HelloFresh Trial
I have been on the hunt for a subscription meal service for a single lady. I posted about it on Facebook and my friend suggested I use her code to try Hello Fresh. While it is not for a single it was basically free, so I said why not.
Since it was a free trial, I decided to order all 4 meals to maximize my trial. Overall I really enjoyed the process of picking my meals. I made sure not pick any that charged me extra. They included the time it would take, if they can turn into a lunch the next day, and other information that helped my decision making.
I anxiously awaited my first box delivery on Monday. It was in my lobby before I left for work at 8:30am. I quickly hauled it inside and went on my way. I went home for lunch and excitedly looked through the box (no time to unpack earlier). Everything was still nice and cold and packaged very well. My only complaint would be that it was kind of heavy, but I don’t see a solution to that problem since the weight was coming from the ice packs and those seem super important.
Meal 1 - Mu Shoo Pork Tacos
For my first meal I picked the tacos. I knew I was going to have leftovers after each meal (since it’s a meal for two), so I wanted something I could repurpose throughout the week. I grabbed the instructions, pulled out all the tools they asked me to and grabbed my marked bag.
I just followed along with the instructions, which was easy enough. I’m not a good veggie chopper (I can never get them super small) so I sort of failed in that light. Other than that, things were going well. I had the veggies on the oven, then prepared to add my meat. Dang that package was a challenge to open. There wasn’t a little seam or anything.
After I fought with that, I realized they did not send me the soy sauce that was listed on the ingredients provided. Luckily I had some in my fridge, but I was a little put off by that. After dealing with that, I finally had my meal cooked. I prepped two tacos (you get a total of six) and sat down to eat. I was impressed. They were good. I would eat them again. I did eat them again. I made a breakfast taco the next day for breakfast with an egg. (I had breakfast tacos basically every morning.)
Overall my first night went well. I wish I had the soy sauce and I wish the radishes had been pre-cut like the cabbage was. Other than that it was splendid.
Meal 2 - Saucy Thyme Steak
You can’t go wrong with steak. I made this meal the next night. I had a few problems - I spilled all the pepper, got splattered on. Even though I had personal issues, this meal turned out excellent.
One thing I both loved and hated about this was that it is a meal I would normally cook for myself. Steak. Check. Sweet potatoes. Check. Green beans. Check. The main difference was that I did not cook any of these like I normally would have. For the steak I cooked it without butter and used the demi-glace. For the sweet potatoes and green beans, I cooked them in the oven and put almonds on them. I loved cooking in the oven, but I could have done without the almonds. I don’t think they added much.
Something I am noticing about this meal plan is that it introduces me to new ways of cooking things. I would never have considered many of the methods I used in my real cooking life. But I ended up loving the demi-glace and the way the veggies were cooked.
Meal 3 - Pancetta Flatbread Pizza
This one got a little funky. Pizza itself is one of my favorite things. But this pizza was a bit different - it had brussel sprouts. Despite the weirdness, it ended up great.
This was a fairly easy one to cook. I did run into trouble with the tomatoes - they do not warn you that they can squirt all over. But overall this was pretty easy to make. I liked the pancetta a lot. The flatbread was quick to make and ready to roll by the time I finished up the other ingredients.
I was able to turn the second portion into a breakfast pizza. I cracked an egg on top and it tasted really great. I really liked the chili honey drizzle too.
Meal 4 - Cheddar Smash Burgers
My last meal. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t jazzed about this one for some reason. I kept putting off making this. I wish I hadn’t, it ended up being wonderful and the easiest meal of all to make. The veggies were easy to chop, the salad already prepared, and the burgers so quick to cook.
I chopped the veggies quickly and then realized I had to touch the raw meat. Again, the package was so dang hard to open. Why though? After I was able to get it out, I had to roll them up and them smash them down. Normally when I make burgers this is a long process, but a few cracks of salt and pepper later I had them on the cast iron skillet.
While those cooked I stuck the bun in the oven (hehe) and made the salad. Again, such a quickie meal. The salad was less than amazing but a good compliment to the burger.
The burger ended up delicious. So juicy and tasty. I really enjoyed the ketchup mixed with chili powder. I also really loved the chili powder ketchup combo.
Overall I think HelloFresh was great. Every meal I had was delicious and I would totally eat them all again, but I cancelled my delivery. This is just too much food for me. I had to make a very real effort to plan out these meals in a way that was almost a burden. If I did a meal delivery service, I would want 2-3 meals for a single person, not 4 meals for 2 people. Regardless, I ate a week of great meals and got inspired to come up with a few new ideas. I also think it is a bit pricey, but I can understand why it costs what it does.
