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One of the biggest issues my clients have with eating healthy is its convenience. Imagine the time it takes trying to plan out entire meals for the week plus shopping and cooking.
There’s also the issue of purchasing too many ingredients that end up getting spoiled unless you want to eat prepared meals with the same ingredient variety and flavor profiles each week.
My clients ask me about HelloFresh often enough, and yes, it’s a decent and convenient meal kit delivery service. But if we’re talking about overall value and convenience, Freshly remains my favorite.
Shipping Cost
- Hello Fresh – nearly $8
- Freshly – under $6
Average Meal Cost
- Hello Fresh – around $8.50
- Freshly – under $11
Number of States Covered
- Hello Fresh – 48
- Freshly – 48
Meal Options
- Hello Fresh
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
- Omnivore
- Family-friendly
- Egg-free
- Nut-free
- Freshly
- Gluten-free
- Carb conscious
- High-protein
- Paleo
- Omnivore
- Vegetarian
- Soy-free
- Dairy-free
- Low calorie
Serving Options
- Hello Fresh – two and four servings
- Freshly – one serving
Meal Plan Options
- Hello Fresh
- Classic Omnivore
- Vegetarian
- Family
- Calorie Conscious
- Pecatarian
- Quick and Easy
- Freshly
- Four Meals
- Six Meals
- Nine Meals
- Twelve Meals
Popular Meals
- Hello Fresh
- Kale, cranberry, and walnut stuffed squash
- Bavette steak in a mushroom sauce
- Kickin’ BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches
- Curry-spiced chickpea bowls
- Figgy balsamic pork
- Freshly
- Turkey shepherd’s pie
- Italian sausage with baked penne marinara
- Spring peas and grilled chicken risotto
- Spanish rice and beans
- Ratatouille and quinoa with garlic and herb shrimp
Number of Meals per Week
- Hello Fresh – two to five
- Freshly – four to twelve
Review Summary: HelloFresh is a popular service that sends out recipe cards and cook-it-yourself kits to households in 48 states within the US. You’ll enjoy their menu variety that caters to six meal dietary preferences, including vegetarian, low-calorie, kid-friendly, and pescatarian. However, Freshly’s meals that are ready in five minutes make them a more convenient option if you want to make healthy eating habits more accessible. Their meals are also better catered to healthy eating, with most of their recipe options under 500 calories.
Meal Delivery Services Plans & Prices Compared
Hello Fresh and Freshly, both offer four meal programs to choose from. The only difference is the type of weekly menu and the number of choices you have to choose from each week. Both services encourage healthy eating by letting you choose from an array of well-balanced and healthy meals that use crisp and quality components.
The service features six meal plan options, each with a varying weekly menu. You’ll be able to switch between plans each week. But you’re not able to choose inter-menu meals.
Each menu caters to a specific meal preference, so it makes it easier to browse through your exact meal requirements.
- You can choose between four meal plans: the Classic (omnivore), Family-friendly (best for those with kids), Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Quick and Easy, and Low Calorie.
- Each meal classic plan gives you 20 recipes to choose from that is ideal for the meal preference or meal veggie plan you selected.
- The menu changes each week and is curated by experienced chefs and dieticians.
- It offers an optional monthly wine subscription that can accompany your meals.
You can choose between two and four meal portions each week and two to five recipes. You can read the full Hello Fresh review here.
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Their meals are a bit different compared to Hello Fresh.
Their meal plans are meant to serve one person at a time so you’ll be able to choose different recipes each week without having to commit to at least two servings not single serving like in most meal delivery services.
- You can choose to receive either four, six, ten, or twelve meals each week. This service lets you choose the specific number of lunches or dinners you want to have for the week regardless of the number of portions you need.
- It focuses on offering gluten and nut-free recipes each week. This means all of the recipes on their menu comply with gluten and nut restrictions.
- You can find an assortment of over 30 recipes on their weekly menu that include over 20 meals that are under 500 calories, 8 to 10 meals that contain less than 35 grams of carbohydrates, and 8 to 10 dairy-free meal choices.
- Freshly offers require no cooking or preparation. Their prepared food delivery choices are 100% ready to heat.
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Meal Delivery Services Plans & Prices Compared
Hello Fresh and Freshly offer vastly differing services. For one, Hello Fresh gives you two options for meal portions, while Freshly allows you to choose various meals that are pre-portioned for one person.
The company’s pricing relies heavily on the number of portions and meals you choose each week, regardless of the meal preference you choose.
This means you could choose either one of the six meal plans, and it won’t affect the pricing unless you change the number of them per week or portions you plan to receive.
