Find out what Mumsnetters think about Gousto recipes boxes NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 100 Mumsnetters who have been testing a Gousto recipe box, including recipes from their new range in partnership with Annabel Karmel.

Here’s what Timo Boldt, CEO and Founder of Gousto says: “For people who want to cook and enjoy good food together but don’t always have the time, ingredients or know-how to do it well, Gousto delivers simple ways to (re) discover the joys of cooking, so you can choose what you want, cook it with confidence and enjoy sharing it with others.

Taking the hassle out of planning, shopping and cooking, Gousto delivers up to 4 meals for the week with the ingredients and recipe ready to make, so there’s no more ‘what’s for dinner’ panic.

This month, we’ve launched a 3-month partnership with family cooking expert, Annabel Karmel to introduce 20 additional family-friendly recipes to our menu. Supporting busy families with tried-and-tested, nutritionally balanced meals, proven to suit fussy eaters, including Heavenly Hidden Veg Bolognese and Mouthwatering Veggie Mac & Cheese – the new recipes will allow you to enjoy cooking dishes which suit everyone around the dinner table.

Each recipe uses Gousto’s fresh, quality ingredients – including 100% British meat, sustainable fish and free-range eggs from trusted suppliers – allowing you to know what’s in every meal and feel confident you’re feeding your family well.”^

Testers, once you’ve tested the recipe box by cooking all recipes, please give your feedback by answering the below questions:
1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?
2. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?
3. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?
4. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?
5. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?
6. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

All selected testers who give the required feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Definitely no spoon here!

Our box arrived on Saturday lunchtime, so we had our first meal on Saturday night (a really quick to make king prawn linguine) and have cooked all four meals now.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

Using the website was very easy and visually the ordering system is very appealing with lots of enticing images and easy to read descriptions of the meals. Selecting recipes was simple and I liked the way you could sort the types of meals you wanted (e.g. family meals, which is what we were looking for). The recipes were very easy to follow and created meals that actually looked as good as the photographs! There was just enough information provided to prepare and cook the meals quickly and at the same time be a bit special. Not having to weigh out ingredients or check the cupboard for those lesser used (usually out of date by the time you want to use them again!) bits and bobs was great.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

More confident than I expected to be. I love to cook and choose fresh ingredients where possible, but having a full time job and two primary age (fussy) kids means that I just don't have time to do this and planning meals is frankly just brain ache most weeks. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the ingredients delivered and the side dishes provided lots of veg and salad as part of the meals. The produce appeared to be a high standard and very fresh. Having all the ingredients measured out and ready to go resulted in no waste at all and included some more exotic ingredients that I wouldn't probably bother with otherwise, as they'd hang around in the cupboard after one or two uses.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

A good range of recipes and a sensible number on offer without being completely overwhelming. The taste of the meals was excellent I thought. We had king prawn linguine, Peri Peri chicken, bbq pork and Chinese fish fillets and all of them were well flavoured for me and dh without being too 'out there' for the kids to try. I hadn't heard of this type of fish before and it did need plenty of seasoning, but I am assuming it was a sustainable variety (hopefully?) and so I'd be happy to accommodate that. We also chose recipes that could be tweaked easily to the children's tastes, e.g. we didn't include the chilli in the linguine recipe, or much paprika on the pork for their meals.

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

We chose the Chinese fish fillets as an AK option and we all enjoyed the meal, although the dc's weren't keen on the sauce. I'm not sure really if I'd look for the AK options specifically in future, as I don't see that they differ significantly from the other options though. The name/endorsement wouldn't be a significant factor for me.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

A huge difference for me. I order online about once a month for everyday dry goods and groceries and then shop every other day or so at my local shops for fresh produce. Since returning to work I've radically reduced the amount I cook from scratch and tend to cook the same few meals when I do, because there simply isn't time to meal plan and then shop with any degree of inventiveness. The opportunity to try the Gousto box has very much opened my eyes to a new way of cooking during the week and we have all really enjoyed it.

