Two months with HelloFresh: A quick look at the cost and quality of HelloFresh recipes
When I published my first HelloFresh review last June, I liked the popular meal-delivery service. Kim’s employer had given us a one-week free trial. The three recipes we received were fun and tasty. In the end, we chose not to sign up with HelloFresh but resolved to remember it for the future.
At the end of 2018, as I was evaluating my spending patterns, I was shocked by how much I was spending on food. It’s embarrassing to show the following numbers, but facts are facts and truth is truth. I was spending over $1100 per month on food.
“Something needs to change,” I told Kim. “Maybe we should try HelloFresh again to see if it can help us cut costs.”
“Do you think so?” Kim siad. “Isn’t HelloFresh kind of expensive?”
“It’s not that bad,” I said. “Besides, if having meals delivered can keep us from dining out so often, and if it can keep me from splurging at the grocery store, it might actually save us money.”
I signed us up.
For two months — January and February — we received three HelloFresh recipes each week. Based on our experience, here’s a new, revised review of HelloFresh.
How Much Does HelloFresh Cost?
Because I’m a nerd, I kept stats on our HelloFresh experience. I tracked the recipes we received, how much time it took to prepare them, and whether or not we thought the food was good.
Over these two months (about seven weeks), we tried 21 different HelloFresh recipes. Of these, only two were lousy (both tacos). A few were great. Most were good, and we’d happily eat them again. In fact, we’re saving the recipe cards so that we can try to duplicate the recipes on our own (and compare costs buying ingredients from the grocery store).
Here’s a complete list of the HelloFresh recipes we tried (with links to the recipes themselves).
- 09 Jan 2019 — Seared Sirloin Steak and Shallot Demi-Glace with caramelized onion mashed potatoes and green salad (A) — This is one of the expensive meals. It was good.
- 10 Jan 2019 — Chicken Cutlets with Scallion Sriracha Pesto over cilantro rice with ginger soy carrots (B-) — 20-minute meal. A good idea but didn’t come out well.
- 14 Jan 2019 — Figgy Balsamic Pork with roasted green beans and rosemary potatoes (B+) — Hall of fame. Pretty good, even the green beans (which I don’t usually like).
- 16 Jan 2019 —Lauren Conrad’s Chicken Tacos with radish tomato pico de gallo and avocado (D) — The only truly bad recipe of the entire bunch. Neither of us liked this.
- 17 Jan 2019 — Pasta Parmesan with zucchini, tuscan herbs, and marinara sauce (B) — A good idea but needs meat.
- 20 Jan 2019 — Sweet ‘n’ Smoky Pork Chops with apple carrot slaw, mashed potatoes, and cherry sauce (A-) — Hall of fame. Tasty.
- 23 Jan 2019 — Pork and Poblano Tacos with kiwi salsa and lime crema (B) — Hall of fame. Not bad but beginning to think Hello Fresh tacos are never going to knock it out of the park.
- 24 Jan 2019 — Salsa Verde Enchiladas with poblano pepper, black beans, and monterey jack cheese (B+) — 20-minute meal. Not nearly enough cheese. Also added chicken, which helped. Tomato was bad.
- 25 Jan 2019 — Shrimp Spaghetti with a Kick with garlic herb butter and zucchini (A-) — Great flavor but could have used more veggies.
- 30 Jan 2019 — Creamy Tuscan Beef and Penne with kale and permesan (A) — Delicious and plentiful. One of the best so far.
- 31 Jan 2019 — Chicken Pineapple Quesadillas with pico de gallo and southwest spice (A- with caveats) — Did not ship with required tomato. Way too much filling — could have used two more tortillas.
- 01 Feb 2019 — Pork Bulgogi Meatballs with carrots and zucchini over rice (A-) — Tasty and different.
- 06 Feb 2019 — Pineapple Poblano Beef Tacos with lime crema and cilantro (A) — 20-minute meal. This is very good and we’d eat it all the time.
- 07 Feb 2019 — Korean-style Chicken Thighs with sesame cucumber salad and jasmine rice (A) — Another delicious meal we’d never have tried otherwise.
- 09 Feb 2019 — Sirloin Steak Provençal with truffle cream, roasted carrots, and potatoes (A-) — Deluxe gourmet meal. A little salty but otherwise very good.
