I Tried the Meal Kits from HelloFresh and Here’s What I Thought

Service: HelloFresh
Price: HelloFresh meals range in price from $9.08 per person per meal for vegetarian subscriptions, and $10.75 per person per meal for omnivore subscriptions. Delivery is free for all orders.
Overall Impression: HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service offering both omnivore and vegetarian options, with farm-fresh ingredients, chef-inspired recipes, and flexible subscriptions.

I do love cooking dinner, but I’ll admit that on busy weeks I sometimes wish there was someone else to take care of the planning and shopping. This is part of the reason I enjoy meal kits. I get a hand in choosing what to cook for dinner, but someone else has taken care of the heavy lifting, like planning and grocery shopping. While I don’t have an interesting in cooking from meal kits on a regular basis they are a nice break once in a while.

I’ve tried a few different meal kit delivery services in the past, so I was interested to see how HelloFresh stacked up.

Characteristics and Specs: Choose from HelloFresh’s weekly offering of meat/seafood or vegetarian meals, and receive all the ingredients and recipe card with step-by-step cooking instructions. Weekly subscriptions include three meals for either two or four people. Prices vary depending on choice between the omnivore (meat and seafood) or vegetarian box and the number of servings. Delivery is free of charge.

Favorite Details: These meals were really delicious, and more filling than I expected. The recipes, which are created with HelloFresh’s in-house dietician, were very easy to follow, and the timing for each was accurate.

HelloFresh also has a very broad delivery zone, spanning the entire continental United States.

Potential Problems: As with similar services, the minimum order for HelloFresh serves two people. This might not prove ideal if you’re cooking for one and don’t like leftovers. On the other hand, this can be an expensive option if you’re cooking for a family.

While the classic box offers customers a choice of meals, the vegetarian subscription doesn’t give customers a choice at this time. Although, HelloFresh hopes to change this in the future.

Who Would Love This? Anyone who enjoys cooking (or is just learning to cook), likes fresh ingredients, values convenience, and is willing to pay a small premium for it. If you’re up to the task of cooking dinner, but want to off-load the planning and shopping, or just don’t have time for it on busy weeks, you’d probably enjoy this service.

I tried three meals from the classic (omnivore) box in my HelloFresh delivery: Smoky Adobo Chicken Tacos, Seared Provencal Steak, and Charred Scallion and Corn Flatbread.

Each meal came with all the necessary ingredients (minus salt, pepper, and cooking oil), as well as a detailed recipe card that included color photos and easy-to-follow step-by-step cooking instructions. There was also an additional card with tips on cooking steak, and description of how (and why) to slice the meat against the grain. For anyone new to cooking steak on the stovetop, this kind of detail would be really helpful.

HelloFresh ships meals in an insulated styrofoam cooler box, along with ice packs to keep food refrigerated (but not frozen). Meat and fish are packaged in vacuum-sealed bags. Produce and pantry ingredients are sorted by meal, then grouped and packaged in color-coded plastic bags.

As with other meal delivery services, the issue of waste, as it pertains to packaging, does arise. And the packaging used by HelloFresh is also similar to other services.

I enjoyed the variety of meals I received from HelloFresh. Each one had fresh ingredients, and produced well-flavored, ample-sized meals. I was most pleased with the quality and size of the meals. All three meals were really delicious. I felt full and satisfied after each of the meals, and didn’t feel like I needed to add a salad or another side dish.

As far as pricing, depending on the meal, this service is slightly more than what I would spend on groceries if I were to do the shopping myself, though less than going to a restaurant.

Have you tried HelloFresh? I’d love to hear about your experience!

AT Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the service did give us products for review purposes.