REVIEW: Hello Fresh! + £25 discount code

This week we’ve been eating what my children like to call ‘real meals’, thanks to a new food delivery service from Hello Fresh. If you’re thinking of giving Hello Fresh a go, have a read of my review and you could get £25 off your first order. Do leave your own comments too if you’ve given Hello Fresh a try recently.

Quite frankly, I think my inspired pasta dishes count as ‘real meals’, but apparently just mixing up pasta with whatever you happen to have left in the fridge doesn’t count as cordon bleu. What do they know?

Still, I have to admit that there is something satisfying about using Actual Ingredients, and following a recipe. It’s not my normal style, mainly because recipes are usually so expensive. You may only need a handful of chopped fresh coriander, but you can’t buy it by the handful can you? You end up spending out loads just to get a teaspoon each of five weird herbs you don’t have and will never use again.

This is why Hello Fresh is so good. Not only do they send you the recipes, but they send you all the ingredients you need, in just the right amounts. Costs are kept to a reasonable level, you aren’t left with an almost full bottle of red wine vinegar sitting in the back of your cupboard for the next five years, and you get lots of cute things in mini packets. It’s really very sweet.

"Hello Fresh review"

Om nom nom

This week we ate a yummy fresh prawn linguine, a smoked mackerel, new potato and green bean salad, and a couscous dish with chicken, chorizo, salad leaves and courgettes.

They were all delicious, although the couscous dish did make us a bit farty…

Hello Fresh isn’t not cheap of course, but the quality of the ingredients really was superb – the meatiest, most flavoursome prawns I’ve ever tasted – and with free delivery and no waste I reckon it’s pretty good value for money. So much so, that I’ve actually placed a regular order. Recommendations don’t come better than that.

If you fancy giving it a try, use this link or the code JOMID for £25 off your first order.

Bon appetit!

Have you tried the service? Leave your own Hello Fresh reviews and let everyone know what you think! 

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13 Comments

  1. lisbeth
    11 July, 2012 / 7:35 pm

    Mmm that DOES sound good.

  2. Wendy
    13 March, 2015 / 11:21 pm

    I have had a very bad experience with Hello Fresh. They have twice charged me for deliveries that never made it to my house, they did refund me eventually, but it took many many many emails and calls to get my money refunded. They had the audacity to suggest that they would compensate me by crediting me account, with me money mind you, and delivering me a box paid for with that credit in the future. As if I would, after twice not having the service I paid for delivered, leave my money on account with this company. I can not comment on the quality of the food as they can not even get the very basic food delivery portion of their service right, the very premise that their business is based on. Shame on you Hello Fresh for such poor delivery of your service and even worse customer service.

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      16 March, 2015 / 5:19 pm

      Sorry to hear you had a bad experience!

      • a
        14 May, 2016 / 4:07 am

        My experience was quite bad as well…Wilted basil, pocked zucchini, I paid $70 for two three-meal-a-week boxes via a Rue La La voucher, but Hello Fresh said my voucher got me only $20 off a week, for two weeks… So, i paid $69 to get a $40 discount for compromised deliveries,plus to cancel cost me another ($79) box I didn’t want… Oh, and even if the boxes were timely, not wilted, and honored vouchers, the food is insanely tiny in volume… My hubby, who likes a 6-8 ounce burger, will flip out when I tell him meal 3 this week is a burger meal, where each patty is a meager 4 ounces….

  3. Annette
    7 April, 2015 / 11:53 pm

    I live in the middle of no where and I have received my deliveries just fine. Great product. Love the different recipes!!

  4. Tammy
    17 April, 2015 / 11:42 pm

    Received our first delivery yesterday and couldn’t be more pleased! As I was making the first dish -spring veggie flatbread- I was thinking this isn’t enough for two people. After eating dinner though it was plenty. Made Mediterranean Quinoa with Kale Chips tonight. Spells really good!

