Since becoming empty-nesters last year, I’ve struggled to find my cooking mojo.
The husbear and I both work long hours. So, the last thing we feel like each evening is having to think about what to cook, and then checking if we have the ingredients – and that’s before we even start the meal preparation!
Judging quantities has also been tricky as we have been used to cooking for a crowd for so many years (and often trying to stretch a meal out at the last minute, to cover one or two unanticipated extras at the dinner table).
At the same time, we’re not huge fans of takeaway – which is just as well given that most of them are laden with salt, fat, sugar, etc. We much prefer home-cooked meals. If only there was something that was somewhere in the middle. Something convenient, nutritious, tasty, and not too expensive!
When we were in the thick of selling and moving house, we tried Lite N Easy for a time. While I definitely loved the convenience, I wasn’t so sold on the taste. Many of the selections are frozen meals and that’s exactly what they tasted like – ho hum. To try to boost the flavour, many of the options are highly spiced and I just can’t eat them.
At Christmas time my sister-in-law told us about how they were loving Hello Fresh, and it did sound pretty tempting. What sealed the deal for me though was when she emailed me a couple of weeks’ later with a coupon for a free trial Classic box. Yes please!
Being a good blogger, I made sure to take lots of pictures and notes so I could share my experiences with you 😉 .
The Pros:
- Is your mouth watering as you check out some of the photos in this post? Trust me, it tasted even better than it looks! The husbear and I were blown away by how YUMMY everything was.
- I’m a fairly picky eater, as I shared in my Lite N Easy review post: I don’t like any form of seafood, or anything that’s spicy. What I love about Hello Fresh is that even though the chilli flakes or spices might be supplied, you don’t have to use them.
- I loved not having to “think” about what to have for dinner, and that 99% of the ingredients were supplied.
- We thought the price was reasonable for us as a couple – it worked out to around $10 per person per meal. I could totally see us signing up for 3 or 4 meals a week.
- It introduced us to some great new flavours and meal ideas which we can potentially replicate, even when not using Hello Fresh.
- I looked forward to a new cooking adventure each night – though I can’t help wondering if that would wear off over time?
- Out of the four recipes I used, I thought three were well-written, easy to follow, and stepped through preparations in a logical order which is great when you are unfamiliar with them.
- There are a number of meals to choose from. Not sure how often these are updated, variety is always welcome but at the same time if you really like a meal it would be a shame to not be able to order it on a fairly regular basis.
- Just the right amount for two hungry people (who are struggling with portion control). Husbear in particular was pleasantly surprised, he thought the servings might be a bit light-on!
- Exact quantities: how many times have you bought an ingredient for a recipe, only to use a teeny bit – with the rest often going to waste.
- The meals were so colourful! And any nutritionist worth their salt will tell you to aim for a rainbow of colours on your plate.
- My end result actually looked like the pictures! See for yourself:
The Cons:
- There were no leftovers and it was so yummy we wouldn’t have minded that at all! (Probably better for our waistlines, although leftovers do make an easy lunch the next day.)
- Life happens and gets in the way of meal plans. On the last night of our Hello Fresh plan, the kids all came over for dinner so I didn’t end up following their recipe. Instead I used most of the ingredients (plus some of my own) to make a tortilla stack to feed the tribe.
- Cooking with Hello Fresh does tend to lead to lots of dirty dishes and pans.
- The coriander supplied for one of our meals was noticeably the worse for wear by the time we got to it later in the week. This wasn’t a problem for us as we hate coriander but if you’re a fan, I imagine it would be disappointing to have to throw it out.
- The amount of packaging. Every ingredient for every meal was packaged up separately, which seemed like a waste, even if much of it was enviro-friendly or recyclable.
- There was an assumption that you already had certain “staples” on hand, which in the case of olive oil, soy sauce or eggs I completely understand. But we didn’t have rice wine vinegar, and in fact have never had it in my pantry in my life. (And yet the meal kits provided rice – surely that’s a pantry staple if ever there was one?!)
- This is a subscription-based service so even to access the free trial you need to enter your payment details – and it is incredibly difficult to work out how to unsubscribe. Clearly I’m not the only one as it is a popular search in Google! My tip: use your Paypal account as that’s a simple way to cancel a recurring payment, though you will still get sad emails and texts wondering where you’ve gone …
I thoroughly enjoyed testing out Hello Fresh, and think that it is ideal for empty-nesters like us.
But I couldn’t help but wonder: what would a nutritionist think about their meals? So, I asked the lovely Bev Dorgan from Avana Wellness for her feedback:
From a Nutritionist
- I love that it is convenient for people; so many clients complain of not having time to cook a proper meal so hello Fresh takes the stress out of organising what to eat.
- It’s great that Hello Fresh generally uses a variety of ingredients, including herbs and spices thus increasing the range of nutrients that people get – rather than just meat, potatoes, peas and carrots!
- Lots of people don’t eat quality protein in main meals which is vital for your body, and the Classic plan includes a good source of protein in many of their recipes.
- Some of the recipes are quite mouth-watering and far from bland! Avoids the boredom that many people find with their “usual” meals. – a better option than most takeaways.
- The Hello Fresh meals are often a better than frozen alternatives or pre-cooked meals.
It’s not all good news though, here are some of the things my friendly nutritionist wasn’t so keen on:
- When I tried it out, the serves of veggies were woefully low; definitely need to add extra veggies to the meal plans or add your own steamed veg or big salad.
- Some of the recipes are too high in carbs, for example the risotto or gnocchi.
- I think that it is quite expensive for those families that are on a budget.
The Overall Verdict
After considering all the pros and cons, Hello Fresh gets a definite thumbs up from the Middle Aged Mama household.
I know that next time I am going through a bored and unmotivated cooking stage I will be more than happy to order Hello Fresh again – though I also wouldn’t mind trying some of the others that are on the market, eg Dinnerly, Marley Spoon etc.
Have you tried Hello Fresh or any of the similar companies – and what did you think?
NB This post is NOT sponsored in any way; I just wanted to share my experiences with you.
I live alone, so it was nice to have dinner and then leftovers for lunch. However, I felt like the prep time and the packaging were both WAY too much.
Recently I’ve been deciding on 2-3 meals for the week, grocery shopping, and then spending 2-3 hours prepping. Sometimes I’ll do everything and just reheat (I love, love, love leftovers) and sometimes I’ll have the basics made and then cook up the veggies at the last minute. It’s so easy to know there are things in the fridge to eat. It makes it much more attractive than ordering out – at least most of the time!
Sometimes I do have to buy a special ingredient, although I try to stick with recipes where they use the basics. This past week I spent $7.79 USD on a jar of chipotle spice. I could have used paprika and chili powder, but decided to get it. It’s SO GOOD! I will be using it in everything so it was well worth it!
I’ve sometimes wondered if my eating (and cooking) habits would fall by the wayside if I was on my own. I like your plan though, and I agree, leftovers are the BEST!!!
That was an interesting read Janet – I’m afraid at $10 per person it is wayyyyy out of my budget for family meals. I would spend less than half that (with leftovers) for evening meals for my husband and myself. I guess it challenges you to cook new things, but so does a cook book. Because I’m home more and we take turns cooking, I’ll be giving it a miss, but it was good to see what was on offer (I see a lot of it advertised online).
It’s certainly not an “every night” option due to the cost. But, it’s cheaper than eating out and various takeaways, and better for us, so we thought 3 nights a week is doable.