Hello Fresh Classic Meal Box review
Who are Hello Fresh?
Hello Fresh meal boxes contain fresh ingredients that are delivered straight to your door with fantastic recipe cards to follow step by step to create your perfect dish. Whether you’re cooking for yourself, your partner for a regular weekly meal, a special treat for a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife or perhaps you’re looking to impress with a dinner party, you can order a box of ingredients from Hello Fresh and cook a delicious meal in under 30 minutes.
Hello Fresh sent us a 2 person, 3 meals Classic Box to review and you can see the ingredients for yourself in this video review I put together as soon as the box arrived:
The ingredients provided by Hello Fresh are top quality from independent suppliers. I was lucky enough to receive some salmon fillets that came from James Knight of Mayfair, exclusively packed for Hello Fresh. I was also given ingredients for a chicken dish and the fillets were free range from the farmer Tom Hixson who operates in Smithfield Meat Market, London.
All three of my Hello Fresh recipes involved using nuts and slightly roasting them (cashews, almonds and pine nuts). I have never really incorporated nuts into my meals before but they are a fantastic source of healthy fats so I learnt how to use them with the Classic Box ingredients and will use them in the future as well now I know how they can be used in a dish.
Upcoming Hello Fresh recipes
Have a look at the upcoming Hello Fresh recipes to see if they appeal to you before you decide to buy a box.
Hello Fresh recipe archive
Need some cooking inspiration? You can find some exciting recipe ideas using fresh ingredients in the Hello Fresh recipe archive.
Hello Fresh pricing
As you can see, the prices work out much lower than an unhealthy takeaway and you get the excitement of preparing the meals for yourself! If you use one of our Hello Fresh discount codes, it can work out at only costing around £3 per meal.
Note prices are accurate as of April 2019
USE A HELLO FRESH DISCOUNT CODE TO GET UP TO 30% OFF THE PRICE OF YOUR BOX!
Classic Box (with meat and fish) prices
2 person / 3 meals = £39 (6 meals overall) = Price per meal: £6.502 person / 5 meals = £49 (10 meals overall) = Price per meal: £4.90
4 person / 3 meals = £59 (12 meals overall) = Price per meal: £4.92
4 person / 5 meals = £89 (20 meals overall) = Price per meal: £4.45
6 person / 3 meals = £89 (18 meals overall) = Price per meal: £4.94
6 person / 5 meals = £129 (30 meals overall) = Price per meal: £4.30
Veggie Box prices (the box for vegetarians)
2 person / 3 meals = £36 (6 meals overall) = Price per meal: £64 person / 3 meals = £57 (12 meals overall) = Price per meal: £4.75
6 person / 3 meals = £78 (18 meals overall) = Price per meal: £4.33
Gift box (flexible subscription for 1 week to then cancel if you wish)
Prices same as the Classic box above.
Features and benefits of using Hello Fresh home delivery
- FREE delivery in mainland UK
- Ingredients are always fresh
- Discount codes of up to 30% off your box!
- All meals are easy to cook in under 30 minutes
- Each box comes with fantastic colourful recipe cards which list all the ingredients with simple easy to follow instructions (including cooking times)
- New recipes available every week
- Lots of meal options are available (see prices above)
- Select your delivery date and a time window is also provided
- They are excellent at listening to feedback and correcting boxes so if you do get a missing ingredient or problem with an ingredient, they will send another out and maybe give you a little extra on your next box as a way of compensation
- Hello Fresh use City Sprint who are an excellent courier
- Calories, fats, carbs and protein per serving are clearly displayed on the recipe cards to help keep track of your diet macro nutrients
- You can keep the recipe cards for future use!
