Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon – April 2016

Hello Fresh is a weekly meal delivery subscription that sends healthy recipes and the pre-measured ingredients you need to make them at home. 

Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!

It’s easy to skip deliveries using the Hello Fresh website, and you can skip as many weeks as you like.

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Hello Fresh

The Cost: The Classic Food Box (for omnivores) starts at $9.90 per person per meal. The Veggie Box (for herbivores) starts at $9.08 per person per meal. The Family Box (for families) costs $8.75 per person per meal.

ACTIVE DEAL: Limited Time Only! Free High Protein Item for Life + Up to 10 Free Meals One per box with active subscription. Free meals applied as discount on first box, new subscribers only, varies by plan. No coupon needed - just use this link.

The Products: Healthy recipes and pre-portioned fresh ingredients.

Ships to: The contiguous US.

Check out all our Hello Fresh reviews and the Food Subscription Box Directory for more meal boxes!

Keep Track of your subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

The ingredients for each recipe come packed in a white box.

Hello Fresh includes a booklet that spotlights seasonal ingredients and includes your recipes for the week.

I also received an envelope filled with “curated offers.”

Citrusy Shrimp Panzanella

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Calories per Serving: 599

Each two-sided recipe includes an ingredient list, nutritional information, and step-by-step instructions.

Since this dish utilized both shellfish and fresh produce, Hello Fresh recommended making it first.

I began by prepping my ingredients: cleaning and chopping lettuce and basil, halving grape tomatoes, zesting a lemon, chopping garlic, cutting a baguette into cubes, and cubing mozzarella.

Next, I tossed the bread cubes with olive oil, salt, and pepper and baked them in the oven for about 8 minutes to crisp them up.

While the bread was in the oven, I marinated shrimp in a mix of lemon zest, garlic, chili powder, olive oil, and salt and pepper. I let it sit for a minute and then sautéed it in a pan with olive oil.

When the shrimp and bread were ready, I tossed them in a large salad bowl with the mozzarella, lettuce, and tomatoes and finished the salad with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. I divided the salad between two plates and topped each one with sliced basil.

This salad knocked my socks off! It was fresh (yet filling) and the combination of ingredients was simple and delicious. My husband is already begging me to recreate this dish!

Spicy Pork & Kale Soup

Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Calories per Serving: 824

The following day, I made Spicy Pork & Kale Soup.

I began by washing all of the produce, mincing garlic and ginger, slicing a red onion and a Thai chili, and chopping kale.

I sautéed red onion in a pan and, when it softened, added garlic, ginger, and Thai chili. Next, I added ground pork to the pot and broke it up with the back of a wooden spoon while it browned.

To make the soup base, I added four cups of water and some stock concentrate to the pot and stirred everything together until the stock concentrate dissolved. I then added the kale and soy sauce to the pot.

While the kale wilted and the soup cooked, I boiled the ramen noodles for about 3 minutes. When they were soft, I added them to the soup pot and divided everything between two bowls.

I’ll be honest- of all the dishes I received this week from Hello Fresh, I was the least excited about this one. For some reason, the description of the dish just didn’t tickle my fancy. I’m so thrilled to admit that my expectations were WAY off. This dish was fantastic! The savory and spicy flavors were delicious, and I loved the hearty addition of kale.

Jamie’s Asparagus & Mushroom Risotto

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Calories per Serving: 441

I mentioned this in my last review, but I think it’s so exciting that Hello Fresh has teamed up with Jamie Oliver! Every week, one of the featured meals will be a Jamie Oliver recipe. So far, I’ve been unable to resist picking them, so you can probably expect to see me review a lot of his dishes in the coming months!!

I collected the ingredients for the dish and prepared the veggies.

To begin, I soaked dried porcini mushrooms in hot water and heated vegetable broth over low heat with some leftover parsley stems (for flavor).

As an aside, I want to mention how thrilled I was to see that this recipe relies on the traditional method for cooking risotto (warming broth and adding it ladle by ladle into the rice). Adding broth slowly helps to develop the creamy texture that risotto is known for, and I’ve tried risotto recipes from other boxes (*cough* Plated *cough*) that call for adding all of the broth at once. It definitely saves time to add all of the liquid at once, but I wasn’t pleased with the results. Anyway, rant over. I just wanted to give Hello Fresh (and Jamie Oliver) credit where credit was due!

I cooked onion and celery in a large pot over medium heat for about 5 minutes and then added the rehydrated porcini mushrooms. Next, I added the rice, allowed it to toast for about a minute, and then added the first ladle of stock.

While stirring the risotto and waiting for the liquid to absorb, I sautéed mushrooms and garlic in a separate pan.

I continued adding stock, ladle by ladle (waiting for each one to fully absorb before adding more), until I’d used about 2/3. At this point, I stirred in the asparagus and cooked mushroom mixture.

I continued adding stock until the rice was al dente and the risotto had a “nice oozy consistency.” At this point, I removed the risotto from the heat and stirred in parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice. After allowing it to sit covered for two minutes, I plated the risotto and topped it with parmesan and fresh parsley.

This dish was another hit! Both the consistency and flavor of this dish were excellent. The lemon added a lovely touch of brightness- perfect for a spring dish!

Verdict: This box from Hello Fresh was a big giant win. All three dishes were fantastic, and I’m already getting requests from my husband to re-make some of them! Frankly, I liked all of them so much that it’s hard to pick a favorite. I do still wish that Hello Fresh would increase the variety of the meals they offer. With only 5 meals to choose from each week, I sometimes struggle to find 3 dishes that really excite me. That said, if all of the available dishes are as delicious as the ones I sampled this week, I doubt I’d mind!

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