Hello Fresh!

Today I’m going to talk a little about yet another box scheme. It seems there’s a box subscription scheme for just about everything these days; I’ve already written about two snack box subscriptions previously but now I’m turning my attention to meal kit subscriptions.

Hello Fresh is one of two companies I’ve tried recently that sends meal kits to your door. You choose a type of “box”, a number of meals and a number of people you want to cook for (generally a choice between 2 or 4). The recipes change each week. Then Hello Fresh packs up every single ingredient you need to make the meal (with the exception of oil, salt and pepper) in the exact quantities you need, so there’s no waste, along with the recipe cards and get it to your door.

All the recipes are created by a chef and are designed to be nutritionally balanced, varied and simple. Typically it’ll take you about half an hour to prepare the meal. They also try to include a few ingredients you won’t find in your regular supermarket.

You can choose from classic, veggie, family and Christmas boxes. It’s a good idea for people who have the sorts of jobs that mean they struggle to plan meals or get to the shops. I’m not one of these people but I just fancied giving it a try. I ordered a Veggie box which contained 3 meals for 2 people for £36. Postage is included in the price of the box.

My meals were Baked Tofu with Peanut Satay, Courgette & Quinoa Burgers and a Moroccan Spiced Lentil & Chickpea Soup. All the ingredients were carefully packed, in great condition (no wilting coriander here) and clearly labelled so you knew what was for each meal. The recipe cards were also nice and clear, gave you the nutrition content of each meal and had plenty of pictures so you knew what it should look like at each stage, perfect if you’re a beginner or less confident cook!

Step by step

All the meals were extremely tasty and easy to make but the portion sizes were huge! Each was meant to serve 2 people but I easily got three portions out of each kit. Bonus!

Spicy Lentil and Chickpea Moroccan Soup

I think the concept is good and the kits and recipes are well presented and thought out. You pay for convenience here so as someone who is generally good at planning and shopping, and can be a bit thrifty, I wouldn’t be paying for these regularly, but a friend of mine, who is one of these high flier, work 15 hour day type people, tried the service and it really suited him.

The other service I tried was Gousto, which differs only in as much as you have a small element of choice over the recipes you get. The only reason I’m featuring Hello Fresh as opposed to Gousto is because I forgot to take photos of the Gousto product.

If you fancy trying Hello Fresh then you can get £20 off your first box by using the code 5SQQ2V when you place your order.