Gousto Recipe Box Review

The highlights:

What is it?: This is a box that comes with (almost) everything you need to make a meal. So, the box contains ingredients and recipe cards which show everything you need for the recipe, and the steps to make it (unless you are ordering for 1 person or 5 people, in which case the app has the recipe cards in it)

Cost: It depends on what size box you go for - I order the box for 2 people and on 5 meals and without the discount which I got when I first signed up, the full amount is £43.99 per order, plus delivery of £3.99

Does it work?: Yes

Would I buy it again?: Yes - in fact, I have been using these boxes for a few months now

Other options?: There are other options out there, but I haven't tried any of them, so can't comment on how good they are, but the other recipe box options include: Hello Fresh, Mindful Chef, Simply Cook, Prep Kitchen, Field Doctor, Green Chef, Riverford, Nonna Tonda, to name just a few. There's also specific boxes catering to dietary needs, like plant based Grubby boxes. If you're not in the UK, recipe boxes are available in lots of countries now - do a quick Google search to find suppliers near you!

Where to buy: Direct from Gousto

It would be really lovely (if you like this post and want to receive updates on future posts) if you could subscribe - it's so nice to have you here, and I would be super happy to have you come back in the future! Anyway, on to the Gousto recipe box review...

Overall, I am impressed by the Gousto recipe boxes. My first order arrived on 13 January 2025, and I started to draft this post in February, and I am finalising and updating this post in April 2025, so I have been using them for a couple of months now. Although I am generally impressed, there are things I love and things I don't love, so I have tried to cover all of those things in this post.

The box itself contains the ingredients and recipe card (or the app if you are cooking for 1 person or 5 people) to make a meal - easy and simple, and I imagine most people know what a recipe box is these days, so I won't focus on what it is and how to use it. Here's the box's contents on one of the weeks that I ordered it:

So, for this review of the Gousto Recipe Box, which is quite a long one, I have split my thoughts into sort of sub-categories - if one rings a bell of interest with you, read it, if it doesn't you can skip that section - I promise I won't be offended! Of course, you can also read the whole post, but if you do want to skip to sections, here are the themes I've divided my views into - just click on the one that you are most interested in:

• Time Saving: Finding Recipes and doing shopping

  
  

• Choice of recipes & how nice are the finished meals?

  
  

• It Could Save Me More Time: I still have to do some shopping

  
  

• Time Saving: Actual cooking and cleaning up time

  
  

• How easy is it to make the meals?

  
  

• Space Saving: Great for Small Kitchens

  
  

• Environmental Impact: Reducing Food Waste 

  
  

• Environmental Impact: Recyclable packaging - but pros and cons

  
  

• Environmental Impact: No option to indicate that you already have a recipe card

  
  

• Portion sizes: and weight loss!

  
  

• Quality of Ingredients

  
  

• Cooking for 1? or 5? or everything in between?

  
  

• App Useability: Generally, and if there's an issue with your order 

  
  

• How the box arrives and is delivered 

  
  

• Cost: Pros and Cons

1. Time Saving: Finding recipes and doing shopping

   
   

   What I love most about the Gousto recipe box is that its buys me time - and if you have read my blog posts before, you will know that I think that anything that buys you time or buys you an experience are things worth spending your money on.

   
   

   I do cook everything from scratch normally, so would often spend a couple of hours on a Sunday looking for recipes to make, and making a note of the ingredients. Also, I used to spend time having to find recipes with the same ingredients to reduce waste and cost - for example, you can't buy one spring onion, you can only buy a bunch of spring onions, so I then needed to find other recipes that would use up the other 5 spring onions! Argh! And there's the time I spent categorising recipes so that I could easily find which ones used spring onions!

   
   

   Now, I don't have to go hunting down recipes, that I then have to cross reference when either shopping online for my food shop or making a list to go down to the supermarket. I cannot even begin to explain how much time I have accumulated by not having to do all of these steps! Time that I can instead spend doing something far more enjoyable, like a walk with the dog, or reading a book, or (frankly) sitting on my butt in front of the tv for a change!

   
   

   Yes, I still have to search the recipes Gousto have, but these are all in an app, and would equate to the recipe searching part of how I previously did it, so everything after that is time I have saved. Also, you can pick your recipes a few orders in advance, (I think it is 3) so I can sit for 30 minutes on Sunday and order my meals for almost the rest of the month!