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

Yes I would, although I wouldn't do it every week. The cost would be an issue for us, and also I probably wouldn't want these sorts of meals quite so often every week. Quite a few nights in the week we are doing separate things or have to eat on the go due to clubs etc. Ideally I would like to have the option to order every other week, or once a month, but I notice the order system is weekly with an 'opt out' system. The box is very appealing and I would seriously consider continuing with it, if this order system was a little more flexible.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

I found the site very to navigate and it was easy to choose recipies. I particularity like the fact that it was possible to change your mind about what you'd chosen until a fairly short time before shipping - I didn't do it this time but if I use Gusto in the future the flexibility would be useful.
I found the recipes really simple to follow. I did think some of them were quite time consuming though, especially the Annabel chinese fish recipe which is hardly something I'd want to whip up on a school night. The lamb biryani on the other hand was very simple

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

There seemed to be plenty of veg, carbs and protein and the ingredients were really fresh. The servings were also very generous. However, I was slightly concerned that there was a lot of salt - stock cubes, pinches of salt, soy sauce and the Annabel fish recipe had far too much soy sauce and sugar (I did hope 2tbs was a typo and you meant 2 teaspoons). Generally I was happy it was mainly healthy.

On a different note why do you source your fish from Vietnam - the air miles hardly add to the environment.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

It would be good to have a box for five nights allowing a full working week.

We enjoyed all of the meals. My 5 year old son said the Annabel meatballs and pasta was "nearly as good as ice cream", I really enjoyed it but in future would put less thyme in as I thought it was overbearing. The chinese fish meal (annabel Karmel) went down very well. The seared steak was in the opinion of all of us spoilt by the spice mix although the tabbouleh went down very well. We've just had lamb biryani and the only complaint was that there wasn't more!

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

I think she needs to review the amount of salt and sugar but it is good to have recipes that encourage children to eat vegetables so it would be good to continue them whilst revising the addition of unhealthy ingredients.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

It was amazingly easy. The box arrived, everything was pre measured, there was no waste, everything was fresh and the planning was a pleasure as I could just choose from a range of meal choices. There was no digging about the back of cupboards and fridge for things I thought I had in stock and no checking to see what ingrediants were missing before going shopping. No lists, no heavy bags... I could get used to it!

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

Yes not every week but I think a monthly box would be good. It is quite an expensive way to feed the family but very convenient and relatively relaxing for me

Thank you for choosing me, we've have really enjoyed experimenting

^^^^ number of meal available on site - thought it was quite reasonable and not overwhelming. As long as it changes round on a regular basis I think its reasonable but would be unhappy if that was it and it didn't change

Looking at the meals on this thread and the meals available when I ordered earlier today, it looks like they offer a wide selection that is changed/updated regularly.

I imagine that's why some of us got later emails, so that we would all test different meals.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

I found the website really easy to use, my only difficulty was deciding what to choose...so many lovely recipes. Once we had made that decision it was a simple drop down menu to choose servings for four people.

2. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

I was really impressed with the quality and freshness of the vegetables in the box. The recipes were fabulous and we chose a good range, others have mentioned salt etc but I guess you could leave this out and add after cooking. The calorie content seemed high for some meals but equally the portions for four were huge. For example we made the Easy Lamb Biryani and the Annabel Karmel Meatballs and Pasta. Both dishes served four with a huge amount left over. I actually filled two baking dishes with the pasta bake and froze one. The other fed dish four people easily by the time you added a fresh salad.

3. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

Good range of recipes. I have loved all the recipes I made and have had mixed reviews from my family. I was the only one who LOVED the Portobello Mushroom burgers and the Salsa was delicious. I’d definitely make it again and still have some in the fridge which I am adding to meals. Having the recipe cards for all the dishes was great.
The Easy Lamb Biryani was loved by everyone as were the Meatballs. My son wouldn’t even attempt the Pork steaks with the BBQ glaze.....his loss as they were lovely.

4. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

The recipe I chose (Pasta and Meatballs) was delicious and we enjoyed rolling up the meatballs. I throughly enjoyed making these....there was something very “Masterchef” about adding all the ingredients and then hand mixing the meat mixture. They were a huge hit.

