Normally, healthy food and convenient food are not the same, but meal delivery services have changed that. We are now seeing more and more meal deliveries come up on the market and vie for our attention. Two of the most popular ones are HelloFresh and Home Chef – the best meal kit delivery services for sure!
They present an abundance of meal plans and choices that have a way to cater to our specific dietary preferences and food allergies.
However, this very abundance of options seems to cause a lot of confusion, and we end up not understanding how they work and what to choose. In this scenario of trying to answer the question of whether it should be HelloFresh or Home Chef, we made sure to lay out both meal delivery services for comparison.
Extensive research is a must, and that’s exactly what you see below. Each meal delivery company has been thoroughly vetted only after taking into consideration important factors such as meal quality, accessibility, meal customization, recipe variety, and more.
HelloFresh and Home Chef are certainly worth trying mainly because both share many common characteristics like ingredients, prices, etc. Nonetheless, differences are only inevitable since both are top competitors.
Prepared Meal Delivery Services and Meal Kit Delivery Services Benefits
Meal kit service advertisements are seen everywhere nowadays, and there’s a good reason for that. Be it on social media or in the real world, meal delivery ads are spotted most of the time. Thanks to the availability of endless options, including HelloFresh and Home Chef, meal planning and healthy eating are becoming more and more popular.
The top-rated services feature specialized, customizable meals on every weekly menu! This means you have every valid reason to side with your chosen food delivery company.
A cardboard box packed with your favorite and some of the most nutritious meals (meal kits and/or prepared meals) delivered to your doorstep once a week – now that’s convenient!
But are meal delivery services really worth it? Here are all the reasons why they are!
#1 Simple Meal Planning Decisions
Do grocery shopping, meal prepping, and then cooking. You think you’re done? Well, that’s not it. After all this comes the time-consuming cleanup process too, and before it, there’s your weekly meal planning.
As it is, all these tasks eat up a huge chunk of your precious time and effort, and they seem to be even more difficult when going through a cooking burnout phase. Getting tired of cooking dinner every night can also mean getting tired of thinking up dinner recipes to cook. The consequence of this is that you end up cooking the same, boring food week after week.
Enter meal delivery services that really help when it comes to making decisions regarding what to eat for lunch and dinner – and even breakfast and snacks.
With meal kits, you get a wide-ranging menu to choose from each week. Even when the menu options are limited, selecting three meals from a list of, for instance, 7, is way simpler than assembling dishes from scratch.
#2 Easy Preparation
A weekly box of meal kits contains all the ingredients of the meals you chose for the whole week. Aside from having complete ingredients, you also get them fully cleaned and prepped with proper labels. They’re ready to be used and thus require just a little bit of work in the kitchen.
Once the meal kits are delivered, you immediately have to place the packages in the refrigerator. So, when it’s time to have dinner, you can pull out the meal kit from your fridge, unpack the ingredients, and start preparing the food. Since the ingredients are already prepped, the only thing left to do is to cook based on the clear, simple instructions provided.
With prepared meals, on the other hand, cooking is not needed. You may simply pull out the single-serve meal tray from the fridge and heat it in the microwave, oven, or stovetop.
#3 Better and More Nutrition
Meal kits, and even premade meals, from the best meal delivery services, are way healthier in comparison to takeout food. Junk food and fast food options are certainly not made using fresh ingredients.
On top of that, this type of food is not the healthiest choice! Most times, they contain ingredients that are bad for the body, such as artificial colors, preservatives, additives, etc. Then there’s the possibility of your takeout meal containing high sodium content.
On the contrary, meal kits include nutritionally balanced ingredients. Each meal kit or prepared meal comes with a well-balanced assortment of fresh vegetables, grains, and more.
#4 Less Money and Food Waste
In the case of HelloFresh, Home Chef, or any other top-rated meal kit delivery service, you select how many meals you want to receive every week. And for every meal, you choose how many servings per meal. Mostly, it’s 2 or 4 servings of each meal. Thus, you get the right amount or portion size of ingredients.
There’s no need to purchase whole ingredients this way, for example, having to buy a full bag of frozen peas. Hence, your cooking process is simplified, and food wastage is minimized. At the same time, since you’re not getting the whole bag of frozen peas but just what’s actually needed for the meal, you also spend less money.
