knives/cutting boards. Of course I usually end up with a little bit of spill anyways, I'm messier in the kitchen than most others. If I was going to spend $12/person a meal I would get delivery or takeout especially since I would have to clean the counters and do dishes afterwards. And.... the plastic!
realusername 12y ago
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing, why not just order a takeaway from the restaurant instead if you just don't want to cook, it's almost the same price and it's also pre-cooked.
personZ 12y ago

edmack 12y ago

We tried the Shitake Miso meal last night, it was tasty and fun to make. We work long hours, so it was a nice treat to cook without the time sink of shopping and prepping.

ooshma 12y ago
I made that meal myself last night! It's one of my personal favorites. It's good to hear you found the recipe fun and quick. If you have any other questions or suggestions for me personally, don't hesitate to reach out at ooshma@gobble.com. Perhaps a favorite dish that you want to see on the menu soon? :)

palidanx 12y ago

I wonder if it is better for these food start-ups to perhaps sell a food starter package? Something like all of the woks, knives, and small amounts of spices you would need for all recipes. But then, I'm not sure exactly how they would make money after that.

ooshma 12y ago
Great idea -- We're actually making a few starter kits: one of basic cooking equipment and one of spices for our customers. You can either buy or "earn" the kits as you go along with Gobble. It's exciting to see kitchen-averse folks take an interest in basic cooking and help everyone get up and running.
bluedino 12y ago
Check out the 'minimum viable kitchen' http://priceonomics.com/cookware/ http://priceonomics.com/cookware/
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  Really? That is a useless (to me) article that contains a whole bunch of expensive stuff you don't need. Your kitchen isn't my kitchen. The stuff I find important for my needs isn't the stuff you find important for your needs. No, you don't have to spend almost $30 on a damn strainer! I'm a big fan of only buying the stuff you actually need when you need it, not the stuff you might need in the future because someone else told you you need it. If you find yourself needing a blender, buy one. If you find the food you like to cook doesn't require one, don't buy one. This guy says get a stand mixer and not a slow cooker! WHOA THERE! I use a slow cooker all the time and never once in my life did I think about getting a stand mixer. The other thing is I (and probably 90% of everyone else I know) don't have room for a stand mixer. I don't even know a single person who has one due to their bulkiness and expense. And a kitchen scale because "Professional chefs measure many things by weight rather than volume since ingredient density can vary?" Um, well I mostly guesstimate my ingredients and my food tastes just as good. I even guesstimate some things when baking which people say will RUIN YOUR CAKE but I never had a problem with it. I also have never used a wooden spoon in my kitchen.

sboak 12y ago

My experience with Gobble went as follows: I was going to do their trial but bailed before completing checkout because their terms automatically subscribe you for weekly meals. I got a call a few days later saying that I was being sent the meals anyway and that, also, they weren't sure which meals I was supposed to be sent so they might be wrong. No offer to refund my money. They said the meals would be arriving the next day. It's now over a week later and I never received the incorrect meals that I never actually ordered but was charged for. I emailed customer service again about this and haven't heard back. Caveat emptor.

UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
Before completing checkout? So they billed your credit card without permission? That's pretty damn bad... Like maybe credit card fraud bad.
- sboak 12y ago
  Good point. I didn't really think about how that charge went through without finishing checkout.
- enraged_camel 12y ago
  I'm not a lawyer, but doesn't fraud imply intent? In this case, it sounds like an accident (caused by a bug). Still serious of course but based on ooshma's post above it has already been addressed.
  - UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
    Which is why I said maybe. I haven't dove down into fraud statutes too much but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that when someone takes payment they have a legal obligation to verify the credit card holder actually authorized the payment they collect. At the very least Visa,etc,'s lawyers will care. There are also a whole bunch of other statutes that can apply too.
timcederman 12y ago
I've heard similar billing/delivery weirdness from folks using Gobble.

pbreit 12y ago

Sort of a neat service but at $12/meal, a bit on the high side. And amazingly inefficient with respect to packaging & delivery. It seems that what people might want are 1) simple guide to what basics I should have in the kitchen (spices, oils, etc) and 2) simple recipes where I buy the chicken/fish/veggies fresh. Probably not a fundable idea and likely already exists (although I haven't quite seen it).

dreamweapon 12y ago
Exactly: "Teach a man to fish," etc.
techbubble 12y ago
My wife's fledgling startup does something like this -- she makes meal kits with all dry ingredients and instructions that are designed to encourage experimentation with recipes. Her initial set is Indian cuisine, but she is working on other cuisines as well http://recipesack.com http://recipesack.com (I know I risk being down-voted, but this seems relevant.)

andrewhyde 12y ago

Also note http://forage.co http://forage.co which is more of recreating the famous restaurant dishes (they do all the lengthy prep and then ship it to you to do the final prep).

audiodude 12y ago

For 12 bucks a person, I'm sorry, I'm going to the local taqueria, getting my burrito cooked for me, and saving 4 bucks. Forget cooking.

wmeredith 12y ago
This was my first thought, and it's always my first thought when I read about meal delivery. For $24 my wife and I can go 5 minutes from our house and get good Mexican, Thai or Chinese (and serviceable Italian) made for us and brought to a table, and we get to walk away from the mess.
- buckbova 12y ago
  This service isn't for you. I can see a market for seemingly fresh healthy ingredients for a well portioned meal shipped to the customer's doorstep to be cooked up in 10 minutes on demand during the week. I can cook a microwave burrito or a ramen package if I chose to much quicker and considerably cheaper than you can get a burrito or chinese takeout. This doesn't mean taquerias are a ridiculous concept.

