Hello lovelies!

I had to take a break from reviewing products recently due to some changes in my personal life, but I am back and ready to review!

I recently had the amazing opportunity to try a meal delivery subscription service courtesy of HelloFresh! The premise behind the company is that they create healthy, delicious recipes and then send you the ingredients (mostly pre-portioned and often pre-chopped!) to create the meals in your own kitchen.

There are 3 plans available, including the Pronto Plan, Vegetarian Plan, and Family Plan. The Pronto Plan includes meals that take less than 30 minutes to prepare, and are nutritious and tasty. Family Plan meals are ideal for the entire family, and the Vegetarian Plan includes plant- and alternative-based proteins. Prices range based on which plan you choose, and how many servings you require for your family.

My boyfriend and I opted to try the Pronto Plan, and received 3 different meals with 4 servings each (leftovers are the best!). There is a small selection of meals to choose from even within each plan category, and we chose the following:

Thai “Pad Krapow Moo” with Green Beans and Thai Basil

with Green Beans and Thai Basil Pan-Seared Steak with Cipollini Onions, Roasted Potatoes, and Tomato Pan Sauce

with Cipollini Onions, Roasted Potatoes, and Tomato Pan Sauce Crispy-Skinned Pesto Chicken with Thyme-Roasted Parsnips and Zucchini Ribbons

The ingredients were delivered in a large cardboard box that had insulation inside. The produce and other assorted ingredients were in paper bags separated by recipe, while the meat was underneath surrounded by ice packs. This ensured that everything stayed fresh until we could come home from work and unpack it. However, there was a LOT of extraneous packaging, which isn’t super friendly for the environment. After doing some research, the company actually allows you to ship back the cardboard boxes and ice packs once you collect enough to fill a box, which is a step in the right direction.

Each meal came with a large, colourful recipe card, and all of the ingredients needed to make the meal, aside from pantry essentials such as salt, pepper, and oil. The recipe cards were perfectly detailed and included tons of pictures, which was super helpful. They also included fun facts about certain ingredients and cooking techniques.

For the most part, we were sent exactly the amount of each ingredient that we needed and no more than that, which is excellent for reducing food waste! Occasionally, we had leftover items from each meal such as onions, herbs, and occasionally produce, which we saw as a bonus as we could put them to use in other meals.

The first meal that we made was the Pad Krapow Moo, which is a street-style Thai dish that includes ground pork over rice and green beans. This was incredibly easy to make, and tasted phenomenal. This meal was a great way to try some new flavours, including fish sauce and Thai basil. Overall, this was a hit and we intend to make it again! For your own knowledge, all of the company’s recipes are available for free on their website, and most of them contain 10 or fewer ingredients which makes them ideal for whipping them up on your own after a quick trip to the grocery store.

I opted to try this meal over zucchini noodles instead of rice to lower the caloric value. Of note, most meals from this company are over 650 calories, but are easily substituted as seen above to fit your own needs. My dish is on the left, and my boyfriend’s is on the right (he ate it as intended). We paired this meal with a lovely Sparkling Rosé by Cono Sur, which went fabulously well with the slightly spicy and sour flavours of the pork dish. Cooking these meals is an excellent idea for a date night or family activity, which adds another layer of value to this subscription box.

Our second meal was the Pan-Seared Steak with Onions, Potatoes, and Tomato Sauce. Unfortunately, this meal had one glaring problem: the onions were mushy and rotten, despite the fact that we cooked it 2 days after we received the box. I would have loved to try the meal as intended, but it was still quite tasty with fewer onions (I was able to salvage a couple). Again, my boyfriend was able to modify this meal to his preferences: since he doesn’t eat tomatoes, he made a quick reduction our of the beef broth that was included, and said it was still very flavourful. In the photo below, his meal is on top and mine is on the bottom.

We paired this meal with a big, bold Tempranillo Garnacha by Candidato, which paired well with the medium rare beef and the spicy flavours of the pan sauce. This is another meal that we will likely make again, with a few tweaks to the recipe (and hopefully some onions)!

The last meal we made was the Pesto Chicken with Zucchini and Parsnips, and unfortunately this was a bit of a let-down. The zucchinis they sent were again soft and rotten, and so we were unable to spiralize them as intended in the recipe. They also only sent 2 tiny thumb-sized zucchinis for 4 portions, so we actually had to go to the grocery store and pick up extra zucchini. In my opinion, this kind of defeats the purpose of this box as a “meal delivery” kit for convenience. We were so let down by this dish that we did not take photos.

Overall, this box is a great option for busy people who want to cook meals at home, but don’t want any food left over and are unable/unwilling to go shopping for ingredients. It is also a great activity to take part in with loved ones. However, there are some cons, including the excessive packaging, less-than-fresh produce, and somewhat prohibitive price (this box was $139.99 CAD for 12 meals). It would be fairly easy to look up recipes (even on the HelloFresh website), make a quick grocery list, and gather/prep the ingredients on your own. The meals were tasty and nutritious, and would appeal to a wide variety of ages and cultures. They are also a great way to try new ingredients.

If you’d like to try HelloFresh, sign up with the link below to receive $40 CAD off of your first box!

https://www.hellofresh.ca?c=NIKKIGU&utm_source=raf-share&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=clipboard

Tune in next time for a review of another meal delivery service: MakeGoodFood!

Have you tried any subscription meal boxes? What were your thoughts? Comment below!