Dear Sis,
We’ve been using Hello Fresh meal service off and on since January. I thought I’d take a minute to talk about our experience.
Setting the stage: Charlotte was about four months old when we signed up for three meals a week. We were also getting back into homeschooling William, age three, who only have six weeks of schooling before his sister was born. The learning curve for balancing a new baby, her big brother, and home educating was tricky. I was willing to try anything that might make the transition a bit easier.
Our meals arrive well packed in an insulated box with plenty of frozen cold packs and a divider between meats and the rest of ingredients just incase something sprung a leak:) The only ingredient we’ve ever had trouble with is the fresh carrots. They get a bit limp and weird after being nearly frozen. Sometimes I cook them anyway, but if they are too weird, I just toss them and get new ones out of the fridge.
When its time to cook, we take out the recipe card and the bag of ingredients. It does save a bit of time to have everything in one place and pre-portioned before I begin. William enjoys washing the vegetables and helping with some of the prep-work. He usually only lasts about 10 minutes, but occasionally he makes it all the way to the end. He’s much more willing to try new things when he plays a part in their preparation, so its nice that these meal kits lend to having little helpers:)
I’ve also formed some new cooking habits, during this journey. I’ve started roasting vegetables and potatoes more frequently. Also, the use of unique sauces in Hello Fresh meals in amazing! We have some new family favorites. That being said, there were two meals we disliked so much, we discard them and moved on to plan B. That happens sometimes when trying new things, so I don’t judge the meal service too harshly for it.
Our family box, with two servings of three meals, is just over $60.00. That breaks down to about $20 a meal to feed our family of three. Its more expensive than shopping for your own ingredients, but about the same or a bit cheaper than take-out.
I use the service about two weeks each month. Some weeks don’t have three recipe choices I think my family will enjoy, other times, I meal plan for myself. Although it does save some time in the planning and gathering steps, cook time is still just that. I average about 45 minutes in the kitchen and about 15 minutes clean up after our meal. Take out, slow cooker, or freezer meals are still the biggest time savers.
William enjoys playing with the Hello Fresh boxes. Unlike the numerous Amazon boxes around our house each week, the Hello Fresh boxes are brightly colored and big enough to sit in and pretend!
Today William was playing car in a box and decided it needed wheels! So we cut away some flaps and used paper brads to affix paper plates in the appropriate locations.
He played with it like that for a while, then said, “Mama it needs batteries!” I asked why, and he replied, “so it goes, Mama.” I responded by taping up the bottom flaps and making suspenders with ribbon and brads:) We successfully created the fastest cardboard box I’ve ever seen!
Love,
b