julialala: Hello Fresh!

For the past few weeks I have been receiving produce boxes by a company called Hello Fresh. For those who have not heard about the company or are interested in subscribing to the service, you have come to the right place.

Hello Fresh is a subscription based service which prides itself for their fresh and locally sourced produce. They deliver food to your door with a set menu and all the ingredients you will need for the week. Apart from needing the basics from the pantry and kitchen e.g. butter, salt and pepper, everything is provided. There are several boxes to choose from to suit different dietary needs. The Classic box includes meats (the box I am currently subscribed to) and the Veggie Box which contains no meat products; both have set weekly menus. In addition to these two boxes, there is also a fruit and juice box which can bought with your Classic/Veggie box or separately.

Options for boxes include 3 or 5 meals each week for 2,4 or 6 people. The Classic Box starts at $69 (3 meals, 2 people) to $279 for 5 meals feeding 6 people. The Veggie box ranges from $64 - $159 and only offer 3 meals per week.

This is how Hello Fresh works:

As I signed up at a stall in my local shopping center, the company representative helped with the process. When you sign up online, follow the prompts and enter your name, address and card details, you will also need to create a username and password for the website. The website is an essential tool as this is how you will be managing your delivery schedule, the recipes for the week and your account. Once you have completed these steps you will then be able to select when you want your box to be delivered. They only deliver on Monday from 10am – 8pm and Sunday 8am to 7pm. If you do not want a delivery the following week you must cancel your order on Wednesday the previous week. You are able to pause your deliveries free of charge until you decide when you want your next delivery.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

It's a great way for people to start cooking if they are not confident cooks or are interested in learning how to cook. It makes cooking easy. All the dishes I have cooked so far only have had five step instructions. It makes cooking simple, straight forward and less daunting.
You are also able to experiment with new ingredients you haven’t cooked with before or would not usually think of cooking with.
I like to reinvent previous recipes, whether it's putting my own little twist or tweaking things according to my taste.
As I mentioned before the meat is free range and locally sourced.
They cater for healthier diets, you are able to include, replace or take away ingredients you do not wish to include. For example, as I don't eat rice, I replace it with Quinoa instead.
You can send a free box to 4 of your friends when you sign up. Make sure you type in the correct emails the first time round as you can’t edit the emails after you enter them as I experienced.
As a member you receive exclusive offers and gift vouchers for different companies.
Even when you do not order a box, all recipes are still accessible. The website has an archive of past recipes that you can try. Both meat and veggie recipes are available for viewing and download.
You are able to add more ingredients for the side dish e.g. rice, quinoa, vegetables to feed more people. I am usually able to divide each recipe by 3.
There is an app! Here you can access recipes and manage your account.
Delivery is included in your payment, no additional costs are incurred.
It is good to know that you have food for the week. There is no needed to think about every single meal as dinner is already set. If you don't cook all the meals in that week, all the ingredients can always to be stored for the week after.

Cons

The price. I would not recommend the service if it’s out of your price range. This is not only way start eating healthy or start cooking. Eating healthy does not mean expensive, it all starts by making better choices!
They don't claim to be certified organic, for the price I am paying, I would expect the products to be free range and certified organic.
They only show the menus one week in advance, so if you want to get a box every few weeks, you can’t predict what you will be receiving until the menu comes out the week before.
I found it very difficult to contact them via their contact number. I tried all day, calling numerous times and even leaving a message but did not reach them. This was just a one off experience and haven’t tried since, but it is something to be aware of.

Here's Box 1!