Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon – April 2016

This week’s Hello Fresh encouraged us to drink some wine!  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 (or the better part of a meal for our young kids, when the food is mild).

Our 3 meals for 2 people, all wrapped up nicely.  Hello Fresh also offers a family box – 3 meals for 4 people — that at 8.75, is the lowest price per meal on the market.  If you don’t crave too much variety you can always get that box and cook things twice for two. Or, try out the 4 or 5 meal box.

As always, there is plenty of ice to keep everything cold — especially the meat, as it arrives buried in ice packs at the bottom.

Hello Fresh recently added a new feature, an “In a Pinch” reference chart.  Each installment features a quick-reference chart you’ll turn to again and again.

This week, it’s all about perfect pairings between food and wine!

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.

This is an example of a typical HF recipe.  They’ve started to depart from their usual pre-cooking mis-en-place (washing and chopping your vegetables), altering the prep order when doing so makes it more time-efficient.  I like the boldface on specific ingredients — it makes it easier to grab everything you need at each step.  Hello Fresh sends all the spices, sauces, bouillon and such in Hello Fresh branded individual serving packets or in off-the-shelf brand name packaging, so there are no repackaged items to leak or pop open in transit.

There are also coupon codes for other subscription boxes. You can get the deal on Urthbox in the directory!

Everything in this week’s box!  Apart from the meat, all the ingredients for a recipe are packed together in a single box which stacks easily in the refrigerator.

 One-Sheet Sausage and Pepper Hoagies  With Broiled Asparagus. 30 mins, level 1, 732 cal per serving.

I certainly appreciated only needing one baking sheet for this recipe — I’d love to see more “one pot” meals when they can be sone elegantly.  This had great flavor, and the recipe made a ton of food, including more roasted peppers than could possibly fit on the buns.  The asparagus probably wasn’t needed, but it was delicious roasted and made the meal feel more balanced.  The above pic shows both servings.

Creamy Poblano Bolognese  With Parmesan, Thyme, and Linguine. 30 mins, level 1, 799 cal per serving.

This was one hearty bolognese.  Ground beef is always my favorite for this dish, and the poblanos added an extra punch of flavor.  This made a giant mound of food (two servings shown, served family style), and it was relatively easy to prepare.  Some simple chopping was the most complicated aspect of the preparation.  This was really delicious and hearty.

 Parmesan-Crusted Chicken With Balsamic Potato Salad and Garlic-Roasted Tomatoes. 30 mins, level 1, 532 cal per serving.

Mustard-breading chicken is one of my favorite cooking tricks I’ve picked up from subscription food kits.  This dish prepped more easily than it would appear from its composition, as the tomatoes and potatoes were very simple preparations.  One of two servings is shown.  Though each item was delicious, the trio together was slightly overwhelming, as each component had a very tangy element:  the garlic and green onions in the tomatoes, the dijon on the chicken, and the balsamic on the potatoes.  I love the chicken prepared this way!

Hello Fresh always has a good meal in store for us.  They tend to be less heavy than the two other food kit subscriptions we frequent (Home Chef is very hearty, and  often includes a very rich traditional sauce), and most dishes prominently feature a very fresh and flavorful vegetable.  They have well-designed recipes and even occasionally feature dishes designed by celebrity chefs!

Visit Hello Fresh to select your box for next week!

Currently you get can a $50 Discount on your First two Boxes with coupon code APRIL50HF! If you just want to try one box save $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8.