- 13 Feb 2019 — Crispy Southwest Chicken Cutlets with monterey jack, mashed potatoes, and roasted poblano and onion (A+) — Holy cats! This was amazing. We will absolutely be attempting this on our own.
- 15 Feb 2019 — Balsamic-and-Fig Beef Tenderloin with garlic mashed potatoes and rosemary breadcrumb brussels sprouts (A-) — Deluxe gourmet recipe. Very good.
- 16 Feb 2019 — Cherry Balsamic Pork Chops with garlic herb couscous and roasted broccoli (B) — Hall of fame. Not bad but the sauce never thickened up.
- 21 Feb 2019 — Chipotle-Spiced Tilapia Tacos with kiwi pico de gallo and chipotle crema (C-) — Another crappy taco recipe. Not sure why they can’t get tacos right.
- 25 Feb 2019 — Cheesy Chicken Shepherd’s Pie with peas and carrot (B) — Not bad but could use more chicken. Also, the single supplied small carrot was rubbery.
- 26 Feb 2019 — Shake It Up! Pork Cutlets with garlic bread and an apple and sunflower seed salad (B+) — Tasty but not super.
After preparing 21 meals from HelloFresh, Kim and I have some definite opinions about the service.
First — and perhaps most importantly — the food is generally good, if not always great. We’ve saved the recipe cards and plan to make many of them again on our own.
Only one of the recipes was truly awful (Lauren Conrad’s chicken tacos) and another was meh. We’d eat everything else again. Also: Aside from the pineapple poblano beef tacos, the Hello Fresh taco recipes just aren’t very good, which was disappointing. Kim and I like tacos, but not most of these.
Second, the HelloFresh recipes provide clear instructions, even if the prop times are a bit optimistic. In 21 recipes, there were only two or three occasions where the instructions were unclear. That’s a good success rate.
Each recipe lists a prep time and a total time. Realistically speaking, you can simply ignore the prep time. Almost all of it is prep time. (Talking with other HelloFresh users, they back me up on this.) So, if it says 10 minutes prep time and 20 minutes total time, just count on working in the kitchen for that entire 20 minutes.
Third, the gourmet meals aren’t always worth the extra price. Each week, you can choose to upgrade to certain deluxe meals. Doing so costs an extra $12 to $16. These deluxe meals are good, but from our experience they’re no better than the less-expensive normal meals.
The Bottom Line
The real question is: Did signing up for HelloFresh help me meet my goal? Was I able to reduce my monthly food spending? I’m pleased to report that the answer is a resounding YES!
As you can see from the following report, I spent just over $700 per month on food during January and February.
I find it interesting that if you combine my HelloFresh and grocery expenses for the past couple of months, the total is roughly the same as what I was spending for groceries alone before. Where HelloFresh really helped was with our restaurant spending.
The objective numbers reflect our subjective experience, too.
Because the HelloFresh recipes produce higher-quality food than we usually make on our own, we were far less tempted to dine out. When we did eat out, it’s because we were doing something special, not because we were being lazy or unexcited about the food we had at home.
During the past seven weeks, I paid a total of $323.52 to Hello Fresh. This includes three discounted weeks during the trial period, plus three weeks during which I paid extra ($11.98 or $15.98, depending) for special meals.
This averages out to $46.22 per week for six meals (three meals each for two people), or about $7.70 per meal per person. Kim and I feel like this cost was worth it. We like the convenience, the clear instructions, and the general quality of the meals.
Having said that, things weren’t perfect. Some recipes were better than others. There were problems with the produce. It sucks to get halfway through a recipe and realize that HelloFresh didn’t send you the required tomato. Or that the carrot is made of rubber. Or that there’s way too much filling for two quesadillas.
In the end, Kim and I both agree that we’d like to resume our HelloFresh experiment in the future. Right now, though, Kim is going on a special diet in preparation for knee surgery. I’m going to reduce my calorie intake so that I can get un-fat. We’ll have to bring this round of the experiment to a close.
I’m curious to see how my grocery spending will change during the next month or two. For the next month, my food bill should reflect only my consumption. During normal months, there’s a lot of cross-over, I think. I buy stuff for both of us, and so does she. But my food numbers for March should reflect me and me alone.
