A Bit About HelloFresh
HelloFresh is a weekly food delivery service that delivers ingredients to your door so that you are able to make into meals in 30 minutes or less. They offer three different plans- the classic plan, veggie plan, and family plan. You're able to pick between 2 or 4 people to cook for and how frequent you want your boxes delivered. The company has a Sustainability report and one of their main goals is to reduce the amount of food waste created. Also they different than other subscription boxes because they are committed to reducing their packaging. Everything comes to your door with minimal packaging and anything packaged came in something recyclable.
The Cost
For an average college student who typically eats Ramen the cost of the box can seem pretty expensive at $9.99 a meal plus a $6.99 shipping fee, but don't fret because there are a lot of different deals that you can get to reduce this cost. Because of being an avid hunter for the best deals, I was able to get a week of HelloFresh (3 meals for 2 people) for about $11. There was a promotion that gave me 60% off and free shipping on my first box from being a new customer and on top of that I got a $10 Ebates cash back deal.
For me, getting six meals total for $11 was definitely reasonable. I will probably end up having my boyfriend enroll in the same deal so we can get even more! Even at full price it may be reasonable for you depending on what you normally are cooking. Liz from I Heart Vegetables did a cost break down actually showing that although the boxes may seem expensive, the cost of the ingredients would practically be as expensive if you got them on your own. You can check out her review here.
The Experience
Because I am a vegetarian, I ordered the veggie box for my boyfriend and myself. Our three meals were Heirloom Tomato Flatbreads, Za'atar Crusted Grilling Cheese, and Roasted Garlic Herb Penne. The vegetarian box doesn't let you pick out what option of what meals you would like to make. The company only provides the three needed for your delivery for the vegetarian plan. The other plans allow for you to select three meals out of approximately five different options. This was my only complaint about the boxes but I genuinely did enjoy the three meals I got for the week.
Below are two of the meals that we made throughout the week. I only took photos of two of the meals because we ate up the Roasted Garlic Herb Penne before I could even think about taking a photo.
I will say we did go a little crispy on the grilling cheese as you can see, but it was just a part of the learning process. It was still super yummy. They were even all approved by my boyfriend who eats meat with almost all of his meals. I love finding meals that we can both cook and eat together with our different diets.
The taste of the meals were actually so great. Plus the longest prep and cook time was only 30 minutes, which made it perfect for my busy schedule. They were super simple to make and we didn't need any fancy kitchen equipment. It opened my eyes to some different meals that I can make that stray away from my traditional rice or pasta. Now don't get me wrong these weren't meals that I could make without a stove which means that at least while I was staying in the dorm I won't be able to recreate them.
Their meal kits really do provide a great portion size for two people. Both of us were full and plates cleaned. If you don't have someone to share the meals with, they would be perfect to put in the fridge and store for lunch or dinner the following days. Cooking the meals with ingredients for just two servings really allowed for my boyfriend and me to see what an actual portion size looks like of certain ingredients. Food waste is a really large problem for a majority of people so it was very helpful to see what I should actually be buying now that I don't live in a 6 people household. As college students, being able to have the ingredients premeasured was helpful not only to making the meal but learning how to cook better.
Using the kits really did help me learn some helpful hints to cook better that I could use even without the box. One of the biggest tips, that I had actually learned over the summer, is how citrus can add flavor to a dish. One thing my boyfriend learned was to use the lower cooking time first, checking on the meal then cooking it for more time if needed. He learned this after our crispy grilling cheese haha. As college students, there's a lot that we need to learn about cooking, and I think that these types of boxes really help with that.
Overall, I think that HelloFresh is great for any college student, provided that you have a discount code. You can use my discount code here for $40 off and don't forget to use Ebates for $10 cash back. With HelloFresh you are able to cook great meals in your busy schedule while learning how to make better meals- a college student's dream.
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