Like I’ve said before, I am not a chef. I do not enjoy cooking. Meals are a means to an end for me. The same can be said for my husband. We can cook, and when we do, we try to make healthy, easy, quick meals. So, when one of my friends sent me a free trial of Hello Fresh, we figured we had nothing to lose. The free trial sent us three meals and waived the cost of $70.

I had a few assumptions about Hello Fresh. First, that the meals were relatively easy to make. Second, that it’s healthy. I was half-wrong.

The first night we needed utensils we didn’t even have on hand (like a potato masher) and our meal of a chicken breast, roasted carrots, and potatoes was over 650 calories per person! Plus, it seems as though the Hello Fresh photos are slightly misleading because we did not get that many carrots after cooking the meal. If we were grading this meal (it is finals, after all) we’d give it a B-.

The second night we made beef skewers. These tasted fine. The prep took longer than what Hello Fresh predicted. But again, it was a rather high-calorie meal for beef, at 657 calories per person. Grade: B+

Our third and final night we made cheeseburgers. Well, my husband made them as I sneezed my life away. This prep was the easiest and most in line with what Hello Fresh predicted. Cheeseburgers are a meal we typically would never make at home, so this was a nice change of pace. But again, high in calories (737/person) Grade: A-/B+

So how come no solid A’s? Well, we just weren’t that impressed. If we would have paid for these meals we would have felt like it was really expensive and each meal was time consuming to prepare. Also, if we stick to our own cooking, we can save a lot of calories or at least save them and use them for post-dinner ice cream. Lastly, there was little variety in the side dishes and we had broccoli with two out of our three meals.

I think if you enjoy cooking but have a schedule or lifestyle that prohibits you from shopping regularly, plus a disposable income to accommodate this, you’ll love it. Don’t do it for the recipes though, they’re posted online for free!

Bon Apetit!