Yesterday was the first full day of Summer Vacation. I am always looking for new technology to try, but for my first day of Summer Tech Exploration, I tried a ONLINE MEAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE – Hello Fresh.

GOOD NEWS: Delicious and Fresh

The good news is the food was delicious,  the recipes were clear, and yes, they did arrive “fresh.”  The presentation was great and the items were nicely packaged. The fresh items are packaged on the top of the box and there are frozen plastic “gel” packs underneath and the meat items are shipped under those. All items arrive chilled and fresh.  You also get a “Hello Perks” envelope of “offers” for different subscription services to try at a discount. The service lets you know that you do need to use your own salt, pepper, and olive oil (pantry items), but that was not a problem at all.

The food prep and cooking time took longer than the recipe card estimated, but it was fun.  I would guess that now that I have the hang of what is involved it will run smoother in the future. Check out the Vine here: https://vine.co/v/iYQ0hJjH5vx

BAD NEWS: Packaging and Clean up

The bad news is the shipping box which arrived earlier in the week and was bigger and heavier than I expected it to be and there was a lot of packaging.  I did think there was a LOT of packaging.  We do recycle cardboard and plastic, but I wondered about the ice packs.  This first shipment had 4 in it.  The website says, “Reuse these non-toxic ice packs for a picnic or camping. You can also recycle the plastic pouch and discard the contents with your household trash, worry free.” I could see saving and reusing a couple for picnics but after a few shipments, I would have too many of them.  So, it looks like, I will have to empty the contents in the trash and recycle only the plastic bags.

The other issue is clean up.  I did hand wash all the dishes and utensils and snapped a photo.  You could use a dishwasher and save some time, but you still need to clean up your counter work. Aside from the prep and clean up which is an issue with any in-home cooking, the experience was wonderful.  Since school is out, I figured, summer was a great time to start this service, and I could devote some time to cooking and cleaning up! And I am hoping it will help me to eat better! I am planning to try the service for a while and see how it goes.