Hello Fresh: An Ideal Alternative To Take-Out

Have you heard of Hello Fresh yet? Hello Fresh is a box service that offers seasonal ingredients with easy to prepare recipes regardless of what your diet may be. I was excited to test out this box service after hearing so much positive feedback from others!  As promised, I received everything I needed for three days worth of delicious meals that are not only easy to prepare but healthy too. I found myself looking forward to cooking dinner largely because it was something new and it was fun to do with my husband. Continue reading to learn more about Hello Fresh and why it's the perfect alternative to ordering take-out. 

NMF: How did you come up with the concept of Hello Fresh?

Hello Fresh : In 2011, Dominik Richter and Thomas Griesel (HelloFresh's co-founders) arrived in Berlin, intent on starting a new and disruptive business. With a love of healthy food, nutrition, cooking, and a desire to make access to healthy food as easy as possible for as many people as possible – starting a food at home business seemed like the natural choice. After examining business models from Sweden to Japan to very local ideas, they and a group of like-minded individuals formulated the recipe for HelloFresh. The team started early in 2012 packing shopping bags in Berlin, Amsterdam and London with a view to target the highest density population areas in Europe. Quite quickly, they started getting requests from people outside those areas who all wanted to become a part of the HelloFresh family.  Wanting to serve as many people as possible, the team developed a logistics model that enabled them to deliver to every single household across a given country.   The HelloFresh product started to rapidly gain in popularity, as subscribers shared the excitement about their weekly boxes, with friends and colleagues.  Subscriber referrals accelerated, as it became clear that HelloFresh had finally solved the "What's for dinner tonight" problem for its subscribers. Having launched on the East Coast of the U.S in December 2012, HelloFresh moved to cover the entire country in September 2014. Over the short time since then, HelloFresh has grown rapidly to become one of the largest players in this market.  

NMF: Do you think Hello Fresh is changing how families eat dinner together?

HF: HelloFresh is getting families back in the kitchen cooking.  Cooking a homemade meal has become a lost art in so many households today, but it is the simplest way to take control of your health. In this day and age, our lives are getting busier and busier and in turn, making it harder and harder to get a healthy, home-cooked meal on the dinner table. There are so many excuses why we don't cook at home more, but meal kits like HelloFresh eliminate the hassle associated with cooking. We shortcut customers straight to the stove by taking care of the tough and stressful parts - the meal planning, grocery shopping and ingredient prepping, and delivering it straight to their home. This leaves time for the actual fun part of cooking and more time spent with family and friends—spending less time cooking and more time AT the dinner table. Cooking is also a great activity for couples and families to do together, especially to teach children about cooking and healthy eating at a young age.

Below is a look at one of the meals I received, it was so easy to cook! I prepared Jamie's Sticky Asian-Style Salmon with Broccolini, Quick-Pickled Cucumber & Rice. 

NMF: Are there meal options available for all lifestyles?  Ex. Gluten free, vegan etc...

HF: HelloFresh currently offers a Classic Box include meat and fish, a Veggie Box for vegetarians and a Family Box. There is a registered dietitian on staff who evaluates all recipes before they make it onto the menu, and includes full nutrition panels on each recipe complete with an allergen listing. This provides customers with complete transparency about what they are eating. We often have wheat-free and dairy-free options available, and many recipes can be adapted to diets by simply omitting an ingredient (like a cheese, or a sauce that may be the source of gluten). We also recently launched Menu Preferences, an innovation to help customers curate a personalized menu each week.

The preferences include:

• Fit (meals under 650 calories)
• Quick (30 minutes or less)
• Variety (get a menu that will get you out of your rut and add new recipes to your repertoire)
• Chef's Choice- Set your preferences to receive an assortment of each week's recipes hand selected by our chefs.
• Beef-Free
• Pork-Free
• Seafood-Free

If a recipe outside of your curated menu tempts your taste buds any given week, you will still have the flexibility to make meal choice before cutoff!

NMF: Is Hello Fresh affordable? 

HF: Yes! The Classic Box: $69 (3 meals for 2 people), $129 (3 meals for 4 people), $84.90 (4 meals for 2 people), $99 (5 meals for 2 people); Veggie Box:  $59 (3 meals for 2 people, $109 (3 meals for 4 people); and Family Box $105 (3 meals for 4 people), $79.95 (2 meals for 2 people). Depending on the box type, meals range anywhere from around $8-11 per serving. Ingredients pre-measured in the perfect portions mean no wasted food and no wasted money on food you didn’t get a chance to eat before it went bad. What’s also factored into the cost is the time saved by not having to meal plan and grocery shop, which means more time spent with family.

NMF: Will you be adding meal options for breakfast and lunch too?

HF: We are always thinking about new ideas to expand but do not have any current plans to add lunch or breakfast in the immediate future.

For more information on Hello Fresh or to order your box click here!

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