Hello Fresh: Meal Subscription Kit! (Review)

If you've watched some of my recent vlogs, you'll have seen how I've been excitedly trying Hello Fresh! I've been looking forward to sharing this post for so long, and it's a part of my journey to a healthier, happier me. 

Hello Fresh is a meal delivery subscription service, similar to Gousto. They have four clear aims: to help save money, provide high quality food, encourage varied diets and reduce food waste. They also focus on an environmentally friendly service, to ensure neutral CO2 emissions and ensure most of the packaging in recyclable. 

Not at the fault of Hello Fresh, but my box got delivered on the selected day, which was great, but sadly my doorbell wasn't rung, which meant it sat outside my door for over an hour. Luckily, some items came packed in a ice and thermal bag. Oddly though, a lot of the other items, also needed to be kept in the fridge, so in the end I separated the fridge bag items into the already separated meal bag items, and put everything in the fridge. I loved that I could just grab a bag per meal. 

Meal 1: Mango Chutney Fajitas

This was by far my least favourite meal. I love fajitas so I really thought I would like it, but the mango chutney just made them far too sweet for me. My boyfriend however loved his, and ate both portions of the meat, whilst I ate both portions of the wedges. Rank 4, 2/10.

Meal 2: Roast Thyme Chicken

This was the tastiest roast chicken I've had for a while. I loved the wedges, the roasted carrots and even the chilli sauce that came with it. I wasn't personally a fan of the aubergine but it was quite mushy, and I have a thing about textures of food. Rank 2. 8/10. 

Meal 3: Creamy Bacon Mustard Penne

For me, I'm not a huge fan of salads, but I was really excited to try this one, especially with the pear. I don't remember the last time I had pear. I went to take a bite, and sadly, the salad dressing was so strong and vinegar-y, I couldn't even stand a bite. My boyfriend however said it was one of the tastiest dressings he had ever had so, clearly we have different opinions on the matter. The pasta side of the dish was really delicious, and had great flavour. It wasn't super strong of mustard, but I did think the cheese was quite strong. Again, Luke loved it, so it's just a personal preference thing. Rank 3. 5/10. 

Meal 4: Sweet and Sour Chicken

Without a doubt, my favourite meal. I loved the chicken, the vegetables were edible, the sauce delicious and the bulgur wheat blew me away! I have been converted from rice to this new alternative, which only costs slightly more for almost half the calories, and I could barely taste the difference. The whole dish was scrumptious and I can't wait to have it cooked for me again. Rank 1. 9/10!

Overall, I think at full price, the bundle is quite expensive for the ingredients and frustratingly, there is a lot of plastic packaging waste, so even though the company makes alternative investments to be carbon neutral, it still doesn't feel great. 

However, I love that the:

• portions are HUGE! so even if you don't like some of the meal, you're still full
• idea behind the company is focussed and beneficial 
• ingredients come ready separated for each meal
• instructions are easy to follow, with pictures, step-by-step instructions and the final dish image
• box reduces food waste to none! 
• service pushes me to try meals I wouldn't normally try

Seriously, the proof is in the images and videos. These look like professional dishes that are quick and easy to make. My partner got so into it, he even made a vlog of the meal prep, which you can watch here, for three out of the four meals! 

I would defintely recommend and if you want to try it yourself, I have a £20 off voucher too! Have you tried Hello Fresh? Have I changed your mind if not? Let me know what you think!