Is Hello Fresh Worth It?

I tried Hello Fresh for a week because I wanted to switch it up. I was having trouble thinking of creative recipes, while remaining on track with my nutrition. They provide a pretty good discount for your first order, you can find all of the important details in the table below.

Price per meal	Delivery Cost	Promotion	Number of meals	Comment
$6.99-9.99	Free on first box, $6.99 else	$20 off first 4 deliveries ($80 off total) $10 back with Ebates	2-4 meals (2 people) 2-3 meals (4 people)	Had a decent amount of meal preference options (allergies, vegetarian). More “elaborate” meats, such as steak, cost extra per meal.

The Low-Down:

I ordered three meals, which serve two people each, so it covered my dinners for the week. I typically cook very low-maintenance meals throughout the week since I am low on time and only cooking for myself. I signed up for the low-calorie option since it worked best with my current nutrition plan, however I noticed there were other meal options that weren’t labeled “calorie smart” and had similar calorie ratings. I ordered it the week before and the meals were delivered by the time I got home from work the following Monday. I ordered the Southwest Tilapia, Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops, and Parmesan Crusted Chicken.

Is this economical? Great question, I wondered this myself. The average individual spends $50-100/ person weekly on groceries. This can breakdown into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Of course, this also depends on the grocery source, the products, location, etc. But, you get the point. Also, if you tend to eat out a lot more, your weekly costs will be more expensive and comparable to the cost of Hello Fresh. Three meals from Hello Fresh cost around $50 with the initial promotion, which offers six total servings and these meals can be utilized as you please. So, you’d still need to get more items for breakfast, lunch/dinner (depending on how you utilize the meals), and snacks. So, for me personally this does not make economical sense to do every week because I eat a lot of food (again, this is my personal nutrition plan), which means I’d be spending about the same amount on groceries weekly on top of the Hello Fresh costs. However, this isn’t something that will break the bank to do every now and then.

The Review:

This was definitely a solid meal, but it was pretty ordinary. I regularly eat chicken and pasta, so this wasn’t really a new dish for me to try, but the flavor was noticeable compared to usual breading. I made this for my fiancé and he was pretty impressed with the flavor in the breading, as well. This meal came with two chicken breasts, linguine, lemon, fry seasoning, cream cheese, mayonnaise, grape tomatoes, Dijon mustard, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and Panko breadcrumbs. The recipe called for mixing the noodles in cream cheese for extra flavor and it complimented the rest of the meal very well. This meal was not a calorie-smart choice, but I just wanted a comfort food recipe for the week. This recipe took over one hour to prepare.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:

• It is very convenient if you do not like or have time for grocery shopping, you are wanting to brush up on your cooking skills, you travel frequently, or if you’re like me and needed a change. With each meal I learned at least one new thing that I will use in the future when making my own meals.
• These meals can be easily reheated the next day.
• The packaging that the food is delivered in is almost completely recyclable, including the ice packs.
• Speaking of which, with each delivery you get 3+ free ice packs (it doesn’t take much to make me happy).
• You can change the delivery day and you can skip orders each week based on your preference, all from the website or app.
• You get an email each week notifying you to select your meals, delivery date, or to skip the week completely. This is nice because most places secretly hope you forget and charge your card regardless.
• After you’ve ordered so many meals from them (I received this option after my second order), you receive discounts and free meals you can send to others to share the love!
• The website and app have a recipe archive where you can search for any recipe, regardless of your previous orders. The recipe will have the ingredients and directions included.
• I definitely learned that zesting can be a very beneficial source of flavor.

Cons:

• Even though the meals I chose were “calorie smart”, the macros were still high for my personal nutrition plan. So, if you’re tracking your macros, have a strict daily intake, or are trying to cut serious weight, then these will most likely not replace your usual meal prep.
• The recipe cards are typically split into six sections and each section can list multiple steps for you to follow, which can be hard to keep track of while trying to manage everything at once.
• They don’t include the individual ingredients in the spice packages for re-creation later.
• Can take a long time to prepare if you’re typically low on time in the evenings throughout the week.

Overall, I will continue to order from Hello Fresh mostly due to convenience. For example, when I know I will be traveling over the weekend I place my order for the following week since I know I will be unable to grocery shop. This way, I am not frantic whenever I get home trying to get everything I need for the week. However, I skip most weeks and continue to do my own meal planning and prep based on my personal preference. As a special thank you for reading, here’s a discount for $40 off your first delivery.