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There are 60 comments to "Two months with HelloFresh: A quick look at the cost and quality of HelloFresh recipes".
This is the kind of review I love to see. It really makes me think about how to potentially cut down my food spending.
One of our bigger reasons for going out to eat is when my husband is working from home during the week, and he gets cabin fever badly if he stays in the house for 24 hours straight. Hello Fresh doesn’t really solve that problem, so I’m not sure it’s the best solution right now. That said, in a year or two when I’ve finished my degree and gone back to work (and have less time to cook meals at home) we might find ourselves going out to eat more due to a lack of time, and I can really see a solution like this cutting down on our costs.
Nice JD. I’ve commented on your food spending and how meal planning makes a difference (to us), but I’d never tried one of the services. I decided to give it a shot! We did 3 weeks of Hello Fresh (discounted period, 3 meals/week) and then decided to try Blue Apron for their discounted period (we did 2 off weeks between) but only 2 meals/week. I have enjoyed almost all of the recipes with a few exceptions — very similar to you. For us, it didn’t reduce our food bill as it hasn’t changed our dining out, but I think I have less food waste.
I could see us doing this periodically and I’d probably choose Hello Fresh over Blue Apron at this point. I read on someone’s blog that they almost always order a food prep box for when they return from vacation to get back in the habit of cooking, but w/o the bother of shopping/planning. I think that’s a great idea too.
Did you have to call Hello Fresh to stop the deliveries? Seems like you can’t do that in the app (unless you just “skip” each week, once a week).
Hey, Eileen. I didn’t use the HelloFresh app at all, so can’t comment on that. All of my interaction with the company has been via the website. It was easy to cancel HelloFresh from there. (I hate the phone, so I’m never going to call to cancel…unless I have to.)
Good to know. I stepped thru the “Account Settings” on the app and when it got to “cancel” it gave me a number. So for about 5 weeks I’ve just been “skipping” each week (clearly I hate the phone too). Will give the website a try. Thanks.
I have been using Hello Fresh for about 3 months. I have 3 college aged sons living home, so basically 5 adults. This has saved us a ton of $ not eating out. The recipes aren’t rocket science and doing it from scratch might be a but cheaper. BUT…I save a ton of time not meal planning, prepping or going to the grocery store. I don’t throw away leftovers, and my husband or kids will cook because it is so easy. So for us, at this stage of our lives, it is working well. Rarely are 5 of us home at the same time so the portions work.
Just curious, did the food arrive once a week or day by day? Is there a delivery person that you have to tip too?
They arrive all at once shipped via UPS/Fedex (can’t remember carrier). I found that hard to get used to as they arrive midweek.
I think it depends on when/how you set it up. Our Hello Fresh box always arrived on Monday. Our Blue Apron arrives on Wednesday (we only do 2 meals with them, so that’s fine — I’m on autopilot after Tuesday because BA provides Wed/Thu meals and we go out on Friday).
All of your food for the week comes in a single package delivered by…UPS? USPS? I’m not sure.
Am I odd that I find weird that people budget eating out as “food” and not “entertainment”?
Yes, yes, one “eats,” but nutritionally, it’s an awful bang for the buck, and not even convenient due to the time it takes up. Really should not be a source for macronutrients unless you’re on an expense account. No?
I see eating out more as a spectacle than anything else. Like going to the theater, or a sports game, to be wowed by something. Otherwise, not worth the money.
No?
In my budget eating out is its own category. It’s not entertainment or food. In fact I have “lunch” and “eating out”. I often eat out for lunch, but it’s just for me as an individual. “Eating out” is when my whole family goes out.
I agree that it’s not the same thing. A restaurant meal is 3-4x the price of raw food. The only place I can see it crossing over is if you’re looking at pre-prepared food. I usually consider a Costco chicken or similar hot food at still groceries.
Right! We cook lunch on the weekend and then brownbag/eat at home, but I keep something like $20 for when caught on the road and need a cheeseburger. Labeled “street food”. Rarely gets used but it’s there.
I meant “entertainment” in the general sense that it’s something one does for fun (“the whole family goes out”) rather than to fill the need for nutritious meals, so, in that sense, yes, not a grocery substitute, but a party situation.