Two portions and two recipes each week
- Cost per serving – around $12
- Weekly cost – nearly $56
Two portions and three recipes per week
- Cost per serving – nearly $9
- Weekly cost – nearly $62
Two portions and four recipes
- Cost per serving – around $9
- Weekly cost – under $80
Two portions and five recipes
- Cost per serving – under $9
- Weekly cost – under $98
Hello Fresh also charges around $8 for shipping.
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Their plans work a little differently compared to Hello Fresh.
For one, you don’t have the option to choose how many portions of each meal you’d like to get. Instead, you’re given a choice between four, six, ten, and twelve meals each week.
Four meals per week
- Cost per meal – under $12
- Weekly cost – under $60
Six meals per week
- Cost per meal – under $10
- Weekly cost – under $63
Ten meals per week
- Cost per meal – under $9
- Weekly cost – under $96
Twelve meals per week
- Cost per meal – around $8.50
- Weekly cost – under $108
Freshly charges around $6 for shipping.
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Best Menu Selection
Both companies have a streamlined menu that’s easy to understand and allows you to personalize the meals you’re getting each week. The only main difference is that with Hello Fresh, you’re getting meal kits delivered, but with Freshly you’ll receive ready to heat food.
The selection process starts with you choosing your meal preference.
This is mainly because each of the six meal plan options features a unique menu to meet your particular preferences.
- Each meal plan gives you around 20 recipe options each week.
- Their menu changes weekly, so if you order meals for more than one week at a time, you won’t feel restricted with your choices.
- The service does not have diet options set in place for specific diets other than low-calorie, vegetarian, pescatarian, and kid-friendly. This means if you follow a specific diet or are allergic to nuts, dairy, or gluten, you will have to be careful and select your meals by reviewing the ingredient list thoroughly.
HelloFresh incorporates recipes from various cuisines all over the world.
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Freshly’s a biggest selling point is that their meals are ready to heat.
It takes less than five minutes, and their meal selection process is also faster and more straightforward compared to Hello Fresh.
- You only need to select exactly how many meals you want delivering per week, and then you’re taken to their menu to select your specific meals.
- Their weekly menu consists of up to thirty meal options.
- Their recipes are all gluten and nut-free, which makes them ideal for you if you have specific allergies.
- Their menu incorporates various protein options, including fish, meat, and plant-based.
- You get over 20 options for meals that are under 500 calories.
- Their low-carb options range from 8 to 10.
You also get 8 to 10 dairy-free options.
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Packaging & Sustainability
Both Freshly and Hello Fresh value sustainable and recyclable packaging. Their packages come in well-organized cardboard boxes as well.
Delivers from Wednesday to Friday each week to 48 states in the US.
- Their packaging is made of 100% recycled materials.
- Your boxes are packed with ice to keep your components fresh.
Each ingredient is separately packed to avoid cross-contamination.
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Delivers to 48 states in the US. After selecting the number you want each week, you’re also given various options and exact dates of when you want them to get delivered.
- Each portion is packed separately using recycled materials.
- You can heat your food directly from the packaging provided, which lessens the need for washing extra dishes like a Green Chef.
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Quality of Ingredients
The good thing about both companies is that you’re guaranteed quality and premium ingredients. Since both companies operate quite differently, you also need to consider that both services are different since Hello Fresh delivers raw components you need to cook while Freshly sends out pre-cooked food you can heat in less than 5 minutes.
Hello Fresh utilizes seasonal ingredients and high-quality proteins.
The company puts an emphasis on eating vegetables. However, it’s important to note that they don’t prioritize organic ingredients.
- Their proteins are hormone and antibiotic-free.
- Their produce is fresh and of premium quality.
- HelloFresh guarantees sustainably-sourced seafood.
- Most of their ingredients are sourced from local, sustainable farms that follow the best humane practices.
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It offers ready to heat pre-cooked meal options that are freshly prepared using the best ingredients.
Their options are gluten and nut-free, which makes it ideal if you have serious allergies.
- The company guarantees that their components are free from chemicals, additives, hydrogenated oils, and refined sugars.
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Nutrition Facts & Taste
Both Freshly and HelloFresh offer fresh and delicious flavors. Their meals are prepared by experienced chefs and reviewed by dieticians to meet specific dietary requirements.
- HelloFresh meals are delicious and easily customizable. You can choose to substitute some of the ingredients according to your preferences.
- Their meals are prepared by chefs and approved by dieticians to meet each of the six meal preferences they offer.
Their food is well-balanced and follows ample portioning that guarantees you’ll feel full without eating too much.
