Gusto boxes

[IdesMarchof]

Just started the gusto boxes. Would anyone like to swap recipe choices? / hints?

I’m cooking the prawn farfalle today - about to serve it for lunch but baffled the online recipe and physical recipe card don’t match. One says rocket one says pea shoots - I assume that’s a sub but weird that it’s the physical version that’s correct!

Has anyone else made this one? Or have any tips on choosing gusto meals?

We had the ginger and chilli aubergine stir fry for lunch today. Tasted amazing and the lemongrass rice was great but I would say doing 4 aubergines sliced up into slices on multiple trays at the same time in the oven wasn’t doable for us. We ran out of tray space

Dp said this should be a two person recipe only which I agree with.

Sounds good. I may try it when I do a 2 person box

Oooh helpful to have this update! Thank you.
I might just buy the aubergines & make this soon, following the recipe book on the app. It looks so good!

We had the cheese & onion pasties tonight. They were gorgeous and a winner with DS(15).

I’ve just come across this thread and enjoyed reading so thank you! Very tempted to try Gusto after reading about the delicious meals you’ve all been cooking!

Can I ask please how generous are the portion sizes? We are a family of 2 adults and 4 children. The toddler can eat separately but the other children have good appetites and I’m not sure if there will be enough food to feed the 5 of us?

Also I’m pregnant at the moment and not very well so can I please ask how much effort are these meals generally to make? My cooking hasn’t been what it once was recently as I don’t have the energy to spend 2-3 hours at a time in the kitchen. I was wondering would Gusto be a good compromise re time, effort and energy please?

Thank you!

Hi @4Minions2CallMyOwn welcome to the thread! I find the portions v generous I buy the boxes for 2 people & usually get 3 portions from them. But I guess it depends on the appetite & ages of your children?

In terms of effort from my experience they vary, none ive tried take hours, some are very quick chuck in a pot style. When you are choosing it tells you how long they take to prep, you can filter for the quicker meals or choose ones which come pre chopped.

Hope that helps, i've got a referral code NICOL42250257 gets 60% off first box & 30% off first month cancel or pause anytime if you fancy trying them x

Meant to say congratulations on your pregnancy & be kind to yourself, i really struggled when i was pregnant & didnt have other children to look after

I find the portions can be quite generous too. They say that the family boxes feed 4-5 people. You can always pad meals out with extra vegetables or bread.

The preparation time varies. They have brought out a ‘chopped’ range where the vegetables come already chopped up for you. They also have the easy recipes that you prepare quickly and throw in a pot. I have a gnocchi coming today that apparently takes 10 minutes to prepare.

The recipes are lovely. I look forward to checking out the new choices each week and then waiting for my box to be delivered. Highlight of my week!

I had the aubergine stir fry but thought there was too much aubergine! I love the stuff but a massive aubergine per person made it all a bit soggy and fleshy.

@myfuckingfreezer were you trying to do it for four? I couldn’t even get that much aubergine in our oven when I made it

The portions are generous except when you have two teenage boys

Would you recommend using half the amount of aubergine for that recipe?

I thought that it might be too much aubergine, but for me with the nuts mixed in & split into 3 portions (2 aubergines) it was good. I imagine baby corn would be a good addition.

There's only the three of us - the box for 2 isn't enough, the box for 4 is a bit too generous but if possible we freeze a portion or have it the following day for lunch.

I like you can buy all the ingredients at a normal shop if you wanted to make it again. Other boxes have their own pastes & spice mixes you can't replicate.

For two it’s fine @pinkchampagne1 - yummy in fact

If anyone has it coming in a 4 person box this is what we did:

1. make full recipe up to just before adding the chilli sauce, then divide the chilli sauce in half and reserve one half. Also reserve half of the onion etc already in the pan.

2. only roast half the aubergine

3. finish the recipe and eat!

4. after dinner I roasted the remaining aubergine slices and cooked for the recommended time with the reserved half of the cooked onion and the the reserved chilli sauce

5. shoved into takeaway boxes (one for the reserved half of the cooked rice and one for the aubergine mix) and was very nice microwaved the next day!

For those wondering about the calories recorded for gusto recipes, dp pointed something out today. The calories only include the supplied ingredients, not the ones that are in the recipe that they recommend you add.

So the toad in the hole we had today has two tablespoons of butter in the gravy but that won’t be included. Nor will the milk or flour in the toad

Great tips @foxhasbigsocks re calories the butter in your gravy mustn't count 🤣🤣

I had the cauliflower pav baji tonight - REALLY tasty, surprised me actually. And roasted cauliflower leaves are a revelation, i was a bit 🤨 when i cooked them but they are lovely. All this time i've been throwing them away 😳

What do we all make of the choices for beginning of June? Not sure whether to order a box for half term week.

We have just had the gnocchi bolognese and it was lovely.

I love potatoes. I love pasta. But I really don't understand why I don't like gnocchi:/

I told my fussy son that it was a type of pasta and he ate it happily. He did comment on the (very slight) spice to it though.

@bonfireheart snap I don’t like it either. I think it’s the texture, size and shape for me!

We had the salmon and chilli noodle thing tonight. Was really good and kids just had it without the sauce

Was the salmon and chilli noodle dish quite spicy?

It was but I used 2/3rds of the recommended chilli and that was spot on for me