Archives for June 2022

10 Things I Learned From Forty Weeks of HelloFresh

I’ve been getting three meals a week for two people from HelloFresh since September 2020, and have learned a lot from forty weeks of HelloFresh.

HelloFresh is arguably the world’s most popular meal delivery. Every week you receive “meal kits” with everything you need to prepare three, four, or more meals.

FYI, this is not an advertisement, and I have not been paid to publish this post. I pay for HelloFresh for out of my own pocket, err, credit card.

1. Zest For Life

HelloFresh meals often include zesting a lemon or lime, then squeezing that fruit, and using both juice and zest in the recipe. Zest is a remarkable addition to a whole lot of things.

For example, you can add lemon zest and lemon juice to sour cream or yogurt, add a bit of salt and pepper if you please, and you’ve got a simple drizzle.

I’ve zested more in the last nine months than I have in my entire life – and it was worth it.

2. Portion Size

So many of the recipes I used to make were for four people. I’d end up with a huge quantity of food and have to eat that same stuff for days in a row. Or I’d stick it in the fridge only to find a science experiment a few months later.

With HelloFresh, I figured out portions for me. I ordered three meals for two people, giving me six meals for one person. I usually prepare a meal, then save the additional portion for lunch or dinner the next day. And bonus: some recipes often make enough for three or more smaller servings.

That also left me with only a handful of meals to take care of for the rest of the week. And even with those, I’ve learned to keep it super simple and keep those portions smaller.

3. Goodbye Food Slump

Before HelloFresh, I was in a food slump and eating the same things over and over and over. HelloFresh lit my cooking spark all over again and introduced me to flavors and techniques I’d never used (or been too lazy/scared to figure out.) In forty weeks of HelloFresh, I learned that repetition with variation is awesome!

4. Not Enough Food

I learned that I probably hadn’t been eating enough. I often felt tired and just generally worn out. With HelloFresh meals being delivered every week, I quickly felt almost perky. Almost.

Regardless, I am now eating enough food. My plate is mostly filled at every meal, and I have just enough for me to feel full. I rarely feel uncomfortably full. It’s a “just right” feeling after most HelloFresh meals.

5. Cost Is Relative

One of the biggest complaints about HelloFresh is cost, and I totally understand. For me, it worked out to be about equivalent to eating both breakfast and lunch out five times a week – which I did when I worked in an office.

I was spending around $13.00 per day, 5 days a week, for a total of $65.00 per week. Three meals for two people a week from HelloFresh runs around $69. I know that I spent more than $13 on some days, so HelloFresh worked really well for me.

Now that I work from home, I’ve cut back on caffeine and sugar, and definitely don’t eat breakfast and lunch out anymore. Heck, I have to think hard to remember the last meal I ate at a restaurant. And I think that’s a good thing: I am preparing the majority of my own meals at home and I love them.

6. Set It And Forget It

HelloFresh is truly a “set it and forget it” kind of service. You look at the twenty or more available meals each week, select your three favorites, and then forget about it. You quite literally don’t have to think or shop for what you need to prepare meals because they will inevitably show up at your doorstep.

Now, that’s not to say that delivery has been perfect. On the contrary, there was one time that my delivery just didn’t show up. It was a very sad day as I knew that I had to plan, shop, and then prepare meals for the week – something I had just gotten out of the habit of doing.

One other time, my delivery didn’t show up at the normal time. I got onto live chat with HelloFresh and they let me know that it was definitely out for delivery and would arrive by 8pm. It sure did. So that’s only two instances of delivery problems – not bad for forty weeks of HelloFresh!

7. Minimal Shopping

Consistent meal planning and shopping is a challenge for me. I can spend two hours deciding on four or five meals, another hour hand writing an alphabetical list, more time at the grocery store, time driving to and from the store, and then more time unpacking those groceries. It can be exhausting, and I’d always get additional things I really, really didn’t need.

For forty weeks of HelloFresh, I only had to do that exhausting stuff one time. Naturally, for the other meals I did have to go to the grocery story, but it was one meal, two meals at most. My ‘eye’ has changed though, so it’s easier to keep these meals in portion size and super simple because I know HelloFresh would be coming with more complex meals.

