Lazy foodie tries the HelloFresh box
I'm a food lover, I could literally eat all day long. Sweet and savoury, food is my friend. Nowadays of course the healthy, homemade dishes are my favorite. BUT: I'm a bit of a lazy cook. Recipes have to be simple and must not contain more than 6 ingredients, or I lose my focus. And I'm always indecisive of what to eat.. So last week I tried a HelloFresh box for the first time.
In one box, you find the ingredients for 3 healthy meals for 2 people and it gets delivered right at your doorstep. If you are on your own, the box is enough for one whole week. If you want to make dinner for 3 or 4 people you can add extra vegetables or make a simple salad on the side.Since I am a vegetarian I chose the Veggiebox. When it arrived I immediately started smiling: opening a box full of fresh, delicious, colorful goodies is a joy in itself! There were different kinds of vegetables, cheeses, a bag filled with herbs and a great how-to-do-this-recipe booklet in the box.
I read the recipes and got excited to try these yummie things. The three meals I got were very different, which I liked. The booklet had beautiful pictures and simple steps so nothing could go wrong in the making of these dinners.
I decided to still have my Sunday cheat-meal and start working with this box on Monday. Literally a 'fresh' start of the busy week I had.
Meal 1: Vegetables with old cheese on flatbread
I had a really long day at work and was still a bit tired from the weekend, so this was the perfect recipe. Cut veggies, put them on a flatbread with tomato-sauce, cover it with delicious cheese and slide them in the oven. I liked the short time it took to prepare this and it only took a couple of minutes waiting for everything to be grilled and melted.
I'm a big fan of old cheese, and the veggies tasted great. I just never liked the taste of the little canned tomato-mash, which I had to use in this recipe, so that's what I would have liked different. Maybe it should have been the tomato-passata used in recipe 3 instead, because I had plenty of that left. I thought that tasted way better and fresher!
And I have to say, I was a bit disappointed when I saw sugar in the ingredients list of the flatbread. As a Fit Girl, I don't like it when they add sugar in products where you wouldn't really expect it. I would have liked the recipe more if it were a bit more healthy: whole wheat wraps in stead of this white flatbread for example. But besides that it was tasty and it also tasted great as a cold lunch the next day ;)!
Meal 2: Lasagna with provolone cheese and pine nuts
This was my favorite meal! Italian food is one of the loves of my life. I could eat pasta everyday, and I think you can never have to much Parmesan on it. If someone ever tries to tell you you put too much Parmesan on your pasta, stop talking to them, you don't need that kind of negativity in your life ;).
Anyway: this dish was SUPER yummie. I followed the recipe exactly. The soft, off-white Provolone cheese was new to me and tasted great. I also liked the pine nuts grilled on top. Mine were burned a bit, but that was my own fault ;) I can never get that right. The red hot chili pepper made the lasagna unique and spicy. This was enough for 4 people if you just added a little bit of tomatoes and salad with balsamic vinegar. I didn't, because I can eat for two if something tastes as good as this beauty! ;) I will definitely make this more often.
Meal 3: Couscous with grilled vegetables, chickpeas and feta
I loved all the different vegetables and the fact the couscous was whole wheat. It tasted delicious and it was plenty! Very easy to make, but because of the combination of the pre-grilled vegetables in oil and the fresh vegetables you had to wok yourself, it tasted really rich.
The only thing I would have liked is a bit more of the grilled vegetables. And I added a little extra feta, but hey, I am an extreme cheese-lover ;). The balsamic vinegar made it fresh and very new! I never tried that in combination with couscous, but it is an absolute must try. We chose to use a Moroccan table cloth and glasses, to make the feel of this dinner like we were on vacation. The next day I took the leftovers with me and had a delicious and healthy lunch. I thought this would be the least of the three recipes, but I really loved it. The feta was super fresh, even after a couple of days it still tasted great. The quality of the vegetables, cheeses and other ingredients was superb.
Overall I think this is an excellent idea for people who want to eat fresh and healthy, but work long days and don't feel like doing groceries everyday. It's nice not to have to think about what you want to eat and then go to the supermarket while you're hungry and buy everything you feel like. Or get an expensive, unhealthy takeout meal. Instead of that you just go home and in half an hour your plates are filled with great food!
What I also liked about the recipes, is that they gave me a lot of ideas and inspiration for other meals. And I really can't wait to see what's in the next box I get! It's awesome to try new things.
You can order a try-out box and see for yourself how handy this is! Or subscribe right away and try it a couple of weeks. I bet you'll enjoy it. You can pause the membership whenever you want to, for example if you leave for a holiday.
Have fun cooking!