I actually work restaurant expenses into “travel,” which is when we get away for the weekend and go somewhere we *really* like, because all the restaurants in my area taste of disappointment, and I feel robbed, thinking how I could have made something much better at home for a fraction of the price, haaa haaa haaa.
Maybe I should categorize restaurants as entertainment. I choose to label them as “food” though because that’s what they replace. If I weren’t in a restaurant, I’d be eating at home…
It’s a substitution, yes, but to me it’s kind of like going to a hotel for the weekend and counting it as housing expenses.
But… this is why I feel I’m maybe out of step with the population. People are eating out more than ever, so maybe that’s what “food” is for many. I just can’t do it, ha ha ha. I’m old school! (Old man yells at cloud).
I am with you, I always count eating out as an entertainment, and a special occasion/meaning. Between the money spent on it and obscene amount of calories consumed, I am not surprised eating out is “eating into” people’s potential savings and waistlines.
I also categorize eating out as entertainment rather than food.
Me too. You are comparing apples with oranges. Hello Fresh is for the families Havetoomuch and Muchtoospend as far as I am concerned. If possible take your bike and do your own shopping. That save you even more money.
If you are looking exclusively at this in the sense of a sit-down full meal, ok, maybe you could make a “luxury food/dining = entertainment” case, sure. But “McDonalds drive-thru instead of starting cooking at 7 pm because tonight was kids’ gymnastics night” does not fit that definition; should I make a new category of convenience? Seems over the top.
Well, the over the top (or not) depends on what you want to control, and therefore measure. How much granularity you want to apply to your budget is up to you.
J.D.’s motto here was/is “do what works for you” and that still applies.
A street food budget (not “dining out”) was important to me in the past, for three reasons 1) obvious cost control, 2) it’s a marker for chaos (it’s how we coped with being overwhelmed), 3) “health” or whatever
Creating a new line item in my budget takes negligible effort. Sending each new transaction to its line item just takes the tap of a thumb if it wasn’t automated already. So that isn’t a problem in itself. Does not take more brain power.
The real problem was being overwhelmed and having to go buy street food, exhausted, then surprise, pants don’t fit anymore, ouch.
So we looked at the problem, reduced the friction points in the schedules, and then bought “emergency foods” at the supermarket for those inevitable days, and things we can take on the road with us. Again doing what works for you etc., because everyone eats different.
Nowadays our street food budget is negligible. We have $20 funding on it that awaits the next cheeseburger, but we rarely need to touch it because we either have fewer emergencies or better supplies to cope with them.
We just wanted more control, and we got it, and have a lot less stress as a result, and a little more money available for other things, therefore: PROFIT.
I have categories that are “groceries”, “dining out”, “entertainment”. Entertainment includes our theater, sports, concert tickets. If we buy food or drink/booze AT one of those events, I include that in Entertainment (because it’s ridiculously expensive but becomes part of the “entertainment” event).
I generally record in categories so I can look at any given one and determine if it’s a need or want and quickly see how much we could cut back if we wanted/needed.
The one thing that I will forever be thankful for is my mother teaching me how to cook and I do mean cook. I have taken it to the next level in actually pushing the cooking into the chef level as a hobby. My wife loves that I cook as she not so much. I have over the past 25 year hosted Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinners for the whole family and one of them was for 24 people. This can be very intimidating to some.
If you are not into cooking like I am hello fresh sounds a good alternative. For me it it would not be good. I make dinners and things that appeal to my tastes and it is a creative outlet along with something I love to do. Plus my pallet for food is not exotic. However I know when something is more cost effective as carry out or eating out. I don’t go out to a meal I know I can make at home myself. An example would be going out to breakfast for bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast.
Both my son’s know how to cook from Boy Scouts and one cooked for a whole year and a half on his own in college. So I know that they will follow in the foot steps of me.
Good move with Hello Fresh. I think cooking more good food will help improve your cooking skill. Once you have the basics down, then you can just look for recipes on YouTube. That’s a great resource.
Hopefully, you’ll be able to keep the food bill down in March. Good luck!
After the basics I would recommend a Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen cookbook before the internet. The reason I say this is because ATK does A LOT of legwork to develop bullet proof recipes that appeal to the highest number of people. If you read their recipe development you will develop the skills needed to read a recipe and tell if it’s within your skill level and if it’s something you would like to eat.