8. New Techniques

I consider myself a decent home cook; heck, I even had a cooking blog for a hot minute. And I really didn’t think I needed or could learn much from HelloFresh until I tried it and well, consider me a convert. With HelloFresh, I learned new techniques that now inform my cooking, like

Encrust everything. Mix up Panko breadcrumbs with your favorite chopped nuts and a little butter. goes a long way. Top chicken or salmon with mustard or mayonnaise, or whatever, and then top with that Panko mixture. Looks fancy, tastes, great, and really simple to do; no wonder restaurants use it so often.
Sauces, sauces, sauces. I can now whip up a yummy sauce with easy. A little liquid in a hot pan, a balsamic vinegar, some cherry or apricot jam, some sour cream, salt, pepper, and it’s yowza for your tongue.
Pickling onions takes very little time and really enhances a meal.

9. An Explosion Of Flavors In Forty Weeks

As I said before, my meals before HelloFresh were pretty boring. Over forty weeks with HelloFresh, I tried flavors I’d never had before and developed new favorites.

Check out this list of Spice Blends from Joe’s Daily. I love the Fry Seasoning, Tunisian Spice Blend, and Tuscan Heat Blend. The cool thing is that, because I know the ingredients, I can mix my own: and leave out the hot stuff like cayenne or any and all chili peppers. (Seriously; I can’t handle cayenne or any chili peppers. Even jalapeno is too much for me.)
I’d never had Za’atar before and now love it. It’s lovely on chicken. And the HelloFresh grilling cheese recipes uses Za’atar, too.

10. Potatoes, Carrots, and Couscous

I can’t tell you how many HelloFresh meals over the last forty weeks have included potatoes, carrots, and couscous. Of course, there are more than twenty different meals to choose from each week, but I always seem to pick the meals with potatoes, carrots, and couscous. What can I say? They’re yummy, filling, and easy to prepare.

That said, having these three ingredients in a lot of meals can get boring. Sometimes I’d change out potatoes for broccoli or cauliflower rice. But HelloFresh leans heavily on veggies that do not spoil quickly, so sometimes I’d just remind myself to make a meal with other veggies at home.

My Favorite HelloFresh Meals

Over forty weeks of receiving HelloFresh, I sure did have favorites – and could add more to the list. Actually, I had a hard time stopping…

Mozzarella and Herb Hicken with Roasted Carrots and Buttery Couscous
Chicken Gyro Couscous Bowls with Hummus, Tomato-Cucumber Salad, and Feta Sauce
Salmon Limone over Herbed Couscous with Zucchini and Tomato
Pecan Chicken Royale
Zucchini and Tomato Flatbreads with Lemon Ricotta, Fresh Herbs, and Chili Flakes. (I never use the Chili Flakes because I can’t stand the heat.)
Mediterranean Chickpea Salad Wraps with Spinach, Tomato, and Cucumber
Miso Apricot Chicken with Garlic Ginger Rice and Zesty Carrots
Creamy Dill Salmon with Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli
Spicy Tunisian Bulgur and Salmon Bowls with Zucchini, Carrots, Chermoula, and Creamy Lemon Sauce
Creamy Lemon Butter Chicken with Parmesan Zucchini Rounds and Scallion Couscous
Southwest Stuffed Zucchini Bowls with Pico de Gallo, Avocado Crema, and Cilantro
Tunisian-Spiced Meatballs with Apricot Glaze, Roasted Carrots, and Scallion Couscous
One-Pot Pho-Style Beef Meatball Soup with Veggie Noodles and Spiced Broth
Soy-Glazed Carrot and Miso Edamame Bowls with Pickled Cucumber, Sesame Dressing, and Peanuts
Pub-Style Shepherd’s Pie with White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
Aren’t you hungry yet? Look up the recipes for more mouth-watering flavor.

11. Bonus! It’s Not Perfect

Sure, I loved my HelloFresh deliveries each week, but it’s not perfect. There was the one time my weekly delivery didn’t show up. And there’s a pile of HelloFresh boxes in my garage because they’re really good boxes and I have a hard time letting go of boxes that I might someday, somehow use. Or is that just me?

