Week 3 of my Meal Delivery service and I'm kinda liking these magical boxes that show up at my work. Very exciting!
So this week is trying out FreshPrep, another local meal delivery service.
$20.66 per meal or $62 for the 'week' (3 meals) with the option to choose from 4 recipes.
Delivery was by a local Courier, I couldn't tell if it was a FP delivery guy or a local courier service as I didn't greet him but it wasn't a National Courier like HelloFresh uses. One difference was that they sent me a text 5 minutes before he showed up with a link to track the driver. It asked me to return any bags from a previous week (which didn't apply as it's my first week) but right then I knew they didn't give me a cardboard box so that was less waste.
The carrying case was neat! But definitely was lacking in the cold department. I cannot recall whether my fish was frozen but it was totally thawed out by the time I got home from a business meeting after work.
Inside was branded paper bags instead of boxes + 1 ice pack (Same as the one HelloFresh uses). I actually preferred the boxes as they fit neatly in my fridge, these were a bit bulkier.
Apparently I chose 1 fish + 2 vegetarian dishes!
And inside were my ingredients and recipe cards:
Directions were pretty straight forward and they list the ingredients you need that do not come with the kit (in my case it was milk, I had everything else). It also shows the Nutrition Facts (ugh, I did not want to know how much fat was in my dinner). There is also a feedback form to fill out and leave in your bag for pick up in week #2.
Meal #1
Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese with Asiago, Kale and carmelized onions
The first thing I noticed when I opened the zipper was the stench of something not pleasant. I was hoping it wasn't an ingredient I really needed. I pulled out ingredients by each bag and discovered it was a completely sealed bag of red onions. I don't use this ingredient a lot and I always have a full unpeeled onion so I'm not sure if it was turning or if it was just extra stinky but that went right into the compost.
The recipe while easy had a lot more ingredients that the HelloFresh and I think the portions were a lot bigger.
No real issues with this recipe other than the milk that it called for seemed to be way too much. I like creamy mac and cheese and I only used 1 1/3 cup (instead of the 2) as I felt it would have been too runny.
I also skipped the oven, my convection oven tray was the perfect size for the squash and my saute pan fit in perfectly for broiling the top of the panko.
I was super impressed on how this recipe came together for the final shot compared to the pic in the recipe!
Okay so I bet you are dying to know how it tasted? It was awesome! This is definately Mac & Cheese for grown ups!
Fancy cheese and PANKO! So as I was eating it (real Chefs may want to skip this part for fear of a heart attack) But I just can't eat mac and cheese without....ketchup. I'm SORRY. It just needed some sweetness. It was the perfect comfort food. Don't judge me.
I was also correct on portion size, this would feed a family of four (with maybe a side) or definitely 2 hungry adults.
I give this recipe a 10/10!
Other than tonight's meal, I went back into my account to see what the menu coming up was and was surprised to see 4 more weeks of menus (FreshPrep only shows 1 week in advance). The total of how much it would cost was also listed, for this service it's $62.00 which is more budget friendly than HelloFresh at $75. I feel that $60 for 3 meals (technically 6+ for me) is worth the cost. There is also 8 meals to choose from (instead of 4 with HelloFresh), you are also not tied to a minimum 'plan', you can adjust your plates up from 3 to 8 (Total for 8 = $162) but that's a *lot* of cooking! So far I'm liking this service better, in terms of cost and variety.
Want to try it out for yourself? Get 3 free meals by clicking on this link.