Good for the environment, your refrigerator space, and your budget!
#5 Specialized Diet Options
No matter your diet plan, be it gluten-free, vegan, low-carb, low-calorie, pescatarian, or anything else, there will be meal choices for you because the menu of HelloFresh and Home Chef (both best meal delivery services) has diet-specific labels, tags, filters, or the like to narrow down your options.
You can use these health labels or categories on the menu to find meals suitable for your particular diet plan and dietary preferences. And there’s absolutely no shortage of specialized, and sometimes even customizable, meals like these!
What to Consider When Choosing a Meal Delivery Service
There’s surely no one-size-fits-all answer to a question such as, Which meal kit delivery service is the best? However, certain factors should be kept in mind when choosing one that’s suitable for you.
The factors, once again, can differ from one person to another, depending on your dietary requirements and restrictions, budget constraints, and also the types of meals.
So, here are some basic rules to take into account at the time of selection.
Kit Preference
Do you prefer meal kits or premade meals? The former comes with prepped, portioned ingredients, while the latter is already cooked and just needs to be heated and then served.
Type of Meals
What kind of meals do you want to order – lunch, dinner, breakfast, and/or snacks? Many meal services also offer grocery items that you can easily add to your weekly order. Based on your requirements, pick a meal delivery suitable for your meal planning needs and demands.
Convenience
Convenience, more often than not, has a cost of its own which, in simple words, refers to your budget limit. There’s no valid reason to assume that the best meal kit delivery services or the best prepared meal delivery services are always expensive – at least that’s not the case with HelloFresh and Home Chef. One may be more affordable than the other, but both are pretty inexpensive.
So don’t forget to factor in the cost per serving. The price range is very wide, thanks to the endless meal service options currently available. Typically, a single serving of a meal starts from $4.99 and may go up to $15-$20 for “premium” meals.
Add to that the shipping fee as well, although many meal deliveries are free of cost if the weekly order bill exceeds a certain amount. Normally, the delivery charges may be anywhere between $7.99 and $10.99 per meal box.
Dietary Considerations
Do you have any dietary considerations? Are there any ingredients you wish to avoid due to allergies or other health concerns? In that regard, you should choose a menu that is accommodating to your dietary preferences, for example, keto, paleo, Mediterranean, lowcarb, high-protein, plant-based, gluten-free, and more.
Nutritional Value
The quality and nutritional value of the ingredients also matter. If you want organic stuff, then select a meal service that uses only USDA-certified organic ingredients. There’s also humanely raised meat, local produce, etc. that many consumers prefer.
Variety
Make sure to pick a service that has a menu with a variety of recipes. This, no denying, keeps away food boredom. Lots of variety in the form of a weekly rotating menu is a huge plus, even more so if you’re a slightly fussy eater.
If you’re anything like me, then you’ll want more meal options on the menu, along with the meal customization feature that allows you to swap ingredients.
Packaging
Also, prioritize packaging sustainability. In simple words, choose a meal delivery service that uses biodegradable and/or recyclable packaging.
If the food company is anything like HelloFresh or Home Chef, then they’ll have a whole, separate page dedicated to how one should recycle their packaging materials – plastic trays, containers, and lids, along with insulation liners, cardboard boxes, ice packs, etc.
Shipping
Last but not least, does the meal delivery service ship to your area? Some of them might have limited serviceable locations. Good thing then that you have to type in your zip code first. There’s no point in browsing the menu, irrespective of how wide-ranging or appealing it seems if the company doesn’t deliver to your location.
Factors of Consideration Between HelloFresh and Home Chef
Meal Customization
What’s better than having the option to select the diet you want to follow? This helps you pick meal kits that follow specific nutrition guidelines such as low-calorie, high-protein, low-carb, etc.
The better option is to swap ingredients and/or avoid those that you don’t want in your meal kits.
Between HelloFresh and Home Chef, the latter lets you not only pick according to a dietary preference but also choose ingredients you want to avoid, such as pork, beef, poultry, fish, mushrooms, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, and sesame.