   
   

   Finding recipes is also made easier by the app - Gousto recommend recipes based on what you have previously ordered and/or rated. So this means that when I open the app, I usually only have to scan through that list rather than looking at the total recipes, of which as at February 2025, there are 201. That said, if you do want to find something specific, there is a search bar. So if you fancy pasta, type in pasta, and it will bring up all the recipes, plus the picture has little tags to tell you if it is a new recipe, how long it takes to cook, how many calories in a serving, what category (see the table below) it falls into, and if the surcharge applies. Some of the recipes have a surcharge - the premium ones for example, often have surcharges. The lowest surcharge I've noticed is 50p, and the highest I've seen is £5 (usually for meals that include steaks). There are also amounts in between, like £1 or £1.75 - because this is clearly displayed on the app when scanning the recipes, you can just scroll by them if you don't want to pay the extra. There are certainly enough recipes that don't have the surcharge.

   
   

   The recipes themselves also clearly state on the app (and online) how many calories are in them, and the nutritional values for each meal. This is also on the front of all of the recipe cards. If you are careful about how many calories etc. you consume, then you don't need to calculate any of this information - the totals for whole meals are there for you!

   
   

   Another way to search for meals is to scan the various categories. These categories (in February 2025) include the following:

Recipe Category	Number of recipes currently on the app
Limited edition and new recipes (which they add regularly)	34
Plot Twist Pies	5
Championship Burgers	6
Health Club	36
Quick and Easy	54
Dinner & Dessert	4
Family Kitchen	4
Breakfast Time	5
Everyday Favourites	10
Premium	18
10-minute meals	32
Prepped in 5	13
Chicken	40
Beef & Pork	55
Fish	43
Dairy free	111
Vegetarian	57
Plant-based	21
Gluten free	54

2. Choice of recipes & how nice are the finished meals?

   
   

   You can tell from this table above, that there are a decent amount of recipe choices on the app. In my 6 weeks of use, I have not yet had the problem of not being able to find something that I might fancy. Also, Gousto update and add new recipes on what has felt like a weekly basis, so there are always new recipes to check out! Plus, all of the information you may need is on the app before you add anything to your basket - here's some pics for one of the chicken burger meals (which by the way is yummy!)

   
   
   
   
   

   

   

   
   
   
   
   

   Out of all of the meals I have cooked so far (and some I have had the same recipe more than once), there have been 10 that were okay, but I wasn't too keen on, so would not order again. Those recipe cards are in my 'no thanks' pile. I have made about 10 meals that were amazing, and I really loved. Those recipe cards are in an 'amazing' pile. The rest were nice and I have 43 recipe cards for those: I enjoyed them, and I would cook them again so are in the 'do again' pile. So overall, that's not bad! Plus I haven't had any that I thought were awful and I couldn't eat (at least not yet) so that's pretty good going too! Plus, you can rate the recipes and see how others have rated them too. Anything that you give 3 stars or less to, and you can add in a reason. You can also favourite recipes, and that's adds them to your cookbook in the app, so you can make them again (although you can't add them to your order from there as they might not be available recipes for that week). When scrolling through recipes, if you have added something to your favourites before, a little heart shows up when you click into the meal description, so you can add it then knowing that you've coked it before and enjoyed it! Gousto, if you're reading this, having the heart show on the scrolling recipes part of the app, or having somewhere that you can go to your favourites and add them would be great!

   
   

   Here's some of the meals I've cooked - don't ask me what they all are! I totally can't remember! But the are all from the Gousto box:

   
   

3. It Could Save Me More Time: I still have to do some shopping

   
   

   Although you can have two subscription boxes going at once to accommodate more than one meal per day, there aren't many meals which you can do as lunches - unless, like me, you are at home at lot during the week. I order the box for 2 people, and half the meal to do a serving at lunch one day and a serving for dinner the next. You can also order boxes for 1 person, but they don't come with recipe cards and I didn't want to have to go on the app to find my recipe. I also wanted to be able to save the cards if I decide to stop ordering these boxes in the future. Also, there aren't many meals like sandwiches etc that would work if you want to brown bag your lunch, although some of the meals you can microwave at work to reheat them if you want to.

   
   

   Although you can add items like drinks and sides to your order, Gousto isn't a supermarket, so I still need to do my online food shop for fruit, milk, bread etc. Also, for the items which I have added, I haven't been impressed by them - the onion Bhajis were far too floury and more like dumplings, and the chocolate pot was ok, but the ones I get from the supermarket are much much nicer! So, I still have to go on my online shopping app to order my other food. Which, is fine, and doing that shop does take up far less time as I just scroll through my favourites, it would be nice if I could get all of the food I need for the week in just one shop.

   
   

   Also, as discussed in more detail below, the highest number of meals you can order a week is 5 - why not up to 7? Maybe it is my age, but I can't remember the last time I was out every Saturday and Sunday night!

