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Trying to decide between Freshly vs HelloFresh? It really comes down to one question: Are you a home chef looking for fresh ingredients and meal plans or are you crunched for time and looking for high-quality and friendly meals already prepared for you?
HelloFresh saves you a trip to the grocery store by sending you a box of pre-portioned ingredients along with easy-to-follow recipe cards for preparing healthy meals at home.
Freshly takes this concept a step further by actually preparing the meals for you and sending you a meal box full of perfect portion sizes — all you have to do is heat them up!
There’s one other big difference. HelloFresh recipes always make a minimum of two servings, whereas Freshly’s fully-prepared meals are single serving. That makes Freshly great for solo diners or families with diverse food preferences.
Here are some side-by-side details.
(Quick Note: If you’re wondering how these subscription services stack up to Blue Apron, you can view our HelloFresh vs Blue Apron and Freshly vs Blue Apron reviews too.)
HelloFresh vs Freshly: Head to Head
| Freshly | HelloFresh | |
|---|---|---|
| What they deliver | Fully Prepared Meals | Ingredient Boxes |
| Serving size per meal | 1 | 2 – 4 |
| Price per serving | $8.99 – $12.50 | $6.99 – $9.99 |
| Shipping cost | $3.99 – $12.11 per shipment | $6.99 – $7.99 per shipment |
| Reviews on Trustpilot | 4.8/5 – 8,989 reviews | 4.4/5 – 38,641 reviews |
| Special Offers | Save $60 on Freshly. | Save $80 on HelloFresh. |
For more info on pricing, nutrition and more, just keep reading!
HelloFresh Overview
HelloFresh.com
HelloFresh is one of the biggest meal kit delivery services. It makes dinner time less stressful by providing a variety of recipes along with pre-portioned ingredients for well-balanced meals that you can prepare at home without having to go grocery shopping. Most of their recipes “take only 30-40 mins from prepping to eating.” And since they only send you the ingredients you need, you’ll never waste food.
Instead of researching meal ideas, making a shopping list, driving to the grocery store, and cooking all the food, with HelloFresh you just pick your meals and cook the pre-measured ingredients. Or, you can save even more time by letting HelloFresh pick the meals for you.
HelloFresh offers 6 eating plans depending on your dietary preferences: A classic plan with meat and veggies, a vegetarian mean plan, a family plan with “kid-friendly” meals, a calorie smart plan, a quick and easy plan, and a pescatarian plan.
(Another Quick Note: Still wondering if HelloFresh is comparable to Sun Basket? Check out our HelloFresh vs Sun Basket review here.)
HelloFresh Dietary Restrictions
Unfortunately, HelloFresh does not offer gluten-free meals, keto, dairy-free, nut-free, or other meal options for people with dietary restrictions. If you do have any food allergens, HelloFresh has this to say:
“HelloFresh‘s Nutrition Team, which has dietitians, reviews every ingredient for any of the major 8 allergens: wheat, milk, soy, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, and shellfish.
The dietitians then use this information to identify and disclose if any recipe contains any of these allergens. Information about any potential allergens in any recipe is then posted on the website next to the meal choice, and the specific ingredient that contains the allergen is called out.
We leave it to our customers to review the ingredients and determine which recipes best meet their dietary needs.“
However, unlike Freshly, because you are preparing the meals yourself you have much more control of what goes into each meal. For example, if you are vegan, you can easily order the vegetarian meals and leave out any dairy or animal products from your weekly recipes to accommodate your needs.
HelloFresh Health & Sustainability Info
HelloFresh meals feature:
- All-natural meats
- Antibiotic-free and hormone-free poultry
- Hormone-free pork
- Seafood rated “Green/Best Choice” or “Yellow/Good Alternative” by the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch program
You are not able to substitute ingredients inside HelloFresh shipments, but you can choose meals that accommodate your preferences and any food sensitivities. And since ingredients come packaged separately, you can also substitute using foods you have at home.
You can recycle the packaging materials, meal-kit materials, and even the cold packs from your HelloFresh shipments with these instructions.
HelloFresh Pricing
HelloFresh offers a “Personalize Your Plan” tool that allows you to choose the number of meals per week (2, 3, 4, or 5) for either a 2 or 4 person plan.
You can also choose one of six different meal preferences:
- Meat & Veggies—”Cut down on prep, cooking, and cleanup time with tasty, no-fuss meals.”
- Veggie Plan—”You’ll get a wide variety of meals full of seasonal, naturally produced veggies.”
- Family Friendly—”You’ll receive kid-tested recipes that make quick, easy-to-cook meals everyone will love.”
