Hello Fresh

[oreshina]

I have just started with them in the last month and every delivery has had missing items and mouldy veg. Is this the norm or have I been particularly unlucky with mine?
Annoying as I really like the meals.
Thanks

We stopped hello fresh after our order was damaged and undeliverable. They had no contingency measures, not even an offer of alternative meals or compensation until we kicked up a fuss via Twitter, and even then they only offered 50% off next box. We asked to speak with a manager to look at options and were told to wait 7 days for a call. At the time we had covid symptoms and were self isolating so it left us without meals.

This is really useful to know as we are using gousto but I’ve been thinking of pausing and trying hello fresh for comparison.

We have been really happy with gousto and it’s making a big difference to our routine as I’m 39 weeks and exhausted. Will definitely keep it up when newborn is here!
Anyone want my code, feel free to pm!

Didn't have that issue just really preferred Gousto

I found this too. So annoying. It's why we stopped using them!

I've tried Hello Fresh and Gousto but with just the two of us I still prefer Simply Cook as I can store the recipe kits in the cupboard to use when I want. You get these flavour pots, spice blends and such, with a recipe card, then buy your own fresh ingredients. I like them because there's no pressure to use them in a short timeframe, and I can substitute with whatever veggies we like.

If anyone wants a free trial kit here's my code (I get a free kit too) simplycook.com/invite/NT8405.

I use them and alternate between them and Gousto depends on which menu I like the look of each week. Occasionally have the odd thing missing with both but find HF much more generous with their credits! Eg I whinged that my 2 salmon fillets were too small to be a sensible portion and they credited me £14! Also last box was missing burger buns and bizarrely they turned up in this weeks box (not hugely helpful!) along with some ciabatta that I also hadn't ordered!

But overall I am a fan, and find they now have almost as wide a selection as Gousto and tend to find myself going with HF note often than not. Give it a bit longer!

A good friend tried HF for a month or so. There was always something wrong (meat packaging broken open and leaking, missing or off ingredients). The worst bit was when she would complain to them, they only wanted to refund the amount for the bits that were rancid/ missing. It’s not a Tesco delivery- you’re paying a premium to have ALL of the ingredients for a specific meal, and now if you’re missing two ingredients, you aren’t able to make that meal properly anymore.

Once would be understandable but multiple times, for every delivery? What’s the point? It’s not cheap.

We had Hello Fresh for a few months and NOT ONCE did we have all the ingredients and of those we DID have ONE or MORE were mouldy or off. Even to the point whereby the main ingredient was missing - ie. chicken flatbreads and the flatbreads were missing!! I got so fed up with trying to complain. A friend has Gousto and always happy but Hello Fresh has totally put me off this concept!

I ve never had that with HF, but I did with Mindful Chef.

Not tried gousto yet.

Ooh, sorry for shouting!

I was with them a few years ago and they were great, better than Gousto and Simply Cook.

I restarted again in January and all was fine til lockdown, then had 6 boxes in a row with missing ingredients.

Just contacted them through their Facebook page and was given a credit every time.

Since June I've not had missing ingredients and I've never had anything go manky.

I never had that with my 2 boxes. Nothing missing, nothing mouldy.

We occasionally get a problem with something missing, for example this week we had a missing spice but when I checked it was used for lemon and lime flavour so I just used some juice. I told them and was given a £6 credit, once the meat was missing which got me a £14 credit - it didn't cost me that to buy the meat locally. I just make sure I check the bags when they arrive in case there is a problem.

Getting HF again this month as got a discount, multiple things wrong with the box, bits missing from various meals, luckily I’m generally well stocked and can replace things. Nothing wrong with the produce itself though. Will go back to Gousto after this discount though, more choice, nicer meals and never had an issue.

@stockpilingallthecheese

I use them and alternate between them and Gousto depends on which menu I like the look of each week. Occasionally have the odd thing missing with both but find HF much more generous with their credits! Eg I whinged that my 2 salmon fillets were too small to be a sensible portion and they credited me £14! Also last box was missing burger buns and bizarrely they turned up in this weeks box (not hugely helpful!) along with some ciabatta that I also hadn't ordered!

But overall I am a fan, and find they now have almost as wide a selection as Gousto and tend to find myself going with HF note often than not. Give it a bit longer!

I think the ciabatta was intentional; we had a meal this week with 2 ciabatta and we got 4, I think it was a freebie as a friend gets meals for 4 people and instead of 4 ciabatta she got 6.

I had that issue with HF too. Very poorly packed items and things going out of date too quickly.

Gousto is good. Never had an issue with them. One that I haven't seen mentioned on this thread is Muscle Food. You can buy recipe kits from them individually, and a lot of them are high protein and have decent portion sizes.

I’ve used both Gousto and HF and had no major quality issues with either. Once had a recipe card missing from Gousto but they emailed it over and popped a replacement in the post, and had a pot of turmeric missing once from HF. I preferred the Gousto recipes (and the much more conveniently sized cards with handy folder) but the portions didn’t touch the sides for my teenager and I had to buy extra chicken or prawns or whatever to compensate which tbh defeated the object for me. HF offers much more generous portions so that is what I use now.

I have had missing ingredients and bendy, black carrots.

Yes you get money off but it is really really annoying.

I only get the boxed occasionally noW

We’ve cancelled ours after one lot contained meat that was off for all 3 meals. Also feel the amount of packaging is excessive. Don’t think they are worth the price either

Thanks everyone. I am going to try Gousto.🤞

After using them for 4 weeks, the obsurd amount of packaging became too much. But I also realised, the meals were below my usual expectations of a home cooked meals and constantly getting meals consisting of Chickpeas, cheap cuts of meat, tomato puree.. and vegtables on their last legs was a rip off I didn't enjoy...... Look up 3 simple recipes and order the needed ingredients (for less£) from a supermarket at a timeslot that suits. And enjoy! 😊

We’ve had a free trial box this week and the food is fine, all there I think but OMG the packaging!! Can’t justify that much plastic waste per meal and then there’s the foam and ice packs it comes with.

Is Gousto any better on packaging?

Simply Cook sounds promising as with Hello Fresh I have noticed I have 85% of the ingredients anyway. So maybe Simply Cook would be good for me.

@minipie Gousto packaging is a lot of cardboard. No foam. The courier box, dry ingredient packaging, ice box and cool bags are all cardboard (or thick paper in the case of the cool bags). It can all be recycled and I understand most of it is made from recycled paper but it is a lot of cardboard.

Meat and fish comes in vacuum-sealed plastic. I recycle the hard plastic bases. Veg and fruit comes loose in the box. You get the odd tin (sweetcorn, beans, that kind of thing). Rice/couscous etc comes in a paper bag.

The herbs and spices tend to come in little clear plastic pouches about two inches square. My council doesn't recycle soft plastics so these have to go in the bin for me -- might be different where you live.

On balance, I probably generate less waste in volume terms than I would if I was buying full-size packs of things from the supermarket. But when you extrapolate every customer getting all those little plastic pouches, and each box being couriered by a diesel van, I'm not sure it makes much difference in the larger scale of things.

@minipie

We’ve had a free trial box this week and the food is fine, all there I think but OMG the packaging!! Can’t justify that much plastic waste per meal and then there’s the foam and ice packs it comes with.

Is Gousto any better on packaging?

Simply Cook sounds promising as with Hello Fresh I have noticed I have 85% of the ingredients anyway. So maybe Simply Cook would be good for me.

The foam can be recycled or something, I forget what now.