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!
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. Meat is packed at the bottom, sandwiched amongst the ice.
DEAL: Save $40 off your first two boxes – no coupon code required, just use this link for the deal!
The box also came with coupons from Keurig and Hello Fresh Wines.
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. They even use a red font to point out spicy ingredients, so you can adjust accordingly. I really like that they call out when they’ve sent more of an ingredient that is used in the recipe — when they don’t mention it (which is most of the time), the items are pre-portioned and can be tossed right in without measuring. 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 complete nutrition information for each recipe, including a list of all ingredients, their country of origin, and a “best used by” timeframe.
The brown bags keep all the ingredients for the recipes in order. The bags are big enough to hold everything needed for the meal, but the meat is still packed separately, surrounded by 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.
Everything inside our Hello Fresh Classic box!
Creamy Bearnaise Rib-Eye Steak – 40 minutes, Level 1, 860 calories per serving
Béarnaise is a classic steak topping originating from France. Hello Fresh’s version includes potatoes instead of egg, and the result is a thick and rich sauce that perfectly complemented the juicy and tender meat. Tarragon and white vinegar made it even tastier, while the green bean and tomato salad felt like it was a luxuriant upgrade to classic meat and potatoes. The only thing that’s missing is a bottle of Chardonnay! This reminds me – I really need to pick up a Hello Fresh wine subscription!
Orange And Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry – 35 minutes, Level 1, 660 calories per serving
This sweet and sour chicken dish is a popular Asian takeout meal. Hello Fresh even included an actual orange, so you can juice it on your own and achieve that fresh taste. Also included are bell pepper slivers and a glazed-cashew garnish. Paired with steamed rice, it made a great takeout alternative. My favorite – the caramelized cashews!
Pork Noodle Soup Bowls – 30 minutes, Level 1, 660 calories per serving
This pork noodle soup is a quick and easy dish to make when you need something to warm you up in the middle of a cold day. The combination of yakisoba noodles, ground pork, and bites of kale was just satisfying. Garlic and ginger made the broth so delicious with deep savory notes. It’s so tasty, we can’t help but slurp up all those noodles! I had wished for the noodles to be a bit more firm – they didn’t seem to hold up the broth all that well, but we slurped quickly.
We really liked each and every dish provided by Hello Fresh in this box. I enjoyed cooking the rib-eye steak with bearnaise and my family thought it was delicious and luxuriant! The chicken stir-fry was also a hit, while the noodle soup simply fit this week’s weather. Great flavor and enticing texture all around – and most importantly for me, variety! With easy-to-follow recipes and fresh ingredients, this subscription definitely makes cooking for us easier and more fun!
Have you tried Hello Fresh?
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