Hello Fresh was such a good start to my experiment. As mentioned in a prior post, I embarked on the first part of my experiment: trying out products/services that I hear about on podcasts or see in ads. Hello Fresh seemed like a nice starting point because I wanted to get better at cooking and because I had been hearing about it SO much. I would say 90% of the podcasts I listen to regularly have featured ads for Hello Fresh. If you haven’t heard of Hello Fresh, it is a meal kit delivery service that provides instructions and portioned out ingredients to make at home.
My initial thoughts on Hello Fresh were that is was really easy, but a bit expensive. I did like that the boxes were kind of personalized (you can pick what type of plan you get– Connor and I got the plan that comes with 3 vegetarian meals per week and makes 2 servings). Other than those first impressions, I didn’t have any expectations.
Luckily, since I heard about Hello Fresh on so many podcasts, I had lots of discount codes to pick from to save money. With the code, I was able to save $80 over the course of 4 weeks. That discount really helped in making it seem more affordable and may have impacted my overall impression. After the discount, each week was anywhere from $30 to $50. Connor and I split this cost, so it seemed even more affordable. With the discounts and splitting the cost with Connor, I decided that Hello Fresh was worth the money.
The food is also a very important aspect of Hello Fresh, so that was something else I took into account during this experiment. We had a total of 12 different meals from Hello Fresh. I would say I really didn’t love 2 of the meals. They were still good, but they weren’t too different from something we would make on our own. I found that most weeks came with some sort of pasta dish, a rice dish, and then a more unique (at least to us– we normally have pasta or rice dishes) grain like farro or couscous.
I loved how many veggies were involved in the meals. There were usually 2-4 in each dish, which was great! I also liked that Hello Fresh covered all the details when it came to flavor. There were always seasoning packets, oils, cheeses, herbs, lemons, etc. to add more flavor to the dish. Those are the kinds of things I don’t always think of and won’t normally get at the store. Overall, the food was great and I really recommend the veggie plan. Connor and I always wished we had more of the dishes for seconds or leftovers the next day. Connor isn’t a vegetarian like me, so I think that says a lot about the dishes included. My favorite dish was “The Mediterranean Baked Veggies with Couscous.”
Lastly, I wanted to discuss the prep time and instructions that go along with each meal. I honestly expected prep time to be shorter. I’m not the best cook so a lot of dishes that had a prep time of 10-20 minutes took me 20-30 minutes. The overall meal and cooking would usually take an hour, so I am not sure if the timeline they give us super accurate. I also didn’t love how it says everything is in 6 steps. Each step included other steps within it, which I felt was a little deceiving, but overall I was happy to have good instructions to follow.
I would say Hello Fresh is worth a try if it is something you have been thinking about. Connor and I haven’t gotten it in a few weeks and I actually miss it. I think the main takeaways are that it’s great having the measured out/fresh ingredients, the meals are actually really yummy, and it does take a bit longer than it says on the instructions.
If you have tried Hello Fresh or any other meal delivery service, let me know what your experience was like. I would always be interested to try other brands!
