To wrap up your order, select a delivery date—HelloFresh delivers between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. A box of premeasured produce, raw meat or seafood (if applicable), and micro amounts of herbs, spices, and condiments will arrive at your doorstep alongside the recipes for the meals you selected shortly thereafter. Store the ingredients in your fridge until mealtime rolls around. Heads up: If you’re not home when the box arrives, don’t sweat it, because the contents will be packed with insulation and several (seriously heavy) ice packs to avoid any food safety issues.
The service doesn’t require any long-term commitments once you’re subscribed; feel free to skip a weekly delivery or pause-slash-cancel your membership at any time.
What I loved about HelloFresh
As a gal who fancies brand transparency and flexibility around meals, I was into HelloFresh’s lengthy list of customizable menu options, as well as the in-depth information the service provides about each recipe’s ingredients, flavor, process, and nutrition. This made ordering a stress-free (enjoyable, even) process—in a matter of minutes, my meal planning and food shopping for the following week was signed, sealed, and nearly delivered. Bonus points for not needing to painstakingly pore over packaged food labels at the grocery store (Is this salmon farm-raised or wild-caught? Are these oats safe for my gluten-free friend?).
It was equally pleasing to see that HelloFresh sources its recipes from a wide range of cultural cuisines. Rather than the sloppy joes, meatloaf, and underseasoned skinless, boneless chicken breasts I’m used to seeing with this type of service, HelloFresh’s menu offers bahn mi, za’atar-crusted Halloumi cheese, stromboli, and enchiladas verdes (to name a few).
Flavor-wise, I was sold after a single bite of the sweet and spicy shrimp lo mein. The dish—which took me about 45 minutes from start to finish—tasted vibrant and saucy, and it hit the ideal balance of heat, sweet, and sour. The preparation was about as basic as it gets too: Cook noodles, sear shrimp and veggies, stir in sauces and seasonings, then garnish. It was clear that the recipe itself had been developed and tested by professionals, because it actually worked (a relative rarity!). And in terms of quality, I was relieved to see that the shrimp was still ice-cold when I pulled it out of the HelloFresh packaging and that the green beans and bok choy looked lively.
Similarly, the chicken and spinach couscous salad was just the thing for a sweltering July weeknight dinner when switching on the oven felt like a death sentence. It took just shy of 40 minutes to toss together, and thanks to the inclusion of a garlicky mayo-based dressing, toasted walnuts, and a generous portion of HelloFresh’s signature Fry Seasoning, the otherwise simple seared chicken and spinach salad was rich in both flavor and textural nuance.
The sleeper hit from my test? The Ready Made Meal, HelloFresh’s shrimp and pesto rotini. In under three minutes, I had plated a generous serving of al dente rotini noodles tossed with a creamy pesto sauce made with basil leaves that tasted vibrant and fresh, as if they’d just been harvested from my garden. All was topped with juicy (not chewy) shrimp, parboiled pieces of asparagus, and a blend of five Italian cheeses. Given the amount of time the dish took to serve, the flavor was impressive, especially compared to other heat-and-serve-style dishes I’ve sampled.
What I didn’t love about HelloFresh
While HelloFresh certainly took the guesswork out of making a delicious midweek meal and saved me hours in the shop-and-prep department, the cooking process—i.e., timing from start to finish—was slightly less predictable. According to HelloFresh’s recipe, the amount of hands-on time required for the chicken and spinach couscous is roughly five minutes, and the dish takes no more than 30 minutes total. Not so, in my experience: It took my over 35 minutes to prep the dish. After testing a few other HelloFish recipes with similar discrepancies, I would recommend tacking on around 15 minutes to the service’s predicted total cook time, regardless of what you’re serving.
