Even the strongest advocates of meal-kits (companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh which deliver recipes and ingredients to home cooks, specifically portioned for a single meal) have had to concede their biggest problem – the enormous waste of single-serve packaging. When each spice in a curry comes in an individual package (not to mention other glaring examples like single scallions or garlic cloves in their own plastic bags), cooks are bound to notice the packaging pile-up happening in their trash cans. Meal-Kit companies have begun trying to address this problem, making sure that packaging is recyclable and can even be returned to the company (Blue Apron in particular has taken this approach). But in the era of heightened food-safety awareness, there’s also only so much that can be done without putting contaminated ingredients in customers hands.

New Start-up FreshRealm aims to solve this problem with their “Vessel” – a reusable 17″ polyurethane cube in which they deliver all their ingredients. Drawers in the cube house not only individual ingredients, but metal plates that help control internal temperature, meaning FreshRealm does not require refrigerated trucks. All deliveries can be made by FedEx, who will then pick up the returned boxes the next day for sanitizing and reuse. So far the system has been so successful that FreshRealm is also selling it to competitors. Terra’s Kitchen, a Baltimore based delivery company, has already signed on.

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