I was referred to Hello Fresh by a lovely lady I know through a Facebook group. She raved about the fact they deliver the just the right amount of ingredients for the planned meals in a box for either 3 days or 5 days, and there is no wastage. They do boxes for 2 or 4 people, 3 or 5 days, and you can view the upcoming weeks recipes here and put your deliveries on hold if you don't fancy the meals.
I was intrigued, she passed me a code for £20 off my first box which took the total of a 5 day box for 2 people down to £29 (usually £49).
Now at £49 a week I was dubious. Could I buy the ingredients for 5 days worth of meals in a supermarket for £49? I concluded that actually, I probably couldn't unless I spent hours scouring the aisles or a good hour in front of the PC ordering a long list of items from Tesco/Sainsburys/Waitrose. And inevitably the one supermarket you're doing the online shop with never has 1 or 2 ingredients so I have to venture out to get them anyway. Also unless you have a great local butcher, you have to buy a big packet of mince etc, instead of the exact amount the recipe asks for. Its all a bit of a hassle for someone as busy as I am, so Hello Fresh offered to take the hassle on for me and provide me with everything I needed.
I waited with anticipation for the first delivery. I received an email to say it had been shipped overnight and would be delivered by APC Overnight the next day by 4pm. Brilliant I thought. So the box arrived at work around 10am. I started to worry about whether or not the ingredients would be ok in the box at the back door until 5pm. It hadn't been warm, but I didn't know what to expect. I needn't have worried, they pack the ingredients with a wool type material and lots of ice packs (that you can refreeze and reuse for picnics or lunches!) The wool insulates the ingredients and helps the ice packs keep everything cool, so far so good!
I got the box home. Be warned, they can be particularly heavy so I learnt that walking a fair way to my car with it was HARD WORK! I started to unpack the ingredients when I got home and was really impressed. No supermarket online shop bashed fruit or barely in date veg here. It was perfect. The box was split in to 'zones', tins and dried food at one side, meat and veg/perishables at the other. It made the box a dream to unpack! You get a welcome pack and the 5 recipe cards to follow for the meals, sometimes you might even get the odd freebie (I've had organic juice, strawberry jam, raw food bars and some lovely sea salt and peppercorns in my boxes).
You get at least one vegetarian dish out of the 5 for the week, which if you're like me is fine, but if you have a house full of serious carnivores you might struggle. I just added a bit of leftover chicken to my veggie dish which was fine. Just as an update, there is a plan to enable you to swap one meal if you don't like the sound of it, this is only available for the 3 meal boxes at the moment, but should be available for 5 meal boxes soon.
The meals are tasty and take no longer than an hour tops to prep and make from scratch. I found the most time consuming aspect is the chopping and prepping, which if you have a mini chopper or food processor, this would take much less time.
There's always a good mix of meat and fish, and the meals are really filling. I have enough for at least 3 meals from my 2 person box, so there are always leftovers for lunches or quick dinners if one of us isn't in. I forgot to mention the little brown paper bag of bits you get as well, so if your recipe requires a herb or spice or even some grated hard cheese, they pop all these pre-weighed bits in the brown paper bag in their exact quantities. Genius!
I would recommend these boxes without a doubt. Worth every penny and I even found myself BETTER OFF at the end of the first month as I hadn't wasted anything and I hadn't splurged on opportunist bits in the supermarket. I've popped a picture of my favourite meal on from the boxes I've had. Find the code for £20 off your first box below. Enjoy!
Butterflied Chipotle Chicken with Re-fried Beans and Avocado, Coriander and Pepper Salad
£20 off code - enter with your first order at Hello Fresh - YW9Y5V