I can see them being a fun dish to make with children and yes I would welcome anything which get people involving children in the preparation of food.

5. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

I have never ordered any of these food boxes before although I was aware that several companies offered them. To be honest I always thought it was a bit “coals to Newcastle” for me as I love cooking from scratch. However I have to say I loved getting this box and unpacking it. It was good to see such beautiful fresh looking vegetables and well pack and chilled meat.

In addition the box arrived the day after my Dad had a stroke! Thankfully he will be fine but having this box meant no stress of finding to time to shop and think about meals on top of the family stress which occurred. For that I was very grateful and I can see that during busy times I might be ordering again.

6. Would you purchase Gousto meals again?

Absolutely and definitely yes.

We might not do so regularly but I enjoyed this box and can see myself ordering once a month or so for busy weeks when I don’t have much time to meal plan.

Having prepared a few recipes I would probably order a box for two servings as I am certain things like Pasta Bake etc could be stretched out.

And yes....the freebie wooden spoon was great...and got well used.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

The website was very easy to use, selecting recipes (and de-selecting when I changed my mind) was very straightforward and intuitive. We found the recipes pretty easy to follow though my DH (who cooked one of the meals) commented that he would have found it really helpful if the ingredients listed on the recipe card in the order of use as there was quite a bit of referring back to the list on the other side of the card to check quantities.

We also found some minor anomalies, eg the Pork Pineapple and Red Onion Taco's list that you need sugar as part of the recipe, though sugar was not used, and I was bothered that in the Pork Chilli that the recipe doubled the number of stock cubes for 4 people while only upping the liquid content by a small percentage (I only used 1 stock cube and that was plenty).

2. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

All the recipes we tried seemed well rounded with variations on presenting veg and salad in meals. Of the recipes we tried I particularly liked the veg and fruit toppings on the Pork Tacos and the apple and celery salsa on the Mexican chilli, and I found these additions really inspiring and will use the recipes again. The peas and carrots in the rice of the AK Glazed salmon recipe was a little uninspired when a zingy lime-dressed salad of some kind would be great with the sweet/salty salmon. The Chicken Schnitzel could have had a bit more veg in there too. We found there were generally a good deal more 'pinches of salt' in the recipe than needed given that there were lots of salty ingredients.

3. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

I felt there was a good and interesting selection to choose from, and on looking at the website again it does seem like there are regular changes. The trying of new recipes with all the ingredients provided was the really important part of this service for us, I wouldn't be keen to order the same recipes twice. It also provided us with discussions about how we would modify the recipes to suit us better next time we made them - not our usual sort of conversation so that was great! We've enjoyed all the recipes, particularly the spicier ones with interesting salsas. We felt some would have been too salty if we'd added all the 'pinches of salt' in the recipe.

4. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

Annabel Karmel recipes held no sway for us in choosing. I do think I remember using something of the AK brand when weaning my kids, maybe some freezer trays, but the name doesn't really hold any significance for us, and makes me think of feeding very young children, which is irrelevant for our family.

5. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

Lately I'd become stuck in rut and ordering largely the same groceries each week so we haven't had much deviation from a few core recipes. Like most families, we are busy and time for meal prep is limited, so it was great to have the opportunity to try out new recipes without the mental load of planning and shopping for it!

6. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

I was really happy with the quality of the food in the box, the convenience and the fun of trying out new recipes. I could see myself ordering a box every 2 or 3 months, but not weekly.

I wasn't happy with the amount of packaging, though I appreciated that the veg was loose at least. It would be far too much on a weekly basis and would all end up in the recycling bin - I'm hoping I can reuse some of the current tiny tubs for the kids' food tech ingredients, and the cat is currently enjoying sleeping on the the wool blanket! But, I'd really like to have some way of returning the wool wrap, ice packs and plastic tubs to Gousto for re-use.

I appreciate it would take the simplicity of ordering but it would be great to have some sort of 'store cupboard' option whereby you can opt out of basics such as mayonnaise, vinegar, tomato puree and eggs to avoid some of the sachets and packaging. If I were using Gousto on a regular basis this would be a must for me.

