I recently had the opportunity to review HelloFresh Canada's recipe kit delivery service and I fell in love. The only major drawback I found was the lack of leftovers. I love leftovers. I love cooking once and getting two dinners' worth of food. I'm all about minimum effort and maximum reward (hashtag: millennial?).
HelloFresh Canada generously sent me a four-person box (so three dinners that each have four portions) so I could try to hack my meals to give me yummy leftovers. I'm not talking about reheating the same meal twice in a row. I wanted to supplement with common kitchen ingredients to transform my leftovers into something new without a lot of effort.
One of the meals I received was Turkey Milanese with Pesto Green Beans and Creamy Potatoes. Sounds good, right? Well it was. Shawn and I thoroughly enjoyed it as our pre-Thanksgiving warmup, and we were left with two servings of turkey, a bowl of mashed potatoes, and a generous serving of pesto green beans for our leftovers.
I decided to transform my leftovers into two additional meals. It was the Thanksgiving long weekend and we had time for a nice, leisurely breakfast. I grabbed my potatoes and green beans, along with a handful of grape tomatoes, five eggs, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles. While my oven preheated to 350F, I lightly greased a pie plate. Then I dotted spoonfuls of the mashed potatoes, layered with the green beans and halved grape tomatoes, and topped with the feta cheese. Lastly, I whisked together the eggs and milk, seasoned with salt and pepper, and poured over the veggie mixture. I checked my frittata at 30 minutes and it was still a bit jiggly in the middle so I cooked for another 5-10 minutes until the middle was set. Shawn and I enjoyed the frittata with fresh fruit and giant mugs of coffee. My assembly time was five minutes and It made enough for both of us to eat for breakfast two days in a row.
When Shawn saw the crispy breaded turkey pieces, he requested hot turkey sandwiches. While I cooked up some bacon and sliced tomatoes, he threw the leftover turkey on the barbecue to quickly heat them up without losing the crunch. I had saved the leftover pesto from the green beans; I mixed it with mayo and spread on our buns for a little sauce. A little green leaf lettuce and aged cheddar completed the dish. Shawn I both got home from work late but managed to get dinner on the table in under ten minutes. It felt like a major win because our usual method of dealing with late nights is calling for a pizza.
We received a four-person box with: Turkey Milanese, Autumn Bacon Salad, and Hungarian Beef Goulash. The Turkey Milanese gave us two 2-portion dinners and two 2-portion breakfasts. The Autumn Bacon Salad gave us one 2-portion dinner and one 2-portion lunch (what can I say, we both love a big salad). The Hungarian Beef Goulash gave us one 2-portion dinner and three 2-portion lunches with very minimal effort (I added all the leftovers to four cups of beef broth, threw in a package of frozen chopped spinach, added an additional onion, thickened it with a flour slurry, and called it beef stewp (stew/soup).)
Our three-meal four-person box stretched to give us ten 2-portion meals with the addition of common kitchen items (which I estimate cost $15 or so). We had time-saving leftovers to eat on busy weeknights, and nutritious and satisfying leftovers to pack for work lunches.
HelloFresh has transformed our last-minute meals into nutritious, home-cooked, satisfying meals and I'm shocked at how easy the transition has been. There will always be unavoidable chaos (this is real life after all) but reviewing the calendar at the beginning of the week, and prepping for the days we know are bound to be a bit more hectic than others, is the difference between a little difficult and sobbing-on-the-kitchen-floor-while-inhaling-takeout.
If you want to try HelloFresh Canada to see how they can make your life easier, use code HILLARY40 for 40% off your first box for new customers.
{Disclosure: I received product in exchange for this review; all opinions stated are my own.}