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- Freshly’s meals are pre-cooked. However, that doesn’t mean their food isn’t healthy. The company guarantees all their food options are gluten and nut-free.
- Their meals are cooked fresh and packed with the highest sanitation standards.
They have various low-calorie and low-carb meal options like a Blue Apron, Home Chef, and Sun Basket.
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Number of Recipes (variety)
Both HelloFresh and Freshly lets you choose from a wide variety of recipe options from their weekly menus. Hello Fresh features six different menus that cater to your specific preferences.
Each menu has around 20 choices and changes on a weekly basis.
On the other hand, Freshly lets you choose from over 30 options. There are over 20 low-calorie options, up to ten low-carb options, and up to 10 dairy-free options.
Is Freshly High in Sodium?
On May 29th, 2018, this popular service came under fire due to a series of incorrect nutritional facts on its packaging. So, how exactly do you tell the difference between whether or not a product is actually high in sodium? First, it is important to recognize that food labels are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and instead are written by the food companies themselves. The information on the label is there to tell you whether a product contains unhealthy ingredients such as trans fats and saturated fat, as well as to define how the product has been prepared. Furthermore, a product is not necessarily high in sodium if it has only a tiny amount of it. Such products might be called low-sodium or sodium-free, but it is important to understand that these foods are still high in sodium.Is Freshly Healthy?
Believe it or not, I’ve never stepped foot in Freshly Market, a relatively new natural and organic grocery store in Greenville. They don’t do national promotions, and I always assumed their ads were for getting people to visit their store and then buy more groceries there. The great thing about Freshly Market is that it is less expensive than Fresh Market and Whole Foods and carries a larger variety of healthy foods. But for the price I’m paying for good, healthy food, I expect a lot more and the store needs a website. I have been so tired of Fresh Market selling slightly better quality for a lot more money than other stores. They seem to be marketing it for self-interest rather than the health of consumers.How Much is Hello Fresh Without Discount?
This promotion is not available online. The following criteria must be met to participate in the promotion: Participation is open to consumers who purchase a qualifying non-reloadable HelloFresh Fresh produce bag at retail for use on a single or multi-week subscription, excluding purchases from select online retailers. The promotion is available for a limited time only. What is a non-reloadable produce bag?
Non-reloadable produce bags are plastic produce bags that are unbreakable, reusable, and one-use only. When a customer is ready to stop shopping with Hello Fresh, the Hello Fresh customer service team will notify them via e-mail and e-mail that they have the opportunity to receive a non-reloadable produce bag of equal or lesser value than the original produce bag that they have purchased. As a reminder, all non-reloadable produce bags are manufactured from 100% recycled plastic.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
Can You Cancel HelloFresh After Free Box?
Yes, you can cancel your HelloFresh subscription after you avail of the free box. However, you need to make sure you cancel before the weekly cut-off so you don’t get charged. Otherwise, you won’t be able to cancel your subscription until the next week.
Is it Freshly the same as Hello Fresh?
No, Freshly delivers pre-cooked ready to heat meals to your doorstep while Hello Fresh delivers meal kits. This means you will have to cook Hello Fresh meals yourself and you’re only getting the ingredients and recipe cards to help you cook your food.
Who Owns Hello Fresh?
HelloFresh was founded by Jessica Nilsson—a venture capital investor at Northzone, Dominik Richter—an entrepreneurial enthusiast who moved to Berlin to establish HelloFresh, and Thomas Griesel—who is now responsible for the international front of HelloFresh, in 2011.
The trio started out by hand-packing the first ten HelloFresh boxes to be sent out to their customers in Germany. And by 2014, the company claimed to be sending out 1 million meals.
Who Owns Freshly?
Freshly is owned by Michael Wystrach who initially pitched the service as a convenient way to get healthy pre-cooked meals delivered to consumer’s doorsteps. Prior to becoming the Freshly CEO, Wystrach worked with startups and Wallstreet sales to hone his skills.
Final Thoughts
Hello Fresh is a good and reliable meal kit delivery service. Their food options are plenty, and their recipes taste delicious. I’m a big fan of how their ingredients are well-packaged but sustainably so. Their services make it easier to have a healthy, well-balanced meal in the comfort of your home.
However, HelloFresh isn’t the most convenient option out there. Their meals often take too long to cook, plus it requires some effort to prep, sort, cook, and plate your food.
Freshly is a better option that is more convenient and prioritizes healthier meal choices.
For example, most Freshly meals are low-calorie.
Freshly also offers a better variety since their plans consist of one serving for each meal.
This means you’re able to choose different types of meals throughout the week.
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