I ordered Hello Fresh; here’s what happened
I never justified using Hello Fresh because who wants to spend $90 a week on dinner when you can get free delivery on uber eats when you spend $15 or more at Nando’s? That all changed when my friend Miles was like yo Goober, here’s a free box. What was I gonna do? Say no? You can set your plan to cater to either two or four people, choosing between three, four, or five meals per box. I chose three meals for two people, meaning I get two servings of each meal (perks of being single). You get to choose your meals two weeks in advance. I chose parmesan crumbed chicken, sweet and sticky chicken thighs, and the leek and feta chicken.
Here’s a quick few tips to note before you start your order:
If you decide to continue your subscription, SET A REMINDER TO PICK YOUR MEALS! Because of who I am, I, 1) forgot to cancel after my free box and was charged for my next one and 2) didn’t have time to pick my meals and got stuck with some subpar options for next week.
If you live in a share house and are only allocated one shelf in the fridge, either reconsider Hello Fresh or start working on your Tetris skills (three large brown bags and a large sack of foil containing all the meats and cheeses, which I then figured out you can just disperse into the relevant parts of your fridge).
3. Be sure to pick a delivery time where you’ll actually be home. This is especially important if you live in an apartment complex. The delivery person didn’t ring my doorbell and instead left it in the lobby which luckily my roommate picked up within minutes of it being delivered. I wouldn’t want anyone stealing my week’s worth of food.
Anywhomst as someone who literally SUCKS at cooking, is too LAZY to cook, and will delay doing her dishes for as long as possible, Hello Fresh really did teach me a thing or two. Did my meals turn out edible? Did I give myself salmonella? Did I set the house on fire? Keep reading to find out!!!
Sweet and sticky chicken thighs (with garlic-ginger rice and veggie stir-fry)
I may not be a culinary genius but I know what garlic and ginger tastes like, and that rice did not feature either. Maybe I didn’t use enough, maybe my palate is just desensitised to anything fancier than maccas fries, but I swear I was eating plain basmati rice. The chicken HOWEVER, ooooooft! Tossed in a Moroccan inspired blend and topped with a sweet chilli sauce, talk about a WAP (wet ass palate). I don’t fuck with snow peas so I opted to leave them out, but damn who knew sautéed carrots on their own was a one way trip to FLAVOUR town. Overall, 7/10, did not contract salmonella.
Parmesan crumbed chicken (with sweet potato fries)
Brooooo when I tell you Jamie Oliver better watch out, I mean it. This was UH-MAZING. Think chicken schnitzel but on steroids and that is what I got. I’m not even a fan of aioli but it was the icing on the cake. Once again I’m a novice veggie eater so I substituted the green beans for a Woolies leaf mix along with more sautéed carrots. I was saddened the next day however to find out that the leftover chicken microwaved is NOT it. This meal would’ve been a 10/10 if only I knew how to slice sweet potatoes in a way that actually resembled fries. I don’t know what method of slicing I used but they just weren’t the desired level of crisp. Overall, 9/10. Still no salmonella.
Leek and feta chicken (with rosemary roasted sweet potato and veggies)
Who would’ve thought leek and feta would be SUCH an iconic duo?? Not me. It was pretty outrageous for me to try this combo but I’m so thankful I did because this chicken absolutely SLAPPED. The feta melted all over the chicken and into your mouth and the leek added a tang you didn’t know you needed. I had roast potatoes saved from the night before so I used those and decided to save the sweet potatoes for another night (I was still recovering from my soggy sweet potato fries dilemma). I used the spinach provided as a source of greens but I think I’ll stick to having spinach in my smoothies where I can’t taste them as much. Blegh. Overall, 8/10, and went a whole week without contracting salmonella.
The recipe cards are SO easy to follow and have written in bold font what ingredients you need for which step and how long to cook it for. There is a more specific table of contents on the recipe card that labels out the exact measurements for each ingredient. Some recipes call for your own pantry items such as olive oil, flour, and eggs, and the measurements required for each are also included. Each recipe card also has an image in the top right corner that correlates with the image on the meal kit, so you know which meal kit is for which recipe. However, the big sack of foil I previously mentioned has each recipes “cold” ingredients combined so you’ll have to fish through the ingredients and the different recipe cards to figure out what is needed for which meal.
I have a lot of what I like to call “supermarket anxiety” so my favourite thing about Hello Fresh is having everything already portioned and packaged for you, so you don’t have to worry about not having any of the ingredients (something I have struggled with when trying to cook recipes. Like oh shit I don’t have cheese guess I better throw the whole dish out). A big negative to this however is the copious amounts of plastic that is included within the package. All the sauces, cheeses, meats, and vegetables are individual wrapped which accumulates to a Mt Everest of rubbish, as opposed to buying the ingredients in bulk with minimal wastage.
In conclusion I ask myself, will I try Hello Fresh again? I am still undecided. Probably. I have a few discount codes handy I might get around to using but who knows. Overall, I do love convenient and yummy meals without having to worry about what I’m going to eat every night or worrying about making multiple trips to the store, but at what cost? ($10.99 per serving to be exact).