As soon as I got my first Gousto delivery, I was in a state of shock. Never in my life have I been in such awe at the sight of lettuce. So much lettuce. And kale. And cauliflower. A rainbow of vitamins all delivered to my front door. Such joy!

 

The Gousto box contains 3 recipes that you have to cook over the span of a week. You have the option to order for either 2 people or 4 people. I went with recipes for 4 people as it’s nice to treat family and friends for once. Which is fantastic – if you’re a cooking enthusiast. Alas – I am not. Yet here I am venturing outside of my comfort zone for the sake of editorial quality and in pursuit of a healthier lifestyle.

My first attempt shall be turmeric pork with chili-lime radish salad. Merely typing that got my taste buds excited. I’ve literally got all ingredients laid out in front of me in the cutest, tiniest plastic satchels I’ve ever seen. Makes me want to use them for decorative purposes more. I shall restrain myself though and use them for their intended purpose – which is preparing delicious meals.

For this recipe – we’ve got coriander, lime, ground turmeric, carrots, rice vinegar, British hand-diced pork, gem lettuce, radish (d’oh), chipotle paste (things just got interesting), honey, rice noodles and soy sauce. Recipe from heaven or will I manage to destroy everything in the process?

So far so good – the carrots were super easily turned into ribbons, to my surprise. The only small challenge encountered was actually finding the patience to chop about 50 radishes. All ended well with a bunch of good background music and a small glass of wine.

We carry on.

As opposed to documenting every single step of my new culinary experience I’ve decided to just go ahead and experience the actual act of cooking.

I will have you know that the final result is nothing short of awe-inducing. I couldn’t be more pleased with myself.

The only downside to the recipe is the fact that the abundance of turmeric has now given my kitchen some sort of a vintage yellow hue – along with my newly acquired nude nail polish. Which is entirely a fault of my own. Please do look after your kitchenware when using turmeric – apparently, it stains.

A personal suggestion would be to leave the pork to cook a little bit longer than 2-3 minutes on each side. Overall – the whole recipe took about 55 minutes for 4 people – mainly because I’ve added 10 extra minutes when frying the turmeric pork.

The final result is very fresh and flavor-y. And for once, my friends are not leaving this dinner party secretly fearing for their lives and intestinal well-being.

My second recipe proved itself to be a little more challenging due to my extreme tiredness, yet here I venture into my next culinary adventure.

Ladies and gents I give you the Salsa Verde Chicken Broth. This takes about 40 minutes to make – and it proved itself to be a lot easier than I thought.

This recipe is quite straightforward. Chicken, leeks, courgettes and many other greens that I like to believe will bring all the health in the world into my life.

The recipe in itself is quite easy to make, as it hasn’t got as many ingredients as the previous one – although the boiling and cooking time is essentially longer.

I’m now writing this while my courgettes and leeks are perfectly arrayed in the oven. Thus I shall proceed towards my battle with the chicken fillet.

There’s something about this recipe that I find quite intriguing. It might be because the picture on the package looks a lot like chicken Pho. I’m bound to find out.

Regardless, this has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone in regards to my cooking. It’s been a learning experience from Day 1 – and I can now clearly see the benefits of fine dining at home.

First of all, you actually know what goes into your food. As much as you hail Michelin star restaurants for their kids sized delicious portions, it’s always a little more satisfying to know the quality and the quantity of each ingredient that is part of your meal.

I disregard people who say that fine dining can’t be done at home. With the proper equipment, with the ingredients measured accordingly and a drizzle of patience, you can make it all happen yourself.

Going back to the cooker – I’ve now put the wheat berries in a boiling pot and my adventure continues.

I’m nearly done and I can safely say that this one took literally 40 minutes.

One thing that I’d like to add is the fact that I’ve separated the vegetables from the chicken – as the latter needed extra cooking time, while the courgettes and leeks were nearly overcooked.

Also, the boiling time for the lentils is a little longer than 2 minutes. I’ve gone with about 10 minutes and still waiting for them to go tender.

After having a few tastes, there’s definitely a bit of an eastern tone to the recipe. As previously mentioned with the cooked pork – it’s very fresh and light. It gives you an instant energy boost and it’s very refreshing. I see this regime as a pick me up after the heavy eating done during the Christmas time. Which I’m still recovering from, by the way.

Last but not least – my favorite of all 3 recipes was definitely the Curried Coconut Quinoa with Cauliflower and Kale.

I’m a big fan of quinoa and I enjoy adding it to my usual recipes, instead of using rice. The ground turmeric and the roasted cauliflower also gives it enough flavor to make it a classic yet exciting recipe.

The overall cooking time took less than half an hour – which means that I’ve quite progressed in my cooking ventures. I did not document this recipe from start to finish, yet instead, I decided to enjoy the whole process from minute one.

I have to say that after a week of testing out the Gousto recipes, I’ve come to a few simple conclusions which I’ve laid out for you below:

 

1. I don’t think I can go back to shopping for myself ever again
2. I will definitely become slowly but surely addicted to ordering the boxes in – I can’t quite put into words how excited I was when I received all the recipes in one go!
3. My diet has completely changed. I couldn’t go back to eating takeaways or any type of fast food.
4. Even if you’re not a fan of cooking – at the end of the day, it’s all a question of habit. As I stated while documenting my first recipe, I am not an enthusiast. However, now I look forward to every dinner that I make for myself and my friends when I know how incredible the results are.
5. The Gousto boxes are life-changing. With my busy schedule, I couldn’t have obtained a balanced diet without the Gousto recipes.

It’s definitely a 5-star experience from team FAULT and – no pun intended – it’s a uniquely faultless experience that you need to try for yourself in order to understand.

 

For more details – head to Gousto and choose your box yourself. They’ve recently launched their Plant-Based recipes and their Boost and Balance recipes. A single portion of a 4 person box costs only 2.38£ and your tummy will thank you for it.