Home Chef Vs. HelloFresh: Which Meal Delivery Kit Is A Better Deal

As you read this, you're likely enjoying a snack or a meal that you didn't cook yourself. A lucky guess? Maybe, but this Toast survey hints at that. In 2024, Toast randomly questioned 850 adults on how often they order out, and found 40% use food delivery apps or order takeout 3-5 times monthly. Which is not a surprise as meal delivery services make life easier with a mix of fresh, delicious meals straight to our homes.

Among the most popular service options are Home Chef and HelloFresh. It might be hard to pick a favorite since each offers similar services like subscriptions, and deliver pre-portioned ingredients in insulated boxes. However, you get an extensive selection of meal kits with HelloFresh. The menu includes meals designed to be quick to prepare and suitable for families. You won't have a problem with your dietary needs such as vegetarian, low-carb, keto, pescatarian, and calorie-conscious options.

On the other hand, HomeChef isn't just online; you can also find its kits in familiar grocery stores like Kroger, Target, and Walmart. This means you can snap up a meal kit on your regular grocery run especially as they reach out to 98% of the United States. Customers can also swap, upgrade, or double up on protein choices because HomeChef adds a degree of customization within its meal kits.

Home Chef and HelloFresh offer similar pricing structures but with notable differences. Home Chef gives you a Standard plan and a Family Plan. The former starts at $9.99 per serving, but the final price depends on the specific meals chosen, the total servings on the order, and any customizations made. Still, you get a minimum weekly order of $50.95 for the standard home chef plan and $82.91 for the family plan.

HelloFresh meals start from $8.99 to $12.49 per serving, which varies with the number of meals in your order. Shipping and sales tax (depending on your location) are also added to the total cost, and these fluctuate from week to week, mainly as a result of the contents of your box. Like Home Chef, HelloFresh lets customers choose between two to six meals per week, with each meal including either two or four servings.

Both offer discounts and promotions to new customers. Home Chef has an introductory offer of 60% off your first three boxes, with a minimum discount of $50.30 and 30% off your fourth box. They also offer discounts for students, AAA members and military personnel. HelloFresh frequently promotes deals like getting a free high-protein item with every order as long as you remain a customer. With their coupons and discounts, you can also get up to 10 free meals (check out if your fast food combo meals really save you money).

When picking a meal delivery service, it's not just about how much you pay. The real flavor comes from the quality of ingredients and how happy it makes you feel after the meal. Both HelloFresh and Home Chef shout about the freshness of their ingredients and the solid connections they have with their suppliers. HelloFresh sticks to a path of responsibly sourced ingredients, checked thoroughly to keep the quality high. Home Chef matches up, with many thumbs up from customers happy to find their meats and veggies arriving in top-notch condition.

On customer satisfaction, reviews show that both Home Chef and HelloFresh make meal prep simple and convenient. Yet, Home Chef has the highest satisfaction rates among meal kit companies, known for a customer service that is usually quick and helpful, though not without occasional hiccups. HelloFresh, while praised for its diverse meal plans and enriching cooking experience, receives a mix of feedback — some customers suggest a room for improvement in how they handle queries and issues.

Ultimately, the choice between Home Chef and HelloFresh boils down to what you value most in a meal kit. If the ability to customize meals, particularly swapping proteins, appeals to you, then Home Chef might be the way to go. On the other hand, if you're after a wide range of flavors and recipes, HelloFresh's extensive menu could be more to your taste.