There are few things more frustrating than finding a delicious recipe online only to find it calls for exotic ingredients you can barely pronounce, let alone at your local grocery store. Luckily, that’s not the case with HelloFresh, a meal delivery service that offers repeatable recipes you can make using more common foods from the cupboard – just keep the handy recipe cards after you’re done cooking.
The efficient yet fun cooking process, delicious results, and emphasis on including vegetables in every meal all add to HelloFresh’s appeal, making it a contender for the title of Best Meal Delivery Service.
Important information
Options for two, three or four people
Three to five recipes a week
Pre-weighed ingredients for minimal waste
Step-by-step recipe cards
Vegetarian, meat, pescetarian, family, quick cook and calorie-conscious options
New recipes every week
Great tasting meals
At least one of your 5-am-day in each meal
All the ingredients come in a box, with most already weighed out so all you have to do is pop them in the pan, oven or mixing bowl and start cooking. You can customize the number of people you want to serve, how many recipes you want to receive, and whether you need to meet specific dietary requirements – with options for “mostly meat”, “veggie”, “family”, “pressure cook”. , “Calorie Smart” and “Pescetarian”. These groups get a variety of recipes to choose from, although we missed the option to select vegan or gluten-free cooking sets.
Each serving we tried contained around 600-800 calories and around 30-40g of protein, which is similar to the amount you’ll find in some of the best protein powder. (In case you’re wondering: “What is a calorie?” or “What is protein?’, find the answers in our handy guides.)
Some of our internal testers who train for more than an hour a day said they could have used a larger portion to ensure they were full, but most people will be happy with the portion sizes. Read on for our full Hello Fresh review.
Hello Fresh Review: Fees and Delivery
The HelloFresh website is easy to use and uncluttered, showing all the information you need without looking cluttered. If you choose to see what meals are available, you have a choice of how many people you want to host (two, three, or four) and how many recipes you want to receive each week (three, four, or five). . You can also choose to show mostly meat, veg, family, quick cook, calorie smart or pescetar dishes, with a promise of “37+ fresh recipes every week” to keep things interesting . Unfortunately, there are no designated provisions for vegans or those wanting gluten-free options.
We chose four vegetarian recipes to feed two people for $85.91 (about $10.74 per serving) including shipping ($9.99). While it’s definitely possible to make a nutritious meal for less money, HelloFresh promises quality, saying it “works hard every day to source… quality ingredients for your best dinner yet.” You also save time, not only because the ingredients are already found and measured for you, but also because you no longer have to make regular pilgrimages to the supermarket.
If the price still sounds high to you then it’s still worth checking out the site as a range of special offers and promo codes are often available, with significant savings for first time buyers and those recommended by a friend .
Hello Fresh Review: Using the Meal Delivery Service
HelloFresh deliveries arrive in a large box, with each of the recipes packed in a numbered paper bag (these correlate with the relevant recipe cards so you know which bag to rip into after choosing your meal). The only items not included in these bags are those that require refrigeration – these arrive in an insulated package along with several ice packs to keep them cool.
The sachets have most of the ingredients already measured out for you – a nice touch that ensured our culinary exploits didn’t go awry and meant there was less waste as there was no leftover semi-finished food.
Portioning meals into paper bags made finding the ingredients incredibly easy, and that foolproof approach continued with the recipe cards. The instructions are laid out with explanatory images and clear explanations underneath, with each recipe containing no more than six steps.
We found we had just enough autonomy to feel like we’d cooked for ourselves and accomplished something, but using HelloFresh was definitely a lot easier than making a meal from scratch. There were also no advanced cooking techniques so we never felt overwhelmed with cooking, roasting and baking ingredients.
Another factor we’re big fans of is the lack of unknown ingredients. Instead, our vegetarian recipes feature supermarket classics like kidney beans, cheese, passata, and more common veggies. This way you can repeat the recipes as you wish without too much difficulty, just have your recipe cards handy and recycle the instructions.
The approximate cook times on the recipe cards were spot on, giving us a good idea of what meals we could cook in the time we had and the nutritional information (including calories, fat, saturated fat, carbs, sugar, protein and salt) per 100g and serving on the recipe card is helpful for anyone keeping track of their consumption.
Hello Fresh Review: Taste and Nutritional Value
Given the simple ingredients and easy cooking experience, you could be forgiven for worrying that the result might taste a little basic. However, let us allay your concerns by confirming that every recipe we prepared was packed with flavor.
A beetroot, feta, and walnut salad adds a tasty twist to the leaf dish, while fried bean and mushroom tacos take less than 20 minutes to make and offer a grab-and-go experience with fresh ingredients. The results of our two-cheese ratatouille pasta casserole were rich and warming, and the Indonesian-style spiced tofu curry eclipsed store-bought sauces with its impressive flavor.
In our vegetarian dishes, most servings provided around 30-40g of protein per serving – which somewhat answers the question: “Do you have to eat meat to get protein?‘. When incorporated into a broader, balanced, high-protein diet, this is a good amount for an active individual looking to build strength and muscle.
The tacos were slightly lower at 17.2g per serving, but they can be paired with the salad as a “special side” to add another 7.8g to that figure.
The number of calories per serving varied between about 600 and 800, including the tacos and salad as a couplet. This is sufficient for most people, although those leading particularly active lifestyles may need something more substantial.
We liked that each meal provided at least one of our five a day, with the vegetable-stuffed ratatouille boasting an impressive four servings of veggies, including zucchini, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes.
However, the omission of options specifically for vegans or those who only want gluten-free options on the HelloFresh website seems to be an oversight.
Hello Fresh Rating: Customer Reviews
HelloFresh achieved 3.7 out of five possible stars on the rating platform trust pilot, with more than 51,000 reviews on the site. Customers praise the fresh ingredients and wide variety of recipes available each week. Some also say their food bills have gone down since using the boxes.
However, a select few customers say they had trouble canceling the service after deciding to end their subscription.
Should You Use Hello Fresh?
Hello Fresh makes cooking a breeze by delivering fresh, delicious food to your door. Because the ingredients are already measured, the cooking process is simple and efficient while still delivering delicious dishes.
There’s a wide variety of recipes, updated weekly, catering to vegetarians, pescetarians, and those on lower-calorie diets — although there are no vegan-friendly marked meals. Those leading very active lifestyles may want something more substantial than being offered a single serving, but the 600-800 calories and 30-40g of protein on offer will be sufficient for most shoppers.
If this product is not for you
HelloFresh is great for giving you new meal ideas and encouraging you to get into the kitchen. However, if you’re looking for a more healthy ready meal alternative that can be prepared in less than three minutes, we encourage you to give it a try Fresh. The brand ships ready meals to customers so you can have a nutritious meal within 180 seconds of opening the pack with minimal effort.
Or, if you’re looking for vegan meal sets, look no further than Marley Spoon. Similar to HelloFresh, the ingredients for a selection of dishes are delivered pre-portioned to streamline the cooking process. But unlike its competitor, Marley Spoon offers more options for those with dietary needs, including vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and calorie-conscious options.