Is hello fresh value for money or a rip off?

[cleocleo81]

Contemplating signing up to hello fresh. It seems for a weekly box for three people for three meals a week it is £35 a week. That works out about £13.50 per meal for 4 people- 2 adults, 2 dcs. Does this sound value for money or too much?

I have gone back to work recently and dh and I are struggling to make a healthy dinner for the family quickly in the turn around between finishing work and bedtime. Dh is struggling to finish work early to cook tea on time whilst I am out or still working. So I thought it could take the stress off him three times a week, be a good way of eating healthily, getting more varied food into the dcs and allowing me to monitor calories and portion size better.

However, our shopping bill has rocketed so I was hoping this might help reduce it too so that I done but as much in the weekly shop as I now only need to shop for 3/4 meals a week instead of 7. I don't want to end up spending our weekly shop plus HelloFresh. Do you think this is the case? It will be money saving overall?

I haven't tried Hello Fresh yet, but I've used Gousto quite a bit.

Value for money? No, not at full price. However, with a discount I've saved quite a bit of money, on the cost of the food and also other unnecessary spending.

Every time I shop I spend more than necessary in the supermarket and end up buying shite. By having the food sent to me directly, I don't waste cash buying other stuff I don't need, or buying expensive ready meals.

Another way I save money is because when I haven't planned for a meal and got the stuff out of the freezer, I end up resorting to a takeaway - which is expensive. So having a fridge full of stuff with meals that are pre-planned helps me a lot.

I'm autistic and have ADHD so I get a bit overwhelmed with the planning ahead and organisation - that's why these kinds of boxes are a bit of a godsend for me. I've also learnt new recipes that I wouldn't have otherwise tried. If I didn't have the ingredients at home, I'd probably not have bought a full-sized jar/bottle just to try it. Also, the huge number of recipes on cooking websites tends to overwhelm me and I end up doing none of them 😅🤦🏻‍♀️

The other thing I'd say is cycle around the different cooking/chef sites as nearly all of them have good signing up deals. I can't remember if someone else from the same house can sign up separately - if so, your DH could sign up for his own account and you'd get the discount all over again. Also, when you go to cancel all future orders, Gousto gives you 25% off for a month if you carry on!

Finally, if you can get any of your friends to give it a whirl, even for 1 week you'll get a £20 money off voucher per friend. If you get a few friends to try it out, that's lots of savings for you and for them - as they get 65% off their first box, and no obligation to order any more. Cancel whenever. And £20 per referral for you.

If anyone wants to try Gousto, here is my sign-up code which I'd be bloody overjoyed if you used (because I'm unbelievably skint right now). 65% off the first box and 30% off any other boxes you order for the first month.

cook.gousto.co.uk/raf/?promo_code=SAMAN42019273&utm_source=weblink

I found lots of recipes I liked and quite a few I've gone on to make on my own since which have become "regulars". But I absolutely wouldn't use Gousto, Hello Fresh etc at full price though. Use one, enjoy the discounts/free credits and then move on to another would be my suggestion.

I had a really lovely colleague who got me a discount and it worked out cheaper (at least for us) and it was nice to have it all delivered to the door. Sadly I'm no longer in contact with her (she's a supply teacher) so would have to pay full price, which works out roughly the same, a little more expensive for some meals. If you cook everything from scratch, it will be much cheaper to buy the non branded supermarket products.

I started using Gousto during the first lockdown and did it pretty much weekly until early 2021, I now use them about once a month. I enjoy cooking and it has given me ideas for some regular meals I now shop for in my regular shop for a much cheaper price.

Some of the meals are good but take ages and the meat is absolutely awful.

It sounds expensive and you could make some simpler meals for less. Just work out some regular ones & buy the same each week. These would be cheaper & take less time:-

• salmon in foil and new potatoes with salad
• omelettes
• steak & salad & chips
• chicken with Parma ham & pasta with pesto

My sister signed up with them for a month.

