The final meal in our hellofresh box was Maple-Glazed Pork Chops. I was pretty excited about this one so I saved it for last! I LOVE sweet potato and would eat it multiple times a week, but sadly my husband is not a fan. Our compromise in this box was I chose the meal with sweet potato and he chose Orzo with lemon and fresh herbs (something I didn't think I would enjoy but ended up loving!)
If you missed my first two hellofresh meal reviews check them out here Hellofresh - Is the convenience worth the price? and
Hellofresh- a fun cooking experience that makes you feel unstoppable?
On paper this meal looked the easiest to make- it is a pork chop with sweet potatoes and green beans! But I actually found it the most challenging of the three! It did taste great but sadly the potatoes needed another 4-5 minutes to be soft so they were a bit hard to mash and therefore a little lumpy, and the glaze for the pork chop also didn't thicken as much as I would have liked it to. Overall it was still a nice dinner though and they are easy fixes for next time!!
REVIEW CRITERIA
*Time (30 minutes)- This one took right on 30 minutes to make, though I felt like I was constantly doing something and usually I also unload the dishwasher as I cook dinner in between adding ingredients and prepping! With this recipe I was always either prepping or stirring/mixing/mashing so there was no free time.
*Low Prep- I peeled and diced a sweet potato but that was the extend of my ingredient prep with this meal. Easy easy easy in that respect.
*Healthy- The box comes with a calorie breakdown and recommended daily allowance percentages (RDA) for a 200 calorie diet. This recipe was 640 calories per serving as prepared with 28g fat (36% RDA), 9g of saturated fat (43% RDA), 115mg cholesterol (38% RDA) and 25g sugar (50% RDA). The sugar content was a little high- I attributed this to the maple syrup, pecans and sweet potato. It is still fairly healthy but I tried to balance our sugar intake throughout the rest of the day.
*Cost to make myself- I am going by the 'usual' prices for food in my local Kroger Fry's store as this is where I do most of my grocery shopping. We tend to buy the Kroger brand
2 sweet potatoes- $1.29/lb = $2.26
12oz pork chop- $3.49/lb = $2.62
1 clove garlic- 50c each/3 for $1 = $0.05
6oz green beans- $1.99/lb = $0.75
1/2 tsp cinnamon- $1/2.25oz = $0.10
1oz maple syrup- $5.29/8 fl oz = $0.66
1.5 tbsp balsamic vinegar- $2.99/12.7 fl oz = $0.19
1oz pecans- $7.99/12oz = $0.66
TOTAL = $7.29 for 2 people = $3.65 a portion
It would cost me 1/3 of the price to make these myself at home, however if it was the first time making the recipe I would have to buy the complete tubs/containers of each item which comes to $22.72 as the pecans and maple syrup are a very expensive ingredients to buy, especially as this recipe calls for so little. I would then however be able to make this recipe again relatively cheaply the next few times as I would have a lot of cinnamon, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar and pecans. I am not sure that the $6.34 per person for the curation and shipping of the ingredients is worth it in this recipe (hellofresh is $9.99 a person per portion)
*Taste test- I enjoyed the flavor of the balsamic garlic glaze for the pork chops, it made them seem more elevated. The cinnamon, maple syrup and pecan sweet potatoes reminded me of Thanksgiving! (I have only lived in America for 3 Thanksgivings but that is a different story!) I love garlic so I enjoyed the garlic buttery green beans. Overeall each part of the dish had great flavor, and my family seemed to enjoy it too (except my toddler who only at the beans from the middle of the green beans!!)
I have eaten a lot of pork chops, being an item that is frequently on offer, so this meal wasn't new to me but it was still good. I enjoyed the flavours in each part of the meal and it was fairly filling. I did make extra mashed potatoes and green beans to make it stretch to feeding my family, but if we were just two adults the portion sizes were fair.
This meal would have been fairly easy to make without hellofresh, however some of the ingredients are expensive and you have to buy in bigger packages (like the maple syrup and pecans).
I am going to reflect on all the meals and decide if we will be ordering again next week. Watch this space! Would you order hellofresh for the convenience and a bit of variety in your menu?
Hellofresh- Is it worth it and would I order again?
I'm curious about your Thanksgiving story. :)
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I will make a note to post about it one day!
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