With all the meal delivery services to choose from these days, it’s hard to know which one is right for you. You’ve probably found yourself asking, “Is HelloFresh worth it?”
HelloFresh is probably the most popular meal-kit subscription out there. Their service provides you with pre-measured ingredients alongside super simple instructions so you can whip up meals in no time. But what’s the catch? Is it too good to be true, or is HelloFresh even worth it?
I’ll break down everything you need to know about HelloFresh so you can decide if it’s worth it for you and your lifestyle.
What Is HelloFresh?
HelloFresh is a meal delivery service that drops off fresh ingredients right at your door. In each HelloFresh box, you’ll find pre-measured ingredients along with step-by-step recipe instructions for each meal.
What’s nice about HelloFresh is that you can choose what kind of meal plan you want. The options are:
- Meat & Veggies
- Veggies
- Family Friendly
- Fit & Wholesome
- Quick & Easy
- Pescatarian
You must select one of the above options, but you can choose more than one. Within these meal plans, you can also customize each specific meal to best fit your needs (and swap out which sides or proteins you want).
Once you pick what kind of plan you want, you’ll customize your plan size. You’ll select how many mouths you’re feeding (either two or four), plus how many meals you’d like to receive each week (two through six).
From there, HelloFresh shows you how much your chosen meal plan will cost on a weekly basis.
How Much Does HelloFresh Cost?
The cost of HelloFresh depends on the meal plan you choose — and if there are active promotions going on.
Without any coupon deal, if you pick the Meat & Veggies option for two people and get three meals a week, this would be $59.94. This means the price per serving (aka two servings) is $9.99. So one dinner for you and your partner, roommate, friend, or child would be less than $5 a person.
Most HelloFresh meal plans are about the same price, but you’ll pay less money per serving the more meals you choose and the more people you’re feeding.
HelloFresh Prices for Two People:
- Two Meals Per Week: $12.49 per serving
- Three Meals Per Week: $9.99 per serving
- Four Meals Per Week: $9.79 per serving
- Five Meals Per Week: $9.79 per serving
- Six Meals Per Week: $9.79 per serving
HelloFresh Prices for Four People:
- Two Meals Per Week: $9.79 per serving
- Three Meals Per Week: $9.49 per serving
- Four Meals Per Week: $9.29 per serving
- Five Meals Per Week: $9.29 per serving
- Six Meals Per Week: $8.99 per serving
A HelloFresh plan for four people with six meals per week is the cheapest option per serving but costs the most overall ($226.75 per week). A plan for two people with two meals per week is the most expensive option per serving but costs the least overall ($60.95 per week).
Current HelloFresh Deals:
What Are the Benefits of Joining HelloFresh?
HelloFresh makes things easy. For starters, you don’t have to go to the grocery store. Plus, each meal comes with ingredients that are already measured out, so all you have to do is cook them, mix them, or bake them. On top of that, the box gets delivered straight to your door, so you really don’t even have to leave your house. How nice is that?
HelloFresh has vegetarian and kid-friendly meal options.
Not all meal kit delivery services have a great selection of veggie options and foods that kids will love. But HelloFresh lets you customize your preferences by picking a “Veggie” plan if you don’t eat meat and a “Family-Friendly” plan for meals that both kids and adults can enjoy.
It’s great for beginners.
If you’re not already a top chef but want to learn more about cooking, HelloFresh is a great way to get started. Each box comes with easy-to-follow recipe cards with super clear instructions. Once you cook a HelloFresh meal you love, you can keep the recipe card for the future and buy the ingredients you need right from the grocery store. This will help you get more comfortable with the recipe (and cooking overall)!
HelloFresh has promotional sales, coupons, and discounts all year long.
You can usually find a HelloFresh coupon code online — and you won’t have to dig that far to find one. To make things super easy, we found a few HelloFresh coupons that might work for you:
- As a new user looking to try out HelloFresh for the first time, you can grab eight meals for just $23.92, plus get free shipping.
- If you’re a currently enrolled college student with a valid college email address, you can get 65% off your first HelloFresh box, plus your first box will ship free. Also, you’ll get an ongoing 15% discount that’s automatically applied for 52 weeks.
- If you’re a medical provider, hospital employee, military member, or veteran, you can get 70% off your first HelloFresh box, plus free shipping. You’ll also get 15% off all future boxes for the next year.
Related: Meal Delivery Kits With Massive Discounts for New Users
Who Benefits From a HelloFresh Subscription the Most?
A family of four will benefit the most from a HelloFresh meal subscription. This is because the subscription is cheaper when you buy more meals.
Also, given the discounts available for college students and “hero” personnel, HelloFresh also makes the best sense for families with an individual who qualifies.
What Are the Disadvantages of Joining HelloFresh?
It’s not ideal for a single person (or families with more than four people).
HelloFresh doesn’t offer a meal plan for one person or for families with more than four people. If you live alone, the least you’d pay per week is $60.95 for two meals. Each meal comes with two servings, so you’ll likely have leftovers. If you can plan to eat all the leftovers from both meals, great. But you’re more likely to waste food, and you’ll still have to go to the grocery store for all the other meals you eat that week.
If you have more than four people in your household, even the largest meal plan (six meals per week for four people) wouldn’t be enough to feed your family, and the $226.75 per week cost wouldn’t give you nearly as much value.
HelloFresh isn’t the cheapest meal kit option out there.
While HelloFresh offers relatively affordable meal plans, it isn’t the cheapest option on the market. HelloFresh prices start at $7.99 per meal. However, other meal-kit services like EveryPlate and Home Chef offer cheaper prices per meal:
- EveryPlate: $4.99+ per meal
- Home Chef: $6.99+ per meal
It doesn’t offer as many healthy options as other meal kit services.
While HelloFresh meals are mostly well balanced, they aren’t as low-cal or low-fat as other meal kits. If you’re looking for healthier meals with organic ingredients, Sunbasket may be a better service for you (though their prices tend to be the most expensive out there).
So Is HelloFresh Worth It?
If you don’t like to grocery shop, then yes.
If you hate going to the grocery store, HelloFresh is a convenient alternative. You’ll save time by not having to prepare a grocery list each week and having a meal plan set forth for you.
If you want to try new recipes, then yes.
HelloFresh is a great way to explore new recipes that are easy to make. You can find all kinds of recipes from delicious salads to mouthwatering bowls and so much more. Plus, you can also customize the sides or proteins you want to create more balanced meals (and appease those picky eaters).
If you don’t like wasting food, then yes.
HelloFresh ingredients are already pre-measured out for you, so nothing will go to waste. Plus, HelloFresh packaging is specifically designed to reduce waste with recyclable inserts, making every box a bit more sustainable.
If you live alone, no.
Again — a family of four benefits from HelloFresh the most because you’ll pay less money per serving the more meals you order per week. If you live alone, your only option is to go with the 2-person plan, which is barely a decent value for two people, let alone one. If you only have one mouth to feed, you’ll save more money and spend less time cooking by shopping at the grocery store.
If you don’t like to cook, no.
With perfectly portioned ingredients and simple recipes, HelloFresh definitely makes it easy to cook the meals you order. But if you don’t like cooking and aren’t willing to try, it won’t be as convenient and seamless to your lifestyle. If you’re looking for prepared meals delivered to your door, try services like Fresh N Lean, or Daily Harvest instead.
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