Gousto

[nearlyspringyay]

So I'm fed up of meal planning / thinking what to eat / shopping, over it all in general tbh since lockdown.

Signed up for a trial Gousto box, it was £11 for 2 meals for 2 adults and 2 kids.

I am utterly underwhelmed. The packaging, the portions (probably good for me, DH will be hungry), a random tiny chunk of ginger that's all dried out on each side, the coriander looks a bit swampy, the mince doesn't look that great.

Am I missing the point? I could just add the ingredients to my regular shop. Does anyone actually get on with it? I'd be pissed off If I had paid full price for it.

Is Hello Fresh any better or more of the same? I just want to lose some of the mental load of food during the week but think I'm probably better of going back to cooking a few meals for the week on Sundays. Also very boring.

I dip into it for inspiration. It has left me with some good tips and the odd favourite recipe. I never cooked rice in the oven, for example.

If I find a winning meal then I order the ingredients with my next shop.

If my circumstances were different then I would take the time to enjoy the cooking part and could learn a lot from it. I also think it would work if you were teaching a teenager to cook.

We’ve done both - gave up on them for the same reasons already mentioned - but also to add that they started missing key ingredients which is infuriating when your half way through making it 🙄

I started Simply Cook a few weeks ago and am LOVING it!! Really would recommend. It’s £10 for 4 meals, you just get the spices/pastes/sauces. Great choice of meals and you just buy the fresh ingredients yourself, so you actually know it’s all fresh!! And the recipe cards give Lots of Options for swaps.

I thought it was pretty good, but I'm only going to do it for 65% off.

@WhatsErFace2020

We’ve done both - gave up on them for the same reasons already mentioned - but also to add that they started missing key ingredients which is infuriating when your half way through making it 🙄

I started Simply Cook a few weeks ago and am LOVING it!! Really would recommend. It’s £10 for 4 meals, you just get the spices/pastes/sauces. Great choice of meals and you just buy the fresh ingredients yourself, so you actually know it’s all fresh!! And the recipe cards give Lots of Options for swaps.

Did simply cook in lock down and agree it's fab, but agin I just took their recipes which are much more inspiring than Gousto!

I looked at simply cook and didn't really get it. Maybe it's worth a try to take on holiday self catering?

@Yellowdott

I've used Gusto several times and was always underwhelmed. For the price I'd expect something better than I could cook myself and you simply don't get that.

I find Hello fresh has much better recipes for my taste, but their ingredients are worse quality. You get 20% fat meat and veggies aren't always fresh. I only use it with discounts as otherwise not worth the money unfortunately.

I have a code to send £46 off if you want to try it (DM me an email address). It'd make your first box free.

Oh the mince! It was bloody awful. I told them as much when I cancelled.

I do a mix of guosto and hello fresh when I get half price weeks. I get the two option and it's often enough for myself, dh and teen dd if we bulk it out with a side, I then use my recipes for other weeks.

I don't most of the other stuff in so selecting recipes and going out and buying every ingredient would cost a lot more that the £25ish for four meals. Meals I know I'll make over and over again I've bought the ingredients for now and I only really use them when I get half price offers and I get to try new things I wouldn't before if the ingredients were expensive.

I have always struggled with following recipes (adhd) and having everything pre weighed and ready to go makes a massive difference

I find the hello fresh quality a bit less than gusto and they've missed things off like the meat a few times which is tedious but after a year of using both on and off I prefer Guosto, their recipe choices are better but you can also access all the other recipes on hello fresh, not just the ones you've bought.

Can send a free hello fresh box link if you (or anyone else) wanted to try it, there's no financial incentive to me, it's different to the £46 off referral offer where the person referring gets £20 credit. The free box offer I get nothing so just drop be an email if anyone's wants to try it that way. I wouldn't use either at full price.

I love gousto but only do it when there are offers . I find it helps with portion control. And it's much easier to do than if I bought the ingredients myself it feels less stressful. It always tastes nice as well. Its made me try new things as well.

I tried hello fresh. But their website was so confusing I have up .

We love Gousto. Their delivery was a disaster at Xmas but besides that no complaints.

I ordered hello fresh once and something went wrong with the order and they sent recipes that included 4 aubergines. I despise aubergine so never risked them again.

I have done Gousto and Hello Fresh. I seem to differ from most in that I preferred HF and their
quality was better than Gousto.
Gousto messed up on my deliveries too.
Haven't tried Simply Cook so perhaps I should give that a go?

@nearlyspringyay I was the same with Hello Fresh. Have you tried simply cook? You get the flavour/spices, but buy the ingredients yourself, so canpick a choose when you do the meals. Box of 4 meal kits for 9.99. I have a link for a free box if you fancy it

Free Simply cook box of 4 meal kits

simplycook.com/invite/KM2FKN?via=app

Just cancel after your free box if you don't want to keep it up.

Thanks @ImFree2doasiwant (love your name!) did it in lockdown, think we've exhausted every option, agree it was better than getting actual food delivered though

Had Gousto for about 18 months on and off, DC became more adventurous, have paused subscription for time being, as there aren’t enough healthy choices that we will all eat, and I was struggling to get meals we will all eat as refuse to pay Gousto prices for basic meals like spaghetti bolognese or Cottage Pie. I’ve got lots of favourite Gousto meals though that we just source ingredients elsewhere. I don’t miss the meal prep, it’s not always quick, and I complained several times about soggy herbs and salad, why can’t they be placed last in the top of the box instead of under heavy potatoes/cans. I occasionally have a look to see if there are 4 meals we will all eat and nothing recently is catching my eye, oh and they seem to be adding extra charges on far more than they used to, what with rising food costs on our basics I’m struggling to justify.

I think if you already cook meals from scratch you're probably not their target customer.

I didn't learn to cook from my parents or at school so gousto has taught me how to make sauces, salad that isn't just iceberg + tomato, etc. We occasionally make a recipe from a card we already have but then we end up wasting food: local supermarket only sells courgettes in packs of 3 - or can't find the right thing: there's no gochuchang paste in Tescos.

I love Gousto but don't find it saves any time. If anything the meals take longer to cook than my normal repertoire.

The thing I like about it is just the variety and trying new things. I tend to cook about 8 meals on rotation so it's lovely to have 4 new meals every week.

I find the portion sizes fine - we get the 4 person ones and feed 2 adults and 3 children.

I find the portions big.

I enjoy just being sent everything and only having to pick up things like bread and milk locally - not having to do full shops.

I'm happy with the ones I choose but they tend not to be the "sausage and mash" type ones. We do a lot of Asian curries and 10 minute ones.

Never had an issue with the ingredient quality

@nearlyspringyay

I think I just want a personal chef, or someone to deliver cooked meals that I don't have to think about at all!! not going to happen

If you can afford a bit of help ask on your local Facebook groups.

Local to me there are a couple of meal delivery services that cook and deliver a proper meal you then just chuck in the oven. One specialises in authentic vegan India dishes and I can’t remember the other.

There’s also a couple of people who will meal plan/shop/prep/load your fridge/freezer and clean down the kitchen. One advertises herself as a cleaner/housekeeper but is happy to sort food if that’s what you’d prefer/in addition so it’s not always super obvious.