For the past few months, my wife and I have been testing out Hello Fresh. So, I thought that it would be fun to tell you what we found in a Hello Fresh review on Money Q&A.
Note – This article may contain affiliate links.
We’ve actually really loved the HelloFresh service! Here’s why…
Hello Fresh Review – Fast, Easy, Fun, and Cheap Meals
What is Hello Fresh?
You’ve probably seen the Hello Fresh commercials on television. They seem to be everywhere lately. Hello Fresh is one of the many meal subscription services that delivers prepackage and proportioned ingredients right to you doorstep each month.
The Hello Fresh meals typically come in portions for two people. They have just the right amount of ingredients to make the recipe. And, the recipes are simple. They’re easy and fun to make. Each meal comes with its own recipe card to help you prepare the meal.
Hello Fresh typically costs around $79 per month for three prepackaged meals that you make in your own kitchen. There is a discount available to try your first order for $40 off that brings the cost down to $39 you first month.
You get to pick which meals you to order through their smartphone app or website. They typically give you eight to ten different meals to choose from on the list. And, meals aren’t repeated throughout the year.
You can download the recipe to recreate them again later if you want. That’s what my wife and I have done for our favorites. There are several recipes prepared by celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver too.
If you’re not in the mood or are going to be out of town, you can delay or skip as many shipments as you want as well. It’s really easy to make changes through the Hello Fresh smartphone app or website.
Why I Love Hello Fresh
Hello Fresh sends all of the meals pre-proportioned. In the box with your main ingredients, they send small jars of any ingredients, spices, and condiments that you may need from the recipe.
The directions are easy to follow. And, they come in a nice recipe card that you can keep in order to make the recipe again. They’re super simple to follow.
Another great thing about Hello Fresh is that their recipes use interesting and ingredients that you may not normally cook with. One of our favorite meals has been mahi mahi with Israeli couscous. If it were not for Hello Fresh, I would have never tried Israeli couscous. Now we’re cooking with it
The meals are healthy. Each meal is a healthy dinner with protein, vegetables, and a starch. It’s two perfectly balanced portions for two people.
There are also vegetarian options and larger meal sizes for families if you want to choose those options.
Save almost $10 With Hello Fresh Meals
For $79, you receive three meals for two people. When I saw what comes in the boxes from Hello Fresh, I didn’t think that I could recreate the meal, with those ingredients, for the same cost.
So, I set out to try. My wife and I took our favorite meal that we’ve had, mahi mahi on a bed of Israeli couscous with a side of spinach.
So, my wife and I went to our local grocery store to try and replicate the meal and see what the costs were. We had a problem trying to find mahi mahi in my local grocery store. Not all grocery stores carry that type of fish.
We managed to find some mahi mahi at in upscale grocer in the really nice section of town. I have listed the costs (below) beside the individual ingredients. These costs are what I paid for them at my local Wegmans grocery store.
- Shallot – $0.47
- Capers – $2.49
- Lemon – $0.69
- Israeli Couscous (Wheat) – $1.49
- Vegetable Stock Concentrate – $2.79
- Olive Oil- Free (Free – had it in my pantry at home)
- Salt – Free (Free)
- Spinach – $3.99
- Pepper – Free (Free)
- Mahi Mahi Filets – $18.69
- Thyme- Free (Free)
- Butter- Free (Free – had it in my refrigerator at home)
Total Cost = $30.61
Of course I know that items like butter, salt, and pepper are not truly free. I bought them in bulk a while ago and use them in all of my cooking. Their costs are spread out over a long time using the spices. And, their costs are negligible for this meal.
There will be a few small items that you will have to provide for the recipe. These are simple items like salt, pepper, butter, and olive oil, which most people have already in their pantry.
So, a meal that cost me under $20 through Hello Fresh, ended up costing over $30 from my local grocery store. It’s a testament to the cool ingredients and reasonable price that Hello Fresh provides.
Bringing the Fun Back to Cooking
I have to say that my love of cooking kind of ebbs and flows. I can go for a couple of years loving to cook and trying new recipes. And, then I can hit a dry spell where I don’t want to cook really. Those are the great times that my wife picks up the slack. And, with her love of the paleo diet, it has been a great give and take.
Now that we order three to six Hello Fresh meals per month, the service and its interesting dishes have helped to get me back into the love of cooking again. Cooking Hello Fresh meals has been fun for me. My 9 year-old has even gotten into the act, serving as my sous-chef at times. It’s been fun getting the whole family involved with cooking in the kitchen a few times per month.
Hello Fresh Refund and Credits
One month, bad weather delayed our box from Hello Fresh from FedEx delivering it on time and the food spoiled. After calling the great customer service center for Hello Fresh, the company immediately shipped a replacement order to my wife and me. They also gave us a credit for portion of our next shipment.
We have been really impressed by Hello Fresh’s great customer service. Even if produce is wilted in shipping or if there’s some other problem, they work to make it right, which often translates to free food!
My wife and I have loved trying out Hello Fresh, the meal subscription service. While the service may not be for everyone and every budget, my Hello Fresh review shows some great reasons that we’ve loved the service.
Have you tried Hello Fresh or one of the other meal subscription services? How did it work for you? Did you like them? Is there anything else that I missed in my Hello Fresh review?
We’ve tried Hello Fresh for two weeks now and so far we’re mixed on the recipes. They always take longer to prep (the estimate for prep seems to be more what a professional cook can prep) and the cooking times have been too long or too short on at least half the recipes we’ve made. But overall, we’re still pleased. It’s really helped us eat healthier by having home cooked balanced meals. Your blog says you pay $79 per month for 3 meals for 2 but we pay $59 per week for 3 meals for 2. Did you mean per week? If not, where are you located? That’s a huge price difference.