Many college students struggle with cooking their own meals. Either they don’t know what to cook, they don’t have time to cook or go grocery shopping or they simply just don’t know how to cook. Meal delivery services are on the rise to help busy, clueless college students with this issue. I tried out a week of one of these services, HelloFresh, to put it to the test.
When first ordering, the process was easy and simple to set up, plus I had a promo code which made my first week only $29- about how much I spend on groceries on an average week. I was able to select my desired delivery date and it was soon on its way! My only complaint with the process was that I was not able to select specific meals. I’m not big on surprises and I eat a mostly plant-based diet so I was disappointed that I received a meal with cheese that I would rather not eat. Had I been able to choose my meals, this would have been avoided.
Delivery day came and I was excited as ever! I love cooking and trying out new foods so this felt like quite the adventure to me. My package was a very large box that contained a bag for each of the three meals inside. It felt like a lot of packaging to me, but it was all recyclable so that made me pretty happy. Finally, let’s get to the most important part: THE FOOD.
via Alexis Whitted
Meal #1: No-Brainer Grain Salad
via Alexis Whitted
This is a pretty hearty salad, which I love because normally I’m not a big salad person. It’s super delicious, especially with some squeeze of the lemon they included. I was surprised that a salad would have a long cooking time, but it’s only because you have to roast the veggies and cook the farro. At first I was weirded out that I was putting hot things in salad, but I really liked it! Eating it as leftovers was not as good. I actually enjoyed the cooked ingredients being hot the first time. I could have microwaved it but I didn’t think to try it at the time.
Rating: 4/5 because of the time and leftover-ability
Related: I Tried It: FabFitFun
Meal #2: Seitan Tacos al Pastor
via Alexis Whitted
After almost two years of not eating meat, I’d never had seitan before this and I. am. SOLD. This was so good and probably the best meat substitute I’ve ever had!! I probably went a little crazy with the chili powder because my lips were burning, but that’s the way I like it. This was surprisingly easy to make. I was hesitant about including the pineapples because I don’t like pineapples very much, but they added good flavor!! I also added some avocado to cease the spice a bit.
Overall: 5/5 amaaaazing
Meal #3: Jammy Fig and Brie Grilled Cheese
via Alexis Whitted
Though I normally do not eat dairy, I decided I would make and eat this anyway for the sake of this article. I also did not want the food to go to waste. I was glad I did. It was simply a grilled cheese and roasted mushrooms mixed with the arugula. This was the quickest and easiest recipe in this week’s selection. The sweetness of the fig jam paired incredibly well with the brie on the sandwich and I can always go for some balsamic on arugula, so the salad was delicious as well. If I didn’t stray away from animal products, I would definitely make this on my own again.
Rating: 4/5 because of the dairy.
Related: How I Came Around to Meal Prepping
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience with HelloFresh. The meals were delicious. They were easy to make for the most part and now I can keep the recipe cards if I ever want to make those meals again. I wish there was a completely vegan option for the meal plan, or just a way to choose the meals you receive, but for people who do not have specific dietary needs in that way have nothing to worry about.