My Wife insisted we tried hello fresh. We cancelled after three deliveries. Here's why:

1) As Mentioned by the OP, tons of package waste, and that's not including the ice packs.

2) The food was mostly bland and uninspiring, with the exception of what I now refer to as [Mario Batali's "Aids Spaghetti"]. (https://www.hellofresh.com/recipes/mario-batalis-spaghetti-58f935ebc9fd08410c7aa652)

3) It seems like it's a service designed for people who never want to leave their box in the sky, as the supporting marketing materials were for things like streaming exercise/yoga classes, online fashion stores, etc. It was a bit much and seemed to play into some sad existence that consisted of working from 9 to 6, coming home and sitting in box in the sky while netflix and chilling while sitting in the box in sky ordering things online (consumables and otherwise).

4) We aren't that fucking lazy. It takes minimal effort to look up some recipes and go to HEB/Central Market and pick up ingredients.

As for the cold packs, hold onto them and use them in your cooler when headed to a BBQ and you need to bring stuff, unless of course you tend to avoid BBQs and prefer to live in a box in the sky.