It's been, literally, months that I have been trying to decide whether or not I want to put the expense out to get meal deliveries to my door. But I'm really not good at making these types of decisions....paying people money, potentially eating food I don't like, committing....it's not my forte.
But lately, meals in my house have been going to sh*t. My husband teaches Brazilion Jiu Jitzu twice a week, my son plays competitive hockey 4-5 times per week and I own a residential cleaning business, so if we're not eating take-out shawarma or Subway, we're eating quick freezer foods chalk full of sodium - not very healthy. Due to us all being so busy, I feel very strongly about family meals, so cooking a home-cooked, healthy meal is important to me. The truth is, though, I have lost all motivation. My husband and my son are relatively picky eaters - my son takes some coaxing but he will eventually try something new - sometimes. My husband has...shall we say...a preferred taste and it's pretty much impossible to get him to eat anything out of that. Me, on the other hand, I love exotic foods, so I will eat pretty much anything - within reason.
So when I started looking into these meal delivery places, I found they were so...." gourmet"! Couldn't I just order a dish of steak and potatoes and be done with it? I mean, I'll eat Asian food until the cows come home, but get my husband to eat couscous or my son to eat anything orange? Good luck to you, sir!
Luckily, one of my amazing clients gave me one of her meal codes - which included 2 free meals with 4 portions each, so I said, what the heck! It's free - I may as well try it! But when I went to the website, I was nervous about their foods - although they all looked pretty exciting to me, I was nervous we would shell out this dough and neither of my picky eaters would eat!
So, once again (for like, the 4th time!) I started looking at other companies - and this is where the whole thing started - the entire thing that prompted me to write this article.
I get all of these companies confused - HelloFresh, Goodfood, MissFresh, Chef's Plate - besides Chef's Plate they all sound and look the same to me! When I was browsing through, I thought HelloFresh seemed like the most viable option (even though the coupon code my client gave me was for Goodfood) so I enrolled. As I put in my information, it told me that once I registered and paid, I would be able to choose my foods.
LIARS! After I had paid (for which I was, again, lucky enough to get a promotion - 3 meals for $40), HelloFresh said, "Thank you for your Order! It will be delivered to your door on October 22nd!" I was like - "Wait, what? I need to pick my meals! I NEED to pick my meals!!" But it didn't give me the option. So I turned back around and immediately cancelled my subscription. In the feedback, where they ask me why I'm cancelling, I said that it was because I hadn't been able to choose my meals and that I wanted to ensure I wouldn't be charged.
Ten minutes after all that, I went to Goodfood, found the family menu (which is less "gourmet") and placed an order for October 22. I picked my meals (2 meals I *hoped* my family would like) and that was that!
October 22 rolls around and while I'm doing a 6-hour deep clean, I start thinking about what I'm going to cook for supper since I am determined to get my family back on a healthy eating streak. Then I remember our delivery! Going home was a little less stress that night - although I knew I would still have to cook the meal, I was pretty excited to taste-test it. Except, when I walked into my kitchen - there were TWO boxes - one from HelloFresh and one from Goodfood. To say the least, I was not impressed.
I called HelloFresh and the guy said...."Yes, I notice here you cancelled your subscription....and yes I see your feedback about not getting charged, but that message isn't the same as reaching out us (oh, did I mention I was on hold for 10 minutes before I got to talk to the guy?), and when you press order, you're making your order, so regardless of whether or not you cancel right after, you will receive the order."
At first, I was pretty ticked off - well, I still am - but then I realized - for $40 I got 5 days' worth of healthy meals with two different companies I can try. So I opened up the boxes and immediately noticed some differences between the two companies.
First off, the meals in the HelloFresh were a complete surprise - I didn't know what I was getting because I didn't get to choose. The meals in the bag were not anything my men would eat, but I thought - what the heck! Let's try 'em out. Fortunately, they were out for the night at a friend's house for pizza (I mean, I love my family but after a 6-hour clean, I was looking forward to some peace and quiet) so I chose the one meal I knew they wouldn't want to eat and started cooking. As I was chopping things up I thought - wait! Perhaps I could try out all the companies! Write a play by play of every meal so that people who are like me - afraid to commit - can make an informed decision!
So that's what I will do! I'm going to try out 2 meals from all four major companies: HelloFresh, Goodfood, Chef's Plate and Miss Fresh and write an article for each meal. I will assess these categories:
1. Meal Selection
2. Family Friendly
3. Quality of Ingredients
4. Packaging
5. Taste
6. Nutrition
7. Overall thoughts
At the end of it all, I will announce the winner based on the score from all of the above! So if you've been thinking about trying these out but aren't sure which to try, follow along while I post 16 meals throughout the next few weeks! It's going to be YUMMY!
Comments