   
   

4. Time Saving: Actual cooking and cleaning up time

   
   

   The recipe card has the nutritional info on the front of the card, together with the list of ingredients. So, I gather all my ingredients together and I'm off - there's very little need for weighing etc because they send you what you need for the recipe. So, for example, the recipe needs 50g of cream cheese, and they send you a 50g tub of cream cheese, which you open, stir in, and it's that simple!

   
   

   What this also means is that there is less washing up afterwards - don't get me wrong, I do still rinse out the packaging ready to recycle, but this is definitely not the same amount of work as washing up the spoons, bowls, measuring gadgets etc that I used to have to do. Or, at least, used to have to do before I got my new dishwasher, which is the best dishwasher I have ever used in my whole life! Do subscribe if you want to be kept in the loop for when that review is published!

   
   

   Some items you do need to chop or slice, like the veg, but the meat is usually pre-chopped and ready to go.

   
   

5. How easy is it to make the meals?

   
   

   I personally find these recipe cards really easy to use! If you are experienced in following recipes, I don't think you will have a problem following these recipes cards either, and being able to see the timings of when to do what. I have been cooking from scratch for several years now, so have no problems following the recipe cards. So, if this is you, you can skip this section (but you don't have to). However, if you are new to cooking, I think you should keep reading this section...

   
   

   On the front of the recipe card are all the ingredients you need to make that meal, then on the back of the card are all the steps you need to follow. I always quickly look at all the steps so I know what it is I have to do, and you can the all the slicing, chopping, and mixing before you actually start cooking. You might especially benefit from doing this if you are new to cooking. If you are not new to cooking you definitely don't need to prep everything first - I have made the meals where I haven't done that and I haven't had any problems - but I always call my parents on facetime on a night whilst cooking dinner, so tend to separate this out so that I am not too distracted by cooking multi-tasking when trying to have a conversation with them.

   
   

   Also, the recipe cards aren't always great at telling you when to start cooking something. So, for example, they'll often tell you to put something on to cook and then say "meanwhile, chop this, slice that, etc.". If you are new to cooking, this time spent slicing chopping and peeling might end up being longer than the time required by the recipe. So, before you start cooking have a look at the whole recipe and think about all the timings for how long things are cooking for to make sure that you have everything ready at the same time. Again, as an experienced recipe-follower, this won't be a problem, but if you are new to cooking you might have to think about some timings...

   
   

   So, for example, I did chicken burger, with bacon jam, sweet potato fries, and corn on the cob (by the way, this meal was delicious!). The chicken and fries had to go in for 25 minutes (although I cooked them for 5 minutes longer, because I personally don't think 25 mins is long enough for chicken or raw sweet potato), and the sweetcorn in a separate place on the recipe card said it had to go on to boil for 5-7 minutes. But the recipe card didn't make it super clear when to start cooking the sweetcorn - this may be a problem if you are brand new to cooking and just learning. If this is you - just put a timer on for the longest time. Have the timer sitting in front of you ticking down, and put things in ovens and on hobs when the timer gets down to that minute mark - so 7 minutes left on the timer? Put your sweetcorn on! Another way is to put a timer on for the minutes between steps, if you think you might miss what the timer says. This does involve some maths though, and math is not my strong point! But, in this example, you would do 25 minutes minus 7 minutes and put your timer on for 18 minutes, then when you add the sweetcorn, put the timer on for 7 minutes.

   
   

   Also, there have been times when I have amended what the recipe asked me to do, but I think amending and tweaking recipes is pretty standard in the wonderful world of home cooking. So, for example, quite often the recipe card will tell you to do a step, like draining potatoes, and then tell you to return them to the pan to steam. Personally, I have found that this has left the potatoes cold, so instead I recalculate the cooking times to make sure my spuds are ready at the same time as everything else. Often, when it comes to cooking rice, it tells you to add a specific amount of water to the pan, bring to the boil, and reduce the heat with the lid on. However, every time I have tried this, the rice has ended up being undercooked, so I have had to cook it for longer, leaving it a bit like mush. Now, when the recipe tells me to do this, I just cook the rice as I normally would: bring to the boil and simmer for 10-12 minutes, then rinse with boiling water. No doubt, you will learn how to tweak the recipes over time, and like I said, this is fairly common when following recipes anyway. The more you cook, the more intuitively you will know how to tweak the recipe.