Every single week there were vital ingredients missing, e.g. for one chicken dish the chicken was missing, for another dish the veg was missing, and in a couple of cases the meat had gone off.And the meat that was there was dreadful quality, I’d say as non ethical as you can get plus shitloads of packaging into the bargain.

can you cook quick meals during the week, e.g. stir-fry/pesto pasta/sausage and mash?

or even cook some of it on the weekend e.g.make a batch of bollognese sauce and then all you have to do is cook the pasta? Ditto with ccottage pie. Cook the whole dish and freeze it and just get out on the morning, shove in the oven and you’re done, or even just the mince part then all you have to do is make the mash, spoon the mince into the dish, mash over the top and into the oven.

I found the prep and cooking actually quite time consuming - there’s a fair bit of chopping etc involved - it’s not that quick. And there is indeed a lot of packaging waste. A novelty but we cancelled fairly quickly.

I really liked Hello Fresh for a couple of months and it was fun to chop/cook but then it wore off a bit. But the recipes were lovely and portions good. We don't eat meat though which maybe made a difference.

I've just ordered Gousto with the code up thread. Thank you! Sorry I know there was more than one code posted.

It is very expensive.

I think it would be better both financially and for easiness to eat more simple meals that cost less, plus have a massive fruit salad for pudding.

I really like it for new ideas. We get one once in a while. It’s not a cheap or money saving option. We think of it as a treat that’s cheaper and healthier than a take away.

I got HF on 50% off for 3 weeks then 25% off for 3 weeks. Kept it for 6 more weeks at full price because it worked so well.

Some issues with ingredients being spoiled but rarely. I got the meals for 4 people and kept the leftovers for lunch next day (2 adults and 2 pre school DC).

Definitely worth it with discount.

We have just cancelled Hello Fresh. I found the recipes a bit full and repetitive. The quality of food wasn’t always great either.
We much prefer Gousto for variety, exciting meal choices and quality. We also like that you can pause your subscription so don’t have to keep remembering to go online and skip weeks if you don’t want a delivery every week.
I have a referral code which will give you 65% off your first box if you fancy giving it a try. You can then pause your subscription so you can just order a box whenever you fancy. The code also gives you 30% off any additional boxes ordered in the first month. cook.gousto.co.uk/raf?promo_code=NICOL274409&utm_source=iosapp

Should say ‘a bit dull and repetitive’

@PurpleDaisies

I really like it for new ideas. We get one once in a while. It’s not a cheap or money saving option. We think of it as a treat that’s cheaper and healthier than a take away.

Yes this is my view of them - they are the equivalent of a takeaway but healthier.

I tried hello fresh but much prefer gousto. The recipes on hello fresh seem really samey and agree with the others, the ingredients weren’t the freshest. Some I had to replace. On my last one, they missed out a key ingredient (bulgogi sauce) and they gave me some money back but i also couldn’t find it in any of the local supermarkets so it was a choice between ordering a bottle on Amazon or not making the meal. I asked them to resend it but they said they wouldn’t.

I also cancelled a box and they still charged me for it. When I queried it they said they’d credit my account and I had to argue for a proper refund. That happened twice so I’m done with them now (both times they said I’d not cancelled the box, until I sent them proof of it).

A lot of people used it last year because they got it really cheaply - they’d regularly use 35-50% codes and HelloFresh didn’t pick up on it for ages. At 50% off every single week, it’s good value but they got wise to it and stopped!

Shamelessly posting a referral link to gousto if anyone wants it. I like that you can get a free folder to store the recipe cards, it’s more useful than I’d have expected!
cook.gousto.co.uk/raf?promo_code=KERRI42638064&utm_source=iosapp

We use recipe boxes 3 x week for our family of four, for convenience in term times.
It works out probably the same as supermarket equiv esp if you factor in time & travel to the shop - probably shopping time is our biggest challenge.
But I'm always verging on cancelling, mostly due to the plastic waste & repetitive recipes, and perhaps meat quality although gousto is better than HF imo.
Once the days get lighter & we have more time I'll prob take a break.

If you aren’t a huge wedges / chips / pasta / mince eater, then the range of recipes is very poor. I just cancelled after a trial offer, having used them years ago. The recipes have changed so that side orders are now cheap carb and salads / veg and the little extras that used to come with a recipe (eg a lime or some coriander or whatever) have gone. It’s generally very unhealthy starch with a load of cheddar or cream for flavour. Creamy chorizo pasta eg (VOM).
Hi nice I’d cancelled, they suggested their new side business Green something which has Fanta recipes, far more up my alley (& with keto / vegan etc options). At that point you just have to get over the appalling packaging situation (they tell you how good they are that it’s all recycled, the issue being that the huge package of insulation I each box is not further recyclable by many Uk councils). It’s atrocious environmentally.

