Which meal delivery box thingy to try?

[JuneOsborne]

I'm behind the times with this. I fancy trying them/one out. I'm bored of my repertoire and bored of food shopping/meal planning.

We're a family of 5 adults and pre-teen. One meat eater and the rest are veggie. I'm thinking one a week/fortnight just to change things up.

Which one do I try? And how do I decide?

Do the ingredients come pre weighed? Do you get everything you need? Do I subscribe? There seems to be so many options.

Tell me all about them and tell me the pros and cons/what your favourite meals from them are/how often you get them and if you've tried more than one, which you think is the best and why. If you don't mind! Thanks

I also found hello fresh and gousto so much washing up. Oh my word. Whereas for simply cook, loads are single pan plus a pan for rice/rice cooker. I choose lots of the Asian ones as that's our taste

I went off Hello fresh as the chicken smells like fish. There is a warning on the packet that there will be some aroma on opening but it is well and truely rank, and it still smelled when cooked. Guosto is better imo, although I don’t use it often as the little plastic packets of flavourings/sauces put me off.

Hmm...I have tons of spices already as I only cook with spices. Wondering why I need to pay for Gousto to send me tiny packets of turmeric and ground cumin which I already have.

Maybe I should just meal plan better.

Gousto code if you want it- I have several friends who recommend it and I'm about to try as well
https://gousto.co.uk/raf?promo_code=KIER43973387&utm_source=iosapp

I do Hello Fresh. I order the box to feed for three. There are two of us and I find the meals do us for two days. I've noticed that sometimes the ingredients sent are for four people because of packet size - so they send 2 packs of 2 noodle nests - their allowance is one noodle nest per person.

This should give 60% off your first box and then 25% off for 10 weeks.

https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/pages/resolution?c=HS-YIQQN377V&utmcampaign=referralinvite&utmmmedium=clipboard&utmsource=freebies&utmminvitername=Alison&utmterm=web&discounttcommid=e9e7b141-3752-4300-b6eb-edf6288714b4

You've had loads of good recommendations here and mine would be Gousto. I've tried Mindful Chef too and liked that but I like that Gousto do 10 min meals which is brilliant (for me they tend to take more like 20 mins, but it's actually enjoyable!).

This should give 65% off but don't want to undermine any previous posters codes but just in case others are thinking about it :

https://gousto.co.uk/raf?promocode=SUSAN43348208&utmm_source=iosapp

Gousto 100% I have used HelloFresh and they ate so hard to change once you have ordered.

I was panicking as I picked something I couldn't eat and it was stressful to change.

With Gousto its very simple, plus they often send me 40% off coupons when I have a break.

They also deliver on Sundays

This is my code if you want to get 65% off your first box

www.gousto.co.uk/raf/?promo_code=CHANI43105518

I used Gousto for ages and really enjoyed the recipes. I still cook recipes from the cards I have saved but I don't get the boxes anymore. The quality has changed and 4 portions doesn't stretch to 6 of us now the kids are bigger.

I have been using Lollipop lately which is great. More control over your ingredients and the cost and I can get 6 portions. I would recommend trying that.

Simply Cook is by far the best I've tried.

For all the ingredients included I'd say gousto and I often use their recipes still. I would take short cuts eg frozen chips or mash instead of the potatoes from scratch and use the potatoes for something else. Tasty meals.
Now I quite often use simply cook because you can adapt the ingredients so easily and they don't go off. Tastes better than a jar for about the same price and the teenagers approve as well.

You can try a free box on me- pm me! But be warned once you sign up you'll end up paying for your next one unless you cancel it!

I really enjoyed my meal kits from The Spicery - you have to buy the main ingredients but get all the spices and flavourings and a fantastic recipe card which sets out which bit of each dish to prepare next, so the whole meal of several dishes comes together without you having to juggle the timings of several recipes yourself. Their kits also challenged me (I'm not a complete beginner) to cook things that I wouldn't otherwise have attempted, like gozleme. Really tasty (I'm not paid by them - just a big fan!). https://www.thespicery.com
Sometimes they sell kits off individually in their sale, so you don't have to take out a subscription. They also do 'easy kits' which are just a main dish and maybe a side, but they don't excite me as much as the more complex meal kits.

I found Hello Fresh terrible! Poor quality ingredients, missing ingredients and missing recipe cards. Out of the 10 meals, we had issues with 6 of them!
Goodbye Fresh.

Hello Fresh also auto-started my subscription without asking me when I'd stopped it. Took £60 from my bank account without telling me! Luckily I managed to get a charge back from my bank.