   
   

6. Space Saving: Great for Small Kitchens

   
   

   Almost everything you need is included in the box - the things that I have had to have in my kitchen cupboards are olive oil, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, flour, milk, butter, sugar - basically the types of things you would have for ordinary cooking in any event. However, the recipe does make it clear on the app when you order what other ingredients you need, and any utensils you might need, like a rolling pin, or a slow-cooker. You can also update your preferences for this so that the app will only show you recipes for the utensils you have in your house already - I have to admit, I bought a rolling pin as I didn't have one!

   
   

   So, back to what is included in the box, if you need dried oregano, there's a packet of that in the box, which means you don't need a jar of that taking up space in your kitchen. The types of packets that I've had are very varied, from herbs and spices, to mayonnaise, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, honey pots, and little pots of mustard. Also, because they are all little packets, even if this sounds like a lot, it takes up very little space in your kitchen cupboards.

   
   

   The same goes for the veg and meat - if you need 1 spring onion, they send you 1 spring onion, if you need 2 potatoes, they send you 2 potatoes, if you need 2 chicken breasts, they send you 2 chicken breasts - you get the picture! So, if you also have a small fridge, this will save space there too! Also, because everything is cooked from fresh, there's less need to rely on a freezer. So if the freezer you have is one of those tiny ones that are inside a fridge at the top, this won't be a problem either!

   
   

7. Environmental Impact: Reducing Food Waste

   
   

   As I have said above, I hate having to buy an ingredient from the supermarket which does not come in singles, but is in packs - the example above is spring onions, other things like fresh red chillies come in packs and not singles from the supermarket. What this often means is that I end up having some chillies or spring onions going to waste, and I really hate waste given the impact this can have on our environment.

   
   

   With these recipe boxes, they only send you exactly what you need, meaning there's no wasted products. For me, this is super important!

   
   

8. Environmental Impact: Recyclable packaging - but pros and cons

   
   

   All of the packaging is recyclable. I have read other reviews online where people say that the items come in single use plastics, which is true, they do, and obviously reusable is better than recyclable, but the packaging is all recyclable.

   
   

   The meat and fish tend to come in plastic packaging that is either hard plastics (which are kerbside recycled where I live) or soft plastics (which I just save up and take down in bulk to my local supermarket to pop in their soft plastics bins - you know, the ones that used to be for plastic shopping bags before you had to pay for them and were overflowing. Now, you can recycle all soft plastics there!)

   
   

   The packets of mayonnaise or tomato paste are usually in those little tubes that you can put in with your tins; the little packets of balsamic vinegar or sesame oil are soft plastics, which I also pop into the bag to take down to the supermarket soft plastics recycling bank; the tubs of honey or soft cheese are hard plastics, which I can recycle kerbside where I am; and the bags of herbs and spices are paper, so can be recycled kerbside too!

   
   

   They have also recently started using tetrapaks, which my council don't take - I think I have found online a recycling point for these at my local supermarket (the drinks carton bin) but I haven't physically been down to check that yet. If they don't have it, I will see where else might - my parents' council do recycle tetrapaks though, so I could always take them back home with me when I go visit - not ideal, but it may be my only option! On the plus side, if the government follows through with the plan to have all councils providing the same recycling services, maybe I will be able to put the tetrapaks in for the council here soon!

   
   

   Also, obviously, reusable is better than recyclable. In an ideal world, Gousto would think about a process for having reusable options - perhaps click lock boxes that can be rinsed out and returned? It may cost more initially for a box as a customer, but they could introduce a system where you get credit on your account for returning the boxes, which they could then clean. This is especially so considering the boxes are delivered by a courier, who could pick up the empties when they drop off the delivery. The only issue is, I don't think Gousto necessarily make all of their products, so I am not sure how feasible this would be. But, considering an increased awareness of environmental impact, I do think it is something worth investigating - Gousto, if you're reading this, get on it, yes?

9. Environmental Impact: No option to indicate that you already have a recipe card

   
   

   The boxes for 1 and 5 people do not come with recipe cards. So if you order those, you go on the app to follow the recipe. You can also go on the app for the other boxes - it pops up with a checklist for all of the ingredients that you need, then you just 'next' your way through all the steps.

   
   

   Personally, I wanted the recipe cards so that I could keep them for future use. However, I have discovered some of the recipes that I really love, so I have added them to a future order. But, I couldn't see anywhere on the app to indicate that I didn't need another recipe card - again, these are cardboard, so can be recycled, but an option to indicate that would (I think) be better. Again, Gousto, if you are reading this - update the app to add this in, yes?

   
   

   Also, you could always give the really nice recipe cards to friends and family where you end up with a duplicate!

