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Original poster

Hello Fresh et al...

29 replies

MissOrganisedMe · 28/03/2019 20:48

My meal planning/culinary skills leave a lot to be desired and due to working a compressed week I'm time poor. This has led me to consider those meal prep companies like hello fresh, gusto, simply cook etc.

Is there anyone that uses/has used these? Did it improve your meal planning/skills? I'm thinking that, although expensive, it'll save money in the longer term as I'm never out the shops buying more than I need but struggle to cobble a decent dinner at night.

Thanks for any help!

OP posts:
drizzleofhoney · 28/03/2019 21:13

I'm due my third box from Gousto tomorrow. We've had some lovely meals that I wouldn't have bothered with ordinarily, and it definitely saves all the messing around with lots of ingredients. It's also made us much better at planning ahead.

We started with a 50% off voucher, with the three boxes after that also being discounted. That makes it quite a good deal, I think.

(I have a voucher code for similar, I think. PM me if you'd like me to pass it on).

Sparkletastic · 28/03/2019 21:21

Gousto got us out of a food rut and we had a great introductory offer. Did it for a month and collected some great recipes. Would do it again if there was another offer on.

MellowMelly · 28/03/2019 21:34

I was a long term user of HelloFresh for about 18 months and I loved it. We tasted lots of new foods and kept all the recipes for the ones we liked.
You can skip weeks easily, the app is easy to use and in the long run it saved money as we didn’t waste anything.

Newyearnewunicorn · 28/03/2019 21:40

I’ve used gousto it was very good, would be great to use with older children to get them involved with food and cooking easily.
We’re dairy free due to ds’s milk allergy and I’ve found Pinterest and the slow cooker great and cheaper, just search for the wonderfully named crock pot dump meals.

BrightonBB · 28/03/2019 21:43

We have Gousto and our deliveries are set for one delivery per fortnight of 2 meals. We view it as an easy way to have a good meal - yes it is a bit more pricey than buying the stuff ourselves but we save money by not going out to eat or getting a take away. We sometimes forget to choose our recipes so get what they send and have actually often enjoyed a meal we wouldn’t have thought of. I’d recommend fortnightly.

hotcrossbunfuckery · 28/03/2019 21:44

Are there any vegetarian ones, or you can ask for them to be vegetarian?

EluphNaugeMeop · 28/03/2019 21:47

Just doing the half price trial with Hello Fresh was enough to get us out of our rut. At full price it is simply a ridiculous amount to pay. However, with the initial boost of the boxes, and then of course all the recipes are free to download from the website and once you have done a few they don't seem that daunting, we aren't in a rut any more.

FlipperSkipper · 28/03/2019 21:48

We use Gousto and get a box once a month. We get all vegetarian recipes and it's got us out of a cooking rut. A lot of the recipes have become staples too.

SoHotADragonRetired · 28/03/2019 21:50

It's a good way to shake up your cooking as PPs say but long term it's very expensive unless you were shopping very inefficiently and wasting an awful lot. The recipes can also take a good long while to make of an evening, although they save time and mental load on meal planning etc. We enjoyed doing it, saved the best recipes and make them ourselves now.

AliceRR · 28/03/2019 21:50

I just signed up to Gousto and first box is due on Monday. My research suggested that was the better one of that and Hello Fresh. I had a discount code and have one I can pass on if anyone wants it. It is 60% off your first box and then 30% off any further boxes you order in your first month.

I’ve ordered four meals for two people for about £21 with the 60% off discount but think that includes some meals that jig had to pay a bit extra for as the following week is also about £24 for four meals with only 30% off. I think that’s on value but full price was going to be around £40 and I think that’s too much for four meals you cook yourself.

Happy to let you know my thoughts next week when I’ve tried it properly

AliceRR · 28/03/2019 21:52

Are there any vegetarian ones, or you can ask for them to be vegetarian?

On Gousto you can choose each recipe you want and there are vegetarian ones. Haven’t done HF but think you can select veggie options.

moesfluffytoes · 28/03/2019 21:52

We've been using HelloFresh for almost 4 years now. It's honestly saved our marriage (I know how melodramatic that sounds...) no more stress over meal planing, no more multiple trips food shopping, no more throwing out gone off half empty packets. Definitely saved us money in the long term.

The meals are great, love how everything is included and pre measured. Most meals take around 30 mins start to finish. Customer service is brilliant. Really easy to swap meals and pause delivery for holidays etc.