  5. joan mcmullan
    15 May, 2015 / 4:14 pm

    I have been using Hello Fresh for more than 6 months. For nearly 2 months I have been trying some similar service – Plated & Blue Apron. The food and recipes of all 3 are good. Unfortunately Hello Fresh is the most difficult to deal with. Until recently I could never reach them by phone. But now that they have expanded They are answering the phone but with poorly trained help. Forget trying to reach them by email. You’re just not likely to get an answer! I bought some gift coupons to share this kind of service with family. Out of 5 gifts, only 1 worked right. The worse was that the 1 time coupon opens an account for the recipient that can’t be closed until after 2 deliveries and they claim the coupon states it open s subscription but neither ‘Living Social’ ( the coupon issuer) nor I could find any reference to one. I called Hello Fresh numerous times to get this gift/subscription canceled but only succeeded after 5 deliveries! And the last 4 deliveries went to the wrong address! I was called a liar by 1 service rep while conducting these many calls. Her supervisor finally resolved the problem by ‘awarding me credit with Hello Fresh for the returned or lost. Similar incident with son in Minneapolis left me buying 4 (4 person meals) that we didn’t order. Foods good, recipes are good. Service ‘sucks’!

  6. Kathryn
    13 June, 2015 / 10:35 am

    Thanks for the post and to everyone for the comments – I am considering trying them out so trying to research other’s experience.

  7. Liane Hooper
    23 June, 2015 / 1:23 am

    I am in California and have just tried 2 of the 3 meals. One was delicious, the other awful. I prepared the awful one first, so I didn’t have a good impression. It was the spicy Lebanese beef skewers with quinoa tabbouleh salad. I don’t know what was wrong with the ground beef, but it was the driest, beef I have ever tasted, it would hardly hold together for shaping. The quantity of cayenne pepper was too much and created such hot meatballs that neither I, nor my guest finish them. The salad was just ok, I added traditional mint to jazz it up, but the cooking time was way off…too much water was called for to cook the quinoa and the olive oil-lemon zest “dressing” was too inadequate to lend proper taste and moisture to the quantity of grain. But the Bloody Mary chicken meal was delicious…. I did exercise caution with the cayenne, there was more than the supposed teaspoon in the little packet, so I’m glad I measured it. So I have yet to make the fish tacos, the jury is out. For comparison, I ordered a meal no from Blue Apron to be delivered next week. Will see which company may win my future business!

  8. Mike
    10 July, 2015 / 11:43 pm

    Beware of Hello Fresh! I used a groupon for 1/2 off and they still charged me 69.00. I paid Groupon $34.50 and was then double charged by Hello Fresh. To compensate this they agreed to send me a free box, but they charged me for that box also. They have refused to refund any money and will only offer to send more free boxes. I am sure that a charge will be issued for those also. This company is horribly run and will over charge for everything. Stay away!

  9. Carolyn
    10 November, 2015 / 12:24 am

    Hi there!
    I was searching for reviews of Hello Fresh and came across your blog name and it made me laugh, so I had to come and add my take on H.F.
    Ok, so I purchased Hello Fresh with a Groupon and I received my first box today. However, they delivered it to the wrong address. Furthermore, they delivered it to a condo which is vacant and for sale. The realtor just happened to be showing the condo today and brought it to my door, otherwise I would have never known and the food would have gone completely to waste!
    Secondly, I read the tag on the box and many of the vegetables are grown in Mexico. With all the recent news regarding produce being contaminated coming from Mexico, I just don’t want to take that chance.
    Last, but certainly not least, the box. The packaging was lovely and it was perfect, however, OVERKILL! Soooo much waste! The box was huge, then there were many tiny boxes inside of bigger boxes, inside of even bigger boxes with cardboard, plastic, insulation bubble wrap, more cardboard. I just think we are already killing our planet, and I felt so guilty just OPENING it to find so much waste. I recycled most of it, put the plastic water bags in the freezer to use for a picnic or whatever.
    Needless to say, I haven’t had a chance to prepare a meal, so I can’t comment on the quality or taste.
    Anyhow, just my 2 ( or 3 or 4 or 5) cents! :)

  10. Denise M
    18 January, 2016 / 9:54 pm

    I too have been scammed by Hello Fresh. I bought a groupon for 2 weeks of meals for $59.00. So I order my first week get it and no problem. I order the second week of meals and get charged $99.00 plus I had to pay $30.00 for an overdraft fee on my account because I was not anticipating a $100 charge to come through. I called Hello Fresh customer service she said I could not apply the groupon because I was not a new customer. WHAT – of course I am a new customer I only had heard about them through the groupon. But because I was on my second week, I am not a new customer. She would not apply my groupon, she told me I should have applied at checkout, which I did. So no luck with Hello Fresh. I called groupon, they told me I could not use the groupon because I was not a new customer. Again, WHAT! So basically, at the moment I am out $188 for eight meals from Hello Fresh. Do not order from this company! It is not worth the hassle. I have spend more time on the phone trying to get help then the $99.00 is worth.

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