December 2015 Hello Fresh Review and Coupon

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.  

This week was an installment in HF’s Guest Chef Series, featuring Chef Shail Zandi of the Brushland
Eating House.  We typically get a dinner for two, plus a bit for lunches the next day — though most recipes would make a superb high-end snack kit to pair with wine, serving 6-8 snack portions. Take $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8. 

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 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.  Our box arrived with thin, corrugated cardboard and paper as insulation — it works well, given the cooler weather and the number of ice packs provided, and it is much easier to recycle than alternative packaging.  

A while back, they switched from bagging the individual recipes to providing a small box for each recipe, each being nestled atop ice packs within the outer shipping box.  This has been an excellent way to go, and they seem to be sticking with it.

Meat and fish is segregated in the bottom of the box, completely covered with ice packs.  This keeps the meat fresh and chilly, and it also prevents freezing of the veggies or meat leakage on to the produce.

Turkey & Sage Tetrazzini with Sweet Peas, Mushrooms, and Parmesan Cream Sauce. 30 min, level 1, 696 cal.  This was a very satisfying pasta dish.  The turkey made for a flavorful and light protein, while the cheeses added a bit of richness.  The sauce absorbed readily, so the finished dish was not very wet.  The fresh sage was the thing that really transformed the dish, imparting a nice, fresh flavor.  To accomodate mushroom haters, I cooked them on the side, and they made a delightful accompaniment.

Soy-Glazed Steak with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes and Sesame Spinach. 45 min, level 2, 751 cal.  I loved the soy glaze and thought it added a blast of flavor to an otherwise fairly pedestrian, but tender, steak.   Brandy thought the sesame spinach was the best part, the toasted seeds creating a nice textural and flavor contrast to the soft spinach.  The wasabi potatoes worked really well.  I have had the combination in the past, and I never found it to work quite right — but this version seemed to incorporate the wasabi in a way that worked with the potato, perhaps owing to the added cream cheese.  

Tuscan Ribollita with Kale, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan Croutons. 35 min, level 1, 938 cal.  This was our favorite dish of the set.  We made it first, and we were under the weather a bit when we did.  This hot soup was just thte thing to set us right.  The broth was simply packed with flavor, and it had a rich, almost velvety texture.  The beans and slightly spic sausage added heartiness to the dish, with the sharp kale creating a great counterpoint to the richness of the broth and creamy beans.  The crunchy, oily, and salty bread was the finishig touch, adding just the right textural note to the dish.  This was a truly wonderful rainy night meal!

This was a nice set of meals — hearty, but not heavy.  The HF did a great job of balancing each meal to be satisfying and full of flavor, without going overboard on the richness.

Here are the selections for next week! Meal choices end Wednesdays at midnight. We’re super excited that Jamie Oliver is coming 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.  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.