HelloFresh: Turning ordinary people into chefs

I never meant to write this blogpost – I have too much on my to-do list but my husband and I were so impressed, I thought it would be rude not to; I’d seen HelloFresh’s stands when they’d just started out and thought the idea was good but not for me – after all, I knew how to cook and I didn’t want to be constrained by having to cook certain meals. I’ve since seen them at various other shows and flyering at tube stations and never been interested. However, an email offering me a FREE HelloFresh box piqued my interest. Especially as I’m pregnant, hungry and have run out of ideas for what to eat (and apparently Magnums aren’t considered dinner).

Ok so I lied. The HelloFresh box actually cost me £1. I think they have to charge that in order to get your subscription set up, which they make you do as part of the deal. The HelloFresh box I ordered was the Veggie Box for 2 people, with 3 meals; £6 per person per meal or £36 in total if you’re paying full price.

I always find it exciting getting big packages (especially of food) through the post and this was  no exception. Our 3 recipes were a Tofu Stir-Fry (Jamie Oliver recipe), Samphire Paella and a Coconut & Spinach curry. The husband was a little put out as a) he’s not a tofu fan and b) the paella didn’t have any meat in it. I was up for them all! I wouldn’t normally turn into a control freak (that’s Tom’s job) but for some reason, I separated the ingredients for each meal so that it would be easier to get them out the fridge when the time came. It did and I would highly recommend following my genius time-saving idea.

Together, we made the tofu stir-fry (I orchestrated, husband chopped – he’s very good at chopping) and were pleasantly surprised that it was filling enough for us both and, as Tom commented ‘This tofu is really tasty!’ I’m not entirely sure why he said this, as I’ve made tofu plenty of times before and it was also delicious. Hmm. We even cracked out the chopsticks for the first time in the 5 years we’ve had them. What surprised me about the stir-fry was that it used egg noodles, which I’d not normally use, and included ingredients such as water chestnuts (nope, would never think of using those either). Texture and taste were both spot on.

After our tofu success and because I was feeling pretty rubbish, Tom gallantly declared he’d make the coconut and spinach curry one lunch whilst I had a nap. The recipe said it would take 35 minutes. An hour later, it was ready. “WOW! YOU CAN MAKE CHAPATIS!” was the first I said when lunch was served. “I CAN MAKE CHAPATIS!’ Tom agreed. Even several days later, he’s happily declaring this to anyone who will listen (mainly the cat and I). And indeed, he can and did make chapatis and jolly good chapatis they were too. The curry was also delicious, even if he thought he’d cooked the lentil too long.

Being a rather diplomatic couple, the last meal was mine to cook. The paella! I’m a massive paella fan but a veggie paella? I wasn’t so sure about this… The recipe said 30 minutes to make. So I left myself 30 minutes exactly. It took 45 minutes and I made Tom late for his basketball practice. HelloFresh, I’m blaming you – I think I’m quite a speedy chef!

Our HelloFresh box was finished and we were sad! We’d followed the recipes religiously and made three delicious meals. It’s rare that Tom raves about things but he and I were both surprisingly impressed by the ease and tastiness of HelloFresh. Time-saving and convenience are high on our list of priorities and this was both. With the deal, it was also a steal. Both of us agreed that it was something we’d do again.

What we enjoyed about HelloFresh

• HelloFresh made us use ingredients in ways we’d never have used them before – like samphire in a paella… who’d have thought?!
• We experimented with different types of dishes.
• Tom can cook chapatis!
• We learnt some new cooking techniques.
• The recipes were pretty much foolproof.
• Having all the ingredients pretty much pre-measured out for you means that they’re so easy to cook and it makes cooking a meal quicker.
• Recipe books are great for inspiration but it’s easy to be put off some recipes if you don’t like individual ingredients (I’d never normally put olives in a paella) or don’t know where to buy them (we have a fishmongers near us where we can buy samphire from but as far as I know, most supermarkets don’t stock it).
• It made mealtimes interesting – we were constantly intrigued to see what the meals would be like.
• We didn’t have to think about what to cook, which right now, is taking up too much brainpower which we just don’t have.
• Even though we ordered the Veggie box, only one of our meals was actually vegetarian – the others were vegan! Bonus.

Final Thoughts

HelloFresh worked well for us that week as we were in quite a lot, otherwise it’s quite rare for us to have 3 meals together in a week that are home-cooked. However, I’ve since cancelled our subscription as not only have we just got a Gourmet Glow food delivery but with a baby on its way, we imagine we’d want meals that don’t even require preparation. That’s not to say we won’t go back to HelloFresh, especially if they have another great offer, once things calm down a bit.

Fancy trying Hello Fresh for yourself?

Enter the code F-6GAJ32 at checkout at www.hellofresh.co.uk and you’ll get £25 off your first HelloFresh box. And I’ll get £12 credit. Support my need for delicious dinners and use my code!