Welp, it’s Monday. I try to be grateful for every single morning, but Mondays make it tough. Ya know?
A few weeks ago I won a free week of HelloFresh (which included the ‘Classic Box’ -three meals for two people). No one asked me to write a post. No one is giving me money. I make nofin’ off this. I just thought you might like to see how HelloFresh worked for two rural married folk who typically whip together a homemade meal two or three times a week, tops.
(All that said, I believe this code does credit my account & it gives you $40 off your first box. Regardless, I don’t care if you use it or not 🙂 I’m just gonna’ leave it here. The actual numerical code is: 222525E4CHCG )
I’ll talk about each meal, then the pros and cons of this service! As far as difficulty goes, 1 is simple and 5 is near impossible.
Meal 1: Jamie’s Oozy Shrimp Risotto w/ Tomatoes and Chile
Why I Picked It: We love shrimp! (K isn’t a huge fan of risotto, but I figured he’d be alright…)
Difficulty: 3 out of 5
Results: Out of all three this was the most challenging one. (The website says it’s rated very difficult.) Still, it was pretty easy. I cooked it first because A) it told me to and B) I was nervous about the shrimp going bad. It was really, really good! The salad was kind of a miss (leafy greens, lemon juice, oil = meh) but the meal was great! I’m slow in the kitchen & it definitely took me longer than the estimated time, but everything turned out just right! (I intentionally left the chili pepper out, fyi.)
(From here out I started getting lazy with pictures/K was running out of patience with me.)
Meal 2: Chipotle Rubbed Chicken Salad
Why I Picked It: It sounded good & I’m a sucker anything avocado!
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Results: I am an old lady & spicy foods do not agree with me. I dug alllll the seeds out of the jalapeno & limited the adobo sauce. Didn’t matter- it still had a kick. Haha! Both K and I don’t care for beans, but overall this salad was yummy. It took me longer to prep than indicated, but I think that’s a theme with me. For having a lot of foods we don’t normally eat in it, this was a successful meal, too!
Meal 3: Crispy Chicken w/ Brown-Butter Corn & Cucumber Tomato Salad
Why I Picked It: Why wouldn’t you pick it?! Crispy chicken & buttery corn- oh my!
Difficulty: 1 out of 5
Results: WINNER, WINNER- CHICKEN DINNER. (Er, um, no pun intended…?) By far our favorite meal! I’ve never coated chicken in sour cream but you can bet your behind that I’ll do it in the future! Also, they said to cook the corn in a separate pan, but I threw it in the pan that I used to brown the chicken because #LessDirtyDishes. And it was SO GOOD with bits of crispy breading from the chicken mixed throughout. K really, really loved the corn (which is good because he really, really hates cucumbers- haha)! My mouth is watering thinking about this meal!
. . .
Ok, so a quick list of pros & cons & opinions…
Pros: Everything you need is included (except oil olive for most recipes), the directions are simple & there are pictures (praise Jesus), & the food quality is pretty great! Also, while you can freeze some of the meals to make later on, it forces you to stay home & cook.
Cons: Well, it forces you to stay home and cook. (Ha, I kid.) It’s a little costly and I was nervous about the meat while in transit. We received ours in the middle of summer and, while the box was a little soggy & the cold pack thingys were starting to melt, everything was still cold and fresh.
Another pro is that you can skip your box for weeks at a time (like right now we’re currently suspended because I don’t grow money), and they have a handy app that lets you control your deliveries AND the food each week. (You pick three out of the six meals.) It also lets you rate your meals and look up other HelloFresh recipes.
I haven’t checked it out, but they have a vegetarian box option & family boxes! You can also change the number of meals you get and the number of people eating them.
So in conclusion, we liked our free week. We decided that we’ll probably get HelloFresh one week per month or one week every other month- depends on what they’re serving up! I’m pretty excited to try out some of the other recipes!
Have you ever tried a meal service like this? Would you ever?
Life as Louise 
I was about to say, I think they do a veggie box, so it could help you on your goal to cook more veggie meals!
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The husband is the hang up 😉 I doubt he’d be on board with spending that much $$$ on a meatless meal. Haha…
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Mmm, that crispy chicken looks so good!
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So good!
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That last chicken meal looks and sounds so good!!! I have thought about trying a meal service before but I have been strictly meal planning, food prepping every week for the last 2 or 3 years of my life. So I feel like I have that aspect of our lives down and don’t really need to change it up. When we get in ruts I find new recipes or get a new cookbook to spark inspiration. I think the idea is fun though and it lets you try new things without full committing to all the ingredients if you don’t like it which I like. Sometimes I buy a huge bottle of spice and it is months before I touch it again and that can be frustrating!
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It sounds like you have a pretty good system! Some weeks I’m pretty great about planning ahead (last week) and some weeks I get home after work and panic because we have NOTHING for dinner (this week), haha.
