First I had to choose when to have my box delivered, obviously we were going away on holiday so that week was out, then last week I was running down the fridge, freezer and cupboards a bit ready for my wartime rationing challenge to kick off (away with you temptation) and then I realised looking into my now nearly empty fridge what a perfect way to end my modern eating and move on to austerity and simple food. So, I chose my five meals paid the first payment and placed the order and sat back and waited for my box.
My box should have cost me £42.99 plus delivery cost, but as a first order and with the offer of free postage and packing it came to just a smidge over £15. Not bad I thought, five meals for two people for that amount. I was happy.
And here without fanfare or any to do of any description is my very amateur unboxing of my first Gousto box. Spot the two very un-deliberate mistakes if you can. 😄
No sooner was the box unpacked than we decided to have one of the meals for our tea. Alan was not keen to try the Tofu Fish and Chips, so we decided on the Baked Butternut Squash Biryani with Cultured Coconut.
They were really easy to follow, even for someone likes me that doesn't seem to be able to follow a recipe without going back over and over reading through things. I am much more of a chuck things in the pan and see what happens type of cook. Anyway, I loved the way this was all set out, easy to follow and absolutely step by step, even down to 'put the kettle on'.
I made the meal in just over the time the recipe card said it should take and as we both are not keen on chillies; I heeded the warning to go easy on them if this was the case. Instead of the whole chilli I just chopped up about a third of it to sprinkle on the finished dish
In our rush to try out the meal I totally forgot to take a photo. So here is the finished dish as it looks on the Gousto website. If you imagine this halved and placed artistically onto two white bowls with a dollop of yoghurt each and much less of the chillies and coriander (neither of us are fans of coriander) that is what we had.
Verdict - very tasty.
But the chillies even in their much-reduced amount were far too hot for both of us, it was pretty filling and something I really loved was the very minimal washing up. Just the one pan that it was cooked in, a chopping board, knife, two bowls and two forks ... oh and the free wooden spoon that I got in my box.
Now all we have to do is to choose the next meal out of the four that are left.
Sue xx
Nice to see the reality of one of these boxes and your dinner looked tasty BUT and it's a big but - the amount of packaging is awful especially with all the seasonings and sauces. I'm glad to see from the website that reducing/changing it is a priority. Enjoy the rest of the box.
ReplyDeleteYes, the seasonings and sauces sachets are a bit much, but I guess it's the same as you get in cafes etc. Most of the other items are recyclable, the paper and plastic in my home recycling bins and the soft plastic bags at the supermarket drop off point. Alan has claimed the cardboard box for his shredded paper in the office, so that's gone to a good home.
DeleteWe enjoyed using Gousto back in the Spring/Summer. The meals were tasty, reasonably quick to prepare, no waste and got us out of a bit of a food rut. After a few weeks we had a couple of problems with the IT , to be fair on the company not all down to them - so we're having a break from it but will probably restart later in the autumn
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Yes, that was one of the reasons I decided to get a box, alongside the really good offer code ... I have been in a terrible food rut just recently. Since Covid I have a weird sense of taste and virtually no sense of smell except for at the moment the whole place smells of stale oil after making some chips from the box so the thought of some exciting spicy and new foods was tempting.
DeleteLooks delicious. I am so looking forward to your ration challenge as I am keen to eat simple, nutritious and hopefully affordable food, however as a vegan too, so many of the wartime recipes are for meat eaters and although I have tried a few that don't contain meat, eggs or dairy, I would appreciate a few more ideas!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh so am I. This food box was supposed to be a sort of 'last hurrah' before wartime rationing and it has in fact made me yearn for simple foods and simple tastes. I hope I can give you some ideas, I do find that so many of the wartime recipes are great for vegans as vegetables were used as the main part of the meal and meat was made to stretch so far.
DeleteMy daughter orders Gousto and Hello Fresh when there is an offer on. She then recreates the meals using/tweaking the recipes at a later date. Catriona
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good way to use these subscription boxes. I have already cancelled my subscription for this one, but who knows in the future I might just try a different one.
DeleteThe meals look yummy but if it was full price ,very expensive, thank goodness it was in offer and these things are certainly worth trying. We gad a Hello Fresh box on offer a while ago and wouldn't do it again, the fresh produce was anything but and like you we had a recipe card missing. Only noticed the cauliflower slip, in my book when you reach 60 it is obligatory to have at least one oops moment a day, I have many several !!! :)
ReplyDeleteIt would really not be worth the full price in my opinion. We both said that we would be able to fill a trolley with so much food for the same price in Aldi. Yes, the 'cauliflower' was one of them. How can a normal sane person hold a broccoli and say the word cauliflower ... haha. ;-)
DeleteA very interesting box, Sue, but...ouch!...so much packaging. Can't wait to see what you do with all the food ;)
ReplyDeleteLuckily a lot of it can be recycled, but it is excessive isn't it. It shows the subscription box is not the way for me to eat regularly ... it is nice to have a little try of one though.
DeleteI tried a couple of the US meal box offerings when on special offer. My take was that they were actually a lot of trouble and expensive when at normal price. And, as I am cooking for one, there was a limited selection that could survive being frozen or reheated a couple of days later.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the steps were easy to follow on a couple of the meals, it really did seem a lot of faffing about. I was lucky that Alan was happy to join in and eat all but one of the meals as I really don't think I would have been able to fit additional portions into my freezer.
DeleteI've never tried Gousto but I did flirt with Hello Fresh and it was pretty good. However, I stopped when the offers stopped - it's pretty expensive at full price.
ReplyDeleteNow I get Simply Cook kits - you provide your own ingredients and they provide the sauces/spices/etc. It means you can mix and match your ingredients to work with what you already have. Still not cheap but better and more flexible, I think. xx