Thanks to an invitation through Tomoson review site, we had the chance to try HelloFresh meal service. (https://www.hellofresh.com) We have been looking for a meal delivery system to break us out of our menu boredom, and to teach me a few cooking skills. Watching the FoodChannel makes me want to master culinary arts and put together fine cuisine!!
I have to say up front that HelloFresh did not disappoint. We enjoyed two very good meals and are ready to try more, once vacation time is over. Using the same template as my previous review, we will look at specific aspects of the plan.
Meal Plans - HelloFresh offers three types of plans, Veggie, Classic and Family. The Veggie plan can be for 2 or 4 persons, and offers 3 meals per week. The Classic plan is for 2 or 4 persons, and offers 2, 3 or 4 meals per week. Each of these plans cost $9.99 per serving. The Family plan serves 4 persons 2 or 3 recipes per week at a cost of $8.74 per serving. For us, the Classic Plan for two people, 2 meals per week, came to $39.96 / delivery (+$7.99 shipping).
Within the meal choices there are a few premium ones that cost more - they include prime meats or expensive seafood, and there are Dinner2Lunch recipes that will provide a dinner and a lunch from the ingredients, which also have an additional charge.
Menu - With our plan, we were given 9 meal choices each week, some of which are premium. There was a good variety of meats, vegetarian dishes, pasta and sandwiches, and the premium and Dinner2Lunch options always look great! We chose one Premium meal - lobster ravioli - just to see if it was worth the extra charge, and it did not disappoint! (We agreed that we would buy the ravioli alone if it were offered in a store! And that HelloFresh should offer such ingredients on the side!)
In addition to the lobster ravioli dish, we chose a pork chop with cherry sauce. The combination of flavors in both dishes was wonderful. The ravioli were accompanied by a sherry cream sauce with chorizo, a new ingredient for me. The cherry sauce for the pork chops was sweet and had lemon zest for a bright, tart bite - wonderful!
These were definitely dishes that I would not have prepared without the help of HelloFresh, and we have added them to our collection of "must repeats", if we can find all of the ingredients. That is the other bonus to this plan; they bring together just the right amount (and sometimes a teeny bit more of) ALL of the fine, fresh ingredients for each recipe; by using just a bit of each, we would otherwise waste much of we would need to buy to prepare these dishes.
And each dish was ample enough that we ate our fill and had a bit left over for the next day. This is not the case with all meal services. Also, the plan made it very easy to look ahead at menus, and to suspend delivery for weeks ahead.
Delivery - Free delivery is pretty much the norm for this type of service. Delivery was on time, no problems.
Packaging - HelloFresh at least makes an attempt at responsible packaging. The ingredients for each meal are packed separately in paper sacks that are reusable or recyclable; the insulating packaging is recyclable (if our recycling company would recognize it and pick it up!!) and is made from recycled plastic bottles!! And it's clean and easy to handle. There are still the small packs and bottles and cups for individual ingredients, but most are recyclable; I wish that the ice packs were easier to recycle!
Recipes - The recipes are accompanied by great color photos, which helps stumbling chefs. Terms are explained, and I only had only misstep when the recipe forgot to tell me to chop parsley beforehand. The steps are so clear and easy to follow, that my plates actually LOOK LIKE the pictures on the recipe cards!!! How cool is THAT?!?
Measurements were clearly explained, and if I was given more of an ingredient than I would need, I was given suggestions of ways to use the leftover.
Nutritional information - Each box comes with a full sheet of nutritional information for all of the meals for that specific plan for the week. Like other plans, it gives nutritional data for the ingredients before they are prepared, and as it would be served. I still have no idea why.
Additional --HelloFresh must also offer a wine subscription, since the recipes include a suggested wine symbol. However, I was not pressured to subscribe to the wine-of-the-month, as I have been with other plans. I was frequently offered discount coupons to share with friends, which is cool, and received several emails asking about my service and opinion. It appears that HelloFresh wants to know how they are doing, and what they can do better, from the surveys that I have completed.
Summary - We were very impressed. The meals were creative, delicious, and taught us new ways to cook and serve (I learned a new way to prepare couscous quickly!) We were given a good variety of meals, and they appealed to different tastes without being overly spiced or similar. Service was great, recipes are easy to follow. We will be back after we go on vacation and try a few other services for the sake of this blog. I recommend this one, though, to anyone thinking of trying a meal service!
