Monday, February 15, 2021

Our review of Hello Fresh

Given that we've tried Hello Fresh for a while now, I thought I'd share my (unsponsored) review. The pandemic changed the way we were eating, and I'll confess to hitting a point where menu planning left me uninspired.

I received a free box from my sister, so gave it a shot. Here are my observations, after making & eating 30+ meals over the past few months.

Pros:

  • Most of the recipes we've tried have been really tasty - as good as what we'd make at home, with typically more flavor. As far as I can remember, there's only been one we didn't all really like.
  • The servings are quite large, for our family. We order the two person box, and about half the time, we can make a third meal out of the two servings.
  • The recipes are clear, easy to follow, and contain nutritional information on the recipe card. Nick (13), makes the majority of the recipes. He rarely/never needs help, so I'd describe these as pretty easy to follow, regardless of cooking skill. He does, however, make quite a mess in the kitchen at times, but that's not likely the fault of Hello Fresh. ;-) 
  • Each meal comes with a very nice recipe card, so you can make meals on your own, long after you've had the service. We've done this with some success. 
  • Minimal food waste. If you find you buy ingredients & don't end up using all of the veggies or ingredients for a meal, this would solve that problem. However, see below for overall thoughts on cost. 

Cons:

  • Environmentally, the small packaging is problematic. Most of it is recyclable, but there's just a lot of very small ingredients (tiny mayo packs, bags with two green onion, etc). 
  • The cost. I find that, when compared to take out, these are a bit cheaper than takeout, and definitely cheaper than most restaurants. However, you will be able to make much cheaper meals at home, of course. Eating your own meals, that you've shopped for, followed sales & bought items on sale would be significantly cheaper, always. With our current discount (a "come back" offer), we're paying between $30-40/box. Let's just say $35, on average. We get three meals, with 2.5 servings each (as noted, we often get three servings out of each meal, as the portions are quite large for us). That makes the cost per single serving meal around $4.67. If you have larger appetites, your mileage may vary on getting another serving out of the portions. 
  • Food allergies/preferences. M largely eats a Keto diet, so we adapt most of the meals to suit him. He doesn't have serious food allergies, so we work around (for example, we do a lot of tacos, and he just has all of the fillings and toppings on a salad). I'm not sure this would work with any serious food allergy.

On the whole, I'd recommend this if you are looking to spice up your menu planning, you have someone looking to grow their cooking skills, or if you just want a change of pace & easy meal prep. I wouldn't recommend this if you are on a tight budget, or if you are an excellent cook, who is a whiz with using up ingredients in fun & compelling ways all on your own. You can also skip a box, pause your subscription, or cancel altogether. I got a very compelling offer after cancelling, which is why we went back. 

We've made some really fantastic recipes. I thought I'd share our favorites so far. You can definitely get a sense of our preferences from the list below. ;-):

Our favorite recipes:
  • Beef bulgogi bowls with carrots, pickled cucumber & sriracha crema
  • Sweet soy glazed steak tacos with spicy slaw, marinated cucumber & peanuts
  • Banh mi style chicken tacos with pickled cucumber & sriracha mayo (my #1 favorite)
  • Zucchini & tomato flatbread with lemon ricotta, basil, honey & chili flakes
  • Chicken katsu with roasted green beans & ginger rice
  • Bayou style crispy tilapia with remoulade, paprika potato wedges, & mixed greens
  • Street cart style chicken shawarma bowls with bell pepper, pistachio rice & creamy cilantro sauce
  • Mango tango chicken tacos
  • Creamy lemon butter chicken with parmesan zucchini rounds & scallian couscous
  • Beef bulgogi meatballs with roasted carros, ginger rice & sriracha crema
If anyone is interested in trying Hello Fresh, here is a referral link. (You get $70 off, and I get a $10 credit if you sign up via the referral.) 

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have, so please ask. If you've used a meal service, please share your thoughts in the comments. We're currently trying Blue Apron, so I'll share thoughts on that, once we've tried a few more recipes. 