When it comes to meal planning and customization, Home Chef is the better choice because you can intricately alter the recipes. You can swap the protein of most meals from chicken, beef, and seafood to vegetarian and vice versa.
For example, while choosing the Salmon with Hazelnut Brown Butter Sauce meal kit recipe, I can swap the Salmon with a bunch of different protein options such as sirloin steaks, boneless chicken breasts, and tilapia fillets.
Another example of choosing a swappable meal kit from Home Chef’s menu is the Pecan-Crusted Chicken, which can be swapped with boneless pork chops, salmon fillets, or sirloin steaks. The rest of the ingredients remain the same, but only the main protein gets switched based on what you pick.
Home Chef’s menu features 3 different filters that you can use to navigate between different meal kit recipes: Less than 30 Minutes, Calorie-conscious, and Carb-conscious meals. The menu also features several other labels that categorize different meals according to popularity, ingredient quality, and prep time.
Home Chef prioritizes meal prep time more accurately than HelloFresh in that they feature 2 different types of meals. First are meal kits with pre-portioned ingredients and cooking instructions, and the second type of meal is oven-ready prepared meals that take less than 10 minutes to heat and serve.
Home Chef also lets you decide the better fit for your needs based on multiple serving sizes.
Family meals contain 4 serving sizes each with a prep and cook time of only 30-40 minutes. Cooking for 4 people in such a short amount of time is very impressive, and Home Chef makes it possible with minimal prep and pre-portioned ingredients.
The standard Meal Kit meals contain 2 servings each and take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes to cook easily and effortlessly. Their Express and Fast and Fresh meals serve 2 people at a time with a prep and cook time of 15-30 minutes for the entire meal kit. The time varies based on the ingredients, but it’s not more than 30 minutes per meal for 2-4 servings each.
Moving on to HelloFresh, its meal selection and customization process is simpler and more direct. On its meal plan page, you can select your meal preferences to personalize the menu for each week.
Even though the entire week’s menu is accessible, by selecting your ideal diet categories, you will be able to see these first before everything else. The categories are Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Family Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, Quick and Easy, and Pescatarian.
Here’s a quick peek inside the main diet preferences of HelloFresh’s meal planning page.
- Meat & Veggies: A balanced blend of non-vegetarian and vegetarian recipes which includes chicken, beef, and seafood options.
- Family Friendly: Classic, home-style meals that are not only easy and quick to prepare but have larger servings so you can make more without losing time.
- Quick and Easy: A combination of creative and family-friendly meals that take less than 30 minutes to prepare and have easy cleanup.
- Veggie: Plant-based meals with healthy veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, and beans for protein and fewer carbs.
- Fit & Wholesome: These meals are nutritionally balanced with fewer than 650 calories per serving. It’s ideal for weight loss, diabetes, and other health conditions.
- Pescatarian: Seafood-only meals with salmon, shrimp, and other delicious seafood and no other source of meat. The seafood is paired with beautiful and nutritious veggies and fruits.
Following that, you need to select your preferred number of servings per meal and number of meals per week. Your options are 2 or 4 servings each and 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 meals per week.
On HelloFresh’s menu, unfortunately, there aren’t any filters or subcategories to pick from. But the recipes do come with dietary labels that let you know which recipe is good for what benefits such as low calorie, low carb, vegetarian, easy prep, easy cleanup, spicy, and quick.
HelloFresh also includes different tags based on ingredient quality, popularity, and seasonal picks. Keeping aside the drawback that you cannot filter the meal kits based on all these categories, you can instantly figure out which recipe fits the bill without opening the recipe page.
You can then carefully consider and compare all your options easily because HelloFresh displays the cooking/prep time, diet label, and ingredient quality of every recipe on the menu itself.
Unlike Home Chef, HelloFresh does not let you swap and avoid ingredients from every week’s menu. HelloFresh will display all the ingredients of each meal kit recipe, which also includes what’s not added in your meal kit and basic pantry items like salt, pepper, butter, and oil.
Another factor of difference between HelloFresh and Home Chef is that HelloFresh does not serve freshly prepared meals like Home Chef. All are meal kits with 2 or 4 servings each. To save time in meal prep, you can opt for meal kits that do not take longer than 30 minutes to prep, cook, and serve.
