Hello Fresh Final Review - It's Not Good!

I wrote a blog post on 9th Feb about signing back up to Hello Fresh, you can read the post here.  I first used Hello Fresh back in 2012 and was assured when I agreed to purchase a box earlier this month that all the problems they had in 2012 had been resolved.  I did enjoy a few of the meals from the box but I cancelled my subscription as I felt that the box did not provide value for money and that I could purchase the ingredients for a fraction of the price from the supermarket.

I cancelled my subscription too late for the following weeks box to be cancelled so on Thursday this box arrived....

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that it contained considerably less than the previous weeks box. As I was getting the "fresh" items out of the box I noticed that some of them were slightly wet...

This was the reason why! Rotten tomatoes! 

Rotten pepper!

Green potatoes!

Damp, mouldy garlic!

I was not happy at all with finding these items in my box and emailed Hello Fresh straight away to let them know and to ask for a refund.  They didn't reply to me on the Thursday and I had to chase twice on Twitter before they replied to my email on Friday.

The reply was not satisfactory at all - all items are checked before packing, we will tell the delivery driver to be more careful and we will add a little something to your next box! WHAT! Firstly they could have at least checked my account to see that I had already cancelled my subscription, I am speechless that they think they can send rotten/mouldy food to customers and expect them to carry on their subscription for "a little something extra" in the next box.  

These items weren't damaged in transit - the rotten tomatoes were in the middle of the pack, I moved some of them to the top for the photo.  

I replied that I wasn't happy at all with the response and that I wanted a refund.  I still haven't had a reply.  

The awful customer service I received and the quality of the food were the reasons I cancelled the subscription back in 2012 and I feel like a bit of an idiot for resubscribing!

It is not very often I post negative reviews on my blog but I feel very strongly that I need to be honest about my experience with Hello Fresh.  £49.00 is a lot of money to spend on 5 meals and I can't afford to be wasting money on food that we cannot even eat!  

*UPDATE - I was contacted by the Managing Director of Hello Fresh after he read this blog post.  He was very apologetic and I was refunded for the box.

Saviour Super Skinny Snack Box Review

Saviour Snacks are a UK based company that delivery healthy snack boxes to your home or office.  You can choose to have the box delivered weekly, fortnightly or monthly.  There are a range of boxes including Gluten Free, Vegetarian and Vegan.  You can read more about the boxes they offer on their website.

I hadn't heard of this company before but a sponsored post popped up on my Facebook feed offering a box for £4.95 delivered.  I ordered the box on a Thursday and it arrived on the following Tuesday so delivery is quite speedy.

I choose the Super Skinny box.  All the items are under 120 calories.

On the underside of the box lid is a table which lists the yummy products in the box, it tells you the calorie content of the snack along with additional details on whether it is suitable for vegetarians, low fat etc

The box contains 14 portion controlled snacks.  Saviour Snacks state on their website that the products in the boxes contain:

No trans fats
No hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats
No artificial additives, colours or preservatives
No genetically modified foods
No high fructose corn syrup
No MSG

ONLY real ingredients that you can pronounce

I really like the variety of the contents and the portion sizes are not tiny which is a plus!

The customer service is fab too, I had to email them twice and I got speedy, polite and helpful responses.

The box usually retails for £14.95 including postage but if you go to the homepage on their website they are offering a box for £4.95.  You can find the homepage here.

Have you heard of Saviour Snacks?  Tempted to get a box?

Hello Fresh Meal Review

I wrote a post yesterday about me getting a Hello Fresh box last week for the first time since 2012, I said I would let you know what the meals were like.  These are the first two meals I cooked:

I like the little write ups about the meal and the picture of how it is supposed to look like is a good guide!

The ingredient list is very clear although I do find it weird that they use "cup" measurements as this is more commonly found in American recipes and the UK tends to use grams.  I just presumed that the breadcrumbs etc were the correct amount and used the lot!

Ta-Dah!

Ok the sweet potato is a little overcooked but they tasted delicious and so did the chicken.  I added some coleslaw as the dish was quite dry without a salad dressing or anything so the coleslaw just finished the dish off in my opinion.

Again a write up about the dish.

Again nice clear ingredients list, I used the whole pack of pancetta and a whole carrot as otherwise they would have gone to waste.  I didn't bother weighing them out (ohhh living dangerously!)

