Hello Fresh Update, FAQs, and GIVEAWAY

It's been a while since I've written about Hello Fresh, so I wanted to do a quick update. We took a break from the service when Eloise was first born because I didn't feel like doing much more than assembling sandwiches. As time went on, though, Stephen and I both felt like cooking again. We're now on our second box since bringing home baby -- and it's lot of fun!

My favorite meal so far is this week's Charred Scallion + Corn Flatbread. Each portion was actually two huge pieces like this one. The pizza dough it came with was so bubbly and amazing. I wish I could get the recipe for it. You put the tomatoes and chives (mixed with lime juice) on after baking.

Yum!

Here's how we made this meal work for Ada (who HATES anything resembling pizza):


Basically, we put the veggies and salsa on the side with a serving of pasta (well, two servings -- we saved some for today's lunch). That's sort of our go-to substitution for her. That or some other side like rice. It helps make the box for two stretch to serving two adults and one child. However, there are also many meals she'll eat as they are.

Here are some other meals I've really enjoyed:

FAQs

I've received some questions about the service, so I thought I'd briefly answer the most frequently asked.

Is the food cold when it gets to your house? 

Surprisingly? Yes. For some reason, our UPS doesn't deliver until nearly 6PM, and even in the summer our food has stayed cold and fresh. They pack a lot of ice in the box, which seems to do the trick.

How long does the food stay fresh? Has anything been bad when you got the box?

The food seems to stay fresh for a week, so that's the time frame in which you should be cooking the recipes. I will say that some of the ingredients have gone south sooner (summer squash, for example), so we try to cook first whatever looks like it needs to be used. It's just a matter of peeking inside the box and planning accordingly. That being said, it's really not been much of an issue.

As far as ingredients being bad when we're received them -- it happened just once. The cilantro with one of the recipe was just mushy, gritty, and unappealing. But nothing else since then. Thankfully we had some extra herbs in the garden that week.

How long do the recipes take?

They all seem to be just 30 minutes with maybe 10-20 minutes of that being prep time. That's one thing I find so appealing -- it's FAST. I don't have any more time than that these days to cook. And, as a result, I'm able to learn some good recipes (I keep the cards) to make in the future to increase my library of fast meals.

Are the recipes repetitive?

They can be. Or, rather, ingredients can seem to be. I remember there were two weeks before Eloise was born where it seemed like feta was in each and every dish. I got a little tired of the cheese after a while. They also seemed kind of heavy on the tostadas, quesadillas, taco notes for a while. I didn't mind that terribly much, though, because each recipe did taste different with different ingredients.

The good news: You can see what recipes are coming up ahead of time and choose to pause delivery if something just looks boring to you. I am doing that for the next week because I see that they're serving a Mexican quinoa bowl, and I know how to make that myself.

Anything you don't like about Hello Fresh?

I wish they had more choices for vegetarians. You get what you get versus with the original box where you can choose which recipes you want for the week. Even if they had just one extra meal on the table so you could choose three of the four choices -- that would be great. There are some weeks I just say NO to the meals because I'm not enthused about one of them.

$40 Off Code + FREE Box

So, that's my update. I hope it helps. Like I've said in the past, I don't normally do box service things like these -- but I really think they serve a great purpose if you hit a rough or busy patch in life. We will probably do some more weeks of it during the school year when Stephen's coaching schedule is particularly heavy.

If you'd like to try it for yourself, you can get $40 off your first delivery.

Visit Hello Fresh and use code YCEAHR at the checkout.

I also have a FREE box of food to give away to one lucky winner.

• Leave a comment below telling me what your favorite summer meal is.
• I'll need your email address or some other way to contact you. 
• I'll announce the winner next Wednesday, August 10th.

Happy Wednesday!

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Trying Hello Fresh (Again) + Giveaway

It's no secret that we've been pretty busy these last several months. What I haven't told you is that many nights it's felt like we were drowning. I've been really tired, Ada's been cranky, and Stephen's been, well, coaching late nights and Saturdays. Nothing the typical family doesn't deal with -- but it was really taking a toll on family dinner time, which I think made the situation so much worse. Gathering together at the dinner table even just a few nights a week helps our family stay connected and sane.

