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Book Subscription Box(es)
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Boxes:https://paperstbooks.cratejoy.com/ - SFF & Horror
https://www.cratejoy.com/subscription... - YA/MG/Kids
https://www.bookofthemonth.com/?utm_s... -
https://www.theboxwalla.com/shop/2706... -
https://www.cratejoy.com/subscription... - SFF/Horror & THrillers
http://www.parnassusbooks.net/Parnass... - YA
https://thebookishbox.cratejoy.com/
I've done the Dia subscription box which is plus size clothing that is AMAZING but I had to cancel it because I don't need 5 new items every two months. The problem I run into regarding book subscription boxes is that they are always hard bound and I only like paperback.
BookRiot does one as well... They look cool, but I did one, one time, and got a book that I was totally not interested in (magical realism, blech). So, it's not really worth it to me. I got a mug out of it that I like, but for $30ish, I definitely lost out.
I used to do the BookRiot Quarterly box, which I liked more for the items than the books they chose. They stopped it though and now do individual boxes, I think. Since then I haven't found anything worth subscribing too only because I don't want to keep shelling out money to collect items.
I've only done clothing, Stitchfix, which I love... But had to quit because it was making me broke.
I've never done any subscription boxes - except possibly the food one, but I consider that a little different because I get to pick which meals I want for the week and I don't just have random stuff foisted on me.I am far too picky about what I read/watch/wear to ever get any real benefit out of "receive these random items" things.
Plus, I already have way too much shit, anyway.
I don't feel I have enough geeky stuff - I never really got into collecting. So the lure of geeky stuff is strong......but I think I'd start to get upset as I received book after book that I didn't pick.
I've only tried the food box and I wasn't a fan. I have thought about StitchFix but keep putting it off "until I lose some weight." *sigh*
I love my HomeChef. LLLLLUUUURRRRRRVVVVVVVEEEEEEE.
I tried Hello Fresh and I was slightly disgusted. The food was all just ok. My cousin tells me its because I already have a recipe list already but still...
Speaking of random geeky stuff, that reminds me that my husband and I both subscribe to LootCrate. I gifted him the regular LootCrate last year, which he enjoyed and it seemed worth it because he received some cool items every month along with a t-shirt. I stopped the regular one and gifted him the Halo LootCrate instead for Christmas, which comes every three months. I also picked up the HP Wizarding box for myself. Both are very cool boxes and it includes a t-shirt. I stopped the HP one though. Too much stuff and not enough room. We'll probably stop the Halo one at the end of the year.
If I were going to do one, it'd be the HP one. But I already have so much HP stuff.That said... I am contemplating paying $60 for a SDCC exclusive Occamy Funko Pop, because I have a sickness.
Jackie wrote: "Speaking of random geeky stuff, that reminds me that my husband and I both subscribe to LootCrate. I gifted him the regular LootCrate last year, which he enjoyed and it seemed worth it because he r..."I want to try this now. O_O
I love Pops, Colleen. I say go for it! lol.
Jackie wrote: "I love Pops, Colleen. I say go for it! lol."Woohoo! Love the enablement! ;)
MrsJoseph wrote: "I tried Hello Fresh and I was slightly disgusted. The food was all just ok. My cousin tells me its because I already have a recipe list already but still..."I didn't like Hello Fresh either. I felt like the recipes were needlessly hard or over fancy. I just want regular food that's more geared towards healthy. I'm fine with getting more bell peppers. I don't need to now learn how prepare a weird root vegetable from South Africa.
That actually sounds more interesting than the crap I got. Though I blame myself for selecting the fish, the rest of the menu options were O_O or extra money pp. The fish was watery. Ugh. My face right now is so screwed up with disgust. Ugh. I tried my best to get all the water out of it. And then it was tasteless and just ugh. Couldn't finish the small piece I had.
These boxes are hard for me to resist. I adore surprise boxes. Whenever they have them on sale at the craft store I always buy them and typically only like 10% of what was in the box. It's the allure of the what if.At the SLC Comic Con they have this booth with like 70 brown boxes. You pay $25 to pick out 4 boxes, lift them, shake them and then decide on one box. The items in the box equate to being worth $25 but in one of the boxes there is a Nintendo DS. We do it every year. We've never won the DS obviously but Gary got a nice Superman robe. One year we got a Japanese pop album and a Star Wars lady's wallet. It turned out to be awesome on all fronts. But I have to do it. I'm drawn to it. I want all the boxes.
