HelloFresh February 2016 Review and Coupon

This week we hit the trifecta of heavenly ethnic eats, with Japanese street food, a German-Southern fusion pork dish, and a really nice chili.  Hello Fresh is a meal kit subscription box where you’ll get the recipes and ingredients to make 3 meals for two (or 4) every week. If needed, you can pause your deliveries and choose alternate meals (at least for the Classic box). There’s also a vegetarian box available. This is a solid meal subscription box with easy and accessible recipes.  We typically get a dinner for two, plus a bit for lunches the next day (or the better part of a meal for our young kids, when the food is mild).   

FYI Hello Fresh has a new family box – 3 meals for 4 people that at 8.75, is the lowest price per meal on the market.  If you don’t crave too much variety you can always get this box and cook things twice for two. Or, try out the 4 or 5 meal box.

Our box arrived with a reflective bubble-walled cooler bag to insulate the food — I suspect that is the insulation of choice for when the weather is either very hot or very cold. Each recipe is boxed separately, nestled atop ice packs within the outer shipping box.

Hello Fresh‘s menu cards have detailed instructions are super easy to follow.  It has nice illustrations, is clearly written, and even lets you know nutrition info, prep time, and which recipes are best to make first to optimize freshness of perishables.  I like the boldface on specific ingredients — it makes it easier to grab everything you need at each step.  Hello Fresh sends all the spices, sauces, bouillon and such in Hello Fresh branded individual serving packets or in off-the-shelf brand name packaging, so there are no repackaged items to leak or pop open in transit.

Our three recipe boxes.  The separate boxes organize the ingredients and protect the more delicate veggies from freezing and bruising.

The meat is packed separate from the rest of the ingredients.  It is always buried under a pile of ice packs.  Even in the warmer months, the meat stays super cold.  Right now, the meat pretty much arrives frozen.

Chicken Yakitori with Pan-Fried Chuka Soba and Green Beans. 721 cal, 35 mins, level 2.

This is a delightful redux of a favorite dish from last year (or earlier perhaps?).  It was so perfect that no major adjustments were needed.  The spicy and sweet glazed chicken and chewy, oily noodles are an awesome combo.  It is amazing how tender and perfectly cooked the broiled chicken turns out — my prior attempts at broiling chicken never turned out so well, and I’m not sure if it is the quality of chicken or the preparation that makes the Hello Fresh skewers turn out so well.  The noodles in this year’s version were a thinner and fresher style of pasta.  They got a little clingy when first thrown (uncooked) into the pan, but they worked beautifully.  Green beans were added as a nice veggie.

Brown-Sugar Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Wedges and Brussels Sprout-Apple Hash. 566 cal, 30 mins, level 1.

To me, this dish is a German and Louisiana hybrid that really hits the mark.  The tender pork is crusted in blackening seasonings and brown sugar, so it develops a sweet bit of crust and has a BBQ feel to it.  The sweet potato fries are a classic Southern touch, and they cook surprisingly well in the oven (I did cut then closer to Pont Neuf than the suggested steak fry wedges).  The hash was really delicious, with really well balanced citrus, tart, bitter, and sweet notes.  For some reason, it gives me a German vibe, perhaps because it pairs so well with the pork and stands in as a sauerkraut/cabbage upgrade.

Smoky Beef & Poblano Chili with Kidney Beans, Cheddar, and Sour Cream. 762 cal, 30 mins, level 1.

I was happy to see a spicy, hearty chili made with BEEF!  We received black beans instead of kidney beans, but the substitution was welcome.  This smelled incredible and tasted even better!  It also came with plenty of cheese and sour cream for the top!

There was a code to get your first Graze box free with $1 shipping – get the same deal here with this link.

Below are the selections for next week!  Meal choices end Wednesdays at midnight. We’re super excited that Jamie Oliver is contributing recipes to Hello Fresh!

You can click on each dish and get the recipe information, including calories, ingredients, and difficulty levels.  We like having this info available beforehand, as it allows us to avoid meals that we think are too involved or require to much time for our schedule that week.  We can generally tell from the names of the dishes whether we will love them or just like them, but we occasionally click through to peek at the details — it’s handy for avoiding fussier dishes during busy weeks, or limiting the number of, say, mushroom-heavy dishes if that’s not your thing.

Visit Hello Fresh to select your box for next week!  Take $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8.