As I was learning to cook one of the most frustrating things I found was how many recipes I just didn’t like. But I didn’t realize it until it was on the table. That’s fine now since I only use the occasional new recipe outside my comfort zone (and my comfort zone is bigger so I’m more likely to find something I will like). But it’s discouraging when it’s all the time.
I think what some of us frugality snobs fail to take into account is that many people don’t have the skill or desire to learn to plan out meals or cook. The long term solution is to build these skills just like any other. But Hello Fresh can definitely fill a gap that exists for people willing to put in the time, but unable to for some reason.
It actually takes an amazing amount of skill to be able to read a recipe and know if it’s something you (and your family) are likely to find tasty. And if it’s close but not quite there what do you do to fix it? (aside: that’s why I love Cooks Illustrated. If it’s not exactly what I like I can often go backward through their development steps and adjust easily)
Frugality with food takes a lot of time, both long term (learning to cook and building a set of recipes you love) and short term (planning and shopping). If you just don’t have the time to invest something like Hello Fresh can be a great stop gap.
Yeah there are definitely barriers to cooking. I can cook, and I like it, but there’s also the time and energy that it takes to plan, shop, prep, cook, clean, etc.
Plus there’s the cost of real estate & maintenance, appliances & repairs, utensils, non-edible supplies, utilities, etc. Cooking can be a pain and get out of control and leave you exhausted.
For this reason I’ve actually given Soylent a serious look. Drink all your nutrients for the day from a bottle? Yes please! In theory anyway…
Unfortunately the formula is not quite there yet, people have experienced negative effects, the taste is reportedly awful, and maybe there is no possible single formula, as everyone is different, nutritional needs vary by day and by season, and we face different challenges as time goes on.
So… no Soylent for me. For now.
So instead for now we batch-cook our rations in the weekend, and the InstaPot or whatever multicooker is out there is great tool for that.
Potatoes pressure-cooked in 10 minutes… a beef stew done in 25 minutes… beans cooked in 25 minutes plus slow release… lentils in 2 minutes + slow pressure release… a dozen eggs hardboiled in 5 minutes or less… yeah. Almost too easy! Haaaa haaa haaaa. We do it all on Sunday and make a party of it, with drinks, music, and hilarity.
Instead of cooking complicated recipes we do basic building blocks that are easy to control, mix & match, you get the idea. E.g., a steamed potato of a bowl of rice or a cup of beans can be seasoned in 100o easy ways.
But yes, it’s a skill, it takes time, and knowledge, and there might not be a comparative advantage anyway for some people, e.g., a wealthy rock star is better off looking after their band business and hiring a private chef.
I have held off on an Instant Pot, but I suspect that might change at some point. We have just enough space in our pantry for the small appliances we use and I don’t want it sitting on the counter. I’m sure we could figure the storage out though.
One day…
I keep mine next to the microwave. It’s a bit bulky, yes. But it’s the new kitchen star no doubt. Got the Costco version.
I waited out the hype too. Now it’s gotten to the point where I could get rid of my stove and oven.
I make everything in it. I even made a flan in it the other day (sauteed to make the caramel, then switched to slow cook mode after pouring the custard). Yep, didnt even use a container on the trivet—just BLAM direct low fire.
The only shortcoming is I can’t fit a whole picnic roast into the 6qt. version… I think…
Hmmm… maybe if I saw off the bone…. gonna have to check next weekend. WHO WANTS PULLED PORK?
(I want pulled pork.)
Man. I was googling you an instapot pulled pork recipe and the cooking blogs are so damn… talky. We should do a streamlined, no-bs, macronutriend oriented, money-saving cooking blog. Just barebones text. Calories, macros, and cost per portion. Like a note.
No! The pressure cooker is nice. But if you’re pulling pork it’s gotta be smoked! (Unless you’re making carne adovada. I might forgive you for carne.)
See, this nouveau food hipsterism is why people feel discouraged to cook.
