Dinnerly vs HelloFresh – Which Provides the Best Overall Pricing per Meal!

A busy schedule, too many family members to cook for, or whatever else – it doesn’t matter what your reasons are for finding a solution to the most common problem of eating healthy, homemade meals. At the end of the day, it’s the comfort of knowing that your dinners are taken care of that matters.

The concern, however, is how to choose between the two best meal delivery services. In this scenario, it’s the two top-rated meal kit delivery services, Dinnerly and HelloFresh.

Dinnerly vs HelloFresh – which one should you pick? Dinnerly is more affordable, and HelloFresh is more popular, but this doesn’t help when it comes to making a smart decision. Instead, what will help is comparing every important aspect of these two services. You have to know precisely what’s so great about each in terms of nutrition, price, quantity, quality, and more!

Top 3 Reasons Why Meal Kit Delivery Services Are Worth It

Convenience, irrespective of what era we’re living in, is always in high demand. In relation, a modern-day outcome of that is a meal kit delivery service. Meal kits are delivered directly to you every week without you having to do more than just sign up, fill in some details, and select your meal plan depending on your diet and health/fitness goals.

These meal boxes include meal kits (with premeasured, fresh ingredients) as well as prepared, premade, or “microwaveable” meals. Some meal delivery services also send grocery items – even plant-based alternatives.

It’s because of top food delivery companies like Dinnerly and HelloFresh that the concept of meal delivery service has now become an over 2-billion-dollar industry in the United States alone.

#1 Meal Kits Encourage Portion Control

You pick not only the number of meals per week but also how many servings per meal you want. So, based on the number of your family members, you can select the exact number of servings required. The ingredients are portioned accordingly, thus promoting the habit of portion control. You don’t end up overeating nor does the food go to waste.

Also, the whole idea of portion control is an excellent and effective way for shedding extra pounds and weight management, provided, of course, you’re combining portion control with an active lifestyle and a consistent, moderately intense workout routine.

#2 Meal Kits Offer Food Variety

No matter your diet plan or eating preferences/restrictions, consuming delicious meals is the top priority. This is where an extensive menu of a meal delivery service can really make a huge difference. This is because if the menu is more international-focused, it means it features a wider range of cuisines and you’re more likely to rate the experience “positive.”

Fresh produce, when coupled with variety, gives your body all the essential nutrients it needs and, at the same time, doesn’t feel too bland to eat. A new menu every week, at such times, is the most exciting aspect of home-delivered meal kits. What can you get out of it?

• You get a good enough range of fresh, healthy, and colorful veggies to choose from, along with lean proteins and whole grains.
• You introduce your taste buds to new, unique flavors and textures.
• Picky or fussy eaters gain the golden opportunity of having a sufficient number of more crowd-pleasing, conventional recipes to select from.

#3 Meal Kits Reduce Food Wastage

Having to deal with leftovers is a big nuisance, especially when you don’t have enough space in your freezer/refrigerator or you’ve run out of storage containers.

Food wastage is already a gargantuan problem in America. If you Google “how much food is wasted in the USA every year,” you’re in for a shock!

In that context, cooking homemade meals requires you to shop for the groceries needed. These ingredients, products, and other items are often purchased in larger quantities or sizes because you can’t really buy half an onion even if the recipe calls for it. Where does the other half go then? Where else but to waste!

Enter meal kits with their premeasured and preportioned ingredients. As long as you choose the right number of servings per meal, you won’t be wasting any food.

Spend Less and Eat Healthier with Meal Planning

Weekly meal planners make their lives so much easier since they have one less thing to worry about during the week. In addition, menu planning means you can follow a nutritious, well-balanced diet, such as keto, paleo, vegan, low calorie, low carb, etc.

When your weekly meals are planned and prepped in advance, the likelihood of eating out also decreases. Therefore, it poses a great positive impact on your physical and mental health.

Moreover, eating at home and not ordering takeout lead you to spend less money or rather not waste money on unhealthy, unnecessarily expensive food.

To sum it up, here are the most notable benefits of meal planning:

• Menu planning, in comparison to eating out, costs 3-5x less when you take into consideration your overall monthly expenses.
• Weekly meal planning, which means you’re cooking your lunches/dinners at home, makes your body less prone to developing diabetes, obesity, heart conditions, and the like. Additionally, since you’re incorporating healthy ingredients into your meals, your chances of sticking to your fitness goals are also more realistic.
• Meal kits consist of premeasured ingredients and well-rounded nutrition. As a result, meal planning and meeting nutritional needs go hand in hand. At the same time, the infusion of a variety of ingredients suggests you don’t have to eat the same boring food every week, even when you’re following a specific diet like vegan, keto, gluten-free, etc.

