Gousto review

We've tried Dinnr, SimplyCook and Hello Fresh before, but last week we put Gousto to the test. Gousto is the rival to Hello Fresh, and has the same concept - all the ingredients are sent to you, along with recipe cards, to make your evening meals. (SimplyCook is cheaper as you are only sent a few of the ingredients needed.)

Priced at £34.99 for 2 people for 3 meals, or £49.99 for 4 people, I used a voucher code to get £25 off my first order which made it excellent value. (There's a code at the bottom to get you £25 off, too.) When you sign up you pick the three recipes you want from a choice of ten, but the following week it will choose the most popular recipes for you unless you log into your account and select the ones that take you fancy, or you put your account on hold.

The first recipe we tried was the rosemary and king prawn linguine, which had an anchovy-based sauce. Olly liked this more than I did (I'm not a fan of anchovies), but the king prawns were a great size, and the recipe was easy to follow.

We were seriously impressed with the Persian lamb couscous which we cooked on the second night. The flavours were immense and it was really tasty. This was definitely our favourite out of the three recipes and we'll be making this again, for sure!

Our final recipe was the sticky hoisin pork; this meal was our least favourite. The potato wedges seemed an odd choice with the sticky hoisin pork, and we felt a bit cheated with the pickled cucumber side. We were also only sent one fortune cookie with this recipe, so we had to share that, though we were sent some bonus popchips.

Like with Hello Fresh, the recipes were easy to follow, but Gousto's seemed a bit less adventurous. One thing I really liked about Gousto though was the use by date on the recipes. With Hello Fresh we had no choice but to eat the three recipes within three days. We had five days to eat our three dinners with Gousto; if we weren't home one night, we weren't wasting food. My verdict is still out though on which one I prefer - I'd need to give them both another try - though, to be honest, I wouldn't pay full price for a box so would only order another box if there was an offer on.

If you want to give Gousto a go, use the code CLAIR13883 to get £25 off your first order, which will make it £9.99 for three meals. x

UPDATE, November 2014: A friend of mine used my voucher code, but had a nightmare getting their box. It didn't show up on the Tuesday, and though the courier company told him they would refrigerate the box overnight and deliver it the next day, would you take that risk and eat meat that may or may not have been refrigerated? I wouldn't chance it! Gousto, however, did send him a free box the following week.