   
   

10. Portion sizes: and weight loss!

    
    

    The portion sizes, when they first arrived, were (I won't lie) really disappointing to me! The meat or fish that you get is fine - so I had 13 jumbo prawns in a packet yesterday for the Spanish Style Garlic & Chilli Jumbo Prawns with Brown Rice - and they were really very big jumbo prawns (as in bigger than king prawns, and fatter too). So for one, that's 6 prawns (and you can either half the other one, or fight it out!)

    
    

    So, the meat and fish aren't the issue here. The reason why I was disappointed was that the stuff that goes with it wasn't enough - not enough rice, pasta, potatoes, veg etc for my liking. So this was on the side of cons for me in the pros and cons toss up.

    
    

    The smaller portion sizes have meant that I have started ordering fruit to have after the meal or as a snack. So this is actually also encouraging me to eat more fruit, which is good health wise - not so great sugar and teeth wise, but I do have a water flosser which I bought to review for this blog, and it's great - I haven't done the review for that yet, but when I do I will link it back here. Otherwise, to stay updated, feel free to subscribe, download the app, or follow me on social media :)

    
    

    So, back to the small portions - I then noticed that I was losing weight! Not trying to, but yes, losing weight! Also, not masses of weight loss. Also, the meal in the box isn't everything I consume in a day. So, to help give you some perspective, here is my typical day:

    
    

    Breakfast:

    • I don't eat anything for breakfast

    • I do have 3-4 coffees on a morning, that I make with a lot of milk using my milk frother, so equate to 4 lattes.

    
    

    Lunch:

    • the meal from the Gousto box

    • a packet of low fat crisps, like Quavers, so around 86 kcals

    • a low fat yoghurt pot, the one I eat is 56 kcals

    • 20 grapes (yes, I could them!)

    • 15-20 raspberries

    • 6 cherries

    • 6-8 teaspoons of pomegranate seeds

    • a can of San Pelligrino, which is 66 kcals

    • sometimes, I will also have an Eat Natural bar, which is 191 kcals

      
      

    Dinner:

    • the meal from the Gousto box

    • a (usually) large (but sometimes small) glass of white wine

    • an ice cream cone - this is less than 196 kcals

      
      

    So, as you can see, I do add quite a lot of extra food to my daily intake (although less than I used to!), and I am still losing weight...So in two weeks I lost half a kilo (1 pound) - again, not masses of weight, but I wasn't paying attention or trying to lose weight, so it did make me think: does this make the portion sizes land back on the pros side of things - maybe! I think the reduced portion size is the reason for my losing weight!

    
    

    I also haven't increased my exercise regime - I don't do a lot of exercise, and I spend most of my day at a computer reading academic texts, but to put my exercise regime into context to help you compare it to you, I usually hit 8,000 - 13,000 steps a day depending on how often I take the dog out. Obi dog likes his walks, and we have to do several short walks throughout the day, rather than one big now, now that he had arthritis, but he will also refuse to go out if it's raining! That's about all the exercise I do!

    
    

    Also, because I only have Gousto for 5 days a week, there are 2 days of the week where I eat whatever I want, and it's usually after these 2 days that I noticed my weight going up slightly. On those days, I will usually have a carton of soup and a baguette for lunch, plus all the fruit etc. listed above and a standard dinner (plus the wine and ice cream cone) - maybe spaghetti bolognaise, or chilli and rice - 'healthy-ish' meals really. That said, my servings that I make myself have also reduced over time - apparently I'm getting used to smaller portion sizes! At the time of initially writing this in February, you couldn't do more than 5 days a week without ordering a second subscription, for a few weeks I noticed that Gousto had updated this, meaning you could 2 days onto your order. However, this did come with another delivery fee, and it appears to no longer be an option, so maybe they were just testing this? Gousto, if you're reading this, I would have added these to my order if there hadn't been another delivery fee! Maybe you could make bigger boxes?

    
    

    I used to eat so much food! I always have done! To give you an idea comparably, I usually cook 100g of rice for me, or I do 5 handfuls of pasta. When I did go into the office to work (before my PhD days that I am currently in) for my lunch I would have something like chicken casserole with potatoes carrots and peas, or maybe spaghetti bolognaise, or chilli-con-carne with rice - yes, I would cook that all on a morning before work, and ping it in the microwave at lunchtime - followed by 3 or 4 portions of fruit. Then, I would also have a cooked dinner on a night when I got home. And in my 20s-30s, eating massive portions was fine, but now I'm in my 40s, I do feel like it is easier to put on weight, and harder to get it off.