Smoked paprika or liquid smoke will give you great taste without having to sweat over a barbecue pit for hours.or
Get cookin already! No excuses…
https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/11/pantry-essentials-liquid-smoke.html
Our microwave is under counter (not the fancy drawer kind…maybe one day) but in a specific opening. We renovated our kitchen completely last year due a leaking dishwasher that did some damage. We doubled the budget from the insurance coverage and updated our 1978 kitchen to the one of our dreams. We have FAR more usable counter space now, but I’m really militant when it comes to NOT filling it up. We’ve got a toaster oven on the counter and that’s about it.
I think if we got an instant pot, I’d be able to get rid of my rice cooker, so perhaps we can swap out that space in our pantry (which is also new to our kitchen, so I want to keep things behind the door if possible).
I’m sad for you that you think that.
You pity my love of smoked paprika?? Why??
Smoked paprika is fine. The fact that you think smoking a shoulder can be replaced with it is just…I have no words. Poor you.
LOL!
We’re talking about home cooking here, not road trips to Memphis.
Enjoy tending to your barbecue pit this weekend I guess…
With the tight equipment it isnt a big deal at all.
Not interested in either new equipment or virtue signals.
Weren’t you just talking about how great America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated are?
Well here you go then:
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/videos/421-indoor-pulled-pork-with-sweet-and-tangy-barbecue-sauce
Feel free to give them your pity.
LOL!
What virtue is being signaled?
Smoked pork is infinitely easy for me bc I get a division by zero error: DH does outside cooking.
We also do a lot of smoking in summer bc we dont have AC (in NM). And did I mention I pawn off the labor onto my meat loving husband?
Our smoker is amazing. DH loves experimenting with it and it has saved us money bc it’s so darned easy to use and clean up.
Food remains as one of my biggest frustrations with respect to how much of our budget it consumes. For two of us we spend on average $1,700 a month on groceries and meals out. When I see the fire community feeding families of 5 or 6 on less than $500 a month I’m left scratching my head.
We live in the Dallas Texas area so one of the more expensive locations. We shop at Tom Thumb and Kroger which are not cheap. I took over the grocery shopping when I retired just to see if I could lower our spend (because my dear wife HAD to be doing something wrong to spend that much 😛 ). I buy mostly things that are on sale and do use some coupons. But alas after 6 months – I have reduced our grocery spend from dear wife by only $100-$200 a month. It is an improvement but only a very small one.
One area where I know that we could save is on meals out. We eat or order out about once per week and at least twice a month our meals out includes kids (and often their friends). It is not unusual to have 8 or more at a meal out where we pick up the bill. On these trips we will have a few drinks – but most of our kids and their friends don’t drink alcohol. Our meals out are always in the $100-$200 range so meals out for the month will average $500.
I have shopped Aldi’s a few times – and HATED it. The one near us is a mess. We are eating more fresh and less packaged food but I cannot get our bill below $1,200 EVER.
Thanks for hearing my vent/frustration. I’m not willing to give up treating family to meals out so I guess I need to just accept this as a fact and move on…
It seems like you really need to separate the dining out and groceries and decide which one is the one you want to reduce. If you are spending $500 plus on dining out, then it’s no shock that your total “food” bill is over $1000 if you’ve got children.
If you are doing takeout/dining out once a week with just your family, then adding 2 add’l dining out with family+ and that totals $500 — you are talking about $500 for 6-8 meals. You are feeding your entire family for 22-24 days for nearly the same amount of money!
If the dining out is important, so be it. I’d suggest ditching the $200 meals out and ordering some pizzas for the kids + friends. 🙂
We do have separate budget categories for Food, Food-out and Entertainment. Agree with an early comment in that we too budget food/drink while at movies, concerts, sporting events as entertainment but food purchase when the primary purpose of the outing was lunch or diner as “food-out”. Our kids are all in their mid to late 20s so we have eaten a life time of pizzas. We will still eat pizza from time to time – eating out, home delivery and even home made but the kids are more into the adult meals these days.
This part of my budget is the most frustrating because it just seems like it should cost less but never does. One additional note – that just shows the silliness of my frustration…my wife and I tend to be good tippers – now more than ever. We want to share some of our good fortune with those who may need it more than us.
What is your food waste like? When my husband cooks I find we get a lot of food waste because he isn’t sizing the meals appropriately and he doesn’t have a plan for leftovers.
I have some ideas of what your possible issues could be. But if you could be more specific with your numbers people around here would be willing to help. I bet J.D. would be willing to turn it into an “ask the reader” post. We just need more details.
