HelloFresh vs Factor – Which Prepared Meals Are Best?

Are you getting tired of constantly ordering takeout food because you can’t make time for cooking? Meal delivery services like HelloFresh and Factor improve your diet and that of your family by taking care of meal planning, grocery store shopping, and meal prepping.

But why choose HelloFresh and Factor? HelloFresh is a meal kit company that offers a variety of meal options, including high-protein and low-calorie meals. Factor, on the other hand, is a premade meal delivery service that caters to vegetarian and vegan diets more than HelloFresh.

The highlights of HelloFresh are that it takes the stress out of prepping and cooking a meal. HelloFresh takes the guesswork out of meal planning and makes cooking a fun and enjoyable experience, especially for beginners.

The highlights of Factor, as a reliable meal delivery service, are that it serves prepared meals in lots of specialized diet plans. You can choose from keto, protein plus, calorie smart, vegan, to vegetarian diets. All you have to do is heat up the meals.

Choosing Between Meal Kits and Premade Meals

For people on a busy daily schedule, meal kits and premade meal delivery services can feel like a breath of fresh air. However, you might find it confusing to decide between the two, especially since both types of meal delivery services offer delicious and healthy meals that are preservative-free, GMO-free, and nutritious.

To sum up, meal kits and premade meals are for your benefit. Let’s look at how they improve your cooking and help meet your dietary needs.

Meal Kits

Meal kits come with a set of preportioned, fresh ingredients that you have to cook on your own depending on the recipe you’ve chosen while placing an order.

Meal kits also include recipe instructions, nutritional information, allergy information, and an accurate ingredients list to help guide you through the cooking process. So, it’s nothing like cooking on your own. You have all the cooking instructions and preportioned ingredients ready for you.

Premade Meals

Premade meals are single-serve portions of freshly cooked and packed meals. These types of meals require no cooking or prepping as they are already cooked and packed with ice packs and insulation during transit.

Unlike junk food, premade meal delivery services do not add too much sugar or sodium to their meals,nor are the meals filled with preservatives, GMOs, artificial colorants, and flavorings. It’s all-natural and wholesome, ideal for someone on a weight loss or any specialized diet.

If you’re still confused, here are the main differences between meal kits and premade meals.

#1 Meal Preparation Time

Even though meal kits come with all precut and preportioned ingredients, there’s still some cooking time involved in the actual cooking of the ingredients. Meals take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to prepare.

Meanwhile, premade meals take less than 5 minutes to heat and eat. It’s more convenient than meal kits because there is no prepping or cooking involved. You can heat the food in a standard microwave or on the stovetop.

#2 Serving Size

Meal kits come in 2 or 4 serving sizes, which means you have to order at least 2 servings of each of the same meal recipes. This is a good option when you want to eat the same meal for lunch or dinner as with any home-cooked meal,but there is a chance of leftover food which can be a good or bad thing depending on how many people you’re planning to cook for.

Premade meals, on the contrary, come in single servings only, which offers more control in portion size and no leftovers whatsoever. Premade meals are more suited to single people and couples because it uses more single-serve plastics for packaging.

If you’re planning on cooking for more people, you can opt for a meal delivery service that offers multiple servings of the same premade meal packed together to avoid the use of plastic.

#3 Cost

Premade meal delivery services charge more for prepared meals than meal kits. You’re paying more for the time and effort you save with a premade meal. Meal kits come with preportioned ingredients and a recipe card, so they charge a bit less. Basically, the cost of buying groceries at a supermarket and a meal kit isn’t all that different.

Are Meal Delivery Services Weight Loss-Friendly?

Subscribing to a meal delivery service can be a great start to an effective weight loss plan with regular exercise, good sleep, and healthy water intake.

One of the best ways to lose weight healthily is to eat your meals on time and eat healthy, nutrient-packed meals without preservatives, GMOs, added sugar, and sodium.

Meal delivery services take care of both good habits. Plus, you get to eat plenty of whole fruits and vegetables.

