Hello Fresh Vegetarian Box Review + 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. Hello Fresh is a subscription, but you can pause your deliveries whenever you’d like. They offer both vegetarian and regular (omnivore) boxes – this is the vegetarian box!

Hello Fresh instructions have very nice illustrations, are clearly written, and even lets you know nutrition info, prep time, and which recipes are best to make first. Even a novice cook can follow them.

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. I like that the outer packaging of the box is recyclable.

French Onion & Kale Soup with Gruyere Croutons. mins, level 2, 515 cal.

Umami, a new word for me, means a savory taste, was used to describe this soup.  Not sure about savory?  It simply means appetizing.  French Onion & Kale Soup had two secret ingredients: soy sauce and Thyme for umami, yes, a very appetizing taste.  The rest of the flavor came from its deeply caramelized onions with a hint of sugar.  We found the kale helped round out the soup in a new twist and we liked it!

What the chef called croutons were baguette slices, toasted in a very hot oven, rubbed with raw garlic, sprinkled with cheese and then back in the oven to melt the cheese.  These were a perfect accompaniment to the soup.  Hello Fresh gave enough cheese that I also had some to sprinkle on the soup.  Wonderful!

This was a 10 on our scale.

Roasted Delicata Squash with Wheatberries, Pickled Red Onion, and Fresh Ricotta. 35 mins, level 1, 598 cal.

Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!  What a time I had with this recipe, not because of anything Hello Fresh did but I was trying to feed lunch to my 20 month old fussy grandson while making this recipe.  My husband and I live by ourselves but babysit a lot so we usually make Hello Fresh meals at night when it’s quiet.   What a difference that makes.

So anyhow my first problem was the mint, as I’ve said previously I don’t like mint so I substituted my favorite, basil.  My next problem was the raw red onion, had to saute that because it’s just too strong if I don’t.  Then I messed up the order of doing things but my husband and I are of the mind that it all goes down the same pipe.

What I really loved about this recipe was that I didn’t have to peel the squash, once roasted it was soft and tender.  I also tried my brand new micro-plane zester that I bought at one of those house parties.  What a huge difference that made instead of my old grater that you had to be careful not to scrape the skin off your fingers.  The right tool makes all the difference.

Overall, this was a great recipe, delicious, pleasing to the eye and nose and filling.  Makes about 3 servings.  We gave it a 10.

Roasted Vegetable Tostadas with Tomato-Avocado Salsa. 30 mins, level 1, 739 cal.

If you’re looking for an appetizer for a party these tostadas would fit the bill for the holidays.  Easy to fix, great to serve and not too hard on the budget.  Make them ahead of time and pop them in the oven, can’t get better than that.

My beans weren’t that creamy but that’s my own fault for draining the beans which the recipe clearly says not to!  I just didn’t read it correctly but the taste was amazing.  My one suggestion, if you’re like us and don’t like strong onions, saute the red onion first or switch the onion to a Vidalia.  I didn’t do either and after eating rushed out the door to a granddaughter’s choir concert.  Talk about onion breath!  I made sure not to open my mouth.

The tostadas had a lot of flavor in them and I particularly liked the roasted zucchini.  And the poblano pepper was very mild, not what I expected at all.  A lot of different flavors that worked well together.

We gave this an 8.5.

And here are next week’s recipes! Boxes for the next week close on Wednesday nights.

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