I understand. I want all the boxes, too. Like, right this second. I'm almost twitchy. O_OThe only reason I haven't gone the book box yet is because I know my book hoarding ways. I'd get tons of books I have no interest in and still have a hard time getting rid of them.
I want to curate my own box, lol. It'd be for acquired tastes, lol.
Home Chef has more "down to earth" recipes. It was the main reason we went with them over some of the other options.Just saying.
I see those tables with those mystery boxes... and I've never been tempted to get one. :P
colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Home Chef has more "down to earth" recipes. It was the main reason we went with them over some of the other options.Just saying.
I see those tables with those mystery boxes... and I've never be..."
Get those boxes for me!!
MrsJoseph wrote: "I want to curate my own box, lol. It'd be for acquired tastes, lol."For real!
I want a food box that sends me fattening recipes that are somehow magically not fattening. Where's that box? I'd pay big money for that box.
You know what else I would love. A subscription box that is paperback horror novels. Because horror doesn't have it's own shelf in books stores and is just in with fiction it's hard to just find a good horror. I have to research on GR before we go to the store and then they usually never have it.
Felina wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: "I tried Hello Fresh and I was slightly disgusted. The food was all just ok. My cousin tells me its because I already have a recipe list already but still..."I didn't like Hello ..."
I can do regular food w/out a kit. I want to learn new foods. So I guess I'm just the opposite.
But I do not want somebody else picking my books for me.
And I do not have any interest in t-shirts or collectibles etc.
This has been a very enlightening discussion; ty all for showing me how other ppl live.... ;)
I only do a food box here. It's vegetables and fruit. They put one recipe in a week and if you want more they have a weekly email for recipes you can do from the box it you want. I enjoy it in that it means you try different vegetables and fruit you might not normally see in the supermarket.
I've tried a bunch of different meal/recipe delivery boxes: Blue Apron
Peach Dish
Hello Fresh
Plated
Marley Spoon
Sun Basket
Green Chef
Terra's Kitchen
Factor75
Pete's Paleo (these last two are prepared meals, not just ingredients and recipes)
I like them because...
1) I am terrible at meal planning and shopping and being creative enough to make food at home, on my own, without getting bored
2) They are super convenient
3) I can try different ingredients or recipes without a huge investment or commitment to buying something that I will only need one time, or just a small amount of.
At one point, I had 5 going at a time (the first 5 on the list), and I would opt in and out weekly as I wanted, depending on the offerings. But then my boyfriend realized that he was having allergic reactions/sensitivities to certain grain ingredients, particularly wheat, so we cancelled most of them that were very wheat and grain heavy, and switched to ones more paleo-ish options (Green Chef, Sun Basket, F75, Pete's Paleo).
We currently only have Sun Basket delivery right now, and tonight was supposed to be Southwestern skillet enchiladas with sunny-side up eggs: https://www.sunbasket.com/recipe/sout...
But unfortunately, I worked until almost 6:30, and then had to run errands before coming back home and attending another testing call... so I had Wendy's instead. SIGH.
Felina wrote: "You know what else I would love. A subscription box that is paperback horror novels. Because horror doesn't have it's own shelf in books stores and is just in with fiction it's hard to just find a ..."Felina wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: "I want to curate my own box, lol. It'd be for acquired tastes, lol."
For real!
I want a food box that sends me fattening recipes that are somehow magically not fattening. Where'..."
I wonder how hard it would be to get someone to start one up.
Angela wrote: "I only do a food box here. It's vegetables and fruit. They put one recipe in a week and if you want more they have a weekly email for recipes you can do from the box it you want. I enjoy it in that..."This sounds pretty cool. What's the name?
Becky wrote: "I've tried a bunch of different meal/recipe delivery boxes: Blue Apron
Peach Dish
Hello Fresh
Plated
Marley Spoon
Sun Basket
Green Chef
Terra's Kitchen
Factor75
Pete's Paleo (these last two are pr..."
Wow. This is simply wow! I can't imagine having that much coming at me at one time.
I'm ok with shopping for stuff and looking for recipes. I have a lot of recipes - I collect them, it seems - and I search for new ones all the time.
I have a handful of cooking blogs I follow to get new stuff and ideas.
