I Tried HelloFresh in 2020 and Again in 2025 — Here’s My Review

For a while there, it felt like HelloFresh ads were everywhere. You’d commonly see a young influencer couple unpacking a modest shipping box in a kitchen that was anything but. As someone who could only cook a handful of my family’s classic Thanksgiving dishes or bake up a tray of boxed muffin mix, I was intrigued. I had always wanted to learn to cook, but could it be as easy as the happy, smiling folks in the advertisements made it look?

I first tried HelloFresh (along with several other meal kit delivery services) in 2020 and continued to order week by week for several years, until my schedule became busier. But I find myself with the urge to cook again, so I wondered: Does HelloFresh still deliver the same high-quality ingredients and the same wide variety of recipes that I remember? Would my kindergartener like the meals? Is HelloFresh still worth it in 2025?

I ultimately chose mostly vegetarian dishes, along with some fish recipes, to see how well perishable proteins traveled. To go beyond the flavor, I consulted with a registered dietitian to break down the dense nutritional guides and determine the actual nutritional value of these meals. Over the course of two testing weeks, here’s what I found on the current quality of HelloFresh.

The HelloFresh website is very welcoming to new users and showcases its large — maybe even excessively large — menu and the endless customizable options for meals and delivery plans. The main page features the same message about pricing and plans three times, all of which lead to the personalization page. After confirming my ZIP code, I picked from the meal preferences: Meat and Veggies, Veggie, Family-Friendly, Fit and Wholesome, Under 20 Minutes, and Pescatarian.

The second column on the personalization page let me choose how many people would be sharing the meals and how many meals I wanted per week. The price didn’t seem to change based on meal preferences, and vegetarian dishes cost the same as meat dishes and quick meals (under 20 minutes).

I had to create an account and input my credit card information before choosing my meals. This was a minor stumbling block because I didn’t like the idea of being charged for a meal plan before I had even filled my cart. Sure, the weekly menus are available on other parts of the website, and I could have planned my box beforehand, but it seemed like the payment section is out of order. Comparing it with an in-person grocery shopping experience, who would take an empty cart to the checkout to pay based on the assumption of which groceries they might pick? I would have preferred assembling my weekly box before tying myself to any financial commitments.

Choosing the Meals

The HelloFresh menus are massive and can be a little overwhelming. For a single week, I counted over 60 meals. If you’re looking to expand your palate and try new flavors, this could be a dream come true. But if you have trouble making a choice when there are many options available, this could be a real nightmare. What’s really helpful is that almost every meal is classified with a label: Vegan, Easy Prep, Seasonal, Protein Smart, Quick, and Family-Friendly, to name a few. Searching by these tags can help eliminate items that don’t fit your needs.

A benefit of exploring the HelloFresh menu is how much information is available on each meal. Anyone who wants to delve into the details can find just about anything they want to know. You can easily build a box based on a dish's name and the photo, but for those interested in exactly what to expect in their delivery, the ingredients and their amounts, which utensils and tools are needed, the calories, the cooking difficulty, the total time needed, and a complete nutritional breakdown are but a click away.

After selecting all the meals, I chose the delivery date and could see the last day to make changes before my order shipped.

I used HelloFresh for at least four meals a week in 2020 and 2021. HelloFresh made it easy to cook at home and introduced me to a ton of new flavors, all while challenging my home cooking skills. Despite the anxieties of those pandemic years, it was a comfort to feel that I wasn’t alone in making a quality dinner and trying to build a routine meal schedule. Many families had more time to cook at home in a less structured environment. When it became harder to find the time, I canceled my HelloFresh deliveries.

Now in 2025, I was sincerely excited to start cooking at home again. I even reordered my archnemesis, the Edamame and Cauliflower Fritters. Would I finally be able to conquer this dish, without them crumbling into an oily mess that is somehow both overcooked and undercooked at the same time? (The short answer is no, but thankfully not quite as spectacularly badly this time around — more on that particular battle later.)

