Hello Fresh

The first of the home delivery meal kits I am trying is from Hello Fresh. I choose the option of 2 meals for 2 people for my delivery (this is the amount/setting I plan to use for all of the meal kits I try when available)

Hello Fresh has 3 plans available for you to pick from.

They offer their “Classic Plan” which seems to offer about a dozen choices of meals to pick from. You can choose to receive 2,3, or 4 recipes per week each serving 2 or 4 people. The base cost of this plan is $9.99 per serving (with free shipping) This is the plan I picked.

They also offer the “Veggie Plan” where you receive 3 recipes per week to serve either 2 or 4 people. This plan also costs $9.99 per serving and has the free shipping. This plan offers vegetarian friendly options though there were only 3 to pick from for the week I looked at.

Lastly they offer the “Family Plan” which serves 4 people and you can choose to receive either 2 or 3 recipes per week. The cost of this plan is $8.74 per serving again with the free shipping. This plan offered 5 recipes to choose from for the week I looked at it. They say that the recipes on this plan are ones the entire family will love.

Hello Fresh box was delivered by UPS which I do love since I have the My Choice account with UPS so I get tracking information sent to me automatically. I am also able to set my delivery preference through their ap and get delivery updates also through the app. This makes me much more comfortable about deliveries in general. So delivery choice was a definite plus for me. The fact it was free was even better.

The box was delivered to my porch on a very hot afternoon and since I happened to be at home at the time I was able to bring it right in the house. Everything in the box was well packed and all items were properly cold. The bags on top were pretty close to refrigerator temperature even though the outside temperature was in the 80's. The meat was at the bottom between 2 large frozen ice packs and was very cold. So packing was also a plus.

I immediately looked over everything in the box and moved the food to my refrigerator. Each meal (minus the meat) was bagged in a brown paper bag that was clearly labeled. (one of the bags did tear in shipping) I love the convenience of the meals being all together in the single bag. So much easier when I am ready to prepare dinner.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

The first meal I made was the Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos. This meal is vegetarian and if you know me or have read my blog posts you know that I am definitely not vegetarian but I do enjoy a good vegetarian meal from time to time. I chose this selection because I have noticed a lot of recipes that combine black beans with sweet potatoes and since I love both of these items I have really wanted to try the combination. I did move some of the items (sweet potatoes, avocado, lime, and the onion) to my kitchen counter a few hours before I was going to prepare dinner so they could come to room temperature. Those are items I would normally store at room temperature and prefer to work with them that way. I have to say the dish was very easy to prepare, a bit of chopping, grating and then into the oven and a skillet. The ingredients were all of excellent quality. The only complaint I have is the avocado was extremely under ripe so it really wouldn't mash but it still tasted very nice in the finished dish. Since the avocados were refrigerated I don't think waiting a few days would have made much difference.

I did like the dish very much and will be saving the recipe to make again. All the flavors went together very nicely and it was a filling dinner.

The amount in the photo of the finished dish is as close to half of the meal as I could get. I thoroughly enjoyed it for dinner and enjoyed the leftovers couple of days later for my lunch.

I really enjoyed this dish a lot, I am going to be making it in the future for sure (easy to do since I did receive the wonderful illustrated recipe card) but also I will be adding the avocado crema to some of my own dishes since it was wonderfully tasty on its own also.

Crispy Cheddar Frico Cheeseburger

I do apologize that I forgot to take any photos of the ingredients before I made this dish. It totally slipped my mind. For this dish the only things that were needed that were not on the bag were: salt, pepper, olive oil, and sugar.

I did do things slightly differently than the recipe for this dish. It was very hot the day I made this so I decided to move most of the cooking to my grill. I did make the Onion Jam in a skillet in my kitchen but I did all the rest of the cooking on the grill. I just used the same temperatures and times as the recipe directed and it all turned out perfectly. In fact this may be the best tasting burger I have ever eaten. Again it was a super easy recipe and made with ingredients that I can easily get at the store.

My Thoughts

So what are my thoughts on the Hello Fresh shipment I received. I do love both recipes and as I said earlier I will be making both dishes again. I loved trying new flavor combinations, in for me that is the biggest draw of the whole meal kit thing. I love to try new foods and this is a really easy way to do just that.

It is way too early in my process of trying the different kits to say if I will order from Hello Fresh again but it is certainly tempting.

