Hello Update!

Receiving our first box from HelloFresh was a little rough, but once it arrived, it has been smooth sailing since.  I was expecting our box to arrive while I was writing my previous blog post, and doing some general maintenance on the website, but it never did arrive, even after the delivery cut off time came and went.  I reached out on Twitter to figure out what was happening, where was our food and why was it delayed, but I never really received any answers, just an apology, a refund, and a $35 credit for our next full-priced box.  We had shopped accordingly for the week, expecting most of our big meals to be taken care of, and made something small and insignificant for dinner when my wife came home that Thursday.  

At this point, upon being immediately issued a refund, we weren't sure if the box was going to show up at all, and we wondered how long we should wait before going out and buying food for our dinners for the next week if it wasn't going to show.  It wasn't until late afternoon on Friday that I received any notification regarding our box, and that was that a shipping label was created, and it may or may not have been dropped off at the shipping depot.  It was at this time that my partner began to get concerned, as we had no idea how it was packaged, if it was going to come within the 48 hours of fresh-guarantee they claim, and with my partner working in food service, proper temperature and handling of the raw meat was of paramount importance.

After a few more unbalanced meals, mostly forms of sandwiches, our box finally arrived on the evening of Sunday.   Our budget isn't particularly tight, but we had expected our dinner plans to arrive on Thursday and had shopped accordingly, neither of us really enjoying grocery shopping outside of the pandemic, but even less so now.  Early in the afternoon we had went out for Taco Bell, to treat ourselves and to give my partner a treat for working so hard recently, so we waited until the evening to try our first meal.  (I've been cooking more recently, and trying to do more little things to make my partner happier.  Things were tough at work before the pandemic, and now people are rude AND even more potentially dangerous, especially when these jerks remove their masks at my partner's store frequently.  If you don't want to wear a mask in public, don't go out in public.  Full Stop.) 

Thankfully when we tested the temperature of the meat, it was at 39F, an acceptable temperature for food safety, and the frozen packaging designed to keep the package cool was only just beginning to thaw at the bottom of the box.  We avoided our food spoiling, and the way that HelloFresh packages their shipment, with the meat directly on the ice, and a piece of cardboard separating it from the prepackaged brown meal bags.

From my previous blog, the first box's menu consisted of:

1. Pork & Poblano Tacos with Kiwi Salsa & Lime Crema
2. Brown Sugar Bourbon Pork Chops with Apple Pan sauce, Scallion Mashed Potatoes, & Roasted Green Beans
3. Caramelized Onion Swissburgs with Roasted Garlic Horseradish Aioli & Seasoned Potato Wedges
4. Mushroom & Herb Shepherd's Pie topped with White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
5. Sweet Chili Chicken Bowls with Bell Pepper & Candied Peanuts

Sweet Chili Chicken Bowls with Bell Pepper & Candied Peanuts was the first recipe my partner picked out for dinner, and since we were both still satisfied from our Taco Bell lunch, we waiting until the next day, Monday, to try this first meal.  The next day, with minimal burning (I'm still learning), it came out delicious, and we knew the wait was worth it.

Pictured: Bowl of prepared Sweet Chili Chicken, with Bell Pepper & Candied Peanuts.  This is a photo of my partner's bowl, hence the lightsaber chopsticks.  The thermometer and oximeter on the table signify the strange time we live in, monitoring our temperature daily during this pandemic.

Since that hiccup in delivery, the next two boxes we received have been on the right day, within the hours of 8am-8pm as they guarantee.  I won't hold this against them as a company, especially since their customer service was very quick at "resolving" the issue, even if there wasn't an explanation associated with the delay.  It could be the winter storms we've been having recently, but a three-day delay doesn't match up with severity of the recent storms in North-Eastern USA, especially since the box is coming from a distribution center about 6 hours away from my city, and we're in the middle of winter, so the infrastructure for clearing snow is functioning adequately.

 As for photographs of the food - half of the time I cook I start eating it before I remember that I should have taken a photo, as it looked SO good that I couldn't stop myself.  In the future I'd love to have a little nook set up in our house to photograph everything with my DSLR, from food to jewellery to our small pets, but for now, enjoy the very few iPhone shots I managed to get before ravaging the food!

Our next meal prepared was the Caramelized Onion Swissburgs - which allowed me to realize that I do, in fact, have the capacity of enjoying onions.  I believe we had this meal the same day as our Sweet Chili Chicken bowls, as we prepared those for lunch.

Pictured Above: Caramelized Onion Swissburgs with Roasted Garlic Horseradish Aioli & Seasoned Potato Wedges - alongside too much ketchup.  Sometimes you go to squirt a little ketchup for your fries, and this happens!  As you can see, I had already bitten ravenously into my burger before remembering to take a photo (for my mom).

Pork & Poblano Tacos were our next day's meal, followed by Brown Sugar Bourbon Pork Chops.  This was a new things for me, as it involved cooking apples for a savory dish!

Pictured Above: Brown Sugar Bourbon Pork Chops with Apple Pan Sauce, Scallion Mashed Potatoes & Roasted Green Beans.  (Don't mind our dirty stove, it seems to get like that no matter what I cook, and usually wipes reasonably clean afterwards!)

