HelloFresh

4.0

★★★★★4/5
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HelloFresh From $79.99

HelloFresh is a well-known Australian meal kit provider that offers pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes delivered to your door. Started in 2011, founders Dominik and Thomas were on a mission to change the way people eat. Now, Hello Fresh is available in over 18 countries, providing over 1 billion meals, making it one of the biggest meal kits in the world. Expert Nutritionist Lauren, tried Hello Fresh to find out whether this popular meal kit is good value for money, tastes great and most importantly, if it is nutritionally balanced.

By
Lauren Parchi

Written by

Lauren Parchi
Clinical Nutritionist

Lauren is a qualified clinical nutritionist (BHSc) who has a strong passion for making nutrition easy and accessible for everyone. Lauren uses evidence-based research to inform her content and always aims to distil the latest information, so it is simple and clear for consumers. Lauren also has a passion for plant-based health after adopting a plant-based diet a number of years ago. She uses her experience and knowledge in this area to educate others through recipes and evidence-based content. Lauren has a comprehensive understanding of clinical nutrition and aims to create content that educates and inspires others to make a positive difference to their health.

Edited by
Alex Hamlin

Written by

Alex Hamlin
Certified Nutritionist

Alex Joy Nutrition supports busy individuals with health goals, offering holistic nutrition guidance to reduce stress and foster balanced, healthy habits. Specialising in empowering high achievers, Alex emphasises a preventative and management-focused approach to health. As a clinical nutritionist, Alex provides individuals with tools and education for taking control of their health. She advocates for optimal nutrition as the cornerstone of wellness, employing a food-first approach complemented by holistic treatments. With evidence-based practices, Alex offers personalised guidance to help individuals reach their health goals, prioritising health at the forefront. In health content creation, Alex delivers concise, informative, and engaging material rooted in evidence-based practices, educating, inspiring and guiding others on their wellness journey.

Updated January 23, 2024
Fact checked Fully qualified and expert nutritionists have reviewed and checked this content to ensure it is as accurate as possible at the time of writing.

4.0

★★★★★4/5

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Hello Fresh Meal Kit Review 2024

The good:

  • Large menu variety
  • Average of 3.1 vegetables per serve
  • Caters to a wide range of dietary preferences

The not so good:

  • Higher price point
  • Higher in sodium
  • Limited vegetarian menu

What is Hello Fresh?

Hello Fresh is a high-quality meal kit service that aims to make it easy for everyone to prepare a delicious, home-cooked meal. They offer recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, that help you save time, eat healthier and get inspired. 

Hello Fresh prioritises the use of locally sourced, farm fresh ingredients, with a wide range of meal plans to suit nearly everyone. They also take a conscious approach to sustainability by providing pre-portioned ingredients to reduce waste, choose responsible sourcing and provide recyclable packaging. Their direct-to-consumer approach reduces carbon emissions by 15% compared to cooking with ingredients from the supermarket. 

How does Hello Fresh work?

Hello Fresh push subscriptions heavily across their website, which can make it hard to scope out their menu if you are looking for the first time. They make selecting your plan easy however, with flexible plans to suit your needs. First, you choose your dietary preferences – ‘classic’, ‘vegetarian’, ‘family friendly’, ‘calorie smart’, ‘quick & easy’, ‘carb smart’, ‘flexitarian’ and ‘protein rich.’ Then, you customise your plan size choosing from 2, 4, 6 people and 3, 4, 5 meals per week. I chose the vegetarian plan for 2 people, 5 meals/week. Close competitor Marley Spoon offer meal plans for up to 4 people only, making Hello Fresh a great option for larger families. 

Hello Fresh also offer ‘gluten free’, ‘pescatarian’, ‘gourmet’ and ‘global flavour’ meal plans, so whether you are health conscious or simply looking try something new, they have something for everyone. They even offer meal plans for seniors, students and singles making Hello Fresh a standout option in the market. 

Hello Fresh have 80+ recipes to choose from each week. Recipes are tagged to help you identify the meals most suitable to your needs such as ‘kid friendly’, ‘over 30g protein’ and ‘quick’. Recipes are also tagged as ‘customisable protein’ or ‘customisable recipe’ which is a new feature Hello Fresh have released allowing you to change, swap, or upgrade sides and proteins, for example, you can swap crispy potato for broccoli. Previously, Hello Fresh had limited customisation, so this new feature is fantastic and allows individuals to cater recipes to meet their needs. This feature can also be compared to Marley Spoon’s ‘swap’ feature, however as this is only available on some recipes – I recommend Hello Fresh if you are looking for greater customisation. 

