HelloFresh Subscription Box Review – December 12th, 2015

Disclosure: This box was paid for by me at a discount. There is a referral link so you can support my cooking and eating addiction.  

 

Subscription: HelloFresh

Coupon Code: $40 off your first week and $20 off for my next week!

Cost: Options include Omnivore [$9.90/per person], Herbivore [$9.08/per person], or Family [$8.75/per person] and you can get meals for 2-4 people 3-5x per week.

What to Expect: Full-size, premium products delivered 4x per year.

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I’ve had a $40 off coupon code from FFF or Popsugar floating around my room for a few months, and decided to use it since it was about to expire. For two people with 3 meals a week, it came out to $69, minus my $40 coupon code, then I got charged $12. I’m not good at math, but YAY!

I like that they put the health stuff on the side. I didn’t read it, but I’m sure some people like to know more about the contents other than the fact that they are EXTREMELY DELICIOUS!

Shhh don’t tell my dad I let my cat inspect my food. It passed the test btw.

A present with tiny presents!

My brother taught his tiny humans how to do “Yo Dawg” jokes, so now I always think of things that way: Yo dawg, I heard you like boxes, so I put some boxes in a box so you can open boxes while you open boxes.

 

Recipe 1: Turkey & Sage Tetrazzini with Sweet Peas, Mushrooms, and Parmesan Cream Sauce

Cooking time: 30 mins, Level: 1

We started the week with this one because I don’t like peas in my food and like to save the best for last. However, McBoyfriend and I liked this dish despite the peas. He thought it tasted like beef stroganoff, but I didn’t think so at all.

Rating: 3/4 stars

Our roomie’s Brazilian girlfriend made him Brazilian Beef Stroganoff and is was reeaaallly good!

 

Recipe 2: Soy-Glazed Steak with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes and Sesame Spinach

Yucky potato! Not so HellaFresh… It had a deep crack in it, and MB said we could salvage it, but I was super grossed out. Fortunately, we had some old red baby potatoes in the fridge that worked just fine =D

Cooking time: 45 mins, Level: 2

Less pictures because a certain boy gets up at 5am and is starving by 4pm, so I had to hurry up and burn his steak. He likes it with absolutely no red at all whatsoever. I used to, but now I don’t mind a leeetle red. Suffice to say, 4-5 mins per side was insufficient!

I am clearly not a food blogger, so this picture does not do the food justice. The mashed potatoes were the best. I didn’t let the glaze reduce long enough so it was quite thin [and very salty], but tasty. And the spinach was awesome.

Here’s the final product. It was a little bright, so I liked the other picture better but this one has the saucey sauce and sprinkles.

Rating: 4/4 stars. I will be making this again!!

 

Recipe 3: Tuscan Ribollita with Kale, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan Croutons

Cooking time: 35 mins, Level: 1

This was pretty easy to make–just chop and slop! The sausage had to be squeezed out of its casing and that was super gross and funny to do.

I’m secretly a 12 year old boy…

The boy HATES kale A LOT, so I made this on his game night and had a nice glass of boxed wine while I watched the Fall finale of The Mindy Project in my super comfy jammies. The bread chunks are ciabatta bread with parmesan, and I loved it so much I just ate the other half. Mmm bread. I had leftovers for three more meals! One is in the freezer so I don’t get kale soup overloaded.

Rating: 4/4 stars. This one’s a keeper! Perhaps I’ll be nice and make it with spinach next time though.

 

My sister in law and brother did Blue Apron for a while and liked it, but it was pricey and they kept forgetting to cook the stuff so they stopped. The main thing she said she didn’t like about the box was the amount of waste, but I think you have to look at is as food waste vs packaging waste. While, yes packaging doesn’t decompose, their fridge is also just packed with leftover that no one eats. I guess I’d rather throw out packaging than food, so I didn’t really mind.

 

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Verdict: This was awesome. I cannot tell you how many times my boyfriend asked for the price of this box and told me he really liked the idea of it. He didn’t help me with this first box [other than putting water on to boil and poking at the steak], but I got him to help with the one we just got. Look for that next week! Last week I forgot to pause this week for Christmas, so tonight we cooked our first meal of the week and it was yums all around! It’s a bit spendy at $70/week for three meals and little leftovers. I like to cook a bigger meal so we have lunch leftovers. I think I’ll do my own grocery shopping and do a comparison pricing to see what $20 can get me for one meal.

Oh, and Jamie Oliver will be the guest chef soon, so the food should be amaaazing.

 

What do you think of HelloFresh? Have you used any of the 90 million coupons you have for it? Let us know!