Just tried first Hello Fresh...I don’t get it....

[GiraffeNecked]

So a potato some mince, a carrot, a glove of garlic and some mince arrives. All stuff I have in the house already ..... you still have to chop, cut, cook and it was nice, but no nicer than something I’d have come up with by myself.

I used Gousto when I was teaching my son and his friend to cook (they were mid-teens at the time). It was great for that and gave them much more independence than being "shown by Mummy" once I'd taught them the basics - and they got to keep the recipe cards to take to university.

A shame they didn't include instructions on "How to load the dishwasher" and "How to clean the oven" afterwards, but I suppose you can't have everything

I was shocked by the packaging. We used it in lockdown when getting to a supermarket was tricky.

I couldn't get past the absolute waste of packaging.

I use them when it's a busy work week. The kids then cook the meals. Works well for us.

Hands up, they cancelled the first box which I had carefully chosen to be stuff that was interesting spicy and used stuff I wouldn’t always have in. Then forgot to pick so got their choice which is chilli on wedges, chicken chow mein and Thai pork.

The packaging, which I know is recyclable, is just ott.

Thanks to the posters who mentioned simply cook that looks interesting.

I was stuck in a rut cooking and planning and while dh cooks it was to get him more involved...I think I just need to open a recipe book or two.

When we’re really busy we have Hello Fresh one week and Gousto the next - a good way of getting extra variety. My favourite is Cook - no preparation other than but it in the oven and the most gorgeous meals.

You made the mistake of getting a meal you cook at home! We use Gousto. I'm an avid cook, have cupboards full of ingredients and cook happily from scratch when gousto isn't in (we have it for maybe 4 nights out of 10).
What I get from it is a variety I could never replicate in my own shopping basket on a weekly basis. So in my four nights we could have:
Goan fish and spinach curry with coriander rice
Portuguese style pork bifana sandwich
Brazilian haddock moqueca and zesty lime rice
Crispy pork khao soi

I really struggle to eat that variety, all cooked from scratch, on my own just because of the wastage. I hate food waste. So when I cook at home without gousto I plan meals to use up left overs etc but it results in some repetitive style dishes (as in all chicken etc) to use stuff up. I hate repetition so for us gousto works incredibly well.

Ahh sorry didn't RTT!

I tried HF and Gousto and found that the latter had more interesting/out there recipes overall. As in, there were still sausages, mash and beans on the menu, but also various curries, Chinese dishes etc. But, yes, packaging for both can be a bit bonkers.

I have a Gousto 50% off code if anyone wants it - link

I use Gousto and I love it. We get 4 meals for 4 people a week...£48. So £12 a meal, which is NOT expensive! When we do a prawn dish it has two packs of raw king prawns in it...they would surely cost £8 alone in Sainsbury's!

We eat much more varied and interesting food and I enjoy the cooking process, as I don't have the drudgery of thinking, shopping, weighing and measuring!

Abel & Cole are great for meals you don't normally cook. (Well, at least I don't)

I'm so glad you said that @SandysMam, dp was saying it was all in my head but like you I was too worried to actually enjoy the meal.

@Londonista123

I tried HF and Gousto and found that the latter had more interesting/out there recipes overall. As in, there were still sausages, mash and beans on the menu, but also various curries, Chinese dishes etc. But, yes, packaging for both can be a bit bonkers.

I have a Gousto 50% off code if anyone wants it - link

Yeah we did both gousto and HF at the start to get all the introductory codes. Gousto far surpassed HF in quality and variety.

I always say when people ask about it - if you're a meticulous food planner, don't mind eating leftovers and are careful with your budgeting - it's not for you. It wouldn't suit my parents at all for example. However, if you're not like that (as we aren't) it's actually very cost effective.
We reuse a lot of the boxes and packaging. Gousto are working hard to improve their physical wastage - a lot of spice packets are now in paper not plastic etc. It's changed a lot since when we started but even they agree there's far more to go.

We do Gousto every other week. We specifically chose things we would never have cooked at home. Especially the recipes where it's difficult to source certain ingredients (unless you want tons of it).

If we like it I just buy the ingredients and recreate when we want. We definitely eat a wider variety of food since doing it.

We used it in lockdown as I wanted more variety and didn’t fancy the lines at Tesco/Lidl.
The trick is to order interesting things.
I ordered asian meals and now keep the recipes to make stuff at home.

We got it over lock down when groceries were hard to get. It's less expensive than eating out, and added a bit of variety.

It freed up a lot of my brain from wondering what to cook next and what to buy etc.

I am with u op I tried it and found it a waste my then 5 year old was always hungry after his portion too so defeated the objective since it was ment to be for an adult

Then forgot to pick so got their choice which is chilli on wedges, chicken chow mein and Thai pork

So the cheap boring stuff that they probably make the most profit on. Lesson learned there OP .

I suppose if you were selective and went for all the prawns, seabass, filet steak and asparagus options, it work work out considerably better value than mince, potatoes, chicken and noodle based meals.

At 'Price per serving - £5.00 for a straight forward Shepherds Pie' then yes one might struggle to understand why some use it. Perhaps for people who struggle to put things together for a recipe and have spare cash to spend?

For the more unusual recipes it gives people the chance to try them out and not have to buy the individual spices etc.

At the end of the day it is a service people buy for convenience so someone on a tight budget would do better to spend their money elsewhere since a costly way to cook. There's a market for it. Each to their own.

It's aimed at people who don't know how to cook certain meals and want the ingredient proportions delivered to make it easier. You also can pick meals so not sure why you'd pick something you already know how to make and have food in for.

I wouldn't mind trying them for the 'interesting Asian options' which is where I often have a bit of a blind spot, but I'd never pay full price for it, and I assume that, once they've got your email address, there's considerably marketing persuasion to buy more at full price.

I'd rather get a chippy on the way home when I CBA to cook.

The Emperor's New Clothes.

I love it as I don’t have to think about meal planning and can just go on my app and pick the meals no shopping involved. Bliss.

We had a box because my friend had a code for a free one. Was nice for a week to break out of our usual rut and add new recipes to our repertoire, but agree it's too much packaging/too expensive to get regularly.

Recently started with gousto and although expensive and lazy I really like it. I wouldn’t use it for stuff I would cook anyway though. The whole point is (imo) choosing interesting things that you wouldn’t normally cook and not have to deal with the hassle of finding really random stuff that you’ll never use again in the supermarket. The packaging does annoy me though.

We had it over lockdown as dh was bored with our meals. What recipes did you pick for that to be all they sent? When we had it even something simple like beef ragu gave us fresh herbs that we wouldn't have had in