As I mentioned in my post about Blue Apron, I also tried out HelloFresh. I actually plan on trying a couple other delicious looking meal kit options, just to see what sort of variances are available, but in the end, I only really need one (if that).
My first impression of the HelloFresh recipes was that they were blander than the Blue Apron ones. I rescinded that impression with the second set of recipes; it must have just been the particular recipes I picked.
HelloFresh bags the ingredients for their meals (other than meats), and here are some of the results.
There are many similarities between the two meal kit services. You log in and pick from a variety of menu options for a given week. The typical box has ingredients for three recipes. In the Blue Apron box, most of the fresh produce is separate from the “knick knacks” bag for each recipe, and any meat is packaged separately; you store the produce as appropriate and refrigerate the knick knacks and meat. The HelloFresh box splits out the meat from everything else; all of the other ingredients for a given recipe are in a brown paper bag (labeled “this bag is greener than a salad”). An interesting difference between the two is that HelloFresh will send you two peeled cloves of garlic in the bag, whereas Blue Apron will send you an entire bulb even if you only need two cloves. We’re three Blue Apron boxes in… we’re never running out of fresh garlic.
The meals in both cases are tasty, and the recipes are easy to follow. In fact, there’s a real pleasure as a parent of being able to hand over a single sheet and pile of ingredients while I run off and do other chores.
There are minor differences in the website that could sway you to one or another – the HelloFresh website lets you skip meals far ahead of their menu planning, whereas Blue Apron dates become available as the menus are posted. We’ve decided to stick with Blue Apron for the moment, more because it was the first of the two we tried… that and I like their Mediterranean recipes.
Coming sometime soon… our thoughts on Meal Village, where instead of a meal kit, somebody else does all the work and you just have to reheat the meal.
Tonight, I will test for my Cho Dan, or 1st degree black belt, in the World Tang Soo Do Association. As part of our preparation, we take a written test (up to twice, if needed; I passed on my first attempt… both times) and write a thousand words about Tang Soo Do.
I failed my sanity check and wrote it as a poem. Enjoy!
Twas two weeks before Dan Camp when my teacher and friend,
as I was leaving the dojang after a fabulous class,
asked “Are you testing this cycle” Thus the planning began.
Was this a thing I could do, could I make it and pass?
If I test in September, and again in the spring,
I would visit Tikal as a new Cho Dan Bo.
Pre-Testing next Dan Camp could be a real thing,
But I found in October one goal had to go.
January’s test is usually late,
So we relearn what holidays help us forget.
Last year it fell on my own birthdate,
Testing so soon would be a close bet.
With regular practice and no real chance to rest,
Was I being too ambitious or just slightly insane?
I gave it my all, I gave it my best.
My knife skills were iffy; my shoulder, in pain.
My breaking was lousy, I can’t say that’s new.
But my one steps were solid, and I knew all my forms,
I was happy to pass and then learn Sip Soo.
But how did I reach this point that transforms?
When Cassandra, my daughter, had turned almost four,
we went to the fair to enjoy rides once again,
stopped at some booths, thought about them no more,
till a phone call came in, we stopped to think then.
Was karate something she wanted to try?
It’s truly hard work, not like Kung Fu Panda,
while really quite fun, Po’s too goofy a guy,
earning a black belt’s more than Hollywood propaganda.
Cassandra’s first karate class
Her first class looked great, she had a fabulous grin,
When I look back at it now, I see many a friend.
Some still do karate, others have left it since then,
I didn’t know yet that our hobbies would blend.
I promised her when I saw the first buddy week,
I’d try it with her, take my turn on the mat,
I didn’t know then that my body would speak,
to say my appendix was a bit of a brat.
I woke up that Christmas in a hospital bed,
worried in two months for my stair climb,
ninety-four flights up I would tread,
forty-some minutes was quite a slow time.
I sat three more months with my books or my hook,
crocheting or reading as she learned some new skills,
watching the classes my daughter partook,
while I thought about crafts and paying the bills.
Hugging Cassandra after my first karate class. This was before I even had a uniform.
Winter became spring, as May rolled around,
I was invited to class, to my delight and surprise,
not just for a week, a whole month I had found,
celebrating mothers with some pain in my thighs.
There was pain in push-ups and again in each crunch,
though I’m flexible enough, I always could kick.
I found there’s no pain in one single punch,
unless there’s a board or even a brick.
I know that my desk job does me no good,
sitting all day is hard to offset.
Needing more exercise, I understood,
karate was something I could not regret.
Training beside that cute smiling face,
spending time exploring one steps together,
driving towards one or other new place,
these are things that we would certainly weather.
