Gusto/Hello Fresh etc
Discussion
Don't laugh but this represents a major step up for me.
I've recently have lost weight for various reasons, and need to get more interested in food. I know very little about actual cooking. To date I've scorned 'recipe boxes' as trendy nonsense but now I think they might actually be the way forward - a new interest if you like. I don't need Masterchef level, just something nutritious, tasty and good to eat that can be prepared by a simpleton.
Can any of you food experts recommend a supplier please?
I've recently have lost weight for various reasons, and need to get more interested in food. I know very little about actual cooking. To date I've scorned 'recipe boxes' as trendy nonsense but now I think they might actually be the way forward - a new interest if you like. I don't need Masterchef level, just something nutritious, tasty and good to eat that can be prepared by a simpleton.
Can any of you food experts recommend a supplier please?
They all seem to do pretty similar introduction offers so maybe try them all and see which ones you like.
I was very sceptical, but my girlfriend was very keen to try Gusto. It is actually really good. They have a decent range and the whole thing is very convenient and we have tried dishes we would never normally have tried.
I have also really enjoyed cooking lots of real food with fresh ingredients.
For me personally, Im not sure it represents VFM. If anything it has shown me how easily I could do it all myself. But i have really enjoyed the experience.
I was very sceptical, but my girlfriend was very keen to try Gusto. It is actually really good. They have a decent range and the whole thing is very convenient and we have tried dishes we would never normally have tried.
I have also really enjoyed cooking lots of real food with fresh ingredients.
For me personally, Im not sure it represents VFM. If anything it has shown me how easily I could do it all myself. But i have really enjoyed the experience.
Try the recipies with the introductory offer. Keep the ones you like and just buy those ingredients in the future from the supermarket and follow the card.
It will give you inspiration for what to eat. Recipies are not strict. You can add bits or change or take out bits as you see fit.
It will give you inspiration for what to eat. Recipies are not strict. You can add bits or change or take out bits as you see fit.
we've started using 'hello fresh' - really good recipes and ingredients led to some tasty meals which all the family enjoyed. just accept that the prep/cooking times (TAKES ONLY 20 MINS TO PREPARE AND COOK, etc) are a bit optimistic unless you are a very competent cook.
no waste too which is reassuring.
no waste too which is reassuring.
Since my OH moved in a year ago "we" have been getting Mindful Chef ones every few months or so - apparently to provide a break about having to think about recipes and things to cook, and trying something different.
They don't seem especially good value to me (hence my reluctance), but in fairness they have generally tasted pretty good or in some cases very good. I "like my groceries" as my older relatives say, but portion sizes are in practice not too bad although we bulk them up a little bit sometimes (ie adding to rice a bit etc).
Everything is neatly packaged which is helpful, but a PITA to get rid of.
Instructions (so I am told) are very optimistic re prep time - ie in practice almost double what they claim (would be 4 times as long if I did it as I am "incapable of multi-tasking")..
Occasional use, yes quite good - regular use, deep pockets needed and a skip to store the packaging (although they do have a return system for the box, insulation and chill packs).
They don't seem especially good value to me (hence my reluctance), but in fairness they have generally tasted pretty good or in some cases very good. I "like my groceries" as my older relatives say, but portion sizes are in practice not too bad although we bulk them up a little bit sometimes (ie adding to rice a bit etc).
Everything is neatly packaged which is helpful, but a PITA to get rid of.
Instructions (so I am told) are very optimistic re prep time - ie in practice almost double what they claim (would be 4 times as long if I did it as I am "incapable of multi-tasking")..
Occasional use, yes quite good - regular use, deep pockets needed and a skip to store the packaging (although they do have a return system for the box, insulation and chill packs).
We've tried both Gousto and Hello Fresh, simply to try and introduce a bit more variety to our meal planning.
Every week we plan a menu, have done for years, simply so that there is no waste from stuff bought we fancied at the time but no actual plan to use it, and we can easily organise to use up leftovers. However needed some different ideas and these two were ones tried. We had a week with both, at the risk of stating the obvious picked recipes we fancied, avoided ones that looked dubious.
Aim was as somebody suggested above, try the offer week, see if there were some dishes we liked, keep the recipe leaflets and then make from shop bought / store cupboard stuff. We ended up keeping quite a few of the recipes they were good, tasty, easy to prepare. However good or reasonable value at introductory offer pricing, full price distinctly less so. Only the other day made Korean Beef Bulgogi, green beans, basmati rice. link Korean Beef Bulgogi
Other thing we did was start to collect recipes from the free mags from supermarkets, the Co-op is a good one, Sainsbury's or Tesco recipe leaflets can be mixed. Example of a Co-op recipe here that's recommended, link2 Griddled naan with spicy beef
Obviously another alternative is to buy some recipe books, trouble is it depends who authors it. For example Tom Kerridge, in my experience when you've finished it, the result may be cracking but I'm always left with the thought that was the result, as good as it was, worth all that faffing, and my God Tom does faff to the extreme. Nigella, after 3 recipes that just didn't work, her book went to Oxfam. A figure of hate on here, Jamie Oliver, 15 minute meals just one example, simple stuff and they just work.
