HelloFresh is a meal preparation subscription box. It allows you to pick a meal plan for 2 or 4 people, for 3 to 4 days a week. Recipes are picked out beforehand through their app or the online website from a variety of options. Meals are available from your preference of “Vegetarian”, “Meat & Veggies” or “Family Friendly”. The client decides the time and date for delivery from certain time frames offered by the subscription box. The meals arrive with pre-measured ingredients in individual paper bags, allowing you to cook the meals according to the chosen recipes.
Why Sign Up To HelloFresh?
The main reason I see to sign up to the HelloFresh subscription meal plan box would be for ease. It’s easy to pick up a bag of pre-measured ingredients and cook the meals as instructed. They even offer meals that can be cooked in about 20 minutes for those busy days. In our fast-tracked society, this is definitely something that could be appealing to many people. I, however, signed up to be able to learn new recipes. Subscription meal kits make it simple to try something new, and see if I would like to incorporate it into my diet and meals going forward. So… how did HelloFresh fare?
How Does HelloFresh Fare For Vegetarians And Vegans?
In our household, we prefer vegetarian/vegan meals. When done properly, they’re tasty, filling and can be quite healthy. The HelloFresh vegetarian options were decent, albeit not plentiful: 5 out of 25 meals cater to vegetarians, so about 20%. Only 1 of those 5 available meals was vegan. Their plan prices don’t change whether you’re an omnivore or a vegetarian. I presume the clientele isn’t very vegetarian-oriented, hence the limited options.
The Arrival Of The HelloFresh Box
The box shipped and arrived the same day. In the well-packaged box, there were papers both in English and in French with information about my three chosen recipes. I also received a “welcome” pamphlet, in French. Next, there were 3 paper bags with the names of the recipes and the ingredients for each recipe inside. Certain products that needed to stay cold during delivery (in my case, halloumi cheese and squash ravioli) were placed under those bags with ice packs.
HelloFresh Meal #1 – Hello Cream Cheese
A burger and sweet potatoes wedges. This was the first meal we tried, as per my partner’s request. The burger was made up of tomatoes, spring mix, a portobello mushroom as the patty and a lemony mayonnaise as a condiment topped with a cheese fusion (cream cheese, chives, and parmesan).
I’ll admit, I wasn’t too sure what this combination would taste like. Here’s a simple way to put it: it tasted like a firework of flavours. The melted cheesy goodness oozed in my mouth, the portobello gave the sandwich just enough of that satisfying meaty feel, and the lemony zest gave the sandwich character.
The potatoes were a nice addition on the side, contributing to creating a full meal. They were sweet and crunchy, with a soft interior.
We had extra spring mix, so we used it to make a salad and used the leftover lemon mayonnaise as a garnish.
As I am writing this article, we have recreated this recipe at home many times and it will become a staple in this household! As far as veggie burgers go, this one’s at the top of its game.
HelloFresh Meal #2 – Hello Ravioli
This is the meal I was anticipating the most. I’d tried cooking squash pasta before, my own iteration of it was passable at best. Being a pasta lover, however, and not wanting to believe the squash ravioli itself could be problematic, I had to try this recipe.
Squash pasta, parmesan, pesto sauce, spinach, tomatoes and pine nuts were the main ingredients in this recipe. Hello Ravioli definitely reminded us of a certain meal we’d tried on a road-trip to Quebec City, one that we’d recreated time and again at home afterwards. My main point of appreciation in this recipe was the sauce. I believe I’ll be recreating this with cheese ravioli or even plain old fusilli.
HelloFresh Meal #3 – Hello Halloumi
Halloumi has quickly become one of my favourite cheeses. It seems to have found its way in several meal-prep kits I’ve been eyeing, including HelloFresh. Naturally, with such a love for the ingredient, I had high expectations.
When I looked at the unpacked bag, it really didn’t look like much. I had a hard time imagining the items in front of me would feed two people. Little did I know THAT would not be my issue with the meal.
I’m not quite sure what did it, whether it was the fig jam, the olives, the parsley or the spinach, or frankly probably just the combination of everything, but the only thing I could stomach was the cheese. My partner, eating next to me, seemed less than amused as well. We ended up not finishing this meal. Hello Halloumi made us feel sick for the rest of the evening. Nauseated. Having both of us dislike a meal is quite rare. More often than not, one of us will appreciate whatever it is we’re eating. This time was one of those rarities. We both agreed this is not something we would ever approach again, not even with a ten-foot pole. Goodbye Halloumi.
What About The Environmental Aspect
The subscription touts that it’s carbon-neutral. The pamphlet that comes with the box explains certain intricacies of their environmentally friendly approach.
- Some ingredients are packaged with plastic to keep them fresh.
- The small portions are packaged exactly to the need of the recipe, so there is less food waste.
- Ingredients are sourced directly from the farms/producers, bypassing middle-men to reduce energy, water and work waste.
- Their ice packs are filled with 100% water. They can be drained and the plastic recycled.
- The box the packages come in is recyclable as well.
In reality, several items were packaged with plastic. I threw away so. much. plastic. wrapping. I wish another form of packaging was used, like seaweed packaging or mushroom packaging, or even incorporating less wrapping altogether.
Who Else Might Be Interested In The HelloFresh Subscription?
On a lighter note, it seems that not only humans are interested in HelloFresh. Little Yuki here made several attempts to snag the meal (or parts of it) for himself. Who knows, maybe HelloFresh has a future in cat food subscription?
What Happens After You Cancel Your Subscription?
Cancelling my subscription was not possible on the app. Try as I may, I could not find that option. Once onto their desktop website, when the “unsubscribe” button is found, you are asked several times whether or not you are REALLY REALLY sure you’d like to unsubscribe.
I feel this needs to be talked about in reviews more often. HelloFresh like other companies likes to send emails reminding people that they can come back and they can join the food fold once again. Surveys are sent to get feedback. Feedback was given.
Furthermore, and this is where I started to get irked, a HelloFresh employee called me shortly after I cancelled my subscription to give me a discount. This discount, however, came with strings attached. They would be picking a date for my next delivery (that I could change to my liking) and that date would be later this month. It was not explicit in the words of the caller, but I understood: I would be resubscribed to the service. I did not appreciate the seemingly sly way the “resubscription” was introduced. I refused the offer. This, coupled with emails asking me if I would like to rejoin the subscription, definitely put me off. Desperate is not a good look for any brand.
Final Take On The HelloFresh Experience
Using the code I got in the mail, I paid 24$ for 3 meals for 2 people for my first week. That amounts to a price of 4$ a meal per person. Considering that price, it’s an affordable and fun way to learn to cook new food and to create an easy cooking experience without the necessary management aspect of meal prep.
However, the price of the first week was quite low in comparison to the regular price: approximately 70$ for the meals and 10$ for shipping. So, for a total of 80$, on a normal week without discounts, the price of the meals would be about 13,33$/person/meal. That, dear reader, is an expensive price for a meal. If every meal cost 13,33$, then, for supper alone, for one person, the price would be about 93$ in a week and 373,33$ a month. (The calculation can also be made with their 4 meals a week for 2 people option, the price difference isn’t that significant.) Keeping in mind that this doesn’t include lunch, nor breakfast nor any snack and that the average cost of groceries for a person in a month in 2019 is about 200.72$, then I’d say the subscription is expensive.
If this is a lifestyle you can afford and that you desire, then HelloFresh is for you. Otherwise, I liked my three-meal experience that taught me new recipes. Without a cheaper price, I wouldn’t renew my subscription anytime soon.
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