Those two packs of icy-something or other each week bother me. Their packaging says to put it all out with the garbage, but that just seems wrong. I have put the stuff down the drain, and that is definitely not the thing to do (though so far, cross fingers, no issues with that.)
There’s the fact that these weekly boxes of delicious food are coming from somewhere, and that I don’t know WHERE they’re coming from – other than some warehouse or packing facility. I so wish that I could get something like this in my local area; I’d support it in a heartbeat.
If you don’t clean as you go, each meal can create a mess in your kitchen. I use so many pans and bowls and utensils every.single.meal. I’ve gotten better at it, but boy – the kitchen sometimes looks like a hurricane went through (it’s a small kitchen, so a strong wind could make it look bad.)
Sometimes the produce goes bad *very* fast. And sometimes even the carrots and potatoes feel a little limp. Sometimes that’s because I don’t cook things right away, and sometimes they’re probably just old: both can be stored long-term and they often feel like they’re hitting that storage limit.

I do know that if you receive spoilt or otherwise unusable ingredients, you just reach out to HelloFresh customer support and you’re taken care of immediately. For example, when that box didn’t arrive, they refunded my weekly amount and gave me credit for something in the future. Their customer service is stellar.

Summary

Over the last forty weeks, HelloFresh really worked well for me. With the coming of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) season, I will either stop HelloFresh or take it down to two meals for two people per week. I’ll be getting a huge box of fresh veggies every week from a local farm! I have no doubt that I’ll head right back to three meals per week for two people when the sixteen week CSA run ends in October.

Have you tried a home delivery meal kit? What did you love about it?

The Early June Garden

I’m not a gardener. I didn’t come to gardening naturally or in childhood. I didn’t grow up gardening side-by-side with my parents, grandparents, or anybody else.

I mean, my parents gardened for a few years, but I didn’t want to be out there at all. Heck, I just barely wanted to leave my room.

In fact, I wasn’t drawn to nature the way so many people are. I’d mostly rather sit quietly and read a book than anything else in the world. Add in meditation and cute clothes, and these are some of my favorite things.

I learned to garden from a housemate in my 30s. The house was in a rural setting and we had another friend till the land; then we planted. Going out to daily to tend plants and pluck veggies and herbs for dinner was a treat; it’s something I still enjoy.

Permaculture

Permaculture came into my awareness as a result of working at the world-renowned Omega Institute for Holistic Studies; there was a course and it sounded intriguing, but I really didn’t want to dig in dirt. Books meditation, cute clothes, remember?

But as the years passed by and I learned about propagating plants and had small gardens in pots on balconies, I hoped for a place of my own where I could grow something. Maybe food? Definitely pretty flowers.

Fast forward to 2012, and I purchased my current home. It has just the right amount of garden space for me to putter, and then a little bit more. I’ve puttered around a bit, and have some pictures to share from earlier this month.

Wild violets in May. They spread prodigiously and add deep purple sparkle in early spring.
Red tulip
The apple tree bloomed. At least, I think it’s the apple; it might be the crab apple.
Peach blossoms
Coleus for all summer color
Biodiversity! There’s so much going on in this one picture. I don’t know all of the plants, but recognize moss and plantain.
Handmade stepping stone. These were made one summer day with friends some years ago. So pretty!
Itty bitty Red Haven peaches
Deep red peonies on the way.
Japanese andromeda. Aren’t the colors gorgeous?
White, purple, and yellow colored Iris.
Having waited two or three years, the apple tree is officially making apples.
Woodstock Chime still singing after more than ten years.
This crab apple was planted the same time as the apple: little crab apples are here, too.
Look at the Nanking Cherries! These grow fast, taste good, and have beautiful white blossoms in early spring (about the same time as tulips and daffodils.)
Allium ready to burst.
A fuzzy bee friend loving the five foot tall comfrey.
Pale pink peony about to burst open.
The city offers free trees every year. I had them plant an oak tree for me this year.

Perma-what?