When I want to faff, Stephen Harris from the Telegraph, pud will be chocolate marquise this weekend. link
HTH
Every week we plan a menu, have done for years, simply so that there is no waste from stuff bought we fancied at the time but no actual plan to use it, and we can easily organise to use up leftovers. However needed some different ideas and these two were ones tried. We had a week with both, at the risk of stating the obvious picked recipes we fancied, avoided ones that looked dubious.
Aim was as somebody suggested above, try the offer week, see if there were some dishes we liked, keep the recipe leaflets and then make from shop bought / store cupboard stuff. We ended up keeping quite a few of the recipes they were good, tasty, easy to prepare. However good or reasonable value at introductory offer pricing, full price distinctly less so. Only the other day made Korean Beef Bulgogi, green beans, basmati rice. link Korean Beef Bulgogi
Other thing we did was start to collect recipes from the free mags from supermarkets, the Co-op is a good one, Sainsbury's or Tesco recipe leaflets can be mixed. Example of a Co-op recipe here that's recommended, link2 Griddled naan with spicy beef
Obviously another alternative is to buy some recipe books, trouble is it depends who authors it. For example Tom Kerridge, in my experience when you've finished it, the result may be cracking but I'm always left with the thought that was the result, as good as it was, worth all that faffing, and my God Tom does faff to the extreme. Nigella, after 3 recipes that just didn't work, her book went to Oxfam. A figure of hate on here, Jamie Oliver, 15 minute meals just one example, simple stuff and they just work.
When I want to faff, Stephen Harris from the Telegraph, pud will be chocolate marquise this weekend. link
HTH
spangle82 said:
Don't laugh but this represents a major step up for me.
I've recently have lost weight for various reasons, and need to get more interested in food. I know very little about actual cooking. To date I've scorned 'recipe boxes' as trendy nonsense but now I think they might actually be the way forward - a new interest if you like. I don't need Masterchef level, just something nutritious, tasty and good to eat that can be prepared by a simpleton.
Can any of you food experts recommend a supplier please?
Haven't used any of them myself because I like to cook, but have friends who do Hello Fresh.They like it - convenient, no waste etc. Pricey and heavy on the recycling though. I've recently have lost weight for various reasons, and need to get more interested in food. I know very little about actual cooking. To date I've scorned 'recipe boxes' as trendy nonsense but now I think they might actually be the way forward - a new interest if you like. I don't need Masterchef level, just something nutritious, tasty and good to eat that can be prepared by a simpleton.
Can any of you food experts recommend a supplier please?
For what you want I think you're spot on, they could be a great way into cooking for yourself a bit more. Everything you need and full instructions, good way to build your interest in food and confidence in the kitchen.
As others have said, once you've had some practice and built up a few dishes you like, ditch the meal service and go it alone!
sherman said:
Try the recipies with the introductory offer. Keep the ones you like and just buy those ingredients in the future from the supermarket and follow the card.
It will give you inspiration for what to eat. Recipies are not strict. You can add bits or change or take out bits as you see fit.
We've done exactly this with both HF and Gousto. Both my wife and I took out separate subscriptions after each other and after about two months we'd collected around 12 really good recipes across both of them.It will give you inspiration for what to eat. Recipies are not strict. You can add bits or change or take out bits as you see fit.
Top Tip. If you download and pay for the Anylist app on your phone, the desktop version of the app will scrape the recipes from the HF/Gousto (and any other online recipe) websites and automatically save the recipe and the ingredients into the app. After you've saved your 12 or whatever recipes, you can just meal plan for the week in the app's calendar by picking which recipes you want to cook and 'add to shopping list' which automatically adds all of the ingredients under relevant categories (meat, dairy etc which you can also reorder for the way you walk around the shop) before you head off to Aldi.
Once the recipes are in the app, it becomes 'almost' as convenient as getting it delivered to your door for a lot less money. The paid for version also syncs across people's devices which is great if two of you are in the shop together or you remember something whilst the other's out at the shop.
Personally I found HF better - the recipes tend to be nicer and each recipe is bagged individually so is more convenient whereas Gousto generally arrives loose in the box. I found the way the HF recipes were presented a lot harder to follow, but they have now introduced more paragraphs which helps!
Oh, and get used to potato wedges. Soooo many potato wedges!
Edited by ben5575 on Monday 8th March 19:44
Those are really great replies, thank you. Cost isn't an issue but there's only one of me and Gousto/Hello Fresh only go down to two, which might create problems unless you can freeze it.
Hadn't heard of Mindful Chef so will have a look.
Buying all the ingredients myself might be tricky as there's only a medium-sized CoOp and Tesco Express nearby, and simplicity is the key or I probably won't do it. I'm also a bit wary that so much seems to be odd foreign stuff I haven't heard of - could spend 30-60 mins making it only to go in the bin... but I need to start somewhere.
