Hello Fresh Review and Coupon #hellofreshpics – September 15

We skipped a week of Hello Fresh and we were so grateful to have it back!  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. Hello Fresh is a subscription, but 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.  Take $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8. 

Hello Fresh recently redesigned their menu cards, and the 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.  Hello Fresh sends all the sauces, bouillon and such in individual serving packets or in off-the-shelf brand name packaging; although it means a little more packaging, they survive shipping better than the plastic cups used by Plated.

This week we also noticed a change in the seasoning packets.  They are now fully-sealed foil-lined paper packs instead of perforated plastic.  You can’t see through these, but I think they are better at sealing out air and moisture.

Tandoori Chicken with Julienned Apple Salad and Spiced Yogurt Sauce. 35 minutes, level 2, 616 cal.

The broiling and yogurt marinade produced a chicken that was remarkably similar to actual tandoori chicken — it was slightly dry, but very tender — like the real thing.  The salad was a surprise that was quite remarkable.  The green onions and granny smith apple came together in a pungent and tart vinegar-splashed medley that went well with the chicken.  The brave combo was delicious.  I don’t know if this warranted a level 2 difficulty, as it was pretty straight-forward and didn’t employ any tricky techniques.

Blackened Steak and Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Israeli Couscous, Pickled Shallots, and Roasted Red Pepper. 40 minutes, level 2, 804 cal.

This dish was killer.  The steak cooked perfectly for me.  I overdid the couscous by a minute or so (my bad), so the texture was softer than ideal, but the flavor combination was great — especially the golden raisins and pickled shallot notes.  The real star of the show, however, was the Romesco sauce, a divine pesto-ish blend of roasted peppers, garlic, spicy paprika, and almonds.  The optional Romesco preparation probably earned the level 2 difficulty, but a magic bullet made quick work of it. 

Asian Shrimp and Pork Wonton Soup in Pho Broth. 45 minutes, level 3, 548 cal.

The broth for this dish was absolutely delicious.  The pho concentrate alone seasoned it, and we noted that it had a great flavor without the crazy ramen noodle type salty intensity.  The wontons went together really smoothly — it helped that they provided a whole package of wrappers, so I didn’t feel like I had to overstuff them.  Using just a little mound of filling, I was able to make wontons that didn’t open when cooking.  They were very fragile, though, and a couple burst from my man-handling.  The ginger, garlic, and soy were shockingly mellow in the wantons, and a little extra salt inside would have been appropriate.  A very good overall dish — not that complicated if you are comfortable working with the papers.

This week’s dishes were high level (two 2s and a 3), but they weren’t all that difficult, despite the level.  The wontons probably came closest to earning the rating, as they can be fussy.  Very creative selections this week — good to see they are still being creative.  They did a good job of mixing it up, but still picking combos that worked.  Each dish had a component that we really dug.

Here are the selections for next week! Meal choices end Wednesdays at midnight.  Also, Hello Fresh seems to have revamped their interface a bit – it’s cleaner and easier to access the upcoming recipes!

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.  Although the names of the dishes are fairly lengthy and descriptive, it is also nice to have the ingredient list to get a fuller picture of the dish.

Visit Hello Fresh to select your box for next week!  Take $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8.Check out all our Hello Fresh Reviews and don’t forget to take a look at other Fresh Food Subscription Boxes