Hello Fresh is a weekly meal delivery subscription that sends healthy recipes and the pre-measured ingredients you need to make them at home.
Hello Fresh lets you choose from a Classic Plan (choose from 8 weekly meat and fish recipes), a Veggie Plan (get 3 weekly vegetarian recipes), or a Family Plan (meat, fish, and veggie recipes perfect for two adults and two children). I like to eat a vegetarian diet, so I selected the Veggie Plan. Hello Fresh only offers 3 vegetarian dishes per week—where Classic Plan members can hop into their account and swap the recipes selected for them with other dishes on the menu, I've got to take what I get. I'm not a picky eater, so being subject to the luck of the draw has worked out okay for me so far. But I do wish there was just a little bit of wiggle room in the Veggie menu!
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This review is of the Hello Fresh Veggie Plan, $9.99 per meal, per box. This box came to a total of $59.94.
The Subscription Box: Hello Fresh
The Cost: The Classic Food Box (for omnivores) starts at $9.99 per person per meal. The Veggie Box (for herbivores) starts at $9.99 per person per meal. The Family Box (for families) costs $8.74 per person per meal. Hello Fresh announced they will soon offer two plans: Unlimited Meal Choice ($11.50 a meal) or Basic Plan ($9.99 per meal). Learn more here!
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 U.S.
Check out all our Hello Fresh reviews and the Food Subscription Box Directory for more meal boxes!
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I've been enjoying a couple meal kit delivery subscription boxes lately to add some ease to my weekly lunch and dinner prep. So far, my experience with Hello Fresh has been pretty great. Their meals are simple to prepare, full of fresh ingredients, and they're each divided into handy paper bags. Most of my vegetarian meals have been both filling and delicious. I also love that healthy options are the main focus, and you're able to easily access the nutritional information of each meal with an included info card.
Some coupons are also included in each box.
This month's box came with an additional fold-out that encourages subscribes to share their dishes on social media.
Each meal is divided into its own paper bag allowing for ease in ensuring that you have everything you need in one place. Less waste, a smaller overall box, and more convenience.
Boxes are insulated and lined with ice packs.
Onto the first recipe!
Grilling Cheese Burgers
Calories per Serving: 700
Total Time, According to Hello Fresh: 30 minutes
Actual Time It Took: 30 minutes
Being a huge fan of cheese, I was really excited about this dish. The only type of cheese that I had grilled before this recipe is haloumi, but this Mediterranean grilling cheese is a bit milder and less salty.
I began by chopping my zucchini, squash, garlic, and mint. The zucchini requires two different cuts - short slices and matchsticks.
A simple aioli works as the sandwich sauce.
Before distributing the veggies on a sheet tray, I coated them in oil and sumac. This recipe actually called for broiling, but I found that the zucchini and squash pieces weren't getting much color with that method. I ended up switching to a 400 degree oven to roast them for about 10-15 minutes.
Now, lightly pan fry your grilling cheese. Just be careful here! I ended up burning myself on some jumpy hot oil.
The final product was super tasty! The freshness of the mint worked so well with the creaminess of the grilling cheese, and the acidity of the aioli cut through the richness. Also, NOTE, toasting the bun is definitely KEY. This was my favorite dish of all 3. Started the week off on a high note, for sure!
Sriracha Sesame Wonton Pasta
Calories per Serving: 500
Total Time, According to Hello Fresh: 25 minutes
Actual Time It Took: 30 minutes
Asian recipes aren't in my comfort zone. I'll just get that out of the way. However, I was looking forward to cooking a bit outside of my box, if you will, with this one. It's just not a recipe that I would have picked on my own had the option of curating my own week of recipes been presented.
Per usual, I began with chopping up my veggies. The ginger was fun to peel because I got to use the old spoon trick - not something I can do often!
I quickly boiled and blanched the broccoli pieces in a bowl of ice.
I also toasted my cashews for the pasta topping. Speaking of the pasta, though - that's where things got tricky. I wouldn't call the outcome disastrous, but... it was pretty close. After cutting the wonton wrappers into strips, I added them to my pot of boiling water. They instantly completely stuck together. Like, giant globs of wontons. I'm not sure if I should have stirred the water sooner or maybe added the strips a bit more carefully (and separated), but... there was no returning from this fail. I was pretty much stuck with globby pasta.
I topped the cooked wontons with sesame oil, sriracha, broccoli, cashews, hot pepper, and scallions. It looked pretty! The taste, however, was lacking. The sauce for the broccoli never really came together, and that wonton pasta... it was just sort of sad. I was pretty bummed to not have had a better outcome, but I definitely took this as a learning experience if I even find myself making wonton pasta again.
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos
Calories per Serving: 880
Total Time, According to Hello Fresh: 40 minutes
Actual Time It Took: 40 minutes
Yay, tacos! They're always a hit in my house, and I rarely have a less-than-successful experience with them. These seemed to be pretty straightforward, so I was pumped to get started! That vibe was sort of killed when I noticed that my avocado wasn't exactly on par, though. This seems to be an issue with Hello Fresh. This is the second box I've received with an unusable avocado. Luckily... I ALWAYS have avocados on hand, so no huge deal.
I zested my lime and chopped up all the veggies.
The onion was cooked down with garlic, and then the sweet potato and black beans were added.
Half of an avocado was combined with sour cream and lime juice to create a guacamole-like taco topping. My lime was pretty dry, so it was tough squeezing out an adequate amount of juice. I made it work, but it would have been nice to have more acidity in the final dish.
I layered my ingredients onto the flour tortillas starting with the squash and bean hash and followed by the sour cream mixture, avocado slices from the reserved other half, and cilantro. Despite my issues with the avocado and the lime, these were really yummy in the end!
Verdict: This Hello Fresh box really delivered, though I did run into some issues. The wonton thing was my mistake, but I'm happy to have learned from it! Pasta never was my forte. I love that Hello Fresh's ingredients are heavy on the fresh produce. Their recipes are also really easy to follow with only 4-5 major steps.
I do wish that they had the option to allow subscribers to choose their own meals. Having each week's menu be automatic does eliminate the whole decision-making meal dilemma, but I like to pick what I'm getting. It would also be cool if they sorted out the avocado issue, but I understand that this is majorly determined by season.
The meals in Hello Fresh's veggie plan only cost $9.99 per serving. That pricing seems to be on par with other meal subscription boxes (Blue Apron at $9.99 per serving, Home Chef at $9.95 per serving, and Plated at $12 per serving).
Do you subscribe to Hello Fresh? What's been your favorite meal so far?
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