divya 12y ago

i ordered these meals last week; the quality was better than any meal service i've tried, including fully cooked (micrawave/oven reheat) meals. The problem with other meal services is that when meat and fish are pre-cooked and then re-heated in a microwave, they get rubbery; Gobble solves this problem by doing everything EXCEPT the actually cooking. People on this thread say that the prep work is part of the joy of cooking; to them, I say that Gobble is not for you. Gobble is for people that want to eat delicious, fresh-tasting meals, but on the time-line/convenience of take-out. Price-point is also similar to take-out. Gobble is not intended to be an alternative to home-cooking, it's an alternative for take-out. And for that purpose, it's awesome. One suggestion to the Gobble team: list ingredients, especially allergens (on the website as well as in the package). We had to call every night to find out whether each dish contained egg, because we have a severe allergy in the family.

ooshma 12y ago
Thanks for ordering the meals and for the support! You're right -- Gobble is a much fresher and healthier alternative to takeout that takes even less time than ordering/waiting and costs the same or less. You just need one pan :) About allergies: We are adding that information to next week's menu (among other exciting improvements!). Stay tuned and you'll see a full ingredient list and allergy labels starting tomorrow.
UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
I don't think prep work is part of the joy of cooking and I still don't see the point of this. Why does takeout need an alternative? This is more expensive or just as expensive than takeout. It has all the downsides of home cooking with ZERO of the upsides So as far as I can see they are making takeout more expensive and less convenient.
- jayzee 12y ago
  So I tried it and here is the upside compared to takeout: - It tastes better. There IS a dramatic difference in the taste when something is served hot straight from the pan as opposed to something that had been cooked 45 minutes ago and has been winding its way towards you in a brown bag - You can control ingredients like butter/oil/spice etc. You can add/remove and customize it to your taste. - It is fun. You can cook something tasty and unique and interesting and learn how to cook new dishes.

dreamweapon 12y ago

Just goes to show: the more The Current Bubble continues to purr and hum along, the more gimmicky-er, patently implausible (business-wise) & just plain wasteful the business models become.

computerjunkie 12y ago

Here is my take on all these pre - made food services. I love cooking, but I'm not great at it yet and probably never will be a master chef. Over the year, I have learned (the hard way sometimes) ingredients that work well together and one that don't. The whole experience of going to the supermarket, preparing food and cooking it at is somewhat therapeutic really. The best part is when it works out so well you feel satisfied...something like programming and you get it to work, bug free. I'm sure we here have heard the of the phrase "Cooking is like programming", it really is in a way. But I guess we live in an age where people think its a chore. Cooking is a craft, just like every other skill. Take some time out and learn the basics of cooking and you will be fine.

mmanfrin 12y ago

https://gobble.com/signup https://gobble.com/signup -- Page says 'select 3 kits', shows only 2, does not allow continuing unless 3 are selected.

ooshma 12y ago
We're selling out so quickly! More kits and a new menu will be live in 5 minutes.

gatsby 12y ago

It'll be interesting to see how food delivery plays out over the next few years. From a quick Crunchbase & YC search, I see Instacart, Sprig, Chefday, Munchery, Plated, PlateJoy, Spoonrocket, Postmates, Goldbely, Doordash, Plate, Zerocater, Delivery. com, Orderup, Tasteio, Zesty, Ezcater, Table Runner, and Gobble. I think most of these players serve similar geographies, and while they all have their own unique spin (which usually involves speed of delivery, pricing, or ingredients vs. already cooked), that seems like a lot of competition in an industry with tiny margins.

adamb 12y ago

Working nonstop at my computer has always made eating 3 meals a day tough for me[1]. Even with OrderAhead and DoorDash, nearby restaurants get played out fast. I first tried Gobble when I saw a trial card over at Zombie Runner on California Ave. Back then, Gobble delivered fully cooked dinners at 7pm on weekday nights. I used Gobble about 3 nights a week for a few months. Dinner went from something I had to figure out, to the highlight of my evening. We'd get to eat something new and delicious a few times a week without playing out local restaurants or the handful of dishes that we'd normally cook. Gobble actually improved my relationship with my girlfriend. At the time, my primary complaint was that I had to reheat the food and eat out of a takeout container. About a month ago, Gobble switched to delivering these meal kits. Having just met Ooshma in person, I (naturally) gave her a really hard time about this. Cooking takes too long and I have other things to do. There were fewer choices than before, I needed to wash a pan (sometimes two, if pasta was involved), and I needed to actually get off my computer to help make dinner happen. That was 15 meals ago. I still think about the first Gobble dinner kit I made in back August. I actually woke up the next morning thinking about how good perfectly the fresh mozzarella balanced the spicy kick of the chili flakes. Dinner-Kits Gobble is the best Gobble yet. Now I actually eat dinner like a real person. Sometimes dinner takes a little longer than 10 minutes to prepare, end to end, and sometimes it needs more than one pan, but it ends up tasting so good that I feel stupid complaining about either of those things. Out of 15 meals, about 8 of them have been wish-there-were-more-leftovers-amazing about 5 of them were good enough order again, and a couple were just ok. All of them were worth way more than the $12 and ~10 minutes of effort. I have never had a problem with Gobble that a message to Ooshma didn't fix. Yesterday I got an email from Gobble with 3 invites for 100% free boxes. I've got two left. I think you still need to sign up to use it, but I'm pretty sure you can cancel immediately. If you want one of the invites, first come, first served. [1] Unless a double espresso and a nice piece of bread counts as a meal.

Swizec 12y ago
I cook up to three times a day and eat five meals every day. My schedule literally revolves around food. And yes, I work nonstop at my computer all day. Therefore I'd love to take you up on the Gobble invite offer. I need to try this. -> swizec@swizec.com