Dinnerly vs HelloFresh: How Do Customers Place Their First Order?

I’d like to point out that between Dinnerly and HelloFresh, the former is one of the topmost affordable meal kit delivery services you can subscribe to right now.

The starting price for their meals is $5 per serving, a price relatively cheaper than HelloFresh which serves meals for $8 and above per serving. In the long run, you’ll be saving a lot more money each week with Dinnerly than with HelloFresh.

Dinnerly features incredible meal options for all kinds of people – singles, couples, and families on a busy schedule. The ingredients are preportioned and packed according to the recipe with different options for breakfast, light lunches, dinner, snacks, etc.

The Dinnerly menu displays 4 weeks’ worth of menus starting with the week that’s past, the current week, and the next 2 upcoming weeks. The menu is open for all to see, even newcomers who haven’t yet subscribed.

The recipes are displayed with all the information you’ll need to know about serving time, cooking level, nutrition per serving, dietary labels, and cooking tips and instructions. Allergy information and all the ingredient information are also displayed.

If the recipes interest you, you can head over to their Choose Meal Kit page. It allows you to select and customize your week’s plan. Select the relevant options for you, and you’ll be given the correct price per portion based on what you select.

• Number of people – 2 or 4
• Number of meals per week – 3, 4, 5, or 6

You can also select if you want a vegetarian meal box or not before continuing on with selecting your ideal meals. The cost of each serving reduces the larger your order gets.  On top of everything, there is a flat $10 shipping fee on every order, no matter how many meals you add to your cart.

Dinnerly will ask you for your location, preferred delivery time, and payment as you’re subscribing to the weekly meal box. The ingredients are then packed and delivered to your location based on the delivery time and date you select.

HelloFresh follows a similar format when it comes to meal selection for first-timers. The menu is accessible to all along with all their meal plan categories:

• Meat & Veggies
• Veggie
• Family Friendly
• Fit & Wholesome
• Quick and Easy
• Pescatarian

Unlike Dinnerly, HelloFresh lets you swap protein on select recipes to avoid beef, chicken, or seafood. The meals are categorized by cooking time, nutrition, and protein.

As with Dinnerly, you can learn all about each recipe’s nutritional information, ingredient information, and cooking instructions before signing up.

Once you are fully confident that you want to go ahead with HelloFresh, their Plans page is where you can sign up and select your preferences and meals.

Though there is an option to select your personal dietary choices, the entire menu is accessible to you, including the meal preferences you didn’t select. You can customize your plan and view the final box price and any discounts for first-timers:

• Number of people – 2 or 4
• Number of meals per week – 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6

A discount coupon gets added automatically, which is a special treat for the first order. Plus, the box ships for free, so you don’t have to pay shipping as a new customer on the first order!

You can then go ahead and add your location and payment details and select the meals of your choice. The delivery time is automated based on HelloFresh, but you can set the preferred day of delivery.

Typically, HelloFresh promises to deliver every order within 1-2 days after it has been shipped. The meals typically arrive during working hours. Thus, even if you’re not at home, the parcel will get securely dropped off at your doorstep.

Dinnerly vs HelloFresh: How Many Meals Can Customers Order Per Week?

Dinnerly lets you select anywhere from 6 to 24 meals per week in total.

Here’s the breakdown for each box size:

Shipping fees are $9.99 per delivery. There is no other hidden charge as soon as you add all the meals to your meal box. With over 35 meal options to select from each week and such affordable prices, Dinnerly makes more sense if you’re looking for a budget-friendly and sustainable meal delivery service long term.

HelloFresh’s meal plan is similar in that you can select from 4 to 24 meals in your weekly meal box. Here’s the breakdown for each box size:

Please note that the above HelloFresh prices do not include the special discount that a new customer will receive on placing their first order on HelloFresh. The price per serving gets reduced to almost half once the discount is applied during checkout.

For example, for a typical order of 3 meals per week with 2 servings each, you pay $4.49 per serving after the discount. This cuts the first box’s total price from $70.93 to $28.14, which is a HUGE deal! Plus, shipping is free on the first box.

After the discount expires, HelloFresh charges $10.99 per delivery, regardless of the meal box size.

Dinnerly vs HelloFresh: Are the Meals Beginner-Friendly?

The final verdict on how easy and quick Dinnerly meals are to make is that it offers significantly easier recipes than HelloFresh. The Dinnerly menu is primarily family-friendly with easy plant-based and nonvegetarian meals for everybody.

The meal kits use minimal ingredients and materials, so they require less prep time from start to finish. For a cook at the beginner level, it’s a no-brainer because most of the recipes are simple and basic.

