Can I put my hand up in the air and firmly state that I wanted to hate Gousto. I really did. At each stage of the process I let negativity swamp my thoughts. For Gousto is a service where you choose recipes, they deliver all the ingredients to your door, weighed out ready for you and then you cook your dinner. Soulless, awful and exactly not what someone like me might like. Or so I thought.
My preconceptions were, in no particular order:
– The recipes won’t be to my taste.
– The recipe instructions will be badly written.
– The recipes will never change as it’ll cost Gousto too much to change them. I’d hence get bored.
– The portion sizes will be too small.
– I will feel too restricted knowing what I’m eating for two/three/four nights in a row.
– The delivery will be a nightmare.
– The cooking will take too long and be complicated.
– It will be too expensive.
– This is not for people like me. It’s for people who have a lot of money.
– I just won’t like it. I won’t. I won’t. I won’t.
And guess what? I loved it. The recipes were delicious. In the style of Jay Rayer, I even ordered two recipes that I suspected I wouldn’t like. I liked them. The portion sizes were generous, even for a piglet like me and my piglet husband. I absolutely didn’t mind knowing what I would be eating in advance. Sometimes playing Ready, Steady, Cook! every evening with two small people screaming and asking for stories/milk/play dough rescuing is stressful. Sometimes it’s just nice to take that stress away and have someone else decide what’s for dinner. Even if that someone was you 7 days previously, sitting at a laptop with a glass of red in your hand and the children in bed.
The delivery was a dream. If I ever set up my Holly Bell Hampers business I will absolutely be using the same courier service. The gentleman who delivered the food box was lovely, he didn’t smell of fags and he smiled at me with all his own teeth. I liked him a lot. The packaging was SO GOOD that I have (blush) saved it for picnics and holidays in the summer. Wool wrap around blanket and frozen ice cube style bags made for icy cold meat and veg. Everything was weighed out and you know what, it was great. It was like having my own sous chef. The recipe cards were easy to follow and well written. The cooking time was short.
They have thought of everything… when you choose your recipes the week before you even get to decide according to what kind of cooking utensils you have or can be bothered to use. So I chose one wild boar ragu with no extra faffing and one artichoke and courgette pasta dish that needed a blender. It’s all so clever it hurts. And it IS for people like me. 3 meals for 2 people (they do a family service too) including meat is £42 including delivery. The quality of the food was very high. I liked the whole experience a lot. And they even change their recipes every week so you absolutely cannot get bored.
I have a Gousto experience to giveaway – for one lucky person they’ll get 2 meals delivered to them which will each feed two people. So you and your partner/pal/mum can eat for free for two evenings. This is worth £28 and honestly, it makes your heart sing when you realise that for two wonderful evenings, someone else has thought about dinner.
Please note there’s an extra way to enter with this giveaway (on the Rafflecopter form as usual) where you sign up to the Gousto newsletter. Just enter your email at the bottom left of their website. They won’t be passing on your details to anyone else, they would however keep you up to date with any goings on. This is not a mandatory method of entry so if you don’t like joining mailing lists then there’s no need to. Oh and please check that Gousto deliver to your postcode before you enter. You can do that here.
There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date Friday 1st March 2013.
How to enter:
- Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
- This giveaway will close on 1st March 2013.
- Please read the rules below.
- Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
- First timers: Please watch how Rafflecopter works (video)! It is 46 seconds long. It explains everything.
- If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
- Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
- Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
- Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
- If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
- Only to people in the UK over the age of 18. Please check that Gousto deliver to your postcode before you enter. You can do that here.
- There’s one prize of two meals to feed two people worth £28. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
- Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
- I am running this giveaway on behalf of Gousto who will be responsible for sending the prize to you if you win, which is very kind of them as it saves me queuing up at the Post Office. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into. So there.
- This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
Good luck everyone!
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