Permaculture is a whole different animal than conventional gardening. It’s an overall philosophy and systematic approach to a piece of land; it can also be applied to our inner life as well as inside the home.

And there are tons of resources online to learn more. Over the last two years I worked at obtaining a 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate through the Permaculture Women’s Guild.

The course caused me to learn about things that are way outside of my comfort zone of meditation, cute clothes, and books. At the end of the course I had to do a 20-minute presentation giving an overview of my forty-plus page plan for my little piece of land in Michigan.

Permaculture has informed what I’ve planted and how I’ve planted. From the pictures, you can see I have peach, apple, and crab apple. I also have plum and Egyptian “walking” onions. There are two kinds of thyme here, and an abundance of flowers and other herbs.

Weeds and Water

There are also a lot of “weeds.” What’s the phrase? One man’s weed is another man’s flower – or something like that.

In my journey towards permaculture I had to adjust my thinking about weeds. I love a beautifully manicured lawn as much as the next person, but I also know they’re generally horrible for the environment. All that grass has very little to offer bees, birds, and other wildlife. Grass eats up water, and (in urban settings) sends that water down the driveway and into the street.

Maybe the easiest way to get a basic understanding of permaculture is through thinking about water. Where does the water on your property come from, and where does it go?

On my tiny property, water comes in from the city and goes back out. Water comes down from the sky in the form of rain and snow. The rain goes through the gutters and two downspouts shoots the water straight towards my neighbor’s yard. Another downspout shoots the water into the backyard. With permaculture, my goal is to capture that rain water and invite it to sink into the land, thus nourishing everything.

It’s kind of the same with plants. I let the clover and plantain grow because they nurture healthy soil; I can also eat them and/or use them for medicine if need be. Plantain, for example, can be used for first aid on stings, bites, or minor burns; it can be used in an infused oil or salve, too.

You can make a tea from red clover, or use it in an infusion or tincture; pretty sure one of these days I’ll learn how to do these things. I already make tea from my overabundance of lemon balm; it’s great for relieving stress, helping with digestion, and overall mental health.

I’m growing all those herbs and flowers and fruits for the same reason. And if you look at a garden bed I’ve developed it has got peach, comfrey, lemon thyme, chives, clover, and more. It’s messy and it’s very diverse.

June In The Garden

In early June, the greens in the garden are on point. All the grass is alive and not crunchy; that happens later towards August and September.

The Iris, clover, and chives are blooming. Now is when I go out and cut chives to sprinkle on dinner or use in sandwiches. Maybe some chive spread? And I’ll for sure use either the English thyme or lemon thyme on something – maybe salmon.

The wild violets are done blooming for the year, as are the fruit trees. But if you look closely on the fruit trees, you will see little tiny fruits just starting to grow; they’ll be ready towards the end of the summer. I’ll be able to pick the Nanking cherries in July; I’m hoping the Everblooming strawberries settle in and get really comfortable. They’re new, so I don’t blame them if they don’t feel like making strawberries this year.

I’m not a gardener. But I am as predictable and as diverse as my garden. How about you?

Mission 2022 June

In 2022, I’m combining lessons from the heart with some –cough cough – goals.

But I don’t like the word goals, so it’s a quest, a journey, a mission: that for which I am destined.

So how was May?

May’s Tarot Card

I did a tarot spread for the full year and May asked me to release resentments and negative self talk. The card was Goblins, and it also reminded me that fear is an illusion and that I can always choose love.

I’ve really been working on that negative self talk. Though “work” isn’t really the word, it’s more a practice. If I catch myself talking negatively about myself, I stop, and correct the words. This way, I am slowly ceasing to berate myself for just being alive. I am sure I will be working at this the rest of my life – and I hope you start working at this, too.

That negative self talk does so much harm. And as women, we’re absolutely conditioned to think that we’re not good enough just the way we are. I am definitely amazing just the way I am, and so are you – but the way we talk with ourselves only reinforces the messages we receive from television, movies, books, magazines, social media… it goes on and on.

I wrote more about shoulding all over yourself in February.

Write 250 Words A Day, 5 Days A Week

This didn’t happen, I don’t think it will, and I’m OK with that because I wrote 3570 words over last week. Hurrah! Read more about that in Big Secret Goal #1 below.

