Hello Fresh fans -- thoughts on portion and weight control

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

We just tried a one week trial. I was also amazed at the calories and that I was adding both butter and oil to rice?! I think they do have some reciepes that are lower calories if you look. I was not really focused on that since we were just doing three meals.

The prep was a bit much for me too. One night I had 3 burners and the oven going. I might do it again occaissionally but not all the time.

[Anonymous]

OP here--yes, the amount of oil and butter to something like rice is staggering. One recipe just called for butter to be added to marinara! Just no.

I've been reducing or omitting, which helps at least.

[Anonymous]

Fat makes food tastier, which is why they include it in the recipes.

[Anonymous]

I am down to only two meals per week on HelloFresh because of this. SO MUCH RICE!

I added Gobble (which is more expensive), but they have "Lean and Clean" recipes and more fish. They also have salads that I can have for lunch. AND... the portions are larger per person for the given number of calories, so I can cut further by eating less of the meal.

[Anonymous]

We leave out some of the ingredients for instance mayo if it's not necessary. Same with butter or oil. We also use low fat sour cream instead (I bring the mayo and sour cream into work as we always are in need of condiments for patients or staff at night).

We only get it twice a month just for a bit of variety.

[Anonymous]

We only do it every other week, but yes, we also modify recipes to leave out butter or sour cream (why do they use so much sour cream??). Frequently, we don't make the mashed potato or whatever potato side they have (also....why do they use so many potatoes?).

[Anonymous]

For most meals, I find that their 2 servings is actually 2 + 1-2 lunches in my house. So I add in the butter but eat much less than they suggest.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

We do the family size and often have leftovers for someone's lunch, but agreed the smaller box would be too small for the 4 of us (including 2 teen DSs)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We only do it every other week, but yes, we also modify recipes to leave out butter or sour cream (why do they use so much sour cream??). Frequently, we don't make the mashed potato or whatever potato side they have (also....why do they use so many potatoes?).

Cuz they're cheap and delicious!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We do the family size and often have leftovers for someone's lunch, but agreed the smaller box would be too small for the 4 of us (including 2 teen DSs)

My teen would eat 2 meals himself!

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

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.