Each delivery arrived in perfect condition with cute comments and text all over the box. It definitely felt like I was being welcomed back to a fun cooking party that I had sadly been missing over the past few years.

The meals were separated into individual brown paper bags and sat on recyclable ice packs. Each paper bag was labeled so I could tell them apart. Brown paper bag packaging is standard among many meal delivery services, but I still appreciated that my ingredients were not in bulky plastic containers. The paper bags are also great for collecting those inevitable garlic shavings and the woody ends of asparagus. (And I liked the retro lunch vibes that took me right back to grade school!)

The recipe cards were packed between the insulation liner and the edge of the delivery box. This could be problem if you leave the box outside for too long and the ice packs significantly melt – then you’re left with a handful of soggy, floppy recipe cards.

In one instance, I was in such a hurry to unpack the box and get it to the recycling can (it was recycling day and the truck was fast approaching) that I forgot about the cards entirely, and they rode off into the distance inside the recycling truck. Thankfully, I was able to find the recipes online, but it did cause me to wonder whether anyone else has accidentally tossed them out because the recipe cards are a real treat for new or aspiring home chefs.

Each card is very large and printed on solid card stock. Unlike using other meal delivery kits, when I’ve inevitably lost the tiny, flimsy recipe cards in a haze of chopped veggie shrapnel and “add to taste” red pepper flakes, I could always locate HelloFresh’s recipe cards. Not only is a photo of the finished meal prominently displayed on the front, but the back has four to eight in-progress pictures and detailed step-by-step instructions, so you can make sure that you’re on the right track. I even keep the cards for my favorite recipes to reference later.

Cooking and Preparing the Meals

When it came time to start cooking, I grabbed the bag for the meal I wanted to prepare and matched it to the recipe card. The only ingredients not in the bags were the proteins, which were snugly packed in the shipping box underneath the bags and ice packs to help keep them fresh longer.

The photos of how preparation should look at certain intervals were a big help, especially for the veggies. Sure, I can probably figure out how to trim and quarter a zucchini lengthwise, then cut it crosswise into 1⁄4-inch-thick pieces, but a glance at a picture of what that’s supposed to look like is so much quicker.

One of the biggest hits with my family was the Penne Rustica With a Kick. A simple plate of pasta is elevated with fresh veggies, crispy breadcrumbs, and a light cream sauce. The kick comes from red pepper flakes, which are added to taste, so as little or as much as you like. This recipe is fantastic, and I adjusted future shipments so we could have it again. Each step was easy to follow, and the already measured breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and almond slices meant that I could simply open the pack, shake it out, and move on — what a time-saver! This is an excellent recipe for a new chef. It is just enough of a challenge, with its multiple ingredients and the inclusion of items like green onions and asparagus, which require some knife skills. (Watch out for those woody ends; if you don’t prep your asparagus correctly, you’ll be chewing through them all evening.)

This recipe is forgiving, too. It doesn't require precise timing or special pans or skills. The recipe card labels it as taking 25 minutes: 10 minutes for prep and 15 to cook. I’m sure that’s true, but I love to take my time cooking — maybe the podcast playing in the background is to blame? I regularly needed an extra 10 to 15 minutes to get everything on the plate. I probably could have hit the 25-minute goal if I had focused, but if you have the extra time, absolutely just enjoy the process; it’s so much more rewarding.

Despite my multiple Rustica victories, a wild beast entered my kitchen in the form of Edamame and Cauliflower Fritters. The recipe card lists the difficulty as hard — a warning that new chefs shouldn’t take lightly. This dish involved a lot of the usual vegetable prep but adds in peeling and chopping fresh ginger. I found prepping the ginger satisfying, but this might be challenging to a brand-new cook.

After I combined the veggies and tempura batter, I heated a thin layer of oil (not provided in the delivery) in a pan until hot but not smoking. At this point, I added my crumbling food blobs — I mean, cute little fritters — to the pan. They needed to cook for far more time, or far less time, than stated in the recipe. Because like a snowflake no two fritters are alike, they seemed to become both overcooked and undercooked. The sweet chile mayo sauce, however, is a perfect pairing and boosts the flavor so much that I barely noticed that the fritters were still cold in the middle.

