Hello Fresh

[vraiblonde]

They sent me a promo good for 18 FREE meals + FREE shipping. After I signed up and entered the promo code, I learned that they spelled "graduated discounts and free shipping on the first box" wrong.

Anyway, I've been meaning to try it and I'm willing to commit to 9 weeks. The pre-portioned ingredients are perfect for me because when I want Harissa Chicken, say, I just want one meal of it, not having the ingredients to make it for the rest of my life hanging around.

Anyone subscribe to it? Or another meal kit thing that you like better?

HF started out on the wrong foot with me - I hate a bait & switch. Hopefully the meals will be good. If nothing else, I'll have some new recipes in my arsenal.

 

[SamSpade]

I haven't tried any of the "ready made meals" things, at least not the kind that are delivered to your house. I easily found out that for the cost, I can easily beat it. So it comes down to buying for convenience. None of them make enough food to feed my family, so they're pretty much out.

From time to time - I have bought packages of items that make meal-making easy - because they've been a hit with the kids. One of them is the gyros package at ALDI, which runs about 10-12 bucks but easily feeds my family - and they like it.

Years ago, I used to buy those "just add your own meat" things in the frozen section, but I can't find them anymore.

Sorry if I derailed your thread in just one post.

 

[kwillia]

My sister used a promo code from a friend to ghost it a try. She is single and lives alone so she would get two meals from each dinner. She used it faithfully for just over two years. It was perfect for her. She hates grocery shopping. Prior to using HF she hated the thought of having to cook dinner and often times grabbed dinner from a restaurant on the way home. Since HF, she rarely does that and found not having to think about the recipe or hunt for ingredients cooking for herself was much less invasive and became second nature. She also learned a lot about cooking, used ingredients she never thought to use herself and tried many dishes that were outside her normal food palette.

She halted her service the end of last year to go it on her own. She will weigh the results to compare the food service which covers: the need to shop, provides most all ingredients in exact quantity needed, recipes already tried and true derived to be both time effective and delish, etc. vs. her winging it on her own. Like you pointed out, when we do our own shopping we end up with wasted food/ingredients because we often have to buy more than we need. We also tend to fall into the trap of sticking with our basic go to meals and lack the enthusiasm or drive to get creative nightly.

I used one of her promo codes and cancelled service immediately. I cook for two so thought maybe this was just right for us. But I do love to cook and I do love to switch things up on my own. I have stores just a hop-skip away from me so I can always run out for whatever I'm missing for whatever I want to cook or pick up ingredients on the way home with ease. I couldn't justify the cost so we quit.

 

[jrt_ms1995]

We tried Hello Fresh for a while. IMO the food was always good, and the prep and cooking weren't to complicated; I liked the variety, too. Eventually, however, the feeling of "we have this and if we don't go ahead with it we'll be throwing away $X" led us to drop the service.

 

[Clem72]

I tried a couple of these services and they are convenient, not as cheap as the grocery store but not that expensive either (plus you may have to buy bigger quantities to get better pricing at the store). I could never make my meals look like they do in the instructions. I did keep a hello fresh recipe card for chili for so long that I have it memorized.

 

[vraiblonde]

we do our own shopping we end up with wasted food/ingredients because we often have to buy more than we need.

Produce is what I'm typically tossing because you have to buy this giant thing of broccoli or mushrooms or whatever, but I don't want to eat broccoli every night so I eat one or two meals and out the rest goes. Even when I'm on an Asian kick and eating stir fry veggies with some protein over a starch, I can't kill a whole crown of broccoli or box of mushrooms before they go over.

Monello and I shop/eat separately. We don't do the "here's what we're having for dinner" thing - we each eat what we want when we're hungry. If we could coordinate our produce that would be great but we're not gonna do that, so HF may make sense in that aspect.

 

[HemiHauler]

I can’t imagine mail ordering food in a box.

 

[RoseRed]

This thread is making me hungry. I have plenty of food, but I can't decide what I want.

 

[vraiblonde]

I can’t imagine mail ordering food in a box.

These are exciting times we're living in, eh?

