Refresh with Hello Fresh

I was absolutely delighted when Hello Fresh contacted me and asked me to be part of their refresh with hello fresh campaign. It’s something I had seen people using on social media and had often thought I would love to try it but I’d just never got round to it. I am a keen home cook and enjoy preparing meals for my family every evening, (Up here in Yorkshire we call this tea) but I had got into a rut and we were cooking the same meals over and over again. It had got to the point where cooking our evening meal took up a huge chunk of my time, and don’t even mention the supermarket shopping, it has got be my worst household chore! I wasn’t sure how this collaboration would be received by people who are used to looking at pictures of my house, but I knew it would fit with my stories as I often share recipes with people on there.

We were all super excited choosing the first weeks recipes, I made a conscious decision to choose things that we wouldn’t normally eat. (The things I usually cook at home are curries with chicken, lots of pasta, and usually one mincemeat recipe per week, for example Bolognese, chilli or meatballs). I really enjoy vegetarian food and was keen to find some new recipes which the family would enjoy equally. We very rarely have fish, but enjoy it so I made sure we chose fishy recipes too. The app was really easy to use, we went for the family meal plan with four meals. The four week meal plan still allows us to have pizza Friday, no cook Saturday and Grandad for roast dinner on Sunday (The jury is still out as to whether this is a good or bad thing).

We were so excited when our first parcel arrived on the Saturday morning. I had been worried about packaging, but was very impressed that most things were recyclable. I loved how the fridge stuff is packed with ice packs and the ingredients for each meal are in their own individual, numbered bag. We waited until Monday to try it, I can’t believe how eager everybody was for tea that night! It was cod with crushed new potatoes in a tarragon sauce. I very rarely cook fish at home but the recipe was so easy to follow as it was broken down into six easy stages, all the ingredients were there, in the exact quantities. It could not have been easier, and it was delicious, everybody cleared their plates. The girls were excited because it was new, and they didn’t complain and pick at their food like they usually do. Typically I have to start cooking tea at about 3.30pm to have it ready in time but these recipes were just taking me half an hour every evening!

I have always planned our weekly meals and wrote a detailed shopping list every week. This had turned into such a boring chore, trying to think of different things to cook and remembering to buy all the ingredients. I hate shopping so much that the big shop has become Tim’s responsibility, but he is a little bit forgetful, and this means when I’m cooking tea most evenings I have to get into the car to go and buy a key ingredient. I can’t tell you the angry phone calls that he gets on his drive home from work, sometimes he has to say ‘Joanne somebody is in the car with me,’ so I don’t swear at him. So I could say that hello fresh has been good for my marriage too?!

This is our last week being part of the campaign. I suppose the proof of the pudding is am I going to carry on with my hello fresh boxes? I’ll be honest, I wanted to go back to cooking freestyle again, we have slowly built up a bank of fabulous recipes, some which we loved more than others and would definitely cook again. I have learnt new cooking techniques, which were far more simple than what I was used to. Teatime has become less of a chore, and we’ve eating lots of different things. Fortunately, I have been overruled and the family who have insisted that we carry on with the boxes. I really can’t recommend them enough, the ingredients are fresh, there is lots of variety; we have all eaten so many more vegetables than we usually eat and they have been cooked in different and exciting ways. I have learnt about portion control, all the ingredients are sent and the exact measurements you need for the recipe so it’s very difficult to over eat. (But there are still leftovers for Tim to take to work the next day).

The code is still active for you to get a discount from your first box Click here and please ask me if you have any questions because you know I will answer them honestly.