I’ve been hearing a lot about HelloFresh and for the longest time, I wasn’t sure what all the buzz was about. The idea is grand – a meal delivery service that sends you simple preplanned recipes and ingredients in a box – but am I really going to follow through? Can it truly be that easy? Could I become one of those moms who whips up dinner while the kids carry on with their sword fight sending toys flying around the house? I wanted to try it, but signing up never made it to the top of my daily task list.

But now I’m spending more time at home, which can feel chaotic at times. My friend, a mum of 3, promised me the service would make my life easier. It’s better than takeaway and she spends less time at the grocery store, which is a huge bonus. Now her family sits down together at night and everyone eats their dinner with no complaints… what a dream! We all want a little less stress in our lives, and cooking is supposed to be fun, so I decided to give it a try.

I was surprised when our first box arrived. My husband and I were both working from home and the kids were full of energy. I was having a stressful day trying to work while keeping the kids entertained and just as I was wondering when I’d have a chance to pop out to the grocery store, the doorbell rang. I opened the door and saw the box on my front step. I had forgotten it was coming so I was quite relieved when I realized I wouldn’t have to worry about what to make for dinner that night!

When I opened the HelloFreshbox everything was individually packed in brown bags so I could easily tell which ingredients to use for each recipe. I also noticed that all the ingredients were fresh, clean and cold. I grabbed the one on top labelled pizza burgers – yum. My boys love making pizza so I asked them to help me cook dinner. They were intrigued and it was cute to watch them combine the ground beef. While the young chefs were occupied, I made the fries. There was a note on the recipe card that said “no need to peel the potatoes” and this made me delighted. We don’t need perfect dinners or anything fancy. We want to eat fresh food that tastes good and doesn’t require much effort. Between me and my kids, this is exactly what we were doing.

One thing that really stood out to me was that everything I needed was already in the box. I didn’t need to make any surprise trips to the grocery store because I was out of onions or tomatoes – it was all in there in the exact quantity I needed for the recipe. It really took the stress out of everything and I could focus on just having fun with my boys.

Soon enough, my husband finished up with work and we all sat down to enjoy our Pizza Burgers with Chorizo, Fries and Salad. Normally we wouldn’t have salad with pizza or burgers, but since we are taking extra care to stay healthy right now, I was relieved to see that even the kids finished everything on their plates! They were very proud of the meal we had made together and it was lovely to watch them really enjoy their food, especially since I knew it was fresh and homemade. We talked about our day and I felt refreshed and was no longer stressed out. My husband did the dishes and noted that we didn’t use too many pans. Sometimes when I try to make a new dish I get carried away and the kitchen – not anymore.

So needless to say, we like HelloFresh these days, especially since we’re spending more time at home. We order the Family Box and I usually get 3 nights of dinner for 4 people and that works well considering we aren’t going out as often as we used to. It answers that proverbial question, “What’s for dinner?” Every week, we get to try something new so it keeps us from getting stuck in a rut eating the same old boring plates every night. I really enjoy their tray-bakes and one-pot wonders; they’re easy to make and delicious. The service has a lot of different options for vegetarians, people without kids, and I also like how you can pause and unpause your subscription whenever you want. We still have our staples of Spaghetti Bolognese or Chicken Nuggets, but it’s nice to know we’ve been able to eat fresher and tastier meals with far fewer trips to the grocery store. The end result is best: HelloFresh helps us. Between keeping the kids busy, working from home, and a mom’s never-ending list of things to do, our family has a successful dinner a few nights a week.

Update: The folks at HelloFresh are extending a special offer to our readers! Follow this link to get $80 off including free shipping!