Meal Pricing
Selecting your meal plan and getting to know the price for each meal box are simpler than ever with HelloFresh. The price varies based on the number of servings and meals you order each week.
The higher the number of total meals per week, the lower the cost.
For a “2-person” plan (2 servings per recipe):
- 2 recipes per week: $12 per serving
- 3 recipes per week: $10 per serving
- 4 recipes per week: $9.49 per serving
- 5 recipes per week: $9 per serving
- 6 recipes per week: $8.49 per serving
For a “4-person” plan (4 servings per recipe):
- 2 recipes per week: $9.49 per serving
- 3 recipes per week: $8.49 per serving
- 4 recipes per week: $8 per serving
- 5 recipes per week: $8 per serving
- 6 recipes per week: $8 per serving
Modifying each week’s box is easier with so many different options. You can pick multiple sizes easily without compromising, and you can increase or decrease the number of meals from week to week. It all depends on you.
What I didn’t quite like about HelloFresh is the $10 shipping fee on all orders, even the largest ones. But shipping is very common among meal kit companies. HelloFresh delivers once a week and is a consistent and dependable service, so most people shouldn’t mind paying the shipping fee for a timely delivery.
Home Chef’s meal planning and pricing are a bit complicated because you can customize and swap ingredients on select meal kits. Home Chef also features prepared meals that are priced differently than meal kits.
The meal kits start from $8 per serving, but some light meals such as lunches and breakfast items also go as low as $7 per serving. Premium ingredients such as steak and salmon cost more, which increases the cost per serving of a meal kit – ranging from $11 to $18 per serving.
Different food items cost more or less depending on the serving size you select. Extras like grilled chicken breasts, salmon fillets, coffee, sourdough, small bites, and snacks do not cost as much as a full meal kit, which means you can save money while adding smaller meals to your entire day’s meals.
Unfortunately, Home Chef also charges a shipping fee, but it varies from location to location and the size of your order. Typically, Home Chef does not charge shipping on orders above $50, but it primarily also depends on the delivery location as well.
Both HelloFresh and Home Chef are on par when it comes to cost per serving. They offer their own unique prices based on the quality of ingredients, serving size, and meal type. But I will give Home Chef more credit as it offers more versatile meal options than HelloFresh.
HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service, but Home Chef delivers meal kits, prepared meals, and extra add-ons like protein bundles, appetizers, breakfast items, and snacks.
Meal Prep Time
HelloFresh is a competitive service as it beats other meal kit companies based on meal prep time and comfort.
HelloFresh’s meals require very little time and effort making. The meals are pre-portioned and very well-organized during packing, so everything you use is 100% authentic and does not wind up in your fridge as leftovers.
The family-friendly and gourmet meals take 30 minutes to make, and only a few take longer than 45 minutes depending on the serving size you select. Most of the meals are classic and delicious, with a few that are more modern and creative.
Chicken dishes are plenty with a few 100% plant-based options. My favorite is the seafood dishes that are super simple and quick to make but taste exactly like restaurant-quality seafood.
Because HelloFresh does not let you swap or modify ingredients, the meal prep time is accurate and consistent. You have as many as 25-30 recipes to pick from each week’s menu with easy, nutritious, and classic recipes in the mix.
Home Chef allows a bit more precision and control over the meal prep time. You have more varied options to select from depending on your personal needs.
Here are the different cooking times for Home Chef’s meals:
- Standard Meal Kits take 30 minutes or less to cook.
- 15-Minute Meal Kits take only 15 minutes to cook.
- Oven-Ready Meal Kits may take longer, around 35 to 50 minutes, but they are all oven-friendly.
- Grill-Ready Meal Kits are mostly pre-prepped and they take 25-45 minutes to cook.
- Culinary Collection Meal Kits include premium ingredients and can take up to 60 minutes to prep and cook.
- Fast & Fresh Prepared Meals take 5 minutes to microwave and serve.
It’s clear that between HelloFresh and Home Chef, the latter has more flexibility in prep and cooking time, while the former serves quick and fun meal kits.
