Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon – April 2016

This week’s Hello Fresh included a novel preparation that was simply delicious.  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.  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. Apart from the meat, all the ingredients for a recipe are packed together in a single box which stacks easily in the refrigerator.

This week was the first time we’ve seen the new meat packaging.  The meat has always been really high quality — now it arrives in Hello Fresh branded packaging.

Hello Fresh recently added a new feature, an “In a Pinch” reference chart.  The first one had handy measurement conversions.

This week, it’s all about where to store and the shelf life of common kitchen ingredients!

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.  You first set up your mis-en-place by washing and chopping your vegetables.  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 delicious subscription boxes. You can get these deals on the Urthbox and Graze pages in the directory!

Zucchini & Parmesan-Crusted Chicken With Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans. 30 mins, level 1, 530 cal.

This was the first time we’ve seen a topping prepared out of zucchini!  I used a handheld grater, and it took as little time to prepare as it would to chop the zucchini anyway.  It was really delicious and kept the chicken super-juicy.  The coating contained some grated parmesan, and it became gooey and a little sweet when cooked.  Straightforward mashed potatoes and green beans rounded out the plate. Brandy raved over the topping!

Spicy Pork & Kale Soup With Ramen, Ginger, and Thai Chili. 35 mins, level 1, 824 cal.

The little Thai pepper arrived cradled in the kale to keep it from falling through the vent holes in the box — I thought it was really adorable!

We love all manner of noodle dishes.  this dish used fresh ramen noodles and a pho style broth.  The pork and kale were great choices for balancing the rich broth.  This dish is light years above common ramen, but it was not much extra work — aside from par-cooking the noodles in a pot, everything was simple tossed in to the same pot in succession.

Ginger Beef Stir-Fry With Hoisin, Asparagus, and Basmati Rice. 30 mins, level 2, 570 cal.

I liked the simplicity of this dish — my homemade stir-fry always ends up being a big pile of onion and bell pepper, but this preparation kept the focus on the beef and asparagus.  The recipe came with more hoisin than was needed, so Hello Fresh sent an email reminder to cut the portion.  This dish, with its simple composition, struck me as an Asian take on a steak house dish, with steak, one veg, and a starch — but the use of the stir-fry technique guarantees everything is served hot at the same time.

This week was really nice.  The soup and stir-fry each had big flavors that accented the showcase ingredients.  It was the chicken, though, that really wowed — the innovative preparation produced a cut of meat with superb texture and a delicate, sweet flavor.  Beautiful!

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.