One area that I think we are doing much better in the past year is food waste – in two ways. We make much less and we do a better job of eating the left overs. I will also eat things that are older than my DW will. The day the “best buy” date hits the DW has no interest in eating it where I have no issue with 5 days past in most instances.
I do appreciate your and Eileen’s comments. If this was life-or-death I’m sure we could get it under control or reduce it below what I consider to be a silly amount. To spend in the neighborhood of $20K a year on food just sounds (and feels) horrible and embarassing.
I am in the same camp of spending more than I want to on food. But really the question comes down to if you could eat just as well as you do now if you adjusted your system.
My DH isn’t as into money and FI as I am, so a lot of my tradeoffs have to be straight across trades for him with no reduction in perceived quality. That’s especially true of food. So I am very conscious of the frustration you are facing. And I found that even the things I couldn’t change, once I knew where they were coming from, I felt a lot better.
Amen S.G….It reminds me of a conversation I have often with my 84 year old mother who doesn’t like to pay taxes (hey-who does 🙂 ). She says “I don’t understand” and my reply is “you understand, you just don’t like it”. Now I have to look in the mirror and tell myself – you DO understand it…you just don’t LIKE it. lol
I hear you. Dining out has been more “spend too much” from the time I got a job. We NEVER ate out in my childhood (literally never), so it’s always been a thing I’ve enjoyed (in addition to the not cooking and not cleaning up).
Our kids (also in 20s) would not go for pizza all the time either (didn’t realize they were older). That DOES make for a more expensive outing. One of ours lives out of state and the other has JUST moved out on his own, so we’re not feeding them very often these days.
Once our kids got done with games and practices for Soccer and other HS stuff, I made a pact that we’d dine at home Mon-Thu. I plan something extremely easy on Sunday nights. That leaves Fri & Sat. I NEVER cook at home on Friday, and we have gotten better about cooking at home on Saturdays (even if that means buying a nice steak and grilling – more expensive than regular at home meals, but not the same as dining out).
You did wonderfully in January and February! Using your new system really saved you some money!
I rarely go over $100 in dining out for the month and that’s how I’d like to keep it. That gives me more money to spend elsewhere (or save).
I think I’m going to an all fruits & vegetables for one meal per day (Less calories and effort). I use a walker and everything takes effort.
I just own one saucepan, but I can cook white rice and frozen veggies all together in the same pot in about 20 minutes, to which I then add some refrigerated kimchi to cool it all down, as it’s too hot to eat when it’s first done cooking. A person could use quinoa instead of rice if they want a whole grain that cooks as quickly as white rice. This is a good post:
http://tynan.com/cook-a-super-healthy-meal-in-one-pot-in-twenty-minutes
And then there’s one-pot spaghetti too:
https://www.familyfoodonthetable.com/one-pot-vegetarian-spaghetti/
What kind of container does this ship in & do you find it hard to dispose of? Curious because another family member is using a diet food service and the frozen stuff is shipped in large styrofoam containers that are VERY hard to responsibly get rid of! I’ve been able to give most away but unfortunately have had to trash a couple. No recycling here for styrofoam. 🙁
HelloFresh ships in a corrugated container, much like your standard Amazon package. Inside, there’s additional corrugated lining. Plus, on the bottom of the box there’s some freezer packs to keep the cold food cold. This is too much packaging for some people. I’m fine with it.
I have a neighbor who uses her HelloFresh styrofoam containers to make outdoor houses for stray/outdoor cats. She gives them to others who have an interest in animal welfare. I agree though that styrofoam is a problem to dispose of satisfactorily. I cook most of the time, from scratch, and have found that I can make “almost” everything in my Instant Pot. I plan for left-overs, use reusable trays with lids to freeze stuff & have erasable labels to name & date the frozen meals to reheat later. We rarely eat out, and if we do it is definitely entertainment. I was interested in Hello Fresh and might try it, but we are seniors and spend less than $600 a month for two of us for meals & snacks. It doesn’t seem like it would be right for us.
What are your thoughts about the packaging and waste with these subscription food services? Each week we had multiple ice packs to toss, a fluffy insulating blanket to toss, and numerous plastic clam shells to toss. Have they improved on this since last time you tried Hello Fresh? Also, what do you use to keep track of your costs? Mint?
