**This is a sponsored post created in partnership with HelloFresh.**
I have written about our week night dinner woes in this space for years.
Even with 16 years in the mom game under my belt, I still struggle with the putting food on the table element of motherhood.
I’m busy, and tired, and uncreative in the kitchen. My entire family is discerning (husband included), and we are on a short time schedule when it comes to dinner prep and eating.
I know, I’m not special in this way –all of us are busy, on-the-go moms with unique tastes and allergy issues to address in the kitchen. I probably should’ve figured this out by now, but I’m a big enough person to admit that I haven’t.
And maybe won’t? I don’t believe this is a problem I will solve completely on my own.
Fortunately I don’t even have to feel bad about not being able to.
Enter HelloFresh.
Aka kitchen magic.
This beautifully imagined subscription based meal service is every mom’s answer to week night dinner.
They do all of the hardest parts of family dinner –okay, they won’t deal with the complaining or the fact that someone won’t eat their green beans, but the other exhausting stuff, like menu prep, recipe development, and shopping, totally have it covered.
They make it so that you can have nutritious meals for your family with real food made from fresh ingredients. They come in healthy portions and use ingredients your family isn’t going to be weird about.
The HelloFresh box arrived on our door for our review a few days before Christmas.
It was stuffed with fresh ingredients to prepare three nights of meals for my family.
I busted it open, stored everything in the fridge, and made a plan to give it a go the next night.
Spoiler alert: It was a total hit!
For once, every member of the family wanted to eat what I was cooking –no crying, no complaining, no sudden, unexplained belly aches, none of this face…
Just forks up and ready.
And, I never felt stressed about the experience –I knew what I was making and how, and I knew there’d be no scrambling because every needed ingredient was safely stored in my fridge or my pantry courtesy of the HelloFresh chefs.
Our first meal was melty Monterey jack burgers and they were sooooo delicious…
If you’re looking for a solution to your week night dinner struggles, HelloFresh may just be the answer. Here are some things to know before you order.
Week Night Dinner with HelloFresh: How it Works
There are a variety of meal plan options.
You may select a menu for 2, 3, or 4 people. The way my family is set up (there are 5 of us, but we eat more like there are 7 and a half), I needed to supplement the provided recipes a bit to expand them. The beauty of that is that it’s so easy to do. These meals are made with real, easy to buy food, so you just take your enclosed recipe card and go buy whatever extra items you may need. For the most part, I just needed to expand the base items (meat, rice, potatoes, etc). There was always plenty of seasonings/sauce to cover the extra.
And, you have control over the recipes you receive.
When you sign up, you will be asked to determine your menu preferences. If you’re a pretty easy-to-please family, you may let Hello Fresh choose what you get each week. They will use your preferences to help make an informed decision about what you will like. If you’re a little more picky and want to make sure you get things you and your family will enjoy, you can also manually select your menu each week.
You can choose how often it comes.
You can either do 3 nights a week or 4 nights a week –whichever makes the most sense for your schedule. I like four so that I don’t have to worry about week night dinner at all.
There’s no commitment.
You can pause, modify, or cancel your subscription at any time.
They have a vegetarian plan.
All veggies with plant based proteins to ensure you’re getting balanced meals.
They affordable.
You guys know I wouldn’t recommend something that I don’t use and can’t afford, so let’s break it on down. The Classic Meal Plan is $9.99/serving which means if you get it 4 days/week for a family of 4 you’re looking at $160/week on dinners. Of course you can save by shopping on your own and coming up with your own meal plans and recipes, but those who don’t do that (me) who are always scrambling to get a meal together (me), and who often wind up eating out instead (me again), this option may actually save you some cash in the long run. Plus you will feel better about your week night dinner game because you won’t have many fast food options mixed in.
Plus, free shipping!
I can’t tell you how many things I don’t buy because shipping isn’t free. Just know, that it is a lot. For no additional cost to you, Hello Fresh bundles all of your edible items into appropriate containers and bags and ships your items, on ice, so they arrive to you safe to eat.
Want to give it a try? How about a discount! Take $30 off your first delivery with code DUDEMOM30. Sign up here: HelloFresh