I have to say up front that HelloFresh did not disappoint. We enjoyed two very good meals and are ready to try more, once vacation time is over. Using the same template as my previous review, we will look at specific aspects of the plan.
Meal Plans - HelloFresh offers three types of plans, Veggie, Classic and Family. The Veggie plan can be for 2 or 4 persons, and offers 3 meals per week. The Classic plan is for 2 or 4 persons, and offers 2, 3 or 4 meals per week. Each of these plans cost $9.99 per serving. The Family plan serves 4 persons 2 or 3 recipes per week at a cost of $8.74 per serving. For us, the Classic Plan for two people, 2 meals per week, came to $39.96 / delivery (+$7.99 shipping).
Within the meal choices there are a few premium ones that cost more - they include prime meats or expensive seafood, and there are Dinner2Lunch recipes that will provide a dinner and a lunch from the ingredients, which also have an additional charge.
Menu - With our plan, we were given 9 meal choices each week, some of which are premium. There was a good variety of meats, vegetarian dishes, pasta and sandwiches, and the premium and Dinner2Lunch options always look great! We chose one Premium meal - lobster ravioli - just to see if it was worth the extra charge, and it did not disappoint! (We agreed that we would buy the ravioli alone if it were offered in a store! And that HelloFresh should offer such ingredients on the side!)
In addition to the lobster ravioli dish, we chose a pork chop with cherry sauce. The combination of flavors in both dishes was wonderful. The ravioli were accompanied by a sherry cream sauce with chorizo, a new ingredient for me. The cherry sauce for the pork chops was sweet and had lemon zest for a bright, tart bite - wonderful!
These were definitely dishes that I would not have prepared without the help of HelloFresh, and we have added them to our collection of "must repeats", if we can find all of the ingredients. That is the other bonus to this plan; they bring together just the right amount (and sometimes a teeny bit more of) ALL of the fine, fresh ingredients for each recipe; by using just a bit of each, we would otherwise waste much of we would need to buy to prepare these dishes.
And each dish was ample enough that we ate our fill and had a bit left over for the next day. This is not the case with all meal services. Also, the plan made it very easy to look ahead at menus, and to suspend delivery for weeks ahead.
Delivery - Free delivery is pretty much the norm for this type of service. Delivery was on time, no problems.
Packaging - HelloFresh at least makes an attempt at responsible packaging. The ingredients for each meal are packed separately in paper sacks that are reusable or recyclable; the insulating packaging is recyclable (if our recycling company would recognize it and pick it up!!) and is made from recycled plastic bottles!! And it's clean and easy to handle. There are still the small packs and bottles and cups for individual ingredients, but most are recyclable; I wish that the ice packs were easier to recycle! 
Recipes - The recipes are accompanied by great color photos, which helps stumbling chefs. Terms are explained, and I only had only misstep when the recipe forgot to tell me to chop parsley beforehand. The steps are so clear and easy to follow, that my plates actually LOOK LIKE the pictures on the recipe cards!!! How cool is THAT?!? 
Measurements were clearly explained, and if I was given more of an ingredient than I would need, I was given suggestions of ways to use the leftover.
Nutritional information - Each box comes with a full sheet of nutritional information for all of the meals for that specific plan for the week. Like other plans, it gives nutritional data for the ingredients before they are prepared, and as it would be served. I still have no idea why.
Additional --HelloFresh must also offer a wine subscription, since the recipes include a suggested wine symbol. However, I was not pressured to subscribe to the wine-of-the-month, as I have been with other plans. I was frequently offered discount coupons to share with friends, which is cool, and received several emails asking about my service and opinion. It appears that HelloFresh wants to know how they are doing, and what they can do better, from the surveys that I have completed.
Summary - We were very impressed. The meals were creative, delicious, and taught us new ways to cook and serve (I learned a new way to prepare couscous quickly!) We were given a good variety of meals, and they appealed to different tastes without being overly spiced or similar. Service was great, recipes are easy to follow. We will be back after we go on vacation and try a few other services for the sake of this blog. I recommend this one, though, to anyone thinking of trying a meal service!
Comments