People on a weight loss diet also find that keeping track of calories, proteins, fats, carbs, and other nutrients helps them stay on top of their weight loss goals. With that in mind, meal delivery services offer meals with proper nutrition labels.

Knowing how many calories, proteins, and carbs a meal has to offer can help you pick healthier meals without wasting too much time and effort in manual calculation.

Every person has unique nutritional needs and sticks to a slightly distinct eating pattern. With a plethora of meal options, you can select specific meals that work for you. You get to try out new recipes every week; experiment with diets like low-carb, low-calorie, protein-plus, etc.; and focus on eating more whole foods regularly, which is beneficial for weight loss.

Weight loss strategies like cutting down on refined carbs, going on a calorie-restriction diet, and eating more healthy fats and proteins have more health benefits than just weight loss. They help you improve your insulin levels, prevent heart diseases, regulate blood pressure, and manage stress levels.

Likewise, if you want to lose weight more naturally, meal delivery services allow you to make healthier food choices, cut down on refined carbs, eat more proteins, and track your daily eating habits more effectively.

HelloFresh vs Factor – What Are Your Meal Preferences?

HelloFresh meal kits give you a wide variety of meal options to choose from. You can mix and match or stick to one meal plan option based on what you like and dislike. Selecting the meal plan is straightforward and fast.

HelloFresh also lets you swap some ingredients from the meal plan if you’re allergic or just don’t like something. You can swap the proteins of a particular meal or the side dishes. The choice is entirely yours.

Choosing your meal preference does not limit HelloFresh’s menu in any way. Even if you select one or two meal preferences, the entire menu is available to you. You’ll only see your ideal preferences listed first followed by the rest of the menu:

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

On top of selecting a meal plan according to meal preference, you will also find a recipe menu on HelloFresh’s main webpage. You can browse different meal kit recipes organized into the diet categories mentioned above, making it easier to casually browse and compare different recipes (multiple cuisines).

Several meal options like the Fit & Wholesome meal plan are nutrition-driven. For example, the Fit & Wholesome meal plan offers meal kit recipes that have less than 650 calories per serving.

The Veggie meal plan is good for vegetarians, not vegan, however, which is a huge drawback. The Quick and Easy meal plan features meal kits that take less than 30 minutes to prep and cook.

Similarly, Factor’s meal kits accommodate different meal plans that you can mix and match. Though the entire menu is available to you, you can pick your ideal preferences while signing up and selecting a plan. The categories are a lot more diet-focused than HelloFresh, so they accommodate different dietary lifestyles such as the following:

• Chef’s Choice
• Keto
• Calorie Smart
• Vegan & Veggie
• Protein Plus

Factor meals encourage healthy eating with simple and premade recipes sent directly to your doorstep. Compared with HelloFresh’s meal kits, Factor’s premade meals are more accessible and appropriate for a busy lifestyle.

Their Calorie Smart meals follow the same parameters as HelloFresh’s Fit & Whole meal plan – all the meals have fewer than 650 calories per serving.

Other diet-specific meal plans like Chef’s Choice, Keto, Vegan & Veggie, and Protein Plus make Factor an outstanding health-focused and plant-forward premade meal delivery service.

If you’re searching for the best versatile meal delivery service that’s also quick, Factor is the ideal fit for you. However, if you don’t mind spending 30 minutes or less in the kitchen for a home-cooked meal that is easy and nutritious to eat, go for HelloFresh.

HelloFresh vs Factor – How Affordable Are the Prices?

For meal kit delivery services, HelloFresh is one of the most affordable services to invest in. Their meal kits start from $8.99 to $12.49 per serving. The price varies depending on the number of people you’re ordering for and the number of recipes per week.

This is how HelloFresh lets you customize the weekly plan:

As you can see, for 4 people, the price per serving is significantly lower than the meal plan for 2 people. This means you can save up more money in the long run if you order for 4 servings per recipe at the end of each week.