With Home Chef, you can cook a meal without wasting too much time and still learning something in the process. HelloFresh’s meals are more beginner-friendly with not too many intermediate-level cooking skills involved.
Diet-Friendliness
Both HelloFresh and Home Chef meet basic dietary requirements, and no special diets are included in their meal plans. For example, both services feature a low-carb and low-calorie meal plan.
You can filter all the low-carb and low-calorie meals on Home Chef’s menu, but HelloFresh does not have this feature.
Both services also feature interesting meal options for vegetarians, though I did not find any vegan meals on their menu.
Each recipe comes equipped with proper nutrition information, an ingredient list, and a potential allergens list. You can exclude some ingredients from your meal kits on Home Chef’s menu or swap proteins on select meals. This type of customization makes Home Chef a more diet-friendly choice than HelloFresh.
HelloFresh is nice when you take into consideration the different dietary meal plans it offers. The Fit & Wholesome diet preference contains meals with not more than 650 calories per serving. Their Pescatarian and Veggie diet plan also include many interesting food choices.
Neither of the services is compatible with more restrictive diets such as keto, paleo, Mediterranean, and vegan diets. If you have severe food allergies or intolerances, even though Home Chef lets you skip common ingredients, the meals are processed in the same kitchen facility, so there may be a risk of cross-contamination.
Nutrition-wise, HelloFresh and Home Chef offer a balanced caloric value to their customers. Their meals contain no more than the average calories required per meal, which should be anywhere between 400 and 600 calories.
For weight loss and weight management, the meals are well-balanced, nutritious, and wholesome to eat.
Quality of Ingredients
Most often, people confuse the meaning and purpose of vegetarianism and veganism with an organic diet. These terms are not the same. An organic diet includes all organic ingredients including veg and meat that are processed without chemicals, preservatives, additives, and GMOs.
Organic foods are grown without the use of common synthetic compounds, human-made pesticides, and fertilizers. This applies to animal products as the animals are fed natural sources of food without hormones, chemicals, and boosters. GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are eliminated from the processing of ingredients.
You can easily include fresh produce, animal meat, healthy drinks, frozen meals, and snacks as organic food as long as they follow organic practices.
Based on this definition, HelloFresh ranks very low for its organic meal kits. Their focus is more on limiting the use of processed ingredients such as GMOs, hormones, antibiotics, additives, and preservatives.
There is no data about HelloFresh delivering only organic ingredients. If you want to venture into 100% organic meal kits, services like Green Chef and Sunbasket should be more to your liking. They use only organic ingredients in their meal kits.
Home Chef introduces some organic ingredients in their meal kits, but not all. You can customize and select your protein for some meals. There, you will find some organic and hormone-free alternatives to meat such as chicken breasts, seafood, and plant-based meat.
Even though Home Chef does not offer organic ingredients for all the meals, all their meals are great sources of protein and healthy nutrients.
But just like HelloFresh, Home Chef has limited vegan and plant-based recipes. So, it’s not suitable for people who are on a strict plant-based and/or vegan and organic diet.
Some of Home Chef’s meals come with organic protein ingredients like antibiotic-free chicken and organic salmon. Home Chef prioritizes the use of humane and natural local farm practices to ensure most of their fresh produce, including meat, follows sustainable farming standards as defined by the USDA.
Between HelloFresh and Home Chef, the latter is a convenient and organic-friendly meal service that gives you the option the select organic chicken as a way of staying fit and healthy.
The Sign-Up Process
The meal selection and ordering process of HelloFresh works very simply and effortlessly. You have to choose between the six meal plans that they offer. The price for each meal plan is the same as it depends on the number of meals you order per week.
As soon as you select your meal plan and size, you have to add your delivery details, email address, and payment information. There’s room for customization after you place an order, and you can swap meals, skip an order, cancel, and change the delivery address easily without contacting customer service.
The option to edit your active orders is on the Account page itself, and the cutoff time is at least 5 days before the scheduled delivery. Likewise, their website is user-friendly and quickly walks you through every step of the way.
It’s best to keep checking the status of your order if you want to make any last-minute changes. Once you receive and unpack your first order, for the next delivery, you can either let HelloFresh automatically select the meals for you based on your first week’s purchase or you can pick your own meals easily.
