Meal subscription services are gaining popularity and attention. These trendy services claim to make your life better by doing your meal planning and grocery shopping for you! Essentially, they help you combine fresh, seasonal ingredients into a mouthwatering meal. Each meal subscription service is slightly different, but the general idea is to deliver fresh ingredients to your doorstep each week along with easy-to-follow recipe cards. Many of these services boast super fresh and locally sourced ingredients, reduced consumer food waste, healthy and nutritious recipes and most importantly, flavorful, delicious meals.
As a Registered Dietitian, I am an advocate of tools and services that:
- Make home-cooked family meals a viable option for busy families
- Simplify grocery shopping, food prep and cooking
- Help individuals explore new cuisines and try different recipes
- Encourage consumption of seasonal produce
Recently I had the opportunity to try out Hello Fresh. This meal subscription service claims to give you “Delicious ingredients you’ll love to eat. Simple recipes you’ll live to cook.”
Hello Fresh employs a Registered Dietitian and a team of Chefs to create 10 unique recipes each week. After choosing your plan: Classic, Vegetarian or Family (kid friendly recipes), you can choose to order 3, 4 or 5 meals and have all the ingredients delivered to your front door in an insulated box on the day you desire. The subscription service allows you to login and select the recipes you want to make and also offers flexible delivery, allowing subscribers to skip a week whenever desired.
If you have been curious about trying a meal subscription service like Hello Fresh, I want to provide you with an honest review of my experience and answer some common questions so that you can make the right choice for you and your family.
Does Hello Fresh create healthy recipes?
Most of the recipes have 500-700 calories per serving but some do have more. In fact, when researching for this post, there were several recipes listed on their site that had a high calorie count and one that had almost 1000 calories (Sesame Chicken Noodles)! While I don’t believe this is typical of the Hello Fresh recipes, it does reinforce the importance of checking out the nutrition facts before selecting your weekly meals. Make sure to choose recipes that are in line with your health goals.
The recipes on the website and those we tested all included protein (lean or medium fat), carbohydrate (grain, potatoes, etc) and vegetables. Some of the carbohydrates are refined instead of whole grain (white rice, couscous). The recipe cards guide the cook to add olive oil and occasionally, butter, from their own pantry/fridge. In some of our recipes, I was able to cut back on how much added fat I used, simply as my way to reduce the added total fat and calories.
Are the meals delicious?
Yes, we thought so.
Our order included 3 meals:
- Pistachio-Mustard Crusted Chicken with Quinoa and Cucumber Jalapeno Salad (4 stars)
- Cod Over Couscous with Orange Dill Slaw (4 stars)
- Easy as Shepherd’s Pie (3.5 stars)
I decided to rate all 3 meals on a 1-5 scale with 5 being amazing.
My favorite meal was the Pistachio Mustard Crusted Chicken because I adored the variety of textures and flavors- cool tomato salad with warm chicken; earthy and fluffy quinoa; crunchy, salty, tangy, savory…my husband and I were quite complimentary of this meal!
Fresh herbs were used in all 3 meals, something I love but often neglect to use in my own personal cooking UNLESS I am actually growing the herb myself. Each recipe had a simple ingredient list but when put together, was certainly delicious.
How easy are the meals? Do I need cooking skills?
The recipes are presented on attractive recipe cards with colorful pictures showing the step-by-step process. They are clear to read and even list a quick tip in the “Start Strong” box at the top left corner of the card. While you do need some basic cooking knowledge and skills, Hello Fresh presents the directions using clear home-chef language. You will need a few basic kitchen tools but nothing fancy.
Will Hello Fresh save me time?
For many people, planning meals and grocery shopping is the biggest stumbling block to getting healthy meals on the dinner table. If this is you, then a meal subscription box, like Hello Fresh, might save you a significant amount of time and frustration. Essentially, it removes the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner?” and instead supplies you with a tasty answer.
How long do the meals take to prepare?
Each meal is different but most of them require about 30 minutes. From my own experience, the estimated length on the recipe card was surprisingly accurate. I consider myself an above average home cook, but certainly do not cook at the pace of a culinary trained chef. I was able to prepare all of the meals slightly under or on target with the identified cooking time. If preparation and cooking time is very important to you, make sure to look for this information on each recipe BEFORE adding to your customized weekly meals. If a meal looks too long or too complex, skip that one for a different meal.
What if there are picky eater in my family?
Well, I can completely relate! I have avoided meal subscription services in the past primarily because I didn’t think that the meals would appeal to all family members. However, my husband, the selective eater in our family, did eat 2 of the 3 meals (he does not eat seafood and therefore did not eat the cod recipe). Hello Fresh sends all the ingredients separate so an ingredient can be eliminated or only added to part of the recipe. You can choose the meals you want to order each week which also gives you control over what you are cooking and serving.
