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I’m a big fan of meal kits. Even though I love cooking, living in New York City makes grocery shopping a bit of a slog. Supermarkets can be far from my apartment, and hauling a week’s worth of groceries home often leaves me with sore shoulders. That’s where meal kits come in clutch: everything you need, preportioned and ready to go, delivered straight to your door.
Normally, I stick to three meals per week—any more feels overwhelming, and I worry I won’t have time to cook. But this December I decided to see what it would be like to cook HelloFresh every night for a full week. With travel coming up and a busy schedule to manage, I figured it would be a helpful way to stay home, catch up on work, and save money by cooking instead of eating out.
HelloFresh is the brand most people think of when they think “meal kit,” which makes sense—it claims over 50% of the category’s market share. The service is aimed at a wide audience, allowing you to choose from plans geared toward different needs: meat and veggie, veggie, family-friendly, fit and wholesome, under 20 minutes, and pescatarian.
For my week of cooking, I picked a mix of proteins and cuisines, with a few high-protein options. Selecting meals was super easy. HelloFresh’s interface makes it simple to filter by dietary preferences and find exactly what you want. There were at least a dozen options to choose from each night, and narrowing down high-protein meals was a breeze.
I expected cooking every night for seven days would be daunting or that I’d get bored, but I actually loved it—and even started looking forward to the evening ritual. Here’s what I made, what I loved, and what surprised me along the way.
Monday: Crispy Parmesan chicken with garlic scallion couscous and lemony roasted carrots
When I first saw this meal, I wasn’t especially excited. In my experience, couscous recipes can be underwhelming. But this dish completely surprised me. In fact, I did something I’ve never done before: I saved couscous for later and absolutely relished the leftovers the next day. The spices gave it real depth, and the squeeze of fresh lemon made it absolutely sing.
This is also where HelloFresh really worked. The recipe was incredibly easy to prepare and mostly hands-off—waiting for the chicken to finish baking was the most time-consuming part. The chicken came out perfectly crispy and flavorful thanks to a simple sour cream–based coating topped with seasoned breadcrumbs, and even the carrots—which were roasted in olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon—were delightful. I enjoyed this meal so much that I saved the recipe to make again with my own groceries
Tuesday: Chicken fajita bowls with dark meat chicken, chips, pico, and chili lime crema
This recipe was so simple that my husband and I wondered why we don’t make this kind of meal more often. Aside from HelloFresh’s Southwest spice blend—which you could easily swap for a similar store-bought seasoning—everything felt totally replicable.
The best part about this bowl is how customizable it is. You can control how much cheese, pico, and beans you add, and I piled on my own sour cream and salsa for good measure. With 46 grams of protein per serving, it was filling and satisfying, and it reminded me that meal kits can be great for establishing easy, repeatable weeknight staples.
Wednesday: Chicken sausage and spinach ricotta ravioli with tomatoes and lemon
This was my favorite recipe of the week. It was incredibly easy to make, with only minimal chopping for tomatoes, onions, garlic, and scallions. The spinach ricotta ravioli comes ready to go, so all you have to do is simmer the tomatoes with chicken sausage, toss in the aromatics, and finish with a spritz of lemon for brightness. The garnishes really make the dish feel fresh and elevated.
I would definitely make this again, and it would also be a great option for a dinner party since it is effortless to prepare but delivers big flavor.
Thursday: One-pan beef stir-fry tacos with tangy slaw, crispy fried onions, and sriracha mayo
These super quick, super filling tacos were a big win in my house. The ground beef cooks in minutes with the included seasoning, while the purple cabbage slaw adds a fresh, light balance. Unlike some meal kits that skimp on sauce, this one comes with plenty of sriracha mayo to go around, which is great because it was delicious. The packet of crispy fried onions sprinkled on top added a crunchy finishing touch. This meal highlighted one of HelloFresh’s strengths: turning familiar flavors into something more fun and textured with minimal extra effort.