    
    

    So, I actually paused writing this post at the point that I realised that I had lost some weight - that was around the 16 February this year. It is now 19 April and since I noticed that I was losing weight, I have lost more weight. Before doing Gousto boxes, I weighed about 68 kilos (in January - thanks Christmas for that one!) and I am now 62.40 kilos. So that's about 5.6 kilos over about 14 weeks since I started ordering these boxes in January this year (save for the 2 days a week where I don't have a box recipe to cook). Again, this isn't masses of weight, but it is steadily coming off at about half a kilo every 7-14 days, and it requires very little effort by me! So, it looks like my main issue was portion control! Who knew? What's more, I've noticed that on the days when I cook a non-Gousto meal, I can't eat as much as I used to - I cooked as much as I used to cook, but I couldn't eat it all - so it is reducing my ability to eat large portions too! Plus, I reckon that if I added more exercise to my diet - maybe 30 minutes a day of running, swimming, cycling, yoga, etc. then the weight would probably come off faster! Now that the teaching term has finished, I have more time so I might start to build 30 minutes into my day!

    
    

    Also, because I have to order normal food shopping too, I have started to pay attention to what else I order to make sure I don't get too many treats in! That said, because everything I need is already in the house to make a meal, and because I make sure I order fruit every week, I have found that I don't bother about adding treats. Also, I don't bother about going out to get any treats etc - it's far too much hassle when I already have everything I need. Plus, not having to pop out to buy anything means I am less likely to pick up that packet of profiteroles as I walk past them in the supermarket!

    
    

    If you are someone who is not looking to lose weight, and also usually has quite large portions, however, then I would say that you may need to buy extra veg to go with what is sent to you. As stated above, you still have to do your normal food shopping, so it's not the end of the world that you add a bag of potatoes to your order, but it does take some of the convenience out of it, for sure! If all of this sounds like too much of a hassle, then maybe these recipes boxes aren't for you. That said, you can cancel your subscription at any time, or pause / skip deliveries, so you could always give it a go to get the recipe cards for future use! Unless, of course, you are ordering meals for 1 person or 5 people, in which case you don't get cards sent to you.

    
    

11. Quality of Ingredients

    
    

    The packets of herbs, spices, vinegars, oils etc are all of good quality.

    
    

    The meat and fish I have had (so far) have also been decent. The gripes that I may have is that the chicken still has the white vein thing running through them, that I usually cut out and cook for the dog because I am not a fan of the texture of those bits, but if this doesn't bother you, then ignore me. Also, the steak mince is in plastic packaging that has squished it together a little - not as bad as the vacuum sealed varieties though (that remind me of dog food - gross!), so you can break it apart, but it isn't as nice as when it's in a tray-like-packaging and just falls apart. Also, you can't freeze all of the raw ingredients as some have already been frozen before - like the prawns. I couldn't tell this from the taste though, and only noticed it when I wanted to get a takeaway one night, but didn't want to waste the meal I had bought, so thought I would freeze it - nope! Can't do that! Which meant I didn't get the takeout and cooked (probably saving me pennies, but it was a little disappointing because I was super tired and wanted a night off). So, if you think you might want to freeze a meal before cooking it, check the packaging carefully as it will say if you can't freeze it. You can, of course, cook the meal and then freeze that if it is one that is suitable for freezing, like stew, chilli, bolognaise etc.

    
    

    I have seen other people complaining about the quality of the veg online before, but (so far) I haven't had any major issues with the quality of the veg - everything that has arrived is fresh. On the odd occasion a potato has had black bits inside it, which happens when you buy them from supermarkets too, or a pepper has been slightly bruised in transit, but not to the point where I've thought much about it! I have had an issue with a packet of peas that had split in transit on 3 different deliveries now (see the "App useability" section below for how easy it was to sort that), but I have never had an issue with the food arriving and not being good enough.

    
    

    

    
    

    The boxes all come with a use-by date for each meal, although this is not on the recipe card, but on the e-mail from Gousto confirming that your order is on its way to you, or the app (or online in your account, but the app is so much easier when you're in the kitchen cooking). This is also displayed when you order the meals, and if you have too many with a short use-by, the app tells you so you can change the meals you have added.

    
    

    So, all in all, the quality of the ingredients is decent. I have been using Gousto for a few months now, so not a lifetime, but I think long enough to form an informed judgement.