I never would have cooked something like this normally but it was absolutely delicious, the crispy pancetta set it off perfectly.

I really liked both of these dishes, the portion sizes are much bigger and so more filling than when we got the boxes back in 2012.  The nutritional information is really handy as I'm trying to lose weight.

I am not sure on the value for money though, each meal is nearly £10 as the box costs £49.00 for 5 meals including delivery...

Hello Fresh Review

Hello Fresh is a company that delivers fresh ingredients to your home along with recipe cards to make delicious home cooked meals!  They do a variety of boxes including vegetarian.

I had a few Hello Fresh boxes back in 2012 (I can't believe it was that long ago!), at the time they had only just launched in the UK so there were a few teething problems.  I had a few deliveries with damaged food packaging, damaged outer box and I thought the portion sizes were quite small.  I was contacted by Hello Fresh with an offer of £15.00 off a box if I renewed my subscription.  They assured me that lots of the problems when they started had now been resolved so I agreed to purchase the 2 person 5 meal classic box, which usually retails at £49.00.  The lady told me that the portions would be suitable for 2-3 people.

The boxes are delivered by courier and a tracking link was emailed to me once the box was collected from Hello Fresh.  I left instructions to leave the box on the front step if I was out which the courier had to do as I was out doing the afternoon school run.

The packaging is much better now, all the cold items were in this insulated bag.  The bag is recyclable.  Previously the cold items were in the box with the rest of the items and the cooling packs were around the outside of the items - this tended to make the outer cardboard box a bit soggy!

The recipe cards are the same virtually the same as before.  They have a little write up about the dish, a clear list of ingredients then step-by-step instructions on the reverse including nice clear pictures of the cooking process.  The little envelope that the cards come in is a nice touch!

They do now include nutritional information which is really helpful - it shows calories, carbs, fat and protein per portion.

These are the cold items we got this week.

This is all the veg, lentils, rice, tins etc

Looks lovely and healthy doesn't it!

The herbs etc are packaged seperately.  The spices have already been measured out, so the quantities are correct for the recipes.

Unfortunately there was damaged packaging on the focaccia bread but I put it in a sandwich bag and it was fine.

I will review each of the 5 dishes over the week and let you know what we think about them, how easy and accurate the recipes are, portion sizes etc.

Have you had a box from Hello Fresh? You can use my referral code 75ZPXR for £20.00 off your first box here (I do get a credit to my account if you use my code).

If you want to read any of my previous reviews you can find them here, here, here, here and here!

YOU Beauty Discovery February Box

This months box is all about Red Carpet Glamour.

For those of you who haven't heard of this box before, it is a monthly subscription box (you can cancel at any time) where you choose two picks from a choice of about 10 items plus everyone gets the same couple of freebies.  The box is priced at a brilliant price of £6.95 inc postage!

Postage is fast, I only choose my items at the beginning of the week and the box arrived via courier last night.

There is always a little magazine included that has details on all the products that you can pick from in the month as well as a few beauty related articles.

I choose:

Teeez Mysterious Crystal Eyeliner - I received the shade smokey quartz, it is a gorgeous steel grey with sparkles of green and pink.  Once this sets it doesn't budge! The eyeliner is double ended and has a smudger and a sharpener, very handy!  This is a full size item and retails at £13.95 here.  I also love the packaging it is very quirky! I have not heard of this brand before but will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of their products.

Glamglow Youthmud Tinglexfoliate Treatment 15ml - this is a celebrity and bloggers fave! A mud face mask that leaves the skin moisturised and glowing. 50ml retails for £34.99 here making the sample worth £10.50.

These are the two freebies that everyone gets in their February box. 

Charles Worthington Instant Amplifying Volume Treatment 20ml sachet, 200ml retails for £14.99 here so the sample is worth £1.50.  There is also a £2.00 voucher off Charles Worthington at Boots.

Beyond Dark Chocolate Drops with a hint of orange 35g bag - you can buy 12 bags for £10.00 here which works out at 83p per bag.  Oh my word! These chocolates are absolutely delicious!! I will definitely be putting an order in for more!

Yet again I am made up with my YOU Beauty box.  It is brilliant value and I love the concept of being able to choose what you want in the box.

Have you bought this months YOU box?