Truth time: I slacked on making dinners, big time. And the dinners I was making were the same old ones I've been making for the last several years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But with food -- a rut is never good. We were bored. In desperation I went searching for help one night and then remembered that years ago I had reviewed Hello Fresh when they first unveiled their vegetarian meal options.

So, I decided to sign up for the service myself (so, this is an unsponsored review, just FYI) and see how it's changed over the years. I actually used a code from a friend and got $40 off my first order (more details later). Here's what we've been eating, what we think of the freshness/quality, and if we'll sign on to do more weeks.

Our Meals 

What I noticed first and foremost is that the packaging has majorly improved from when I reviewed them back in 2012. Everything used to be wrapped in plastic. Now much is in recyclable cardboard and some stuff, like kale, is just out within the box. So, that's a huge step in the right direction.

We get our UPS deliveries very late in the day (6PM), so I was concerned that the food wouldn't be fresh/cold enough with the heat wave, but it was just fine with the cold pack. And another change from 2012 is that I didn't need to be around for delivery. Score!

Here's what we got in our box. Everything was separated by recipe and all the instructions were clearly indicated on easy-to-follow recipe cards.

#1: Sweet Potato Niçoise Salad

I'm not big on eating a salad for dinner. But with all the variety in this mix -- and the lemon-dijon dressing -- I didn't feel like it was lacking. The veggies included: Sweet Potato, Persian Cucumber, Lemon, Red Onion, Parsley, Garlic, Chickpeas, Green Beans, Dijon Mustard Glass Jar, Grape Tomatoes, Spring Mix. The only thing with this dinner that frustrated me is that I didn't feel like it came with enough greens. This meal took less than half an hour to make and had 22 grams of protein per serving.

You can read more details here.


#2: Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl

This one was Stephen's favorite of the bunch. It was bursting with olives, feta, and kale chips. So many different flavors and textures. And then you have the quinoa, which is something that Ada loves to eat. This meal only took about 20 minutes to make and had a nice 17 grams of protein per serving.

You can read more details here.


#3: Rigatoni Al Forno

Oh, man, oh, man. You guys. I loved this recipe. And I don't really like pasta. Roasted eggplant is such a rich ingredient. Add that to big noodles tossed with homemade tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella? AND then you add a crispy topping of panko and parmesan? I was in heaven. This meal took around a half hour to make and boasted a whopping 32 grams of protein per serving.

You can read more details here.

Verdict?

Overall, we were impressed enough with the service to give it another week's try. We should be receiving our food tonight -- which means dinner is already planned! I have had mixed feelings about trying a service like this because I really do know how to meal plan. I've done it successfully for years. I also love and know how to cook my own meals. But I will say that the variety and fresh recipe ideas did inspire me to branch out a bit with the other meals in the week.

I guess I think these sorts of services serve a purpose. Like, right now we are really stretched to the max -- and I need help in this area. Once the baby comes, I could also see this being a good option for the first several months versus getting caught up in a takeout cycle. I also like that there's no huge commitment. If we decide to get back on track on our own, we simply pause/cancel the service by Wednesday. Done.

$40 Off Your First Delivery

Are you interested in giving a meal service like Hello Fresh a try? Like I said, I was resisting this whole trend because I felt like it was too expensive, especially considering I'd need to spend time cooking anyway. But it has turned out to be a bit of fresh air that we've needed to get back into the cooking routine again. It's definitely less expensive than takeout and -- being in my third trimester -- it helps motivate me to quickly throw something together so we can get back at family dinners.

If you'd like to try it for yourself, you can get $40 off your first delivery.

Visit Hello Fresh and use code YCEAHR at the checkout.

Or Win a FREE Box

I also have a FREE box of food to give away to one lucky winner.