Whilst the recipes all look great, I found their menu display to be slightly ‘cluttered’. In comparison, I prefer Marley Spoon’s menu as it is simple and easy to navigate. I was disappointed by the small range of vegetarian and plant-based options on the menu, with only 8 recipes to choose from, I wasn’t overly excited by the choices. However, I was able to choose a couple of pescatarian options. Marley Spoon has a larger selection of vegetarian and vegan recipes to choose from in comparison. When looking through the menu, I also noticed that Hello Fresh’s ‘Lightning fast meals’ only had two recipes to choose from. As many of us search for quick, convenient options, it would be great to see this menu expanded!

The recipes I selected were:

  • Easy Mexican-Spiced Prawns and Garlic Rice
  • Quick Honey-Mint Salmon & Moroccan Bulgur 
  • Plant-based Chick’n Udon Noodle Stir-Fry 
  • Katsu Glazed Tofu Tacos & Aioli Slaw 
  • Honey Sesame Haloumi 

I scheduled my delivery for Sunday morning at my preferred time slot, and I was sent regular updates in the 24 hours before my delivery, advising me when it was due to arrive. Hello Fresh delivers to all states in Australia and most metro and surrounding areas of major cities. Delivery dates and times range according to your location.

How much does Hello Fresh cost?

Number of people

Number of meals

Hello Fresh

2

3

$79.99

2

4

$99.99

2

5

$114.99

4

3

$134.99

4

4

$159.99

4

5

$174.99

6

3

$169.99

6

4

$204.99

6

5

$299.99

Hello Fresh’s cost per serving ranges from $7.33 – $11.67 and they offer $200 off your first order when you sign up. All orders come with a $9.99 delivery fee, and you can pause, skip or cancel your subscription at any time. When compared to competitor Marley Spoon, Hello Fresh is more expensive, with Marley Spoon’s price per serving ranging from $5.49 – $7.49. Value for money in Hello Fresh is found when ordering their larger plans. 6 people ordering 5 meals a week can expect to pay $7.33 per serve which is a good price. However, if you are looking for more budget friendly options, I would recommend EveryPlate, with prices starting from $4.44 per serving.  

Read our nutritionist review of Marley Spoon VS Hello Fresh here. 

My Hello Fresh Experience

My Hello Fresh box arrived with each recipe individually packed in brown paper bags, and cold ingredients in a 100% recyclable chilled pack. Each recipe bag had a label with a different colour which you match up with its corresponding recipe card. Unlike competitors Marley Spoon and QuiteLike, there are no QR codes on the bags to access the recipes online. As sustainability is a core value for Hello Fresh, it would be great to see digital recipes made available. 

The vegetables looked very fresh and were in great condition, with herbs individually packed to preserve their freshness. The salmon and prawns were kept cold thanks to the chilled pack and looked like great quality produce. 

The recipe cards are visually appealing – the front of each recipe card contains information on prep time and total cooking time, the pantry items required such as olive oil, and images of the ingredients needed for the recipe. Some of the cards also had little keys in the bottom left hand corner stating ‘Eat Me First’ which is a very helpful guide to ensure you are consuming the recipes when the produce is at their best and further reduces any food waste! On the back of the recipe cards, you can find the 6 steps to preparing each meal, along with detailed instructions on cooking utensils needed, quantified ingredients, pantry items and the nutritional information. Allergens are not listed individually for each recipe, instead you need to head to Hello Fresh’s website for allergen and ingredient information. It would be great if each recipe highlighted the common allergens to provide more peace of mind to the individual.

Get up to $200 off here!

Preparing my Hello Fresh meals

The 6 step instructions certainly make preparing the recipes simple and fun. Hello Fresh also include many helpful tips throughout their recipes to ensure you achieve a delicious, high-quality meal. Whilst the steps were easy to follow, I did find some of the instructions weren’t specific enough, for example, when cooking the Quick Honey-Mint Salmon & Moroccan Bulgur, the recipe did not instruct to reserve half of the mint aside for the glaze after making the yoghurt dressing, so I used all the mint during this step. The same thing happened after I zested the lime and used the juice for the yoghurt, I had already disposed of the lime by the time I realised I needed more zest for the bulgur wheat! Clearer guidance is needed on some steps to ensure the ingredients are used correctly.

