The holidays are upon us! Are you ready? Whether you've already decked the halls or still haven't stepped foot in a mall, the clock is ticking, and the countdown to New Year's Eve 2023 has officially begun. No matter where you are in the prepping process, I just wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and I truly hope you find many things to be thankful for this season.
Well, I'm a bit of a novice in the kitchen, but thanks to HelloFresh, this year I'll be whipping up a Thanksgiving feast for a family of 8. Thing is, I've never hosted Thanksgiving mainly because I don't have children and I've always lived in cramped city spaces. But this year will be different because my family is dealing with sudden health issues so it's time to step up to the plate.
With less than a week to plan, my sister and I decided to deck the walls with mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce. Food fight, anyone?
About HelloFresh
So, what's HelloFresh? It's one of the most popular meal kit delivery services and subscriptions that helps you save time and money! Not sure what to cook for Thanksgiving and don't have time to plan? They've got you covered! Whether you're feeding your family or yourself, you'll get high-quality, pre-portioned and fresh ingredients, along with easy-to-follow recipes that you can choose week by week. It’s no wonder HelloFresh is consistently one of our readers’ favorite meal kits, coming it at #1 on this year's list of Best Meal Kit Delivery Subscriptions.
Having family and friends over? HelloFresh takes the hassle out of what to prep and cook. When you sign up, choose your plan preference—Meats & Veggies, Veggies, Family Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, Quick & Easy, and Pescatarian—the number of people you'll be serving (2 or 4), and the number of recipes you'd like to receive per week. Then, confirm your plan and scroll through the meal choices—each week you'll get to choose from over 30 different recipes.
HelloFresh for Thanksgiving?
In the past, my contributions to a Thanksgiving feast included bottles of wine, a case of beer and a few hangovers, but this year will be very different. So, before I got started, I had dozens of questions swirling around in my head. What should I make? How should I prepare? What does everyone like? Where's the cheapest place to shop? What if I forget an ingredient? How do I do all of this in less than a week? Is Martha Stewart available? You see where I'm going. So, after scanning lots of recipes online, I made a shopping list and checked it twice (sorry, Santa). I felt confident enough in my decisions to hit the grocery store, but as I was about to walk to my car, I got a Slack message from my boss about an incredibly urgent need for one of our partners, so my shopping trip was put on hold indefinitely.
A 5pm email turned into 9pm and before I knew it, the grocery stores had already closed, so I vowed to hit up Wegman's at 7am the next morning, but when I checked Slack the next morning, I ended up glued to my desk the rest of the day. What's a girl to do? Ugh, with only 6 days to go, I took a break from work and Googled "last minute Thanksgiving ideas" and that's when I had an idea. What if one of these food subscription boxes supplied Thanksgiving meals? And that's when I discovered HelloFresh's Thanksgiving Feast. Genius!
HelloFresh sources high-quality and totally fresh ingredients like produce (fruits & veggies), organic items, and meat, seafood and poultry from sustainable suppliers and delivers them right to your door (and right before Thanksgiving). They offer vegetarian, pescatarian, and reduced-calorie menu plans, and you can customize your order, so if you're oddly picky like me (I don't eat pork, beef or fish) simply use the HelloCustom option to swap out sides or proteins. They also offer a Fit & Wholesome plan which has meals that add up to around 700 calories per serving, and they're dietitian approved.
The Feast
Even though I already subscribe to HelloFresh's weekly meal delivery service, you don't need to be a subscriber to buy the Thanksgiving meal kit. In order to guarantee delivery before Thanksgiving, I had to place my order by November 17th and chose a November 20th delivery date (the turkey needs four days to thaw).
The feast gave me the option of two boxes: Peppercorn-Crusted Beef Tenderloin or Roast Turkey with creamy mashed potatoes, ciabatta stuffing, classic gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, broccoli cheddar gratin, apple ginger crisp and an optional brie and charcuterie board. The turkey + sides costs $189.89 plus $8.99 shipping ($18.99 per person and feeds 8-10 guests) and the beef tenderloin + sides is $149.95 with free shipping ($24.49 per person and feeds 4-6 people). I chose the roast turkey because it's traditional and I also don't eat red meat.
Since we're still two days away from Thanksgiving, I haven't made the dishes yet, but the turkey is almost thawed, and we've spent all our extra time decorating, sharing stories of holidays past and drinking wine (no way I could forget about that necessity). Now, you may be wondering why I'm trying to sell you my last-minute Thanksgiving feast when it's already too late to order a box? Because I just discovered it myself, there are rumors of a holiday box, and sometimes life throws you curveballs and this is something you might need to consider in the future!
Verdict
Since Thanksgiving is still a couple days away, I haven't created my feast yet, but can I tell you just how much of a life and time saver this discovery has been for me? It took the hassle out of planning and shopping and allowed me to focus on more important things like my family. I will definitely use HelloFresh for the holidays again! Fa-la-la-la-la.
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