Hello Fresh fans -- thoughts on portion and weight control

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We switched to the "calorie conscious" plan on hello fresh recently. Meals have been fine, but there isn't as much variety. I love the convenience, but I do get tired of so many roasted potatoes and zesting so much citrus!

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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We never ate full portions. My mom did Hello Fred first, and warned me not to buy the family box because the portions were so bag. She was right - we would do the box for 2 people and it fed my family of four just fine.

Really? I think the portions are small but calorie dense. You must have small children if you are feeding four people. Or you are adding salads, etc. on the side.

Totally agree.

As for the rice and potatoes, it's because they ship well in the box and last the full week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been doing Hello Fresh for a month. It's felt like a godsend, wish I did it years ago. Love the food, the convenience, and how it gets the family cooking together. I'm worried that the food is too rich, though. A lot of the recipes are 800-950 calories/pp according to their info! I find myself using a fraction of the butter/oil they advise, that helps. Even something as simple as salmon, potatoes, and green beans ends up over 800!

Did anyone find they gained weight doing HF if they ate a full portion allotted?

What daily calorie level are you operating under that you can’t accommodate 800/950 for dinner, which is most people’s biggest meal of the day? This certainly shouldn’t be an issue for kids or husband, and for a healthy weight woman with another 700+ calories to eat over the course of the day, also not a problem.

If you like the food and recipes and nobody else is complaining in your family, maybe you should consider IF and either skipping breakfast or even doing OMAD.

[Anonymous]

Wait...people use things like Hello Fresh for months, as their main source of dinner? I thought it was just to kind of teach you how to cook. This is nuts OP. Just buy stuff and cook it. That way you get exactly what you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait...people use things like Hello Fresh for months, as their main source of dinner? I thought it was just to kind of teach you how to cook. This is nuts OP. Just buy stuff and cook it. That way you get exactly what you want.

I have been using it since early in the pandemic! Like 90% of the time at least 3 meals per week. Fewer trips to the store, exactly the right amount of ingredients has reduced food waste quite a bit for us, and then we get less takeout. My husband has lost weight with the portion control meanwhile my teen athletes are pretty satisfied.

I do cut down butter and oil and only my husband likes Mayo so we skip some sauces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait...people use things like Hello Fresh for months, as their main source of dinner? I thought it was just to kind of teach you how to cook. This is nuts OP. Just buy stuff and cook it. That way you get exactly what you want.

It isn’t nuts. In addition to the portion control/reduced waste/convenience factors, even pre-COVID I appreciated that HF/Gobble dramatically reduced the mental space I had to allocate to meals. DH calls, says he’s heading home, I know that takes 30 minutes, and any meal kit can get made in that time. I choose one from 3 (or 6) options max, open it up and implement. Everything I need is right there and in the right quantity. Which means I don’t have to think about dinner until I’m ready to make it and then I spend 10 seconds making a choice.

I’m an excellent cook with a wide-ranging repertoire who lives a couple of blocks from a variety of well-stocked markets. But, perhaps counter-intuitively, that’s exactly why I appreciate these services.

[Anonymous]

Their portions are definitely on the bigger size but we only do one box a month, so not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

We started with a similar somewhat cheaper company, EveryPlate, early in the pandemic when going to the store was tricky and finding ingredients could be hit or miss.

We've kept up with a box of three dinners most weeks since. We have three people, including two young adults, and stretch the two-person meals to feed three. I often add extra veggies or chicken, but the rice or pasta portions are huge for two people and often too much for three.

I agree the amount of butter and oil is excessive and have cut way down on that.

[Anonymous]

I don't eat my entire portion (I think they are huge) and look for lower calorie options (they always have some that are closer to 600 calories).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That seems a pretty reasonable amount for a dinner, no?

About 350-400 calories for breakfast, probably 650-700 for lunch, 900-1000 for dinner?

That adds up to somewhere between 1900 and 2100 for a day, which in the right range for an adult woman.

If I eat over 1400, I gain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait...people use things like Hello Fresh for months, as their main source of dinner? I thought it was just to kind of teach you how to cook. This is nuts OP. Just buy stuff and cook it. That way you get exactly what you want.

That's right, I use it as our main dinner about half the time or more. Between everything we have going on, I have major decision fatigue. I came to dread and detest meal planning, shopping, etc. Logging on to Hello Fresh (or others, we rotate) is easy and I just click on what looks good, it arrives, and done. We waste a LOT less food -- almost no more throwing away food because we used half of something for a recipe, overbought salad, or what have you.