Meal Kits

I'm pretty sure you would have to be living under a rock to not be aware of the massive number of meal kits that you can have conveniently delivered right to your door. There are so many of them advertising everywhere and so many bloggers and you-tubers are talking about them too. I have to admit I have been curious about them.

After watching several of the you-tubers that I normally watch talking about various kits I decided to do my own research. Being really cheap, or-ahhh, frugal (that sounds better right) I starting looking for deals on some of the kits.

Some of the things I have heard I know I disagree with. The thing that comes to my mind first is the claim that they are cheaper than shopping. I have looked at the prices and I know what I spend for things and I know that there is no way I am spending the amount per meal that these kits cost (regular price, not including discounts). If they are cheaper for some people then I think we need talk about shopping habits a bit.

However, I do see that they are very convenient mainly because most of the prep work seems to be done for you. Also I love to try new foods and I love to experiment with new flavor combinations and for me that is one of the draws. It is also why I have purchased several of the meal kits that my local grocery store carries. (I did a blog post on the first one of this, which I did get for free)

So back on topic. I have two meal kits ordered/paid for. One is due to arrive this week (Hello Fresh) and one next week (Home Chef)

Both of these companies were offering introductory deals so the price was significantly lower than the normal price. I will be posting blogs on each of these after I receive them telling you what I thought about them, how much I paid and show you what I get.

I am also looking at some of the other companies that offer the kits to order in the future.

The big question is probably do I intend to continue with any of these. The answer would be maybe. If the food is good enough, and the recipes tempting enough I might. I wouldn't be doing them every week, maybe one or two a month for a change of pace from what I normally make. After all, I do love to cook but I also really enjoy grocery shopping and finding the best deals. For me that really is half the fun of it. I also love to create new dishes and to try to re-create things I have eaten or even read about.

So I hope you will enjoy this process with me in the coming weeks/months as I explore the world of Meal Kits.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions

This week I am sharing what has recently become my favorite sandwich of all time. I am just kicking myself for not coming up with it years ago. It blends one of my favorite sandwiches with caramelized onions (which I adore) to make a sandwich that is good anytime of year.

Since it is summer and the middle of a heatwave right now it goes great with a salad. In the dead of winter pair it with a bowl of your favorite soup and you will be cozy and warm.

My choice for the bread on this is a really dark rye, but feel free to use your favorite. I just love the combination of the dark rye with all the other flavors.

You can also play around with the cheese choices, my preference is Muenster and Sharp Cheddar but if you have another favorite try it out.

I used a WallaWalla Sweet Onion that weighed just over a ½ pound and it was close to perfect for two sandwiches. You can really use any onion for caramelized onions but a nice sweet onion is even better and just sooooo yummy. The only real secret to caramelized onions is to cook them on low heat until they reach a nice rich golden color.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions

3 Tablespoons butter

1 small to medium (about ½ lb) Sweet Onion, sliced

pinch kosher salt

1 teaspoon dark brown sugar

4 slices of dark rye bread

Dijon mustard

2 slices (1 ½ oz each) Muenster Cheese

2 slices (1 ½ oz each) Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion slices and a pinch of salt. Stir and cook just until the onions start to soften, about 3-5 minutes.

Reduce heat to low (as low as your stove will go) add the brown sugar to the onions and stir to coat. Cook 20 -25 minutes, stirring often until the onons are golden brown and look glazed. They should be very soft at this point. If at anytime they start to get crisp at the edges remove from heat and allow to cool a few minutes before continuing.

While the onions are cooking prep the rest of the sandwiches, lay out the bread and spread all 4 slices with mustard (the amount is up to you, I don't measure I just put on the amount that looks good)

Place the Muenster cheese on 2 slices and the cheddar on the other 2.

Once the onions are cooked divide them evenly between the slices of the bread with the Muenster cheese then top with the slices with the cheddar.

So at this point your layers of sandwich should be as follows:

rye bread

mustard

muenster cheese

caramelized onions

cheddar cheese

mustard

rye bread

Turn the heat back up to medium under the skillet you have been using and add 1 Tablespoon of the butter. Once the butter melts carefully add the sandwiches. Cook about 3 or 4 minutes until the bread is toasted.

Add the last Tablespoon of butter flip the sandwiches and cook another 3 or 4 minutes until the other side is toasted and the cheese has melted.

Enjoy!!