Home-delivered Diets

Home delivery of diet meals has been a growing trend over the past few years, particularly in the US, Canada and the UK. A recent survey found that more than 6% of US dieters in 3rd quarter 2005 were interested or participating in home delivery of meals. An increasing number of companies are extending their offerings of diet plans to include delivery of ready-prepared meals which may be frozen, shelf-stable, or fresh.

Although many companies have struggled during the recent recession and some have closed, the diet delivery companies that were doing things right seemed to weather the storm. It seems like business is picking up for them once again.

Advantages of Home Delivery

Home delivery avoids the need to visit a diet center each week if it's just to pick up food, and completely eliminates the planning, purchasing and preparation of diet-compliant meals.

Frequency

Weekly/fortnightly/monthly meal deliveries are ordered online and packages delivered to your door (daily if meals are fresh). Some plans ship nationwide, others only to large cities in a geographical area (such as US East or West Coasts or New York, Los Angeles, etc, UK central London, Australian metropolitan areas, and so on).

Cost

The cost can range from $US10 to $US40 and more per day - that is, as high as $US1200 per month!

Things to watch out for!

Home-delivery services can be expensive, and there are other considerations to be aware of. For example:

• Does the diet suit my requirements for weight-loss?
  (type of diet, recommended amount of weight loss for given time, length of time to commit to the program, expenses to join and to maintain meal supply).
• Does the provider have good backup services?
  (advice, meal planning guides, flexibility of program, personal contact, etc).
• Does the administration of the meal delivery service have a good reputation?
  (prompt and complete delivery, billing accuracy, ability to correct ordering/delivery/payment discrepancies without hassles).