A Full List Of Meal Kit Companies Like Hello Fresh To Explore
Hello Fresh is one of the US’s most popular and well-known meal kit delivery services. The company offers a simple subscription method: pick a meal plan, get your meal kit box straight to your home, and cook fun dinners in your kitchen, with chef-created recipes that are usually delicious and remain simple and easy to cook.
Since most of us don’t have spare time to dive into the net to pick new recipes, shop daily for groceries, and spend a long time on meal prep – Hello Fresh and companies like it can be a great solution.
In a Nutshell – What Is HelloFresh Meal Delivery Service?
HelloFresh is one of the top meal kit delivery services in the U.S (and the world). The company provides fresh local ingredients right to your door, making it convenient and easy to craft homemade meals, with a clear focus on all-time classic recipes.
These ingredients are portioned out, so all you need to do is follow the instructions on the included recipe cards, and you’ll have a meal ready in no time. Meals typically take less than 30 minutes to create with HelloFresh.
Additionally, there are even options you can select that take less than 20 minutes, making it a top choice for busy professionals who are short on time.
Main Pros & Cons Of The Hello Fresh Service
Below, you’ll find some of the pros and cons of HelloFresh. These short notes will better enable you to decide if this meal delivery service fits your lifestyle and needs.
Pros
- A good choice for vegetarians, pescatarians, and those who need low-calorie meal kits
- Meal kits are quick to make, with the majority ready in 30 minutes or less
- The perfect option for solo eaters, couples, and families with picky eaters
- Meals are flavorful, mainly with classic taste, and convenient
- Provides ingredients and recipes right to your door
- Great for newer home chefs who want to gain cooking skills
Cons
- Mid-range pricing than some other meal delivery service options like Dinnerly or Every plate (though less than Green Chef or Sunbasket)
- Not supporting diets like Paleo, Keto, and vegan
- Additional shipping fees per box
Meal Plans
HelloFresh meal kit service offers six different meal plans, allowing you to find meal options that fit your needs more efficiently. Below, you’ll find the meal plan options available through HelloFresh.
- Meat & Veggies: Nutritious meals for an omnivore diet with various proteins, vegetables, and carbs.
- Veggie: An option for vegetarian eaters with plant-based protein, vegetables, and carbs.
- Family-Friendly: This plan includes “kid-tested” recipes, making it an excellent choice for families.
- Fit & Wholesome: You can feel good about eating Wholesome and filling meals with many options that offer low calories per serving.
- Quick & Easy: These meals are ready in 20 minutes or less, perfect for busy schedules.
- Pescatarian: Meals for pescatarian eaters, focusing on fish as the primary protein source for dishes.
Sample Of Delicious Meal Kits From Hello Fresh
HelloFresh has a rotating menu that changes weekly; here are a few examples of what to expect on the menu.
- One-pan cheeseburger lettuce wraps with crispy fried onions, pickles & special sauce.
- Honey miso broccoli donburi with sweet potato, scallion rice & a fried egg
- Mushroom & herb shepherd’s pie topped with white cheddar mashed potatoes
- Creamy lemon dill salmon with harissa bulgur salad
While Hello Fresh is a great meal delivery option for many, you may want to explore other meal kit plans that provide services that are just as good or even better than Hello Fresh.
Are there more affordable meal delivery services than HelloFresh? Are there healthier options? We researched for you, exploring the most popular meal kit subscription services, reviewing them from A to Z – Subscribing, getting the delivery box, unpacking, and cooking, while taking detailed notes on each.
Hello Fresh Alternatives – Best Meal Delivery Services Out There To explore
1. Blue Apron
Fancier Meals Than Hello Fresh
Blue Apron is one of the most well-known meal kit delivery services, and it is undoubtedly a main Hello Fresh competitor that you must look at.
Blue Apron specializes in high-quality chef-designed meals that will make you try new tastes, just like dining out at a good restaurant.
The company offers an extensive menu, including more than 20 exciting and diverse recipes weekly, including some microwave-ready meals and dessert options.
Blue Apron Meal Kits Service Main Qualities
- Weekly delivery box with everything you need for gourmet meals at home.
- Cheaper than most usual takeout options.
- Variety of over 20 meal kits each week.
- Quick-meals with 20-45 minutes of prep time.
- Recipes for both experienced Home Chefs and beginners in the kitchen.
- A Few microwave-ready meals every week.
- One of the largest and most popular meal delivery services in the US
- A menu that supports different diets – vegetarian, carb-conscious, low calories, and Weight Watchers.
Blue Apron Sample Food Options
- Creamy Calabrian shrimp & cascatelli with salsa verde zucchini
- Seared chicken & spicy nectarine pan sauce with ponzu broccoli & sesame rice
- Sheet pan za’atar chicken pitas with carrot fries & harissa mayo
- Cheesy truffle cavatappi with mushrooms & kale
2. Home Chef
Easier And Quicker Meal Kits Than HelloFresh
Home Chef is another top Hello Fresh alternative on our list, especially since it has received the highest customer satisfaction rates among the leading meal kit companies.
