Meal delivery services aim to take some of the guesswork, hassle, and monotony out of food prep. New to the meal delivery scene, I was eager to see whether HelloFresh could streamline my dinner routine and provide nourishing entrees. When you sign up for HelloFresh, you’ll be prompted to select a meal plan (more on those options later). Once your account is activated, you’ll choose your first week of recipes. HelloFresh offers an extensive rotating menu with over 20+ chef-designed recipes on the menu each week. The app and the website are both very easy to navigate, and you can use either platform to pick your weekly recipes. As a member, if you would like to skip a week or cancel your subscription for any reason, you can do so through your account settings, without any penalty. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of HelloFresh’s subscription costs: In addition to the number of recipes you get each week as a part of your subscription, you can also purchase add-ons including soups, breakfasts, bakery items, flatbreads, lunch specials, and seasonal treats. Personally, I found the number of options a bit overwhelming. I stuck with HelloFresh’s most popular plan: 3 recipes of 2 servings each. Inside the box, the ingredients were grouped by recipe. I appreciated small touches such as the “cook me first” sticker on the trout, which let me know it likely had a sooner “best by” date than the other main ingredients. After considering the abundance of options, I landed on the below meals (one meat, one fish, and one vegan recipe): The apricot-sumac chicken also expanded my palate. The tartness of the Middle Eastern sumac spice paired nicely with the apricot jam, and the meal was warming and comforting on a brisk fall day. The trout dish was the most simple, and while I enjoyed the flavors, (and even saved the recipe card to recreate it) I was left wishing that I had selected a more adventurous recipe. HelloFresh is not suitable for people who follow a ketogenic or low-carb diet. There are some carb-smart choices, but according to the nutrition breakdown, it still looks like meals still contain 30 to 40 grams of carbohydrates per serving. Recipes are tagged when they align with the Mediterranean diet, although there are typically only two to three recipes per week with that tag. While HelloFresh discloses common allergens and gluten for each recipe, there are no dedicated allergen-free or gluten-free menus. HelloFresh seems most suitable for people with flexible eating patterns, like me, and for families with kids, who will likely enjoy many of the menu items. If you’re looking for keto, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, or vegan-specific meal kits, you’re better off looking elsewhere. While some ingredients are, not all of the food is organic. Instead, HelloFresh sources ingredients from environmentally responsible suppliers. The brand’s website calls out The Better Fish ®, Wonderful Citrus, and Colavita brands, as well as the chicken welfare policy. Meal kit deliveries are notoriously known for their excess packaging. However, much of HelloFresh’s packaging is recyclable. Here’s a full list of which materials you can recycle: One potential benefit of HelloFresh (and other meal delivery kits) is the potential to reduce household food waste. At the end of my test week, I wasn’t throwing away bags of unopened greens and unused spices, nor was I hoarding containers of sauces that would sit in my refrigerator until their expiration. Every ingredient portion from my box was used.
