What I thought of hellofresh (or other delivery meals)

GemstoneofHeart · February 2017

Hi, I found it somewhat hard to find an honest review of delivery meals like hello fresh or blue apron since so many people are sharing affiliate links with a review. I had a really good coupon deal so I decided to try it out...and immediately cancel my subscription. Oddly, one of my husbands favorite thing to do is grocery shop, so this was not going to last long even if we did love hello fresh. I wanted to share this because I recently saw a mfp promo for blue apron.

Pros:
Really cheap to try it out if you have a promo code
Comes in separated meal kits that easily stack in your fridge and are clearly marked
Comes well packaged and was definitely cold
Recipes are easy to read and beautifully photographed
Meals are pretty tasty and interesting

Cons:
High calorie...I was seriously disappointed by the recipes I got and you can't really choose a "low calorie" box, even the veggie options are higher calorie. I had one recipe that was 963 calories for one serving!!! Insane!
Wasteful-I can't get over how awful this is for the environment. When you consider all the cardboard packaging and boxes it's separed in, it's a lot to put in a landfill.
Expensive, after your first purchase, it's not worth the price

So in a nutshell, I'm glad I tried it, but I probably won't order again. I can see this being helpful for someone who is chronically ill or just had surgery that doesn't want to get out and shop, OR the one thing I would consider it again for is if we stay at a vacation rental and want to get it sent there during our stay.

I wanted to share this mostly with MFP because I was so grossly disappointed with the calorie amount! Hope this helps someone!

alyssa0061 · February 2017

Thank you for sharing. I've thought about trying one of these services as I live alone and could stretch the food for a few meals. But the wastefulness part you mention bothers me. That alone may keep me from trying it

azelizabeth · February 2017

I tried Plated on a promo that gave me one week free. It was great and gave me great recipe ideas.... but it was ridiculously expensive and very labor intense. Each meal was around $12... which I think is high.

suzan06 · February 2017

I looked into it, but as someone who knows how to cook, I decided it was ridiculously expensive. I'll go out to eat for that price!

But I could totally see it being good for someone who is struggling to learn how to cook, or a new college grad moving into their first apartment, etc.

defowlkes · February 2017

I am signed up with Purple Carrot. I happen to like it. The meals have been great. Yes, the calories per serving are high. Each dinner serves 2. I make it into 3 meals and load up the rest of my plate with veggies. You are right about the packing. I reuse the plastic bags and plastic containers or take them to the recycling bin.

casiobarnes · February 2017

I also use Purple Carrot! We don't get it every week - the menu has to really jump out at me. I like cooking and I'm very comfortable in the kitchen but sometimes it's nice to see something you wouldn't normally try, or an unusual ingredient. The portions are pretty generous. We always get dinner (for the two of us) and then a lunch portion left over.

And yes, the packaging is terrible. Nothing about 'pre-portioned delivered to your door meals' is going to be good for the environment, but I try to reuse as much as possible and recycle the rest. Purple Carrot recently started actively trying to reduce their packaging, which I appreciate.

pebble4321 · February 2017

I use a local one called Dinner Twist (West Aust) and am very happy with it. My delivery comes in two foam eskies that get returned and reused and there is minimal packaging - some plastic bags for things like herbs or baby potatoes and extras like cashews or rice but it's less than I would use if I did the shopping myself.
The meals are delicious and not especially high in cals as far as I can see (though I'm not logging them).
Definitely more expensive than if I bought the same produce myself, but I choose to pay it for the convenience and because I get stuck sometimes with planning and cooking good meals just for myself when my husband is away (which is four weeks out of five).
If anyone wants to try it out, PM me and we both get a discount.

dragon_girl26 · February 2017

I am trying the Hello Fresh meal service this week since they had the 50% off coupon deal. My first meal was sirloin steak with peppercorn sauce, creamed kale, and roasted potatoes. I like that the recipes are easy to follow and portion size was decent. The 3 meals for $30 was a good deal, but not sure I'd say it would be good at the $60 price point for 3 dinners for 2. I definitely wouldn't do this regularly. I was able to keep the calories down by being sparing on my use of olive oil, though...my whole meal, minus the 7 oz glass of wine I had with it, was 680 calories, so I can't complain about that for a steak and potato dinner. The recipe card claimed 650 calories, so that was pretty consistent with what I came up with.
I also have dukkah chicken and cod picatta kits to try later this week.
I'm thinking of using the coupon code I have to try BlueApron next week. Their meals look pretty good too.
The packaging is definitely a bit much.

goddessecouture · February 2017

I'm Home Chef for me and daughter. We use it for two meals a week (although I also get a lunch out of each, too) and we absolutely love it! There are plenty of options, including low cal. And it's definitely better than me succumbing to the temptation to just grab takeout in my way home from work or popping in something from the freezer.