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I do Blue Apron & LOVE having everything there but its a little too advanced for me sometimes. My step daughter is a kitchen pro & its nothing for her… it totally pushes me out of my limits – but thats OK sometimes. The results have all been great so far.
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We keep getting coupons for Blue Apron but when a free opportunity came for HF we jumped on that 😉 The shrimp recipe had me running all over the kitchen but so far nothing has been incredibly complicated. Thank goodness!
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I’ve done Blue Apron – I don’t like the cost of these programs for what you get…at least when I buy food and cook it, I have a lot of leftovers for lunches, etc.
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Yeah, I agree with you about cost/leftovers/what you get. That said, we have the bad habit of eating out OFTEN so to spend $70 on three meals verses one or one and a half is pretty good for us. Of course, if I’d meal prep and shop I know we’d save even more!
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Girl I am impressed!! You guys did a great job! I haven’t tried Blue Apron… I might some day. Right now, there’s not really time to cook haha but I would love to try it someday!
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Thank you! It’s honestly something I thought we’d never try, but I’m really glad we did!
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Cool to read a review of this, we have never tried anything like it. I think it would definitely be convenient, but our problem is often not being home enough to cook… so it may not be the best for us. Not sure, either way, glad you liked your meals, and glad that overall it was easy for you! I could see trying it someday. If we do, I shall use your code! 🙂 XO – Alexandra
Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
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I was thinking of un-pausing our account for another week, but then I remembered we won’t be around much this month. Haha. I’m very glad that you can pause your weeks!
I never thought we’d try something like this, but I’m glad we did, and I think it’ll be a nice treat once a month or so where I don’t have to shop & everything I need is in the fridge already 🙂
Thanks!
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THAT ALL LOOKS SO GOOD. I just checked out their site and I think with your super handy coupon we might actually go for it!!! 😀 Thanks girl!
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I’m glad to hear it! The food was absolutely delicious! Definitely a yummy treat once a month or every other!
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That crispy chicken sounds great! I’ll have to try coating my chicken in sour cream because that sounds awesome!
I’ve tried a similar program called Chef’s Plate because I got a free week too and it was great. We used it once a week for about 3 months before we moved and it was SO convenient to not have to go to the grocery store and grab the things and then come home and make dinner.
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I feel like it puts the pressure on me to actually cook. Haha. Fortunately, I enjoy cooking. It was really handy to have everything there and I feel like I learned a few new tricks (coating chicken with sour cream!) along the way
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After following along and seeing your snaps, you are actually a great ambassador for this service, and they should pay you a commission. My problem is that our dinners have to feed my husband and 76 year old father-in-law who is quite a simple man. Neil does most of the cooking, and I tend to make salads or sides. I’m pretty sure I need some of that brown butter corn.
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Thank you! I never remember to take any pictures of anything so I was impressed with myself to have at least one or two for each meal 🙂
I’m definitely a more adventurous eater than K, but he’ll typically try anything once. (Except off-the-wall stuff like oysters or something. Ha.)
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Oh, this looks so yummy!
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It was positively delicious! 🙂
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i dont think I would; we cook every day at home because i’m cheap and don’t want to buy takeout! LOL
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If you have a system I think that’s awesome! We definitely don’t…. haha. I’d like to be a meal prep-er, though, so I feel like this is a baby step. Haha!
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This has always intrigued me, but I am sooo cheap hahaha. Also, if you can only pick 3/6 meals that probably wouldn’t work. If you got to pick them all I could avoid all the gluten and dairy for Michael! He makes things sooo difficult. 😉
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I think you can pick all six if you want to! Haha! (I mean, it’ll cost a little more… lol.) They also tell you what’s in each recipe. I just looked it up- the shrimp risotto and the chipotle salad ones were gluten and dairy free! (I’m not trying to sell you, I was just curious because I remembered see it on the recipe card. Haha.)
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I had really similar thoughts when I tried Blue Apron. Who are these people who can chop all these veggies and get so many things prepped in an hour? Plus, I must eat like a horse because I was mostly still hungry. But, all of that to say, the convenience and variety are amazing and I’m kind of considering doing one of these again…
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I have a friend that does these regularly and she said they always have leftovers. After all three we had NONE. Of course, my husband liked the meals and when he likes dinner there are NEVER leftovers. Ha.
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Your meals look sooo good! You did an awesome job preparing them. I love seeing what you make, it makes me so hungry! I hope one day I can get more adventurous with my food and try some of the dishes that you make! That chipotle chicken dish looks bomb! I think it’s so cool you’re trying this! ❤
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Thanks, Christina! I think the Chipotle chicken was too much for us, hahaha! We don’t really like beans and it was pretty spicy for me… It was fun to make new things, though!
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I wish we had the delivery capability (and don’t want to trouble our elderly neighbour) to do this!
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It’s definitely not local to use, but fortunately it stayed cold the entire distance to us 😀 Whew!
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