HelloFresh is one of the many meal subscription services in an ever-expanding market. In a nutshell it’s a flexible recipe delivery plan, promising tasty and easy to cook meals delivered right to your door every week. It’s an extremely popular service with influencers and I’ve seen my fair share of sponsored content advertising the brand.
I’d been interested in trying HelloFresh for myself for several months, but convinced myself it was just a bit lazy. However, 2020 has been unlike anything we expected. It has been utterly terrible for so many people, and back in March when the UK was on the cusp of going into lockdown, some food in the supermarkets was starting to get a little scarce.
Let me just jump in here with a HUGE disclaimer to acknowledge the extremely privileged position I am in that the availability of food has not been an issue in my life before. Something which I am extremely thankful for every single day.
Along with the food availability, the stress of supermarket shopping in a pandemic and recent move into a new home, it provided the perfect time to give HelloFresh a try. Now, I can cook. I would go as far to say I’m a pretty decent cook, I can follow recipes no problem as well as having the ability to whip up a good dinner with whatever leftovers you can find in the fridge and the back of your cupboard. It’s more the meal planning that I struggle with, that and making good healthy choices after a stressful day at work. We’ve now had 7 weeks of HelloFresh meals and, spoiler alert, I think it’s absolutely great.
Quality and Variety
Each week there’s a new selection of meals to choose from, with a variety of categories; rapid (20 minutes or less), family friendly, vegetarian, balanced, generally there will be something to suit most families. The app lets you easily see all the ingredients, as well as calories per serving if you care to know, as well as step by step instructions for cooking – you also get a paper copy in your box. The quality of the produce has always been great, absolutely no complaints. If there is ever an ingredient missing you can just send a message and they will credit your account a decent amount.
For the past seven weeks we’ve been getting three meals a week, which suits us well but you can choose more or less. The meals we’ve had ranged from a simple beef ragu, mango chicken wraps (one of my favourites), teriyaki beef with jasmine rice to roasted cod and beef burgers. There hasn’t been a meal we haven’t enjoyed and it’s taken the stress out of that dreaded question “What shall we have for tea?”
Value for Money
There’s no denying you could buy all of these ingredients in the local supermarket and create the same meals at a lower cost then what HelloFresh charge. Like most things you’re paying for the convenience. The price varies a lot depending how many meals you have, but it’s very easy to find a discount code online, especially when signing up for the first time. So if you are interested, definitely look around for a code first. It’s also very non-committal as you can skip any week you like or cancel at any time, a big positive in my book. Just as easily you can add more meals or add on extras such as fresh bread, desserts and wine. Ultimately if it’s worth it is an entirely personal choice, totally dependent on your finances. For me, for now, it’s worth it (especially using a discount code!)
Final Thoughts
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every HelloFresh meal we’ve had over the past seven weeks, as has my boyfriend, otherwise known as the picky eater. I don’t know how long we’ll continue to get the deliveries but for now it’s made evening meals enjoyable and has expanded our tastes.
If you’ve been considering HelloFresh I would say this service actually lives up to the hype! The meals are tasty and easy to prepare and you can just enjoy cooking without worrying if you have the right ingredients, or just generally pondering what you can cook. Have you tried HelloFresh? Or would you consider it? Let me know down below!
Talk Soon x
June 9, 2020 @ 6:20 pm
Omg these meal pics look incredible – I’ve always felt tempted to try HelloFresh since I get into cooking ruts. Once I have a steadier income, I’ll have to try out the HelloFresh service!!
June 10, 2020 @ 11:42 am
I’ve always loved the look of HelloFresh and always wanted to try it but I’ve been wary of the price. But like you said, you’re paying for the convenience. I love that you can skip weeks at any time – that’s a huge positive! All the HelloFresh meals look amazing!