One of the best things about Home Chef is that they give their customers up to 20+ meal choices per week, with great flexibility in choosing your proteins in most meals. With so many options, customers will never get bored of their choices or even eat the same meal twice if they don’t want to.
Home Chef offers specific diet options, such as vegetarian, Mediterranean, and pescatarian meals, and low-carb options to suit different lifestyles. The company also provides a dedicated plan, ‘Fresh & Easy’, for busy people with less time to cook. This plan offers oven-ready, microwave-ready, grill-ready, and fast 15 min meal kits for you to enjoy.
Their flexible services also let you customize your meals, like choosing your protein sources or doubling the number of proteins in your meals.
While you can get your meals every week by choosing the following week’s meal every Friday, you can also alter your schedule or skip a delivery at your discretion, leaving the choice up to you. Get as little as two meals a week or as many as six meals – That’s how flexible Home Chef is.
When you create your account, Home Chef asks a set of questions that let them know you and your preferences to offer selections based on what you love to eat. You can also stray from these recommendations and choose any other meal, but this makes things a little easier for you as you choose.
Breakdown of Home Chef Qualities
- Divers a menu of 26+ recipe choices every week.
- Option to customize your meals.
- 15-minute fast meal kits and oven-ready meal options are available.
- Choose your Meals up to six weeks in advance.
- Vegetarian, low-calories, pescatarian, low-carb meal options, and more.
- Ability to easily skip weeks when needed.
- Compatible price to the Hello Fresh service.
Home Chef Sample Food Options
- NY strip steak with herbed shrimp and cheesy scalloped potatoes and broccolini
- Shrimp scampi risotto with garlic zucchini
- Spaghetti with roasted red pepper cream and garlic bread
- One-pot creamy Italian sausage rigatoni with fire-roasted tomatoes and kale
2. Sunbasket
Similar to HelloFresh Meal Kit, But Organic and Healthier!
Sun Basket is a fantastic home meal delivery service known for its excellent healthy meals. If you’re someone looking for a healthy lifestyle, Sun Basket is your go-to service.
Sun Basket offers an extensive menu, including over 40 recipes and prepared meals per week, full of fresh and organic produce.
The recipes are designed to be easy to cook and often include even international ingredients and flavors for more variety. Each recipe is developed by a chef and evaluated and approved by a nutritionist to ensure its nutritional value.
On top of their great variety of meals, Sun Basket is also strongly environmentally conscious – most of the Sun Basket packaging is 100% recyclable!
The options for special diets are nearly endless with Sun Basket. You can choose options like carb-conscious, paleo, vegan, gluten-free, diabetes-friendly, and Mediterranean—as well as a few more. There are also 15-minute meals and even pre-cooked fresh meals available for anyone who doesn’t have spare time to spend in the kitchen.
When you build your basket every week, you can choose a pre-structured basket or create your custom delivery. Plus, you also have the option of add-ons to your delivery, from fresh proteins, homemade pasta, healthy snacks, and more.
With Sunbasket, you’re not obligated to anything. You can decide to cancel the following week, skip weeks when needed, or just order as a one-time delivery.
Sun Basket Main Benefits
- Tasteful and healthy meals.
- AMAZING variety of 40+ recipes and pre-made meals every week.
- Organic and farm-fresh ingredients.
- Wide variety of different dietary options – Paleo, Vegan, Gluten-free, Low-carb, vegetarian meals, and more.
- Nutritionist-approved meals.
- Add-on marketplace.
- Eco-friendly packaging.
- Option for a one-time order or a subscription.
3. Dinnerly
Most Affordable Alternative to HelloFresh Meal Kit Service
Dinnerly is an excellent alternative to Hello Fresh, especially if you watch your budget and look for a more cost-effective meal kit service. To put it in simple words – Dinnerly is the cheapest meal-kit delivery service we know, with a cost of less than $5 per serving!
Dinnerly has not been around for long, but it rapidly gains an excellent reputation. It is focused on delivering no-fuss, super-affordable meal kits filled with quality ingredients and recipes that are easy to make. The company offers a changing menu of 20 dishes every week to its customers.
The cheaper pricing of their meal kits does not mean that Dinnerly cuts corners on the standard of their meals. Instead, the ingredients sent are high quality, just like other meal kit companies like Hello Fresh!
Dinnerly keeps its prices low by keeping its recipes simple, using fewer ingredients per recipe, digital recipe cards rather than paper ones, and way less packaging. The company also avoids any expensive marketing campaigns.
The weekly menu includes meal options for a vegetarian diet, families with children, a dairy-free diet, a low-carb diet, and a gluten-free diet.
Here is the Breakdown of Dinnerly Great Qualities
- Most affordable meal kit service in America – with meals starting at less than $5!
- 20+ new recipe choices every week – six ingredients per recipe – less fuss with lots of flavors.
- Two meal plans are available: a two-person and a four-person family plan.
- Few desserts and protein packs are available as add-ons to your delivery.
- Quality ingredients combined with simple-to-cook recipes.
- Support diets like gluten-free, dairy-free, low carb, low-calorie, and vegetarian.
- Skip any week that doesn’t suit you or pause your account at any time.
