Let’s be honest, us moms and caregivers barely have time to cook, let alone think of new, fresh recipes for our families to enjoy! Last year I got a free Hello Fresh box from a friend to give it a try and see if it was something that could help me out. I thought it was a little bit more work in the kitchen than this mom-of-3 had in her schedule at the time, so I didn’t order it again after my free week was over.

However, recently there was a Groupon available to try it out at a discount so I thought I’d give it another shot! I’m happy to report that I think the recipes have gotten a little simpler, or maybe I’m just not as stressed now that my baby is 18 months and not crying for me every 5 minutes! 🤷

What is Hello Fresh?

If you’ve never tried it before, Hello Fresh is a meal subscription service where they ship you a box full of fresh, raw ingredients and include a recipe card for you to work your magic in the kitchen and make a tasty dinner for your family at home!

Ordering is simple. Login to the website and you will be given 9 dinner options to choose from for your week of delivery. Your subscription decides how many meals you get to select. I chose the subscription that gives you 3 meals a week for a family of 4. I also chose the family favorites meal selections instead of the traditional menus.

Side note: We have a family of 5, but my 3 toddlers hardly ever even eat dinner so I knew we would be fine with the portions for 4. We didn’t have any issues with portion sizes since they are pretty generous, especially with the dishes like tacos or pasta. The recipes where you get one chicken breast or pork chop per person were a little harder to stretch between 5 people, but I just cut up two of the protein portions and divvied them up equally between the 3 kids and it worked out fine.

What did you get in your Hello Fresh box?

For our first week, we tried the sweet and smokey chicken breasts, pineapple poblano tacos, and firecracker meatballs. For our second week we got the creamy parmesan chicken spaghetti, pesto panko chicken, and cherry basalmic porkchops. 😋 We actually cooked the pineapple poblano tacos for a dinner party with some friends and everyone loved them!

The one thing I love about Hello Fresh is that everything in your shipment comes in separate paper bags for easy organization and storage. To cook your meal all you need to do is pull out your labeled bag and get to work! This makes cleanup a lot easier since you can use the handy paper bag they give you as an easy counter-top trash bag!

What’s the benefit to using this meal delivery vs. just cooking on my own?

Another thing I love about Hello Fresh is that it has made me try new recipes and taught me new things in the process! Growing up, my family would rather go out to eat than cook in the kitchen. Because of that, plus lack of interest as a kid, I didn’t really gain a lot of cooking skills. Anything I know about cooking now is something I learned on my own.

I learned a few things about cooking meat like pork-chops and chicken breasts. Searing your pork chops prior to baking them makes them so much juicier! Making your own salsa is surprisingly easy! You can step up your sour cream by mixing in a little lime juice! I also made my own reduction sauce. Did I know what that was prior to this box? No. Would I have done any of these things on my own? Definitely No! 😛 

A lot of the dishes sent in my box were not something that’s in my regular dinner time repertoire. It gave my family new options I would never think of, or would be hesitant to try.

Hello Fresh is an awesome option if you are stuck in a rut and looking to try some new recipes, want the convenience of everything being measured out for you and shipped to your door, and if you need to learn a little bit more about cooking. It’s like your very own private cooking lesson in the privacy of your own home!

*****GIVEAWAY*****

Luckily for all of our Raleigh Tot Spot subscribers, I have a free Hello Fresh box of food to give away! This will give you 3 meals for either 2 or 4 people (you can decide when you place your order). You will have to enter your credit card information, and it will set you up for automatic delivery, but it’s as easy as clicking a button to cancel if you decide you don’t want any more shipments.

In order to enter the giveaway you must do all 3 activities listed below! We’ve made it easy for you by adding all the links! Giveaway winner will be announced Tuesday, September 10th!

1. Like Us on Facebook

2. Subscribe to the blog

3. Tag a Friend and comment on the giveaway Facebook post

Tag a friend and leave a comment on the post below, stating something you like about Raleigh Tot Spots or something you would like to see added!