I trained most of a year, and at a regional event
saw Grandmaster destroy a piñata with skill,
after our demo teams to great lengths had went
to show their moves, devotion, and will.
The next spring was a setback, unfortunate for me.
It would not quell my passion, this thing with my shoulder,
I pulled something wrong when cutting a tree,
it felt more like I had lifted a boulder.
Six months I sat out, sad to just watch,
knowing it would take time to achieve,
the skills she would learn as she stepped up a notch,
knowing my health would give no reprieve.
On the plus side I’m older, I had a clear goal,
she wasn’t quite six, she was quite content
to learn something new, she was on a roll,
as a Little Dragon, she made her ascent.
The next summer, my health again wasn’t that great,
I wound up in therapy for pulling my hip,
I sat for two months, as it messed with my gait,
and acquired a walking stick on our road trip.
Two thousand fourteen was a year full of jaunts,
Disney, Hawaii, and Guatemala anew,
some were a first, some were old haunts,
this time though, my skills travelled too.
With some consternation and also great joy,
after extensive searching and some interview pain,
I quit my old job for a new employ,
not working at home, but still, quite a gain.
The downside I found was I had a commute,
the length of which would not let me teach;
the earlier class I would overshoot,
the later classes just in my reach.
As time went on, I found my job shifted,
I bought a new house, left for an earlier drive,
the timing restrictions were happily lifted,
I could plan out karate, make sure I arrive.
I knew by this point that I do like to spar,
and I’ve come to enjoy even hapkido.
I’m not quite the addict that my instructors are,
that may be a change I yet undergo.
It took some time, moving’s always a mess,
and a birthday piñata claimed some of my time,
my first Prep class helped me obsess
on the skills I would need to advance my belt climb.
October added another workout,
bimonthly, with black belts, all of them skilled,
I gather there could be a larger turnout,
the space we were using is nowhere near filled.
The day crept closer to the August pre-test,
one skill, then another, I learned on the mat,
with time to spare, I completed my quest,
Ninety one-steps were learned, some fell a bit flat.
There was just one month till the test in the Dells,
just enough time to refine and improve,
and appear before judges with no whistles or bells,
working hard that day to make them approve.
Three days before, a crash dragged me from the mat,
my car was totaled by a distracted pick-up truck.
The doctor said your concussion will prevent testing for that.
Between the diagnosis and car shopping, I was stuck.
At Valpo, five months later, I pre-tested – again,
enjoying myself despite a horrible cough.
I’m ready for April, it’s time to ascertain –
can I break two boards in this final face off?
Sometimes, words get in the way. Or they aren’t right to convey the meaning. That’s when we turn to more creative expressions. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, what’s a song worth?
This song was composed on Noteflight.com, which is a pretty amazing website.
Shortly after moving into this house, I tried Blue Apron for a little while. Unfortunately, I tried it as we moved into harvest season with a surprisingly large number of squash… I couldn’t keep up with both of them, so I cancelled my Blue Apron subscription.
Blue Apron ingredients, recipes, and some of the meals produced from two boxes.
Last summer was… complicated. I never got around to re-starting the subscription. Now that things have finally calmed down a bit, we decided we could try it again.
Each box comes with ingredients and recipes that you order – my box had three recipes for two servings each. You can pick recipes each week or accept the defaults (if you forget to log in), or skip weeks when you won’t have time to cook them. All of the ingredients arrive in a freezer bag, with a pack of ice by the meats to keep them extra cool.
In addition to pretty pictures, the recipes are available on the Blue Apron website when you select your menu options for the week, so you can get a feel for how long each meal will take to cook. Two of this week’s recipes were 45-55 minutes, so I had to make sure I had that time to cook.
All of the recipes come with step-by-step directions, so you just follow along, preparing bits and cooking other bits generally in the recommended order. In my case, I occasionally add steps like “hide raw meat in microwave until oven is heated” and “hide cooked meat in microwave until side dishes are ready”… anything to protect the food from Arwen.
I normally cook from ingredients, rather than prepared foods, so that part isn’t really a change. The big differences are having the exact amount of ingredients needed to prepare the meal, and the ease of access to a variety of recipes, particularly with their recent addition of Mediterranean recipes. It allows me to explore new ideas – such as including capers and raisins in the same dish – without a remnant jar of capers remaining in the fridge. (To be honest, I think I already have one.)
So far, it’s a successful experiment. For comparison, I’m working through a HelloFresh order. In the end, I only want to order recipes and ingredients from one website… watch this space for my thoughts on HelloFresh.
