Prepping fresh, nutritious (and of course, delicious) meals for our families on a weeknight is something that often gets forgotten in the everyday juggle. And as a full-time working mum, I can testify to this. How on earth are we meant to fit it all in?! Between whizzing to collect our boy from after school wraparound care at 6pm, getting him in the bath, letting him splash about and play boat sinking competitions (don’t ask), wrestling him out of the bath he fought so hard not to go in, slathering him in all manner of eczema creams, getting him into his pyjamas, logging onto Mathletics and getting his homework done – all while desperately trying to keep him off his ipad - we are exhausted. And all of this after a full day’s work.
When it comes to dinner, as much as it pains me, it’s fish fingers or chicken nuggets thrown in the oven, most nights. Parental guilt is a cliché for good reason. And in our house, meals and mealtimes are our Achilles heel – the first thing that gives when something has to. And when it comes to my husband and I, we will often grab a ready-meal with questionable nutritional value, and then realise we have no veg to go alongside. And let’s not even talk about what time we all eat.
And when we are really busy and even more frazzled than usual?! Deliveroo and Uber Eats have been a lifesaver - albeit an expensive lifesaver. But now with the cost of living crisis hitting us, takeaways are banned in our house. We simply can’t afford them. So, what now?
This has literally changed our way of eating. We are now enjoying fresh, healthy food every night - while keeping in budget.
It turns out he answer was under my nose the whole time, I just didn’t realise it… Introducing HelloFresh delivery boxes, which promise to save time, stress and money. With meals starting from £3.22 per person, it’s a super-affordable way of getting fresh ingredients in measured quantities (no more soggy, rotting veg in the bottom of the fridge). And the best bit? It’s delivered direct to your front door, so you can say goodbye to those tedious supermarket trips.
So, it was time to put them to the test…
Meal Planning
Before:
This was a long process involving discussions about how quick and easy it will be to cook, then making a list of ingredients and finally the cheapest supermarket for all the ingredients (this always resulted in at least two different supermarkets).
After:
A simple scroll through the meals on the HelloFresh website and we’re done! Just a short wait until our delivery. And no more food waste! HelloFresh pop every single thing you need for the recipe into that box.
The Prep
Before:
I must confess, my husband does most of the cooking in our house (when we actually get around to it) and is a very talented chef. An incredibly messy, talented chef. Think half opened packets everywhere and an over-flowing bin. Not sure exactly what he’s up to in that kitchen, but this process always seems to take an awfully long time.
After:
Wow. The super-organised pouches of ingredients are a joy to behold. We are instantly ready to go. No more waste! And trust me, much less mess.
The Recipe
Before:
By the time we’ve measured all the ingredients, we are always running late. We both find recipes fairly easy to follow, but are exhausted by the time we get to actually cooking.
After:
With all the ingredients ready-prepped, we can start much earlier. The recipes are simple and, amazingly, we are able to throw a delicious meal together in 20 minutes. Hello casual Quick Creamy Prawn Rigatoni with Lemon Zest!
The Verdict
All the recipes we have tried so far have been delicious. And we have really enjoyed how the menus are mixed up each week, so we don’t get sick of eating the same food. In terms of cost, we found them to be super economical, as the portions are so generous there were leftovers to freeze for a future meal.
This has literally changed our way of eating. We are now enjoying fresh, healthy food every night - while keeping in budget. We are also able to eat earlier, which enables much earlier bedtimes all-round. Cue parental-guilt swiftly fading away. And spousal-guilt, as it means I am finally pulling my weight in the kitchen!
Order your HelloFresh box now here.