Say Hello to a new Fresh way to cook
As college students, it’s challenging to find time and figure out what to cook every day. Most students spend money on meal plans or eat fast-food every day. Students who want to spend less time shopping, cooking and eating healthy food, can look no further than HelloFresh
HelloFresh is an online food subscription service that sends you ingredients and step-by-step instructions on how to cook a meal. The unique part about the service is it will give you the exact portions of the ingredients to help eliminate food waste.
I wanted to try it, after seeing many ads on TikTok, and see if it would make cooking more accessible by giving me all the necessary ingredients without going to a grocery store. Also, I wanted to see if the service was as easy, affordable, and healthy, as everyone said it was.
The cost of HelloFresh goes from $53.94 per week for three recipes made for two people up to $191.76 per week for six recipes made for four people. Users can customize how many recipes they want and can skip meals each week. In addition, users can pick out what preference they want, whether that be that be vegan, fit and wholesome, family-friendly, quick and easy, or pescatarian.
Once you set up your account, HelloFresh will pick out what foods you’re getting for the week, and users can remove and choose meals to their liking. Once you’re finished, HelloFresh will prepare to ship and it usually will take two-three business days to show up on your doorstep.
To keep your food fresh, the shipping box will come with ice packs for the meat and chicken and an insulator to keep everything fresh and cool. Each meal comes in a paper bag, making it easier to put in the refrigerator and get out when you’re ready to cook. In addition, the box will include instruction cards for each meal.
Once you have everything ready, cooking is straightforward. A majority of meals take around 30 minutes, while some gourmet meals take about an hour. Most meals have meat or chicken with dressing or seasoning as the main course and vegetables on the side.I can use portions of a recipe for another meal, which is a great learning experience. In addition, the clean-up process is straightforward as they give you the exact amounts for each meal and typically won’t have anything extra that will go to waste.
This service is excellent for students who don’t have time to shop at a grocery store, want to quit eating frozen and fast-foods, and for those who don’t have much cooking experience, as most students are moving out for the first time.
Some of the cons are that meals tend to get repetitive, even when you try to find another meal to replace them. Another is if you forget to skip meals or pause it, you will get a HelloFresh box every week, and there were times when I didn’t have time as I had more assignments and work.
HelloFresh is easy and a great way to learn how to cook. However, I would like it if they would add new meals weekly for everyone to try and a way for users to know what people think about the meals, like leaving reviews on the website. I would also like a way for them to contact a user if they are still using the subscription service so they won’t waste food.