Here is what I think about Hello Fresh and how it compares to what I’ve been using to make dinner a snap, and most importantly, healthy.

The biggest challenge we have is knowing what to eat for dinner.

The second challenge is making sure it’s healthy.

I’ve been hesitant to order from GrubHub, Hello Fresh, Freshly, Blue Apron, Home Chef, etc. delivered to my front door. Maybe I find them expensive but I also like to think my $2 Mealime app per month that helps me organize, create lists, and easily shop has worked out just fine.

Until my work schedule got crazy busy!

Big bowl of rice with a nice size portion of salmon with a chardonnay. Who’s complainin?

Mealime also decided to cancel my subscription for reasons they still haven’t told me. So there went my recipe collections and Serious Eats’ techniques (as shown above) that I had cleverly been storing in this app for over a year. Now everything was gone and I had to start over.

Now that’s a Pork Chop!

This is how we’d normally eat a pork chop.

So when I was asked if I wanted to try Hello Fresh, I still hesitated. Until I was asked if I literally wanted a free box without using a darn coupon, I was like, “oh, heck yes!!”

What it comes with:

The box came with icepacks and brown paper bags filled will all the ingredients nicely separated and somewhat measured. Did I need one lemon? Here it is. A couple of tablespoons of thyme? It came in a nice little pack. One cup of rice was measured and came sealed in a bag. All the veggies were nicely packaged too.

At the bottom, between the ice packs is the meat. Now the boneless pork chops seemed very small in size compared to what we’ve had before (on the right). My first thought was that this wasn’t going to work with a husband who likes to eat. So I figured I would make the four pieces of boneless chops for (two recipes). These are what came with two meals prepared for 2-4 people).

However, when the meat is done, it’s time to eat. The other 2 pieces of seasoned pork chops sat on the counter. I thought I’d come back to finish cooking them but I never did. We ate the small portions of boneless pork chops and doubled on cooking the veggies for two recipes provided and all the six small potatoes we got for one recipe. And we were satisfied.

I put the other pieces of seasoned boneless pork chops back in the fridge for the next day.

How to spread out your meals:

Meyer lemons from a tree at the Sonoma Wine Nest

The next day, I cooked the small boneless pork chops but they were delicious. We had them with roasted potatoes that I already had in the pantry. I happened to have frozen broccoli in the freezer and heated that up too.

What was different from the groceries I normally buy is that the food really is fresh. The lemon was small and very juicy. The veggies were just ripe and perfect. The meat, as small as it came, was prepared to be caked in a very nice sauce.

The only difference is that following the recipe was not as easy as the Mealime app only because of the way you follow the recipe. Each step using Mealime is explained digitally on your phone screen. Just hover your hand over your phone and it turns to the next step. And the steps are easy to follow.

On the other hand, Hello Fresh comes with a big 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper with photos and instructions on making the sauce which seemed a bit tricky. Figuring out when to turn on the stove when the food is somehow supposed to cook when you’re instructed to turn off the stove was a little confusing.

Now the price.

I spend at least $120-$300 in groceries every week with the bulk of the bigger tab for monthly necessities for the two of us. Hello Fresh is around $60 for 3 meals for 2 or a total of 6 meals for around $10 each and with a AAA discount, it’s even less. (You still need to have salt and pepper and the like too.)

The most positive thing about this subscription is that you really do get fresh foods. We even talked about it. Richard said, “the food is just fresh,” and we kind’a chuckled. Well, duh!

The portions are small but, isn’t that the point? They’re delicious but the fact that they’re small helps to cut down on portions and wouldn’t that help in how we’re trying to “cut down?”

I like it! Hello Fresh work for me, and with a nice Pinot Noir to pair cherry and balsamic glazed pork chops, was not too shabby for a Tuesday night.

I’m sure the plant-based recipes are more filling too. Eating plant-based or vegetarian dishes do tend to be more filling even if the meat portions can tend to pack the protein you don’t even need - even in smaller portions.

There you have it.

Have you tried food subscriptions like Hello Fresh?

What do you like or dislike about it? Any tips or suggestions?