Friday: Sweet and spicy pork noodle stir-fry with bok choy, cabbage, cilantro, and peanuts
This is one of those meals that’s just hard to mess up and reliably delicious. It takes about 30 minutes to prep and cook this entire dish, and you can really tailor it to your tastes by controlling the amount of seasoning and spice you add. The ground pork was easy to cook and only took a few minutes, while the noodles were easy enough to set to boil. Everything else is just a quick mix and serve.
The seasoning packet for the ground pork provided the perfect amount of flavor for the entire dish. I always add my own soy sauce—or just extra sauce in general if at all possible—so I did that, but it wasn’t necessary.
Saturday: Burgers with sweet and sour sauce, crispy onions and sweet potato fries
I tend to get bored making burgers at home, mostly because I don’t vary the toppings or patty recipe. This recipe pushed me out of that rut. The sweet and sour sauce added exciting flavors, and ingredients like ground ginger mixed into the patties themselves made the burgers feel more exciting. The pre-packed crispy onions added crunch and extra flavor. I added pickles for safe measure, and I will say it could have done with a tomato or other veggie to make it completely perfect. Still, this meal showed how a meal kit can refresh something familiar by nudging you to try new combinations.
Sunday: Pork chops with green beans and potato wedges
Pork chops are one of those dishes that I wouldn’t normally cook at home—mostly because I’ve always found it difficult to cook them perfectly without drying them out. That said, I really felt like this meal kit made the cooking experience much more approachable. For the first time in my life, I actually made a perfectly juicy pork chop that I’d actually look forward to eating again.
There was a honey-and-onion–based sauce included, but it was the trickiest part of the recipe. The honey was too thick and caused the sauce to kind of coagulate. While I still enjoyed it to some degree, it wasn’t ideal. Regardless, the pork chops were perfectly seasoned, which is great because there really wasn’t very much of the sauce for additional flavoring. I would say the same about the green beans and potato wedges. This meal felt more straightforward than others, but it gave me confidence in cooking something I’d usually avoid—and that alone made it worthwhile.
What I learned from a week of cooking HelloFresh meals
The HelloFresh recipes saved me time, but more importantly, they saved me the stress of meal planning. Knowing that dinner was already figured out and that the ingredients were (mostly) packed together in one bag made it easy to pull everything out of the fridge and get started. That alone made weeknight cooking feel far more manageable. I was initially worried I’d feel locked into cooking every night and have to say no to spontaneous plans, but I actually enjoyed knowing that dinner was already planned!
The instructions were very clear and made things like sauces and meats feel easy and approachable. By the end of the week, I felt confident enough that I could do many of these steps on my own next time. Portion sizes were great, too; I even had a lunch portion’s worth of leftovers from some of the noodle and pasta dishes, which was an unexpected bonus.
One thing HelloFresh taught me that surprised me was how much small garnishes like lemon, scallions, and parsley can make a difference. They’re so easy to add, but they really elevate the flavor and presentation of a dish. I also feel like I really mastered making pork chops, which was a big deal for me.
Another unexpected benefit was getting to spend more time cooking with my husband. When you’re cooking every night, you naturally spend more time together than you would if the alternative were eating out, ordering takeout, or reheating something frozen. We always tend to have a good back-and-forth in the kitchen, and we both loved the challenge of cooking every single night for one week.
Who is HelloFresh good for?
HelloFresh is great for people who want to diversify their dinners while considering time and dietary restrictions. I also think it’s a great option for people who get bogged down by meal planning and generally don’t love going to the grocery store.
The verdict: Would I order HelloFresh again?
After a week of cooking, I ended up with several meals I loved enough to make again on my own. Along the way, I picked up a few new tricks—easy ways to add flavor and texture with spices, sauces, and garnishes I wouldn’t normally reach for, but now absolutely will.
By the end of the week, cooking every night started to feel like a nice ritual. It delivered consistently satisfying, nutritious meals and saved me money compared to ordering takeout. With so many cuisines to choose from, I never limited or got sick of the meals, which is saying something after seven consecutive nights of home cooking. As someone who’s used meal kits extensively, this experience definitely made me consider ordering more meals per week than I usually do.
Would I do a full seven-day stretch again? I would, especially if it wasn’t a particularly busy time of year. That said, I think four to five meals per week might be my ideal balance going forward.