    
    

12. Cooking for 1? or 5? or everything in between?

    
    

    What I also really like about Gousto is they are one of the recipe boxes that do meals for 1 person - so few out there do this, and because I live alone (apart from Obi dog of course) I really wanted to find a box that did meals for 1 person. As it turns out, I actually order the boxes for 2 people because I do them for lunches and dinners, and use air tight tubs that I got from Tesco. These are really good klipfresh boxes. I got one pack that came in a pack 6 different sizes, but I don't really use the big ones for this as they are very big. So I would recommend you go for the smaller pack of of different sizes and then add little round ones. Taken together, these are the ones that I do use a lot. Plus they are stackable, which saves space in my fridge too! There's also a whole host of other options out there, such as on Amazon.

    
    

    Also, I haven't had a problem separating meals across two days as most of the recipes, often you can cook half of the recipe at a time. Also, the sauces, jus, gravy etc. can be mixed up in full and then divided between the meal I am about to eat, and the little air tight tub for the next day. Actually, often this works out quite well as it means on a lunchtime I'm not spending too much time cooking, so it doesn't eat into my day too much! You can, of course, do one meal across more than two days if you pay attention to the use-by dates when ordering. That said, if you are living alone and don't want to do this, then there is a box for you as they do boxes for 1 person! The down side to this is that the recipe card is not included in the box delivered, so you have to go onto the app, which I think is a real shame as it means you can't save the recipe card to remake the meals you really love again in the future. Equally, the 5 people box doesn't come with a recipe card. Gousto, if you are reading this, please introduce recipe cards for these categories - I think this would have put me off if I was going into work everyday so needed only dinners and not lunches. In fact, it may have put me off enough to decide not to bother because it impacts on the convenience and experimentation side of the motivations to do this, so you may be missing out!

    
    

    You can also pick how many meals a week you want - anything up to 5 recipes a week. Again, this is a little annoying - how many people really eat out two nights of the week these days given the cost of living crisis etc? So there isn't a clear "7 day option" when picking your box, but I have noticed that in the past 3ish weeks Gousto have added an option to add two more days to your order when picking your meals, so that's pretty good! I haven't had a go at what options it brings up, and if you do this, again, you would have to pay attention to the use-by dates on the meals, but it might be worth a try!

    
    

13. App Useability: Generally, and if there's an issue with your order

    
    

    The app itself is super east to use! Just go on it, select the day in the list for your next delivery, scroll through the recipes and add which ones you want. There's a little "+" or "-" sign on the front of each recipe, so you can clearly see if you have already added it for that week. You can also replace recipes you have chosen if you come across another one that you would prefer to try. You have until about 4 days before the delivery date to pick your recipes - so, my deliveries are on a Saturday, and I have to have all my recipes for that week picked by the Wednesday lunchtime. If you don't pick anything, they will put the box together for you and pick the recipes.

    
    

    You can also pause/skip deliveries if you're going away for a week. You can change the delivery day at any point (except for the delivery which is already picked and scheduled). You can amend the recipes chosen right up until the cut-off point. So, all of this makes it very easy and flexible to use. The recipes are super easy to scroll through or search for - see the "Time Saving: finding recipes and doing shopping" section above for more details there.

    
    

    If there's an issue with your order, you just go on the app and click through a series of questions and it's sorted. I have had the blanched peas arrive a few times now, and the bag has split, so that some of the peas are spilled in the box. I just went on the app, clicked through all the buttons, and just like that they added credit to my account to use on the next order! No need to send proof, or speak to a bot, just done - just like that! Just be aware that the credit then comes off the amount they tale from your bank account, not the amount stated on the order itself, which can be confusing as it looks like the credit has disappeared, but it hasn't. So, you might want to keep an eye on how much they actually take from you to make sure the credit is applied.

14. How the box arrives and is delivered

    
    

    The box arrives by courier - in my area they use either DPD or Yodel. So, I would recommend that you also download the app for the courier to keep an eye on delivery times. Gousto send you a text on the day of delivery with a 2 hour indicative time slot for delivery and a link to track it. Every time DPD have delivered, they have rang the bell and waited for me. Yodel, on the other hand, tend to drop the box off and ring the door bell. By the time I get to the front door, the delivery driver is already back in their van and heading off! So, they will just leave it at the front door. You might want to add in a "leave in special place" option for delivery drivers if you have had problems with deliveries going walkabout before!

    
    

    The box arrives and one side of it is the cold stuff, which is in a cardboard box inside the box with a cardboard lid to it, to keep it cool. There are ice packs in with the food on this side to keep them cool too. In the colder months, this was 1 or 2 ice packs, but I have noticed that on warmer days there have been 3 ice packs in there. The icepacks can also be emptied and recycled, or you can keep them to reuse at home! I would recommend that you check that they are not leaking first though - I have had about 2 that have leaked once they defrosted, so now I leave them in the sink overnight to defrost just to make sure this doesn't happen for the ones I have kept to reuse. Also, chances are you will end up having far more than you can actually reuse, so feel free to share them with family or friends too! It would be great if these could be returned to Gousto to be reused in the future! Again, Gousto, if you are reading this, you can have people leave them out for collection by the courier dropping off the next box, then you can remove the paper cover and reuse the inside plastic and water part, no?

