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Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon – October 2015

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseJul 25, 2016 | 8 comments

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - Box

HelloFresh
3.9 overall rating
44 Ratings | 29 Reviews

Hello Fresh is a weekly meal delivery subscription that sends healthy recipes and the pre-measured ingredients you need to make them at home.  

Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - Inside

Subscribers can choose whether to receive a Classic Box (for omnivores) or a Veggie Box (for herbivores).

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - Contents

It’s easy to skip deliveries using the Hello Fresh website, and you can skip as many weeks as you like.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BoxLayer

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BoxBottom

The Subscription Box: Hello Fresh

 The Cost: The Classic Food Box starts at $10.75 per person per meal. The Veggie Box starts at $9.08 per person per meal.

ACTIVE DEAL: 16 Free Meals (Offer is for new subscriptions only across 9 boxes and varies by plan) + First Box Ships Free + 3 Surprise Gifts
CODE: MSA16HF

 The Products: Healthy recipes and pre-portioned fresh ingredients.

 Ships to: The contiguous US.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - Booklet

Hello Fresh includes a booklet that spotlights seasonal ingredients and includes your recipes for the week.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BookletPages

 Each two-sided recipe includes an ingredient list, nutritional information, and step-by-step instructions.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BoxedIngredients

Ingredients for each recipe arrived in their own box. I really like the packaging, but I had difficulty finding room in my fridge for all of the boxes.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - InsideBoxedIngredients

Meats were packed separately to ensure they were kept colder than the veggies.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - Meat

Spiced Turkey Meatballs

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Calories per Serving: 635

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - MeatballCard

I began my week of Hello Fresh meals with Spiced Turkey Meatballs.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - MeatballPrep

First, I diced my parsnips and boiled them in salted water.

 While the parsnips boiled, I prepped my veggies and then roasted the carrots on a baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - MeatballCarrots

 On the stove top, I sautéed some of the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and then mixed them into the ground turkey along with a little nutmeg to form the meatballs.

I pan fried the meatballs and, when they were nearly cooked through, added the remaining onion and pepper to the pan to cook alongside them.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - MeatballMeatballs

When the parsnips were soft, I drained them and mashed them with a little salt, pepper, and cayenne.

I plated the meatballs on top of the parsnip mash with the carrots on the side.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - MeatballsPlated

This dish reminded me of something my grandmother might have made for me as a kid- a hearty, simple, and filling meal (but one without any challenging techniques or complex flavors). I love parsnips, so I happily gobbled up the mash. The carrots were tasty, too, but I didn’t think the meatballs were anything special. Furthermore, I feel this type of simple cooking is something I can do easily without a recipe, so the meal didn’t really stand out for me or push me out of my comfort zone.

Pretzel Bun Bratwursts

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Calories per Serving: 728

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BratwurstCard

Next up, I made pretzel bun bratwursts.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BratwurstPrep

I made the cabbage-apple slaw first. I began by sautéing red cabbage in a pan with olive oil.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BratwurstCabbage

While it cooked, I chopped parley, dill, a clove of garlic, and an apple and, when the cabbage softened, I added garlic, apple, vinegar, and water to the pan. I allowed this to cook down and then stirred in the herbs.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BratwurstSlaw

I transferred the slaw to a bowl and used the same pan to cook the bratwurst. While they cooked, I toasted the pretzel buns in the oven. 

When everything was ready, I added the bratwurst to the pretzel buns with a little mustard and served them with the slaw.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - BratwurstPlated

I really enjoyed this dish. The slaw was tangy and flavorful, and I thought it was a great accompaniment to the sandwiches. The pretzel buns were delicious, too, and I felt the sausages were of good quality. I’m not sure I’d consider this a healthy meal (it also felt a little “semi-homemade” since the only thing I made from scratch was the slaw), but it was tasty.

Northern Thai-Style Galaam Oop

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Calories per Serving: 576

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - GalaamCard

I finished my week of Hello Fresh meals with Galaam Oop, a Thai-style beef and cabbage dish.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - GalaamPrep

To begin, I sliced shallot, tomato, and steak and roughly chopped peanuts and cilantro.

I cooked the shallot, turmeric, and cayenne in a pan with some olive oil and then added the cabbage and tomatoes. I covered the pan and cooked everything until the veggies softened.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - GalaamCooking

Once cooked, I set the veggie mix aside and used the same pan to cook the steak. When it browned, I added peanuts and the veggie mix and cooked for a few minutes longer.

I plated the Galaam Oop family-style and topped it with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro.

Hello Fresh Subscription Box Review + Coupon October 2015 - GalaamPlated

I wasn’t sure what to make of this when I ordered it, but I ended up liking it well enough. The steak was a little tough, but it smelled great when it was cooking and the spices filled my apartment with a rich, exotic aroma. I’m not sure I enjoyed the recipe enough to make it again (though I might try making Galaam Oop myself using a slightly different recipe), but it was a pretty decent dinner.  