Unfortunately, there’s one more thing you should know about the order pricing of HelloFresh’s meals – they charge a flat $9.99 shipping cost on every order. The shipping fee may vary depending on where you live, but $9.99 is the average range for shipping.

Moving on to Factor, its meal plan pricing is a bit different from HelloFresh. You’re not required to select the meals in 2 or 4 servings each. For someone living alone, this might be a better plan to go for because you get to select as many meals as you like without repetitions.

This is how you can select your meals with Factor:

Just like HelloFresh, the shipping cost of Factor’s premade meals is around $9.99 per order. The price varies depending on the delivery location. So, apart from what you would be paying per serving, a $9.99 shipping fee is added during checkout.

The final verdict on the better pick between HelloFresh and Factor is a tie because both are great meal delivery services. However, it’s important to know that HelloFresh’s meal kits are more affordable than Factor’s premade meals though the difference is only a few dollars per serving.

HelloFresh vs Factor – Are the Meals Diet-Friendly?

Between HelloFresh and Factor, Factor’s premade meals are effective for dieting and weight loss because they offer more nutrition-focused meals than HelloFresh.

The only meal plan that HelloFresh brags about concerning weight loss and balanced nutrition is the Fit & Wholesome meal plan. These are meals that contain less than 650 calories per serving.

Factor’s meals, on the other hand, apply different diet strategies for weight loss and healthy living. You have the Calorie Smart, Protein Plus, Keto, and Vegan & Veggie meal plans. It’s more customizable and versatile than HelloFresh.

HelloFresh does not cater to such specialized diet plans as keto and high protein. Except for the low-calorie, vegetarian, and pescatarian diets, HelloFresh offers a blend of delicious and nutritious meals suitable for most people.

If you follow a strict diet plan like keto, high protein, or vegan, Factor should be more to your liking than HelloFresh. From HelloFresh, you can get low-calorie, vegetarian (but not vegan), and balanced meals fit for the whole family as well.

Lowering your caloric intake with Factor is possible because some of their meals contain fewer than 500 calories. Plus, they feature a higher number of vegetarian and vegan meals, which also aids in weight loss.

Their Protein Plus meals are good for weight loss as they reduce the number of calories you eat every day by boosting your protein intake. Increasing your protein intake every day is an effective strategy for weight loss.

Furthermore, Factor also offers a ketogenic diet, which offers fewer carbs per serving than usual. Studies also point to a low-carb diet plan as a healthy and positive diet for weight loss and other health benefits.

HelloFresh vs Factor – Are the Ingredients Fresh and High Quality?

HelloFresh offers several meal plans that are both vegetarian and nonvegetarian, fit for families and couples. Their meals are vegetarian, low calorie, pescatarian, and kid-friendly.

Their ingredients, as a result of the versatile meal plans, are also high in quality, fresh, and GMO-free. The meal delivery service provides some organic ingredients depending on availability.

Following up on their FDA-certified standards of sourcing ingredients from local farms and suppliers, meat and poultry are also locally farmed and sustainable. Fish like salmon, shrimp, lobster, etc. are ocean-friendly without antibiotics, preservatives, or sodium.

HelloFresh delivers meal kits, so all the ingredients for any particular recipe are sent fresh and whole. They are preportioned, but you still have to cut and prep most of the ingredients to prepare the recipe.

Factor serves fully prepared meals that are both nutritious and organic. The meals are dietician-approved, according to their website, and free from GMOs, antibiotics, and all preservatives. The meat is sourced locally from sustainable suppliers, and the same applies to their fruits and vegetables.

They provide additional information about where they source their meat from. It’s cruelty-free, cage-free, and pasture-raised animals. Poultry is antibiotic-free as well, including eggs.

HelloFresh vs Factor – Where Do They Deliver?

HelloFresh is functional in most US states, except for Alaska and Hawaii. The meals can arrive at any time between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and the day of delivery depends on the delivery location.

