Meal delivery services are quite literally popping up all over the place. From simple meal kits to specialty services and fully prepared meals, there seems to be something for everyone. As people with decent cooking skills and an appallingly long list of favorite restaurants, these have never really piqued our interest. With the exception of one accidental Daily Harvest subscription, we were meal delivery newbies.
So, after checking out the Hello Fresh website once and then being bombarded with advertisements and offers on every site and social media platform we figured, why not? We picked our first three meals- which were “free” with subscription and waited eagerly.
On day one, we gave the Maple and Mustard Glazed Pork Chops a shot.
The kit contained:
- two thin pork chops
- six small gold potatoes
- a bag of mixed greens
- one lemon
- a packet of Dijon mustard
- a packet of maple syrup
- a packet of chicken stock
- fresh thyme
- sunflower seeds
- dried cranberries
The directions were simple and easy to follow and the whole meal probably took about an hour from start to end of clean up.
The final meal was sufficient, and the portion sizes were suitable for two- though I did add an extra potato because I skipped lunch… but mostly because there had been a single potato in our pantry for two weeks.
Other than decent, there was not much to rave about. This easily could’ve been a meal that I threw together on my own and more than likely would already have most of the ingredients for.
We didn’t want to give up on Hello Fresh just yet and continued the week with optimism and two more meals. Next, we cooked the Hot Honey Chicken and the Better than Take-Out Sweet and Spicy Chicken.
The Hot Honey Chicken meal was made up of a piece of breaded chicken, a side of BBQ seasoned potatoes, and steamed broccoli.
The contents of this kit were strikingly similar to the first, but the final product left lots to be desired and here’s why:
The meal was so unbelievably simple, it was a near exact copy of what I throw together when I’m low on groceries or don’t feel like cooking. The chicken was seasoned simply with salt, pepper, placed on a baking sheet and topped with breadcrumbs. (My issue here was that the recipe suggested breading on only the top of the chicken- weird?)
The sides were “no recipe necessary” simple as well, with microwaved broccoli and potatoes baked in the oven with barbecue seasoning sprinkled on top.
To wrap up our Hello Fresh experience, we have the third meal, Better Than Take-Out Hoisin Chicken. I was most excited for this meal and it’s safe to say that it was the most disappointing.
The disappointment came not from the flavor but from the overall quality of the kit. The chicken strips came pre-cut in a vacuum sealed packet and were so small that they could be described as shredded.
The kits that we selected were all intended to make two servings, which should have been perfect for us, but this meal barely made one small bowl. The vegetables were shriveled, and the hot pepper included to make the Hoisin sauce was the size of a small paperclip and already browned inside.
The combination of chicken pieces and rather small serving of rice with the, again microwaved side, green beans, left a lot to be desired.
Overall, it is safe to say that we have discontinued our subscription to Hello Fresh and there are plenty of reasons why you should too. While the convenience might intrigue you, the money you could save and quality you would receive if you shopped for local produce and groceries would far surpass the time saved.
Sure, you might not have to go to the grocery store to buy dinners for a few days, but Hello Fresh doesn’t provide anything else you would need for the week. Think breakfast, lunch, milk, eggs, dish soap, literally everything else you use in a single day.
So, you’ll still be making that trip. You will certainly be spending extra money. And most importantly, you will be making an even greater environmental impact because you are getting packaged meals delivered to you, which involves large amounts of plastic, numerous vehicles, and it’s likely that your kit will contain food you toss- just like our shriveled slightly rotten vegetables.
If you want to serve your family fresh and healthy meals, look no further than fruits, vegetables, and meats sourced directly from your own community. Rather than supporting a large corporate company, you will be supporting hard working people in your neighborhood. With sustainability on many people’s minds right now, it’s a small step you can take to help our environment and families in your area.
This post is clearly not sponsored by Hello Fresh.
P.S.
If recipe variety was your reason for considering a meal service, Hello Fresh posts all of their recipes free online, you don’t need a membership to get dinner ideas or your own grocery list. There are also plenty of blogs and recipes on Pinterest that will give you tons of inspiration for no $$.