Are you new to meal kit delivery services and want to know where to start? Or a seasoned expert and looking for your next option? I recommend HelloFresh’s meal kit delivery service if you fall into either category!

I tried HelloFresh for three weeks. Their meals were tasty and quick to make.

Keep reading for my full review of HelloFresh. If you’re interested in learning more about meal kit delivery services, click here.

Plans & Cost

HelloFresh offers three types of meal plans:

• Veggie, with the option of 2 or 4 servings and 3 recipes per week
• Classic, with the option of 2 or 4 servings and 3 or 4 recipes per week
• Family, with the option of 4 servings and 2 or 3 recipes per week

The Veggie and Classic plans are $9.99 per serving. The Family plan is $8.74 per serving.

So if you got the Classic plan with the option of 2 servings and 3 recipes per week, this would be $59.94 per week (2 x 3 x $9.99). This is the option I selected.

BONUS: You can save $30 off your first order with HelloFresh using this discount link.

Selection Options

Each week, you have the option to choose from eight recipes. Of the eight, one is usually a 20-minute meal and one is a premium meal, where you can pay $5 for a more expensive meal (like steak and lobster).

Eight is on the low side of options compared to other meal kit delivery services I’ve tried. However, I was happy with the options that were available and didn’t need more than the eight selection options.

Delivery

For my area, I had the option to get my delivery on any day except for Sunday. That made it really easy to fit the meals into my schedule (instead of the other way around).

I had some struggles with the delivery service. None of the deliveries arrived before 8PM. Because the deliveries came so late in the day, I wasn’t able to cook a recipe on the day the package arrived. That meant figuring out a meal at the last minute since I couldn’t use HelloFresh for that night.

One week, the delivery never came, even though the delivery website said it had been delivered. I walked around my complex looking for it, but never found it. I reached out to HelloFresh and they credited my account, but I was disappointed that I didn’t get the meals for that week.

Packaging

HelloFresh had some of my favorite packaging of all the meal kit delivery services. (Which I realize is a really geeky thing to say!)

The boxes were slightly smaller compared to other services, so it took up less room in the recycling bin.

Inside the box, the padding was reinforced cardboard. Other services use padded bags or insulation that may be recyclable, but can’t go in general recycling because it’ll jam up the recycling machines. HelloFresh’s reinforced cardboard could actually go in the recycling bin (win!).

All of the meals were separated into individual paper bags. I loved this. Some other services throw all the ingredients into the box in a jumble and it’s up to you to separate the ingredients into meals. With HelloFresh, you can just grab the bags out of the box and toss them in the refrigerator.

Difficulty to Prepare

Overall, the meals were very easy to make. I was usually able to complete the meals in less than the estimated time on the recipe card. This is a minor miracle. With most meal kit delivery services, it took me longer than the estimated time to make the recipe! This alone is a huge plus for HelloFresh.

There are some important instructions on the left sidebar of the recipe card. I didn’t realize this at first and jumped right into the step-by-step recipe instructions. And then realized I missed something important. After I figured out that I needed to read the left sidebar of the recipe card first, I found the recipes easy to follow.

There were sometimes very tiny potatoes to peel. Peeling is not my specialty, so that was a minor source of frustration for me. Hopefully you’re a peeling expert and won’t have my difficulties!

Taste

I found the meals to be solid, American fare. Some of my favorite meal kit delivery service meals have come from HelloFresh.

Of the 9 meals I tried, I loved 3 of the meals, liked 5 of the meals, and didn’t care for 1, primarily because it didn’t reheat very well and I depend on leftovers for lunch.

Portion Size

I found the portion sizes very satisfying. Although my meal plan was for two serving sizes, some meals were big enough for three serving sizes (and I’m not a small eater!).

Customer Service

HelloFresh allows you to make most customer service changes over their website. This was rare in my experience with meal kit delivery services. For example, many of the other meal kit delivery services require you to email or call to cancel your service. With HelloFresh, you can do it directly from the website. It may seem like a small thing, but it makes a big difference in my customer experience.

When my delivery didn’t show up one week, I emailed HelloFresh’s delivery email address to inquire about the delivery. When I didn’t hear back within 24 hours, I emailed several other email addresses listed on the website. Different people must monitor each of the email addresses, because I got two different responses from two different people. Initial confusion aside, they did credit my account for the delivery that never came. I understand that HelloFresh can’t have complete control over third-party delivery services, so I appreciate that they did what they could on their end.

Overall Notes

I really enjoyed my three weeks of HelloFresh and am going to continue using them in the future. I recommend HelloFresh to anyone who likes tasty American fare that doesn’t take too long to cook.

When you try HelloFresh for the first time, you can use my discount link to save $30 off your first delivery.

Enjoy!