I think JD uses Quicken?
For Hello Fresh, they come as JD describes and inside there is a “brown bag” that holds the specific items for each meal (the meat is separate at the bottom in plastic packaging that would be similar to if you’d purchased it from the store). The items in the brown bag are lose (like potatoes) or in smaller containers (like a small vial of vinegar). I never got any plastic clam shells.
For Blue Apron, also no plastic clam shells, but items in clear plastic bags. Small items for each mean (like sauces and seasoning) in 1 bag, and each vegetable in their own bag. Meats again in their own packaging.
It DOES seem like a lot of waste for 1 meal, but I didn’t get plastic clam shells or Styrofoam.
Years ago. somebody wrote an article, or maybe a book Cook For a Day, Eat For a Month. Google it. Lots of ideas for cooking and freezing. You can do main dish, then add a veggie side and/or salad.
If you like Hello Fresh, you might want to check into Blue Apron. They’ve teamed up with WW ( Weight Watchers ) to provide healthy, well-balanced meals. I haven’t tried it yet, but several people in the meetings I go to have tried and, and have been happy.
Have used Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Home Chef and Plated at various times in the last 5 years. All cost about the same. For us, 3 portions from Plated feeds our family of 4 comfortably, and my kids are 18 & 14 yo girls. For us, Plated gives the best value, balancing food quality, cost, cooking time, etc. Plated is now owned by Albertsons, so they have strong backing. One big plus is reduced waste, especially of infrequently used ingredients. The smallest cans of “chili in adobo sauce” are about 1/2 cup, but the most a recipe calls for is just 1 tbsp. So the rest is waste. A grocery service just sends the right amount. No wasted food or money. And it’s fresh, not sitting in the fridge forever. So I feel we’re espec economical on condiments.
I appreciate the work that went into this, particularly the week-by-week breakdown and grading of the meals. I’m curious how the cost came out the way it did, as I also have been using Hello Fresh for a little over 2 months and I’m getting an average of about 42.95 per meal, using the 2×2 meal per week plan, factoring in the first 3 discounted weeks. Wondering how the 3×2 meal plan can only average 46.22. That means my meals are on average 10.74, but to add 2 more meals would only cost about 1.64 each. Can that be right? If so, the meal service definitely benefits larger families or more exclusive use of the service. In my case, 10.74 per meal is kind of pricey for something I’m preparing, and for which the ingredients are pretty basic. In my case, I may just absorb the recipes into the repertoire and do the produce shopping once a week. So far, I’ve found that I can by the ingredients (with extra to spare) for slightly less than half of what the meals cost. The simplicity of the meals, to me, is the greatest benefit, and unfortunately the business doesn’t take that into account for people like me that would pay a little extra for the service but not double, just for the delivery.
Also, just my taste, but I found the simplicity of many of the meals (particularly chicken and pork based ones) led to rather bland results that took some toying with to get more flavorful. And while I generally agree that the taco recipes were average, I didn’t find them much less so than others, with exception of the Korean chicken and bibimbob recipes which were really quite good without modification. The taco recipes, however, have been much easier to modify than the others and have ended up being my only repeat requests, other than the 2 Korean ones listed above.
Correction, 42.95 per week, not per meal.
Hi, I have been using Hello fresh for just one moth so far. For me, the convenice of pulling out a brown bag and meat from the fridge to cook 3 nights a week after work is saving my sanity. My 12 year old son even did the whole boss burger meal the other night. Win, win for me. I can do dinner on auto pilot after a long day and my son can learn to follow recipes. Saves us a lot on food shopping, take out and energy.
For anyone reading this discussion it’s worth noting that as of January 2022 HelloFresh has significantly increased prices ($10/serving + $10 shipping = $11.67 for 3 meals x 2 people, $70/week) but they have also created a second cheaper brand EveryPlate with almost exactly the same food for much less ($5/serving + $10 shipping = $6.67 for 3 meals x 2 people, $40/week). I find EP worth the cost for the service, especially as a cooking school, but HF is now just too expensive without a discount to be worth it. I mean, if I can pick up high-quality takeout on the way home from work for $10, why not just do that?