HelloFresh Meal Delivery Service Review

Best American Menu Items

HelloFresh delivers the essential ingredients needed to whip up tasty lunches and dinners, letting seniors prepare and enjoy home-cooked meals without meal planning, grocery shopping or lengthy ingredient prep. Its lineup of dishes includes many fresh takes on classics like hamburgers, meatloaf and macaroni and cheese, so customers can experience their favorite foods in flavorful new ways. In addition, HelloFresh offers a variety of weekly meal options inspired by international cuisine. An affordable shipping fee, reasonable starting costs and discount opportunities also make it worthy of a spot on any list of best meal delivery services of 2023.

Overview of HelloFresh Meal Delivery Service

Surprisingly, the meal delivery service that comes in on top for American cuisine grew out of a grocery delivery service started by Dominik Richter and Thomas Griesel in Berlin, Germany. Today, HelloFresh delivers meal kits in 17 countries and boasts more than 3.5 million active subscribers in the United States, making it one of the most popular meal delivery services in the country.

How Much Does HelloFresh Cost?

The cost of HelloFresh per serving is $6.99 to $8.99. Pricing varies based on which dishes are chosen. Each week, the meal delivery service gives subscribers the option to select three, four or five meals. In addition to standard-priced lunches and dinners, the service offers weekly Gourmet, Gourmet Plus, Taste Tour and Craft Burger options that cost at least $1 more than the base price. In addition, HelloFresh lets seniors purchase fresh meats, produce, cheese, pantry items and snacks à la carte for an extra fee. Shipping costs only $6.99 regardless of how many servings, meals and extras are purchased weekly. Taking advantage of referral offers and other monthly promotions can add up to free meals and discounts on premium selections.

Full Review of HelloFresh’s Features

HelloFresh provides ingredients and instructions for preparing lunches and dinners at home with less time and effort. Its features set it apart from other meal delivery services and offer value for seniors who enjoy cooking but want to skip meal planning and shopping and benefit from simpler meal prep.

Flexible Weekly Selections

At signup, HelloFresh lets subscribers opt for three, four or five meals per week and receive two or four servings per meal. However, they’re not locked into their selections. Each week, customers can increase or decrease the number of meals purchased, buy more or fewer servings and even skip delivery entirely if they wish. This is convenient for seniors whose eating habits frequently vary due to travel and hosting dinner guests.

Large Selection of Weekly Meal Options

Each week, HelloFresh provides at least 15 meal options to choose from. In addition to a photo and brief overview, the meal selections display prep time, nutritional data and other information to help seniors compare the dishes. Popular meals do repeat, meaning seniors will likely have a chance to eat favorites more than once, but there’s enough variety to easily try something new all the time.

Meals That Fit Special Diets and Lifestyles

HelloFresh offers vegetarian and pescatarian meals, as well as a fit and wholesome eating plan that features low-calorie recipes. Also, family-friendly plans filled with kid-pleasing fare and quick and easy entrées require very minimal meal prep and cleanup.

Easy-to-Follow Paper and Online Recipes

HelloFresh is one of the few meal delivery services to provide printed recipe cards as well as online recipes. Both clearly display the measurements, even for ingredients that come pre-measured, making it possible for someone to make any dish from scratch in the future. Customers can use the mobile app recipes to benefit from an in-app timer that makes it possible to track cook time for two different foods, such as an entrée simmering on the stove and a side dish roasting in the oven. The recipes are straightforward and fully illustrated for convenience.

Most Ingredients Included

Nearly all of the ingredients needed to prepare HelloFresh meals are included in the meal kits. Most recipes only require seniors to have butter, cooking oil and salt and pepper on hand. Occasionally, they may need white flour, sugar or eggs.

High-Quality Ingredients

HelloFresh chooses high-quality ingredients for its kits. Some produce items are organic. Plus, recipes often feature seasonal fruits and vegetables to add variety to meals. The meats are hormone-free, and the seafood is sustainable. Condiments and sauces typically come from well-known brands.

Conveniently Packaged

Seniors don’t have to spend time organizing ingredients with HelloFresh. Most ingredients for each meal come separately packed and clearly labeled, and the bag size fits easily into most refrigerators. Meat, poultry and seafood are normally the only items not included in the individual meal bags, so customers can simply pop these items into the freezer upon arrival. Seasonings, vinegar, sauces and condiments tend to come in serving-specific packets, bottles and jars to cut down on the need for measuring spoons and cups.

Referral Program

HelloFresh has a referral program that allows subscribers to send free boxes to their friends. If someone who’s referred ends up subscribing, the subscriber can receive free meals or a credit to their account, depending on the specific promo running at the time.

Introductory Promotions

Throughout the year, HelloFresh offers introductory promotions for new subscribers. Typically, these deals let new customers get a certain number of meals for free. This way, they can try the service to see if it suits their needs.

Additional Groceries Available

Along with meal kits, HelloFresh sells desserts, meats, produce, snacks, pantry items and other groceries à  la carte. Any extras purchased come with the weekly shipment for convenience.

Simple-to-Use Mobile App

The HelloFresh mobile app is intuitive and simple to use. With just a few clicks, customers can make meal selections, change the number of servings per meal or skip a week.

Accessible Customer Service

HelloFresh offers 24/7 online chat customer service, so seniors can get assistance quickly. The customer service team can answer questions about recipes, help with tracking questions and give refunds if ingredients are missing, damaged or not up to the brand’s usual quality.

Who Should Consider HelloFresh?

Foodies Who Crave Variety

HelloFresh has enough globe-spanning recipes to satisfy those who want to feel as if they’re dining in Rome one night and Beijing the next, but it also has plenty of classic American cuisine and comfort foods to choose from. The quality of ingredients and the simple-to-follow recipes let foodies enjoy delicious meals without ordering takeout.

Seniors Whose Plans Frequently Change

Seniors who frequently host guests, travel and dine out will appreciate the flexibility of HelloFresh. Although customers choose a base number of servings and meals when they subscribe, they’re never locked in. Making changes to a week’s dining plans is easy through the mobile app.

People Who Want To Keep Things Simple

HelloFresh’s individually packaged meals and straightforward recipes add even more convenience to using meal delivery services, and because most ingredients are already measured, there’s less to clean up after lunch or dinner.

What Are People Saying About HelloFresh?

Online reviewers rave about how delicious and creative HelloFresh’s meals are and frequently point out the large variety of dishes offered. In addition, subscribers make note of how easy it is to pause delivery, make changes to weekly meals and even cancel a subscription. People also point out how the packaging saves time both when unpacking weekly shipments and preparing meals.

Customers sometimes describe instances where kits arrived missing ingredients or food was damaged or spoiled while in transit, but typically go on to add that customer service representatives offered a refund or a quick resolution to the problem. A few people point out that the meal offerings don’t include many options for people with food allergies.

Frequently Asked Questions