HOWEVER, all family members do need to be on board or you may find yourself wasting money and time. My husband helped me decide which meals we would try out during our trial. I knew he wasn’t going to eat fish so on that night, we made a piece of chicken for him so that he could have the couscous with chicken, not fish. This was a fairly simple modification for us, but I wouldn’t want to do it frequently.
Do the meals accommodate for food allergies or intolerances?
Allergens like milk, wheat, egg, soy and peanuts are identified on the recipe cards and can be viewed on the website before you choose to add them to your customized meal plan. The Hello Fresh website shares this information about special dietary requirements:
While we don’t offer specific dietary plans, because our ingredients are delivered to you in separate packets, if you have any specific dislikes you can simply omit or replace these ingredients from a recipe. You can learn more about the ingredients we use in the Our Suppliers section.
Many of the meals are wheat free (although may not be 100% gluten free). If this is a concern for yourself or a family member, check out several weeks of recipes before signing up to determine if this is a good solution for your family. You can also contact the Registered Dietitian, Rebecca Lewis, MS, RDN if you have questions that the website cannot answer.
Is Hello Fresh budget friendly?
Well, that really depends on your weekly food budget. The Classic and Vegetarian recipes are $9.99 per serving and the Family box (2 adults, 2 kids) recipes are $8.74 per serving. The reality is that many frugal moms and dads can plan, purchase and prepare meals for much less than $10 bucks per person, however, most restaurant meals (including tip, beverage and tax) easily cost more than that (unless you are eating off the dollar menu, which equals fast food). There is a cost involved with this service. Individuals and families have to weigh whether the convenience, variety, and peace of mind is worth the cost per meal.
Are there any areas Hello Fresh could improve?
Yes- As a Registered Dietitian, I am a firm proponent of ½ a plate of non-starchy veggies, ¼ plate of lean protein and ¼ plate of whole grain or complex carbohydrate. Hello Fresh seemed to fall a bit short on the veggies and gave large portions of starch in each recipe I made. I would love to see them amp up the veggies in the meals and replace the refined starches with whole grains or complex carbs. I can only comment on the 3 meals that I tried in my sample box, but there was a little part of me that felt I was missing out on some of my veggies.
With many individuals trying to maintain or lose weight, I would also love to see more meals that aim towards the 500-600 calorie range simply to help meal subscribers avoid over-consuming during the day, particularly at the dinner meal. By simply eating a smaller portion of the starch serving and going a little bit lighter on the added oils or butter when cooking the recipes, individuals can make their own modifications to reduce the calories per serving.
Does my family use this service?
As a Registered Dietitian, I am very diligent about planning weekly meals and grocery shopping. While I am certainly not perfect, this is a very important family value in our home, so it takes high priority AND, I have been doing it for many years so I have begun to find a rhythm. However, I have used this service and another one in the past as a fun treat. I adore trying new recipes and to be honest, there is this bit of excitement when you arrive home to the box sitting on your doorstep. For me, it is like delicious magic just waiting to happen!
So, this is a service that is not necessary for our home, but is certainly a delightful splurge. It is also a great way to add variety if you are getting bored with your meals and just want a change. You get to keep the recipe cards so you can re-make any of the recipes that you loved!
Is Hello Fresh for you?
Only you can answer that question. If you are needing some assistance with meal planning and shopping, and are willing to commit the ~30 minutes each night to cooking, it might be a great tool to try out. You can pause deliveries any week you desire so long as you do so before the cutoff date. In the past, I have put a reminder in my phone the day before the cutoff so that I was reminded to make that decision in time.
Could Hello Fresh become your beloved lifesaver during a jam-packed work week? Maybe. If you want to give it a try, Hello Fresh is offering $35 OFF your first order with the promo code FRESHFANSRD35. If you are still not sure, you can explore upcoming recipes here and learn all kinds of kitchen tips and tricks on the Hello Fresh Blog.
If a meal subscription box option does not fall in line with your grocery/food budget, be sure to check out these posts for some additional resources:
- One Key That Will Simplify the Way You Meal Plan
- Eating Healthy On A Budget: 5 Tips for Saving on Groceries Without Couponing
As always, I love hearing from you! Have you tried Hello Fresh? What was your experience like? Was it a waste of money or refreshing change? Did it ease your meal planning stress? Could you call it a lifesaver? Please share!
TRUTH: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
James 1:5 (NIV)
Healthy Inspiration makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are my personal views. 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 provide products for review purposes.