Basic ingredients like vegetables need to be sauteed for a few minutes. Recipes that require a little more hands-on prepping such as soup can be made in just a few simple steps with some fresh herbs and seasonings.

Dinnerly’s meals are portioned by nutrition and serving size, which means you get a sizeable serving for 2 or 4 with a good serving of veggies, fresh seasonings and herbs, healthy carbs, and proteins.

Some recipes are baked, which takes even less time since some of the ingredients are already chopped and prepared for you. So, the 20-25 minutes cooking time refers to the baking time in a microwave or microwave oven.

Majority of the recipes take 30 minutes or less to cook. You can also select your ideal recipe with the Under 30 Minutes label on them if you’re pressed for time.

Dinnerly does have a digital app you can download to keep track of each recipe and follow their cooking instructions. There are pictures when necessary, and Dinnerly gives you extra tips and tricks to make the meal taste more delicious.

On average, HelloFresh’s meals take 30 minutes to cook. The menu offers a time-specific Quick & Easy meal plan for straightforward and basic recipes that take less than 30 minutes to cook.

Sauteed recipes, pasta, tacos, pan-seared veggies, and such classic dishes are a part of HelloFresh’s diet. Everything is quick and easy to prepare, thus beginner-friendly. You will require basic cooking utensils to prepare the recipes. It’s a bonus if you have a fancy oven for some of the baked recipes, but a microwave will also work with its preset settings.

The ingredients that require lots of chopping and cutting are sometimes pre-prepped to reduce the cooking time of each meal. Overall, however, the prep and cooking time of the meals are effortless and incredibly smooth.

Each recipe is accompanied by a recipe card to help you at every step. You can also download the HelloFresh app for any further assistance.

Some recipes that are more “gourmet” require at least 45 minutes to cook, but they aren’t complicated to prepare from start to finish. Even these recipes are super approachable and simplified for a beginner, so you end up with a restaurant-quality meal without making too much effort.

Dinnerly vs HelloFresh: What’s the Menu Like?

Dinnerly’s menu features more than 45 recipes including main dinner meals, breakfasts, and some snacks. Dinnerly gets creative with some of their recipe titles giving you information about their prep time, nutrition, or specialty.

For example, you can immediately identify from their titles which meal has fewer carbs, is oven-baked, requires no chopping, or has a seasonal ingredient.

Alongside that, each recipe has various dietary labels such as Low-Calorie, Under 30 Minutes, Meat, One Pot Meal, Dairy Free, Kid Friendly, Healthy, Low Carb, Nutritious, and so on – tags that allow you to peep inside the important details of the meal.

You can read the recipe page for more information on the recipe’s cooking instructions, ingredient and nutrition info, and allergen details.

Each recipe comes with a bright and colorful picture, so you know exactly what the dish looks like after cooking. You can even view their last week’s and the next 2 weeks’ menus which proves that Dinnerly never repeats the same dish twice!

I love that there is no mystery or guesswork involved in Dinnerly’s menu. Everything you need to know about the meals before adding them to your cart is accessible. The nutritional value and helpful tags with allergy details improve the overall experience of meal selection.

HelloFresh menu features between 50 and 55 recipes. All are light lunches and main dinner meals. Ranging from Seasonal Favorites to Top-Rated dishes, navigating the menu is direct and simple.

The recipe card reads out the cooking time and some essential labels such as Easy Cleanup, Easy Prep, Spicy, Veggie, Plant-Based Protein, Quick, Calorie Smart, Mediterranean, and Carb Smart.

On each recipe page, you can see what the dish looks like, its cooking time, nutrition and ingredient information, cooking level, allergens, utensils required, and what’s not included in the meal kit that you need to purchase separately. These are generally common pantry ingredients like salt, pepper, and cooking oil.

HelloFresh asks you about your ideal dietary preferences while meal planning, so you have the option to filter over 50 recipes through the following options:

• Meat & Veggies: A combination of meat and veg options for a balanced and nutritious diet
• Veggie: Only plant-forward dishes with plant protein and some vegan options
• Family Friendly: Kid-friendly meals with fewer cooking instructions and One Pot meals
• Fit & Wholesome: Meals that have fewer than 650 calories in every portion
• Pescatarian 
• Quick & Easy: Meals that are basic and require little prep, essentially 30 minutes or less cooking time

You can select one or multiple meal plans at a time, but you will still have the entire menu to pick from at your disposal. This option exists just to show you first your ideal meals followed by the rest of the menu. Each meal plan is priced the same, so there is no price distinction between a Family Friendly and Fit & Wholesome meal, for example.

