I’ve always quite enjoyed cooking. My mum, who is a fabulous cook, ran a restaurant in our home when I was younger. As head chef, she was always racing around trying new recipes, sourcing fresh produce and whipping up delicious things. Fast forward and I’d love to say I follow in her footsteps, but truthfully I usually resort to the same old tried and tested repetoire, which loops around from week to week.
So, I must say it was a nice treat to receive an email from Hello Chef last week, a Dubai based company that offers food delivery services. Basically every Sunday they send subscribers all the food needed to cook four recipes, with a choice of enough for 2, 3 or 4 people. There’s a Family Box, a Veggie option or a Low Carb box, which is the one I got to sample.
The idea is to take the headache out of deciding what you want to eat and also having to shop for the ingredients, by bringing everything to your doorstep. While Hello Chef is not a new concept in the UAE (you might remember I tried Dinner Time a while back), it is a great idea that certainly appeals to a lot of busy people, especially slightly frazzled mothers like myself 🙂
What I really liked about Hello Chef was firstly the box it came in. You might chuckle at that, but I’m a real sucker for nice packaging and this eco friendly box has a funky logo and design and is fully recyclable (or able to double up as a play thing for the kids.) Secondly, open it up and you’ll find each day’s ingredients divided into a separate bag. Oh, how I love this level of organisation! It left my fridge nice and tidy (for once) and meant that all I had to do was pull out the bag for that evening. It also meant that Spinneys probably greatly missed little old me that week, as I’m forever in that darn supermaket forgetting what the heck I went in for.
The recipes were also very easy to follow. Actually, surprisingly easy. Having the correct portion and measurement of everything, right down to a tablespoon of honey sealed in a little bag, meant all you had to do was chop, mix and cook, and nothing got wasted. The only store cupboard ingredients you need are salt, pepper and olive oil. The meals were tasty, from Nile Perch and mango salad, chilli with cauliflower rice, to maple glazed chicken with goats cheese, balsamic beetroot and pecan nut salad. I have to admit it made cooking more enjoyable and less of a chore. Thanks to the way Hello Chef packaged each night’s ingredients, everything also seemed as fresh as it was on the day of delivery – even by night four.
All in all, it gets The Peace Lily’s seal of approval and it is definitely something I would do again. Hello Chef also do a nice ‘refer a friend option’, – simply invite your friends to try it out, and for each one who places their first order they will give you both AED 100 off. Prices range from AED 280 for a family or veggie box for 2 people, to AED 330 for the low carb option for 2, rising to AED 530 for 4 people. Check out Hello Chef’s website for full details.
www.hellochef.me
No Comments