HelloFresh vs. Blue Apron vs. Plated: Which Meal Kit Delivery Service is Best? Meal kit delivery services aim to give you delicious and easy-to-prepare recipes. If you love convenience and hate the grocery store, odds are you’ve thought about subscribing to a meal kit delivery service before. HelloFresh, Blue Apron, and Plated are some of the most popular services and all offer locally and sustainably sourced ingredients and recipes created by a team of chefs.
How could you ever choose between the three meal kit delivery services? I’ll be going through each company’s mission statements, food practices, meal plans and prices, and customization options to help you decide which meal kit delivery service is best for you.
HelloFresh
HelloFresh prides itself on ensuring environmentally friendly and sustainable practices throughout every step of the ingredients’ journeys. They partner with family-owned-and-operated purveyors and local farms to give you fresh, seasonal ingredients of high quality. The package your delivery arrives in is almost completely recyclable. The only thing that has to be thrown away is the metallic plastic used for insulation.
HelloFresh also has the highest amount of five-star reviews and their customer service reputation is very positive. With the ability to pause or cancel your deliveries at any time HelloFresh offers an easy solution for your cooking needs.
Other than being a leader in sustainable practices, customer service, and delicious food, HelloFresh offers several different meal plans so you can choose the one that’s best for you. HelloFresh is the cheapest meal kit delivery service on this list. You can choose from the classic ($8.99 per serving), family ($7.87 per serving), or vegetarian ($8.99 per serving) plans based on your food preferences and how many mouths you have to feed. You then choose how many recipes you want to receive each week, allowing for flexibility.
HelloFresh gives you 10 new recipes every week so you can choose what meals you make each week, and each meal is dietician-approved. The recipes are kid-friendly and there’s even a 20-minute recipe included each week for when you need to whip up a quick dinner.
If you have dietary restrictions, however, HelloFresh might not be what you’re looking for because they don’t offer a lot of customization options.
Blue Apron
Blue Apron is dedicated to building a better way to get our food, all the way from the farmer to the consumer. They partner with local farmers to get high-quality ingredients direct to your door. Through responsible and sustainable practices, Blue Apron intends on changing the way we grow and distribute food for the better.
Blue Apron takes pride in using non-GMO ingredients, not sub-therapeutic antibiotics or hormones on animals, and using sustainable seafood. If you subscribe to Blue Apron you’ll be helping small businesses and supporting sustainable food practices. Blue Apron is also popular for always having new, delicious recipes. After all, variety is the spice of life!
Blue Apron offers four different meal plans to choose from. There’s a two-serving vegetarian plan, signature plan, and a Weight Watchers plan. These are all $9.99 per serving and you can choose to have two or three weekly recipes. They also offer a four-serving signature plan that is $8.99 per serving with an option for two to four weekly recipes.
Blue Apron allows you to switch your weekly menu and recipes easily so you never eat anything you don’t want. They also have an online cookbook and an app to make this selection easy for you.
Unfortunately, if you have any dietary restrictions, there isn’t a lot of room for customization. If you don’t have any restrictions, however, then Blue Apron offers you a huge selection of food you can feel good about at a reasonable price.
Plated
Plated has partnered with farms to get seasonal and fresh ingredients that are responsibly sourced—and they use organic produce whenever possible. This means that your ingredients and recipes will always be fresh, seasonal, and delicious. There are no added hormones or antibiotics in the beef and poultry and the fish are sustainably caught by trusted fisheries.
Plated also works with artisans for small-batch and hand-crafted specialty items to give you quality that just won’t quit. Plus, Plated offers you more choices in your subscription. You have options for dietary needs, serving size, and can change or skip your delivery for whatever fits your schedule.
Plated offers three different meal plans based on how many people you will be serving and how many recipes you want to receive each week. There’s the two-person ($11.95 per serving), three-person ($9.95 per serving), and the four-person plan ($9.95 per serving). At that price, Plated is the most expensive meal kit delivery service on this list but only by a few dollars in comparison to Blue Apron. For those with diet restrictions, Plated offers vegetarian, gluten-free, low-calorie, and low-carb options, giving it an edge on the other two less-customizable meal kit delivery services. If you have dietary restrictions this plan is perfect for you, but it is also great for anyone looking to try new, exciting foods that are as nutritious as they are delicious.
