Hello Fresh Review and Coupon – December 1 2015

Hello Fresh was a textural masterpiece this week, using starches to create perfect bites for the tongue and tooth.  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 — 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.  As I suspected, last week’s unique packaging was short-lived, and were are back to reflective-coated bubble wrap.  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.

Smoky Chicken Fajitas with Charred Pepper and Onion, Garlic-Lime Crema, and Quick-Pickled Jalapeno. 40 min, level 1, 673 cal.

This fajita hit all the right notes, smoky seasoned chicken, onions and peppers, cheddar cheese, jalapeños, and sour cream — just the kind of fajita I make when left to my own devices.  The real twist was the transformation of the sour cream in to lime creme, adding a bright citrus splash to the dish.  The quick-pickling of there jalapeño didn’t really change its impact, but it did add a nice flavor to the lime juice, which I then used to make the crema!  This meal didn’t challenge our preconceptions, but it was dependably delicious.

Seared Steak and Crispy Potato Salad with Tomatoes, Green Beans, and Shallot Pan-Sauce. 35 min, level 2, 549 cal.

The potatoes didn’t crisp for us, but they did make a nice creamy base for the potato salad.  This part of the meal tasted good, but it was a bit of a jumble.  The steak with shallot reduction were superb — Hello Fresh always has really nice cuts of meat.

Seth’s Asian Pork Dumplings with Quick-Pickled Veggie Salad and Soy Dipping Sauce. 45 min, level 3, 705 cal (alternate selection).

Again, the salad portion of the meal was so-so, doing little more than adding some crunch.  The dumplings were wonderful, with both great flavor and texture.  I was surprised at how well they held together, as the wrapper appeared to become very thin and delicate during the steaming phase of the cooking process.  Every dumpling survived intact (I credit the brand of wrapper provided — it had sufficient flour on it to seal well when wetted).  The prep time for this meal may have been a little wishful — my pan is large, but not enormous, so it took three bathes to do the initial frying, plus I had to do two batches for the steaming phase.  This was after preparing the dumpling filling and sealing the dumplings.  I think they should adjust the time estimate up a bit.  The quality is so much better when the pan is not crowded, and I think most cooks would have to prepare this in batches.

These dishes w’re very nice — we loved the dumplings and tacos, and even the dish that wasn’t a smashing success gave us a superb steak.

Here are the selections for next week! Meal choices end Wednesdays at midnight. We swapped out the salmon for the dumplings.

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.