Four brown paper bags of ingredients for four different meals on a table

Hello Fresh: An Honest Review [2023]

My ultimate review: Hello Fresh can be great for the right person, but for me, Pass.

Too much money. Too small portion sizes. Except for the ramen, none of the dishes had a true ‘wow’ factor. I was impressed with the ramen’s flavors, but nearly everything else fell flat. I will dig into the recipe details, but first…

What is Hello Fresh?

HelloFresh is a meal kit service that provides recipes with pre-measured ingredients delivered straight to your door. With various options, including vegetarian, carb smart, and low-calorie meals, HelloFresh offers a variety for those looking to change things up. In this honest review, I will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using HelloFresh meals from my personal experiences, which I tried for two weeks.

Why Hello Fresh?

I am a seasoned meal prepper and have been cooking no less than 90% of my meals at home for years. HelloFresh is the most popular meal kit service, so that is a good start. I was purchasing concert tickets, and after the purchase, an offer popped up…

16 Free Meals Are Waiting

“I like the sound of that” I thought to myself. I came for concert tickets and left with the tickets plus 75% of my meals to eat for the next week. Except this isn’t how it works.

How The Offer Works

This is my first gripe. When I got to the checkout site, I felt duped and saw that I would be charged $77.92 when all is said and done. “16 free meals” doesn’t happen in a row. What I got was 50% off for several boxes until I had received 16 free meals worth.

Once I realized this, I tried to cancel before a second week’s worth of another meal kit arrived at my doorstep. I was trying to accomplish this on mobile, which proved to be quite difficult. I pulled up the account details a few days in a row in an effort to cancel before uttering, “Screw it. I’ll try on my laptop later.” This leads me to my second gripe; user technological experience.

Technological Experience

Ordering was a breeze at first. I was able to choose the classic meal kit for two people, meat and veggies (we eat meat), however, there are plenty of vegetarian options. I identified four choices for this box, and even explored some of the nutritional information. Driving through the user interface at this point was straightforward.

Things got weird during the checkout process. While checking out, I wasn’t exactly sure when or even if my order was complete. I had to check my email to confirm with a “Thank you for your order!” message. It was at this point I received a notification on my phone that I had been charged, and was the first time I realized that there would be no free lunch (or dinner).

Delivery Experience

Decently Fast. I ordered Sunday, May 7th at 7:13 PM and received Thursday, May 11 at 1:39 PM. The delivery was great, but the packaging was a bit much.

I get it; you have to keep the food safe, but it seems like the entire meal kit home delivery system is at odds with physics and environmental sustainability. As a patron, in order for HelloFresh to live up to everything mentioned in this Recycling and Packacing page, this Sustainabliity page, and this Reduce Your Carbon Foot Print page, you have to trust that your recycling pickup is actually recycling (our recycling provider spent two months on 2023 dumping our recycling into the garbage truck), and make a special trip to recycle the ice packs. I think HelloFresh is doing the best with what they have, but as a third gripe, if you are into sustainability practices, ordering any meal kit seems to be a step in the wrong direction.

The food and recipe quality, however, is pretty decent.

The outside of a Hello Fresh cardboard box
Looking inside the top of an opened Hello Fresh box
Two layers of thick insulation from inside of cardboard box
A large ice pack with text that states "recycle me"

Food Experience: Ingredients

The ingredient quality was pretty good, though HelloFresh meals has figured out a few tricks that help them out:

  1. The majority of their meals come with lemon, green onions, and prepackaged condiments. Betting on the shelf life of a lemon and a green onion is pretty safe.
  2. The prepackaged condiments: I realized that most flavor options for sauces are mayonnaise based. Sour cream was also involved often. I could confirm this when the second box showed up the following week since I couldn’t cancel beforehand.
  3. A surprising amount of variety, given that the core ingredients were similar for nearly every dinner.

 

All in all, the recipes reminded me that any dinner can be elevated with a good sauce, and a good sauce doesn’t have to look like some fancy technique from culinary school. Don’t be afraid to mix something sweet and something bitter in a little bit of mayonnaise.

 

The downside, and my fourth gripe, is around the veggies. There were never near the amount of veggies needed for two people. They sent a plastic container with five white button mushrooms, a green bean bag that had literally 15 beans in it, and a zucchini meal with one relatively small zucchini. Giving the customer more veggies seems like an easy win for the company.

 

I didn’t have any fish dishes, but every veggie was fresh, and the meats for all dinners held up well in the travel. I’m guessing the fish would have arrived frozen, just like all the other meats, so there is probably not much to be concerned about.

Food Experience: Recipes

The recipes are likely the main reason most people try meal kit companies like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron. The value proposition looks something like this:

  • I am tired of the same old routine for all our dinners.
  • The family is ready for more variety, and choosing a recipe from a cookbook, writing down those ingredients, then going to the store to pick up those ingredients feels like too much of a hassle.
  • One box will have enough healthy dishes for a week’s worth of portions of super simple recipes to cook.
  • All the ingredients are included, and cooking takes less than one hour.
  • You spend a bit more money for convenience but have tasty meals with bold flavors to cook.
  • Enjoy a variety of plenty of veggies and plant-based options for vegetarians or plenty of chicken, beef, or fish options for meat eaters.

