HelloFresh - Unboxing & Review
Click below to watch our Unboxing & Full Review Video!
Adulting is hard. I'm the kind of person who vacillates between completely having my life together and then, the next week, I need 2 full days to try and find some semblance of normalcy. This almost always comes as a result of spending $150 in one weekend on Grubhub. Love ya, Grubhub... but a girl's gotta pay her Verizon bill.
"Boxes" are huge. Beauty boxes, supplement boxes, food boxes, DOG boxes...I mean you name it, they box it. Meal boxes are not all created equally but HelloFresh seems to be one of the top companies providing weekly deliveries of pre-measured ingredients for recipes you select on their website. Their M.O. is simple; "Our mission is to combine healthy eating with convenience and introduce a more modern, relevant approach to meal planning and shopping."
Back to my struggle to act like a fully actualized human being, I wanted to test out the service and chat about my findings. Could HelloFresh help keep me out of Goddess & Grocer 4 times a week for lunch at my dayjob? Could I learn a few fun recipes and tricks? Is HelloFresh Good Sh!t? Let's dive in, friends.
CLICK THE LINK BELOW OR USE CODE FOXIE30
TO GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST BOX!
HOW IT WORKS
1. Signup at HelloFresh for weekly deliveries. Choose your delivery date, recipes, dietary restrictions/preferences, and number of meals. You're able to see all the steps, necessary tools/kitchenware, and nutritional information for all the recipes before you select them. There is no contract and you can cancel anytime.
2. An insulated, refrigerated box shows up containing meals separatedinto bags. A recipe card accompanies each meal and breaks down meal preparation into 6 steps. A nutritional information card is also included. Most of the packaging is eco-friendly and can be recycled.
3. You prepare the meals, utilizing a few staple items (salt, pepper, olive oil, etc.) and the pre-measured ingredients in each bag. Sometimes more of something is included (maybe 2 tbs of red wine vinegar are included when you only need 1) but most of the ingredients are included in the appropriate quantity, saving the buyer money and significantly reducing food waste.
4. Voila
THE MEALS
I wanted to choose 3 different proteins and types of meals to really try and get a good overall experience. I went with fish, chicken, and beef.
Tropical Fish Tacos
Observations:
Tilapia filets were very big (yass!)
Easy to prepare (even tho fish can seem intimidating)
Def enough for 6 tacos
(Pretend) Pro Tip:
Don't be afraid to squeeze a little lemon in the crema when you mix it and on the fish right before you serve it.
Cripsy Frico Burgers
Observations:
Meat seems very wet (maybe because of the fat content?)
Loved melting the cheese into a crispy cheese wafer. Ridiculously simple but fun and much more interesting than a standard slice of cheese on a burger.
Enjoyed making onion jam and realizing how simple it is to make something that sounds more difficult than it is.
Def filling
(Pretend) Pro Tip:
Fancy up your ground beef before you make your patties–Toss in an egg and some breadcrumbs, onion and/or garlic powder, maybe a Hidden Valley Ranch packet if you're really looking to treat yourself.
Mushroom Gravy Chicken
Observations:
Enjoyed learning to sear and the bake the chicken. Clever way to keep it moist but get a nice browned outside.
Couscous! Who knew?! Tastes good and has an interesting and welcomed texture (rather than the rice too many of us use as our go-to).
Great taste and less than 600 calories
Nice reminder that you can make a super simple salad with the right greens (arugula), oil, salt/pepper and a squeeze of lemon
(Pretend) Pro Tip:
I'm not a big fan of sour cream... but using it to make the gravy (as the recipe suggests) still yields and entire meal that is only 560 calories. Treat yourself to aalll the sour cream.
CLICK THE LINK BELOW OR USE CODE FOXIE30
TO GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST BOX!
Le Conclusion
I dig the simplicity of HelloFresh because I think it attracts people who don’t cook often or haven’t had the opportunity–out of fear of wasting food or royaly screwing something up–but I also love how someone with a decent amount of experience has an opportunity to learn something new... i.e. making a cripsy cheese wafer for a burger, how easy couscous is to prepare, or how to make an onion jam. I made an onion jam, folks. And a bacon jam a week later. This sh!t is opening doors.
I DO wish the recipes called for some additional spices. It'd be amazing if Hello paired up with Penzey and did some cross-marketing there. Most of the recipes are seasoned with salt and pepper and the occasional fresh herb. I get it, though... I GET IT–easier+less=better. But, and I say this whole-heartedly, I will never only make a cheeseburger with ground beef, salt and pepper. THAT is the burgers my mom used to make and that is a memory (love ya, Moms) that I never need to revisit. Ya gotta be willing to make the recipes yours and spruce 'em up a bit.
Overall, I think the quality is good. There might be a bruise on your apple or a dent in your lime, but who cares? There are plenty of people who don't even have an apple to dent so that shouldn't be an issue. Keep in mind that the product is NOT organic so you’ll need to wash your fruits and veggies. All that being said, If something is severely damaged they will “make it right, ASAP”
IS IT Cheaper than a store? I mean... probably? Everything is purchased directly from the supplier, at wholesale, and split up into (virtually) exactly the amount you need. So you get what you pay for, it's delivered right to you, and you are able to greatly reduce food waste. They also keep recipes seasonal so you get better produce for your money, all year-round.
I'm going to give HelloFresh the FoxieHeart stamp of approval.
Snag a box at HALF off by clicking any of the links in this post (like the one to the right) and see how you feel.
At $4.99 a serving, it's worth a shot, eh?
Comment below if this was helpful and let us know what you think of HelloFresh.
Until next time.
