We just got a free trial box and made the first recipe tonight. We’ve done Hello Fresh (also a free box) but wasn’t really that impressed with the meals. We do Simply Cook a lot (also free boxes but main ingredients not included) and prefer that as the meals really are simple to cook and I don’t mind picking up the ingredients whilst shopping. They can be over salted though. So far feeling impressed with the taste of the Gousto meal (Chicken Yakitori Skewers with Candied Sweet Potato). It was quite a faff to make and I definitely couldn’t be bothered to do that most nights. The portion sizes are quite generous, we ended up not using all of each ingredient so we have leftovers that could be used towards something else. Here’s what they sent us - all completely free. I could have done without so much plastic packaging though!
We have done it as a family and my lad is currently doing it again in his Leeds digs. He is impressed and every order is a step up from when he lived at home. He's just running out of email addresses to get his trial deals on.
Is it done on emails rather than address? That’s a bit slack of them! I can’t see how they can give all this out for free. They must be confident they can get people to keep ordering. This evening’s meal was really nice but £50 normal price is a bit steep (although it is 4 meals for 4 people and we paid £50 for fish and chips twice, deserts and a non alcoholic drink each from Murgatroyds near Leeds Bradford airport yesterday. It’s the most expensive non special occasion meal I’ve ever had, I was in shock for hours after ).
Murgatroyds is lovely, but if rather pay there than at Bizzie Lizzie's at Skipton which are really not that good anymore
Yep, used Gousto and HelloFresh. Did HF first, left them as kept being missing ingredients and got fed up of it. Gousto seemed better but then we got fed up with them and went back to HF when we got sent a voucher code. Must say much better now, barely had a missing ingredient this time and we actually feel that the portion sizes are more generous with HF. Most meals very good too and though a faff, are doable even if you're crap at cooking like me.
Hello Fresh annoyed me as it seemed like almost every recipe came with an extra charge to the point where you could only select really basic meals. I'm just loving that I like food now, after being the pickiest eater in the world until mid to late 20s*. I've discovered this whole world of food - it's been one hell of a journey of spending years having to try less than a fingernail worth of each thing multiple times, slightly increasing the amount each time until I could tolerate the flavour. Now, unless it's a 'medium hot' spice which I don't enjoy, I'll just cook and eat a normal-sized portion of anything, without even trying it first. (I have put nearly a stone of weight on in the last year though since using these services so that's definitely not good!) * Seriously. I didn't eat rice, pasta, any herb or spice whatsoever (my only flavour added was onion and salt), any type of sauce apart from ketchup, melted cheese, anything with tomato (except raw, uncooked tomato), only bread was sliced white unbuttered, etc. etc.
A fair few of the meals are healthy though, and almost all contain various vegetables in. Some are high calorie but overall I'd say you can choose healthy meals if you wish which shouldn't really cause weight increase unless it's a healthy and desired increase.
I blame my husband. He unexpectedly lost a stone and a half (his normal weight is under 11 stone to start with). He’s under the care of doctors now and has put it back on but before he went to the doctors he was trying to put it back on himself to see if he could or if there was anything seriously wrong. We started cooking him bigger portions and somehow mine started increasing too. I put weight on and he didn’t! He’s now gained it back a year later and I’m still carrying the extra weight. I’m still less than 10 stone, just about, so it’s probably actually good for me as I’m not short, but I’m still blaming him
I get Gousto, I just look for the recipes that have coconut cream and/or crispy onions as ingredients. They're both like crack for me.
Anne's had Gousto and was quite impressed. However, the excess packaging is hardly eco-friendly and the price is eye-watering. For people with little or no experience of cooking, it might be a useful way of learning. Personally, I'd sooner watch James Martin on saturday mornings and get the recipes from his web site.
At one point in the past I weighed more than you and your husband combined! (Not now though, but still could do with losing a stone or two...) You don't actually need to dish out everything on your plate if you are putting weight on - have more of the veg and less of the bad, but so tasty, stuff...
The amount of packaging there is crazy. We seem to be on a crusade of trying to find companies that provide local, seasonal good quality produce that is sustainable and minimises waste and excess... and it's not that easy, especially given the limitations we have. A couple of days ago someone mentioned an app to my missus, too good to go, which is basically a way of reducing food waste at outlets. It's a bit of a lucky dip, but we thought we'd give it a go and see what it was like. We were limited given that most of the places were collections, so we chose a veg/deli shop thats literally just round the corner from us, I phoned them in advance of placing the order and asked given we lived so close, if they could just drop it round at the end of the day and they did. The app shows the amount of food price at full cost, the discounted price and when its available. So we got £10 of food for something like £3.65. It was delivered in two bags. One paper, one compostable. And for just under £4 we got a large punnet of cherries, a punnet (both punnets recycled card) of 8 apricots, a bag of spinach, 6 large potatoes and a large white sourdough. A couple of cherries were a bit scabby, one of the apricots we chucked and the bread was a day old, so a little stale though I toasted a bit this morning before freezing the rest and it was absolutely fine. There were plenty of places signed up to it, including pret and greggs as well as independents. I suspect it will be centred more around cities, but it might be worth people having a look if there is anything near them or their workplace. I did see places offering reduced breakfast or lunch about half an hour after their peak hours lapsed, so that could be handy for some.