Portions: 

Each portion was very generous, I found I was very satisfied after every meal.

My favourite Hello Fresh meals

My top 2 favourite meals were the easy Mexican-Spiced Prawns & Garlic Rice and the Quick Honey-Mint Salmon & Moroccan Bulgur. The quality produce and ‘zestiness’ from the limes really brought these meals to life. The Plant-based Chick’n Udon Noodle Stir-Fry was my least favourite, it was extremely salty and tasted very ‘processed’ due to the heavy sauces.

Hello Fresh Nutritionist Review

On average, Hello Fresh’s meals provide 38g of protein. The meal with the highest amount of protein that I had was Plant-Based Chick’n Udon Noodle Stir Fry at 42.7g, and the meal with the lowest amount of protein was the Easy Mexican-Spiced Prawns & Garlic Rice at 22.7g. The high protein content makes Hello Fresh a great option for those who are conscious of their protein intake. Most sources of protein were good quality, particularly the salmon and prawns. I would recommend choosing recipes with ‘fake meat’ sparingly, as whilst they can provide a high amount of protein, they are also high in sodium. 

The meals included sources of refined and un-refined carbohydrates and average at 1.8 serves of grains. The bulgur wheat was a great inclusion, providing a high fibre, complex carbohydrate source. Hello Fresh meals contain a higher amount of total fat on average at 53.4g, when compared to Marley Spoon (30.3g). Most of the sources of fats in my recipes came from dairy products, nuts and seeds, along with the olive oil used in cooking. If you are looking for lower fat options, I would recommend Marley Spoon over Hello Fresh.

Hello Fresh meals provide the highest amount of vegetables per serve at 3.1 compared to competitor Marley Spoon, which provides 2.8 serves. This makes Hello Fresh’s meals an excellent contribution towards our 5 serves of vegetables a day and is another standout feature of the meal kits. 

Whilst the vegetable content is high, Hello Fresh recipes contain a high amount of sodium, averaging 1426mg per serve. I was shocked to see that the Plant-Based Chick’n Udon Noodle Stir Fry contained 3099mg of sodium per serving! This one meal exceeds our daily recommended intake of sodium (2000mg), more than likely due to the inclusion of the processed plant-based chicken alternative. Hello Fresh also uses pre-packaged seasonings and sauces that are high in sodium, plus they call for the addition of salt to their recipes at least twice during the cooking process. My recommendation would be to use half the amount of seasoning and refrain from adding salt to the recipes to reduce the total sodium. Hello Fresh meals should be carefully considered if you are following a low sodium diet.

Hello Fresh final thoughts

As advertised, Hello Fresh offers a wide range of meal plans to suit nearly everyone and provide the highest number of vegetables per serve. Their ingredients are fresh, and the recipes are full of flavour, however, Hello Fresh meals contain a high amount of sodium and are also higher in total fat and calories when compared to competitor Marley Spoon.

Get $200 off Hello Fresh now!

Hello Fresh FAQs

Yes, Hello Fresh offers a range of health-conscious meal plans such as ‘calorie smart’, ‘carb smart’ and ‘protein rich’. They use predominately fresh, wholefood ingredients, and on average provide 3.1 serves of vegetables per serving and an average of 38g of protein which is a good contribution to our daily nutritional targets.

Hello Fresh is an expensive meal kit, with prices per serve ranging from $7.33 – $11.67. Value for money is found when purchasing their larger meal plan for 6 people.

Yes, Hello Fresh offer high-quality meal kits that cater to a range of dietary preferences. 

Yes, Marley Spoon and QuiteLike offer healthy, high-quality meal kits. Hello Fresh is the most expensive option compared to Marley Spoon and QuiteLike. Marley Spoon has a large menu to choose from, however Hello Fresh offers more options thanks to their customised meal plans. QuiteLike offers a smaller range of around 30 menu items.

Overall Rating

Hello Fresh Meal Kit
Lauren Parchi
Website & Ordering Process
★★★★★ 4/5
Packaging & Delivery
★★★★★ 5/5
Product Quality (taste/freshness)
★★★★★ 4/5
Price
★★★★★ 3/5
Customisation
★★★★★ 4/5
Summary
HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service that provides customers with pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step recipes to cook healthy meals at home. Their ingredients are fresh, and the recipes are full of flavour!
4
★★★★★ 4/5

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