 

At a glance, I’d say this proposition lives up to the claim. The recipe cards are super helpful for those who don’t feel comfortable moving around a kitchen. I’ve got my gripes about the process and the packaging. Still, for most people that want the conveniences listed in the bullet points above, HelloFresh delivers a healthy and helpful alternative.

 

Food Experience: Meats

All of the meats arrived frozen and showed no signs of thawing.

 

Having a ton of experience with cooking meat, I found most of the recipes resulted in a relatively bland meat product. There are plenty of ways to make this more exciting, but I stuck to the recipes to see how the portions and prep time held up to what was stated on the recipe cards and how delicious the dishes were.

 

The meats could have used much more love, but all meal plans executed precisely as the recipe instructed resulted in a sauce that made the meat more enjoyable. HelloFresh could definitely add just a few steps to really up the meat flavor game.

 

Food Experience: Sides

None of the sides over the course of 7 meals stood out.

 

All of the veggies were delivered fresh with no signs of wilting or even having traveled across the country. The potatoes and carrots in the tomato-garlic curry were pretty good, but aside from the ramen noodles for the ramen and tortillas for the flautas, every meal had rice and not nearly enough veggies.

 

As a cautionary review, if you want to try these meal kits out, buy some extra vegetables to have on hand when the meal kits are delivered.

Four brown paper bags of ingredients for four different meals on a table
A mixture of fresh vegetables and other ingredients for chicken ramen recipe

Hello Fresh Recipes Experience: Serving Sizes

Not gonna lie; pretty disappointed in the serving sizes. My fifth gripe is around serving sizes. All of the seven recipes that I had stated that they had enough for four people, with calories ranging from 690 to 1050 per meal. There is absolutely no way this is true.

I know I am a meathead who works out way more than your average person. My caloric intake ranges from 2,500cals on rest days to beyond 4,000+ on my super hard days.

Even still, I would say that even for most who do not work out like this, they would still be hungry at the end of some of these meals. As part of this experiment, I ate the entire four-person serving for each of the seven meals in one sitting and lost weight. I could only feel full by turning the four servings into a serving for 1. I’m unsure if other companies are the same or if they just bulk the fat up to add more calories, but there was never enough food for 2. Luckily, for this experiment, my wife was out of town for both boxes, so we didn’t have to cook more after eating each recipe.

With this type of hit to the bank account, shelling out a positive review would have to have enough food for the money. HelloFresh may have tested enough to know these serving sizes are the correct amount, but I will not spend the money again for the sizes I received. I wasn’t expecting to save money for this experiment, but the only way these options would work is if you know that you and your wife/husband are not big eaters.


If you are not sure how much to eat, check out THIS CALCULATOR to find out how many calories you may likely need to eat in a day.  You can also check out this article to better understand how to COUNT MACROS for weight loss.

Hello Fresh Recipes Experience: Individual Call Outs

Chicken Ramen in Shoyu-Style Broth: 7.2 out of 10

The ramen was pretty darn good. They provided a relatively large amount of spinach, which you may know wilts to almost nothing. The noodles were pretty good, but the broth was legitimately impressive. HelloFresh nailed this one.

 

No need to cook stock for 10 hours the day before and let it sit overnight. They did a great job of catching great flavor that only took bringing a pot up to a boil to realize. I would definitely go back to this one.

 

Sure, I’ve had way, way better ramen, but the convenience factor on this decently delicious meal takes it to a new level.

 

The recipe says it is enough for four servings at 820 calories a piece, but I don’t buy it. I ate the whole thing by myself in one sitting without a problem. Hoisin-Glazed Pork Filet: 7.1 out of 10

I thought this was pretty good. It wasn’t as impressive as the ramen, but it was close.

 

The rice was decent, and the hoisin glaze was great. Sriracha mayo added a nice contrast to the sweet hoisin. Again, I did not have nearly enough food, though I did have a couple of ounces of pork and a touch of rice that I threw in my breakfast eggs the following morning.

Dark chicken broth boiling in a pot.
Chicken ramen topped with wilted spinach in a bowl with chopsticks

Hello Fresh Recipes Experience: Individual Call Outs

Chicken Ramen in Shoyu-Style Broth: 7.2 out of 10

The ramen was pretty darn good. They provided a relatively large amount of spinach, which you may know wilts to almost nothing. The noodles were pretty good, but the broth was legitimately impressive. HelloFresh nailed this one.

 

No need to cook stock for 10 hours the day before and let it sit overnight. They did a great job of catching great flavor that only took bringing a pot up to a boil to realize. I would definitely go back to this one.

 

Sure, I’ve had way, way better ramen, but the convenience factor on this decently delicious meal takes it to a new level.

