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Marley Spoon Review

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4.0

★★★★★4/5
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Marley Spoon Review From $64.45

Marley Spoon is one of Australia’s most popular meal kits, offering high-quality, healthy, pre-portioned recipes. As a direct competitor to HelloFresh, does Marley Spoon live up to its claim of healthy, high-quality meals? And despite their higher price point, are their meal kits good value for money? Our Expert Nutritionist Lauren puts Marley Spoon to the test. 

Reviewd 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 December 15, 2023
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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Marley Spoon Meal Kit Review

The good:

  • Large menu variety
  • Average of 2.8 vegetables per serve
  • Excellent protein content

The not so good:

  • Expensive
  • Limited customisation
  • Clunky Ingredient Hub

What is Marley Spoon?

Marley Soon provide high quality, low-waste meal kits delivered direct to your door. Each recipe is developed in-house by their team of chefs and is accompanied by simple step-by-step instructions designed to achieve their philosophy of making cooking easy. They have a large menu to choose from each week and offer a range of dietary options including ‘vegetarian’, ‘vegan’, ‘no added gluten’, ‘dairy free’ and ‘40g+ protein’. 

Marley Spoon use sustainable suppliers and local farmers to source produce such as free-range Lilydale chicken and Tassal Tasmanian Salmon. They also have a focus on sustainability, with their reusable chill packs made from 85% sugar cane and 100% recyclable packaging. 

In addition to their meal kits, Marley Spoon also offers ‘Marley by Marley Spoon’, an online store where you can purchase a selection of snacks, sides, desserts, along with other premium staple pantry items. They also sell ready-made meals from Chefgood to save you more time during the week. 

Try Marley Spoon now!

How does Marley Spoon work?

Marley Spoon’s website is simple and easy to navigate, with 70+ recipes to choose from each week, they have one of the best vegan and vegetarian menus on the market, similar to what is offered by Hello Fresh. Recipes are clearly tagged so you can identify any dietary preferences such ‘dairy free’, no-added gluten’ or ‘40g+ protein’, making the selection process easy.

Despite the appealing menu, Marley Spoon has limited filtering ability – you can only filter by ‘no added gluten’, ‘vegetarian and vegan’ and ‘meat and fish’ when it comes to dietary preferences, and they do not offer gluten free recipes. Hello Fresh in comparison, offers a wider range thanks to their curated meal plans. With Hello Fresh you can select gluten free, pescatarian and even low-calorie meal plans, catering to a wider audience. If you require customised meal plans, I recommend Hello Fresh over Marley Spoon. Whilst the customisation is somewhat limited with Marley Spoon, they do offer a ‘Taste Profile’ that you can complete during sign up. This series of questions helps to identify your preferred proteins and flavours to help you narrow down the recipes you are shown when selecting. 

There were so many delicious recipes to choose from – I selected 6 recipes:

  • Falafel Pita Pockets
  • Fish and Veggie Stir-Fry
  • East Plant-based ‘Butter Chicken’
  • Chipotle Peanut Tofu Burgers
  • Orange and Ginger-Spiked Salmon
  • Dinner to Lunch: Thai Tofu Stir-Fry and Rice

Once I selected the meals, I scheduled my delivery for the following Saturday morning at my preferred time slot. All subscriptions are flexible so you can skip or pause your subscription at any time. Marley Spoon delivers to most metro and surrounding areas of major cities in Australia. Delivery dates and times range according to your location.

How much does Marley Spoon cost?

Number of people

Number of meals

Cost 

2

2

$64.45

2

3

$85.43

2

4

$106.41

2

5

$125.39

2

6

$142.37

4

2

$102.41

4

3

$142.37

4

4

$170.33

4

5

$180.29

4

6

$199.85

Marley Spoon’s price per serving ranges from $5.49 – $7.49. This pricing is cheaper when compared to HelloFresh which ranges from $7.33 – $11.67, however Marley Spoon is still a more expensive option when it comes to meal kits. There is great value amongst their Dinner to Lunch menu items, with these recipes making a total of four servings. All orders come with a $10.49 delivery fee, only slightly more than what HelloFresh charges ($9.99).

My Marley Spoon Experience

marley-spoon-brown-bags

Ingredients arrive in a well packaged box, with cold ingredients in chill packs. Each recipe is packed in brown paper bags with a label and QR code to access the recipe online. You can also opt out of printed recipes cards and go paperless, however I quite like receiving the recipe cards. All the vegetables and spices looked very fresh and were in great condition. The leafy greens were individually packed to preserve their freshness. 

The recipe cards were nicely printed and contained a list of the ingredients provided by Marley Spoon for each recipe, ingredients required from your own pantry for the recipe, a list of utensils, along with 6 detailed step-by-step instructions on how to prepare each meal. I loved how the instructions included helpful tips and tricks to provide you with more confidence when preparing the recipes.

The nutritional information was displayed in the form of energy and macronutrients, however if you are interested in finding further information on sodium for example, you need to access the Marley Spoon Ingredient Hub on their website. This is not a user-friendly experience and is at times difficult to find information on the ingredients. This information could be much better displayed either on the website or on each recipe card.

Allergens were identifiable above the nutritional information via a numbered system. Aside from the best before dates on the pre-packaged ingredients, there were no guidelines on whether any of the recipes should be consumed first. I had a couple of recipes with fish which I instinctively consumed first to ensure freshness. A prompt here on the recipe cards could be useful to guide the individual – EveryPlate has an ‘eat me first’ tag on their recipe cards which also helps to reduce any further food waste.

