HelloFresh

Recently, I decided to try the HelloFresh Food Box, a food subscription service that includes a weekly shipment of recipes, pre-measured farm-fresh ingredients delivered straight to your door.  They offer a Classic Box and a Veggie Box for those of us that don't eat meat. :) We arrived home on a Wednesday to find the box sitting at our door. Everything is packed into a cooler to keep it fresh, and inside the cooler, the recipe ingredients are separated into their own packages with separate bags for fridge and pantry items.

We started with the Quinoa Chaufa, since it seemed to have the most fresh ingredients, and we knew we weren't going to have time to do all three recipes before the weekend (when all hope of healthy eating goes out the window!)

I've gotta say, it was probably a relief to my digestive system to get a meal filled with such healthy, fresh foods! We moved into a new home last month, and the process of getting settled has led to a lot of Indian take-out or pizza dinners. :-P

And while the recipe listed this at 2 servings, I had more than enough for lunch the next day. For dinner on Thursday, we made Penne alla Norma, which again provided more than enough food to cover a few meals, although we did serve dinner with some bread and butter.

Finally, we had the Chili Stuffed Zucchini.

Trying out some new recipes and eating a little healthier is always a good bet. Here are some of the pros and cons of HelloFresh for me.

PROS: 

• Fresh, healthy food delivered right to your door - no time wasted at the grocery store
• Vegetarian or omnivore option
• Minimal prep 

CONS:

• Costly - I had a voucher for the first box to cost $19.00, but regularly this box costs $59.00. Three recipes, 2 servings (although to be fair, we were able to stretch these recipes into 3-4 servings easy!), at $19.00, that's only $3.17 per serving. Not bad at all! However, at $59.00, that's $19.67 per recipe or $9.83 per serving. 
• It wasn't always clear what order everything should be made in, so we ended up with cold rice for the zucchini recipe.  
• No option to select first box of recipes - not sure if you will have more control over future boxes as you rate recipes. 
• Box was delivered on Wednesday - too close to the weekend

For us, HelloFresh is just too pricey. While I like that it basically "forced" us to eat healthier than we probably would have naturally, I didn't like that we had little control over that first box of recipes. However, it is incredibly convenient, especially if you find yourself with limited time to run to the grocery store or plan your meals. It is hard to beat the convenience of most of your dinners for the week showing up on your doorstep!