HelloFresh Meal Kit Review
Are HelloFresh meal kits a good choice for someone who is chronically ill? Read my HelloFresh meal kit review to see if it might be right for you.
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Cost: I chose 3 meals with 2 servings each for $56.94 plus $8.99 shipping. A friend gifted me a free box, so I only had to pay for shipping. Without the free box, this comes to about $10.98 per serving. There are options for family servings of 4 and you can choose between 2 and 6 meals per week. Choosing more meals reduces the cost per meal.
Shipping: My meal kit was scheduled for a Thursday, but arrived a day early. HelloFresh gives a delivery window of 8am to 8pm. The box was in great condition and everything arrived fresh and cold.
Selection: With the Classic Plan, each week you can choose from 25 dishes that range from both meat and veggies, just veggies, and/or low calorie. You can also choose add ons like breakfast foods, desserts, and fresh produce. I found them to be more expensive than my regular groceries, though. HelloFresh doesn’t have the ability to filter out ingredients nor do they offer recipes for stricter diets. Most of the options offered to be more adventurous than my chronic illness symptoms would be able to tolerate. That said, I chose Mozzarella and Herb Chicken, Bacon and Cream Supreme Spaghetti, and Creamy Lemon Spinach Ricotta Ravioli.
What’s Included: Each meal kit comes with its own recipe card. With the exception of the chicken and ravioli, every meal kit was individually packaged in paper bags with the ingredients ready to prepare.
Preparation: I made the ravioli first and preparation was a bit more involved than I would have liked as I was dealing with a high symptom day. I took a few minutes to sit down while waiting for the veggies to roast and the pasta water to boil. There were a couple steps, like slicing the roasted pepper while it was still warm and reserving hot pasta water, that I definitely wouldn’t recommend if you want your meal kits to be chronic illness friendly.
Additional Thoughts: I want to write another post on kitchen tools to help chronically ill/disabled people, because I sure could have used some when preparing the HelloFresh meal kits. Like Green Chef, HelloFresh serving sizes are bigger than what I can eat in one serving and I would have had leftovers if my family wasn’t home to help eat them.
Overall Review: My chronic illnesses limit what I can comfortably eat. I enjoy pasta, but I really don’t need multiple meal kits for it. As many of the meal selection choices aren’t chronic illness friendly and use slightly more advanced kitchen skills, I probably won’t use HelloFresh again.