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Food Experiments: Number 1 and Number 2

Hello my friends! For the next five weeks I am performing what I call a food experiment at my house. I have been on the fence for quite a while about Hello Fresh. I have watched so many people that I follow on social media order it and cook it and love it. But I’ve hesitated. The number one reason being the cost. I need to state right up front, Hello Fresh is not paying me to review their products. This is going to be my honest opinion on the cost, the taste, the ease of cooking, etc.

An invitation came in the mail about a week ago for 16 free meals with a trial run, so we decided to try it out. Another big reason that I had for wanting to try it is to get out of my comfort zone. I’ve had couscous in my pantry for at least eight months and I’ve been hesitant to try it. Yes, I know couscous is VERY easy to cook, but I didn’t trust a random recipe for something that I had never eaten before. I mean, I can grill chicken and make a pot of couscous, but what do you put on it? Do you eat it plain?

Basically, I want to try new to us foods that I know are supposed to be yummy without paying restaurant prices for something that I may or MAY NOT like. I chose the vegetarian option for the first week, because we eat a lot of meat on a regular basis and I would like to incorporate more veggies into our diet. Also, Liv doesn’t eat meat, so this simplifies things for me.

The Cost

When you sign up, you have options of how many meals you want each week and you can choose how many people that you will be feeding. We chose the two meal per week option for four people. The first week I was charged $42.27 for both meals. I don’t know how Hello Fresh does their math, but when I the code in that you see above, it only gave me eleven free meals. Next week, my price is supposed to be $55.37. I’ll update you each week.

We had 25 options to choose our meals from. But, since I wanted to do veggie only meals for those two meals, it knocked our choices down to six. This must be the norm for Hello Fresh, because when I looked over the options for week 2 there were only six options available in the veggie section too.

Meal Number 1

For our first meal, I chose Mediterranean Baked Veggies with Couscous, Almonds and Feta. The instructions they give you with the card are very easy to follow, very clear and concise. I felt like someone who hasn’t cooked very much would easily be able to follow them. It might take slightly longer than 30 minutes if you are novice, but still very doable. One thing that I LOVE about Hello Fresh is that everything that you need – except salt, pepper, olive oil and butter – is included in your bag. I didn’t need to go to my local grocery store and fight through the hoards to pick up ripe tomatoes and yummy looking asparagus. They brought it to my front door and I stuck it in the fridge until I was ready to cook it the next day. I LOVE this. I may say this more than once. Ahem.

I used one sheet pan, two pots and that’s it. I loved that I could immediately throw the small amount of packaging into my recycle bin as I cooked, so cleanup was essentially nothing. I LOVED that too!

I had never had couscous and I really like it. I can’t wait to find a new recipe with couscous in it to try and see what yummy meals I can make out of it. I also love tomatoes and asparagus, so that was a hit. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten feta before. It’s very strong, and it colored my view of the entire meal. I think if I made this again, I would definitely used a different type of cheese to see if I like it better. Yes, I know that’s what makes this Mediterranean, but I don’t care, lol. The crunch of the slivered almonds and the scallions (or green onions where I’m from) was really good too.

Denton was worried about the portion sizes. His thoughts going into this was we had better have hot dogs or something else later for when we get hungry again, hahahaha. Surprisingly, this meal was very, very filling. We eat supper at – brace yourself – around 4:00 PM every day. It’s a habit that I got into when we moved here 13 years ago. That’s the time that Denton came home from work and the kid’s got off the bus, so that’s when I had dinner ready every day. I’ve never gotten out of that habit, so we still eat really early compared to “normal” people. All of that to say, I didn’t want anything later for a snack. It was that filling. I think I can learn to really love couscous for that fact alone.

Overall, it was a good meal. It wasn’t outstanding, but in my opinion my experiment is bearing out – I learned that I like couscous and want to make it again and my entire family tried something together that none of us had had before.

Meal Number 2

The next meal, which I made the next day, was Gnocchi with Spinach and Heirloom Tomatoes topped with Garlic Butter Breadcrumbs. I am here to proclaim right off the bat, that I LOVED this meal. Every time Denton and I eat at Olive Garden I get the Chicken and Gnocchi soup and this is very similar. It has a creamy base with wilted spinach and warmed tomatoes topped with garlicky buttered panko breadcrumbs, which I love. If you’ve ever tried my version of Shrimp Scampi with Orecchiette, the topping is very similar and I think it makes the dish. This is the same for me.

Just like the first meal, the directions were pretty simple and straightforward. It took around 20 minutes just like it said. I only used one pan and one pot, so cleanup was easy. I will definitely make this again. I will say that this meal wasn’t as stick to your ribs as the couscous one was, but it was very filling. I just wanted a snack about 9:00 PM. 😀

My Final Thoughts

Our first weeks meals broke down to $5.28 per person, per meal. Cheaper than McDonald’s for our crew and much, much tastier. So far, I am very glad that I am trying this experiment. Our meals get delivered on Saturday evening, so I will continue next week just like I did this one and cook the meals on Sunday and Monday. Another perk about cooking this way, is that I’m not responsible for meal planning two of our meals and I really love that.

Next week, we are having Crunchy Curried Chickpea Bowls for our veggie meal and I chose Beef and Veggie Bibimbap for our second meal. I can’t wait, and I’ll be sure to let you know all about it.

If you would like to try Hello Fresh for yourself, you can use this link to get $100.00 off. This will also give me $10.00 off too, so thanks in advance!

Have you tried Hello Fresh? What did you think? Did you find the value in the food or the learning experience? I need all the details, and if you have a favorite meal from them, I would love to try that too!