Based on the address you put in during checkout, some delivery options may be available to you. You can leave special delivery instructions if you want while placing an order and receive timely updates regarding the deliveries.

The flexible delivery window usually applies to selecting the time you want to receive your order. You will most likely have to pick a suitable time and request HelloFresh to drop it in their weekly box at your doorstep.

Factor delivers to most of the continental United States, but not to Alaska and Hawaii. The meals arrive once every week, and you can store them in the fridge for an entire week after arrival.

The delivery window is consistent and flexible, depending on where you live. The delivery day will be open to you which will be during the first half of the week. The delivery time, however, is not changeable, but all orders get delivered within the 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. time frame.

You can opt-in to receive any updates regarding the delivery of your order. It’s simple and convenient with easy access to the order page after you log in to view all your upcoming orders.

HelloFresh vs Factor – Are the Meals Easy to Prepare?

HelloFresh meals are all about convenience and effortless cooking. Their meals, no matter what type of protein you choose, are easy and quick to cook even for a beginner. The cooking instructions are simple to follow.

What’s nice is HelloFresh doesn’t overwhelm you with too many complicated cooking steps. As long as you keep up with the pace of cooking, you should have no problems prepping and cooking the ingredients.

In each meal kit, HelloFresh packs the recipe card with all the step-by-step instructions, a list of kitchen supplies you’ll need to prepare the recipe, the ingredients list, all the preportioned ingredients, a few more tips on how to cook smartly, and lastly, the estimated cooking time.

For someone new to cooking, HelloFresh’s meal kits are great to start with. Some of the recipes may demand more time, including cleanup afterward. If you’re short of time, HelloFresh does offer the Quick and Easy meal plan option for under 30 minutes of prep.

All of Factor’s meals are precooked and packed in single-serve plastic containers that are microwave-friendly. This means you have to simply remove the plastic film and pop the container in the microwave. Heat it for 2–3 minutes, longer if you’re heating meat, and the meal is ready to serve.

Time-wise, a person can benefit more from Factor because all their meals take less than 5 minutes to prepare. But if you crave more control over the ingredients that go into each meal, you have to take out some time for HelloFresh and its meal kits.

HelloFresh vs Factor – How Are the Orders Delivered?

The way HelloFresh packs its meals is a bit different from Factor because the former is a meal kit delivery service. You have recipe cards, individually packed ingredients, and stickers labeling each package in a large cardboard box. There’s a lot to unpack and store once your weekly meals arrive.

The basic packaging stuff like a cardboard box, cool pouch, ice packs, plastic wrappers, and smaller items are used. The majority of the packaging is made from renewable and recyclable materials including the cool pouches. They are made using plant materials, and you can reuse them however you want after unpacking.

I see several items in a HelloFresh meal box that can be reused such as the ice packs and the white and silver cool pouches. Use the same cardboard to dispose of all the recyclable materials after unpacking to save space.

You don’t have to obstruct the way the ingredients are stored. You can keep them in the refrigerator as they are packed. Only when you want to cook the recipe should you remove the ingredients from all the packets.

The meal kits come with recipe cards that read out the nutrition facts, ingredients list, cooking time, special instructions, and other additional information about each recipe. You can even find this on their website menu page after signing in.

Factor packs all their meals in a single large cardboard box. Cold gel ice packs and thick insulation to maintain the cold temperature are used. Since all the meals are premade, a cool temperature is necessary to maintain to prevent the prepared meals from going bad.

Factor makes sure to include lots of insulation so that the food stays fresh during transit. So, even if the box gets dropped off when you’re not at home, it’s perfectly safe to sit out for a couple of hours.

Once you take the meal box inside, store them directly in the fridge. You can also keep some meals in the freezer if you want to prolong their shelf life.

The plastic that goes into making single-serve containers is recyclable and BPA-free. The seal on top of the containers needs to be taken off before heating. They are not recyclable, so make sure you get rid of them separately afterward.

