HelloFresh Review: Is It Worth It?

HelloFresh is a meal subscription service that delivers everything you need to cook wholesome, healthy meals for your family. As a HelloFresh subscriber, you don't have to work so hard planning a weekly dinner menu in advance and dragging all the ingredients home from the grocery store. The company handles everything but the cooking, providing you with easy-to-follow recipes and carefully portioned, fresh ingredients delivered in an insulated Styrofoam shipping box once per week.

With both meat and vegetarian dining options available, just about everyone should be pleased with the ever-changing recipes and varied flavors HelloFresh provides. While the service may cost more per person than similar meals sourced from a local grocery store, if you're looking to take some of the hassle out of home cooking, HelloFresh is definitely worth trying.

HelloFresh offers three basic subscription plans: the Classic Plan, the Family Plan and the Veggie Plan. While you can opt to receive up to five meals per week in the Classic Plan, as of January 2016, the other plans are limited to three meals per week. HelloFresh has hinted at expanded options for the Family and Veggie plans, so keep an eye out for future changes.

The Classic Plan provides meat or fish entrees and side dishes for two people per meal. As of January 2016, the price for three meals per week is $69 including shipping. Delivery of four meals per week is $84.90. Five meals per week will cost $99, or $9.90 per person per meal. The Classic Plan is unique in that you can preselect your meals each week through your online account. If you like surprises, HelloFresh is happy to select your weekly recipes for you.

The Family Plan provides healthy, balanced meals with meat or fish for four people. Two meals per week will cost you $79.95 including shipping. Delivery of three meals per week costs $105, or $8.75 per meal per person, the best value HelloFresh has to offer.

The Veggie Plan provides tasty, nutritious vegetarian meals for either two or four people. Three meals per week for two people costs $59. Three meals per week for four people costs $109. All meals in the Family and Veggie plans are preselected.

HelloFresh meals are easy to cook, with suggested cooking times between 30 and 40 minutes in most cases. All required ingredients are included in your weekly meal shipment except for salt, pepper, butter and cooking oil, so make sure you have those items on hand. All fresh meat and fish ships in vacuum-sealed containers, while fresh produce and other ingredients ship in color-coded bags for easy sorting.

HelloFresh insulated boxes ship with ice packs to ensure ingredients stay fresh en route to your refrigerator. The company designs recipes around ingredients that can maintain prime condition for a week or more after delivery; however, HelloFresh suggests preparing certain recipes, such as those using fresh fish, early in the week to maximize freshness.

HelloFresh is not the only ready-to-cook meal service in town. In fact, it has some strong competition from Blue Apron and Plated, two national services very comparable to Hello Fresh. All three services utilize a similar meal delivery model, providing fresh, raw ingredients and easy recipes for up to a week's worth of dinners. HelloFresh and Blue Apron are very close in price, while Plated is a bit more expensive at $12 or more per person per meal. While both Blue Apron and Plated offer plenty of vegetarian options, HelloFresh is the only service with a specialized plan designed just for vegetarian subscribers. One good way to compare the three companies is to browse their respective recipe catalogs to get a better sense of the food variety.

HelloFresh is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with operations in seven international markets. It has more than 500,000 meal subscribers. In November 2015, HelloFresh scrapped plans for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange apparently due to weakness in the equity markets. The company has discussed its intent to re-evaluate its IPO plans in early 2016 but has not announced anything concrete as of January 2016.