The process is the same as HelloFresh in that it’s super simple and convenient. Signing up on Home Chef is quick because you only have to add your zip code and email address to begin. This should tell you right away whether Home Chef delivers to your area or not.
Next, you have to pick between two different types of meal plans: meal kits and prepared meals. You can also avoid some ingredients from your meal plans such as shellfish, nuts, mushrooms, poultry, beef, pork, or fish – a great feature for picky eaters or those with mild food allergies.
Some of Home Chef’s meals are naturally soy-, gluten-, and dairy-free. You get to choose what you want easily during the meal selection process.
Adding meals to your cart is simple enough, even with the option to swap protein on specific meals. You can easily select different sources of protein such as chicken, seafood, beef, and vegetarian in some recipes.
Home Chef also features a wide variety of add-ons like waffles, soups, salads, small bites, and desserts for a low cost.
The prepared meals come in multiple serving sizes starting from single serve to 4 servings per recipe.
Once you place your order, you do have a few days to edit or modify the order by swapping meals, adding or removing recipes, or skipping a week. The cutoff time for every meal is at noon on Friday before the upcoming week’s order. This applies to all meal orders.
The great news is that you can check the status of your orders or make as many changes as you like using the Home Chef app. It has the same features and functionality as the website.
Packaging
As a meal kit delivery service, HelloFresh delivers all its ingredients in small individual packages made of plastic. The individual plastic bags keep the ingredients separate and fresh during transit. While this is a good thing for keeping meal kits from spoiling and leaking, it also leads to more plastic consumption.
To solve the problem of excessive plastic wastage, HelloFresh uses only recyclable plastics that you can discard easily for curbside pickup or at a specialized recycling facility.
All the smaller plastic bags are packed together with paper bags to keep each meal recipe separate. During unpacking, you can keep all the individual meal kit packages as they are in the refrigerator. Each meal kit, depending on the serving size, contains between 35 and 50 plastic seal bags, liners, and a few ice packs to keep the ingredients cold and fresh during transit.
The meal kits of Home Chef are carefully packed in cooler boxes, and each ingredient is sealed with recyclable plastic bags. Again, this may lead to excessive plastic use, but all the packaging materials are recyclable. The ice packs and cooler boxes are included.
The prepared meals are served in plastic containers with tight seals and lids to avoid leaking and spilling. Home Chef minimizes the use of plastic as much as possible. As an alternative to plastic, paper bags and cardboard liners are used to make the packaging more eco-friendly and sustainable.
Nutrition and Recipes
The nutrition of HelloFresh includes simple and homemade-style recipes – meals that are calorie-smart, low in carbs, and nutritionally balanced to fit the needs of most people.
Since HelloFresh lets you pick your meal preference at the time of meal selection, here are some of the top-rated and highly nutritious meals in each category.
Meats & Veggies
- Serving amount: 2 or 4 servings
- Calories: 880 kcal per serving
- Fat: 38g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 84g per serving
- Protein: 46g per serving
- Sodium: 1750mg per serving
- Serving amount: 2 or 4 servings
- Calories: 870 kcal per serving
- Fat: 48g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 70g per serving
- Protein: 42g per serving
- Sodium: 790mg per serving
Veggie
- Serving amount: 2 or 4 servings
- Calories: 640 kcal per serving
- Fat: 16g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 106g per serving
- Protein: 19g per serving
- Sodium: 900mg per serving
- Serving amount: 2 or 4 servings
- Calories: 730 kcal per serving
- Fat: 31g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 97g per serving
- Protein: 22g per serving
- Sodium: 690mg per serving
Fit & Wholesome
- Serving amount: 2 or 4 servings
- Calories: 650 kcal per serving
- Fat: 33g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 59g per serving
- Protein: 26g per serving
- Sodium: 1050mg per serving
- Serving amount: 2 or 4 servings
- Calories: 560 kcal per serving
- Fat: 23g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 73g per serving
- Protein: 18g per serving
- Sodium: 820mg per serving
Pescatarian
- Serving amount: 2 or 4 servings
- Calories: 760 kcal per serving
- Fat: 31g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 84g per serving
- Protein: 36g per serving
- Sodium: 1410mg per serving
- Serving amount: 2 or 4 servings
- Calories: 910 kcal per serving
- Fat: 49g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 73g per serving
- Protein: 47g per serving
- Sodium: 900mg per serving
Home Chef’s menu offers 3 different filters or subcategories: Calorie-conscious, Less than 30 minutes, and Carb-conscious meals. The meal type varies from meal kits to prepared meals and oven-ready meals.
