Hello fresh customers

[Itwasntme1]

I recently discovered hello fresh and it has been a god send in the current climate. I not only have nice food, but also an activity in he evening (I’m not a natural cook!).

It is expensive though and once the shops return to normal it will be a treat rather than a weekly regular.

But can I ask people ho use it, do you eventually get bored with the choices. And did you ever get the free meal box to send to a friend😊.

Thanks in advance

We’ve used both HelloFresh and Gousto and it’s made a huge difference to how “well” we eat- to be honest the lack of choice on HelloFresh is why we stick to Gousto most of the time, they have WAY more menu choices plus you can order one off deliveries without having to subscribe so it’s a lot more flexible. They aren’t taking on new customers at the moment due to lockdown demand but would recommend giving them a try at some point!

I'm trying Hello Fresh for the first time next week. Usually we use Gousto and I'll definitely be sticking with them for all the reasons Iorderedyouapancake outlines.

First impression of Hello Fresh was that the choice seemed quite poor and they were quite expensive. However, I've got a good discount on this box and the next couple so I'll give them a few weeks and see how it goes. If you do decide to try it be careful. They allocate the meals to the box before you've chosen them. You can change them, but if you don't realise then you could end up stuck with things you don't like. I think its quite sneaky really. The food itself had better be good because thus far, I'm unimpressed!! (oh and unlike Gousto they seem to take payment when you place the order not just before they dispatch the box)

I just cooked Hello Fresh’s Prince Harry Pie tonight. Delicious.

I find them a bit monotonous as we’re fussy here, so tend to pick the same type of meals. I tend to stop the deliveries and restart if I get an offer through or get stuck in a rut.

Have to ask... What the heck is in a Prince Harry Pie??? 🙄 🙄 🤯 🤯 🤯

I prefer Hello Fresh to Gousto, there is less choice but I like the way the products are packaged and I prefer their recipe cards.

With Hello Fresh I’ve had 8 free boxes to send to friends, none with Gousto.

Hello fresh put all their recipe cards on the website. It's quite easy to select a meal and order the ingredients from a supermarket.

It is nice as it's all done for you and I was impressed with the freshness and quality.

The thing I really enjoyed was being easily guided to make an effortless new dish that I wouldn't have tried normally,

This can be achieved by printing off a recipe card and putting the ingredients into your online basket.

We had our first box this week. We've been impressed with the meals so far and the portions are massive.

I didn't realise the next box's choices are locked a full week before the next delivery and went to choose today to find I was stuck with their choice. I'm seriously unhappy about that.

Hi loulou, I’m interested that you prefer the packaging with HelloFresh, they seem very similar to me - is there something in particular you like about the HelloFresh? The biggest issue with the lack of choice for me is that one of our household is vegetarian and there simply aren’t enough vegetarian choices to fill a box most weeks in my experience, I think for a meat eating family it must be easier.

@MollyAtTheFolly that’s what originally led to me cancelling my account with them and switching to Gousto- really annoying. I do still use them from time to time though, just have to remember to fiddle around cancelling the subscription again each time I order.

Never been keen on hello fresh so i used Gousto. Got fed up having to eat things in a certain time frame so now I use Simply Cook. It's just the herbs/spices and sauces for a dish so you have to buy your own chicken or whatever but never anything expensive. We love it and have some firm favourites so buy a set of 4 recipes every fortnight.

That's what I've done for now, @Iorderedyouapancake - some weeks of the year are insanely busy and so I'll get one to reduce the mental load sometimes. As soon as they start accepting new customers I'll give Gousto a try.

You might be in luck molly- I’ve just been on the Gousto app and for the first time in ages it doesn’t have the big banner message about them not accepting new customers?

I loved HF until they started chucking everything in the box together- i may as well put a tesco order in. We also both put on weight so stopped it!

We do both, but Gousto more regularly as we prefer the menu choices. However during lockdown we’ve been choosing HF more often as the menu choices are more appealing to the kids, and the portions are much bigger than Gousto. A meal for 4 would do 4 dinners and 2 lunches for 2 adults and 2 primary kids.
Another issue I have with Gousto is that they sometimes bring 4 recipes on a Sunday, all of which need to be eaten by Tuesday - not ideal! But both good.
We tried Mindful Chef once with an offer - that was good but too much involved cooking for us on a weekday.

Ooh - thanks @Iorderedyouapancake - I'll get on it!

I have had two weeks now. The first week the ingredients were in lovely paper bags and everything was numbered. Don’t like the chuck everything in approach.

But I have had some amazing meals - favourite so far limey sea brea,m and mango salsa. forcing myself to try new things. Although not enough fish options And a lot of stir fries with very similar Ingredients.

Have ordered the brunch next week beciase I am struggling with grocery shopping.

@LouLouLoo How long before you got the free boxes?

@Iorderedyouapancake I like that HF put everything into the individual paper bags, although having seen a couple of posts, it appears this has stopped? We have had Gousto for the past few weeks, as we wanted to try it, but will be switching back to HF from next week. I might use Gousto for the odd week here and there.

@Itwasntme1I think I got the first four boxes after about 3 weeks, then another four a couple of weeks after that. 3/4 of my friends from the first four took up the offer so I don't know if that's why I was given more.

I bought the cookbook and now just pick a few recipes each week and buy the ingredients myself.

Much cheaper and almost as easy.

It's called Recipes that Work, BTW.

@Elderflower14
Prince Harry Pie:
Diced chicken breast and vegetables sautéed. Add chicken stock and creme fraiche sauce. Top with sliced potatoes and panko breadcrumbs then brown in the oven.
I have no idea how it got it’s name

@TotallyDevotedToYou I've got the Prince Harry chicken pie this week too! Haven't cooked it yet though. Apparently it's called that as they created it one year to commemorate his birthday as chicken pie is supposed to be his favourite dish 🤷‍♀️ (according to the app!)

We've tried all 3:

Mindful Chef - most expensive. Very ethical. Best choice for gluten free options.

Hello Fresh - mid-priced. Good quality & recipes. Fewer options.

Gousto - cheapest. Loads of options, including gluten free, vegetarian etc. Occasionally some poor quality ingredients.

We're sticking with Gousto for now.

I got a gusto box yesterday. They've stated putting some of the dry ingredients( spices etc..) in separate bags for each recipie and say they plan to extend it to all of them in time.This was the only thing that really irritates me about them so if they change that longterm it will be good.

Anyone get the cod from hello fresh this week? I was really disappointed- very little flavour.

Might rethink this once lock down is over