5. Martha and Marley Spoon
Meal Kit Company With Recipes from The Martha Stewart Kitchen
Martha & Marley Spoon is the brainchild of America’s queen of home cooking, Martha Stewart. Due to this service’s quality nature, we believe it is an excellent alternative to Hello Fresh. Martha & Marley Spoon is all about home cooking at its best.
Martha & Marley Spoon operates globally and has an excellent reputation for delivering classic recipes combined with an array of quality ingredients. In addition, your Martha & Marley Spoon delivery will include fresh seasonal produce and pre-portioned ingredients along with your selected recipes.
With Martha & Marley Spoon, you have the choice of two different plans. A two-person and four-person plan can include two, three, or four meals per week.
As a Martha & Marley Spoon customer, you will be able to choose from a menu that includes OVER 40 different recipes every week. The menu consists of many classic favorites and a selection of dishes from around the globe.
Dietary requirements are well catered. Each recipe selection is marked with unique dietary characteristics – like low-calorie per serving, dairy-free, no added gluten, and even kid-friendly.
Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon Benefits Summary
- All recipes are designed by the queen of classic home cooking herself – Martha Stewart!
- More than 40 tasteful meal selections to choose from every week.
- Flexibility to choose between two to four meals each week.
- The menu caters to gluten-free, low-carb, vegetarian, child-friendly, under 30 minutes, and more.
- Meals are categorized with specific dietary features.
- Very flexible service – skip weeks whenever necessary and cancel at any time without penalty. Choose meals from their weekly menu up to 2 months in advance.
- A unique menu feature of Martha & Marley Spoon is their Thanksgiving Box.
6. Home Chef ‘Fresh & Easy’ Plan
Alternative To Hello Fresh With Oven-Ready & Fast Meal Kits
Fresh & Easy Plan by Home Chef is another suitable alternative to the Hello Fresh service. Whether you have a large family or looking for an easy meal kit option for a couple, you are sure to love the convenience this specific plan has to offer. The fresh & easy program was designed to ensure your home cooking meals are quick and super easy to prepare, with minimum cooking time requirements. This plan is, without a doubt, an ideal option for busy people with hectic schedules.
The Home Chef Fresh & Easy Plan offers at least 12 weekly meals, including slow-cooking meals, fast-cooking meals designed to be ready in 15 minutes, grill-ready meals, oven-ready meals, and even pre-cooked meals that you will only need to heat and eat!.
Some popular Fresh & Easy meals:
- Hot Honey Chicken Tacos with Ranch Slaw and Crispy Onions – Oven-Ready meal
- Chicken Parmigiana with Rotini Pasta – Heat & Eat prepared meal.
- Chicken and Dumplings Gnocchi with Peas and Carrots – Oven-Ready
- Smoky BBQ Sliders with White Cheddar and Creole Potatoes – Grill-Ready meal
Breakdown of ‘Fresh & Easy’ Plan Qualities
- Easy prep meals for busy people – 15 minutes fast meal kits, oven-ready, microwave-ready meal options, and more.
- Divers menu every week.
- Option to customize the proteins in some meals.
- Choose your meals up to six per week in advance.
- Ability to easily skip weeks when needed.
- Compatible price to the Hellofresh service.
7. EveryPlate
EveryPlate is another affordable alternative to Hello Fresh. EveryPlate is less about a gourmet cooking experience and more about providing meal kits that are tasty, convenient, stress-free, and accessible.
Like Dinnerly, EveryPlate manages to keep its prices down by using fewer ingredients in their simple recipes and less packaging in their delivery. Not only is EveryPlate an affordable choice, but it is also a very eco-friendly choice.
EveryPlate offers you the choice of two different plans. The two-person box provides three meals per week, six meals in total. The family box offers three meals per week for four people, so twelve meals in full.
The EveryPlate menu includes nine standard meals and one premium meal to choose from every week. Their meals tend to be quite classic and well known and are easy to prepare without sophisticated cooking techniques or too many utensils. This means less cleaning up afterward!!!!
While EveryPlate does not cater to any dietary requirements with a specific plan, they list any allergens in their recipes. They aim to include at least one vegetarian recipe every week.
Every Plate Offer Qualities Such As
- Affordable meal delivery service that offers good value for money.
- Meals that are easy to cook with no sophisticated cooking techniques required.
- Premium meals like steak or seafood are offered at only $3.00 extra to regular pricing.
- Less packaging is used than other meal kit services making it an eco-friendly option.
- Flexibility to skip weeks whenever necessary or pause your account whenever required.
Last Notes
The meal delivery services like HelloFresh listed in this detailed review offer tasty and fast meal options. It can help you avoid heavy meal planning, visits to the grocery shop, or daily takeouts.
You might think the convenience of using meal kit delivery services is expensive. Still, there are ways to save money while adding interesting flavors and variety to your dinner time.
Each service like HelloFresh has its unique characteristics and focus, and we hope you found the information above helpful in finding the right service for your needs!
Remember, you can reduce your costs by taking advantage of the great beginners’ coupons we offer to our readers.
You can also check some great prepared meal delivery services options Here