Calorie-Conscious
- Meal Type: Meal kit
- Serving amount: 2 servings
- Calories: 530 kcal per serving
- Fat: 29g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 22g per serving
- Protein: 47g per serving
- Sodium: 1290mg per serving
- Meal Type: Fast & Fresh
- Serving amount: 2 servings
- Calories: 580 kcal per serving
- Fat: 23g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 58g per serving
- Protein: 35g per serving
- Sodium: 1460mg per serving
Carb-Conscious
- Meal Type: Meal kit
- Serving amount: 2 servings
- Calories: 530 kcal per serving
- Fat: 30g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 28g per serving
- Protein: 40g per serving
- Sodium: 1480mg per serving
- Meal Type: Oven-ready
- Serving amount: 2 servings
- Calories: 500 kcal per serving
- Fat: 24g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 27g per serving
- Protein: 44g per serving
- Sodium: 1650mg per serving
Under 30 Minutes
- Meal Type: Meal kit
- Serving amount: 2 servings
- Calories: 580 kcal per serving
- Fat: 28g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 40g per serving
- Protein: 44g per serving
- Sodium: 1520mg per serving
- Meal Type: Express
- Serving amount: 2 servings
- Calories: 610 kcal per serving
- Fat: 30g per serving
- Carbohydrate: 42g per serving
- Protein: 43g per serving
- Sodium: 1690mg per serving
Pros and Cons
| HelloFresh | |
| Pros | Cons |
| ● Delivers groceries and meal kits straight to your doorstep. | ● Not very diet-friendly for paleo, keto, and high-protein. |
| ● Easy-to-cook meals with minimal prep and cooking time. | ● Not allergy- or food intolerance-friendly. |
| ● You can order as many meals as you want per week. | ● No gluten- or dairy-free options. |
| ● Meal selection and the ordering process are quick and smooth. | ● Limited plant-based meal options. |
| ● Great meal options for balanced healthy eating. | ● Only a few ingredients are organic. |
| ● Low-calorie and low-carb meals are included. | ● There is a $10-$11 shipping fee on all orders. |
| ● Not very expensive cost per serving as compared to other similar meal kit services. | ● The packaging is a bit excessive. |
| ● All are family-friendly and nutritious meals. | ● Only meal kits are included. |
| ● A great choice for the proficient home cook who loves a mix of simple and restaurant-style dishes. | |
| ● All the meals are fast and convenient to prepare. | |
| Home Chef | |
| Pros | Cons |
| ● Interesting meal variety based on cooking skills and prep time. | ● Some of the premium meals are expensive. |
| ● You can order premade appetizers, family-friendly meals, and salads. | ● A lot of plastic usage in packaging. |
| ● You can swap protein on select meals. | ● Sodium content is high in some meals. |
| ● Most of the ingredients are organic and all are GMO- and preservative-free. | ● It does not accommodate restrictive diets like paleo or keto. |
| ● There are plenty of grill-ready, microwave-friendly, and reheat meals. | ● Very limited vegan and plant-based meal options. |
| ● Most meals take 30 minutes or less to prepare. | |
| ● Wide variety of meal options every week for vegetarians, omnivores, and balanced eaters. | |
| ● You can navigate the entire menu before signing up. | |
| ● Gluten-free, low-calorie, low-carb, and allergy-friendly meals are included. | |
| ● Shipping is free on orders above $45. | |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Do HelloFresh and Home Chef Meal Kits Come with Support Materials?
If your goal is to maximize your time in the kitchen and do minimal prep time, you’d be pleased to know that both HelloFresh and Home Chef deliver recipe cards for each meal kit.
You can collect all these recipe cards and try your hand at making the recipe again if you want to in the future.