Preparing the meals

Thanks to the simple step-by-step recipe cards, each recipe was easy to follow and came together seamlessly. Some recipes I even managed to put together under the estimated cooking time. I love that Marley Spoon sends exactly what you need for each recipe, however, there were some ingredients that weren’t completely used – I was sent 150g of edamame to use in the Orange and Ginger-Spike Salmon, yet the recipe only called for half of the packet to be added. This was a waste of an ingredient, so I opted to use all the edamame. I also found the same issue with the Falafel Pita Pockets. 

Preparing the Dinner to Lunch recipe was a huge time saver – I loved the concept of cooking once to create two different meals. If you are short on time, I would recommend choosing these options off the menu!

marley-spoon-prep

Portion sizes

The portion sizes of each meal were very generous! Whilst there are no indications given of how many grams total weight each portion is, I was very satisfied after each meal. The servings from the Dinner to Lunch – Curried Coconut Noodle Soup – were so generous I was able to get three servings out of this recipe!

Favourite Marley Spoon Meals

All the meals were super tasty! I loved that the recipes have a strong focus on fresh vegetables which provided great flavour and texture.

My two favourites would have to be the Fish and Veggie Stir-Fry (pictured) and the Falafel Pita Pockets. The fish was excellent quality, and the ginger sauce elevated this dish to an almost restaurant quality. The Falafel Pita Pockets were bursting with flavour thanks to the garlic, mint yoghurt.

Marley Spoon Nutritionist Review

The protein content of Marley Spoon’s meals is excellent – averaging at 41g protein – one of the highest averages of protein across meal kits, including Hello Fresh. For protein conscious individuals, I would recommend Marley Spoon over Hello Fresh. The meal with the lowest protein content that I had was the Falafel Pita Pockets at 20.6g.

Marley Spoon typically includes a good range of complex, high fibre, carbohydrates in their recipes, however most of the sources of carbohydrates in my recipes were refined including white rice and white bread. If you are health conscious and looking to increase your fibre intake, I recommend selecting recipes that include higher fibre options such as brown rice and freekeh. 

The average fat content of Marley Spoon’s meals is lower when compared to Hello Fresh at 30.3g, making them a great option for individuals looking for lower fat, lower calorie meals. 

A standout feature of Marley Spoon’s recipes is their high number of serves of vegetables, averaging at 2.8, with several of their menu items providing 3+ serves vegetables. This provides a significant contribution to our recommended intake of 5 serves of vegetables a day. 

Marley Spoon contains the lowest amount of sodium on average at 779mg. In comparison, Hello Fresh’s recipes contains an average of 1426mg sodium. This is a substantial difference, making Marley Spoon the preferred option for those who are conscious about their sodium intake.

Whilst majority of the ingredients sent are wholefoods, some of the pre-packed ingredients I received such as the curry paste, tomato paste and marinated tofu did contain some preservatives and additives, all of which can be found on their Ingredient Hub in more detail. 

Final Thoughts

Marley Spoon offers a large range of high-quality meal kits that suit a range of dietary preferences such as ‘diary free’, ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’. Most of their meals are nutritionally balanced and contain a high number of serves of vegetables. However, despite the extensive menu, Marley Spoon are an expensive option and may not be suitable for everyone.

Marley Spoon FAQs

Marley Spoon delivers to most areas in NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD, SA, NT and TAS.

The average price per serving for Marley Spoon is approximately $11.99per/serve. The price depends on the number of servings you order per box and is subject to change.

Yes, Marley Spoon offer macronutrient balanced meals made from predominately fresh, wholefood ingredients. On average, each recipes provides 2.8 serves of vegetables and an average of 41g of protein. 

Marley Spoon recipes are Nutritionist approved and focus on healthy, balanced meals using a variety of whole foods. 

At the time of writing (August 2022), when comparing a 2-Person Box with 3 meals per week the price per serving for Marley Spoon is $12.49 per serving and for HelloFresh is $11.66 per serving. At this time HelloFresh is cheaper than Marley Spoon. You can compare meal kit delivery services here.

Marley Spoon is a more expensive meal kit, with prices per serve ranging from $5.49 – $7.49. Whist less than close competitor Hello Fresh, this price range may not be suitable for everyone. However, the quality of the meals is high, and the servings are generous.

Yes, HelloFresh and QuiteLike offer similar high-quality meal kits. Hello Fresh is more expensive than Marley Spoon, whilst QuiteLike is the most affordable option. Whilst Marley Spoon has a large menu to choose from, HelloFresh offers more options thanks to their customised meal plans. QuiteLike’s range is smaller, offering around 30 menu items to choose from with limited options for vegans and vegetarians.

Overall Rating

Marley Spoon Meal Kit
Lauren Parchi
Website & Ordering Process
★★★★★ 5/5
Packaging & Delivery
★★★★★ 5/5
Product Quality (taste/freshness)
★★★★★ 4/5
Price
★★★★★ 3/5
Customisation
★★★★★ 3/5
Summary
Marley Spoon meal kits are all about convenience and aim to inspire home style and healthy cooking from scratch in 6 steps. Whether you want to save time or spark some inspiration in the kitchen, Marley Spoon is suited for everyone.
4
★★★★★ 4/5

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