Hello Fresh (and goodbye)

I was introduced to a new food buying concept called  Hello Fresh from a colleague. I really love the whole idea and what they are trying to do: claims of fun and delicious cooking each week, fresh and high quality ingredients, a cute little welcome pack that makes promises of community and contact directly to all those named on the box- all delivered to your doorstep on a weekly basis.

An introductory offer was on a Groupon-type site just as my colleague was talking about it, so I thought "let's give it a go!". The offer asks you to sign up on the very welcoming and fresh-looking website on an ongoing basis- boooo, and you are not pressured to stay signed up if you cancel between certain hours before the deadline of 7pm on Tuesday evening. Delivery is to your doorstep between the hours of 9am and 4pm on any Tuesday or Thursday of your choosing. You can sneak a peak at the menu of the week and if it doesn't suit, then you have a no hassle post-pone option until you see something that you prefer. Your options are a three or five menu box: meat or vegetarian. Simple, right?!

So, I pick a Tuesday where the  weather will be cool enough for the ingredients to sit on the porch and not spoil until Craig or I comes home from work. A welcoming looking box has appeared and opening it the message and ingredients look good- they have positioned two big, juicy, pungent leeks on the top. Pungent leeks to mask the smell of the defrosting fish- which was open and juicing in the box as I later found out. So far so good-ish.

The offer was 15£ for three meals, normally three meals are 39£. Let's see what we have and if it was worth it:

Get the ingredients out! Impressive fresh herbs and leeks. The veggies looked good, although a bit sparse. The meat looked of good quality, but small. Big worry number 1: three chicken thighs for two people? Craig usually eats three chicken thighs on his own. The two cod fillets supplied were of nice quality, but again what I normally have myself. On the up-side: the pork steaks were about right. On the cute side: there was a little brown paper sack with the little ingredients in little sachets and plastic bottles: truffle oil, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, oregano... nice (insert cute little smile and upward shoulder shrug here).

Most importantly, what does the food taste like? First up: Chicken Yakitori with Crispy Red Onions and Sweet and Sour Noodles. The head chef Patrick has created pictorial menu cards complete with caloric content, timing, and a little story of how the recipe came to be. 

When I placed the ingredients, my big worry number 1 was confirmed: A spring onion, two nests of noodles, three small chicken thighs, and a handful of beans. I would assume that the portion sizing for the meat is ok, but one onion and a handful of green beans is really only two servings of your five-a-day, so the meal is only supplying one of your five a day for dinner. Good job I have my booster pack of veg!

 Ingredients Out

All chopped up

 Booster ingredients with some colour

The instructions are easy to follow- 8 steps in total with little Top Tip- rolling the lime will make it easier to juice. I also cooked my chicken in a way I never had before- under the oven grill. I was sceptical about this, but it worked well! The food was tasty- not bursting with flavour, but a descent mid-week meal. The booster veg and chicken was definitely needed, unless you are portion sizing or on a diet.

Meal number two was Thick Cut Pork Chops with Sage Butter and New Potatoes. Another enticing looking instruction card and a story about purple sprouting broccoli, and how over cooked pork chops have the texture of a Bedouin's flip-flop. I didn't think they wore flip-flops?!

I have more positive expectations for this one: look at all the spuds on the plate! I'm still disappointed with the handful of long-stemmed broccoli, no stems in this house! 

An interesting instruction on this menu card: chop the garlic in half and rub firmly all over the pork chops. Rub garlic? Interesting. I rubbed it, then crushed it, then mixed the crushed garlic with the olive oil and rubbed it again. Also what was interesting, but really tasty and had a fantastically appetising aroma: instruction number 7: butter and oil frothing in the frying pan with sage, water, lemon juice, salt and pepper... only critique is that another clove of garden would have been divine.

And how did it taste- good flavours, definitely enough spuds, and with an extra bunch of broccoli, the plate was tasty. The (oven-grill cooked) pork was tender and flavoursome.

Dinner number 3 of 3- I haven't tried. It's the cod dish and I will more than likely wait until Edge is away fishing overnight. I re-packed the leaking steaks safely into the freezer and the accompanying potatoes can wait another week- they sent three massive spuds and two titchy fish steaks and the some-of-your-one-of-your-five-a-day were the gigantic leeks. I like leeks, but not as the sole green vegetable on the plate. hmph!

But, would I do it again? No, £39 for three mid-week meals is far too expensive. Yes the fresh ingredients come from London, but there is no need for London rates. The value of the box was probably only about 15£, so at least it was worth what I paid. The two biggest downsides to the service are 1) the delivery times- you need to be home during the day and I feel like this defeats the purpose. If I was home during the day, I would spend at least half of the day either searching for fantastic ingredients at the butcher, the green grocer, the market, etc. unless you run a day-care, then I can see how this would work.

The second thing that could do with improving is the menu selection: Edge doesn't eat fish and fish is always on the menu. A pick-list selection where you can sub-in something of equal value to your taste would improve the service. However, in regards to this, Hello Fresh is very open and prompt in receiving feedback. This being a new service, I believe it will evolve, and I will let my colleague let me know how it gets better.

What worked: the ingredients were packed on ice and fresh, the menu cards are trendy and easy to use, customer service was friendly and prompt, and the food was tasty enough. If you haven't tried it, I prompt you to do so to find out for yourself... it's easy enough if you are scared of cooking and most dishes cooked with fresh ingredients are going to turn out satisfactorily.