Is HelloFresh the Best Meal Delivery Service? Top Qualities
As we researched and prepared this HelloFresh review – team effort! – we realized that the main characteristics of this food kit service are:
- Meets a range of dietary preferences, including Vegetarian
- Recipes tested 200 times for flavor and simplicity
- 22+ dishes to choose from every single week
As the name suggests, the HelloFresh focus is on fresh foods to make yummy meals, based on recipes included in the box subscription service. It is currently the biggest meal-kit company in the US, with millions of customers across 12 markets. This market leader has the most 5-star reviews and 5-star recipes too.
HelloFresh Review: Choose the Subscription Plan for You
One of the things that makes HelloFresh among the best meal delivery service out there is the ability to choose the subscription plan you prefer upon signing up. There are 4 plans to choose from for your weekly delivery, so there’s something for everyone.
Menu Options:
Meat & Veggies
- Assorted meat, fish, and seasonal produce
- 2, 3, or 4 people
- 2, 3, or 4 recipes per week
Vegetarian
- Features seasonal produce, naturally produced
- 2, 3, or 4 people
- 2 or 3 recipes per week
Family Friendly
- Kid-tested recipes for fast meals that are easy to cook and satisfies the whole family
- 2, 3, or 4 people
- 2 or 3 recipes per week
Low Calorie
- Dietician-approved recipes that each average 650 calories
- 2, 3, or 4 people
- 2 or 3 recipes per week
HelloFresh has a variety of menu options: Check out the menu options and prices
See Menu Options
Select 2-6 recipes per week. If you want more than that, you can create multiple subscriptions. We hope in the future that the quota per week for one subscription increases as that would be the simplest, in our opinion, rather than having several subscriptions in one household to enable more than 6 ready-to-make meals per week.
On the plus side, you can change meal preferences as your tastes change or if you have guests coming this week for dinner who have different tastes than you.
Recipe options are:
- Calorie Smart
- Easy
- 10 & 20-Min Meals
- Hall of Fame
- Gourmet
- Craft Burger
- Taste Tours
- Surf & Turf
Alternatively, skip a week’s delivery if you’re planning to go out of town. In other words, you’re not stuck with a subscription box every week if you don’t want one. Then when you’re ready to re-order, HelloFresh makes it easy to just sign in to your online profile and pick your recipes for the coming week. We like the flexibility!
Is HelloFresh sound like a good option? See their variety of recipes
Check Recipes
What’s in the Box?
Each time you place a HelloFresh order, you’ll get the delivery in a box to your front door. Within the box are pre-cut ingredients for the meals you’ve chosen for the week, and the food stays cool in transit with enclosed ice packs.
A huge advantage of the meal kit is you won’t have the burden of wondering what’s for dinner tonight anymore. Just pick from the available meals for the week online, and then it delivers to you with the related recipe card and the right proportions of fresh ingredients for the number of servings you’ve indicated in your order so there’s less wasted food.
As for what you will receive in the box, you’ll have 22+ chef-curated menu items every week to choose from for the order. So, there’s lots of variety, even if you have picky eaters in the house, such as young kids.
And you’ll have more time to spend with those kids now that you’ve got much less prep time in the kitchen with the ease of the best meal delivery service and the convenience of dishes ready in only 20-30 minutes. As the ingredients are already cut and measured for you, simply cook them following the steps in the straightforward recipe in the box. The recipe card includes nutritional info for your convenience, and the box fits easily in the fridge until you make the dish.
Each meal’s ingredients come in its own package too, which makes it super easy to organize and start cooking the dish. If you use the meal kit regularly, you’ll likely comment like several online reviewers that it’s cheaper than going out to a restaurant.
Also important to note is that the packaging is almost completely recyclable, already recycled content, or a combination of the two. For anyone looking to minimize their ecological footprint, the green focus is important.
How are the Meals? HelloFresh Review
Numerous reviews on the web point out the deliciousness of HelloFresh meals. The chef-created recipes are tested 200 times before being available for order to help make sure they’re great tasting.
These tests also are designed to ensure the food is easy to make at home. The top-quality ingredients sourced directly from the farm conveniently comes pre-measured for you. Simply follow the included recipe card to make eats for you as a single, as a couple, or as a family.
As many users have said online, the food quality exceeded their expectations, as did the taste of the recipes. They also point out that meals became exciting again.
That’s a great point as having the same dishes again and again can get boring. Looking at the HelloFresh offerings for the week can inspire you to make new foods or pair together sides that you might not usually.
Customize the meals too by easily adding extra protein, side and compliments, such as salad or bread. Other add-on options available from HelloFresh are desserts and treats.
Moreover, you don’t have to search online for new recipes as they’re all conveniently in one place through your online account. If you’re running short of ideas for dinners, you’ll find great ideas there.
There are different serving sizes to choose from: 2, 3 or 4 people. But if you live alone, you’ll be stuck with leftovers. On the plus side, if you have a bigger dinner table with guests one week then you can add extra dinners to your order. Bump up the number of lunches too if you want for a certain week.
Mind you, they’ll be delicious eats as there’s more than 22 choices for menu items every single week. Each week brings new choices, so you’ll never tire of a certain dish.
Furthermore, the selection is awesome and the fun approach to cooking gives you confidence in the kitchen. Two great entrees are Amazing Apricot Chicken and Chicken & Penne Pomodoro Skillet.
Is it Affordable?
Great question, especially if you’re a family who’s watching your budget. The price varies by your custom plan, with the average price per serving being very reasonable.
That price point is like what you’d pay at home per person if you were making your own meal without HelloFresh. But the difference here is that you didn’t have to spend time going to the grocery store or measuring ingredients, not to mention eliminating the stress of coming up with the meal idea to begin with.
What Else We Like about the Best Meal Delivery Service
A unique HelloFresh feature is that you can preview the coming menus. See up to 6 weeks in advance!
That way you can pick this week and think ahead to what you’d like to make for the family or friends next month, for example. It’s helpful for planning, especially for a family.
Also, there are 3 vegetarian options every single week, which is terrific for anyone who has this dietary lifestyle. While there are not specific vegan options, customers online say they substitute or don’t use certain included ingredients in meals so that they modify the vegetarian meals into vegan ones.
Furthermore, the vegetarian eats receive rave reviews on the web, including “surprisingly delicious.” Also notable are the many positive words online for the value of what you get on the dinner table with HelloFresh for the price, especially with terrific discounts.
HelloFresh Special Offer
Get $80 off of first 3 boxes including free shipping on the first box. The discount code will be added automatically at checkout.
$80 OFF
HelloFresh Review: Final Thoughts
We like many things about HelloFresh, including the ability to add or subtract meals each week, or even stop the service one week, depending on your lifestyle. The big selection every week of meals, as well as the ability to get vegetarian eats, is attractive too.
While we do hope there are more options for singles in the future, it’s great to see the many healthy meals for families. For busy parents, quickly cook a dish with pre-packaged fresh ingredients from HelloFresh in only 20-30 minutes and enjoy the convenience of delivery directly to you. That’s better any day than a restaurant meal, in our opinion, as well as a great healthy eating choice.