Some gourmet meals that require premium meat ingredients such as steak or salmon may be a bit more expensive, but you can see the change in price during checkout and evaluate your options.

Dinnerly vs HelloFresh: What Should Vegetarians/Vegans Expect?

From Dinnerly, expect meal kits that are the most traditional or basic and also slightly more experimental. As for their plant-based meals, the Dinnerly weekly menu consists of around 10-12 options, and these are a part of Dinner’s “Vegetarian” meal plan.

Dinnerly gives you two meal plans to choose from – the first is traditional with meat and the second is all-vegetarian.

If you check out Dinnerly’s recipes page, you’ll find that the meals are sorted and labeled accordingly. For example, tags such as Vegan, Vegetarian, Kid Friendly, One Pot Meal, Under 30 Minutes, and more are used.

If you access the Dinnerly menu through the app, you get to further filter these recipes based on your dietary and taste preferences. For instance, you can narrow down your options to meals that are gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, etc.

About Dinnerly accommodating a vegetarian/vegan diet plan, there are only quite a few plant-based recipes to select from. In addition, Dinnerly meals are easy to prepare as well as pretty affordable in comparison to other meal kit delivery services.

As a matter of fact, even HelloFresh has a “Veggie” meal plan, but these plant-based recipes may not always be vegan.

In the case of HelloFresh, the most amazing part is that you can mix and match different types of meal kits from each week’s menu, along with filtering the meals. The downside to this, however, is that the more you narrow it down, by choosing veggie or pescatarian, for example, the more limited the menu becomes.

Typically, each weekly menu of HelloFresh has around 30 meals. This includes plant- and seafood-based recipes. Apart from pescatarian, vegetarian, and even low-calorie meals, HelloFresh doesn’t accommodate any particular specialized diets. It’s not exactly just a plant-based meal kit delivery service, so it offers only about 5-6 veggie options every week (less than Dinnerly).

Nevertheless, if you think that number is enough for you, which will most likely be the case if you simply want to learn how to prepare plant-based dishes at home or if you wish to add 1-2 vegan/vegetarian meals into your weekly diet plan, then HelloFresh is a good fit. Otherwise, keep in mind that HelloFresh isn’t strictly plant-based, vegan, or the like.

Dinnerly vs HelloFresh: How Nutritious Are the Meals?

When talking about nutritional value, we’re looking at the total calorie count, protein, carbohydrates, fat, dietary fiber, sugar, etc. With that in mind, if the meal delivery service provides the complete, necessary breakdown of the nutritional profile of every meal on its recipe page, you can make a more well-informed decision.

With that in place, both Dinnerly and HelloFresh provide these kinds of clear labels and nutrition information, along with helpful, diet-specific tags and potential allergens list.

Now, keeping solely the topic of “nutrition” in mind, Dinnerly accommodates the most basic diet plans. The meals on the Dinnerly menu are labeled accordingly. Take a look at this Mediterranean Spiced Chickpea Mezze Bowl – it’s nutritious, healthy, vegan, and dairy-free!

Other tags found on Dinnerly include kid-friendly, low-carb, low-calorie, meat, poultry, vegetarian, and a few more. No matter the meal, important nutritional parameters are met. For example, under 40 grams of carbs per serving (low-carb meals), under 20 grams of carbs per serving (keto meals), and under 650 calories per serving (low-calorie meals).

Dinnerly may not present its menu and meals as fitting into any one category, but this top meal delivery service does mention all the important nutrition-related details you need to assess the food yourself.

With HelloFresh, things are a little bit different in that not many labels or tags are seen on their recipes page, but they do have options such as “Veggie,” “Vegan,” “Calorie Smart,” and “Mediterranean.” Nutrition values and allergens are also clearly mentioned.

Another crucial point to note about HelloFresh is its use of high-quality and sometimes even organic ingredients. Additionally, even their new, exotic meals (covering a range of regional cuisines) are bundled with high nutrition and appealing flavors.

Below, you’ll find the breakdown of some of the most popular Dinnerly and HelloFresh meals, so you know what’s in store for you if you choose any one of the two meal kit services.

Most Asked Questions About Dinnerly and HelloFresh!

How are Dinnerly and HelloFresh meal kits packed for deliveries?

Starting with Dinnerly, this meal delivery service sends you an email notification a day before your weekly meal box is scheduled to arrive. In this mail, there’s a clear, proper breakdown of everything packed in the box, including which recipes are to be cooked first.

Unfortunately, printed recipe cards are not a part of Dinnerly meal kits; rather, they have recipe cards you can access digitally. So, you have to use your laptop or phone for the step-by-step instructions for your every meal which, to be honest, feels like a breeze.

