Hello fresh- somewhat underwhelmed - alternatives?

[BigButtons]

Okay- so I am an empty nester and living on my own( love it) BUT have been struggling to find the impetus to feed myself properly- ie cook. I can cook well but just CBA after 26 odd years of it.
so I got a voucher for hello fresh and I only had to pay the postage.
I chose my meals and they arrived etc etc.
i don’t know what the hell so was expecting really. I still had to chop up shit and cook and most of the spices and food I already have in the house.
There was also a horrible amount of packaging and I notice that it is bulked with cheap starches- potatoes and rice.
it clearly isn’t for me. I thought it would be all prepped for me and I could just throw it in a pan or something.
I need something that is easy and tasty. I need to get some vitamins in me .
ideas?
from a moany empty nester ( who used her soup maker a lot but it broke )

Mindful chef is very good but a bit pricier.

we used and liked Gousto

Some supermarkets do do ready prepped meals that just need cooking. If that might help

Gousto is very very similar to Hello Fresh (I have used both in the past). Still all needs chopping and prepping.

Gusto you can pick recipes that require no chopping but they aren't ready meals.

I've used both hello fresh and gousto and you have to pick meals carefully in my experience.

But we eat a lot of rice anyway so we don't mind the rice based meals.

It's not for people who enjoy cooking - i buy meal boxes because I'd happily eat beans on toast every night and I cba with meal planning.

Following with interest! I was disappointed with Gousto that I had to prep everything, and the packaging too. What I'd like is ready meals with simple healthy ingredients, no jumble of long words I can't pronounce, preservatives etc. All ready made and I just shove it in the oven for half an hour...bingo!

If you don't want to cook, the Cook shop is good.They're frozen meals.

My parents use it occasionally (it's pricey) but the food is tasty and easy. They've got a website, but also high street shops.
Apparently they only use ingredients that you'd find in your own kitchen which is why my parents like it.

You want Cook

Frozen meals all from fresh ingredients. Throw them in the oven or microwave.

I like simply cook

Which is the one that just has spices and you have to get the rest yourself?

Although simply cook involves shopping and cooking, so COOK might be more for you. Their curries are amazing

Google Frive, they get a bit samey after a while but tasty, very healthy and you just heat them up.

My oh has a neighbour who works for cook. She gets all the ‘ not for for sale’ products and has a huge freezer full- could simply be damaged packaging etc. She often gives them to us. It is nice enough but it is very pricey if buying from the shop.
maybe I just need to give myself a kick up the arse.
i can cook and cook well- i just can be bothered.

How hard is it to chop a courgette? I like gousto as I can risk foodanive never tried, and it has step by step instructions, and just the right quantities.

I've remade quite a few by going to the supermarket, but they helped me expand my repertoire. They never pretended to be shove it in the oven and go.

That’s the other one I had seen advertised

Simmer might be what you need.

It’s not hard- I have just lost my mojo since I don’t have to cook for anyone but me most of the time. After decades of cooking fresh every evening it’s come as a bit of a change.

I’ve tried Hello Fresh, Gousto, and Mindful Chef and thought they were all awful. The quality of the ingredients in all of them was very poor and the portion sizes were tiny. I also found it time consuming to sort out all the tiny prepackaged bags of herbs, spices, and other ingredients. I’ve used Simply Cook in the past and found that much better - apart from being a fraction of the price, the packs just include three different marinades, sauces, or spice mixes for each meal so you can buy decent quality meat and vegetables and not be reliant on the crap that the others send out in their kits.

No food advice, but make sure you get your hello fresh account properly closed - or soon you will find auto ordered meals on your doorstep and be charged for them.

Hello fresh has gone massively downhill over the past 5 years. Like you say, they've bulked with pasta/rice etc. They have cut down the veg content and other stuff like sundried tomato paste, onions, peppers - we had a hello fresh tonight and we added those extras, along with italian seasoning. It's basically them being cheap in order to control costs. But it's really been bad for quality of meals.

5 years ago, you wouldn't have had to add anything - the meal would have been nice as it was on the recipe card.

I can’t remember what they’re called, but I’ve got a load of them I’ve just chucked out. They were cheap with the deal, but the ingredients in the pots were awful. It was mostly sugar!! Sorry, just checked and it was Simply Cook. I don’t recommend them at all.

@BigButtons I've seen some blue dragon cooking kits in home bargains. Just need to add your protein. Failing that marks and Spencer do some really good ready meals x

Thank you 🙂

I'm surprised re portion size, we've normally found a 2 person definitely does at least one lunch for the next day sometimes two. Unpacking the box is a ballache, granted, I take the cards and sort the ingredients into individual bags per recipe in the fridge so ready to go, but a pain on delivery.

Thanks for the heads up!