Hello fresh - why?

[Montymorency]

Just wanting to understand why people go to the expense of these food boxes when they could just choose a recipe and buy the ingredients themselves

Convenience I'd guess

Convenience, cuts down on mental load, increases the variety of food I eat... Many reasons.

Everything is delivered to you in the exact amounts you need so less waste, it's less thinking so less stress, super simple meals that I personally would never have thought of and we keep the recipe cards so can do them again and again. I miss it.

Well you've answered your own question there! Choosing a recipe and buying ingredients requires time, mental effort, willpower/overcoming temptation etc. Some people want to have some time and mental effort back to do other things or get through a rough patch where they have less capacity.

Same here, we get home after 6, and this makes it so much easier

Because they like it?
Because they have they can afford it?

Never understood the faux innocence on here.

It's easier.
Mental load reduced because I have exactly the ingredients I need for 4 or 5 meals a week and know what to cook.
More variety in diet.
There is no food waste.
Portion sizes are very good but not big so I was able to lose weight eating fresh healthy food from scratch
I actually spend less in the supermarket as I'm only shopping for breakfasts and lunches /kids stuff and snacks.
I started ordering in 2021 and have never looked back.

I've ordered them in the past when they do their introductory offers and you get a box of food for about <10 quid. That's a bargain.
I've never kept it going much beyond that as the quality isn't great. Considering 'Fresh' is in the title, some of the veg they send is questionable!

I assume others like them as they are convenient to cut out having to think about food shops or what to have for dinner. The meals are tasty and the recipes are easy to follow. Each to their own.

It's convenient, it saves all the time spent on finding a recipe you want to try, going to the supermarket and finding all the different ingredients required, especially if you have small children or reasons that getting to the shops are hard. It takes out the mental load of picking meals for the week. It's a wider variety of foods and recipes you might not normally try, plus it teaches new cooking techniques. It also cuts down on food waste. It actually sometimes saves money as they send a lot of coupons. They make really nice Christmas/birthday gifts. Sometimes it's just nice and exciting to get a box.

Cuts down on the mental load and means people in the house other than me can cook!

Should do, but after the first few weeks, I found the recipes were suddenly very mean and with a 6'2" DH and two growing teen boys I had to then add rice or noodles or extra veg to give them enough food so I had to think on my feet anyway. It really pissed me off so I cancelled. One dinner would be vast steaks with loads of roast veg and potatoes, next day would be a tiny strip of chicken, two mango cubes and a sprig of coriander. Made no sense to me.

They're convenient. They cut down on food waste and offer a varied menu rather than getting stuck in the rut of having the same things. They're easy and even the worst cook could make the meals

I used them when I was married to my ex. He wasn't the best at cooking but could follow a recipe and that way he was doing dinner time if I was working and he was off.

There's a lot of reasons why people use them which I'm sure you're well aware of

I trialled it. We went through a lazy phase (juggling life, work and 2 toddlers). We stopped it when the deal ended and binned all the recipes as they weren't that great or varied. The taste came from salt and properly seasoning we decided!

I have never had one, but after speaking to my friend I am now tempted.

I love cooking, but I don’t want to batch cook or eat the same meals on rotation. I work 50hrs a week and I like to cook from scratch. I am sometimes drained of thinking of new things to eat, then organising an online shop for it, then having waste as there are only three of us and one is a toddler so hit and miss whether they would eat it.

Sounds lovely for someone else to do all the shopping, think up new recipes and all you have to do is mix them together with no waste. My cupboards are full of herbs and spices and probably half of the more occasionally used ones have gone off!

Sounds like a nice break to me, but still with the enjoyment of having a few minutes to yourself cooking.

People pay for convenience all the time in life.

Why pay for a cleaner when you can just clean yourself?

Why pay for a meal out when it’s cheaper to make it at home?

For some people time is important and it’s better to pay more in order to free up some time.

Same reason people get take aways and use cleaners

When I tried Hello Fresh, all the ingredients for each meal were mixed up in the box and it took me ages to sort them out into each meal. I found the quality of the meat was awful and the portions were tiny. I tried Gousto at the same time, which was exactly the same. I stupidly tried Mindful chef recently after I'd had surgery and was trying to take things easy, and while the ingredients for each meal arrived sorted into separate carrier bags, the quality and portion sizes were a real issue for me again. I had to check that they had t sent me single portions rather than a portion to two. The second meal was so revolting that I didn't bother with the third one and gave it to the foxes. I didn't find any of the receipe boxes saved me time and I could (and do) cook far nicer meals myself for less. using good quality ingredients .

As per all of the reasons above, plus if you're savvy about it you can almost always get a discount on the regular box price about of 25% - 60%. That doesn't make it much more expensive than shopping in the supermarket, especially if you weigh in the other benefits.

Because I dont have to think about what to cook

Because I don’t have to get the ingredients

Because I live alone so there is FAR less wastage then having to buy, for example a giant bag of onion or a bottle of sesame oil

Because I eat more variety this way

Because it means I actually cook rather than eating peanut butter on toast 5 x a week

Ir actually doesn’t work out more expensive then grocery shopping tbh and the convenience factor far outweighs it if it did.

People whose parents never taught them how to cook or know how to use ingredients.
Don't know how to buy in bulk and how to store.

That's utter nonsense. Using a food delivery service and batch cooking/cooking from scratch aren't mutually exclusive.

I used them during the first lockdown when I'd got really tired of deciding what to eat - I was happy to cook but didn't want to make the decisions! We had them weekly for a while and got some new recipes that we still love and make. But it was all about the mental load for me.

I know how to do all those things but want ease and convenience as time is precious.

I know how and can do all that. I just don't want to!

thank you all, the no waste part in particular makes sense