Revamp WordStorm Casserole Poetry Book

Not happening. I’ve got other things on my mind now.

Post Twice A Month On This Website

I made it – just barely. Squeaking by counts! There was the May Mission Update and a Big Secret Goal Reveal.

DeGoogle, deApple, deMicrosoft – embrace Linux!

Why? Because Google, Apple, and Microsoft all track your every move online and that’s wrong.

In May I continued to use my Linux machine for most everything. I still need to transfer files over from the old windows computer. Maybe I’ll get around to moving music this month?

DeGoogling is much harder than I imagined: it’s everywhere and I use it for much more than email. I did stop using Google Calendar; I really, really like having a paper calendar so I can cross days off.
DeAppling won’t happen until there is something other than Android as a truly viable option for me. Yes, there are some options out there that can run Linux like the Librem 5, but lead time is 52 weeks – yes, you heard that: lead time is ONE YEAR. I expect the market for Linux phones will improve in the coming years and when it does, I’ll be jumping aboard.
DeMicrosofting is as good as it’s going to get for now; I use LibreOffice with no major issues; it is free and is a viable replacement for Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, etc. I still have a Hotmail (now Outlook) account; it’s the first email account I had, and I’m kinda attached. I use it as a ‘junk mail’ account when signing up for newsletters, websites, offers,

Have Fun

May really wanted to be warmer, but instead settled for being not so warm. At least it was warmer than April, and I got to wear shorts for the first time this year. I’m notoriously cold, so finally wearing shorts is awesome; as I write this, it’s June 5 and I’m going to be wearing a long sleeved shirt and long pants because it’s chilly and rainy.

I watched the Central Michigan University graduation ceremony to see my sister receive her second outstanding teaching award. Congrats Leslie!
I’m still enjoying HelloFresh, but suspect I’ll cancel or at the very least pull back on ordering as much every week once the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) starts up for the season. That should happen sometime in June and carry on for sixteen weeks of amazing veggies from a local organic farm. How many veggies? My weekly share typically covers my four-burner stove top!
I did some genealogy work and updated the FindAGrave.com listings for some of my Wallace line. There was great-great grandfather Robert Wallace who brought the family from Canada to Cass City, Michigan (and was able to tie him to my great grandfather Alfred James Wallace, too.) Robert’s son William H. Wallace. My great-great-great grandfather and grandmother Thomas Wallace and Isabella Dickie Wallace. There was also Isabella D. Smallwood and her husband William and son Harold; Isabella’s mother (Mary Jane Wallace) was sister to Robert mentioned above – which makes her my 1st cousin three times removed. One of these days I may hire a genealogist working near Kilmarnock, Scotland to dig into further family history…or perhaps that can be a goal for 2023?
My hair still has purple, fuchsia, and blue highlights: LOVE IT!
I worked in my garden just a big, went to a couple thrift stores, and had two craniosacral massages, too.

Big Secret Goal #1: Finish the first draft of a novel

This is what that “write 250 words a day” goal was all about! Read more about how I came to this decision and hints at what the novel is about here. Every week for fourteen weeks, I have to hit my target number of words per week – 3,000. We’re in week one, and I sure did hit that target! Yeah me!!

Big Secret Goal #2

This goal involves hiring pros. I finally arranged to meet with the pros.

It was fun to talk about the goal in depth, and to share the document I slaved over that is chocked full of ideas and measurements and colors and more.
Now I’m in the “waiting for the pros to develop a design” phase. Then we’ll be in the “blend my vision with their design phase,” and then in the “I sure hope they can add this to their schedule” phase. And eventually we’ll get to installation and big reveal.
I was hoping for spring (which is clearly not going to happen) and will be delighted if it’s fall.
At least it will be done…and I can move on to other Big Secret Goals.

What I’m Reading

On GoodReads, I have a 2022 Reading Challenge goal of at least 50 books. Since the last update I’ve read:

Galileo’s Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simson
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
I’ve read 21 books so far this year, which puts me 42% of the way to that mission of 50 books in 2022.