Hello Fresh Returns | Our Fifth Box

We are almost coming to the end of our Hello Fresh journey, through blog posts – and actually, last week I sorted through all our old cards to see which ones I wanted to keep and recreate at home from scratch. I find that many of the recipes can easily be made yourself, particularly the pasta ones. I’ve also had another set of vouchers with 50% and 30% off future boxes, which I may need to consider. But as always, the most important question is: what did I cook this week?

Monday:        Satay aubergine, with roasted broccoli and rice

I’ll be honest and say that I’m not a real lover of aubergine. I’ll eat it in moussaka or ratatouille, but it’s not something I buy or cook often. But I really liked the sound of this dish, because, let’s be honest, satay sauce is life. Of all the options for a meat-free Monday, this recipe had to be the best. And it’s true – this was delicious, and the satay sauce made it! So rich and peanutty and smothered all over the aubergine slices. I found this card the other day, and it’s made me want to make it again.

I rated this dish 4/4

Tuesday:       Tuscan sausage, with cavolo nero colcannon and balsamic onion gravy

You can’t go wrong with bangers and mash, and it’s the kind of dish you can enjoy any day of the week – plus, it’s a proper winter warmer. This was next level, with a rich onion gravy and the bonus of a pumped-up mash. I recently realised that we don’t eat enough leafy green veg, and I absolutely love cavolo nero – so much nicer than kale! What a way to spruce up some mash, with a pop of colour. This is comfort food at its very best, and the next time we have sausage and mash on the menu, I’ll be giving this a go, again.

I rated this dish 4/4

Wednesday:   Creamy bacon & mustard penne, with pear & blue cheese salad

This was a midweek hit and a dish I regularly think about making again. When I do pasta, I go double carbs, always serving it with garlic bread, doughballs or similar. I would never think of serving a salad – it’s just that crazy hot versus cold juxtaposition that makes me weird out. But I genuinely don’t know which I loved more – the pasta or the side salad. The combination was divine, despite the double cheese and double mustard, but neither were overwhelming. This was excellent. I need a pear & blue cheese salad in my life again.

I rated this dish 4/4

Thursday:      Beef fried rice, with green beans and pepper

If you’re looking for a quick and easy dinner, fried rice always does the job. You can even speed up the process by using those microwavable pouches of rice. This was made from scratch, but still was made in around 15 minutes. So easy, but so tasty. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it on one of these posts before, but who knew you could use mince in a stir-fry! I garnished this with a whole bunch of coriander, which added a lot of flavour. It was fairly bland otherwise.

I rated this dish 3/4

Friday: Harissa chicken, with roasted cauliflower and green beans

I loved the sound of this dish, but it really didn’t live up to my expectations – and actually, I didn’t enjoy it to the extent that I didn’t eat it all. It’s one of the very few Hello Fresh meals I haven’t liked, because I’m not fussy and do eat anything. It could have been that it was a Friday night and a Fakeaway would have been more appropriate, or something with a little less prep and waiting around time. But in terms of the meal itself, I still don’t know if it was the flavour or the texture that I didn’t like, but it just wasn’t for me. It’s a shame, because on the whole, this was an excellent box.

I rated this dish 2/4

This is my penultimate post, although I’m still toying with the idea of ordering again. Question – are any of the alternative services any good or better than Hello Fresh – in terms of price, meal choice, quality and service? Please let me know and if anyone has any referral/discount codes, do let me know.

Love, Lucy xx

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