- Calorie Smart—”You’ll get a wide selection of dietician-approved meals that are around 650 calories each.”
- Quick and Easy—”Cut down on prep, cooking, and cleanup time with tasty, no-fuss meals.”
- Pescatarian—”Our Pescatarian preference features a combo of veggie and seafood meals.”
FYI, shipping is always $8.99 but we have not factored shipping costs into our totals below (we also excluded shipping from our Freshly review below for easier comparison).
2 People Cost Analysis:
| Recipes per week | Price per serving | Total cost per week |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | $12.49 | $49.96 |
| 3 | $8.99 | $53.94 |
| 4 | $8.99 | $71.92 |
| 5 | $8.99 | $89.90 |
4 People Cost Analysis:
| Recipes per week | Price per serving | Total cost per week |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | $8.99 | $71.92 |
| 3 | $7.49 | $89.88 |
| 4 | $7.49 | $119.84 |
| 5 | $7.49 | $149.80 |
HelloFresh Customization and Cancellation
If you’re ever out of town and need to skip a delivery, you can easily do that inside your account. You’re also able to cancel your membership at any time prior to the weekly cut-off (when a new box of meals gets shipped to you).
You can also make “last minute” modifications to your meal delivery as long as it’s before 11:59PM PST 5 days prior to your delivery.
Freshly Overview
Freshly.com
Freshly is a popular service that differs from HelloFresh in two big ways.
Instead of sending you an ingredient box, Freshly sends you fully prepared meals ready to heat and enjoy. That’s great for lunch at the office and busy nights when you don’t have 30 – 40 minutes to prepare food.
Freshly meals are shipped fresh, not frozen. You just put them in the refrigerator; and when mealtime comes, they’ll be ready to eat in less than 3 minutes. You can choose your meals from rotating weekly menu options that feature over 40 choices.
Freshly doesn’t divide its meals into different menus, but they do offer options that are high protein, low carb, low calorie, paleo-friendly, and even vegetarian options.
Unlike HelloFresh, with Freshly, meals come in individual serving sizes, which is great for singles, two people households, or families with different food preferences or dietary needs. Of course, you’re welcome to buy as many servings as you want for a given meal, so it works for families who like the same things too.
Freshly Dietary Restrictions
Freshly does not structure its food delivery service around specific dietary needs. Instead, all their meals are already gluten-free and peanut-free by default. Freshly also says:
“As a customer, you can set your own dietary preferences and easily find the meals that work for you. You can also check out individual ingredient lists for each dish if you have specific concerns.”
Once you set your dietary preferences in the settings, you can also choose to automatically filter out meals that don’t fit those preferences.
You can find a collection of Freshly’s nutritional information here.
Freshly Health and Sustainability Info:
Freshly’s meals are all-natural, packed with protein, and free from:
- Freshly’s list of over 85 banned ingredients
- Refined sugars.
- Artificial ingredients
- Hydrogenated oils
- Artificial preservatives
Freshly is committed to being as environmentally friendly as possible. All their shipping materials—boxes, meal kit containers, and cardboard sleeves—are all recyclable. Also, their gel ice packs are non-toxic and perfect to reuse on your next camping trip or picnic.
Shipping materials can be recycled by following these instructions.
Freshly Pricing
Freshly offers 4 subscriptions to choose from based on how many meals you want per week. Since the meals are ready to eat in less than 3 minutes, Freshly works well for both lunch and dinner. However, Freshly does charge a small delivery fee depending on the size of your delivery box and your zip code location.
| Meals Per Week | Cost Per Meal | Cost Per Week |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | $11.49 | $45.96 |
| 6 | $9.49 | $56.94 |
| 10 | $8.99 | $89.99 |
| 12 | $8.49 | $101.88 |
Freshly Customization and Cancellation
Similar to HelloFresh, with Freshly, you can skip deliveries or cancel anytime before the weekly cutoff when new meals get shipped.
If you’d like to make any modifications to your delivery, you have until 5 to 6 days prior to your delivery. The cutoff varies depending on your location.
Freshly vs HelloFresh: Which is right for you?
HelloFresh makes it easier for you to prepare balanced, homemade meals by sending you clear recipes along with all the ingredients you’ll need.
Freshly will even cook the meals for you, so all you have to do it heat them up.
HelloFresh is a bit less expensive, but you’ll spend more time in the kitchen. Freshly frees up more of your time, and costs a little bit more.
Keep in mind, you can do both! Freshly is great for lunch or quick dinners on busy nights. HelloFresh is a fun way to actually cook a homemade meal.
No matter which service you choose, you’ll be saving lots of time and getting dinner on the table with way less stress. Enjoy!