- The meals really do look good when they’re prepared (see below) so you will impress your mates/partner and also get the delicious taste
- They get you using ingredients you may have never used before (exciting!) and you learn by making sauces for example which you can then put to future use
- Most ingredients are free range and organic from independent food retailers
- All ingredients are expertly packed to avoid leakage
Critique of Hello Fresh home delivery
- There are rare occasions when an ingredient may be missing. I didn’t receive the Sumac for instance in one of my recipes. Also you will need to ensure you have salt and pepper to hand
- My carrot was quite wet when it arrived and it ended up going mouldy after 4 days. Luckily I had a replacement in the fridge
- Not all ingredients on the recipe cards are labelled so if you do find one you are unfamiliar with then you might need to Google to make sure what you’re using is correct! However most items (especially in the tubs) are labelled
- Time window given for delivery is around 7 hours so you need to make sure you’re in
- I wouldn’t say Hello Fresh are ‘cheap’ but when you consider they have discount codes available and the ingredients are quality, fresh, organic and free range, it does work out quite reasonable (see above for prices)
- There might be some meals you don’t want as you don’t get to choose the recipes in your box. But you can see what is currently running on the homepage and then decide if you want to order or maybe wait until some new recipes appear
My Hello Fresh ingredients and meals review
Lebanese Lamb Wraps with Minted Tzatziki and Toasted Almonds
I was excited to make my first Hello Fresh meal and it didn’t disappoint. Although the Sumac was missing from my box, this is only a very small ingredient so didn’t really matter. This is a very simply dish which involved cutting up lots of salad ingredients, frying some almonds, cooking some lamb mince, creating the Minted Tzatziki whilst the lamb was cooking and then placing everything on top of the slightly heated wraps and garnish with the almonds and lemon.
I perhaps was a bit overzealous with the lemon but I enjoyed learning how to make the Tzatziki which I had never done before and in the end the dish only took about 20-25 minutes to prepare.
I served one with the ingredients simply layered on the wrap and the other dish with the wrap actually rolled up (which I actually preferred).
Teriyaki Chicken with Coco Nutty Rice and Bok Choi
This was my favourite dish of the three and so simply to make! The longest part was simply cooking the chicken.
I had never come across Bok Choi before so it was great to use that and introduce a new green vegetable into my diet. The coconut rice tasted fantastic and this dish also made me learn how to make a Teriyaki sauce from scratch which I had never done before.
The chicken when complete tasted perfect when in a sauce that contained honey, ginger (I never knew you peeled it with a spoon!) and soy sauce. The cashews added a bite to the dish and I will definitely try using them more in future meals because I really enjoyed the taste they provided.
The only problem I came across was the rice had pretty much finished cooking in about 5-6 minutes and I still had all the chicken to cook so it was standing on the side for a while going warm. It didn’t matter too much though because it was still warm when it came to eating the dish.
As you can see from the pictures, the finished meal looked great and with all the colours also tasted great. It was very nutritious with the greens, protein, fibre and good fats from the nuts. I will certainly be looking to make this again.
Potent Pan Fried Salmon with Linguine and Homemade Pesto
I left this dish until last because I actually don’t like Salmon (well thought I didn’t...) so held off for a few days. However after making this and taking my first bite of the Salmon, I think I have been converted!
Salmon is a very healthy fish and it had always annoyed me that I didn’t enjoy the taste. But after eating these fresh salmon fillets from a Mayfair fishmonger, I will now try eating them again.
This dish was done in 30 minutes and tasted superb with the pesto and pasta providing a base for the salmon fillets. The salmon was spot on and very easy to prepare.
I could have just put the salmon in the microwave for 3 minutes but the ingredients suggested cooking in oil then in the grill but this seemed to work well in creating a combination of flavours. I had never made a pesto before so that was exciting to make with fresh basil, pine nuts, parmesan and crème fresh.
The ingredients did state I needed 1 clove of garlic but there was no-where in the recipe instructions to use garlic so that was a bit strange. I did enjoy step 6 which states;
‘Scatter rose petals liberally around the house. Light as many scented candles as you can get your hands on’ (unfortunately I was eating for one guys!)
Other than that, this was very easy to prepare in under 30 minutes and would impress anyone if served up at a dinner party!
I am 6 foot 3 and have quite a muscular build (so a big appetite) and ate both salmon fillets in one meal so a critique could be that perhaps 4 fillets would have been ideal for a 2 person meal here. However my friend who is female and 5 foot said she would have only eaten 1 fillet so maybe it is just me being difficult here!
Overall, this pushed the Teriyaki close to being my favourite dish.
Hello Fresh gallery
