Hello Fresh Review: Everything You Need To Know

Hello Fresh is one of the most popular meal kit delivery services. They pride themselves on sending delicious recipes and fresh ingredients making it very easy for families to cook a restaurant quality meal in their own kitchen. I’ve cooked through well over 50 Hello Fresh recipes and this is my honest Hello Fresh review.

If you’re ready to try Hello Fresh, and don’t want to read my entire Hello Fresh review, you can use my link to get $80 off ($30 off 1st, $20 off 2nd box, and $10 off 3rd and 4th)!

**This post contains affiliate links. I will receive a small commission if you decide to subscribe to Hello Fresh. However, this is my completely honest Hello Fresh review and you’re by no means obligated to use my links. If you do, thanks so much for supporting my site.

This review was updated on 10/14/2020

Hello Fresh Review

What is Hello Fresh?

Hello Fresh is a meal kit delivery company. Recipes are curated every single week for you to choose from. Then based on your selections Hello Fresh will ship fresh ingredients to your doorstep so you can create homemade healthy meals in your own kitchen. 

Hello Fresh takes care of the meal planning and limits your time in the grocery stores. This is wonderful, especially if it’s a struggle to make time for either of those things. Hello Fresh removes the hassle of planning and shopping for dinnertime!

Hellofresh recipes are classic family-friendly recipes. You’ll find things like burgers, pasta dishes, one-pot rice dishes, stir-fries, and/or Mexican-inspired meals like enchiladas. The recipes are easy to put together and portions are plentiful. 

Many people turn to this popular meal kit company to save money and eat healthier. So, instead of stocking their kitchen with processed foods, ordering take-out, or eating dinner at restaurants they are learning to cook and get creative with Hello Fresh recipes.  

How Hello Fresh Works?

Sign up for a Hellofresh meal plan

When you’re ready to get started the first thing you’ll do is pick one of the Hello Fresh meal plans. Currently, there are 4 meal plans.

• Meat and Veggies
• Veggies
• Family-friendly
• Calorie Smart

Next, choose the size meal plan you’d like

If you’re single, or it’s just you and one other, you can choose a meal plan for two people. You can choose between 2-5 recipes a week. 

If you’re feeding a family of 4 then you select a larger plan for four people. Again, you can choose between 2-5 recipes a week. 

Please note the prices you see in the above picture reflects the coupon available at that time. Click here to see the current Hello Fresh promotion.

Set up your details

After you pick a meal plan you’ll input your payment information and set a delivery day. This information can be changed at any time in the account section.

Pick your meals

Now you’re ready to pick your meals. This is the fun part – next to cooking everything of course!

A few things to keep in mind. 

1. Each week there are 18 meals to choose from. Within those 18 meals include recipes specific to the menu you chose. Those meals will be automatically curated for you. Of course you can choose others but, if not, recipes based on the meal plan you picked will go into your box.
2. Calorie-smart, carb-smart, and veggie recipes are labeled. This is helpful if you want to quickly pick recipes within those meal plans. You’ll also find quick recipes and spicy recipes labeled to make it easier to select meals.
3. You can choose from all of the recipes that are available for the week. This includes all of the meal plans. So, if you sign up for the veggie meal plan but see a juicy burger on the menu then you can pick that instead.
4. Gourmet meals or craft meals cost extra. Within the menu Hello Fresh offers certain recipes that are considered craft or gourmet. These meals cost extra per meal. 
5. Meal can be chosen using their website or app. In fact, you can completely manage your Hello Fresh subscription using their website or app.

Choose your extras

Within the last year or so Hello Fresh started to add extras to their offerings. At first, it was just garlic bread and cookie dough but now you can get a variety of food items to make the week easier.

You can order quick lunch items like salad with chicken breast or avocado toast. You can even get snacks and drinks like energy shots, coffee, or individual avocados.

Hello Fresh offers sides to go with dinner recipes like salads and garlic bread. And you can order extra proteins like chicken breasts, ground beef, chicken sausage, or salmon.

Personally, I think having extras to choose from is super helpful. I can fill my box with food and snacks to get me through all meals for the week reducing the amount of time I need to spend in the grocery store.

If you’re ready to try Hello Fresh, and don’t want to read my entire Hello Fresh review, you can use my link to get $80 off ($30 off 1st, $20 off 2nd box, and $10 off 3rd and 4th)!

How Much Does Hello Fresh Cost?

The price of each plan goes up or down depending on the number of people and servings you choose. For the most part, you can expect to pay between $8.49 – $9.99 a serving.

There is also a $7.99 shipping charge.

Shipping charges are more standard now with meal kit companies so it’s not unusual for Hello Fresh to charge shipping. 

