A meal kit delivery service was something I was really keen to try so when I was offered the opportunity to experiment with HelloFresh, I jumped at the chance.
Like many people, thinking of what meals to prepare every evening can be a pain. I invariably fall back on a small arsenal of never-fail recipes – something quick and easy – so it was a refreshing change to have the meal planning sorted.
So, what is HelloFresh?
HelloFresh is a meal kit (dinner) that offers weekly shipments of recipes and groceries that are easy to prepare and are delivered right to your door. Each box contains fresh produce and pre-portioned ingredients for each recipe on your menu and it’s easy to see which recipe card goes with which packs as they are colour coded.
Even though I knew in advance what meals I had ordered, it was still really exciting to receive my box of goodies each week. I would look at each recipe as I packed away the produce in the refrigerator and decide which meals I needed to prepare first. Each recipe card has information on how long each meal takes to prepare and if the meal needs to be eaten earlier in the week, it gives an indication such as ‘Eat Me First’ or ‘Eat Me Early’. One mistake I made with my first order was ordering too many meals that had to be eaten early!
What’s the process?
You literally log onto their website, decide how many people you are catering for and which of the eight meal plans you would like to choose meals from – Mostly Meat, Vegetarian, Family Friendly, Quick & Easy, Calorie Smart, Protein Rich, Flexitarian or Carb Smart. Within each category, there is a bit of flexibility such as choosing to avoid pork, beef or seafood. I did notice on the website that there are also options of For Busy Week Nights, For Special Occasions and the new Impress Your Guests flexible box size but I’ll have to leave these till another time to try out these options.
The system gives you a suggested food plan for the week but I preferred swapping the meals around and selecting from a range of 32 recipes. For a sweet treat, you can also order additional items such as desserts. Date night anyone?
I ordered five meals a week which gave me the option of doing my own thing for two nights. I did like the fact that you can skip a week or cancel anytime without any hassles.
Your box is delivered within a chosen time frame to a specified safe place on the day you select and you’re sent a reminder that a box is being sent to you and a text when it has been delivered, which I really appreciated. Everything is packed with ice blocks so everything remains chilled and fresh so there’s no need to worry if you’re still at work or out and about.
The great thing with HelloFresh is that almost everything you require comes supplied – from herbs and spices to sauces and mayonnaise dressings – so you don’t have any waste. Now and then you will need a pantry staple such as olive oil, brown sugar, soy sauce or eggs – each recipe states the pantry items you might need.
What’s next?
You will need quite a bit of space in your fridge so be warned! For the two of us, I needed two clear shelves to store everything. The ingredients for each recipe come in colour-coded, recyclable bags and the meat is individually vacuum-packed. The recipes show beautiful photos of what the end-result of your creation should look like(!) as well as the items you need (from the colour-coded pack), the pantry items you might require, how long the recipe should take and easy-to-follow directions and photos on the reverse side. For those watching their carbs or protein content, there’s also a breakdown of the nutritional value of the meal.
There is some prep required for each meal such as making a salad, peeling and chopping potatoes, etc. but I was grateful that the pumpkin came already cubed.
I opted not to have any recipes with beef but there was still a good variety of meals to choose from. Here are a few examples of the meals we enjoyed:
- Southeast Asian Chicken & Roasted Pumpkin with Coconut & Ginger Lemongrass Sauce
- Tex-Mex Spiced Pork & Spinach Rice with Avocado Salsa & Mayo
- All-American Crumbed Chicken Burger with Fries & Garlic Aioli
- Spiced Chicken & Caribbean Coconut Sauce with Roast Pumpkin & Veggie Toss
- Creole Chicken & Roasted Veggie Toss with Caramelised Onion Chutney & Mayo
There were a few recipes that were favourites so I’ll keep these and endeavour to recreate them in the future.
How much does HelloFresh cost?
As an example, if you order 3 meals for 2 people per week, that comes to $13.99 per serving.
There’s also a delivery charge of $9.99 so your total cost would be $93.93 or $15.65 per person. For me, that is quite pricey if you’re doing this regularly so we have limited the number of boxes to one per month.
HelloFresh regularly offers new users discounts on future boxes. We were also given coupons to give to other people – each would receive a free box of HelloFresh but the caveat was they had to be new customers – a really good marketing strategy, in my opinion.
So, is HelloFresh worth trying?
I have to say that I appreciated trying new recipes – the interesting flavours across a variety of cuisines were most enjoyable.
I really like the flexibility of the menu options and the fact that there are no lock-in plans. I also loved receiving a box of fresh produce delivered to my door each week. The fact that you are supplied with the exact amount of spice, sauces, etc. means there is no waste. You will of course still have to go to the supermarket for your other meals but once you’ve selected your menu for the week, you don’t have to wonder what you’re going to cook for dinner.
There’s a good variety of options to choose from each week so you should find something that appeals to all the family.
The meals are well-balanced and the portions are more than adequate. With most meals I had leftovers for hubbie’s lunch next day.
Any downsides?
You will need a lot of space in your fridge to store everything once you’ve unpacked the box.
There is a heap of plastic to throw away with each meal. The portion-sized pack of peanuts, mayonnaise, spices, sprig of rosemary, etc., all come individually wrapped in plastic and everything, except the meat/chicken – which come in their own individual plastic packaging – comes in a large insulated bag. The ice blocks are also plastic and those get chucked out too, although I have heard that some food missions welcome them so I will look into that option. There’s also the large box, but at least this is recyclable.
I believe HelloFresh is aware of these issues and has plans to use more recyclable packaging.
If you want to plan your order for the coming week and make changes, get in early otherwise you will have to go with their suggested menu.
Don’t order too many “Eat Early” meals – I made this mistake in the first week and had a few wilted veggies by the time I got round to eating them all.
We enjoyed HelloFresh over the heat of summer and I felt there were a few too many meals that included baked pumpkin or sweet potato which aren’t really food items you feel like preparing, or eating, on a hot summer’s evening.
All in all though, I am a convert and certainly intend ordering a box every so often for our household.