March 01, 2013

Hello Fresh Meals Review

Hello Fresh is a company that sends you all of the ingredients to make a healthy and fresh recipe right at home. I was sent the ingredients to make 3 different dishes including a beef and broccoli rabe tostada, pecan crusted salmon and lentils dish and a turkey and pasta dish. Each meal makes enough for 2 servings. In my case, I had about half a serving of leftovers from each meal.

 
All of the ingredient portioned in their packages.
 
This was quite an exciting package to receive. It was filled with preportioned fresh foods ready to be cooked. For example, the salmon and lentils dish came with preportioned cashews, Parmesan cheese, panko breadcrumbs, basil, lentils, salmon, garlic clove and tomato sauce. They are wrapped in individual packaging for easy use.


On Friday night, I decided to cook up the salmon and lentils dish because as a Catholic, I cannot eat meat on a Friday during lent. I followed the directions that the package came with. The directions come on a card with pictures to make cooking the dish easier to understand. This dish turned out amazing. My husband was literally raving about it for two days. The salmon was crusted perfectly and the lentils were flavorful. Definitely a very fresh meal. I served this meal on a bed of cooked kale for some extra vegetables. The cherry tomatoes honestly tasted like homegrown ones!

On Sunday night, I made the beef and broccoli rabe tostada. This meal turned out well also. My main complaint would be that I thought it needed some kind of sauce and that it was kind of messy and hard to eat. I had not tried broccoli rabe before either. I like that this company includes unique kinds of vegetables instead of just the basics.
 
I think that the Hello Fresh program would be great for those learning how to cook or those who are too busy to think of meal ideas and purchase the ingredients themselves. The step-by-step cooking is a smart way to learn cooking techniques. Also, the preportioned ingredients save a lot of time in the kitchen which is great for people who work.

As a dietitian, I am critical of a meal's nutrition. There are a few things that I think could be improved upon to make Hello Fresh healthier. The dishes called for added sodium. This is something that I chose to omit because there was plenty of sodium in the other ingredients that the meal came with. The tortillas and pasta were both refined grains and I would recommend using whole grains for added fiber. The beef and broccoli rabe tostadas called for using 4 tablespoons of oil for the recipe. I completely omitted all oil as there was plenty of fat in the recipe from the walnuts, beef and cheese. Finally, my last recommendation is that these recipes required many dishes (sometimes up to 4 pots and pans) and I would recommend simplifying the recipes to use less dishes.

Overall, I had an excellent experience sampling Hello Fresh. The meals were all delicious and the way that they were to be portioned and presented was beautiful. I definitely took a few ideas from this company to use in my day to day cooking.

To see if Hello Fresh delivers to your area, check out their locator.

To get 30% off your Hello Fresh order, use this code: NUTRITIONIST30

Here is some information about Hello Fresh:
HelloFresh provides the convenience of serviced cooking at home. In less than 30 minutes, you can have meals designed by a nutritionist and discover new ingredients and dishes from around the globe.

Each week you can choose 3 out of 5 options, leaving out what you do not like. There is also a great variety in vegetarian meals every week, going well beyond just regular tofu. If you’re looking to eliminate the hassle of grocery shopping from your already packed schedule and experience quality time cooking together with your loved ones, then HelloFresh is for you.

Think of HelloFresh as your private sous chef! Visit http://www.hellofresh.com/ to join the 200M people in 20 eastern states in the U.S. (and beyond) receiving these meals.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of HelloFresh. All opinions are my own.

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Comments

  1. Gave you a shout out on the sponsors FB page. I may try this. Thanks!

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  2. I really enjoy Hello Fresh. I like that you can skip weeks or months and cancel anytime. The meat and produce have been great and I have liked every meal I have gotten so far. I'm single so I like having the leftovers for the next day's lunch or dinner. I have even cooked one of these meals for two for three adults; I added some veggies I had at home and there was plenty for everyone. If you want to try Hello Fresh use code EY6D28 and get $40 off your first box!

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  3. Thanks Amanda for the amazing review!

    I really needed to find a more convenient way to get back to loving to cook in my kitchen…

    I ended up finding another service, HomeChef, which originally started over in Belgium but is now available across Europe as well as the United States, Australia, and other countries. I have tried a number of different "dinner subscription boxes" and this one TOPPED MY LIST! Much better ingredients, creative and easy recipes, and really good customer service...

    I started looking for a way to try this service pretty cheap, because I already pay too much for groceries, and I found a great deal for HomeChef!

    I got $30 Off and Free Shipping on my First Order by using this offer link: https://www.homechef.com/%69%6E%76%69%74%65/kQWAUbAMrJo

    That made my first order only $29, perfect to give it a try! In my first order I got the Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Chicken and it was SO good! The other meals included a Mushroom and Swiss Beef Burger and Sous-Vide Baby Back Ribs. They were all very easy to make in MY OWN kitchen and my whole family loved how they tasted! I now get it every week because it is SO convenient, tastes AMAZING, and I get to try cooking new things that I would have never made before…

    I just thought I'd post it if anyone else is looking for a deal to give it a try.

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