It’s certainly worth mentioning that Dinnerly’s packaging approach is quite eco-friendly (i.e., cost-saving). The food delivery service simply packs all the ingredients into one big box. While this is definitely a cost-saving and eco-friendly method, it means you have to do the sorting of all those ingredients.

However, don’t worry about your fish and meats because these are kept away using dividers. Thus, cross-contamination is prevented.

Even though plastic is surely not used in excess, containers, bags, and bottles made of plastic are recyclable. Speaking of which, the rest of the packaging materials are also recyclable – curbside recyclable to be more specific. This includes the cotton liners, foil pouches, nonhazardous and nontoxic ice packs, and the paper/cardboard box and separators. (Check out recycle.dinnerly.com.)

Even HelloFresh has a Recycling Your HelloFresh Box page for eco-conscious customers.

HelloFresh packs every meal individually in paper bags instead of throwing it all into a single box like Dinnerly. At the same time, excessive waste is avoided when packing the ingredients. Plastic is involved indeed because it’s an inevitable part of meal kit deliveries, but you can breathe a sigh of relief since HelloFresh ensures no excessive waste.

On top of that, HelloFresh includes cooler bags, ice packs, etc. that are recyclable. So, rest assured it is more eco-friendly in comparison to other meal delivery companies.

Meats are stored below the paper bags containing the rest of the ingredients. Insulated coolers are in place for preserving freshness, no doubt, and the meat is separated from everything else with the help of ice packs and cardboard dividers (also recyclable of course).

Once again, unlike Dinnerly, HelloFresh provides printed recipe cards (kept away from the cooling insulation so they remain dry). The instructions for cooking are simple to follow and organized very neatly and clearly, although they don’t tell you what type of pans and pots to use or when the cooking oil is hot enough for dropping the pork loin, fish, etc. Hence, it’s not the most beginner-friendly!

Despite that, everything else is pretty straightforward and intuitive, even the HelloFresh app. Through the app, you get to view nutritional information, locate recipes, and place/edit weekly orders.

Can you make changes to Dinnerly and HelloFresh orders?

It’s very easy to place new orders and also modify existing ones on both Dinnerly and HelloFresh.

With Dinnerly, you can not only change the delivery date and type of meal plan, but you also get to cancel your account if you like. All you need to do is go to “Settings” and make your changes.

However, please note that orders in progress cannot be skipped. One other thing – you can edit meals only until the cutoff time because Dinnerly boxes are billed 5-7 days before the scheduled delivery day. So, once billed, your weekly order cannot be canceled or edited.

Go to your Dinnerly account’s “Orders” tab > “Current Orders” and find out the status of your every upcoming order. Reminder emails are sent at least 9-10 days before the delivery date. Likewise, your subscription can only be paused 5-7 days before your Dinnerly meal kits are shipped.

The same applies to HelloFresh’s weekly orders except that the deadline here is 12 a.m. (Pacific Time), 5 days in advance of the scheduled delivery day. Open the dashboard section of your HelloFresh account, and you’ll be able to find the relevant information about your upcoming orders.

Editing, adding, or even canceling meals can be done more easily and quickly using the HelloFresh app.

Dinnerly Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Very affordable meal kit delivery service.
• Recipes are the easiest to prepare/cook.
• Packaging is environment-friendly (mostly recyclable).
• Vast menu variety – many delicious meals to choose from every week.
• Good amount of vegetarian and plant-based meal options.
• Works for picky eaters, kids, and families.

Cons:

• No printed recipe cards, only digital.
• Separate $10 shipping cost.
• Ingredients are not well-organized in meal boxes.

HelloFresh Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Easy-to-prepare meal delivery service.
• More budget-friendly for 4 servings per meal.
• The menu includes meal kits, premade meals, and groceries.
• More suitable for traditional, “crowd-pleasing” meals.
• Pescatarian, vegetarian, and low-calorie meal plans.
• Printed recipe cards for each recipe with clear, simple instructions.

Cons:

• $10-$11 shipping fee
• Doesn’t accommodate specific dietary needs (gluten-free, keto, etc.)

Conclusion

What’s for dinner? Dinnerly or HelloFresh? Well, both are inexpensive meal kit delivery services for singles, couples, and 4-serving meals. Ingredients used are fresh and highly nutritious and sometimes also seasonal.

Where Dinnerly’s specialty is a lower cost per serving and caters to a few special dietary preferences, which include vegan and plant-based diets, HelloFresh is the overall winner in terms of better nutrition, fresher ingredients, and more traditional recipes. It is also more organized packaging.