 

The recipe says it is enough for four servings at 820 calories a piece, but I don’t buy it. I ate the whole thing by myself in one sitting without a problem. Hoisin-Glazed Pork Filet: 7.1 out of 10

I thought this was pretty good. It wasn’t as impressive as the ramen, but it was close.

 

The rice was decent, and the hoisin glaze was great. Sriracha mayo added a nice contrast to the sweet hoisin. Again, I did not have nearly enough food, though I did have a couple of ounces of pork and a touch of rice that I threw in my breakfast eggs the following morning.

Hibachi Sweet Soy Steak & Shrimp: 7.6 out of 10

This meal actually had enough for two people. Aside from the fact that the 1 relatively small zucchini was all the vegetable there was, I could have enough shrimp and steak left over to have an actual second meal for lunch the next day, making the most family friendly option in the list. Great job here, HelloFresh

 

With enough meat for two people and some tasty sauces, this recipe is worth revisiting. Certainly, without the need for grocery shopping.

 

Creamy Tomato-Garlic Chicken Curry: 6.4 out of 10

This is a home run for variety’s sake, but this dish left a lot to be desired. The recipe actually mentioned the chef who created it, which gave me hope, but this dish missed the mark.

 

I enjoyed the roasted potatoes and carrots as a side. The rice was fine. The chicken was pretty good, and the sauce was also decent. Again, not enough food for two people, and certainly not for 4. I’ve been more impressed with the Indian simmering sauces from 365 brand at Whole Foods. They are like $3 per jar, and a jar is enough for four people. I’d skip this dish from Hello Fresh, and buy my own potatoes, carrots, chicken, and 365 simmer sauce. At least then I would actually have enough food for the family.

 

On the plus side, this did feel like nice home-cooked meal, though probably not for picky eaters.

 

Firecracker Meatball: 4.0 out of 10

I found this one to be nearly off-putting. Green beans and rice were fine (again, not enough for more than one person). The meatballs themselves were okay, not the greatest, not the worst. HelloFresh missed the mark on the sauce. The firecracker sauce was not my jam. I don’t know whose jam it would be, but it’s not mine.

 

Chicken Sausage Rigatoni in a Creamy Sauce: 6.7 out of 10

This recipe was pretty good. It is funny that my wife and I have chicken sausage and rigatoni almost every Saturday if it isn’t a date night out.

 

I felt robbed as my bag was missing the parmesan for the recipe. Having Philadelphia cream cheese and some sour cream in my pasta was also interesting, but it was pretty good. Maybe not my first go-to for date night, but pretty solid.

 

I did have enough leftovers to augment my lunch the next day.

 

Beef Flauta Supreme: 4.6 out of 10

What a greasy mess. The flavors were fine, but at this point, I realized that my second box must not have been from the “Meat and Veggie” choice I had made initially.

 

With one tomato and one onion to prepare, this dinner was missing quite a bit. It is hard to give this one a positive review. I would leave this one off any future order if given a choice.

 

 

Hello Fresh: Overall Review

One of the most significant benefits of using HelloFresh is its convenience. With pre-measured ingredients and recipe cards, meal prep becomes quick and easy, taking only about 30 minutes to prepare. This convenience is great for those with a busy schedule or those who are uncomfortable in the kitchen. Additionally, HelloFresh offers a variety of meal plan options, including vegetarian, low-calorie, and family-friendly meals, making it easy for customers to find the right fit for their lifestyle and dietary needs.

 

Another benefit is the portioning of ingredients to reduce food waste. HelloFresh prides itself on using fresh, high-quality ingredients, often locally sourced. Each ingredient is pre-portioned, so no food waste or excess ingredients is going bad in the fridge. Not only does this ensure that the meal is more flavorful, but it is a step towards sustainability and being environmentally friendly.

 

Hello Fresh: Drawbacks:

 

While there are many benefits to using HelloFresh, there are also some drawbacks. The biggest drawback is the cost. I paid over $140 for what ended up being seven full meals with enough leftovers for a lunch that I had to augment heavily. Remember that even if we wanted to call it eight full meals, this came to over $17.50 per meal after being heavily discounted. HelloFresh is certainly more expensive than buying groceries and cooking meals on your own. Additionally, there is not as much flexibility with meals compared to cooking on your own. If you have specific dietary restrictions or a picky palate, HelloFresh may not be the best fit.

 

Hello Fresh: Conclusion:

 

Overall, HelloFresh is a great option for those looking for convenience, predetermined recipes, and pretty decent meals. While it may be a bit more expensive than cooking on your own, the time saved and ease of meal prep make it worth it for many people, though I am not one of them. Give it a try and see for yourself why HelloFresh is a popular choice for folks looking for a change!

 

If you have the time, I would recommend saving yourself the dollar. You can make fresh, healthy meals for much less money. And if you are planning a date night, you could pull out all the stops and buy close to, if not the most expensive ingredients available, and still end up not spending as much. I’m not sure how Hello Fresh stacks up against other companies, but I have a feeling they are more of the same.

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