A couple of months ago, I decided to start Hello Fresh, which is a company that will send every ingredient (except for things like oil, butter, salt, and sugar) for a recipe in refrigerated, recyclable, mostly paper packaging and includes a step-by-step preparation card. You tell them how many meals you want and each week, by default, will choose two in your general type of meal (I have the vegetarian option,) but if you don’t like the looks of them and/or would prefer something else, they offer about 50 other options to choose from. I have mine set for 2 per week but if they offer a 3rd meal for half or more off, I will sometimes choose an extra one. Each meal is for 2 people but a 4-person option is also available. Several times there has been way too much to eat, but many times their two servings equal my one serving.
I’ve been holding off on making this one for about a week, just because I like to tease myself. I knew this was going to be delicious and I was right. It was simple to put together, as most of them are.
After 8 or so weeks of 2-3 meal kits delivered per week, I feel fairly confident in assessing the quality of the ingredients. Almost 100% of the time the ingredients have been quality. One time a package of mushrooms was rotten. With today’s recipe the eggs they sent had cloudy whites which may be due to them getting frozen and thawed? I didn’t take a chance and tossed them and used 2 from my fridge.
Without exception the completed meals have been delicious. There are creative flavor combinations that I’ve never tried. The ingredients many times are things you already have on hand but never thought to combine in a certain way. One thing I really like about the kits is that there is just enough of each ingredient so there is no wasting food. How many times have you bought something you only need a smidge of for a recipe and the rest ends up sitting on a shelf gathering dust or in the fridge developing mold?
I’m saving all of the cards and have used one of them already to repeat a particularly delicious recipe. The down side of these recipes is that they are often laden with salt and oil, which is not healthy!
Another down side of these meals is the cost. I learned to watch any “add-on” price for my choices. The basic cost is about $12/meal (but they send 2 servings, which makes it $25) but if you pick something with an add-on of, for example $7.99/serving, you will be charged an extra $16 beyond the $25, or $41 ($20/serving!) Just a heads-up for anyone thinking of trying it. The longer you keep ordering meals the greater the discounts. You can also skip weeks, and I think you can freeze your account if you want. There are no contracts and you can quit at any time.
I originally started this because I was getting tired of the same old meals all of the time and tired of sifting through recipes to buy ingredients for new things and decided to give myself a break. Hello Fresh has certainly done that for me. Right now I think I’ll freeze my account for awhile and re-make some of the recipes I’ve gathered and enjoyed over this last couple of months.
FYI, as always, this is not a post where I get any kickback from the product.
Tao Talk 
This kind of delivery service comes in handy, Lisa. It seems to be reasonably priced. It’s also good you want to repeat some recipes. My daughter subscribed to vegetables plus salmon for a while. She stopped now because they use more of some vegetables and less or no use of some.
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I understand that aspect also. Lots of potatoes, green onions, and carrots, along with lemons and limes.
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the food sounds delish! We don’t have many options like that where I live! I wish we did! <3
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It’s a nice novelty that is starting to wear off.
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Lisa, I used to get Hello Fresh! I loved it and have lots of recipe cards accumulated that I have used again. Of course, the cards often don’t have exact quantities but I can wing it. I’ve also learned a couple simple cooking techniques from them, which is nice. Now I get Cook Unity because the meals are already made, they are 2.5 minutes in the microwave, and I’m good to go. I’ve had a lot more going on in the past year (work etc), so this has been really helpful. But again I have to avoid the meals with the add-on charges or it gets too expensive. What exactly is a Dutch Baby?
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One thing I’ve learned is that everything involves a frying pan at some point, and the heat is always medium-high lol. I’m trying to be funny but it’s true with the recipes. I did learn about putting the oven rack at the top when making carrot or regular fries. The Dutch Baby is like a pancake where you turn the oven on to 425F, add a TBL of butter in a cast iron pan and put it in the oven to heat up the pan and melt the butter, pull pan out and pour what’s basically a pancake batter with ricotta mixed in and a couple of eggs, put that in to bake for 20 min or so. While that’s baking you put butter, dice pears, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium pan at … you guessed it … medium high and cover pan and let pears soften, then add water and a little sugar to make a syrup. Set that aside. Then mix creme fraiche and maple syrup together for a topping. Pull out “pancake” from oven, put pear syrup mixture on it, sprinkle pecans, and add maple creme fraiche last.
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Oh yum!!! That whole frying pan with the kosher salt on the chicken breasts thing was actually new to me. I am not to making meat in a frying pan, so the idea that it was so easy to make tasty chicken breasts as a base for a meal was a light bulb hahaha. I pound them first though as I need chicken to be softer.
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I’d like to find one that is totally vegan but still tasty and not too expensive.
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I think there is one that I thought I was ordering when I first ordered Cook Unity. But I can’t remember name . . . .
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Let me know if you remember it!
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That Lemon-Ricotta Dutch Baby certainly does look yummy! :-)
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It was! Never thought of baking a pancake but it worked really well in the cast iron skillet. It was actually more like a crepe.
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I’ve seen lots of ads for Hello Fresh, Lisa, and my daughter may be a subscriber (or to another similar product). I love the idea, and it’s great to hear that the food is tasty. That desert looks delish! For me, since I have the time to shop and cook, it would be a costly splurge. For my working daughter, it’s a godsend. Thanks for sharing your experience. :-D
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Costly splurge is an excellent descriptor for it :)
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:-)
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That does look delicious. I myself like to pick out my ingredients, and it’s relaxing for me to cook. Of course I can walk to many grocery stores, fruit stands, and there’s the farmer’s market on Sundays, so it’s all very convenient. And my daughters and I share ingredients if one of us has too much, not to mention exchanging the things we cook so we don’t eat the same thing all week. But I can see the appeal of this, and it’s good to know that the results really are good to eat! (K)
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So cool with the ingredient sharing with your daughters. It is nice that you are close to the farmer’s market. When I lived in town it was a short bike ride away.
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We also tried this and “Dinnerly” When in America. Both are good. The thing i likes best was that they send the ingredients in the right amount/ quantity so there’s no wastage.
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It seems delish! They always send the advertisement of their product to my home, I always throw the fliers away. Next time I’ll pay more attention.
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Oh it is tasty alright. There are pros and cons to it, but I’m enjoying the experience.
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You don’t have to sell me…we did it for around 3 months…Jen was laid off but as soon as she gets something again..we will probably start it back up. I looked forward to them constantly…there were dishes we never tried before….she has tried some other deals like this …but this one is the best we found.
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Max, happy you know what I’m talking about. Hope you get to enjoy them again.
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“Dutch baby” sounds like a recipe Jonathan Swift would write.
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Carried to him for breakfast by Lilliputians?
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I think this service is good to kick people off and remove the fright of trying something new. Glad it works for you!
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Dale, good way of putting it. I learn something with every recipe and it has expanded my cooking knowledge, of foods and techniques. And how wonderful chickpeas can be in things :)
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That’s how I became so adventurous. I started first by following recipes and now, I totally wing it ;-) Chickpeas go with so many things!
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I know by your fb pics that you’re a helluva cook.
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I won’t play coy as I know I’m a good cook ;-) I only started when I moved out at 21. Time and practice with a love of food and cooking did the rest.
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