Food deliveries have been a hot topic for some time now. We were target marketed for them for the last year and have been a little hesitant to try them out. Our biggest bill is by far our groceries. We eat almost every meal at home. Out of the seven days and three meals a day in a week, Brenden and I eat maybe three to four meals out a week!! That includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. Only three to four meals are eaten outside of our home.
Brenden meal preps every Sunday his breakfast and lunch for the week. And each night for dinner we trade off who makes the meal. He makes a meal and the next night I make a meal. A delivery service showed a lot of perks for us; pre-planned meals, healthy options, and the price is not that bad. This could help us cut our grocery bill and still get our "at home" (healthy) meals.
A few weeks ago I received a free week of the delivery service Hello Fresh. There was no cost to us so it was risk free. Sure, let's try it. So we did this past week. We ordered the classic plan with three meals for two people. My first hesitation was is this going to be enough food? For me, sure! For Brenden, well let's just say his biggest meal of the day is normally his dinner. His lunches consist of a salad with chicken or turkey sandwiches so the man needs some calories at the end of the day to survive.. ha
Last Monday we received our box delivered right to our door. That was awesome! I love having things delivered. The dogs get their dog food delivered every week. It's only fitting we do too. So I brought the box in and immediately opened it. The packaging was really sturdy. The meat was cold and the ingredients for the meals were divided into bags which was very convenient. Our fridge is usually packed with meal prep bowls so I was worried there would not be enough room for all the things that would come in this box. It took up very little space in our fridge.
The three meals we got were Pork Carnitas, Pork Tenderloin with potatoes and zucchini and Chicken and Pineapple Quesadillas. The recipes were delicious. Every night Brenden would walk into the house and immediately come into the kitchen saying, "What smells so good?" For the most part, they were healthy options. The carnitas were the most calories but also gave us the most food.
The recipes were so easy to make. From start to finish they were all done in 30-35 minutes. Hello Fresh provides you all the ingredients you need minus your staple pantry items such as olive oil, salt and pepper. It also made me realize I am not seasoning our normal meals enough. Just those tiny steps of salt and pepper really made a difference in the taste. And at the end of prepping, I really felt like a chef. One night I pickled onions and another night I prepared a demi glace sauce (with their guidance of course). The steps were simple to prepare what felt like a really fancy dinner.
While the recipes were delicious and I loved how quick every meal came together, the portion size was my only real complaint. Brenden is a big (read tall), athletic guy and his dinners are usually where he gets his calories. The protein portions were the size of my hand. For me, that is not a problem. That could be dinner and then lunch the next day. But Brenden needed at least 3/4 of the portion if not the whole thing by himself.
Overall, I would highly recommend this service to a single female that only needs 1,400-1,600 calories a day. You can eat these for dinner and take left overs for lunch the next day. I will probably do this meal service on weeks when Brenden travels for work. I would also recommend this to a single male. You will probably still have leftovers just maybe not enough for a full meal the next day. If my husband and I were to do this meal plan again, we would probably increase our serving size to three people just to make sure he had enough.
This meal service inspired me to switch up our weekly meals. Or at least elevate them with a little something extra. I am excited this service is available to people who do not usually cook or prepare their own meals. Have you tried one of the delivery services? What were your thoughts? If you have not tried a delivery service out, click here to get a discount off of your first box!
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