Hello Fresh Review and Coupon – January 2016

 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.  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.

Coconut-Crusted Chicken Fingers with Garlic Green Beans and Spiced Sweet Potato Fries. 30 mins, level 2, 667 cal.

This dish had a satisfying, comfort-food feel to it, despite the slightly exotic stylings.  The sweet potato was doused with paprika, yet it maintained a mild and sweet flavor.  The coconut and panko breading added some texture to the chicken, but we found ourselves thinking this dish really wanted a dipping sauce of some kind.  The green beans were buried in garlic powder, but they were amazingly not over-powered by it.

Steak Au Poivre with Cheesy Hesselbeck Potatoes, Creamed Kale, and Shallot-Peppercorn Sauce. 45 mins, level 3, 773 cal.

We loved this dish in every respect.  The rich shallot and peppercorn sauce was a perfect complement to the meat (or anything, for that matter), and the Hesselbeck potatoes were simply fantastic.  Even kale was given a beautiful treatment in this dish, having the great flavor of a creamed spinach with the texture of well-cooked collards.   The preparation was relatively simple for this meal despite earning a “level 3” difficulty from Hello Fresh, and every bit was worth it.

Fregola Sarda & Sweet Italian Sausage with Mushrooms, Wilted Spinach, and Parmesan. 30 mins, level 1, 787 cal.

We really enjoyed the hearty, cream texture of this dish.  The Fregola Sarda is very much like Israeli couscous, retaining its shape and texture while soaking up flavors.  The garlic spinach added much more to the dish than anticipated, creating a great foil to the rich and creamy meat and pasta.

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! He hasn’t quite made it over to the classic box side yet, though.

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.