Loopy9 · 28/03/2019 21:52

I’ve used HelloFresh irregularly for the last 18 months. Love it. If we get into a rut we order. The app gives you access to all sorts of recipes so you can (if organised) just use that and buy ingredients from a supermarket. This voucher will get you £20 off your first order HH22X9

moesfluffytoes · 28/03/2019 21:54

P.S. if you DM me your email address I can send you a link for a free box.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 28/03/2019 21:58

I love Guosto. I'm autistic and find supermarkets massively overwhelming my default is either i dont need any thing or i'll buy prawns tomatos ajd avocardos and get out as quick as possiable. I spent 18 months eating one pub meal a day. Which tbh was costing me £70 a week.

Now i get 4 meals for 2 (so dinner one day lunch the next as theres only one of me) for £34. Its good quality, easy to cook, even after work its not hours of cooking.

Its a life saver for me. I can't drive public transport is hard to access the supermarkets and even if i could they would freak me out. With gousto i know my food for the week is delivered to my door i know what i'm getting at it will be there.

Are there any vegetarian ones, or you can ask for them to be vegetarian?

Both Guosto and hello fresh allow you to make your boxes entirely vegataruan and although i havent selected the vegatarian box i get plenty of vegatarian options to choose from at least 2 of my meal choices are vegatrain every week

PhillipeFellope · 28/03/2019 21:58

I love Gousto, it's brilliant. Less money than I'd spend on food ordinarily and I don't have to fuck about shopping. And I choose. Stuff I'd never make normally. And it's quick. And DS likes it. And very easy to navigate /pause/cancel. And I rate their customer service too.

PickleSarnie · 28/03/2019 22:01

I prefer gousto. Love it. Bought a few boxes in a row. Now only buy them rarely when we find ourselves in a rut. They give you a little binder on your, I think, third box to store the recipe cards. We cook gousto recipes most nights but just buy in our own ingredients.

drspouse · 28/03/2019 22:02

I use Simply Cook after trying the other two. Much better IMO, because there's less packaging, you have a lot longer to make the recipes. You can substitute too.
There are veggie and non-spicy options too.
I can also provide a code! I think you get a box for £1.

Toothlessisgreat · 28/03/2019 22:05

Agree with moesfluffytoes. We have done Gousto for over 18 months. DH is a dairy intolerant vegetarian and we find there are a fair few options to choose from. Like a PP it has practically stopped us getting take aways. DH and I have been together 20 years and until 18 months ago bar the odd jacket potato I did all the cooking but now DH does it and really enjoys it. He also spent most of his life proclaiming he didn't like lettuce but the Gousto boxes made him realise that he likes lambs lettuce so it has upped the quantity of fruit and veg we eat.

Original poster
MissOrganisedMe · 29/03/2019 21:03

Thanks for all the reviews. I think I'll give it a try. Seems most offer an introductory offer so I'll tart about for a wee while.

OP posts:
AliceRR · 06/04/2019 20:17

Update since I’ve had a week of Gousto (three meals so far, another I plan to make tonight before the meat goes out of date)

It’s ok but not fantastic. Of four consecutive evening meals this week, the best meal we had was the one that was not Gousto - sausage and mash with veg and cost about £2 per person (M&S sausages and also veg)

I’ve alrady ordered another four meals to arrive on Monday, things we don’t usually cook at home, and I’ll decide after that whether I want to order from then again.

I’m thinking I might just try to cook from some Jamie Oliver recipe books we have and buy the ingredients from Aldi and the local butchers. I don’t usually use recipes a lot but if I want to try something different then that’s probably the way to do it

daphine2004 · 06/04/2019 20:25

We used hello fresh for about 18 months on a weekly basis (enough for Monday to Friday) and it was great until we forgot one week I was working away and loads got wasted! We now use for weekends as we have a tad more time.

You can do veggie options, low calorie etc.

I’d definitely recommend.

Whatthefoxgoingon · 06/04/2019 20:39

Very expensive and not worth it after the introductory offer is over. I wouldn’t waste your money. Food was pretty ordinary. Just use cookbooks etc and make shopping lists based on the quantities and little will be wasted.

Foxmuffin · 06/04/2019 20:46

I really like them but they are pretty pricey.

When both DH and I were working FT (and some) they were great as otherwise I’d stop at the supermarket on my way home and spend £20 odd each time. Also if I had a busy weekend I simply wouldn’t get a food shop in. We both ate breakfast and lunch at work so meant we got a decent meal in the evenings.

Now I’m on mat leave I can’t justify the expense. I got the boxes for four so I had leftovers and a dinner to freeze or take for lunch.

hopeishere · 06/04/2019 20:56

We used hello fresh. The food was lovely but we really only wanted a two meal per week option. There was also a lot of packaging. I ended up throwing stuff away so stopped it.