Review: Hello Fresh

I had the opportunity to review a food delivery service from Hello Fresh through the Mosaic Review Team.   There are two types of boxes to choose from Classic (with meats) and Vegetarian.  You can pick either a 2 person or 4 person box.  They send the ingredients for 3 meals each week and with the Classic Box, there are 3 that are the "default" meals with 2 optional ones that you can trade for if you'd rather have them (you do this after you check out in the "my account" section).  

swapping meals 

You can also pause deliveries if you want (be sure to press the "save" button after you do this!)  You have to cancel your account if you don't want to continue or it will automatically continue. 

This is our experience:

The Fed Ex guys handed me this box at the end of the driveway while I waited for Andy's bus.  (They were driving a Budget Rental truck!)

The box is thickly insulated

All the meals are individually bagged and labeled

The freezer packs!

We unpacked the box at 4:00 pm. I put the freezer packs in a dishpan on the counter and they still had frozen spots until 9:00 am the next day!  That's 17 hours!!!  They are reusable, so I put them in the freezer to use later.  I wanted to see how long they would stay frozen if left in the shipping box.  I put them in the box at 4:00 pm on Wednesday (like a delivery) and put the box on the kitchen floor.  They were still slushy and cold at 5:00 pm on Friday!  I took the temperature in the box and it was 48°!  


Individually bagged and labeled for each meal:

Chile Dusted Shrimp with Corn Relish:

Steak and Brussels Sprouts Stir-Fry:

Roasted Pork Tenderloin (with Lemony Skillet Potatoes and Zucchini):

Our favorite meal was the Pork Tenderloin with potatoes and zucchini.  I found the recipes easy to follow and liked the step by step instructions.  It was convenient to get all the ingredients you need to prepare the meal (other than staples like Olive Oil and sugar).  It made it easy to know what to have for lunch and I didn't have to figure something out.  The 2 person Classic Box that we tried out costs $69 (which includes shipping).  I wouldn't be able to pay that much for 3 meals, but it may be okay for someone who doesn't want to get out to do shopping. 

I had to contact the customer service and they were very friendly and solved my issue quickly. 

If you enter the code TICKTOCK50 you can get 50% off all e-Giftcard purchases and new customer sign-ups until Monday 12/23. Discounted e-Giftcards can only be redeemed by new customers.

I checked at Meijer to see the prices of things that came in our box and this is what I found:

Chile dusted shrimp                $9.45

Steak and brussels sprouts     $4.07

Pork Tenderloin                      $4.87

                                          --------

                                          $18.69

I figured the price for just the amount of each thing that was actually used in the recipe.  It would be more to buy the whole container (since you can't buy just 2 Tablespoons of something!)

I received a 2 person, 3 meal box to try for free in exchange for my honest review.  No other form of compensation was received.

@hellofresh , #hellofresh , #mosaicreviews , #hellofreshpics

Happy Thanksgiving

So, we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving today  since Dan was mostly sleeping or working (Black Friday and all).  But we did have a traditional Thanksgiving meal yesterday.  Which is what we normally do since Dan's pretty much had to work holidays the whole 15 years we've been married (He worked security before being at Walmart).  It's our "normal" and it works for us ☺ The kids did work on a Thanksgiving craft today, though.  We didn't finish (the snow outside was calling them!), so I'll post "after" pictures later!

What to do With Leftovers

I decided it was leftover night (although, when the kids asked what was for supper, I accidentally told them "reruns"!)

In the fridge, we had plain elbow macaroni, rice with chicken & gravy, beef with peppers and onions.  I threw in some shredded cheese and burrito shells.

Andy put his macaroni on a taco shell and sprinkled cheese on top!  

Green Eggs and Ham

William has been wanting me to make "Green Eggs and Ham" so today I did ☺

Jello Bites

I had picked up a pair of ice cube trays (still in their package) in the shape of apples at a thrift store or garage sale (I don't remember) since my kitchen is decorated with apples.  I thought they might work for Jell-O We tested that theory today ☺

I sprayed the trays with cooking oil. 
These were the only 2 packages of Jell-O I had!

Sarah helping to mix the Jell-O
(5 oz of water per 3 oz package of Jell-O)

We got a full tray plus these (the red had 1 more than the blue)

After they set for an hour, I dipped them in warm water and then pushed them out with my finger

So cute ☺

The stems didn't always come out very well (especially with the red)

Yumm!

And the Garden Is In!

I took pictures of my garden all last summer, and never posted ANY pictures!  So I want to be sure to post them this year!  My rototiller has been out of commission the last 2 years.  The first year, I planted a couple tomato plants and a couple pepper plants.  Last year, I still wanted a full garden, so I hand turned it all (in 80°+ temperatures!).  This year, we found out a friend from church would be able to fix it, so we hired him to do it and he had it fixed in 2 hours!  Dan tilled the dirt this afternoon and the boys and I planted the plants after dinner.

The garden area after we burnt the branches that were piled on it

Dan tilling the soil

We rescued a toad from the tiller

All done ☺

Bed 1, front to back: Blank area for the kids to dig in, cucumbers, heritage seeds from reenactment, watermelon

Bed 2, front to back: carrots, beans, yellow squash, corn, cantelope, sunflowers

Bed 3, front to back: tomatoes, bell peppers, pumpkin, onions, potatoes, zuchini

My sprinkler has some issues!