Also, there's this banging - I'm serious. BANGING - restaurant around the corner from my job. They have the most amazing menu with all these different flavor combinations that sound weird but taste divine. I've been working on "ode" recipes in order to replicate my favorites at home.
My biggest issue when it comes to cooking is time and healthiness.I want to eat home cooked meals 95% of the time but I work full time plus a small part-time plus LIFE.
I want someone who will create great meals - or give me meal plans - that take into account my macros. I want healthy, balanced and trackable.
I want unicorns. Always.
Freshly does "chef cooked" meals that you receive already cooked and you just have to microwave to eat.I've never tried them, so I have no idea how good they are - but every meal option has nutrition information, etc. (Most of the services I've seen include nutrition information with the recipes.)
https://www.freshly.com/?plan_id=&...
I've thought about trying them, but me and Jer actually enjoy cooking together... which, I'd always considered cooking a chore, so I'm surprised I enjoy it more than dread it most nights...
MrsJoseph wrote: "My biggest issue when it comes to cooking is time and healthiness.I want to eat home cooked meals 95% of the time but I work full time plus a small part-time plus LIFE.
I want someone who will ..."
This is me. I don't mind cooking and rather enjoy it sometimes but cooking super healthy takes forever and I don't have time for that. None of the food boxes seem to take into consideration the time it takes to prepare. I have recipes and can do the Walmart grocery pick up so I don't really need them to give me ingredients more that I just need faster recipes for healthier options. *sigh* I really just want to hire a cook who will make my healthy food for me. I don't mind eating healthy I just hate food prep and the time involved.
Felina wrote: "I really just want to hire a cook who will make my healthy food for me. I don't mind eating healthy I just hate food prep and the time involved."ME TOO!
I even searched for one and NOTHING. I'm like, my freaking hair stylist is online, why no chefs??
I'm at the point I'm totally willing to pay someone to cook X amount of healthy meals for me a week/month but I seriously cannot find someone.
I'm with Felina on food boxes.. For me it's not about trying crazy new complicated things (especially since J won't eat them, he's pretty picky), it's about the convenience of not having to shop for / plan for a few days in a week. I currently subscribe to Home Chef, Hello Fresh, and Blue apron. Every week I go through each set of menus, and it one of the three has a menu that appeals to me, I get it and skip the others. Lately I tend to skip all three. If I do get one, it usually ends up being Home Chef. The recipes are simpler and more down to earth. If their calorie counts were lower (400 - 500) I would get them a lot more often, but they are typically higher. It's the portion sizes, they are just too big for me. But then when I cut them back, I end up with leftovers.. But since it was just 2 large portions in the first place, the leftovers usually aren't enough to form a third meal... So they get tossed.
If there were a meal delivery box that did lower calorie (i.e. smaller portion) and healthy AND down to earth simple type stuff (with a little twist for variety... but just a little one) I'd ditch the 3 and just do that one. Haven't found it yet though!
Dawn wrote: "If there were a meal delivery box that did lower calorie (i.e. smaller portion) and healthy AND down to earth simple type stuff (with a little twist for variety... but just a little one) I'd ditch the 3 and just do that one. Haven't found it yet though! YES.
And nutrition is so hard. I find recipes to try and I have old standards. But the calorie count (plus my macros) and time factors are terrible.
IDK why it's so hard to get that. ;-(
MrsJ - I didn't get all of them at once. I would opt in and out... Like one week, I might get the MarleySpoon box, and the next get the Blue Apron, etc. It was a lot of work to go through them and opt in and out though.
Becky wrote: "MrsJ - I didn't get all of them at once. I would opt in and out... Like one week, I might get the MarleySpoon box, and the next get the Blue Apron, etc. It was a lot of work to go through them an..."
I figured that - it'd go to waste (or get frozen).
I was thinking of the sheer amount of work to manage all of that.
The one I get is in New Zealand Mrs Joseph.
Angela wrote: "The one I get is in New Zealand Mrs Joseph.":-(
Subscription boxes seem to be all the rage now. They have them for foods and clothes and books...
...I'm a terribly moody and picky reader so I've not given them much thought. Until I realized they *might* have boxes that focused on SFF and/or Romance (my two weaknesses).
Have any of you tried or thought of trying a book subscription box? If you have, how did/does it go? If no, why not?