I wanted to note that the portion sizes were generous and appropriate for a family with two older DSs and 2 greedy adults! As they eat large portions it was a concern that there would be enough, but there was plenty. Anyone with younger children or smaller appetites must have had leftovers.

I did not receive a wooden spoon!

Ordered box to arrive on Sunday so place marking!

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

Very easy to use actually - and the kids liked choosing recipes.
they have also liked helping to cook them. instructions fairly straightforward i think.

2. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

I thought the quality for the ingredients were good - veg of good standard especially. Also loved the tinned tomatoes!

thought there was far too much sugar in the AK meal though - wondering if a misprint as the chinese fish for 4 said 2 tablespoons of sugar! So we did a teaspoon... Apart from that I was happy with the quality and thought ours were decent and balanced.

3. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

At first i thought that the 20 or so recipes was it - and that you would get bored after a while but have now realised that they change! so overall pretty happy. We could have chosen quite a few. We all really loved the peri peri chicken - especially loved the apple slaw with it! DS doesnt normally eat any mayonnaise but because he had made it he happily tucked into the slaw and also the peri mayonnaise dip.
similar happened with the aubergine parmiagani. Both kids think they not crazy on aubergine but again, they just ate it - so am really pleased with that aspect as we are trying stuff they wouldn't normally - even though they are generally unfussy.

4. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

not bothered either way - my kids are past that age I think. and actually preferred other things on the menu and only chose that one because we were asked to choose one of hers.

5. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

This was such a huge plus point for me! I really do like cooking and we are pretty good at it tbh, but I get so bored of the relentless thinking about it, the planning, shopping etc. having all this taken away was a massive bonus for a change. And I really do think it would work out cost effective as there's just no waste. A box with 4 meals is perfect as you can pretty well rely that you will be having 4 family meals for the 4 of you in a week, even allowing for meals out/clubs/friends coming etc

6. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

In a word yes. initially i was hugely sceptical about these boxes, thought that I was definitely not their target market as we are good cooks and quite imaginative. i also worried that the portions may be a bit small.
Really proved wrong on all that. Loved the fact that some of the weeknight meals were now sorted for me - leaving me to enjoy my cooking more on the weekend.

i wouldnt order every week though - but would definitely look at doing them every 2/3 weeks.

Overall, really impressed and pleasantly suprised!

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

The website was enjoyable to use and very easy to navigate and it was particularly helpful to be able to see recipes according to dietary preference. There was enough information about each recipe for me to make an informed choice.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

I did feel that the recipes were very well balanced and healthy. We tried veg that we wouldn’t normally buy and the recipes themselves were very varied.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

I would have preferred a wider choice of vegetarian recipes. There were five to choose from and one of my children is particularly fussy! That said we really did enjoy the meals we tried. I would say they were of restaurant quality, full of interesting and exciting flavours. I was impressed by the portion sizes too, I expected them to be smaller and this has put me off ordering something like this in the past, but the portions were actually quite generous.

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

Unfortunately there were no vegetarian Annabel Karmel options but hopefully these will be added in future.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

I do usually struggle to plan varied meals for my family and we end up eating the same things each week. Gousto did remove that chore completely. Me and my DC really enjoyed cooking the meals together and I picked up a couple of new cooking techniques too! It was very convenient to have the ingredients already measured out which did make cooking more of a pleasure.

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

Yes I would. Not every week, but once or twice a month to make busy weeks easier and to vary the meals that we have as a family.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

All very easy. I did find choosing 4 quite difficult though as lots were sold out by the time I got online so choice was restricted.

Following the recipes was easy enough, but all took around 40 minutes - I like to have a couple of quick meals for after swimming lessons etc.

I was quite shocked by how little shelf life there was on the products - they needed using almost straight away which again was restrictive when we had later nights.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

The meals were lovely and had a great amount of veg in each - even DS2 who is very very picky wolfed down far more veg than he would normally. The meat was all very fresh and tasty too. Delicious!

One of our onions was rotten unfortunately. One of those things, but if I’d paid nearly £50 I wouldn’t be happy.