It's convenient, it's saves time and thought, and we often had leftovers so would get a couple of bonus lunches a week out of our box.

It's not good value in terms of what you'd save if you bought the ingredients separately, but we did ultimately save by not popping to the shop as often, so not picking up the odd extra bit / treat / bottle of wine here and there that add up.

We stopped because we're aiming to eat more vegetarian / vegan meals at home and the range isn't fantastic.

I think the recipes are good and the portion sizes are generous, BUT I think the amount of packaging is unforgivable. Each meal involves multiple small plastic pots/sachets/wrapping. I stopped using them because of this and left feedback saying they should adjust the ordering system so that you can opt out of things you have already, (ie) if you already have red wine vinegar, then you can opt out of having the sachet included.

Green Chef is their new spin off and it’s heavy on vegan / veggie and multiple ingredients that aren’t all potato. They have the usual new subscriber offer

I also prefer Gousto, love the variety, especially of the vegetarian and vegan meals, they are delicious.

I think value-wise, Gousto isn't cheap but it's not expensive either. I'm paying for the convenience of not having to think about the meals, not having to traipse around the supermarket, and having a better wider range than I would have if I was cooking by myself, as I'm not a very good chef.

So, I don't think these things are money-saving unless there are discounts, but that's not really their purpose- they are to save you time and effort.

Just look at your receipt for the weekly shop and take away the ingredients for three dinners. I doubt it would add up to anything like £35.
I think in your case it would be better to make a list of easy meals and stick to those. May be with some ready made stuff if you don’t object to it too much. Eg: filled pasta with veg; omelette/scrambled eggs; ready made quiche; tuna/tomato pasta; carbonara; oven baked fish with new potatoes and veg; whole chicken in slow cooker served with wraps and salad; stir fry (can buy prepared veg).

To be honest I’d rather buy a really good quality ready meal than one of these subscription boxes. Just a big pile of veg to the ready meal,
Waitrose No 1, M&S Gastropub, and Charlie Bingham are the meals we use a couple of times a week when we’re really busy.

I think the packaging and plastic would really concern me too.

Some of the things that help me with saving time/meal planning:-

I always have a basket open on Waitrose. When I start the last bottle or packet I add it to my basket. When my basket reaches £40 I book a click and collect. There are usually slots available the next day. I pick up any other bits (fruit and veg) when I go to collect the order.

I use BBC Good Food website for recipes. You can search on ingredients and sort the results by different variables including cooking time.

I have a running meal plan. I used to use Excel but have recently switched to Trello with a board for each day. Each day has a lunch and a dinner with a checklist for ingredients. If I make a big batch of something then we'll have it that day and I'll slot it into the plan 7+ days later. If I part use a packet of something with a short life then I'll think of something else to cook using that ingredient and slot it into the plan. The great thing with Trello is that you can shuffle cards along and move them around. I also have a list of recipes set up as templates so I can create a new card as I go along.

I pretty much have four types of dinner;

1. one off fiddly and time consuming
2. batch type recipe so bit of effort for first dinner but lots of portions for easy dinners (spag bol or chilli)
3. quick and easy (baked salmon, baby potatoes and green beans, peas)
4. ready meal

I match the dinner to what's going on that day. So tonight DH is out quite early and we're having quiche and salad with baby potatoes. On Saturday, we've got friends coming so I'm going to make a couple of curries with pre-cooked rice (because I'm rubbish at rice), samosas and onion bhajis. The curries will be quite big so I'm going to freeze the leftovers.

Some people like to meal plan once a week or once a month but I find it easier to organise it as an ongoing activity to keep it flexible. It sounds like I spend ages planning but I really don't! I've become much more organised over the years which makes life much easier. It's certainly not perfect but it seems to work for me.

We get a box about once a month and enjoy it. It's expanded my cooking repertoire.