“Hey,” Kim said one day last week as she was leaving for work. “There’s a package coming today from one of the doctors I work with. To thank all of his hygienists, he’s sending us a trial of HelloFresh.”
“What’s HelloFresh?” I asked.
“It’s a meal delivery service,” Kim said. “Anyhow, it’d be great if you could bring in the package and put the food in the fridge. And it’d be even greater if you made one of the meals for dinner!”
I kissed her good-bye, then promptly forgot what she had told me. (This is par for the course.)
How Does HelloFresh Work?
That afternoon when I returned from walking the dog, a package from HelloFresh was waiting on the porch. I took it inside to open it. The box contained three brown paper sacks, each with a different meal from HelloFresh.
“Oh yeah,” I thought. “I’m supposed to make dinner from one of these. I wonder what they are.”
I opened the bag labeled Pineapple Poblano Beef Tacos. Inside was an illustrated recipe card and a set of pre-measured ingredients. “Seems simple enough,” I said to the dog. Tahleuqah just looked at me as if I were supposed to feed her. That dog is always ready for food.
When Kim got home from work, I made the tacos. They were amazing. I’m not joking. They were delicious. (The dog agrees.) “You know, I should have taken photos along the way,” I told Kim. “I should write about this at Get Rich Slowly.
“Well, you could always make dinner for us again tomorrow night,” she said. So I did. And this time, I did take pictures.
For round two, the dog and I prepared Sweet-as-Honey Chicken. Here’s the bag and recipe card:
Here are the ingredients from inside the bag and the other side of the recipe card (with actual instructions):
Here’s some of my meal prep:
And here’s the final product:
“You know what my favorite part of this is?” Kim asked as I served her dinner. “It’s that you can use the paper sack to dispose of your trash while you prep the meal.” (I’m kind of messy in the kitchen.) The dog looked hurt. She’s always happy to help us dispose of kitchen trash.
While not quite as delicious as the tacos, the chicken was still very good. And simple. (The HelloFresh recipe cards estimate 20-30 minutes of prep time; for me, that was more like 30-45 minutes. But then I’m always slow in the kitchen.)
How Much Does HelloFresh Cost?
“How much did this cost?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “The doctor paid for it. But I think it’s something like $20 per meal. So, since he sent us three meals, that’s about $60 for the week.”
“That seems expensive,” I said. “I should research the numbers.” So, like a good money nerd, that’s exactly what I did.