Also, like I said earlier, some of the gourmet recipes have an extra charge. The prices are listed on the recipe.

Extras, of course, have an additional charge.

Is Healthy Fresh Healthy?

Hello Fresh is certainly healthier than ordering take-out, fast food, or dining regularly in a restaurant. All the ingredients are high quality and fresh. 

They do offer some low calorie and low carb recipes options to choose from. However, some of their recipe selections are high in calories and do include a lot of carbs. 

On one hand, many customers like this because it offers more variety, especially when you’re choosing meals to feed your family. On the other hand, it’d be nice to have a larger selection of low calorie and low carb menu options for those that want it. 

So, my advice is to review the nutritional information prior to making your selections. If you want recipes lower in calories then make sure to choose those.

Also, while they do offer fresh ingredients, the ingredients are not organic. So, if that’s important to you that’ll be an issue. If you’re looking for organic ingredients along with meal plans that offer keto-friendly, low-carb, and plant-based then I recommend checking out their sister company Green Chef. See my Green Chef Review for more information.

Overall, I do think Hello Fresh is a healthier option for people looking to cook more homemade meals at home over eating processed take-out.

Can I skip a week?

Skipping a week is super easy to do. You can either use their website, or app, to view upcoming weeks and skip the week(s) that don’t work for you.

How to Cancel Hello Fresh?

If you decide that Hello Fresh isn’t a good fit, then you can easily cancel it in the account settings. Just go to the account section, scroll down, and click on “cancel plan”.

Hello Fresh Coupon

Hello Fresh is offering new subscribers $80 off ($30 off 1st box, $20 off 2nd box, $10 off 3rd box, and $10 off 4th box). You can get the coupon here. This is a great way to test out Hello Fresh at a discounted price.

Who Is Hello Fresh Good For?

You’re trying to change your eating habits to healthier ones and have no clue where to start and become overwhelmed when you try to search for new recipes. I get you! If this is you then I think Hello Fresh would be a great option for you. 

Hello Fresh creates the recipes, compiles all the ingredients, and delivers them to your door. All you have to do is cook. Every recipe has nutritional information and made with fresh ingredients.

You love to cook but hate to plan meals and grocery shop. I can also relate to this. Taking the time to meal plan and then spend hours grocery shopping after a long week is exhausting. 

Hello Fresh curates the recipes and then sends all the ingredients to your door. 

It’s just the two of you. Many readers would like to see more recipe options that take into account a 1-2 person household. Understandably, people get annoyed having to make a recipe for 8 when it’s just them and their partner. I don’t blame you. 

Hello Fresh solves that problem by offering meal plans for only 2 people.

Your time is extremely limited. If you work long hours on top of taking care of your children, cleaning your house, running errands, and everything in between then you deserve a break once in a while. 

Hello Fresh might not be able to clean your house but they can take care of planning and shopping for dinner. 

You have a busy week coming up. I don’t get Hello Fresh every week. But I do plan for a box to get delivered when I know my week is going to be busy. 

You’re not afraid to try new recipes. Hello Fresh doesn’t have what I would consider exotic recipes but it’s quite different from frozen pizzas and tacos if that’s what you’re used too. But if you like trying new recipes and want to venture out and start cooking with new fresh ingredients then Hello Fresh can help.

You’re ready to eat more at home. Eating at restaurants 2-3 times a week can make living a healthier lifestyle very difficult. It also becomes expensive.  Eating at home will save calories and money.

Who Isn’t Hello Fresh Good For?

You’re completely focused on getting the best prices on food. Hello Fresh offers reasonable prices but it’s likely you can get a better price on ingredients shopping the store yourself. 

If your budget is tight and/or you’re a couponing queen then you might not have a good experience with Hello Fresh. That’s totally fine. It’s your money, you worked hard for it, and that means you choose how to spend it.

You’re a picky eater. You get to choose some meals but all recipes are still in the hands of Hello Fresh. But if you tend to have issues with new recipes and cuisines then you might not have a good experience with Hello Fresh.

You have dietary restrictions. I think Hello Fresh does a great job of working with your preferences. However, if you have strict dietary restrictions or need to eliminate certain food groups then Hello Fresh might not work for you.

You have no desire to cook. Hello Fresh creates the recipes and sends you the ingredients. You need to cook the recipes. While the recipes are simple they still require more effort than using the microwave. If you can’t see yourself doing this, or know you won’t, then Hello Fresh won’t be a good experience for you. 

If you’re ready to try Hello Fresh, and don’t want to read my entire Hello Fresh review, you can use my link to get $80 off ($30 off 1st, $20 off 2nd box, and $10 off 3rd and 4th)!

