Hello Fresh – Meal Delivery Service – Review

I recently received a coupon to try the Meal Delivery service called Hello Fresh. This is a service that has a selection of meals that you choose from, then those ingredients are packaged (by meal) and sent (with instructions) to your home in a refrigerated box. I was interested in trying this out, since I am one person and I frequently find that cooking food just gets annoying when trying to portion it for just one person. I don’t MIND eating the same thing for 3 meals in a row, but after that it gets a bit tiresome. I also don’t like wasting food and not eating my leftovers, so I thought this might be a way to liven it up.

I created an account online and with the coupon code, it was going to be about $35 – $45 per week for 4 meals (for two people). The discount was for a span of 4 weeks, so it would go up by approximately $20.00 per week after the four week trial period. The meals end up around $8-$10 per meal – but they have “premium” recipes (that have more expensive protein options such as scallops for instance) that can make the price go up further. The overall price (without any premium meals, but even after the trial period discount) would still be within my weekly grocery budget, so I figured I would give it a shot.

I ordered on a Monday with a delivery date of the following Saturday. The “window” of delivery was from 8am to 8pm on Saturday. I was home most of the day – but was sure to keep my door open so I could hear through the screen, as well as the gate propped open. By 8pm, no food :(. I then checked the delivery notifications and it was supposedly delivered at 11am “to the front door”. I hadn’t received my food – so I promptly notified them, asked for a refund and cancellation of all future shipments. Later that evening (around 10pm) one of my neighbors contacted me and it turns out they had delivered my box to the wrong house.

So having finally received the food now, I was at least able to assess:

1. Turns out, I only received two of the three recipe cards for my three meals – so I guess I will wing it on one of them, but thankfully I have a culinary degree and I’m sure I can use the ingredients in some way or another.
2. These are ALOT more kitchen work than I anticipated and was hoping for, especially for a meal for “two people”.
   For clarity sake, for one meal I would prep for 10 minutes, and cook for 30-35. This includes dirtying of a mixer, 1 sheet pan, 1 pot, 1 skillet and other miscellaneous things like utensils.
3. Ingredients were all accounted for, less the things like cooking spray, olive oil, tin foil, butter, salt & pepper, etc.

Overall – I’m sticking with my cancellation. I’ve done delivered subscription service meals (fully cooked and otherwise) before and I have NEVER had so many issues. Also when I contacted their customer support it was not friendly, apologetic or even seemingly concerned. They didn’t want to offer to fix it or try and win my trust back – they just said “ok” and that was that. Thankfully my refund was processed with little to no argument, so I am no worse off than I was before it all.

For all the reasons above, I will not be using them again. I have since ordered from a different (similar premise) company and will see how that goes!