All the meals are labeled with nutritional information so you know which is which. The sleeve also has the ingredients list and heating instructions on it for easier accessibility.

HelloFresh vs Factor – Do They Serve Vegetarian Meals?

For a vegetarian, HelloFresh offers a Veggie meal plan and over 10 different types of vegetarian meals on their weekly rotating menu. It’s plenty to move forward with if you’re a strict vegetarian. The menu changes every week, so you have newer meal recipes to try every time you order.

For a vegetarian meal kit delivery service, HelloFresh is consistent and versatile. The best part about their vegetarian meal plan is that you don’t have to do any of the guesswork and brainstorming about what to cook for dinner. The meal kits are super easy to cook and taste great every time.

HelloFresh does provide you with the option of customizing some vegetarian meals. You can pick vegetarian recipes that take less than 20 minutes to prep and cook, while some premium-style vegetarian recipes can take longer than 45 minutes.

Each meal kit recipe comes with a label that displays the estimated cooking time, dietary information, and the main ingredients. You will find many vegetarian recipes that are calorie-smart, easy prep, and protein smart.

You might be thinking about vegetarian and vegan meals. For that, HelloFresh lacks variety because there are only 1–2 vegan meal options on their current week’s menu.

Factor is a 100% vegetarian-friendly premade meal service. They have a special Vegan & Veggie meal plan option with flexible meals that are nutritionally rich and plant-based.

Not only are the meals tasty, but they are incredibly convenient and healthy for vegetarians. You will genuinely enjoy the vegetarian selections, focused on a protein-rich, plant-based protein.

The vegetarian meals are filling and delicious. Every dish is easy to heat in a microwave in under 3 minutes and smells great, just like a home-cooked meal.

You can easily identify the different categories of the meals as each dish has its label with a recipe picture and labels like calorie smart, protein plus, keto, vegetarian, vegan, etc.

Majority of the meals on Factor’s menu belong to more than one specific diet. So, you’ll find vegetarian or vegan recipes that are low in calories and high in proteins as well. These meat-free meals will keep you satisfied all week. Plus, they’re reasonably priced which makes things even better for people following a plant-based diet.

HelloFresh vs Factor – What’s the Nutrition Value?

It’s common to keep track of calories, proteins, carbs, and fat when you want to make healthier food choices. Thankfully, meal delivery services like HelloFresh and Factor give you all the nutritional information you need about their meals. All the meals are created and tailored to meet several nutrition goals like low calorie, high protein, and low carb.

Let’s start with HelloFresh and Factor’s vegetarian recipes.

Both HelloFresh and Factor offer low-calorie meals that are not meat-free.

If there’s one everyone can agree on, it’s that protein-dense food is important for every type of diet. HelloFresh and Factor offer a variety of protein-rich meals. I found that Factor had more protein-rich recipes to offer than HelloFresh.

There are plenty of meat recipes that are not chicken but turkey, bacon, beef, and seafood.

HelloFresh vs Factor – FAQs

Is the Customer Service Responsive?

As long as you factor in Factor, getting help with whatever issues or questions you might have about their meals is super quick and easy. Factor’s customer service includes the modern live chat feature, phone support (call at 888-573-5727), and there’s also a very helpful FAQs page for almost every concern possible.

Common questions about subscription, nutrition, ingredients, delivery, and a lot more are addressed in the FAQs section on the Factor website. Even the customer service is praiseworthy and useful. The team responds very quickly to solve your problems right away, and the service is extremely professional.

You can also mail Factor’s customer service at help@factor75.com or call from Monday to Friday between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. ET (Saturday and Sunday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. ET).

It’s amazing when the customer support of a meal service is as good as their food. Even if your shipment arrives with a damaged container, Factor’s customer service takes care of the matter immediately. And in the case of not being able to deliver your weekly order because of unfavorable weather conditions, Factor remains in contact and will refund the meals for that particular week and also give you credit for another week’s meals.