17 comments:

  1. Thank you for this informative post. As a no-packaging advocate and "old-fashioned" cook, I won't be utilizing a meal service but it was very interesting to read all about it. The recipes sound very yummy!

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    1. It's definitely helped me branch out & try recipes I wouldn't have tried before. But, whenever I get a tiny pack of mayo, I cringe a bit. Interestingly, it's really helped Nick learn to cook, because I'm a "oh, just find a substitute cook" & he doesn't feel confident doing that yet.

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  2. One of my blog readers sent me three free meals to try and we liked all of the food. I just wasn't crazy about preparing new to me recipes like they suggested. I know that probably sounds odd. I felt like I had this meal, I had never cooked before, and now I'm forced to make it. I like to know what I am making ahead of time and during the course of the day plan it out in my head. It was harder to do with a new recipe that I was unfamiliar with. I ended up freezing some of the meat portions and using the other ingredients in other ways. Which, I'm sure is not what Hello Fresh planned. LOL

    Speaking of Nick in the kitchen, Bailey made cookies the other day and I ended up cleaning up afterwards. LOL It was worth a cookie or two though.

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    1. That's so interesting that it made you feel forced to try something new. I loved the idea of getting out of my comfort zone, and would definitely keep trying if the price/waste was reduced. I find I get into meal ruts pretty easily, so this helps to break us out.

      Hilarious that the cleaning doesn't magically improve with age. And yes, totally worth the time to clean up if I don't have to prep the meal. ;-)

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  3. Son2 and DIL2 have used Hello Fresh during this pandemic and it is funny to see some fo your favorites are the same as theirs. They saved alkyl the recipe cards and are now mostly recreating the meals themselves. Like you, they thought the packaging was a little overdone, especially since most home have a jar of mayo or what not.

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    1. I definitely tried things we wouldn't normally have made. And, Sam loves Asian & TexMex, so most of the meals are very much up our alley.

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  4. If I can find the great deal to get it to the $35 a box, I might give it a try when my daughter is home on her break, or this summer. At 20, she really does need to learn better cooking skills, and I think following simple directions would move her in that direction.

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    1. Definitely look around when she's home, because it's helped Nick in the kitchen so much. It's the ease of direction & bag of ingredients that make life easier for Nick, at least.

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  5. Thanks for the review! I have wanted to try it, here in Canada I think our menus are a bit different. I am trying to get kid#3 more involved with cooking. He’s coming along okay, but this could be fun!

    BKat

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    1. It is pretty fun for kids to experiment with cooking. It's gotten Nick so much more comfortable with making meals.

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  6. Thank you for sharing your review. I'm afraid a meal service wouldn't work for us, because I don't eat seafood and DH currently eats vegan. I would absolutely love to have some schawarma though. I haven't had any since I moved here.

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    1. The seafood you could work around for sure, but I think vegan may be hard to accommodate.

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  7. I've done Blue Apron in the past and am now using Hello Chef. I liked Blue Apron but LOVE Hello Chef. Great customer service if there is a problem and there are numerous recipes each week to choose from. They also have better customization for each recipe I think. I started on a referral and got $30 off to try and I was hooked :)

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    1. I've been impressed with the Blue Apron menu we've received so far. I really like the additional flavor that Hello Fresh tends to add to the meals.

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  8. I have a real problem with Hello Fresh in Australia as they are not ethical in the way they pay their staff who do the face to face marketing. Instead of being paid minimum wage they are paid on commission on their sales. Some staff do not make any sales due to being put on door to door sales in lower socioeconomic areas and can work for weeks for no money. They target young people who are looking for their first jobs.

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    1. Oh, that's terrible. I had no idea, and not the way it's marketed in the US.

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  9. I was used to ordering my meal from some local restaurants but one day I was searching some hello fresh reviews uk and there are various review I have read and made an order from Hello Fresh, My experience was actually good.

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