Hadn't heard of Mindful Chef so will have a look.
Buying all the ingredients myself might be tricky as there's only a medium-sized CoOp and Tesco Express nearby, and simplicity is the key or I probably won't do it. I'm also a bit wary that so much seems to be odd foreign stuff I haven't heard of - could spend 30-60 mins making it only to go in the bin... but I need to start somewhere.
spangle82 said:
Buying all the ingredients myself might be tricky as there's only a medium-sized CoOp and Tesco Express nearby, and simplicity is the key or I probably won't do it. I'm also a bit wary that so much seems to be odd foreign stuff I haven't heard of - could spend 30-60 mins making it only to go in the bin... but I need to start somewhere.
You are willing to order a prepacked box of food from an online retailer but you wont consider ordering fresh food from a supermarket online and getting it delivered? 
spangle82 said:
Buying all the ingredients myself might be tricky as there's only a medium-sized CoOp and Tesco Express nearby, and simplicity is the key or I probably won't do it. I'm also a bit wary that so much seems to be odd foreign stuff I haven't heard of - could spend 30-60 mins making it only to go in the bin... but I need to start somewhere.
Provided you have space, and if you say cost is not an issue, you just build up your collection of pastes, spices, staples etc as you go along. Dried goods should last c 6 months (my OH found some dried herbs that were own brand Safeway in my food cupboard when she moved in this year which was pushing it a bit 
)You can substitute most of the exotic stuff for alternatives in any case so I wouldn't worry about that. I am often surprised at what I find in some of these smaller stores in terms of more obscure ingredients.
The more you practice the better you get with substituting and coming up with dishes that are only loosely based on a "recipe" - if you learn c 20 or so basic cooking techniques over time, you can base everything on that.
sherman said:
You are willing to order a prepacked box of food from an online retailer but you wont consider ordering fresh food from a supermarket online and getting it delivered?
I wouldn't know what to order, and delivery slots can take a week or more which rather loses the enthusiasm. I think I might just end up with loads of stuff which gets thrown away. The easier it is the more likely I am to do it. The last time I tried cooking anything from a recipe was about 1989 for some visitors, and that went wrong.s2kjock said:
Provided you have space, and if you say cost is not an issue, you just build up your collection of pastes, spices, staples etc as you go along. Dried goods should last c 6 months (my OH found some dried herbs that were own brand Safeway in my food cupboard when she moved in this year which was pushing it a bit )
You can substitute most of the exotic stuff for alternatives in any case so I wouldn't worry about that. I am often surprised at what I find in some of these smaller stores in terms of more obscure ingredients.
The more you practice the better you get with substituting and coming up with dishes that are only loosely based on a "recipe" - if you learn c 20 or so basic cooking techniques over time, you can base everything on that.
All sound words but I'm not that advanced - I'm coming from a zero skills base and if it gets too hard/complicated I'll lose interest. Maybe I have the latent talent of a top chef but it hasn't appeared yet. Hence I need idiot-proof. The closest thing to a spice I use is celery salt for cheese on toast. Pastes - I have no idea what they are or what you'd with them. That's why a box of stuff, with instructions, which just arrives, is suddenly appealing )You can substitute most of the exotic stuff for alternatives in any case so I wouldn't worry about that. I am often surprised at what I find in some of these smaller stores in terms of more obscure ingredients.
The more you practice the better you get with substituting and coming up with dishes that are only loosely based on a "recipe" - if you learn c 20 or so basic cooking techniques over time, you can base everything on that.
20 basic cooking techniques... well, I can do microwaving, boiling, grilling, ovening and I have a chopping board. Only 16 to go then
I will put it another way.
Order the hello fresh/gusto and get the recipe cards. These have words (the foodstuff) that tell you what to order from the supermarket.
How long do you think the hello fresh/gusto will take to arrive compared to the supermarket shop?
If you know the basics of how to use a hob/oven etc the other skills are just fancier ways of using them or using diffrent pans on/in them.
Order the hello fresh/gusto and get the recipe cards. These have words (the foodstuff) that tell you what to order from the supermarket.
How long do you think the hello fresh/gusto will take to arrive compared to the supermarket shop?
If you know the basics of how to use a hob/oven etc the other skills are just fancier ways of using them or using diffrent pans on/in them.
spangle82 said:
I wouldn't know what to order, and delivery slots can take a week or more which rather loses the enthusiasm. I think I might just end up with loads of stuff which gets thrown away. The easier it is the more likely I am to do it. The last time I tried cooking anything from a recipe was about 1989 for some visitors, and that went wrong.
If you go for the simply cook one it tells you exactly what you need to order - plus they can sit in the cupboard for a while if you don't fancy them! You get a recipe card to go with them - you generally dont need to buy anything fancy I would definitely take them over one of the meal boxes that send you ingredients as there is too much potential for wastage of the fresh stuff - you can even choose what you get sent - have a look at their website, its £3 for a trial box!https://www.simplycook.com/
No affiliation by me but worked through a few of them for similar reasons to you and found this the most convenient
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