If you're a busy college student like me, HelloFresh may be your next best investment—if you have the money to spend, that is. While the healthy and tasty ingredients, ease of access and simple recipes are three reasons to splurge on the weekly box, it can add up if you're eating for one.
Watch as my friend and I cook up a HelloFresh meal for the first time and see the looks on our faces when we finally try it!
My main takeaways go a little like this.
If I'm going to be spending as much or more on dinners than I normally do, why not just go somewhere that cooks them for me?
This is probably my biggest caveat about this subscription box. I spend anywhere from $30-60 on groceries each week which includes enough ingredients to make one to two meals a day. With HelloFresh, I'm spending similar to the max amount of my weekly grocery money but purchasing ingredients that have to be used in very specific ways. Yes, there is enough food to last for six nights of dinner, but I'm not huge on leftovers and always end up running out to eat once a day (normally at lunch.) If you ask me, I would rather spend $30 on groceries AND have money to snag pre-made food from Whole Foods or Central Market. I can always grab a salad or packaged meal from these places under $10, which is what HelloFresh charges per meal anyway.
The ingredients were, actually, very fresh.
I was most hesitant about the meats, especially since they had been sitting in a box downstairs all morning. Ice packs were included but as I mentioned in my video, I'm a big skeptic in the meat department. It was a pleasant surprise when I tasted the pork in the first recipe and it seemed just as fresh as anything I would have purchased at the grocery store. The produce was even moist when I took it out of the box! If you can't get to the grocery store and create a menu each week, this is a great way to have meal preparation done for you.
I will probably keep my subscription as long as my bank account will allow.
You can skip any week on HelloFresh as long as it's done by 11:59 p.m. five days before the delivery date. I am planning on saving the service for busy weeks when I won't have time to get groceries otherwise and want easy but healthy options for dinner.
All in all, HelloFresh is a fun investment when you need a spark of creativity in the kitchen or easy access to quality at-home meals. (NOTE: This blog post is not sponsored. These are my actual thoughts and experiences with this service.)
Watch my full YouTube video here!