I’ll grant that the failure here is probably a skill issue on my part, and a more experienced home chef could likely land this recipe with ease. It got significantly easier the third time around, and the pictures I took at least look deceptively tasty. Somehow, through the adversity of these silly fritters, I not only pulled together another delicious dinner but have become a better home chef. Practice makes perfect, and the fourth round of fritters is going to be an absolute chef’s kiss, I just know it.

Tasting the Meals

Each meal was portioned to feed two people; however, for larger families, meals can be sized up to feed four or six people. The meals were the perfect amount for my wife and me. We didn’t feel overly stuffed, and it was filling enough that I didn’t find myself reaching for a snack later in the evening. There might even have been a little extra for my picky kindergartener, but of the handful of meals I prepared, none appealed to him. It is possible that a two-person meal could be shared with a young child, provided they are more adventurous with food that isn’t mac and cheese.

One of the elements I enjoyed most about HelloFresh was the variety of flavors, spices, and ingredients. These flavors may not be that palate expanding for an experienced cook or foodie, but for someone who grew up on pizza, ramen, and burgers, almost every new meal is something I haven’t tried before.

The sauce for the penne, the sweet chile mayo sauce for the fritters, and the crema dollops for the Tropical Fish Tacos were all easy to prepare and supercharged those meals in the flavor department. I've never considered myself a fan of sour cream, but when I started overloading my fish taco with extra scoops of crema, I knew I had discovered a new favorite condiment.

A majority of my meals were veggie based, and just a few were fish based. All the vegetables I received were well packaged, arrived in good condition, and were about as fresh as possible. The ingredients lasted several days after delivery. This worked great for my family because some nights we were too busy to cook. In one case, I put off a dish for a few nights, and everything was still in excellent condition, except for some slightly wilted green onions. I was still able to make a delicious meal, and I couldn’t tell that the ingredients were days old.

“From a health perspective, it is great to be able to preview the nutrition information and allergen statements during meal selection, and some of the protein swaps available on certain meals make it easier to limit red meat or choose lean proteins,” says Tori Martinet, RD.

“Unfortunately,” she adds, “if you’re ordering from HelloFresh, you should expect to see pretty high sodium counts across the board, and while there are vegetables included with most meals, you’re not likely to see a ton of whole grains or really produce-heavy options.” Many of the packaged add-ons don’t let you control the amount of salt added, and many of the meals are meat-heavy with rich prepared sauces.

“From a dietitian’s perspective,” Martinet says, “I wouldn’t want to eat in this style all the time, but depending on your nutrition needs and your time constraints, this could certainly help out a few nights a week.”

Plus the meal kits, HelloFresh sells a variety of add-ons, including desserts, sides, smoothies, fruit, breakfast items, and more from its market. Prices range widely, from just a few dollars for a small snack or spice packet to higher-priced proteins and individual prepared meals.

When I signed up, HelloFresh was offering a promotion for one free add-on item (of a certain value) for life, which meant that I always had at least one garlic bread added to my order. I could have swapped it for something else week to week, but I never did. It required just a few minutes in the oven to toast the bread and melt the garlic butter. This easy snack or side (especially on pasta nights) was an instant hit with the whole family.

I was less impressed with the desserts, such as the chocolate lava cakes and mini apple pies, which seemed a bit pricey for their size and felt very processed. You can find far better mini desserts at a grocery store. The best of these were the Liege waffles. HelloFresh sometimes uses them in breakfast meal kits, too.

Some of the larger add-ons involve some degree of cooking or prep, such as the grilled cheese dippers. My kindergartener loved these, but this add-on once again felt pricey for what I received, and it wasn’t significantly better than a grilled cheese I could have made at home.