The potions were massive. Meatballs did 2 nights.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

We loved everything, particularly the meatballs. I found the amount of recipes too restrictive as lots had sold out, and ended up with fish as our final choice, which myself and DSs love, but DH won’t eat.

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

Neither here nor there with the “name”, but they were nice.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

Very. A lot more expensive - I pay around £35 for a week’s food at Lidl/Morrison’s. Took more time to cook, but a wider variety.

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

Possibly. I can see Gousto working well if we did a week away in a self catering cottage etc, but for week on week use it’s too expensive and restrictive.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

It was easy to use, selecting recipes and placing the order was very straightforward. The recipes were well laid out and easy to follow.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

There were plenty of fresh ingredients, however there was more soy sauce, tomato sauce and ketchup than I would usually use. I don't think of these as being healthy foods.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

There was a wide range, we had no difficultly choosing. We loved the peri peri chicken, apple slaw and chips- a definite winner! Also liked the salmon and halloumi. We were less keen on the shredded gammon which didn't have much flavour,

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

There was only one Annabel Karmel recipe when we ordered. This was tasty but no better than other recipes. I wouldn't order something based on the brand.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

I usually meal plan for the week, this just saved on shopping! I liked that all the little bits were included.

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

Maybe, especially if I had a busy week but they are too pricey for every week for us.

Thank you for choosing us to test the box!

Beware- for those who have been selected for the second week trial!!!

I have just logged onto the bank to see that Gousto have charged me 47.75 for my box even though I put the code in!!! 🙄🙄🙄

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

It was very easy to select the recipes and place an order. I was initially worried by the long delivery slot (8am-7pm) but the box arrived about 9.30am so we could make one of the meals on delivery day.
It was fairly easy to follow the recipes and make the meals- the lamb biryani was the easiest as a one-pot dish but a couple of the others seemed quite labour intensive with different pots on the go.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

We were really impressed with the quality of the ingredients overall but definitely felt that some of the recipes (e.g. biryani, meatball pasta bake) were short on veg- we served most of them with a side salad/ extra veg. The portion size was good though as this was something I was hesitant about beforehand.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

Number of recipes were fine- although I felt quite constrained by having to choose the Annabel Karmel dishes.
Taste- pretty good overall, lamb biryani was delicious, the kids enjoyed the AK fish. We were a bit lukewarm on the aubergine parmigiana as we were starving an hour after eating it so it just didn’t seem very filling!

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

I couldn’t really see the point of the AK recipes- they didn’t seem any more family friendly or healthier than any of the other recipes so would not choose a recipe for the AK name.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

More convenient as all the ingredients were measured out in advance (although lots of packaging!)

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

Unlikely- it seems a lot of money and the dates on the meals were quite short (delivered on Saturday, meals expired Monday and Tuesday) so there was no flexibility on when to use the meals in the box. I would be more interested if a box could be spread over a week and mixed with other home cooked meals on some nights.

Thanks for choosing us!

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?
It was very easy to use. The website was clear and very quick and I had signed up and ordered in a few minutes. I was charged but refunded very quickly.

I’m not a natural cook but I found the recipes clear and easy to follow. The pictures were useful and reassured me that I was on the right track.

2. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?
The ingredients were fresh and appealing and I did feel that the family were getting a nice range with some ingredients that the children weren’t especially familiar with. Which was good and bad because I quickly learnt to lie to the youngest (5) about what was in things!

3. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?
There was a decent range to choose from. I have very fussy children which is part of the reason why I’m not more adventurous with my cooking in general, so I chose three with ease and struggled slightly on the fourth. I have to admit to modifying the veggy enchiladas (the 4th choice!) slightly for the kids by swapping kidney beans for chicken which they loved as I knew they wouldn’t touch anything with the beans in. But DH and I had the beans and it was lovely.

The barbecue pork was well received as were the AK meatballs but the lamb biryani was a massive hit. That will be a regular now.

I didn’t add any extra salt or sugar when requested though and it didn’t affect the flavour in my opinion at all.

4. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?
I wasn’t really fussed either way about the AK recipes. When my girls were younger it may have swayed me slightly but we’re past the toddler stage and so it’s not something that I really bothered about.

5. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?
It was amazing not to have to think about it for a week. Real luxury. To have everything there, weighed and measured and ready for use was fabulous, I really enjoyed the experience and enjoyed cooking. Usually meal planning and cooking fills me with dread. Portions were massive and we have some in the freezer now which is very useful.

6. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?
At the moment it’s out of our budget but when things pick up again I definitely would. And they’d be perfect for holidays as we do mostly self catering but meals can be bland without the usual supply of herbs and spices. This is the perfect answer.

Lastly, I did realise that life is too short to strip thyme!

Thank you so much for the chance to try this, I really enjoyed it and was impressed with the recipes, quality and delivery.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?
Placing the order was very easy, creating the meals was also fine except that I really didn't like the fact that the recipe cards were for 2 portions and I had to double them. I also hated all the fiddly little pouches eg soy sauce - such a waste of packaging!

2. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?
I'm certainly using lots less salt than their dishes seemed to contain! Several of the meals contained less veg than I would normally serve.

3. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?
Dishes were nice - but very, very spicey - even the Annabel Carmel one - I've got a mountain of cipotle paste left.

4. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future? My children are a bit past this stage so it isn't something I'm interested in. I'm not really a fan of specific childrens food

5. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals? No difference really apart from not going to the supermarket for as large a shop - I meal plan and write a list anyway.

6. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family? Probably not as the cost is more than I would spend and I still have to make a trip to the supermarket anyway to get other stuff. It was a very interesting experience though and I can see that Waitrose do a very similar scheme!

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

Website was pretty simple to use and navigate. Selecting recipes was again simple although i was expecting a bit more choice so spent considerable time trying to find more recipes . The recipes were so simple to follow, picture guides meant all ages could become involved. Timings were pretty spot on although I think a more established cook would find it quicker to achieve some parts. However good for novice/under confident cooks.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

its great to see exactly what is going into the "ready meal" probably not some ingredients I would use (stock cubes I tend to use the gels but that's minor). I like the wide variety of fresh options and all of them seemed easy to replicate without the box should you find one you particularly enjoy. Some though I was surmised at how many calories were in them.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

^I would have preferred to have a few more choices but I am adventurous confident cook. We chose: AK mighty meatball bake, Cambodian Chicken curry, seated steak and tabbouleh, AK Chinese style fish fillets. Curry was fantastic, AK one was tasteless and one was odd and definitely not in a nice or pleasant way! Steak is steak and I would have preferred a few more interesting ideas to go in the tabbouleh salad (essentially tomato, parsley and cucumber) tasty but a bit "dull" but perhaps I have a more adventurous palette. The curry however will
More than likely become a regular idea as it was easy to make and tasty!^

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

I will be honest, I hadn't realised that I was going to need to choose her recipes. I now wish that I had chosen other things - although the whole point I'm guessing is to assess the longevity of this idea- as usual she does peculiar things!!!!!! The Chinese fish was ok, the vegetables did not need the cornflour to make the sauce thicker and a bit gungy infant it made me feel like the fresh flavours were diminished because of this. The fish itself was bland and the whole family preferred it with homemade amai sauce to give it a bit of a boost. The meatball pasta bake by AK - where do I start???? Vile, simply vile. Too much thyme when doubled up, no "binding" agent as the apple didn't really work! So to be honest it was a disaster - will post photos in a while of before and after in the meatballs. Needless to say we used the tomato sauce ingredients alone as a pasta sauce and added a few fridge bits to it. But I would have been hugely unhappy if I had paid for it!!!!! I should point out that I have a great deal of cooking experience, spend a lot of time poring over magazines and am adventurous. I have also worked in a professional kitchen. Which could be why I see these as bland, however I used all my tricks I know to ensure that my meatballs were great to cook with but they just fell apart in the pan. And tasted vile. I'm afraid if there were constantly 2-3 AK choices I would see that as 2-3 choices off the list for me.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

^The whole process was made easier by the box. I liked the individual portions of things (although I didn't receive anything i didn't already have in the larder. I kept everything together in the fridge so it was as easy to find, I had little left over of the ingredients although the things I did were things I'd happily use up in say a pasta sauce/soup/usual recipe so I wasn't disappointed there (for example I knew the vegetables with the Chinese style fish would not get eaten by the dc so only made a portion for two rather than four.

