Hello Fresh
Hello Fresh, started in 2011 and currently delivers seven days a week to the entire continental US. It has a wide-reaching appeal with nearly 7 million customers globally and has delivered over 600 million meals in 2020 alone. It has a great variety of nutritionist-approved, family-friendly dinners, a comprehensive online recipe collection, and a mobile app with over 38 k ratings to get you started.
What’s on the Menu?
Hello Fresh offers over 25 menu options every week, plus market add-ons like garlic bread or desserts, to enhance your meals.
When choosing a plan, you select from six preferences: Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Family Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, Quick & Easy, and Pescatarian, but you have access to all menu items. Additional labels like “Easy Cleanup”, “Carb Smart”, and “Breakfast/Brunch” help you find what meals suit you best. Unique categories include “Hall of Fame” for particularly popular meals and “Kid-Friendly” in consideration of those with picky eaters at home. The dishes are created with the cooperation of dieticians and nutritionists, but HelloFresh does acknowledge the ingredients are mostly not organic. There are also no oven or microwave-ready options, but the “quick and easy” option comes close in terms of time-saving.
Sample Recipe:
Chicken Orzo Dinner with Cheesy Roasted Zucchini and Tomato- Designated difficulty level “Easy” with a 30 minute cooking time, the “Winner Winner Chicken Orzo Dinner” falls under the “Hall of Fame” meal category due to its high customer ratings. Meal kit ingredients are listed with pictures, amounts, and allergen warnings. Anything you’ll have to “bust out” from your kitchen is also clearly identified. In this case, olive oil, salt, and pepper plus a baking sheet, large pot, strainer, and a large pan. Instructions are broken down into six steps, with a picture for each step to visually summarize what you need to do. The cookbook section of the website has all the recipes plus downloadable PDF versions.
Plans, Prices & Delivery
Weekly subscription plans can be for 2 or 4 people and you get between 2 and 6 meals per person each week. For families, the adult serving sizes can be stretched for children and, for single-person households, they emphasize the benefit of having lunch for the next day. More meals mean lower prices. For four people getting six meals a week, the price per serving is $3.79. For two people, it’s $3.99 per serving for six meals. Shipping is $9.99, but new customers get free delivery as well as significant savings on meals over the course of several weeks.
Boxes are delivered 7 days a week between 8 AM and 8 PM and come with tracking numbers. You can use the Hello Fresh app on your phone to make the process even easier. There’s no commitment required, so skipping a week or canceling or pausing your subscription can be done for any reason up to 5 days before the scheduled delivery. HelloFresh works to be sustainable with recyclable packaging, CO2-neutral delivery, and a streamlined supply chain. A study done by the University of Michigan showed significant savings over a 10 week period compared to regular food shopping due to less food waste as well as fewer trips to the supermarket.
It is easy to reach Customer Service either by email or phone. Under “FAQs & Support” you can click “Get in Touch” to send an email by completing a form on their website. Calling is also possible if you want to speak to a representative and a toll-free number is available. We tried calling and they were quick to respond and quite friendly.
Customer Service
HelloFresh has a very comprehensive page for customer help and FAQs. Categories include Account Management, Delivery, Recipes and Ingredients, and Social Responsibility, among others, with quite a number of questions answered. If you can’t find the information on the website, you have the option to chat, report an incident or recipe error, or call them at (646) 846-FOOD (3663).
To Sum it Up
With its wide-reaching, international network, HelloFresh appears to be succeeding in its goals to increase access to high-quality food, teach people to cook well-balanced meals and promote sustainable practices by reducing food waste and providing carbon-neutral deliveries to its millions of customers. It has competitive pricing and plans for all household types. Given its popularity, generous new customer deals, and the lack of commitment required, it seems worth a try.
