Hello Fresh Meal Kit Review

I’m so excited to share this Hello Fresh review with you. I’ve tried to include all the info about our experience so that you know what to expect and can decide if Hello Fresh is the right meal delivery service for you.

A few weeks ago, hubby and I decided to give Hello Fresh a try. We got a promotion for $80 off and I had been curious to try one of the many meal kit deliveries for a while. 

Hello Fresh is a meal kit delivery service. Each week they have a menu with a selection of meals for you to choose from. They also had some premium meal options for an additional charge, like for a steak meal. 

Depending on when you order you may only be able to get their standard options. This was the case for our first week but we didn’t mind since the 3 meals looked really good.

With our discount, the first week was less than $25. This was the lowest price per week, as the discount was largest for the first week and then incrementally less the following weeks. They ease you up to full price. 

This Post is not sponsored and contains my honest opinions and experience.

Ordering a Hello Fresh Meal Kit

Ordering was really easy. Online you can select what type of meals you want – meat & veggies, veggie, family friendly, calorie smart, quick & easy, or pescatarian. This is convenient  in that it can accommodate eating preferences and lifestyle options.

You then select the number of people – 2 or 4, and the number of recipes you want each week – 2, 3, 4, or 5.

You can sign up at Hello Fresh’s website here.

Hello Fresh Delivery Review

On our delivery day we received our bright green box in the afternoon.

The box was well packaged with our first 3 meals- Beef Bulgogi Bowls, Balsamic Fig Chicken and Shroom ‘N’ Swiss Pork Burgers.

The recipe cards were on top of the insulation, followed by a paper bag for each meal with all but the meat ingredients.

The meat was packaged separately in the box between two big ice packs. 

I put all the ingredients right into the fridge, so unpacking was really easy.

I was really impressed with the packaging. The ingredients arrived fresh and were good quality.

The recipe cards show what ingredients are used for each recipe along with measurements so that you can make each meal again for either 2 or 4 servings. 

Each meal has its own card, so you aren’t making just one dish, they guide you through making a whole meal.

Hello Fresh Meals Review:

For this section I’ll give you a brief review of the meals from our first week though we did try several weeks of meals.

Beef Bulgogi Bowls with Carrots, Pickled Cucumber and Sriracha Crema

Bulgogi is known as being Korean BBQ. We used to have a great local mom & pop Korean restaurant – I still miss their Bulgogi. I was cautiously excited to try this meal.

These bowls are made with a bed of rice topped with pickled cucumber, sautéed carrots and beef Bulgogi, drizzled with creamy sriracha sauce. 

The directions were really easy to follow and hubby and I were able to work together easily. (There can sometimes be too many cooks in the kitchen.)

The final result – delicious. I wasn’t sure I’d like the pickled cucumber or the sauce but wow, it was so good. The flavors combined really well and made for a yummy and filling dinner.

The portions for this recipe were perfect for the two of us.

We’ve already made this recipe again, and were easily able to find the ingredients needed. We ordered Korean BBQ sauce and chicken stock concentrate on Amazon.

Balsamic Fig Chicken with roasted potatoes and Lemony Green Beans

I’m not really big on sauces and condiments. I like enough to add flavor but I don’t like when they take over, so I was a bit nervous about this recipe. 

The balsamic fig sauce pairs perfectly with the chicken- I actually added more. 

The potatoes were roasted nice and crispy. I love potatoes cooked every which way, they are such a versatile ingredient. 

The green beans were nicely roasted. And the lemon zest added an additional layer of flavor. It was good, but not my favorite. It does make them more summery but I prefer more savory seasoning flavors with green beans. 

The portion size was perfect for me for a filling but light meal, but not quite enough for hubby (for perspective- he’s 7 feet tall and needs more calories than your average guy.)

Yes, we’ve already made this meal again and it was just as delicious. We ordered the Fig jam off Amazon, but the other ingredients were easy to come by.

Shroom ‘N’ Swiss Pork Burgers with Potato Wedges & a Creamy Honey Dijon Dipper

These burgers were delicious and flavorful. The potato buns were soft and yummy and toasting them added extra flavor. The cooked mushrooms added a hearty topping for the pork patties. The swiss cheese melded well with the other ingredients. 

The potato wedges cooked up nice and crispy. I dipped them in ketchup, but hubby used the extra honey dijon dipper sauce. We’ve made potato wedges several more times by roasting like in this recipe and they are a winner each time.

Prep

While you don’t have to wrangle all the ingredients from your fridge and pantry you do still have to cut and chop ingredients. Using a meal kit like this may save you some prep time but not more than a few minutes.

We were hoping this would help cut down on the amount of dishes, which was not the case. You’re still going to be using pots and pans and such. 

The recipe cards do tell you what pans or cooking tools you’ll need for each meal, which is helpful.

Hello Fresh Cost Review

With a discount code, it’s definitely worth trying. If you can get 3 meals for under $25 with free shipping then go for it! Each meal for under $10 is a great deal. 

It can be pricier when you do add in shipping costs and have no discount. Without the discount and the cost of shipping our total jumped to $61.93 per week for 3 meals for 2 people, or around $20 per meal. 

Depending on your lifestyle this could potentially be a money saver for you, like if you eat out a lot. But if you mostly cook at home it may be more expensive, just something to be aware of. 

We’ve been doing most of our grocery shopping at Aldi where we can get good, fresh food for a low price point. And we don’t eat out very much. So, while we really enjoyed using Hello Fresh, we just couldn’t justify the cost right now. 

Who should try Hello Fresh?

If you’re super busy and need to streamline your dinners, this takes all the leg work out of meal planning. 

Hello Fresh is also a great option if you are just learning to cook, wanting to learn some new recipes and techniques or want to start eating at home more or if you need to streamline your dinner plans.

If you’re trying to start a vegetarian or pescatarian diet then selecting those meal options could be a great way to get you started. 

Cooking a Hello Fresh Meal Kit is also a fun date night in and would make a nice gift for someone.

Related: 15 At Home Date Night Ideas

Final Thoughts

Hello Fresh is so convenient. Having a bag with ingredients that you can just pull out when it’s time to cook makes it really easy and can save you from decision fatigue. 

You can skip a week or cancel anytime and you can easily reactivate your account. They have an app that makes ordering or managing your account easy too.

The selection was good for the meal type option we chose and the ingredients were good quality. Only one meal came in our second week that was missing a garlic clove. We had garlic already so it wasn’t a big deal. 

The meals were delicious and we had fun cooking them together. 

Having a solid meal plan can prevent food waste, support healthier eating and take some stress out of your week. 

We were really happy with our try of Hello Fresh, the only reason we stopped deliveries was the cost right now. 

I think it’s definitely worth a try and could be a really great meal kit option for you.  I hope you enjoyed this Hello Fresh Meal Kit review and found it helpful!

Let me know in the comments – have you tried a meal kit delivery service? Which one? What did you think of it? Is there another one we should try?

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