The Verdict: One of my neighbors regularly receives boxes from Hello Fresh, and I’ve been curious to try it myself for a while now. Signing up online was easy, but I found the meal selection to be fairly limited. I had five recipes to choose from, and, while they all sounded okay, there wasn’t a single recipe that I couldn’t wait to try. When the box arrived, I was impressed with how it had been packed and by the freshness of the ingredients. The recipes were well-written and easy to follow, and none of them took me longer than 30 or 40 minutes to prepare. As for the dishes, I thought they were all okay. I wouldn’t describe any of the meals as “restaurant quality,” but I thought that they were all fine. (The Pretzel Bun Bratwurst was my favorite.) As compared to Blue Apron and Plated, the recipes from Hello Fresh seemed a little more classic and a little less adventurous. Even the exotic sounding Galaam Oop had a pretty simple flavor profile (the only spices used were turmeric and cayenne). While this box didn’t blow me away, I liked the meals enough to give it another try. I think I’ll keep my account active and keep an eye on future menus to see if there’s one that jumps out at me.

Have you tried Hello Fresh? If so, what was your experience like?

 

Starting at $56.95
Active Deal
16 Free Meals (Offer is for new subscriptions only across 9 boxes and varies by plan) + First Box Ships Free + 3 Surprise Gifts
Use Coupon Code MSA16HF
Subscribe Now

HelloFresh is a popular meal kit delivery service and subscription that takes the guesswork out of planning and prepping home-cooked meals. Feed your family or just yourself with quality pre-portioned and fresh ingredients, and easy-to-follow recipes that you can choose week by week. No grocery s... read more.

Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


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8 comments

Ks

I like HelloFresh for the vegetarian meals…on $59 for 3 meals vs $69+ with other companies. I do think their selection is lacking.

I love Plated and like that I can order 2 meals…as a single woman, having 6 servings sent in 1 week is a bit too much.

Definitely want to try Blue Apron eventually.

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Andrea

Lindsey, I wish they’d had you make pretzel buns! I made some and it was really neat learning how to get that mall pretzel taste by boiling the rolls before baking. I think I will make them again for Thanksgiving.

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Jennifer

I like HelloFresh but its not my go-to meal delivery box because they are so limited on menu options. My favorite go-to meal box is HomeChef they have almost double the amount of options for the weekly menu.

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Tierney

I do it about once a month. To my tastes, this week looked like it was going to suck. They have good weeks and bad weeks. I am an experienced cook and this subscription has given me new techniques and new tastes to try. So I’m grateful for that. Plated is too frou frou for me. Blue Apron looks interesting and I want to try it sometime. I have been happy for the experience, but I rarely ever cook all three meals each week, because I’m single and lazy. 😀 I prefer to cook in four-day quantities and I could do that in a family style subscription, I suppose. But I have enjoyed my experience so far and have gotten a number of other people to try with their free week offers. Most enjoy it.

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jenny jenny

I subscribe to HelloFresh in Germany, which is where the company is from. I never subscribed to a food box when I lived in the US, but after being here a few months i decided to sign up. Grocery stores and all services are closed on sunday, and i hate going to the grocery store at night after my daily commute…so this lets me spend more time the the fam. I usually do the 5 meal shipments 2-3 times a month.

I can say that the dishes i usually get look more interesting than what you were send. For the most part its usually a protein, a starch and a veggie. Sometimes I’ll do the 3 meal shipments when there’s too many pastas. I’ve been really impressed and theres no meals I’ve really disliked.

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Shasta

I like hello fresh but as a vegetarian, I find their meal choices very plain sometimes.

I just tried a week of a box called The Purple Carrot and it was really good. They focus on vegan dishes, and the meals had a lot of complex flavored. And one of the best parts was the ingredients can be unusual or expensive so I know I’m getting my money’s worth by not buying a bunch of it for just one recipe (Kombu seaweed for Pad Thai, Saffron for a paella dish, and pine nuts for pasta dish)

I also have tried one called Gobble that’s pricy but fantastic for flavor. It’s more for convenience for quick cooking on busy days than people that really want to spend time cooking though, as they send you premade ingredients designed to be made in one pan. They also offer cookie dough for desserts and a little drink mix to make with alcohol as extras.

I’ve also tried Green Chef, and they are pretty good, although I’ve had a few issues with missing ingredients.

I do like Plated a lot, but so far I’ve been getting Blue Apron the most simply because I like the price point and I find them to have excellent customer service.

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Jessvii

Just looked – apparently Gobble only delivers to Nevada and California. Darn, I’m outside their area.

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Jen

I’m definitely giving them a try at some point, but Plated is hitting it out of the park over the next few weeks with recipes I’m dying to try out, so I’ll probably wait until their menu speaks to me a little less.

I did get to try out Blue Apron, and I’ve got to say that I definitely prefer Blue Apron’s packaging to Plated’s, and based on the above I’ll probably say the same about Hello Fresh. Though Plated wins for most compact packaging. (I really liked having that cardboard divider between my meat and veggies.) I also like the booklet you’re showing here for Hello Fresh and the informational card I got with Blue Apron. That’s a fun addition, I think. And I like that I can order meals for four from both Hello Fresh and Blue Apron.

I think on meals with ingredients I can find that will feed my whole family and give us leftovers, Plated loses to the other two, and they have a lower price points. But Plated definitely seems to win on meals that speak to me with ingredients I wouldn’t normally consider, and I like that I can add desserts to Plated.

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