Meal prepping and meal services have become all the craze recently, so I finally decided to try one of the big brands: HelloFresh.
With HelloFresh, you can decide how many servings you want the meals to come in (2 or 4) and how many meals you want per week. I chose 3 meals just to test it out. Then, you can select from a variety of meal options based on which ingredients they have from their providers to ensure your meal is as ~fresh~ as can be.
A few days after I placed my order, the box arrived, and it looked really well-put together. So far, I was impressed.
As I began unpacking the box, I started to feel guilty. It all seemed like so much waste for the convenience. But wait! There’s more! HelloFresh had already considered that part because not only was the box recyclable, but so were the ice packs and cushions/box liners.
Reassured that my dinners for the week weren’t going to be at the cost of egregiously polluting the earth or killing a bunch of turtles, I turned towards the goods: the ingredients to make the Flaky Tempura Tilapia, Hot Honey Chicken, and Rosemary Demi-Glace Porkchops that I ordered.
The recipe cards are super detailed and even have pictures to help guide you through the cooking process. Beware, though, these cards give you some serious Pinterest aspirations…unless you’re Gordon Ramsey, you’re food will most likely not look as nice as it appears on the card.
I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t have a lot of time to cook. I’m a full-time student who works part-time, holds executive positions on two clubs, and is usually involved in a student film (who also likes to sleep and shower), so spending an hour (or longer) preparing a meal is not something I have the time to do. For this one week, though, I did it.
Here are my results for Flaky Tempura Tilapia (by far my favorite):
For Rosemary Demi-Glace Porkchops:
For Hot Honey Chicken:
All in all, while the meals were tasty and fresh, the box cost around $60, and while I did have a good bit of leftovers from each meal and they were all delicious, that price is out of my budget. So, though I enjoyed my meals, I will be going back to the old-fashioned way of getting my food: shopping at Kroger. At least the recipe cards are so detailed that I can buy the ingredients to make these meals on my own.
Images provided by author.