My Completely Honest Review on Hello Fresh

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This summer I had the opportunity to try Hello Fresh for free.

I had our first box delievered to our hotel when we vacationed in North Carolina, this summer. The hotel had a small kitchenette and I thought this would be a good way for us to save money on meals.

The meals were to be delivered on the day we arrived, however the day came and went and they never arrived. The next day the box arrived. I was a little bit worried wondering where on earth this box had been sitting while it was not delievered.

Everything in the box was still cold however, the salmon we had ordered was out of the package, and all of the salmon juices (isn’t that lovely) was all over the bottom of the box. It was gross.

We were able to ascertain what was still usable and threw the rest away. We called Hello Fresh and they were kind enough to credit us for another box.

That night we made their Korean Beef Bibimbap. Even though there were 4 of us and the recipe was for 4, there was a ton left over! So we boxed it up in the fridge for lunch the next day.

The next evening we made their pork carnitas recipe which again was very good.

Cooking in the hotel it was so convenient to have the Hello Fresh meals because when you need something, say, sour cream for instance, I didn’t have to go buy a big thing of sour cream that I would have had to throw out at the end of the trip because I have no where to put it and nothing to do with it. They send you only what you need.

Also, our kids ate everything we put before them. I don’t know why but if I had tried to make korean beef on my own they would have turned their noses up to it but because it had the novelty of being Hello Fresh, it was fun and exciting for them to try.

When we got home we reordered meals, this time choosing meals for 2, thinking, okay, if the portions for 4 were huge then maybe we can get by with the meals for 2.

When the food came it was like angels from heaven had delievered that box because we came home from a weekend at the lake and were talking all the way home how we didn’t have anything out for dinner…and then there was a Hello Fresh box on our porch.

We were so excited, we tore that baby open, chose a bag of fresh ingredients off the top and a recipe card. I got to work cooking and Nick got to work trying to find room in our fridge for all the Hello Freshness. Everything was going great until he got to the bottom where the meat was. Our 3 recipes needed beef and pork and instead there at the bottom was shrimp, salmon, and lobster ravioli. Needless to say, again, the meat had let us down.

So Nick had to run to the store to buy steak so I could finish our recipe. We called and again they very graciously refunded our order so we could order again. I was dissapointed again in our box but happy with the customer service we received.

Our third box came and all of the recipes were good. We did have a few rotten produce items. That was the only thing I could complain about in the box if I was complaining. I figured out of three boxes, we were just going to call this a good box.

So that has been our experience with Hello Fresh. You can see we had a bit of a unique experience in that 1) we had to get three boxes before we got one with meat we could use and 2) we used the boxes not just at home but also in a tiny, hotel room kitchen.

Here’s a Summary of our experience:

Pros

• It is super nice to have the exact ingredients you need and not have anything left over. No measuring!

• Almost everything you need is included in the box. Some simple things were not included like oil, salt, pepper, and sugar. When we were staying at the hotel I was able to find these things in the breakfast area in the lobby by grabbing some butter pats, salt and pepper packets, and some sugar packets from the coffee station.

• The recipes are new and exciting to try. If you have picky eaters this might be just the thing to inspire them to try a new recipe.

• All of the recipes we’ve tried were super yummy.

• All of the recipes incorporate veggies into them. Like the name “Hello Fresh” suggests, the recipes are all flavorful and fresh with veggies.

• The meals do not take a long time to make.

• The recipe cards are easy to follow and written in every day english.

• The recipes are fun for kids to help with. Older kids could even make almost everything themselves. It would be a good part of a curriculum if you are teaching your kids how to cook.

• All of the meal ingredients are distributed into bags, one for each meal so you don’t have to try to figure out what is for which meal.

• When you open the bag you can use the bag for all of the food scraps and empty food packaging which makes cleanup a breeze.

Cons

• As you read above, several of our boxes had something wrong with the meat. Basically you are putting the safety of your food into the hands of the company and the delivery company.

• I’ve heard this from friends regarding Hello Fresh and I can say it is true…you use a lot of pots and pans to prepare the foods. This is not a one-pan meal kind of thing.

• You do need some basic items when you are cooking that are not included in the box including things like oil, sugar, salt, and pepper.

• The ingredients are not organic.

Ultimately…

Will I be using Hello Fresh again? Probably. I will definitely be using it when we go on vacations where we have access to a kitchen because it is cheaper than going out to a restaurant.

It is super easy to make and is very convenient for weeks when our family is on the go constantly and doesn’t even have time to go to the grocery store, let alone plan meals.

It is expensive but if you like to cook but never find time to meal prep then it just might be perfect for you.

Want to try Hello Fresh?

I have a code Hello Fresh has given to me to share with you! Use code “THEWITW” and you can save $40 off of your first box!

Click here to check out the Hello Fresh website. Create your account, choose your meals and enter the code “THEWITW” in to save!

Some of their discount codes are split up through the first few orders you get but this is off your very first box you get so this is an amazing deal!

If you decide to try it out I would love to know what you think! If you are going to be super busy this upcoming holiday season, this could be for you. Marching band, soccer, dance classes all in one night? This would be great for you!

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