I usually do one big shop that is meal planned but with a bit of flexibility in case dh comes home wanting a curry or not being so hungry as usual. Or unseen changes.

I think one or two meals would be more suitable than four for us as unless we'd been on holiday we might have wasted some of the ingredients.
^

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

^Possibly. I enjoyed opening the box and the way it was all sent to me. We did have an egg breakage (not a problem as we have them as staple in the house) and I think this was unfortunate, however regular breakages would really irritate me.

I think I would use this for running down on supplies when going away on holiday so there wasn't any waste. I would possibly use this if I was self catering in the UK as it would be a brilliant way of providing the whole package and would no doubt be more clear at effective not to have to buy the add ons.

I have been desperate to try one of these services for a while, having it all delivered with everything you need is sooooo tempting! But I'm not sure it's a service for me, I think I could probably make some of the options from what I already have (store cupboard) I think I like "new" ideas and if I'm honest these are great recipes and fab for probably the majority of happy users BUT as we have a bit of confidence and like to occasionally experiment I think a weekly box would make me feel a bit stunted. However it would be ideal for dh to use as a once a week him cooking situation :) it is perfect for him! I think I'm probably more of a veg box reciever where I have some suggestions but could go a by off piste so I appreciate that my thoughts on that are reflected in all of my answers.. As is my dislike of AK recipes :) - sorry about that, I just think they are a bit bland or odd!

In short - great for novice cooks, underconfident cooks, those who aren't keen on cooking, those wanting to learn, getting the dc involved. Not probably as much aimed at more confident cooks unless they use it as a takeaway/don't have to think option once or twice a month.^

Thanks so
Much for the opportunity to try this service out. I do actually think it's great, I just don't think it works for us as a family at the moment.

Oh yes, that was my other issue - was charged 1p for mine. Not a problem in itself for that much food, but does make you wonder about admin issues.

Pictures - our unfortunate onion and a sausage sandwich.

I do hope they haven't charged me- if it takes me overdrawn it will cost me money. The account I used isn't set up for online banking so I'll have to check tomorrow.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

Easy to use. Shocked at the limited recipes. Poor. Most we didn’t like. Struggled to find ones to order.
Following the recipes Was a nightmare, it was such hard work, and many of the recipes were 70 minutes long, is fine for a weekend special meal, but not for a weeknight.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you’re feeding your family well?

The food was incredibly tasty. we enjoyed the meal immensely. but we are incredibly shocked by the calories of each meal, nearly 800, and the carbohydrates.

I really think you need a low-carb section to a deal with the people Who don’t want to eat this kind of meal high carb meals.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried:

Poor. The choice was very poor we struggle to find anything to order.

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel’s recipes? Is this something you’d like to see continue in the future?

No. I’m not a fan of Annabel Karmel particularly and I thought the recipe Choices were poor. There was only one on offer, fish, which I never would have chosen, it was quite tasty, it was a very poor choice and if you were to become associated with this site you would needy insist on 3 or 4 options per week.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

I wasn’t initially excited, because the choice of meals was poor and I realised that we normally cook these kind of meals ever y week.

However, the taste of the meals were incredibly tasty and I like the fact that you got all the ingredients, ready to make the whole meal.

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

No, too expensive.
Plus very high calorie and not enough low-carb. I think there should be a low-carb section.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

I found the website brilliantly easy to use. Very easy to select the recipes and easy to order. The recipes were easy to follow - some of them were a bit fiddly but I really enjoyed the process of cooking different things. Have been in a bit of a rut with food recently and this was a great "reset" button for me to remember how much I enjoy cooking new things!

2. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

I'm not confident that there was enough veg in most of the meals to be properly healthy but the ingredients seem reasonably fresh and good quality.

3. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

There were lots to chose from, and like PPs I have seen that they change on the website a lot. We chose Smoky Fish with Chive Butter; Annabel’s Glazed Salmon & Chinese Rice; Pork, Pineapple & Red Onion Tacos and Moroccan Lamb, Hummus, Carrot & 3 Seed Salad. I thought all the recipes were delicious but DH and DCs were a bit fussy and annoying about them. The Salmon was too salty and spicy. The Tacos were too spicy and apparently no-one likes pineapple. The Moroccan Lamb was too lamby although the hummus and carrot salad went down well. There were bits from the recipes that I will do again, and I will definitely be cooking the smoked fish again as it was unbelievably easy and everyone loved it.

4. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

We had the AK Glazed Salmon and I thought there was too much salt in it, also the rice was really uninspiring.

5. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

I like the way it is all planned out and you get all the ingredients in one place. I'm not great at menu planning and my shopping is never cohesive...if nothing else, these boxes have inspired me to get my act together in that regard!

6. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

Yes. If I know I have a particularly busy week coming up then I would definitely consider it. Also, think it would be fab for a self catering holiday!

Thank you for choosing us!

@theimpossiblegirl - check it. It has made me go overdrawn. It has cost me £30 because of this, and no one has acknowledged my emails all day from Gousto... very annoyed.. although initially it was nice to get picked!🙄

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

Really easy. Got the DC involved in following the recipe and food prep.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

Very confident. They had a range of recipes to suit.

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

The recipes had a good range, healthy and ones the DC would like.

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

Tried the Annabel meal, it was super yummy but not something I'd be specifically looking for.

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

Having four meals delivered forced me to cook rather than buying in dribs and drabs then not cooking. I chose meals based on how long it said it would take to make.

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

The full price is quite expensive and as I'm a family of three there wasn't that option so I'd need to purchase a family of four box. Having said that I think I'll go on to buy as I find it much simpler than having to think of meal ideas, write all the ingredients out, drive 30 min round trip to Tesco, spend loads on junk food that I got lured in too etc.

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order? How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

The website was really easy and it was very simple to build an order. Following the recipe was really easy the only time we got stuck was when I mixed up tomato paste and pesto as the pesto wasn’t labelled.

2. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

Definitely! The ingredients were amazing quality and the portion sizes were huge

3. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

I liked the smaller range it wasn’t too baffling and it was easy to choose from

4. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future? *

I ordered the mighty meatball recipe from annabel karmel but I wasn’t impressed with how much salt was in this recipe.

5. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

I normally meal plan and tend to slip into the same old meals so it was lovely to try new meals. I didn’t like the amount of in disposable plastic packaging as I am very conscious about plastic waste and felt some of these ingredients could have been packaged in a more sustainable way.

6. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

I think I would buy gousto again as a one off if I knew I was super busy that week. I really liked the ingredients and the recipes were delicious

1. How easy did you find Gousto to use? How easy was selecting recipes and placing an order?

Easy to place an order. Fewer recipes there than I expected.

How easy was it to follow the recipes and create the meals?

Very easy to follow and recipe cards were good.

1. Thinking about the ingredients and recipes, how confident does Gousto make you feel that you're feeding your family well?

Feel happy about that - quality of ingredients seemed very good. Mince was high quality etc

1. What did you think about the number of recipes you could choose from? What did you and your family think about the taste of the Gousto meals you tried?

We had prawn linguine which was v good, lamb biryani was also good, chicken soup v tasty.
Meatballs not so good - fell apart and not distinctive taste.

1. What did you think about the option to order Annabel Karmel's recipes? Is this something you'd like to see continue in the future?

Not really interested - was the least preferred meal, children are 13 and 12 and a bit beyond Annabel Karmel now

1. How did using Gousto differ to how you usually plan, shop for and cook your weekly meals?

We usually meal plan and make a weekly online shop for food delivery. This cut down on some time and also having to think of what to eat

1. Would you purchase Gousto meals again for your family?

Not sure. I think the cost difference is probably less than I'd think when comparing the cost with what we'd normally spend. Might do it again occasionally. But wouldn't get Annabel Karmel ones again.