Hello Fresh!? Or is it?

A friend gave me a free trial of Hello Fresh so I had to give it a try. https://www.hellofresh.com

Since we are a family of 5 I upgraded from the free 3 meals for 2 to 3 meals for 4.

$129 is the cost for 3 meals for 4 people. I paid $60.

For our box I chose the Cornflake and Honey Crusted Chicken, Pan Seared Salmon, and Smoky Sloppy Joes.

The box arrived via UPS. The packaging was very unique and appealing to the eye.

 One of the gel packs broke so the packaging at the top was wet and slimy.

For our first night I cooked the Cornflake and Honey Crusted Chicken.

This is a screen shot from their website showing what the dish is supposed to look like.

Moments after arrival I opened it and took to cooking the first meal. The broccoli was bad. Discolored and slimy. A lot of the florets were yellowed. Thankfully I had ORGANIC frozen broccoli in the freezer so we were able to have a balanced dinner anyway.  I called the company and they gave me a $10 credit towards my next purchase. 

Here is a view of the ingredients. Each meal has a white box with all the goodies in side. Packaged separately are the meat items. 

I am extremely disappointed that Hello Fresh chose to use KELLOGG'S corn flakes. There is nothing healthy about corn flakes or the Virgo Yellow rice. 

According to their website: 

"Always Fresh & Healthy

Fresh is not only in our name, it's our promise to you. We bring you the freshest and healthiest food, with a dash of fun, a sprinkle of learning, and a dollop of deliciousness, all for a great price."

The BHT and GMO corn is a deal breaker for me. We have not eaten Kellogg's in years. 

I cooked the chicken according to the directions but it was still raw in the middle. So we had dinner in a few courses. The meal was well received and most popular among the children. My questions and concerns mostly involve the chicken and the rice/cereal ingredients. Where is this chicken from? What is the country of origin? It says natural but what does that mean? Are there plans to use rice that is organic and free of artificial colors? Maybe a rice with no trans fats?

For our second night I gave the Pan Seared Salmon a try. It was an interesting experience mostly because I had never eaten nor cooked salmon before.

This is a screen shot from their website showing what the dish is supposed to look like.

I was very pleased with the ingredients for this dish. I liked that it was real whole foods. The only thing that could make this better would be all organic produce. Also labeling if the ingredients had been washed or not. 

I am quite pleased with how lovely the salmon turned out.

This was also my first time having quinoa not in something as a filler. I really was not impressed with the flavor of this dish. No one enjoyed it, I think that was mostly due to the arugula. My kids eat spinach and kale raw so we are used to greens. We just don't like the bitter taste of arugula. It turned out very pretty though.

All in all a very pretty plate. A nice healthy dinner. Except it was really hard to get the arugula down. I think you either love it or hate it. At lease now I know we just don't like it.

The final dish! Smoky Sloppy Joes.

This is a screen shot from their website showing what the dish is supposed to look like.

 Tonight's menu called for a a salad. Too bad the cilantro and the lettuce were rotten.

The meat turned out very nice. It had a good flavor. There was way too much meat. We barely ate 1/2. 

Only 4 buns for 1 lb of meat so we will be using sandwich bread on the left overs.

The final product! The husband says manwich (which I won't buy because of the rubbish in it)  is better but this was a solid good meal. My concern again is where did this beef come from? Was it grass fed? Made in the USA? These are important bits of knowledge that would play a factor in me deciding to purchase again.

If all the food arrived fresh and stayed fresh long enough to eat it (3-5 days isn't a huge expectation) this could be a valid option for good food. It is quite expensive. We could eat out to Olive Garden 3 nights and feed our family of 5 for the cost of this box. If the food was Organic I could see the extra cost. I can shop at Publix/Costco and buy organic food for the same or less. I understand this is a convenience to have food dropped at your door, but I would rather drag myself to the store and have a better quality of food. If I want quick and convenient for a comparable cost I would rather go to Olive Garden or Perkin and not have to do the dishes. I did not call and report the bad salad and cilantro as I don't plan on ordering again so another $10 credit isn't enough for me to try again. $130 is a lot of money for 3 meals. I am very glad I had the chance to try out this product. I think it could be amazing for people with very busy schedules. If the food was organic I would be willing to try it again in the future if I was too busy to shop.