Hello Fresh – is it worth the hype? (Review)

 You’ve seen it on Instagram. You’ve watched it advertised on the t.v. You’ve heard it raved about by friends and family. Hello Fresh – the meal kit delivery service that offers weekly shipments of recipes and fresh ingredients to your door – has got its name well and truly known in recent years.

Hello Fresh is marketed as the solution for those who enjoy cooking a variety of tasty and nutritious meals from scratch but don’t want to waste precious time grocery shopping and meal prepping each week. Each box will prep you with the correct portion of ingredients, seasonings and sauces needed for each recipe so that you can get straight to cooking and avoid unnecessary food waste. There is a 31 meal menu from which you select 3-5 recipes per week (for 2-4 people) and can either choose each meal yourself or allow Hello Fresh to pick for you, making each week a surprise. You can cancel your Hello Fresh subscription at any time, or simply skip a week if you won’t be in.

The concept of Hello Fresh sounds amazing – I mean, who would turn down receiving fresh ingredients with new and exciting recipes each week and saving time grocery shopping and meal prepping? But, could Hello Fresh be a little bit too good to be true? Is there a catch? 

As if almost by fate, a 60% off voucher for Hello Fresh arrived in my recent delivery of Vogue Magazine, prodding me to discover the answer to my last question: is Hello Fresh worth it?. With a 60% off code, I managed to save over £40, paying just £26 for a box including 5 recipes for 4 people, which would normally cost £67.99 with delivery. This worked out at about £1.30 per meal which is incredible value for the food of the promised quality. However, without a discount code, that each meal averages at around £3.24 (excluding the £3 delivery cost) and so it is worth noting that you are paying a premium to have the benefits of avoiding time spent grocery shopping and planning out a variety of nutritious and tasty meals. However, even full-priced, compared to other popular food box services, Hello Fresh is very moderately priced. The price also seems reasonable when you consider that the ingredients promised by Hello Fresh are naturally more expensive, fresh vegetables, natural yoghurts and sources, herbs, garnishes, etc, and lacks the added preservatives present in a lot of store-bought food: 

My Hello Fresh Box arrived at half 9 in the morning. The box was sealed tight and every item was packaged well for delivery, the meat came armoured in bags of ice-cold water and in its own separate insulated bag (which succeeded in keeping everything cold). Overall, I was super pleased with the delivery process and I have to praise Hello Fresh for how effectively they packaged everything.

On your first box, Hello Fresh preselect all of your meals, and any other box you order afterwards you can select all of your meals from their monthly menu. Admittedly, I found the website a bit misleading as it seems to indicate that you can ‘select your meals’, and they don’t make it clear that this doesn’t apply to your first box. Here are the 5 meals that Hello Fresh picked for me:

Meal 1: Mango Chutney Glazed Spiced Chicken Breast With Cumin Bulgur Wheat and Roasted Carrots

Ingredients: red onion, carrot, natural yoghurt, mint, garlic, ground cumin, chicken stock paste, bulgur wheat, pasanda seasoning, chicken breast, mango chutney

Verdict: This was one of my favourite meals of the box – the flavours were delicious and the mango chutney added a nice touch. All of the ingredients were fresh and of high quality. The recipe was easy to follow and the entire meal took me about 40 minutes to make. Would definitely select this meal again!

Meal 3: BBQ Sausage Cheeseburger With Slaw and Wedges

Ingredients: Potato, pork and oregano sausage meat, panko breadcrumbs, spring onion, lime, coleslaw mix, mayonnaise, cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce, seeded burger bun

Verdict: This recipe was incredibly simple to make and tasted very flavoursome. The coleslaw, with its creamy freshness, acted as a nice balance to the BBQ cheesiness of the burger. 

Meal 4: Colcannon Cottage Pie

Ingredients: Potato, kale, beef mince, carrot, onion, garlic, spring onion, cheddar cheese, red wine jus paste

Verdict: I didn’t actually eat this meal (because I was sick of meat by this point – I don’t usually have it!), however, my family really enjoyed this and mentioned how delicious the flavours were.

Meal 5: BBQ Sausage Skewers With Cheesy Chips and Rocket Salad

Ingredients: Wooden skewers, potato, bell pepper, red onion, honey mustard sausages, BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, honey, cider vinegar, rocket

Verdict: I decided not to add the cheese to the wedges for this meal as I didn’t really think that it was necessary! My family really enjoyed this meal, not only because it was something that we wouldn’t normally make but also because the flavours were amazing (particularly of the honey mustard sausages). However,  I was slightly disappointed that this box contained two meals with ‘sausage’ meat because I’m not a great fan of sausage and it would also have been nice to have more variety. 

Pros:

– offers a variety of flavourful, nutritious and easy to prepare meals

– reduced-calorie, quick and easy and vegetarian options are available

– fresh, good quality ingredients and easy to follow recipes with  generous portion sizes

– convenient and time-saving

– reduces waste

– flexible subscription

– moderately priced/ cheaper than competitors

Cons:

– doesn’t meet all dietary requirements 

– no meal plans for stricter diets like vegan

– £3.99 shipping fee

Hello Fresh is a great option of you want a moderately priced meal kit that provides a variety of fresh ingredients for you to make appealing meals with easy cooking methods. If you value convenience and want to save time meal planning but still have a budget, it is certainly worth considering. However, if you