    
    

    On the other side of the box is all of the veg and things that don't need to be kept super cold (although the ice packs do make everything in the whole box chilled). There's also a brown paper bag with all of the smaller ingredients inside - the dried herbs, spices, garlic, vinegars, oils etc. So I tend to just put the whole bag in the fridge and then bring the whole bag out to get the ingredients I need for each recipe.

    
    

    Also in the box are the recipe cards (unless you are cooking for 1 or 5, in which case you have to go on the app for the recipe). The recipe cards are often slid down between the cardboard boxes, so do make sure you go hunting for them and don't throw them in the recycling!

    
    

    On a side note, the box iit all arrives in s pretty sturdy - I have kept some for storage in the garage, so if you know anyone who is moving house soon, keep the boxes for them!

    
    

15. Cost: pros and cons

    
    

    The actual cost of each meal varies depending upon how many people you are cooking for. It also depends on whether you add any premium meals (that have an uplift) or if you stick to the meals that are covered. There's also a delivery charge each time, which adds into the overall cost of the meal. So, my meals that are standard and don't include any premium meals, work out at less than £5 a meal (right now). So, £10 a day on food for one person may seem like more than I would spend in the supermarket, especially when you factor in the other bits you buy, like milk, bread, fruit etc to top up the weekly shop that aren't part of the Gousto box.

    
    

    So, if you tend to cook pretty basic recipes and stick to the same ones most weeks, then it might be cheaper to just do a normal shop and skip these recipe boxes.

    
    

    If, however, you like to try new and exciting dishes, then Gousto is a good option, because if you have to buy all of the spices and different types of vinegars like rice wine and balsamic and red wine etc. as well as oils, like truffle oils etc. or pastes and different types of pesto that can soon add up to a lot! Whilst in the long run that evens out when you end up cooking a meal more than once, that's fine, but if you try a meal and it's not great then you may be left with ingredients that you paid a lot of money for, but which just sit in the cupboard or fridge until they get binned. So, these r5ecipe boxes might be a good way to at least try new recipes to see what you think, before you then pause your subscription and do the supermarket shop for a while knowing that the ingredients you are buying are for recipes you enjoy!

    
    

    Also, as explained above, using Gousto has saved me time when finding recipes, and during and after cooking, which may mean I am then free to work on this blog. So, the time you save, you can invest in other things that can then either earn you money to make up the difference, or give you time to spend with family and friends. All of this boils down to your lifestyle, and what you value most, and this is a choice that is completely up to you - there's no right or wrong answer to what you value most.

    
    

    If you do decide to give this a go, do make sure that you take advantage of any special offer discounts that are going on. If you scroll to the bottom of the main page, there is a section on student discounts, which also has other discount options which apply to non-students, so do check those out! The discounts are only available to new customers, and you can only take advantage of one offer.

    
    

    So, I realised after I had signed up using a special introductory offer, that they also do student discounts. So, I reached out to them to ask if, once the discount I had already received had evened out, if I could then switch to a student discount. That discount runs for a year. Sadly, I was told no as I had already had a discount offer and the offers are only available to new customers. This did annoy me somewhat, because their student discounts are not obviously displayed on their website, and usually the criteria for getting a student discount is, well, that you are a student! Which I am! Anyway, I guess it's up to businesses what discounts they offer, and they don't have to offer student discounts at all if they don't want to, but it did seem a little like the reason for their discount was to get a new customer, rather than to save money for students. Despite this, I am still ordering my boxes every week, so I guess it didn't put me off the boxes themselves, and I will get over it (eventually).

So, all in all, I am pretty happy with these Gousto boxes. If you are tempted to give them a go, I would say, go for it! If your experience isn't as good as mine (which is always a possibility) then you can just cancel the subscription and either try a different provider, or go back to how you used to do it with your weekly supermarket shop (just remember to keep the recipe cards for any meals you really enjoyed).

I hope you enjoyed this review! It's a little longer than normal reviews I do, but there was a decent amount to say on this one! If you want to, you can subscribe for updates on future posts!

with love

Rebecca

xxx

P.S. Please note that this blog may contain affiliate links (including those to Amazon). When you click on the link and purchase the product, I receive a small commission.