If, like me, you regularly find yourself frantically searching through the fridge at five o’clock, looking for something to cook then signing up to a meal delivery service like HelloFresh could help.
HelloFresh
HelloFresh is officially the most popular meal kit delivery in the world. Delivering approximately a billion meals last year to customers across the globe, they’re on a mission to change the way people eat forever.
With HelloFresh’s commitment to providing every household with wholesome, homemade meals – no shopping and no hassle – efficient service, high-quality ingredients and a great experience are guaranteed. Not only do their pre-portioned ingredient boxes make it easy to whip up fresh and tasty meals in minutes, they also help you save money and reduce food waste.
They offer plenty of healthy and low-calorie dishes, perfect for gym goers and people watching their waistlines. And, to the delight of anyone trying to track their macros, all the recipes come with detailed nutritional breakdowns.
The Ordering Process
The first thing which I noticed ordering from HelloFresh was the huge range of recipes available to choose from (over 37) which change ever week. Their purpose built app makes the ordering process incredibly simple, allowing you to select meals, track deliveries and customise your box at the touch of a button.
Unlike some other subscription services, HelloFresh boxes also makes it super easy to pause or reschedule deliveries so that you only get the meals you want at the times you want them. As a student, this works great for me as I might order more meals on weeks when I know I’m going to be particularly busy, and can easily skip ones where I know I’m going to be out a lot and not at home to eat.
Another thing I really appreciated was the ability they give you to customise certain dishes, such as swapping in a different protein. For example, it cost just 0.49p/serving to switch to chicken breast instead of thigh which seemed a very reasonable price to pay for a leaner, slightly healthier meal to me.
The Meals
In the end, I decided to go for a selection of 3 dishes from HelloFresh: Baked Sambal Chicken Skewers; Quick Chermoula Chicken and Bulgogi Chicken Stir-Fry (all meals which looked suspiciously like chicken and rice… not exactly imaginative choices from me!)
The box arrived on my doorstep as scheduled, well-packed with recyclable materials which had managed to keep all the ingredients both cold and protected from any damage they might otherwise have encountered on the way. The ingredients for each recipe came pre-portioned and split into individual bags marked with the corresponding recipe:
Hungry, I dived straight in and started preparing the Sambal Chicken Skewers, keen to try this sweet and spicy offering. HelloFresh suggested the whole process would take 40 mins from start to end but I reckon it was even quicker than that – only taking about 30 (however, being too inpatient to wait for the oven to preheat, I did cheat a little and grill the skewers instead of baking!):
Review
In my opinion, the end product was divine. Although, being quite picky about my meat, I did initially have some reservations about the quality of the chicken, it turned out to be really moist and tender in the end. The marinade of sambal, soy and ketcap manis was the real star-of-the-show, with a sweet and smoky flavour and slight chilli kick, which went well with the garlic and lime jasmine rice.
For me, HelloFresh definitely lived up to it claim of being ‘good for you, better for the planet and best for your wallet’. The meal was easy to make, tasted great and whilst the ingredients weren’t *quite* as fresh as the ones I’d choose at the supermarket, you really can’t beat the convenience of ready-to-use foods. I also didn’t have to go through the hassle of shopping and the meals cost a lot less than if I’d made them from scratch too.
With their 60% discount for new customers the entire box worked out at only £16 – or around £2.63/meal – a total bargain compared to eating out, getting a takeaway or even buying a ready meal!
TL;DR
Taste: 8/10
Quality: 7/10
Convenience: 10/10
Price: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Ultimately, I was impressed. With HelloFresh’s meal delivery boxes you really do get the best of both worlds: the ease of pre-prepared food with the sense of satisfaction that accompanies a home-cooked meal.
Wonder how much does hellofresh cost? You can get 60% off your first HelloFresh box with the code HELLOGF60