My Experience

Now let’s go over my experience. Like I said, I’ve been a long time Hello Fresh subscriber. I’ve received many boxes and tried many of their recipes. And, it’s always like Christmas morning whenever a Hello Fresh Box arrives.

Let’s start with the packaging.

All the hellofresh recipes and extras come in a sturdy isolated box. There is a large ice pack or a couple ice packs on the bottom of the box. To make sure the meats stay cold they are nestled underneath the ice packs. 

All of the packaging materials are recyclable or reusable.

Hellofresh recipes are organized into individual paper bags and labeled with the recipe. All the fresh ingredients are in each paper bag and the meats are packaged separately. Like I said, they are underneath the ice packs to assure they stay cold.

I like to use the paper bags for the scraps as I’m preparing the recipe.

All of the recipes have beautiful color-coded recipe cards with step by step instructions. If by some chance you lose the recipe card then you can find the recipes on their website or app.

In my latest Hellofresh box I received:

Chicken with Arugula Caprese Salad

Shrimp Spaghetti with a Kick

Bacon Buckaroo Burger (this is a Craft Burger)

Pesto Caprese Sandwiches with Almond Studded Green Salad (extra)

Garlic Bread and Crunchy Sesame Salad Combo (extra)

Chocolate Lava Cake (extra)

I purchased a variety of recipes and extras to test so I can give an honest accurate review of the different items they offer.

Let’s start with the Chicken with Arugula Caprese Salad. This recipe is one of their low calorie recipes. It’s also listed as Carb smart and quick. Basically, it’s my kind of meal!

My biggest concern with any meal kit is the quality of the chicken. I do not like rubbery chicken. Truthfully, I never had an issue with Hello Fresh meats. 

The chicken was juicy and had great texture. 

Everything else about this salad was great. The arugula was fresh, the mozzarella was tasty, and I loved the side of ciabatta toast. My daughter loved this recipe too.

The second recipe I chose was Shrimp Spaghetti with a kick. This is like the opposite of carb smart but it’s still one of my favorite style of meals. And my husband loves recipes like this too so I got this for us to have for a Friday night dinner at home.

The first thing I check out is the shrimp. Of course, it needs to be fresh and not “fishy”.  The shrimp was fresh and delicious. I did need to clean it some so that added time to the preparation.

However, this recipe still came together fast. And even though it was simple it was delicious.

I made the garlic bread and lava cake to go with this Friday night dinner for us. The bread was tasty and went nicely with this Italian-style recipe.

The lava cake was chocolatey and rich and perfect for 2 people. 

The third recipe I got was the Craft Bacon Buckaroo Burger. This recipe included an extra charge but I got it anyway because my oldest daughter loves Hello Fresh Burger recipes. In fact, whenever I’m going to order a box from Hello Fresh she always says to make sure to order a burger.

This burger recipe didn’t disappoint. It was super easy to make during the week. And, honestly, I could’ve prepared the bacon beforehand to bring this recipe together even faster.

Now, it was not on the light side at all so it’s definitely a recipe that I needed to modify to enjoy. For example, I ate it without the bun and had ½ of the portion of potatoes. However, my daughter enjoyed this recipe in all it’s glory and loved it. This was a delicious family friendly recipe that I’d order again.

I did serve the Asian bagged salad with the burgers. It was nice to have that on hand and brought a fresh element to a comforting beef and potatoes dinner.

The last recipe I received was the Pesto Caprese Sandwiches with Almond Studded Green Salad. This is part of their lunch menu options and does cost extra. My oldest daughter LOVED this and told me I need to order this again. It was super easy to put together and it was nice having this recipe available for a quick lunch during the week. 

The original recipe didn’t call for me to cook it on a grill pan but I thought it would be really tasty to make a melt. I was right, it was super good!

That’s my Hello Fresh Review. I’ve used this meal delivery service many times over the last 4 years. I appreciate the convenience of having my dinners planned out for the week and all the ingredients shipped directly to my door.

Of course, most weeks, I do all the planning and shopping myself but sometimes it’s really nice to open the door to a beautiful Hello Fresh box packed with delicious food. That, to me, is worth every penny. 

I hope my Hello Fresh Review helps you make an informed decision about whether or not this meal kit company would be a good fit for you. 

Leave any additional questions below in the comments, I’d be more than happy to answer them for you.

If you love subscription boxes then read my other reviews.

Blue Apron Review

Green Chef Review 

Sun Basket Review

Daily Harvest Review

Butcher Box Review

**This post contains affiliate links. I will receive a small commission if you decide to subscribe to Hello Fresh. However, this is my completely honest review and you are by no means obligated to use my links. If you do, thanks so much for supporting my site.