You have to have been living under a rock to have not heard of Hello Fresh, the meal preparation service which has taken social media by storm. I was unsure of whether to believe the hype around it, but when a friend offered me a discount code which allowed me to only pay for delivery for my first box, I figured what the hell, I may as well give it a go.
I went online and chose which box to get without knowing what I was doing. I don’t have a huge amount of time at the moment, with lots of activities for me, the kids and our puppy Bella during the week, and I have been a bit out of practise cooking for the past few years, having taken a backseat and allowed Ed to cook the majority of our meals, so I went for the Quick Cook box.
I decided to get the box for 2 people, as the children are very fussy eaters, and I wanted to be a little adventurous with my meal choices. Picking the meals was really fun, although I was a bit unsure of which ones I would like, so I did play it a little safe with my first choice – a pasta dish. For my second meal I went for sausage burgers, with homemade wedges, which looked so good, and then the wild card – a lamb and aubergine curry.
I wasn’t going to be in when the delivery came, so I asked for it to be left to the side of the house. I was impressed that the packaging kept everything cool, even though it was a hot day, but I made sure to still put everything that needed to be in the fridge away straight away. The ingredients are all measured out to minimise food waste, although I did notice that there was quite a lot of plastic packaging, which isn’t so great for the environment, although the box and inner packaging said it was recyclable, at least. I liked that everything was packaged in paper bags for each meal, making things super simple and saving time working out what I needed for each meal. The handy recipe sheets that came with the box also helped me to see what I needed for each meal.
When it came to cooking each of the meals, I found the recipe sheets really helpful. They have handy step by step instructions, which are illustrated, to make it easy to follow, even for those who haven’t cooked before, or are out of practise, like myself. I loved that everything was the right amount for the recipe, it made things so simple and I actually found myself enjoying cooking, which I didn’t think I would.
The meals themselves were all delicious. I was really proud of myself for cooking dishes that I wouldn’t usually attempt, and I will definitely be giving the curry, in particular, another go, as it was incredible. I am not a huge fan of aubergine usually, but it was really tasty, and complemented the lamb mince.
So, is Hello Fresh worthy of the hype? I think it is, yes. I am being more experimental with my food choices, I have been enjoying cooking again, and the food all tastes lovely. I have already ordered my second box and cannot wait for it to arrive so that I can get cooking again. The price is a little steep for 2 people, and more so if you are cooking for a bigger family, but I think it definitely saves time, and is brilliant for those busy weeks when you need to know you are going to have a nice, home cooked meal at the end of the day, without the temptation of a greasy takeaway, which would probably cost just as much as the box does.
Have you tried Hello Fresh? What are your thoughts?
