I don’t think I would have even considered subscribing to
either of these if it weren’t for my new co-worker. Knowing that I love food
just as much as he does, he brought in a stack of HelloFresh recipes for me to
take a look at. I took pictures of the ones I thought looked the best and even
tried making one or two of them after a not-so quick trip to the grocery store.
The recipes were simple and I loved that they solved the nightly dilemma of
what to have for dinner. I was happy to enjoy something other than a Lean
Cuisine for once; although I’m not knocking them…their newer Marketplace line
is actually pretty damn good.
Anyways, I digress…I ended up signing up for emails from
both Blue Apron and Hello Fresh hoping to exploit the system and just use them
for their recipes. Anytime I saw a recipe that piqued my curiosity, I hauled
ass to the grocery store. The only problem with this is that after a long day
at work, the last thing I want to do is go grocery shopping. Plus, it’s
probably even more expensive. I’ve made the North African Beef Tagine with
Zucchini & Almond-Herb Couscous twice now and between the ground beef, the
Ras El Hanout, sliced almonds, medjool dates and fresh produce it’s easily a
$25+ shopping trip. Not to mention, I ended up using dried mint and parsley
that I already had in the house instead of fresh herbs.
Although my boyfriend, Drew, really liked the dish and was even the
one that requested it a second time, he mentioned numerous times that I
shouldn’t make such “complicated” meals on weeknights. After that, I decided to
take a break and give him a turn in the kitchen. He loves cooking and thinks
he’s a chef but makes chicken and Brussels sprouts ALMOST
every….single….weeknight! In all fairness, he is actually pretty amazing in the
kitchen.
However, A few days after going back to eating Lean Cuisines
and Drew’s cooking, I noticed that Blue Apron was on Groupon. For $39,
they were offering new clients their first classic box for $39 (I later noticed
that HelloFresh was offering the same deal). There was also a 20% off coupon on
Groupon at the time so I purchased the Groupon for only $31.20. I figured that
if I went to the grocery store, I would probably spend more than that on three
nights of meals anyways. I haven’t used the Groupon yet because we’ve been in
the middle of painting our kitchen but it’s finally finished so I’ll definitely
be using it in the coming weeks.
Last week, I got an email from HelloFresh saying that they
were offering 60% off my first box if I signed up within the next two days.
Score! This ended up being even cheaper than the Blue Apron Deal…$27.60. This
just so happened to be perfect timing because I’m going away this weekend and
haven’t even packed a single item yet. Who has time to work full-time, go
grocery shopping, cook, clean and pack!? I’m not superwoman!
I got my first HelloFresh box today. I was really impressed
with the way they packaged everything. Inside of the box, there was a cooler
bag with 6 ice packs on the bottom. The meats lay on top of the icepacks
followed by a separator and then three boxes containing the rest of the
ingredients, one for each meal. The package was delivered around 1pm and the
ice was still frozen when I got home at around 6 pm. It was in the high 80s
today so I found this to be impressive. The ice packs can even be re-used. Drew even joked (actually….I’m not so sure he was joking), that we should
save the box for next time we bring food to someone’s get-together. The only
problem with the packaging was that the box was so damn heavy…I really need to
start doing my Jillian Michael’s workout DVDs again, STAT!
Tonight, we ended up making the Parmesan Crusted Chicken
with Balsamic Potato Salad and Garlic Roasted Tomatoes. Although it was a
simple dish, it was really flavorful. I never thought to put balsamic vinegar
on potatoes before and I was secretly married to balsamic vinegar in another
lifetime.
I was also amazed at how much quicker the preparation was
without having to measure everything out. It was also probably one of the first
nights my boyfriend and I didn’t get into an argument over measuring food.
Whenever he cooks, I ask him to measure out ingredients because I try to follow
Weight Watchers and I’m a bit OCD…I hate estimating. This annoys him because it
slows him down and it makes him feel less chef-like. Oh well, he’s supposed to
do whatever it takes to make me happy, right? I absolutely love how HelloFresh
lists the calories, carbs, fat, protein, fiber and sodium for each recipe. It
really takes the guesswork out of everything.
It was also one of the first nights we decided to eat on our
screened in porch instead of in front of the tv. Less time cooking = more time
to relax. Ok, so maybe we did just finish sanding and staining the porch. Minor
details.
All in all, I can’t wait to try the other two meals we had
delivered this week and also to try Blue Apron in a few weeks. I have a feeling
I’m going to become addicted to both of these services. I’ll keep you all
updated.
No comments:
Post a Comment