• Leave a comment below telling me what meal services you've tried or how you've otherwise fought your way out of a food rut. 
• I'll need your email address or some other way to contact you. 
• I'll announce the winner next Wednesday, June 8th.

More soon!

Many of you seemed interested in this whole concept when I posted my meals to Instagram. I'll probably do another post on this week's delivery soon. I'll cover more about how we're fitting it into our tight food budget, as well as how we're modifying the meals to meet the needs of an athlete, a third trimester pregnant woman, and a hungry preschooler.

I may also pause my service and try out Blue Apron or another service sometime soon to compare. Do you have any suggestions?

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Hello Fresh: Vegetarian Boxes

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Hello Fresh is service that delivers recipes to your door. These recipes are "created by world-class chefs who ensure that your meals are delicious and easy to prepare within 30 minutes."

And some exciting news for us: These recipes now include tasty vegetarian meals.

Hello Fresh sent me a box of three meals to test out in our very own kitchen. Good timing, too, as we've been in a bit of a crunch with our renovation project taking over both our house and our time.

Let's take a look inside the box.


As for the vegetarian fare, here's what Hello Fresh currently offers: Lean and Green Veggie Pasta, Tofu and Shiitake Stir Fry, and a Virtuous Vegetarian Curry.


My favorite was the Tofu and Shiitake Stir Fry. All the flavors were there, which isn't always the case when we cook a weeknight meal. Ginger, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, all topped off with a delicious sauce and sesame seeds.

Oh, and rice! That's something we always want . . . but by the time we figure it out, we don't have 45 minutes to let it cook. The instructions reminded us to stick rice in the pot first, before starting anything else on the stove.


Some PROS:

• All ingredients are separated and labeled according to meal. This makes things super easy to identify at cook-time.
• The ingredients are comprehensive. Whereas we tend to skip things like sesame seeds or chopped nuts, fresh herbs or certain condiments to top off a dish -- they are all included . . . and make a huge difference!
• The meals are absolutely delicious. I told Stephen more than once that it was better than going out to eat. 
• And that's not only because they taste great. The actual process of cooking was fun -- the recipes and methods are simple, everything is portioned out and just needs to be cut and cooked. 
• The portion sizes are gigantic and -- after each meal -- I had leftovers for lunch the next day. 

Some CONS:

• Though I like how everything is labeled and separated, it creates quite a bit of packaging. I've been told by Hello Fresh that they are working on making things more environmentally friendly.
• I am excited to see these 3 vegetarian meal offerings, but I'd like to see more variety if I would ever plan to sign on and get the service regularly. I imagine since the offerings are new, there's more good stuff on the way.
• To receive the box, I had to be present to sign off on delivery. I don't know if this would be every week -- but if I worked outside the home, it wouldn't be convenient for me.

Other information:

• You can place a hold at any time -- giving you some flexibility. Free delivery
• No minimum duration (6 day notice period) if you just want it for a short period of time.
• Payments are deducted weekly (after delivery) versus all up-front.
• You can purchase enough food for 2, 4, or 6 people.

BOTTOM LINE: 

I really enjoyed cooking up our Hello Fresh meals. The package came quickly and everything inside was fresh and super organized. The experience of cooking and following the recipe cards was fun. And -- seriously -- the food was delicious.

I personally don't think I could justify the expense on a weekly basis all year long, BUT if I was working full-time outside the house OR if I had a busy month (cough -- newborn days??? -- right?), I could totally see taking full advantage of a service like this for a set period of time.

I also feel like it would make an excellent gift. But that could just be Christmas on the brain and the fact that I still haven't finished my own shopping!


TRY IT OUT:

If you would like to check out the service yourself, Hello Fresh has generously offered our readers a 30% off discount with code HF_Neverhomemaker. Code is valid until the end of January 2013.

Have you ever tried a delivery service like Hello Fresh? Or do you think you'd ever try one? Oh, and you can also check out the HF Facebook page for more information on their services, as well as chances to win cool stuff.

*** Hello Fresh sent me a box with 3 meals for 2. My opinions in this post are my own.

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