Rebecca0224 · February 2017

I tried Graze and it was expensive for what you get but I liked it. I order occasionally and somethings are good some are awful.

spatulamom · February 2017

We do Home Chef. We do 3 meals a week, 2 servings per meal (my kid has texture issues, so I just get it for my husband and myself). Yes, it's expensive, but we actually save money on our grocery bill. I also recreate some of the recipes (there's a pan-fried chicken recipe that even my kiddo LOVES, so I make that regularly) which helps with meal planning. My ADHD makes meal planning super difficult for me and this has been a great solution - plus I don't have a ton of ingredients left over that will go bad because I only needed a small portion of something.

I choose from 9 different options each week - we tend to do a lot of chicken and pork, but do get a steak meal if they look good. The calorie count on most of it is pretty decent and if it's too much, I'll save part of my portion for lunch.

Also, if you notify the company, they'll provide a label to send back the packaging for recycle.

Lounmoun · February 2017

I have heard ads for these things a lot and looked at it but it seemed really expensive. They are kind of promoted as easier and to get the non-cook making impressive meals.
I like to cook, cook every day, know what I am doing and have a much smaller food budget. So not for me.

GemstoneofHeart · February 2017

Thanks for all your input and I totally agree with you all! Also I have a friend who used to live in Austin and they really miss dinner twist! We have something similar in my town as well and it's amazing local food and pretty low calorie...but it's about $10-12 per meal...yikes!

FrogDog47 · February 2017

We use Blue Apron for 4 weeks now and it's awesome. I don't understand the 'expensive' comments. Blue Apron is $10 a plate and has lowered our grocery bill. I don't know of anywhere you can eat out for that. We have no left-overs which is a huge plus for us... way less food waste and most of the packaging goes into the recycle bin. The food is great and fresh, and delivered. It makes entering dinner into the food dairy WAY easier. Every time I've checked, someone has already entered the meal.

Timshel_ · February 2017

Did Blue Apron and it was good. We stopped because it is more expensive than if we just took the time to do stuff ourselves. And really, it isn't that is expensive for what you get, but we normally never cook with most the ingredients and it is more involved for many recipes. I just like some basic stuff personally.

alyssa0061 · February 2017

I signed up for a week of Hello Fresh, Blue Apron and Home Chef. I had 50% off each so I plan on giving them a shot. If I find one earth shatteringly amazing, I'll probably continue with it. I get my first delivery tomorrow.

tuffytuffy1 · February 2017

I agree with you. I got a free Blue Apron box in the mail, and not only was it extremely caloric, it was a lot of work. I didn't even end up making the meal. I just don't have time to prepare things like that, I am usually just throwing something into my Instant Pot or broiling a flank steak and pairing with a salad, fast and easy.

roxie144 · February 2017

My husband and I have tried home chef, blue apron, and hello fresh. Home chef has been our favorite. One of the things that I liked most was the low-calorie options available with home chef. I love not having to plan and shop for meals, my food waste is way down (neither one of us cares for leftovers,) and my grocery bill dropped $20/month.

GuyanaGold21 · February 2017

We use Metabolic Meals for dinner about 5-6 times per week. While $11.50 per meal is expensive, it is much cheaper than what we were spending eating out. We get the “fit” portion, which I found is plenty for me, and less food than I was previously eating. Most meals are in the 280-360 calorie range; again, much less than eating out. I decided to try them because my job has been insane for the past 18 months and I finally decided it was OK not to feel guilty about finding time to plan meals, shop and cook a healthy meal each evening. They arrive fresh each week and we pop them in the microwave – very quick! We’ve been using them for about 7 months and still enjoy them. Even better (for me), all meals are gluten free (I found it was a migraine trigger), organic, etc. which allows me to try any of their meals. We think it is awesome and guilt free!

lauraeyes2 · February 2017

We have used hello fresh for several months and I love it. We usually get the four person plan but our kids (2) split one. So we usually do one night each week where we have the leftovers for dinner (so we get four meals out of the the meal plan).

Yes it's a lot of packaging but it's nearly all recyclable, so if you separate out your trash and use a garbage disposal for scraps, it's not a lot of waste.

For calories, yes some are really high calorie do you have to watch, but we have the plan where you can choose which meals get delivered and I just try to avoid the ones that are super high. I can usually find a dinners each week in the 500-600cal range.

