Gousto

So far so good!
I’ve used Gousto so far one time and put my subscription on hold because of my work schedule, but for next week I’m putting through another order for 4 more meals.
I think it is a great idea and really makes life easier!
The ingredients are pre portioned and the instructions are easy to follow with pictures.
Although it’s been difficult to get my food looking exactly like their photos, at least it taste great and is healthy and usually organic too!
When I’m at work 40 hour a week, the last thing I want to do is think about all the prep and food items i need to buy for dinners. But with Gousto I decide with the click of a button from their very easy to use website! I try to gauge when I’ll be able to make each meal and put a reminder in my calendar to cook at home that night. Haha :)
So all in all, I would recommend Gousto. Try to find a coupon for your first order. And… after you make your initial order, what I did was pause my subscription and just ordered when needed.

*online subscription service only*
I received a £20 gift voucher with my Amazon order for Gousto and decided to give it a try.
The following day I visited the website which was easy to navigate round. For 2 meals (each meal catered for 2 people) the total came to £25.49 which I only had to put £5.49 which I thought was amazing value.
I booked in my shopping for 6 days later (nothing available after 5)
My delivery came on time and I had a text from yodel to say it had arrived.
Unpacking the shopping (see photos) I was impressed by how neatly it was packed and it had ice packs which could be used again. Plus the fruit and veg were packed in a white thick bag which was lined with sheep wool to keep to fresh and cold. Impressive !!!
The two different recipes were nice however I was missing 2 Ingredients from each recipe (shame)
I would recommend this service because the food was Fresh and the meals were different.
However please be aware that this is a subscription service and once you order it signs you up for your next delivery and debits your account 10 days with only one email telling you.
If you just want to try the service like I did go to the ‘subscription’ tab and unsubscribe after you have receive your first order to stop the system automatically reordering.

Before we get into this, let’s make one thing clear: I hate to cook… and it’s not an offhanded, vague hate like: I hate the word «moist». No no… I passionately hate to cook and have been actively breeding that hatred for the past 30 years. The fact that Gousto has had me cooking dinner for myself the last three days is worth the five stars alone.
To truly understand this five star, you need to know WHY I hate to cook:
1. I live alone and find cooking to be a waste of time when it’s only for little ol’ me.
2. I hate the willy nilly aspect of cooking — all that «add to taste» business confuses me.
Alternatively, I LOVE to bake because it’s precise: do exactly as it says, with the exact same measurements and it will work. Pure logic. Cooking? Not so much. Don’t even get me started on substitutions…
3. On that same thread: I never have the right things in my house. Again, baking wins as it’s usually a combination of the same 10 or so ingredients, give or take some special items that I might have to run to the store for. Cooking? Go buy a bottle of weird oil and a giant pack of spices, that you will use ONCE for a recipe you will ultimately f**k up and never try again, thus leaving you with a collection of used spices that have been gathering dust for an embarrassingly long amount of time…
I REALLY hate cooking.
But every so often, I convince myself that as an adult, I should know how to cook SOMETHING that requires more steps than «heat» and so last week, I rustled around the house, pulled out a voucher for Gousto and ordered my first box. There’s a newbie discount, so three meals (or six for this solo gal), worked out to be £14… which seemed like a decent amount to waste on a gamble for my adulthood.
The box arrived on Monday with everything packaged and labelled. I nod to them for their use of environmentally friendly wool packaging. Over the years, I’ve tried many different food delivery services because of my busy schedule and it’s an often overlooked detail. On Monday night, I braved myself for the worst and took out the first recipe…
And i’m hooked.
It was probably a good thing I started with a no brainer Thanksgiving burger recipe, because the curry I made tonight wasn’t QUITE as good, but either way, i’m a fan. Gousto successfully broke down my three big reasons not to cook at home:
1. It takes about 30 minutes to make a meal… which isn’t a big time commitment, even for Little Miss Chaos here. However, because the meals are for two people, when living solo, that 30 minutes covers two days — day two is a quick reheat of left overs.
2. They send all the ingredients, INCLUDING the weird spices, pre measured! *JAZZ HANDS* It takes away that key reason I hate cooking and likens it to baking. The only thing I needed on hand was oil, salt and pepper — even I have that in the house.
3. Unlike a few other services i’ve tried, you can pick your recipes beforehand — so if you’re watching calories/​etc, you know exactly what you’re putting in your system every night. This would be helpful for a picky eater too. I eat everything, so i’ve used it as a chance to get more veggies in my system/​try the most unusual sounding options.
I thought i’d be doing that first box and then kicking them to the curb, but i’ve already ordered box two. The second box came out in the £34 range which is a little pricey, but again: that’s six meals and no processed crap. Plus, it’s getting me into the kitchen and i’m actually learning things without wanting to throw utensils.
It’s worth a try. If you know someone who is using it already you can snag a hefty £25 off the first box (hint hint Unilocal friends!) but even if you don’t have a friend that is using the service, the introductory offers are pretty good bang for the buck.
A heads up that they do set you up with an automatic subscription when you order your first box, so make sure you adjust that right away or else you may get a surprise second box you might not want…
Lookit me adulting! I need to go tell my mom…

Bought a voucher through Livingsocial and gave it a try. Gousto is a food delivery service that sends you three recipes a week that you choose from a set menu. The benefit is that you get exactly the ingredients you need, no more, no less, with the exception of some pantry staples (salt, pepper, oil, etc).
I chose Asian pork tenderloin with Bok Choi, Smoked salmon penne and chicken escalope with mashed potato and a leek & tallegio gratin.
They either deliver Tuesday or Friday and I managed to get it delivered the day after I got back from holiday, but had it delivered to work as I live in a block of flats. First off, it’s a fairly big box… a little difficult to carry home (I’d ordered the meals for 4 as that was the voucher deal, you can order meals for 2). The meats were vacuum sealed and packed with the cold items in a chill bag with ice packs — very well done. The vegetables were loose but in a different section of the box, and finally some smaller items (garlic, ginger, chillis and sauces) were packaged in a little brown paper bag. Also included were the recipes.
After finally getting it home, I unpacked everything and there was nothing missing, a good start. Instructions were clear and there was nothing that was really difficult (apart from the fact that I don’t seem to have a potato masher anymore… my problem, not theirs). Food came out well and it seemed like there was enough for 5 or 6 portions, not 4. The meals are tasty, and the ones I chose worked well for me. My flatmate and I ate well out of them.
All in all, good food, made relatively easier. I’m taking a star off though for the following reasons. Firstly, I think it’s a little expensive, but you’re paying for not having to go and buy all the ingredients (of which I would probably have to buy extra as they don’t always come in the sizes I need). Secondly, I think the meals do contain a lot of starch, potatoes, pasta and rice. It’s not that the meals don’t have a lot of the other ingredients, but you’d have it left over at the end.