The next dish we tried was the Mushroom & Herb Shepard's Pie, which was another experimental dish for me personally.  I am not a fan of mushrooms, particularly their texture.  So, I cut the mushrooms a little finer than they originally called for in the recipe, and it turns out absolutely delicious.  I still don't know how I feel about mushrooms outside of a cooked dish, but this recipe was amazing!  When I had set out to cook that day, I fully intended to photograph the final product before serving it, but naturally, I forgot to!  But with our mushroom meal, that ended our first week with HelloFresh, and even though it was delayed, we greatly enjoyed the food we got.

The next week's menu consisted of

1. Gouda Vibes Burger with Tomato Onion Jam & Potato Wedges
2. Cranberry Dijon Pork Tenderloin with Mashed Potatoes & Roasted Green Beans
3. Beef Flautas Supreme with Pico de Gallo, Lime Crema & Guacamole
4. Thai Coconut Curry Chicken with Bell Pepper & Cilantro Lime Rice
5. Middle Eastern Steak & Rice Pilaf with Tzatziki, Almonds & Smoky Roasted Veggies

This is where I stopped taking photos of the food I prepared, and was focusing mainly on just cooking and delivery & presentation for my partner.  The first meal we had out of our second week's box was the Middle Eastern Steak & Rice Pilaf, which has cucumber in the tzatziki sauce.  Even my wife, who hates cucumbers, enjoyed this meal!  It was different from what we would normally have, considering even just the fact that it contained a small beef steak.  The second meal of the week we chose was the Beef Flautas Supreme - which was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.

Pictured Above: Beef Flautas Supreme.  This was my first time ever making something similar to these, and they were amazing!  The guac definitely has me excited for a recipe in our upcoming box: Chicken & Guac Burrito Bowls.

Yum!  We had the Thai Coconut Curry Chicken next, which was also amazing!  The simplicity of adding a tbsp of butter and lime zest to my rice to kick it up to the next notch, is revolutionary in my kitchen knowledge.  Though, one thing I have to note is both my partner and I like a little more rice with our meals, so I'd likely double almost every rice recipe that they give us.  We love our little pieces of carbs.  The Gouda Vibes burger was our next meal, and like the Caramelized Onion Swissburgs from earlier, this was a hit.  Similar in many ways as far as preparation, but with a distinctly different taste.  The final meal we had that week was the Cranberry Dijon Pork Tenderloin, cooked around 10pm at night for when my partner got off work.  Similar to other meals we would cook before getting these meal boxes, the tip of adding lemon zest to the green beans was revolutionary, and a very simple way to elevate our previous meal ideas.  I guess we're going to have to keep a small stock of lemons and limes in our pantry from now on!

The third week's menu, and the one we're currently on, consists of:

1. Steakhouse Pork Chops with a Creamy Shallot Pan Sauce & Lemony Green Beans
2. Chicken & Guac Burrito Bowls with Long Green Pepper, Salsa Fresca & Hot Sauce Crema
3. Louisiana-Style Tilapia with Potato Wedges, Red Cabbage Slaw & Spicy Remoulade
4. Saucy Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry with Lime Rise & Sriracha Lime Mayo
5. Pork with Peach Thyme Pan Sauce with Zesty Zucchini & Almond Garlic Couscous

We started the week with some Saucy Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry, which I had actually forgotten about the last step of sprinkling the sesame seeds on top for garnish, but even so it was one of the most delicious meals we've had.  I think adding the sesame seeds as garnish to ramen or other similar bowls with rice will be a nice way to use them, instead of just tossing them out and wasting them.  Like previous rice meals, I made a note on the recipe card itself - "Add more rice!".  Last night I once again prepared dinner for when my partner would get home, around 10pm, and I chose the Steakhouse Pork Chops, because I didn't feel like cleaning more pans for dinner.  I deal with severe depression in my daily life, and sometimes it's overwhelming to simply exist, let alone keep on top of my daily tasks and chores.  Using only a baking pan and a skillet, I was able to make a delicious restaurant-worthy dish, and boost my moral just a little.

Pictured Above: Steakhouse Pork Chops, potatoes, lemony green beans & a shallot-based sauce.  One of our more delicious pork meals to date, that pan sauce really made a difference.

We still have a few recipes left for this week, but in order to stretch it out to our next delivery date, we're going to have a non-HelloFresh meal tonight for dinner.  That being said, I'm excited for tomorrow, and to try out our next HelloFresh recipe!  The Louisiana-Style Tilapia looks like it'll be super good!

Thank you for reading today, and hopefully things will keep going smoothly with our meal subscription service.  Out of everything, the thing I love the most about these boxes is the convenience of having the meal pre-portioned out by ingredients, so I don't have to think about it when I start cooking on days when I would have normally just not eaten due to my mental health.  Plus, the general skill required for every meal I've tried so far has been low, meaning that almost anyone would be able to re-create these amazing dishes!

Until next time, stay safe out there,

Matt