Yes it's a lot of money, but we honestly have minimal grocery shopping each week now aside from perishables and some bfast/lunch foods. And the best part is I never have to plan what to make for dinner for the week.

The recipes are super easy to follow. I used to do all the cooking, and now my husband also helps with these and they come out great

cuadrado12 · February 2017

That's crazy that one meal was almost 1,000 calories. Were all of the meals like that?

nitag · February 2017

We did Home Chef! The first delivery took more than 5 days. Yup threw that away, they wouldn't refund but reshipped.. Everything was so good.. I mean really good.. But, I don't like working 10 hr days and coming home to cooking like that.. Everything seemed to use a lot of butter (holy crap, my stove top)... Not only cooking but a lot of clean up... I was spending too much time in the kitchen.. We also tried Freshly, precooked meals,, YAK.. horrible..

deannalfisher · February 2017

its a matter of balancing priorities - I tried homechef for a month or so and liked it - but the time to prepare the food was too long on a night when I might not get home from work/the gym until 7:30pm - but I liked the range of food that was available. Cost wise, it was no different that me going to the store and buying all the stuff needed - and I didn't end up with stuff that went off because I had to buy a whole bunch of something where I only needed a small portion

there was a cost comparison done on one of the news networks and in the end when broken down by the components of the meal - these services were cheaper in the long run, but not by much (approx. $5)

greeder1 · February 2017

I have tried Hello Fresh, Sunbasket, Blue Apron and Home Chef. I liked Home Chef the most, by far. They have the most options and flexibility, the least packaging, the best tasting meals and the best customer service. The few times I didn't like a meal, I called and told them (or emailed) and they gave me a credit for it for the next order. Also the recipes really do take the time they say, my main problem with Blue Apron was their 30 minute meals were consistently taking me an hour. Meals are 9.95 per serving, and they offer a fruit basket or smoothie option for 4.95 per serving. The fruit has been great but I didn't care for the smoothies. Some of them were high in calories or tasted weird.

I have some $50 credits if anyone wants to try it.

https://www.homechef.com/invite/xwV89UwQ4rdZ

ericarfloyd · February 2017

I love my HelloFresh boxes - 3 days a week! Been doing that for over a year now! Be flexible, if the recipe is high in calorie, have half for dinner and half for lunch the next day! I recently signed up for Home Chef and use at least one of those meal for two lunches (3 lunches if is high in calories). I always try to keep lunch light anyway so there's at least 700 calories left for dinner. I hate grocery shopping and planning meals for the week so that is why I love them both! Now all I have to plan is Sunday dinner and still struggle with what to have every week!

maddymama · February 2017

I did GreenBlender for a week. It's a smoothie delivery box. It's expensive ($50 for a week of 5 smoothie recipes with two servings per smoothie) but I tried smoothie combinations that I never would have thought of. And they were delicious. It has given me the confidence to make a wider variety of smoothies at home once my week was up. My husband and I have decided to use GreenBlender occasionally, but can't quite justify them as a weekly expense.

DietPrada · February 2017

suzan06 wrote: »

I looked into it, but as someone who knows how to cook, I decided it was ridiculously expensive. I'll go out to eat for that price!

But I could totally see it being good for someone who is struggling to learn how to cook, or a new college grad moving into their first apartment, etc.

Lol a new college grad moving into their first apartment couldn't afford it.

With anything of this type, you're paying for convenience. But seriously, who's too busy to get to the supermarket once a week? You can even do your shopping online and have it delivered, you don't even need to go there. I normally do it on a Thursday night on my ipad while I'm watching TV, the supermarket app saves everything I've ordered before, and I'll also check the specials and it takes me about 10 minutes. Plus I'm not buying stuff I don't need like I would if I physically went to the shops.

GemstoneofHeart · February 2017

greeder1 wrote: »

I have tried Hello Fresh, Sunbasket, Blue Apron and Home Chef. I liked Home Chef the most, by far. They have the most options and flexibility, the least packaging, the best tasting meals and the best customer service. The few times I didn't like a meal, I called and told them (or emailed) and they gave me a credit for it for the next order. Also the recipes really do take the time they say, my main problem with Blue Apron was their 30 minute meals were consistently taking me an hour. Meals are 9.95 per serving, and they offer a fruit basket or smoothie option for 4.95 per serving. The fruit has been great but I didn't care for the smoothies. Some of them were high in calories or tasted weird.

I have some $50 credits if anyone wants to try it.

https://www.homechef.com/invite/xwV89UwQ4rdZ

I just used your code! Decided to give this one a try, can't beat $30 off!

What I thought of hellofresh (or other delivery meals)

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