Hello fresh - why?

I didn’t like any of the recipes for vegetarians, also I know how to cook and have a pantry, so wouldn’t work out cheaper/better quality for us. Measuring out ingredients isn’t laborious if you use a cup system, which I’d argue is simple enough for teenagers to follow.

I tried a few because on the offers they do it was cheaper than my shop for those meals

Not on the offer however they are too expensive

we rotate a couple of email addresses so most of our boxes are 20-50% off which make them affordable.

We both work full time so it means that don't have to think about meals for the week - just pick the photos we like the look of and it all arrives with everything you need bar some oil/nit of flour or something. Much reduced mental load.

Means that other people in the house (DH and 3 x teens) can start cooking before I get home. Otherwise they wait for me to come home and tell them what we are having and what ingredients etc so I then end up cooking. This way they just choose one of the recipe cards and can crack on with no intervention. Even 13 year old DS2.

Means I can save my fun cooking/elaborate or more involved recipes for the weekends when I can actually enjoy the cooking process.

Cool, well I don't know what to tell you, I've had a very different experience. You choose the recipes so maybe you weren't choosing varied ones..? You add the salt, so if you felt there was too much salt that's on you, surely?

I found this too, it's really helped me to know what an actual adult should be eating

Just to add to the previous...I do find the portions quite small, hence buying a 4 meal box to feed the 3 dc. One single portion wouldn't be enough for either teen in many of the boxes.

I haven't found that. DH is 6'4 and I'm hardly a bird-like eater and we find most portions sufficient, particularly the pasta dishes. Sometimes he'll have a supper, but it's a good way of maintaining portion control.

I use them as cookery training/practice for teens. Absolutely fantastic for that. Just bung them the box and they crack on.

We get 2 x 4 meal boxes each week and dc aged 16 and 14 cook once each. The four meal box comfortably feeds the 3 dc (16, 14 and 7) plus a bit over just for dh and me to have a taste of their creation. On those two nights a week, dh and I just have an omelette or something equally quick. We plan them for the nights when we really don't want to cook.

I know how and can do all that. I just don't want to!

I know how to do all those things but want ease and convenience as time is precious.

I used them during the first lockdown when I'd got really tired of deciding what to eat - I was happy to cook but didn't want to make the decisions! We had them weekly for a while and got some new recipes that we still love and make. But it was all about the mental load for me.

That's utter nonsense. Using a food delivery service and batch cooking/cooking from scratch aren't mutually exclusive.

People whose parents never taught them how to cook or know how to use ingredients.
Don't know how to buy in bulk and how to store.

Because I dont have to think about what to cook

Because I don’t have to get the ingredients

Because I live alone so there is FAR less wastage then having to buy, for example a giant bag of onion or a bottle of sesame oil

Because I eat more variety this way

Because it means I actually cook rather than eating peanut butter on toast 5 x a week

Ir actually doesn’t work out more expensive then grocery shopping tbh and the convenience factor far outweighs it if it did.

As per all of the reasons above, plus if you're savvy about it you can almost always get a discount on the regular box price about of 25% - 60%. That doesn't make it much more expensive than shopping in the supermarket, especially if you weigh in the other benefits.

When I tried Hello Fresh, all the ingredients for each meal were mixed up in the box and it took me ages to sort them out into each meal. I found the quality of the meat was awful and the portions were tiny. I tried Gousto at the same time, which was exactly the same. I stupidly tried Mindful chef recently after I'd had surgery and was trying to take things easy, and while the ingredients for each meal arrived sorted into separate carrier bags, the quality and portion sizes were a real issue for me again. I had to check that they had t sent me single portions rather than a portion to two. The second meal was so revolting that I didn't bother with the third one and gave it to the foxes. I didn't find any of the receipe boxes saved me time and I could (and do) cook far nicer meals myself for less. using good quality ingredients .

Same reason people get take aways and use cleaners

People pay for convenience all the time in life.

Why pay for a cleaner when you can just clean yourself?

Why pay for a meal out when it’s cheaper to make it at home?

For some people time is important and it’s better to pay more in order to free up some time.

I trialled it. We went through a lazy phase (juggling life, work and 2 toddlers). We stopped it when the deal ended and binned all the recipes as they weren't that great or varied. The taste came from salt and properly seasoning we decided!

I have never had one, but after speaking to my friend I am now tempted.

I love cooking, but I don’t want to batch cook or eat the same meals on rotation. I work 50hrs a week and I like to cook from scratch. I am sometimes drained of thinking of new things to eat, then organising an online shop for it, then having waste as there are only three of us and one is a toddler so hit and miss whether they would eat it.

Sounds lovely for someone else to do all the shopping, think up new recipes and all you have to do is mix them together with no waste. My cupboards are full of herbs and spices and probably half of the more occasionally used ones have gone off!

Sounds like a nice break to me, but still with the enjoyment of having a few minutes to yourself cooking.

They're convenient. They cut down on food waste and offer a varied menu rather than getting stuck in the rut of having the same things. They're easy and even the worst cook could make the meals

I used them when I was married to my ex. He wasn't the best at cooking but could follow a recipe and that way he was doing dinner time if I was working and he was off.

There's a lot of reasons why people use them which I'm sure you're well aware of

Should do, but after the first few weeks, I found the recipes were suddenly very mean and with a 6'2" DH and two growing teen boys I had to then add rice or noodles or extra veg to give them enough food so I had to think on my feet anyway. It really pissed me off so I cancelled. One dinner would be vast steaks with loads of roast veg and potatoes, next day would be a tiny strip of chicken, two mango cubes and a sprig of coriander. Made no sense to me.

Cuts down on the mental load and means people in the house other than me can cook!

It's convenient, it saves all the time spent on finding a recipe you want to try, going to the supermarket and finding all the different ingredients required, especially if you have small children or reasons that getting to the shops are hard. It takes out the mental load of picking meals for the week. It's a wider variety of foods and recipes you might not normally try, plus it teaches new cooking techniques. It also cuts down on food waste. It actually sometimes saves money as they send a lot of coupons. They make really nice Christmas/birthday gifts. Sometimes it's just nice and exciting to get a box.