Hello Fresh! (Review and Giveaway!)

Have you heard of Hello Fresh? If you are a sub box junkie, you probably have, but if you have yet to join the subscription box craze sweeping the land lately, you should listen up. How about fresh ingredients and recipes for three meals delivered to your door weekly? All you have to do is follow a few steps and dinner is done in less then 30 minutes. No shopping, no planning, no super skills required. There is a Classic box for omnivores and a Veggie box for herbivores. We tried one of each. The branding is cute (and I'm a sucker for cute branding), and the food arrives nicely organized and cooled by a very funky cooler box. Yes, we kept the cooler box, and the reusable freezer packs inside (hey, I'm thrifty!).

Each box includes labeled bags of ingredients for each meal, and a colorful recipe card with step by step instructions for preparing each meal.

 As soon as I open my box, I pile the ingredients for each meal together and pull out anything that won't need refrigeration. Shelf space in my fridge is prime real estate, so I don't shove anything in there unnecessarily. Anything that needs to be cold goes into a large pasta bowl (one for each meal), and I slide them into the fridge in order of how I will cook them. The recipe cards are clipped to the side of my fridge with a magnet, and everything else goes into the pantry at eye level in a little pile. OCD? Perhaps. 

Then the fun part, getting cooking. The recipes are very simple, and none take more than 30 minutes, so they are perfect weeknight fare. However, if you are clueless in the kitchen, read carefully. I have noticed that a few of the cards missed small details in the instructions. For example, a chicken meatball dish required cooking chopped scallions and setting them aside, but then they never reappeared in the instructions. The photo of the finished dish on the card actually showed raw scallions as a garnish. I ended up folding my cooked scallions in to the meatballs, so no big deal, but again, if you aren't someone who normally cooks, it could mix you up.

That said, I am not sure advanced cooks would be head over heels for the recipes either. They are healthy, simple recipes, nothing that will stretch your culinary imagination. The Asian Sloppy Joe sauce was simply tomato and soy sauce. I added shredded carrot and zucchini to the onion and garlic included in the box to kick up the veggie component. In the end is was delicious, and Jude scarfed down two huge servings.

All in all, I believe that the best customer for this company is a busy family that is interested in trying something aside from the typical meat and potatoes Americana for dinner, but who isn't so advanced in culinary feats that they'd be bored by fresh ginger and soy. It is amazing if you are short on time, and need something healthy and new.

Sooo, is that you? If so, and you are interested in trying out a Hello Fresh delivery, I have a giveaway for you! I have one Hello Fresh Gift Card worth $25 to get you started!

You may earn up to 4 entries for this giveaway:

1 Entry for leaving a comment on this post, just tell me why you'd like to try Hello Fresh!

1 Entry for liking Jojobean Designs on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/jojobeandesigns

1 Entry for Following Jojobean26 on twitter and tweeting about this giveaway.

1 Entry for following this blog via GFC.

Please leave a comment for each of the above!

Thanks and good luck!