The recipe card is stocked with step-by-step instructions with pictures wherever necessary. It features all the ingredients of the recipe including the portion sizes, more helpful tips on how to make the recipe better and faster, along with the estimated prep time even when the dish can be cooked in the oven or microwave. There will be instructions on how to go about it along with all the utensils you’ll need.
The recipe cards are large, bigger than A4 size, and can make a home chef out of a novice cook in no time.
If you find all this confusing or intimidating, you can easily select Easy Prep, Easy Cleanup, and Quick meals on HelloFresh and Home Chef. They do have multiple meal kits that do not require lots of multitasking in the kitchen.
If you don’t like to waste paper, you can also opt for the same recipe card in a PDF format, which you can save on your phone or computer. All the recipes can be viewed from anywhere and at any time on the menu pages of both HelloFresh and Home Chef.
2. Where Do HelloFresh and Home Chef Deliver?
HelloFresh delivers everywhere in the continental United States, but not to Alaska and Hawaii. They make use of local carriers such as UPS and FedEx to deliver your orders. The meals arrive once a week at your doorstep. Take note that PO boxes are not included.
Similarly, Home Chef delivers to 98% of the continental United States. Some areas are not included. To find out whether they deliver to your address, you can enter your zip code on the sign-up page. There, you will be instantly notified about the availability.
You can even drop an email in case Home Chef does not deliver to your location, and they will inform you once the delivery begins.
The meals arrive in cold packs and are delivered straight to your doorstep once a week. You can select the delivery day from Monday to Friday, but some days may not be available to you based on where you live.
Overall, the delivery is consistent, smooth, and flexible for people on a busy schedule. Both services allow timely updates regarding the shipment and delivery of all your orders via text and/or email.
3. How Long Do HelloFresh and Home Chef Meals Last?
HelloFresh’s meals are delivered between 2 and 4 days after they have been packed. With the help of secure packaging and ice gel packs, the ingredients stay fresh. Meats and fresh produce are packed inside cooler boxes to prevent leaks or spills.
Even after delivery, the food stays fresh for several hours, so you don’t have to worry about taking the packaging inside as soon as the order arrives.
According to HelloFresh, meal kits with meat or fish must be cooked and eaten within 4 days. Fresh produce can last up to 7 days in the refrigerator. Dry grains and spices can be stored for months without spoiling.
You can even store some ingredients in the freezer to prolong their shelf life, but meal kit services recommend cooking the meal kits within 7 days after delivery. The earlier the better if you want the texture and flavor of the meals to be exactly right.
Home Chef serves 2 different types of meals: meal kits and freshly prepared meals. The meal kits can be stored in the fridge for up to 7 days. Meal kits that are cooked and eaten within 7 days retain peak freshness that’s why it’s important to eat the meals as soon as possible.
Prepared meals have a relatively shorter shelf life since all the ingredients are cooked and ready to eat. Home Chef recommends eating the prepared meals within 3-4 days after delivery.
Just in case you want to eat the meal after a couple of days, you can store some meals in the freezer to prolong their shelf life. Frozen meals stay fresh for longer and simply need thawing and reheating on a pan or skillet to taste delicious.
For maximum flavor and fresh texture, eat the prepared meals within 5 days after storing them in the freezer for better safekeeping.
HelloFresh vs Home Chef – Who’s the Winner?
On a quick ending note, all the comparisons in this article are based on meeting the most basic nutritional needs. If you have specific dietary restrictions, it’s best to do your own research based on what you want.
Between HelloFresh and Home Chef meals, I found the latter a more versatile and lifestyle-enhancing meal kit delivery service. It offers quick and easy meals to everyone, even finicky eaters because its menu features over 20 different meal options.
For diet-friendliness, meal customization, and more protein options, go with Home Chef. Their meals are relatively expensive but well worth the cost considering that most of their ingredients are organic.
HelloFresh is more family-friendly and suitable for beginner-level home cooks. The meals are super easy and quick to make. Only a handful of them takes more than 40 minutes to prepare. Plus, the meals are delicious, homemade-style, and satisfyingly healthy.
For simple cooking, easy prep time, and family-friendly meals, go with HelloFresh. Their meals are very affordable and are packed fresh with high-quality groceries.
