HelloFresh, Week One: A Review
I told y'all it was coming.
Yes, today, we received our first HelloFresh box! In case you didn't read my last blog post and you're wondering what this is all about, let me quickly explain.
HelloFresh is a meal kit company similar to Plated and Blue Apron (and others, I'm sure). It's at least partially run by celebrity chef/nutritionist Jamie Oliver, who I'm a big fan of, and includes boxes of ingredients for 2 - 5 meals per week (the number of servings included varies based on your preferences). You receive fresh ingredients, including meat (if you so choose) and spices, as well as recipes to help you prepare your meals. This is a weekly subscription box and fees range from about $49 to $129 depending on how many servings and how many meals you pick.
For our family, we chose 5 meals per week that will serve 2 people. Our daughter gets lunch and dinner from school, so she typically only wants something small in the evenings. And we figured there will probably be leftovers, regardless. Maybe not much, but enough to sustain her if she's peckish.
Today was the start of our subscription (which, by the way, you can cancel at any time; you can even skip weeks). For the most part... I'm impressed.
My Initial Thoughts
We signed up for recurring Wednesday deliveries. Receiving our meals in the middle of the week works for us, because it ensures that we get through the weekend without resorting to takeout (we seem to be laziest on Saturdays and Sundays). Our main goal is to eat healthier and feel healthier through this program (and save money on groceries in the process). I can't vouch for whether or not HelloFresh meets that goal yet, but the math seems sound.
Anyway, UPS tracking originally said we'd receive our package on Thursday. I freaked out a little because I'd read that some customers were having difficulty receiving their packages on time. I e-mailed HelloFresh and didn't get a prompt response, so I tried calling. The representative who helped me was great and told me Florida routinely has an issue with the tracking showing up wrong, but that she'd check with their logistics team, just in case. A few minutes later, our shipment was confirmed for Wednesday and there was a $10 credit in my account for the inconvenience. Talk about customer service!
UPS Quantum updates later informed me the package would arrive today between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. It was at our door by 11:20 a.m. and cold as ice. Some of that can be attributed to the cooler weather here, I'm sure (40s this week! D:), but regardless, the ice packs inside seemed to have done their job.
Two seconds after we set it on our kitchen table, this happened.
Look at that magnificent fuck.
Well, the cats seemed to approve. But it was time to open up the box and see what was inside. With all the ingredients purportedly fresh, I was a little concerned about quality and whether or not they'd end up spoiled.
My fears were soon assuaged... well, mostly.
Part 2: The Unboxening
Talk about organization!
Each box contains the specific ingredients for one recipe, all of which you can pick from on HelloFresh's website. They come in white boxes with labels, so you know what's what. I didn't get a picture of it, but underneath these white boxes are huge packs of Nordic Ice, and beneath those are the meats (if you chose to order any), which are separated from each other in plastic. Not a bad setup.
Despite being able to see the ingredients through that little window there, I strongly recommend opening up each box to ensure everything is there, and that none of it is in questionable condition. After investigating each box, we found the arugula for one of our recipes had spoiled. I understand salad greens are prone to moisture, but this was straight-up slime.
Ever played Mass Effect? You know what the Collectors did to their hostages once they were inside those pods? Yeah, that's basically what our arugula looked like.
Ugh. Gross.
That was disappointing, because we actually needed arugula for two recipes (chicken Milanese with arugula salad, and some weird sweet potato concoction that I'm not entirely sure about still). Thankfully, there was a second bag in there that hadn't spoiled, but we're still down an ingredient for one recipe.
That being said, all of the remaining produce seems fine, if a little... ugly. Some reviewers have mentioned that sometimes, the vegetables seem like they've been purchased from grocery stores that typically throw out items that look unappetizing, and after this box, I'm tempted to agree. I don't really have an issue with this—the produce, like the sweet potato below, is totally edible and not even remotely close to spoiling—but I do feel a niggling sensation of annoyance that we're paying $99/week while receiving bargain bin items. Part of the allure of HelloFresh is that we won't have to go to the grocery store very much anymore, since they'll do the produce shopping for us. Only if it was me who was doing the shopping, I wouldn't have picked a sweet potato that looks as if it's been partially peeled already. When your company is justifying their prices with lines like, "we'll do your shopping for you," I would expect a higher quality.
Allow me to say it again, though: there's nothing wrong with this, freshness-wise. It's just ugly as sin and it irks me, given the amount we've paid for this service.
Everything else was in good condition. I really can't complain. The meats, in particular, looked fantastic. And to my surprise, the shrimp was shipped fresh, not frozen. It was also already peeled and deveined, which saves us some work. Additionally, though I didn't get a picture of it (sorry!), the butternut squash one recipe calls for had already been chopped. This made Ryan pretty happy, since he hates chopping squash.
When checked for freshness, there was hardly any smell and their color looks great. A note attached to one of the white boxes told us we should make the shrimp meal first, and I agree. I was glad they mentioned it, because it's hard for me to keep track of when certain foods are past their prime, and it would be a shame if this went bad.
Likewise, the chicken looks great. We took it out of its package to freeze it, since we likely won't be eating it for a couple days, and there was no strong smell and the color was good.
And who can forget about the steak? I certainly can't. It looks amazing. As someone with anemia, I enjoy the occasional steak. I'm really looking forward to making this tomorrow.
Sausages! I love sausages. And these look great. Good color, no noticeable odor. Looks exactly like what I'd get from the store.
In addition to the food, you get a recipe book. What's neat about the booklet is that you can easily tear the recipes out along the perforated line, or you can leave them in. It's your choice! And of course, since you're making the food yourself, you can reuse the recipes any time you like, even if your meal kit doesn't include them on the week you've got a craving.
Tomorrow night's dinner. It looks amazing.
Final Thoughts
We haven't made any of the recipes yet, so it's hard to say if we're totally satisfied with HelloFresh yet, or not. So far, so good. All but one item arrived fresh, as their name would suggest, and I'm happy with all but one meal choice (I learned later that you can sub out options BETWEEN boxes—i.e., we could've subbed a meal from the Classic Box for one of the meals from the Veggie Box—so this shouldn't be a problem in the future), so I have high hopes. I'll update again once we've had the opportunity to try all the recipes, see how filling they are, how flavorful they are, and if it actually impacts our grocery bill or not.
One thing I want to quickly mention: I've seen a lot of complaints about portion sizes not being big enough. I will probably disagree with that. In America, we have a huge (no pun intended) issue with oversized portions, and I think that criticism is coming mainly from people who are used to our tendency to overeat. I don't think having smaller portions is a bad thing, since one of HelloFresh's aims is to make people healthier, although I realize that one's mileage may vary if they're serving up meals to kids or teens.
As of right now, HelloFresh seems worth it. Especially if you're health-conscious or just sick of going to the grocery store for hours at a time. I've had great experiences with their customer service and as of this blog post, I'm interested in continuing with their program.
If you're interested in trying HelloFresh for yourself, use this PROMO CODE for $40 off your first box! The best part is that to my knowledge, it doesn't expire: 2P8E8P
(Full disclosure: using that code means I get $20 off my next box, too, so while I could get something out of the deal if you sign up, that has not affected my review. I would never recommend something I don't believe in, and if you'd rather wait until I update my blog with details of how the week went, that's fine too. I was not sent anything for free or at a reduced rate for this review. Trust me, guys... I'm not popular enough to warrant that kind of treatment yet!)
I just found out my next Try the World box (Thailand) should be here Friday, so you can expect more updates from me then! I got the Paris Box yesterday, so I'll be reviewing both at the same time, and I may even have some writing news for you guys. Be sure to check back with me soon!
