Hey Nerds,
How many of your days are revolving around food lately? Between delivery services like UberEats, GrubHub, and Postmates, the whispers of possible meat shortages, and restaurants starting to reopen in some states, food is a kind of a big deal.
I’ll readily admit that this nerdy household has a freezer full of meat from Omaha Steaks (holla!). We even had to remove the freezable beer mugs so all of it would fit. I will also admit that I thought this was the perfect time to give meal kits a go again.
I desperately want to like meal kit delivery services. The premise is great:
- Indicate how many servings you want per meal
- Choose the number of meals you want for a week
- Pick meals each week that you want per delivery and skip weeks you don’t want a delivery
- A box arrives on the day of week of your choosing with all of the ingredients you need divvied up by meal
- Each meal has a recipe card with prep/cook time, step by step instructions with photos
My issue with meal prep services is they are usually unrealistic in their prep/cook time estimates. I first tried Blue Apron and a meal that was supposed to take 30 minutes to cook would take 60+ minutes. Not great when you’re starting to get hangry and your cohabinerd is asking where’s dinner. And honestly, they aren’t cheap. It’s a premium you’re paying to not have to shop and parcel out the ingredients you need for the meals. BUT I’ll tell you what, the meals almost always turn out incredibly delicious. So <shrug> if you have the expendable income and enjoy dabbling in cooking, why not occasionally have a few meals delivered?
I decided let’s try HelloFresh. (Full disclosure, I had tried it once before several years ago but wasn’t convinced it was the right product for me. A long commute meant getting home late and not having the time to prepare a meal from scratch. Right now my commute is from my bedroom to my dining room, so I decided to RE-try HelloFresh because I happen to have all the time on my hands.)
Fun Fact: HelloFresh is the largest meal-kit provider in the United States. It’s also aimed at providing recipes that are relatively quick to prepare and convenient for the every day chef. Their recipes seem to fall well within my wheelhouse. They also have a pretty engaging social presence on Twitter AND they are actively working on their environmental impact with recyclable shipping/packaging materials and a commitment to offset 100% of their carbon emissions.
Since my issue with meal-kits is TIME, I decided let’s put a recipe to the test and see if I can cook it in the time quoted on the recipe card. This week it was Sweet Soy Glazed Beef Tacos.
Goal: Cook this tasty taco temptation in 25 minutes.
Start time 
Sliced up nice 
Chopped and soaking 
Coated that slaw 
End Time
Prep: I went out on a limb and considered preparation not just the washing, cutting, and chopping of veggies/fruit/peanuts, but also the marinating/coating of taco toppings. This took about double the time quoted, so maybe prep was just slicing and chopping. Either way, not terribly labor intensive. No culinary degree required. The only danger is discovering unknown cracks in your hands because you’re obsessively washing them whilst squeezing lemon juice on cucumber. (Believe me, that sucked.)
Sizzlin’ 
Tortilla spa day 
Plated like a pro
Cookin’: So really the only “cooking” involved was the soy glazed steak which you cook in a skillet on your stove. Lots of sizzle. A little reducing so the sauce thickens. 30 seconds of softening the tortillas in your microwave wrapped in a damp paper towel. And then you plate the tacos to your heart’s desire.
How’d I do?
30 minutes from start to finish! With a quote of 25 minutes, honestly this wasn’t bad. In fact, I think you could chalk the 5 minutes up to my mother texting me during the process or the having to restart the dryer.
Result: HelloFresh gets a gold star!
Plus, this meal was insanely delicious. I can’t handle spice, but the slightly spicy slaw was perfect for this easily upset nerd stomach. Both nerds in this domicile gave it two thumbs up.
Would I order again? Well, I still have 2 meals to prep, so I’m extending my personal test to increase the sample size. Will all three make it within 5 minutes of the quote time? If that ends up a “yes,” then I’d absolutely order again. But at ~$62.00 for three meals (6 servings), you’re looking at $10/meal (less if you factor in shipping). Can you easily drop that much dining out on ONE meal? Heck yeah, so this isn’t outlandish…but for the budget conscious or anyone whose financial situation has changed recently, this isn’t necessarily the most affordable option.
Let’s also mention that HelloFresh provides a cookbook section of their site where you can look up recipes broken into categories such as quick meals, hall of fame meals, world cuisine, easy to cook, etc. allowing you ample opportunity to try other meals outside of your box. The only disclaimer is shopping for your own ingredients is required.
HelloFresh has currently suspended their referral program due to COVID-19 and their commitment to focus on fulfilling orders for their existing customers. However, if you’re interested in signing up head on over to HelloFresh and they’ll have a welcome offer (or heck, Google HelloFresh offers and you’ll find something).
With two meals to go, you can rest assured one will get made this Friday on our 16th nerdiversary together. I’m thinking the lobster ravioli. Que fancy!
No matter what you’re eating right now, I hope that each and every one of you are getting what you need and staying healthy. If you are struggling to find enough food for you and your family, then first, I apologize for the tone deafness of this post. And second, AmpleHarvest.org has a food bank finder that can help you find a local food bank.
Take care nerds.
Cheers,
Head Nerd