To ask what people think of their free Gusto boxes?

[londonmummy1966]

As lots of people were sharing codes last week I thought I'd try a box - I've had some from Hello Fresh before - to see how they compared.

Mine arrived today - I had a text yesterday giving a 2 hour delivery window and the box arrived within that - one up on Hello Fresh which only gives a 12 hour window and the couriers don't always knock so I don't know how long a box has been on the doorstep.

The contents are all there although the herbs and spinach look a little tired. THe chilled items came in a cardboard chiller box which would be good for taking things on a self catering trip/picnic or could otherwise be recycled.

Recipe cards are easy to follow and tonights meal - herby rice with basa fillet was really nice - fish portions are more generous than Hello Fresh.

The down points were that the recipes were less interesting to choose from than Hello Fresh a lot of pasta and rice dishes and not that many veggie options. Also Hello Fresh boxes divide up the ingredients between recipes so you have four bags each containing what you need for a dish with one further bag with any ingredients to be shared between recipes. Much easier to sort out and put away.

So I'm happy as they delivered what they said they would when they said they would and it tastes fine. Not sure I'd buy a full priced box though and am still pondering about 30% off or not - that might depend on whether or not I can also claim my voucher code credit.

Anyone else?

I have box coming on Monday so I wonder how this mayhem affects it. Still free food so feel like even if it goes wrong, I shouldn't moan😂

Has anyone else's box changed from free to £17?

Yep mine did. I called them and panicked. They said not to worry as this is because this code has been used by more than 5 people (as it was posted on a forum!) and apparently they have over ridden it at their end.

perosnally I think gousto hadn’t thought this through and are struggling to cope with what they unleashed

Mines been cancelled this week as they dont have capacity with all the free boxes they have promised. They have made next weeks box free instead - which is fine (assuming they actually come through) but means the "30% of other boxes this month"is devalued somewhat as I'm missing a week. Mostly annoying having spent ages choosing meals everyone will like that I now have to do it all again for next week without the benefit of actually having tried anything.

Reserving judgement.

Off

I loved our Gousto meals, preferred to hello fresh. I think they’re good value with the 30% off so continued getting them whilst I had that discount. But too expensive at full price.

I see that Gusto have been overwhelmed by the response to the free box offer and have had to terminate it early which is a shame for those who were pondering whether to go for it or not. I guess they hadn't counted on the flurry of code sharing on MN......

Last night I just wasn't hungry so didn't make the planned meal but I'll make it tonight - prawns and mango salad - should be enough for left overs for lunch tomorrow although I might save one of the mangos for pudding later in the week as there were two of them, a box of cherry tomatoes and 4 baby gem lettuce which seems quite a lot of salad anyway.

perosnally I think gousto hadn’t thought this through and are struggling to cope with what they unleashed

Yeah i did wonder earlier how on earth is no one in the marketing realised there is no "stopper" or control on this. Someone is getting right chewing now

Enjoyed gpusto but had to cancel as going on holiday so would lose the 30% off next 2 boxes

May rejoin via my hubby when back

A lightbulb has just gone on over my head. In threads about Hellofresh and Gousto, I could never understand comments about "lack of choice." I've had a Hellofresh subscription for six months, and by a rough calculation eaten 120 different meals in that time. How could that much variety equal lack of choice?

In my head, people complaining about "lack of choice" wanted more variety, which made no sense, given that I was never eating the same meal twice. But the opposite is true. People complaining about "lack of choice" are ones with much narrower preferences about what they want. They can't get what they want, because they dislike more things.

I now remember someone I know in real life saying they had cancelled their subscription because there weren't enough options that two adults and one child in their family all agreed up. They looked at say 30 options and couldn't find 3-5 they all liked. When I look at 30 options for my 1 person household, I see 30 things I would probably enjoy, some slightly more than others.

@Getoff same. I know veggie saying not enough veggie options in some restaurant menus, I would consider good %. What they mean is not enough veggie options without fake meats they can't eat

Personally prefer hello fresh. We got a free hello fresh box a couple of months ago and thought it was great. There’s 7 of us (two are toddlers so smaller portions and 3 children with slightly bigger portions) and we managed to feed everyone with the 4 person box. The recipes were very easy to follow and weren’t remotely faffy and I liked the fact the recipes came in separate bags so all I had to do was place the bag in the fridge then pull it out when it came to cooking it iykwim.

Only made one Gousto recipe so far and it tasted great and made enough food for us all but it was a very faffy recipe and took me over an hour to do. I don’t like the fact they just dump everything in the box so you have to hunt for the ingredients, it isn’t as organised as hello fresh at all.

Now fuming as going in to my account to order for next week I see that they have retrospectively charged me £17 for my free box which was delivered this week. Needless to say I can't get hold of their customer services team......

I just had an email. It shows charge but it's still free the one which was supposed to be free

Email

Twitter Dm

Is it worth £17 do you think? I like the simply cook boxes and then just nip to the shop

Just managed to get through to Customer Services who have promised that they will be changing the box back to free and that the £20 credit I had will be credited against next weeks box. I have to say that they were really helpful - impressed. But I do wonder who in marketing is currently on the carpet for the offer!

@Ontomatopea - yes it is worth £17 but I didn't like the retrospective nature of the charge - assuming that they sort out the IT glitch that has apparently created the charging problem then I will order again next week as that box will cost £17. Not sure I would pay £37 for a box though let alone the full £52.

Yes I would be annoyed by that too was just wondering if £17 was still a good price for it. £52 is waaaay to much for me at the moment but it does seem convenient.

We’ve had Gousto weekly since 2018 and absolutely love it. We find the selection more interesting than hello fresh (which my parents get) and can always find something we like. It’s been a bit of a lifesaver as my husband didn’t cook at all when we got it and is now pretty good.

I booked the ‘free’ box yesterday, only to find a £50 charge ‘pending’ on my account. In panic I cancelled the order (as I’m currently on a tight budget).

This morning they actually took this money- thank god I checked my account.

Have spoken to them over the live chat tonight and they seemed v helpful but am praying I get my money back. I really need it and would never justify spending that on a whole week’s worth of groceries normally!!

We are really enjoying it so far, everything came with the box and the recipe cards have quantities so you could make it yourself, which hello fresh have stopped doing. Quite impressed since they must be manic.

Also had a shocking experience with hello fresh last time when they forgot to put all the meat and cheese in the box so it was useless, has totally put me off using them again.