Hello Fresh is a weekly meal kit subscription box with complete recipes and high-quality ingredients to make your own fresh, healthy, gourmet meals at home.
They offer three different subscription options — Classic (choose 3, 4, or 5 meals for 2 people or 3 meals for 4 people from 6 weekly options/$9.99 per serving for the basic plan, $11.50 per meal for unlimited meal choice), Vegetarian (receive 3 HF-selected meals for 2 or 4 people/$9.99 per serving ), and Family (receive 3 HF-selected meals for 2 kids and 2 adults/$8.74 per serving). You can always pause the subscription to skip a week if you need to – this is super handy for vacations!
This is a review of the Hello Fresh Classic Box!
DEAL: Save $40 off your first two boxes – no coupon code required, just use this link for the deal!
Each Hello Fresh recipe has its own lovely card with a picture of the plated dish, prep time and total time to table, calorie count, and a visual inventory of the included ingredients.
The instructions are easy to follow, regardless of your skill level. Usually you start by washing and prepping all the ingredients before cooking. Within the detailed, step-by-step instructions, ingredients are set in bold type for ease of recognition. Info panes in the sidebar list anything you’ll need from home (pans, cooking oil, etc), as well as the quantity of each provided ingredient needed for 2 and 4 person versions of the recipe.
The box also comes with a complete nutrition information for each recipe, including a list of all ingredients and their country of origin.
We received acopy of Fresh Life magazine this month!
The issue is all about Brain Food.
It showcased some foods with brain-benefitting properties.
The sheet also noted HF recipes and vendors offering all these healthy items.
The ingredients for each meal are packed in a separate bag within a larger padded, insulated cooler bag. Several ice packs keep everything cold, the boxes prevent the ingredients from touching the ice directly.
The brown bags keep all the ingredients for the recipes in order. The bags used for the family plan meals are big enough to hold everything needed for the meal, though the meat is still packed separately, surrounded in ice. Condiments and canned goods are provided in high-end, commercial packaging. Hello Fresh usually provides pre-measured spices in their own branded packaging. Each pic of prepared food below show one of two servings.
Butter-Basted Rib-Eye Steak With Thyme-Infused Mashed Potatoes And Asparagus. 30 minutes, level 1, 630 calories per serving.
This was a premium meal, due to the large ribeye. Once split into two servings, however, it didn’t make a ton of food — above is a portion served on a small plate. There was enough meat and vegetable for two servings, but I was surprised there wasn’t a bit more potato. The steak had great flavor and was relatively tender. I loved the use of herbs, both fresh and in the compound butter. The large amount of butter in the dish made it very indulgent. It was also an easy dish to prepare.
Chicken And Pineapple Quesadillas With Sweet Peppers, Caramelized Onion, And Pico De Gallo. 30 minutes, level 1, 546 calories per serving.
We loved this dish. The fresh salsa made it really special, but the quesadilla itself was great. It had a little spice, but the star was the sweet marriage of caramelized onion and pineapple. The recipe made plenty of filling too — you are instructed to use only half the chicken to fill the quesadillas, and I ended up with extra sautéed veggies. This dish required more effort than it appears, because the salsa and filling required preparation separate from the final assembly and cooking of the quesadilla. Very delicious and a welcome twist on a straightforward quesadilla.
Beef Ragù Spaghetti With Zucchini And Italian Seasonings. 30 minutes, level 1, 800 calories per serving.
This was a delicious and simple style of ragù. Some soy sauce added a hearty, long-simmered feel to the meat sauce, and the zucchini added some freshness and bulk to spread around the flavorful sauce. A handfull of parmesan and a drizzle of spicy pepperolio added just the right bit of nuttiness and unctuous spice to give it a classic Italian flavor. Easy to make, but it made a much bigger impression than simple spaghetti.
This was a really delicious trio of meals! I absolutely loved the quesadilla and the pasta, as they were incredibly delicious versions of simple favorites. The steak was good, too, but I wasn’t sure if it should merit being a premium meal based on portion — you typically get two good-sized steaks with an ordinary meal. I think the premium label (and pricing) should apply to dishes with particularly expensive ingredients (such as lobster, fresh truffle, etc), and I don’t see the rib-eye as an automatically premium item with only one steak being provided. The asparagus was very nice, and that may have factored into the classification, as well. It was very delicious, though!
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