 

[SamSpade]

Produce is what I'm typically tossing because you have to buy this giant thing of broccoli or mushrooms or whatever, but I don't want to eat broccoli every night so I eat one or two meals and out the rest goes.

I get that, but that's why we have like, four freezers in the house. And I'm fine with frozen, resealable bags of broccoli. And I can usually find smaller bags of produce or just pick it and bag it myself, according to order.

What I DO end up throwing out more often is bags of salad. I like them when they're already bagged and chopped up - honestly, a head of lettuce lasts pretty long in the fridge - but 2 bucks a pop at ALDI and I tend to buy more than I'm immediately planning to use.

I suspect that if I was JUST buying for one, they might be a good idea - but even when I lived alone, I kind of enjoyed cooking, mostly because I could cook WHATEVER THE HELL I WANTED because I didn't have to consider who didn't like fish or cheese or spicy food.

 

[vraiblonde]

I get that, but that's why we have like, four freezers in the house. And I'm fine with frozen, resealable bags of broccoli.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of frozen veggies - the texture degrades. Corn and peas are pretty much it for me in the frozen veggie department.

I'm thinking this will also eliminate impulse purchases because it will cover all my dinners for the week plus a couple lunches. So when I go to the grocery store I can just pick up eggs, yogurt and staple items instead of going, "Oh look, chuck roast is on sale, I should make stew" then get all that crap and be stuck with a mountain of stew I have to get off of before it goes over and STILL end up tossing almost a whole package of celery.

If I had a family I was cooking for I wouldn't even consider something like this. For just me it makes more sense.

 

[SamSpade]

If I had a family I was cooking for I wouldn't even consider something like this. For just me it makes more sense.

I keep thinking that if I had to scale up everything - I really wouldn't be saving much TIME either.

You know what I think is - weird? Every one of those food delivery outlets show how easy it is to make -
And they ALL show someone sprinkling something over the food as if to say "see how easy - you just sprinkle".
Or maybe a garnish. You make dinner by adding a garnish. Wow. CAN'T get much easier than that.

It wouldn't weird me out except - they ALL DO IT.

 

[jrt_ms1995]

I can’t imagine mail ordering food in a box.

Those freezer-thingies that come in the box have to be dealt with, too.

 

[Ken King]

STILL end up tossing almost a whole package of celery.

That's what I like about the local Kroger, you can get single celery pieces (or however many you need) without getting a whole damn plant.

 

[vraiblonde]

That's what I like about the local Kroger, you can get single celery pieces (or however many you need) without getting a whole damn plant.

There was a store like that in....I can't remember where...but I wish they'd all do it. Being able to buy just what you need saves a TON of waste.

 

[ArkRescue]

I have too much going on to have much time to cook but we rarely waste food with so many chickens that can eat most things. Omelets are an easy meal with so many eggs on hand. I don't eat many things he eats (onions, hot peppers, avocado) so we tend to fix separate meals at different times and rarely eat the same thing. It seems cheaper/easier to get 1/3 of our meals out than cook everyday. Most meals I get out last for 2 meals for me so that reduces expenses for me on meals (especially Chicken Rico).

 

[Bare-ya-cuda]

I can’t imagine mail ordering food in a box.

It would pair really well with your mail order boxed wine.

 

[spr1975wshs]

It would pair really well with your mail order boxed wine.

A side note to that, Gallo Winery is moving to Texas from California.

 

[Merlin99]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of frozen veggies - the texture degrades. Corn and peas are pretty much it for me in the frozen veggie department.

I'm thinking this will also eliminate impulse purchases because it will cover all my dinners for the week plus a couple lunches. So when I go to the grocery store I can just pick up eggs, yogurt and staple items instead of going, "Oh look, chuck roast is on sale, I should make stew" then get all that crap and be stuck with a mountain of stew I have to get off of before it goes over and STILL end up tossing almost a whole package of celery.

If I had a family I was cooking for I wouldn't even consider something like this. For just me it makes more sense.

I freeze coleslaw mix also because I'm usually frying it with Kielbasa or using it for colcannon potatoes.

 

[Merlin99]

They might help me stay on a diet too, I tend to stay on the see food diet too much.