in the kitchen with Hello Fresh

we had a special and rather delicious delivery hit our doorstep last week.

 while you might be thinking I'm talking about Baker's cheeks.. I am actually talking about a giant box filled with a week's worth of ingredients from hello fresh.

 I found myself back in the kitchen this last week, excited to make and try three new recipes delivered straight to my door.. without any meal planning or scouring of pinterest to figure out what I was going to prepare for my busy family.  

pregnancy and postpartum leave me little motivation to meal plan and cook for my crew.. so I tend to just cook what I know is easy and quick.  the WE EAT section of the blog has been far neglected and it gives me hives to think about how terribly I've been slacking in that department. 

we have been eating a lot of grilled chicken/steak and salads.  the crock pot makes an appearance here and there and occasionally I'll get a wild hair and turn on my oven.  there was ONE week towards the end of my pregnancy that I planned and prepped three new recipes and on meal one/night one the side spilled over the edge of my casserole dish in the oven and that mess sat there for another week (or more?!) before I cleaned it up. every time I went to use the oven I remembered the mess there in the bottom and scratched that plan for dinner and threw chicken nuggets in the microwave instead!  

 this is a far cry from my days (pre-kids.. well pre-FOUR kids) when I would meal plan every single week, five or six different meals for the days ahead.  I love being in the kitchen and I'm actually a pretty great self-taught cook (just ask Jordan!)- but time isn't something I have a lot to spare in this life stage.   So, I find myself seeking out a different route at dinner time and love the idea of quick, easy, healthy, and of course delicious!

enter hello fresh.

in case you have never heard of hello fresh or have never tried a meal delivery service like this (I'm a newbie!).. lemme break it down for you.

hello fresh is a service that delivers fresh ingredients for healthy recipes right to your doorstep.  they pride themselves on encouraging their customers to cook with fresh ingredients and in turn helps you stay healthy and beats any type of convenience, frozen, or fast food. 

hello fresh employs a dedicated team of chefs and dietitians creating recipes on a weekly basis to ensure that your dinners are balanced and wholesome.

MAJOR brownie points for hello fresh.. they have a dietitian (holla!)

there are three meal plan options

the classic plan (meat + fish recipes; 2-4 adults; choose from 6 recipes)

the veggie plan (vegetarian options only; 2-4 adults; choose from 3 recipes)

the family plan (meat, fish, + veggie recipes; 2 adults + 2 children; choose from 3 recipes)

 

 we selected the classic plan and received three meals consisting of three different protein options (shrimp, beef, and chicken breast).  everything arrived crisp and fresh in a refrigerated box.  each meal was pre-portioned and packed with all the ingredients in individual kits, so I didn't have to worry about sorting them out myself.  this also made storage in the fridge really easy, too!

I wasn't home when my box was delivered, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got the box off the porch (and out of the Texas heat!) that everything was still very cold! All of the meats and dairy is wrapped with special wool and cooling material to keep them fresh until you get home during delivery day.

hello fresh has a wealthy selection of recipes and adds 10 new recipes to their rotation every week

there's absolutely no commitment and you can skip, pause, or cancel your subscription at any time.

all of their meals range between 500-800 calories per serving and full nutritional information for every recipe can be found on their website!

last, but definitely NOT least- hello fresh recipes are not labor intensive or overwhelming at all to make.  each meal can take about a half hour to 45 minutes to prepare! my experience this week has been that I can get these meals on the table in about 35 minutes.

 I'm so excited about these boxes arriving every week.  when we budgeted our groceries while including the classic plan (for 4 people) we actually found to save money.. getting three different healthy protein options into my grocery cart isn't always cheapest route, so I can appreciate what hello fresh has to offer!  not to mention, it keeps me motivated to get back in the kitchen- I really have missed it and the consistency of cooking balanced and healthy meals.

wanna try it?!  hello fresh has graciously offered a generous discount code to my readers!

use code MASSEYA30 for $30 off your first box!  

 dinner is served!  and.. you guys!  it is as delicious as it looks! my former food blogger self might be a little proud that the burger looked very close to the picture on the recipe card hello fresh included:)  presentation is almost as important as taste.

almost.

thank you Brittany for cooking in the kitchen with us, and to hello fresh for sponsoring this post!