During my trial, HelloFresh was also offering lunch box meals. These were probably one of my favorite add-ons because my son had just started kindergarten, and my wife and I were relatively new to making daily packed lunches. These mini kits were easy to make (I think the longest one took me 15 minutes) and were usually delicious. Some were designed as school lunches, with easily sliceable veggies, cheeses, and dipping sauces portioned with a kid’s lunch box in mind. They were also easy to make and store. In a few cases, I’d pack his lunch the night before to save time during a rushed morning.

The lunch kits started as an eligible free item for me and would have cost $14.99 otherwise. Unfortunately, during my trial HelloFresh stopped offering these items, which was very disappointing — we had started to rely on them.

One item that wasn't worth the add-on was fruit. Most of my apples arrived bruised and damaged, and I could have bought the same amount of fruit at a store for less.

Other add-ons included fresh pasta like ravioli and tortellini, sauces and soups, and proteins — all handy items to add to a box for a quick meal that I could throw together during the rest of the week.

Some of the add-ons, such as the snack box, the smoothie box, some protein boxes, and the dog food box, were expensive ($44 to $60), couldn’t be customized, and shipped separately from the main box. That’s because these items come from one of HelloFresh’s partners. We tried the snack box (which was delicious but maybe not worth the price, especially since I couldn’t pick the items) and the smoothie box. The smoothie ingredients were frozen in cups, and all I had to do was throw them in a blender. Although a hit with our family, these were not something we ordered regularly due to the price.

HelloFresh is one of the most recognizable brands in the meal kit space for good reason. It offers a wide variety of flavors, ingredients, and international influences that help expand its extensive catalog of recipes. This isn’t unique to HelloFresh, though, as I recently tested Sunbasket and there were a number of tempting recipes with ingredients I was unfamiliar with. Sunbasket’s weekly menu is significantly shorter, which I found to be less overwhelming. Sunbasket may not offer as much variety as HelloFresh, but I’d also prefer not to get a hand cramp trying to scroll to the bottom of a menu either.

As far as pricing, HelloFresh is nearly identical to Blue Apron, the other major brand name in meal kits. How meals are delivered and the variety of recipes are about the same, and the preference for one over the other likely comes down to the individual. I’ve tested Blue Apron, and I think HelloFresh’s recipes are more unique than Blue Apron’s. And I had a lot less plastic from individually wrapped ingredients to throw away. I walked away from both services satisfied with the quality of the meals I received.

If you have the time to dedicate to making each meal, HelloFresh is worth the price. My family used HelloFresh frequently during 2020 and 2021. As our schedules began to fill up, I found myself rushing to cook before bedtime. Making dinner became a chore. I felt pressured to cook so we wouldn’t waste food, and we chose to cancel. It wasn’t worth the cost when I didn’t have the time to enjoy cooking, especially when it was quicker and easier to get takeout.

After recently finding extra time in my schedule, I was thrilled to start getting HelloFresh again and felt it was absolutely worth the cost because I could pair an activity I enjoy with making sure my family had something to eat.

During sign-up, HelloFresh advertises how much each serving costs per person. This price can vary based on the size and number of meals, but the average ranges from $10 to $11 per person. Considering what a restaurant delivery order costs per person (even fast food), this is very competitive, and you have more control over the calories and ingredients. You can’t say that about a drive-thru burger and fries.

The add-ons are a nice perk, too, even if the cost can build quickly. My family’s favorite was the garlic bread. No matter how many we’d order, it was never enough and was always the first thing we’d heat up and eat when the shipping box arrived. We’d pay just about anything for those loaves to keep showing up.

At Everyday Health, we aren’t just reviewing the top meal delivery services. We are testing over 50 services and reporting on each one firsthand, from the initial sign-up to payment, delivery, and ultimately, the plate. We are considering these products from multiple perspectives: an everyday consumer's viewpoint, like mine, to a registered dietitian's assessment of the ingredients and nutritional facts.

I have long praised the value of at-home meal kits and have subscribed to many services over the past five years. I understand how new and aspiring home chefs approach cooking at home and how user-friendly a given recipe may be. My feedback was compiled alongside that of other testers, allowing us to build a comprehensive database of what these services have to offer and which stand out.