Hello Fresh Reviews

Hello Fresh

Hello Fresh is a meal subscription service which delivers fresh ingredients every week, allowing you to prepare new and interesting meals without the hassle of planning or shopping.

Claims and Features

• All meals can be prepared in about 30 minutes.
• Recipes created by in-house chefs.
• Ingredients pre-measured for each meal.
• Weekly deliveries.
• Regular and vegetarian options.
• Each recipe reviewed by an in-house dietitian.
• Available to continental U.S. (Not Alaska or Hawaii)
• Subscription can be deactivated or paused at any time.
• No minimum subscription length.
• Subscribers pick three meals from five available each week. (Vegetarian meals do not get to choose)
• No additional shipping costs.
• Meals average 500-800 calories each.

Cost

There are two boxes: Classic and Vegetarian, each offered for two or four diners.

• 3 Classic Meals for Two: $69 (per week)
• 3 Classic Meals for Four: $129
• 3 Vegetarian Meals for Two: $59
• 3 Vegetarian Meals for Four: $109

Hello Fresh Commercial

Hello Fresh Reviews

Meal subscription services are on the rise, with three big players currently jockeying for top spot in the budding industry. The idea is simple: Measured ingredients and simple instructions are delivered to you each week, allowing you to prepare three new and interesting meals for either two or four diners.

Hello Fresh helps bring some relief to those who find dinner to be a stressful part of the day, but who still enjoy preparing occasional meals. The service helps customers prepare new and interesting home-cooked meals in a relatively short period of time (30 minutes on average). Most recipes include helpful cooking tips which many amateur chefs probably never learned.

The service delivers three meals a week, in two or four person options. Each meal costs about $10-12 per person, per meal. How expensive that is will vary in the eyes of the consumer. Compared to a simple spaghetti dinner which can feed a family of four for under $10, it seems quite expensive. Compared to dining out or even fast food, it doesn’t seem unreasonable. There have been a number of consumers who have expressed concern that $276 (for two) or $516 (for four) is not a realistic expense for 12 meals a month. For working couples and families who find themselves regularly dining out or grabbing expensive fast food, the idea of more home-cooked meals without shopping or planning may be worth the cost.

What we like about Hello Fresh is that the portion-to-calorie ratio is very good. Many of the meals provide sufficient food to fill you up, but keep the calories in check. We found the recipes to be easy to follow, and the time to prepare meals about 30 minutes as promised.

The two primary complaints about Hello Fresh typically involve a box which has arrived with thawed ingredients, and those who have found the cancellation/customer service experience to be lacking. In our experience with Hello Fresh, we did not encounter problems with either of these. Our box arrived in the Spring, when weather nationwide was cool to mild, everything was intact and frozen as expected. Cancelling the service also went without a hitch. And, while our order arrived still frozen, our researchers wonder if the oppressive summer heat here in the desert Southwest may be too much even for the most diligently packed containers – and we would probably not use the service during those months. Some reviewers have expressed frustration with the cancellation or customer service side of Hello Fresh. The company’s policy is typically to offer a free box rather than refund money, which hasn’t set well with some unhappy customers. We didn’t find any need to contact customer support as our cancellation went smoothly online.

While we had no problems with customer service, the company currently sports an “F” rating with the BBB, with “Billing/Collection Issues” cited as the most common problem.

Similar Services

Hello Fresh is most closely compared to Blue Apron and Plated, which are very similar home delivery services. Graze could also be lumped into this category, although it only offers snacks. A side-by-side comparison is beyond the scope of this review, which focuses solely on Hello Fresh, although we will defer to this writer who provides an excellent summary.

Epic Conclusion

Hello Fresh is not a perfect service – but no meal delivery service is – nor is it for everyone. If you enjoy cooking, but rarely have the time to plan meals or shop for ingredients, Hello Fresh may be a great fit for you. If don’t enjoy preparing meals, or find $10-$12 per person per meal excessive, then you may not be satisfied with Hello Fresh – or other meal delivery services.

Have you used Hello Fresh? Give us your opinion and ratings below.