Food Delivery Boxes

I have Gousto most weeks and sometimes Hello Fresh. They are expensive but I find it very convenient. It saves me having to think of what meals to have , I can choose from the menu. It also makes it easy for my husband to cook meals. He cooks three times a week normally. I have tried Mindful Chef. Their meals were very healthy but expensive.

Have thought about ordering a fruit and vegetable box but the cost has put me off. I just add them to my grocery list and have them delivered. I have tried practically all the ready meals available as I like to have one or two in the fridge for days when I feel a bit lazy. Charlie Bigham and Cooks are the best but dearer than other ready meals. Actually I have found buying a Vortex Mini Airfryer the best thing I have done. Cooking meals for one is so easy in the Mini Chicken breast plus potatoes and two veg done in the microwave and I have a ready meal. I am also fortunate that my daughter arrives with meals she has cooked and which are stored in the freezer until needed.

We used to get a veg and fruit box delivered but there was far too much kale in it!

We used Hello Fresh because there was a good offer. Fun to cook and great that everything was supplied but we found many recipes too salty even without adding the salt they suggested. When I cancelled, they said I’d done it too late and sent me a box of meal I wouldn’t have ordered, done by guesswork on their part. To be fair, they gave me a partial refund and I passsed the meals on to my DD.

Joseann

Did you know, you can get fish delivery boxes too?

They're very expensive.
When we lived in Devon we had a man with a van delivering fish, fresh from the Barbican.

I don't eat fish, so they're no good to me.

Did you know, you can get fish delivery boxes too?

I'm not suggesting yours Mell967. Yours is genuine, and I've posted on it. It's the ones with all the offers.
Your is interesting for a discussion, the others are fishy.

Joseann

What's with all the Gousto threads on here now?
All getting reported!!

I started this post earlier today.
It’s certainly not a scam.
Please don’t delete

An algorithm!

What's with all the Gousto threads on here now?
All getting reported!!

Mindful Chef boxes are good. They are very healthy in terms of low calorie, but nourishing foods. Some modern takes too on ingredients and recipes.

Thanks. If it is a veg box, rather than a recipe box I'd not bother, though. The point of the Gousto-type ones is that you have everything you need in the box. We have a farmers' market, which I do use for fresh veg though.

Totnes!!

Riverford is between Buckfastleigh and Tornes in Devon, Doodledog but they deliver throughout England and Wales.

No I wouldn't have any of those but I do have more M & S ready meals than I used to or the occasional Charlie Bingham - those are my guilty pleasure.

We have a Riverford veg box each week. It is all organic, fresh and seasonal. All of our box is local produce and in season. This week we had wild garlic, kale, purple sprouting broccoli, chestnut mushrooms, leeks, potatoes and carrots. A medium box for 2-3 people. Small and large also available. A range of different boxes with varying content is available. Recipe suggestions are given. You can see what is in next week's box about four days ahead. You can cancel a box if needed. We pay £18.15 each week.

Sorry, karmalady. I missed your post about Riverford. I'll look them up. We tend to alternate between services to take advantage of special offers, so if it is available in our area I'll add it to the list

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EVRI (brother of Hermes) are awful. I certainly wouldn't trust them with fresh food deliveries.

I ordered a quantity of chocolates to mix together and put in pretty jars for Easter treats (chocolate and yogurt covered cashews, raisins and Honeycomb pieces).

Two days after ordering the tracker said that they were with the carrier (Hermes) and would be delivered the following day. Two days later said delivery in a further two days. Eventually arrived 10 days after ordering and eight days after receipt by the carrier.

The chocolates had melted and were like misshapen slabs.

I now ask who carriers are and won't order from suppliers who use these two carriers - I tell them to look at the reviews on Trustpilot.

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We started using Gousto recently when we had a lot of upheaval in the family and time was short for meal planning and shopping.

I was more impressed than I expected to be. The quality of ingredients was excellent and the meals were all good, apart from one which used mushrooms as a meat substitute and they were a bit weird. I think there are approx 90 recipes, which change regularly, to choose from each week so there’s plenty of variety. Some dishes such as a fish pie are a bit fiddly for just two portions so I wouldn’t choose that again but lots of other meals were very nice indeed. They were all generous portions, too.

Like Doodledog when the box arrives I portion out the ingredients for each meal into a bag, along with the recipe and then its ’grab and go’ at dinner time. I did feel I was using the oven a lot for small amounts but I’ve now started using my air fryer instead so it’s quicker and even easier. There is packaging to deal with but our council takes all plastic packaging as well as paper, so that’s recycled. There’s no food waste apart from peelings.

I wouldn’t want to only eat their meals but they’re a halfway house between cooking from scratch and ready meals and I think they’re good value for money.

I've not come across Riverford boxes. Are they local to you, RM?

I used to enjoy Riverford meal boxes as it forced me out of my comfort zone of half a dozen (boring) staples.
I preferred them to Gousto and Hello Fresh and they were usually excellent quality with a wide selection to choose from each week.
Why did I stop?
With meals out etc I found I was building up a backlog and the USP is that the ingredients have to be fresh.

The HF and Gousto boxes are only 'set' inasmuch as they box up the ingredients for a meal that you choose. They don't force their customers to take anything unwanted. There is a lot of choice, even for vegetarians like us, who have obviously limited our options.

I've heard people say that they don't like the idea of them as they like to choose their own meals, that they prefer home cooking, that they won't be healthy, and all sorts of things that just don't apply. Both the services I've used have full nutritional data on all meals (visible before you order), and you can choose low calorie, vegetarian, quick cook - all sorts of categories that may be important to you by clicking on tabs at the top of the page.

I have used Hello Fresh in the past and was pleased with them - portions were sometimes a bit too small for us but that may be our problem!! I only use them when there is an offer on though. I think they are great for the ‘time poor ‘ customers such as my daughter and son in law as it means they eat healthier rather than picking up a ready meal.

Both our AC use Gousto from time to time - always good quality ingredients and decent portion sizes.

The only downside, as I found to my cost one day, is that the red colour leaks from the box if it gets damp - I had very red hands for a while!