Does the HelloFresh customer service live up to these standards? Yes, they have a very helpful FAQs page as well. It features action buttons for choosing meals, changing the delivery address or day, updating payment details, editing delivery, redeeming discounts, updating email/password, and more such account- and order-related options.

You can contact HelloFresh via call and live chat – all information is posted in the Contact Us section.

Can You Make Edits to the Orders Before Delivery?

Using the HelloFresh app or website, meals to your weekly order can be added, edited, or canceled. The app, however, does offer a more limited experience.

Needless to say, there is a deadline you need to adhere to – before 12 a.m. PT, 5 days before the scheduled delivery date. Just open the dashboard to find out the exact date.

You’re also free to cancel your subscription with HelloFresh whenever you wish, even if that is after your first order. Skipping weeks is another possibility, and you don’t get charged for it so long as you ensure that the deadline has been honored.

Factor’s cutoff time is Wednesday before 10 p.m. PT. You can skip weeks and even cancel your Factor subscription outright. Just do it before the Wednesday deadline and a week before the delivery. Factor lets you swap meals too. Making all these changes is possible through the account page after you sign in. A Factor app is available as well.

Factor lets you skip deliveries for up to 6 weeks in advance. You can edit the delivery address, email address, and account details and even turn off your subscription by simply heading over to the Account Settings page.

Are the Meals Allergy-Friendly?

Is HelloFresh good for vegetarians? Yes, there are plenty of vegetarian meal kits in case you’re not big on eating meat or you don’t eat meat at all. For a quick recap, HelloFresh has the following meal plans:

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

Every week’s menu consists of at least 6–7 vegetarian meals. The Veggie meal plan itself includes chickpeas, beans, nuts, etc., apart from fresh, high-quality vegetables. This seems perfect for those on a plant-based or vegan diet due to allergies or dietary preferences.

But once on the HelloFresh menu, you’ll see that it doesn’t specifically cater to any specialized diets, such as gluten-free, paleo, keto, and more. There are, however, tags or labels used, such as Calorie Smart, Protein Smart, Carb Smart, Veggie, Mediterranean, Easy Prep, Easy Cleanup, and more.

So, for example, if your daily diet is made up of keto or low-carb meals, then you do have a good number of HelloFresh meal kits to choose from, but none of these options are categorized as such. Additionally, those on a gluten-free diet would be better off choosing another meal delivery service that specially caters to such dietary needs.

Are Factor meals allergy-friendly? Here are the plans that Factor offers:

• Chef’s Choice
• Keto
• Calorie Smart
• Vegan & Veggie
• Protein Plus

There are no accommodations here either when it comes to avoiding common allergens such as gluten, soy, dairy, nuts, etc. Even with Factor, you wonder why they don’t highlight meals that align with dietary restrictions. To see if the dish contains potential allergy-causing ingredients, you have to click on the meal and check out its ingredients list.

HelloFresh Pros and Cons

Factor Pros and Cons

Final Verdict

Bottom line, there’s no need to look further than subscription-based meal delivery services like HelloFresh and Factor for all your dietary needs. Both services go above and beyond, saving you time and effort to prepare meals right out of the box.

You can consider subscribing to these services, which feels just like ordering food in a restaurant. But the added benefit of meal delivery services is that you get to eat home-cooked meals that are healthy, fresh, and delicious.

If you have some time on your hands and want to upgrade your culinary skills, I recommend HelloFresh as they offer meal kits with preportioned ingredients. None of the meal kit recipes take more than 45 minutes to prepare, and they offer a wide variety of dietary plans such as high protein, low calorie, and vegetarian.

For quick and premade meals, Factor is your ideal choice. Their ready-to-heat meals take less than 5 minutes to heat and serve. All the meals are non-GMO ingredients, organic, and preservative-free. You don’t have to waste time sifting through recipes online for delicious and nutritious meals. Factor takes care of everything and is a superb meal delivery service.