Meal Kit delivery services like Hello Fresh and Home Chef are designed to make it easier to get dinner on the table, regardless of your cooking skills. With so many options, deciding which meal box service best fits your needs can be challenging.
At The Meal Kit Review, our mission is to test and rank all meal kits on the market. Our experienced team has first-hand experience testing every meal kit company we review, providing full details of our experiences.
This article will compare two of the biggest and most well-known competitors: Hello Fresh and Home Chef. Our team recently received two weeks’ worth of 2024 meal kit offerings from both companies to test their latest offerings so you can get the most up-to-date information about both meal kits.
Home Chef focuses on delivering delicious new twists on classic meals. Hello Fresh is well known as the most popular meal kit service in the US. But which meal kit is right for you? We can break down all the details thanks to our hands-on experience with both brands.
Let’s take a look at Hello Fresh vs. Home Chef to help you decide which will be your winner in this meal kit battle.
Short on Time? Our Winner is Hello Fresh. Here Is Why
Hello Fresh and Home Chef are both highly-rated meal kits that rank among our favorite meal companies. Both meal kit services are ideal for people who want delicious home-cooked meals at dinner time, and each offers add-ons for lunch and breakfast if you choose.
While the results were very close, Hello Fresh is our winner due to their consistently high quality and delicious flavors. Their recipes are easy to follow, and the variety offered is tough to beat. Moreover, the menu offers many market options such as fast breakfast, proteins, spices, desserts, sides, and more.
Hello Fresh also constantly adds options to customize your meals, swapping out proteins and sides to tailor the menu to your needs and preferences.
What is Hello Fresh?
Hello Fresh is known as the most popular meal kit company in America. They deliver fresh, pre-portioned ingredients alongside step-by-step recipes for customers to make at home. Hello Fresh subscribers can use their website or mobile app each week to pick out their menu from hundreds of rotating menu options. This meal kit service aims to cut down on food waste and prep time by providing just the right amount of each ingredient to make your meals.
What is Home Chef?
Home Chef is a Hello Fresh competitor that offers easy-to-cook meals with pre-measured ingredients delivered right to your door. This meal kit delivery service also provides oven-ready and microwavable options for lunch and dinner to suit your needs on busy weeks. Home Chef offers a variety of over 40 recipes each week, with options for standard 30-minute meal kits or their “express” offering with meals that come together in 15 minutes. Most Home Chef recipes focus on classics like meatloaf or roasted chicken but with a nice twist to keep things interesting.
Pros and Cons
Hello Fresh Pros
- Great variety of easy-to-prepare meals
- Offers meals for many dietary needs, including vegetarian, pescatarian, and low-calorie
- Ability to customize meals by swapping out proteins or sides
- Family-friendly
- Competitive prices compared with other meal kit services
- Provides nutrition information
- Market add-ons
Hello Fresh Cons
- Doesn’t offer options for certain dietary needs, such as keto or gluten-free
- Meals may require specialized tools
Home Chef Pros
- Many quick and easy meal options under 30 minutes
- Great variety of meal options, including oven-ready and microwave-ready meals
- Ability to customize meals by swapping out proteins or altering protein quantities
- Offers meals for many dietary needs, including keto-friendly, pescatarian, and vegetarian
Home Chef Cons
- Offers only protein customization, without the ability to swap out sides
- Doesn’t offer options for certain dietary needs, such as vegan or gluten-free
- Customers have fewer recipes to choose from each week compared with larger services like Hello Fresh
The Meal Plans
Hello Fresh Meal Plans
Note: Hello Fresh customers can mix and match the preferences noted below to create the perfect meal plan for their needs.
- Meat & Veggies Plan: 2-6 meals per week for 2 or 4 people
- Family Friendly Plan: 2-6 meals per week for 2 or 4 people
- Under 20 Minutes Plan: 2-6 meals per week for 2 or 4 people
- Veggie Plan: 2-6 meals per week for 2 or 4 people
- Fit & Wholesome Plan: 2-6 meals per week for 2 or 4 people
- Pescatarian Plan: 2-6 meals per week for 2 or 4 people
Home Chef Meal Plans
Note: Home Chef offers a variety of meal kit options to filter for weekly recipes that fit your needs, including low-calorie, vegetarian, high-protein, and gluten-smart. Their Customize-It option lets you swap, increase, or exclude proteins from most recipes.
- Two-Person Plan: 2-6 meals per week for two people
- Four-Person Family Plan: 2-6 meals per week for four people
- Six-Person Family Plan: 2-6 meals per week portioned for six people
The Meals Style
Both Home Chef and Hello Fresh focus on offering relatively classic meals from all over the world, with recipes ranging from Mexican, Asian, Italian, American, and more. Both companies’ meal kit delivery services have flexible options to customize weekly boxes to meet your dietary needs and tastes.
Home Chef offers their customers a selection of 35+ meals to choose from each week. The weekly menu includes various dietary options like gluten-smart, keto-friendly, low-calorie, and vegetarian. Customers can also pick from the express options for meals that come together in less than 30 minutes or opt for oven-ready or fast and fresh microwavable meals, all on the same menu.
Home Chef also offers a unique “Customize It” feature that allows customers to swap or alter most meals’ proteins, options for no protein, a different protein, or double their portions.
Hello Fresh meal kit service customers can choose from 100+ recipes each week. Their rotating menu includes low-calorie, family-friendly, quick & easy, and vegetarian options.
Unlike Home Chef, Hello Fresh focuses on easy-to-make recipes with pre-measured ingredients and does not offer oven-ready or microwave-ready meals.
At Meal Kit Review, we make sure to cook and try out a variety of meals from every company we review. After trying the 2024 options from both companies, Hello Fresh and Home Chef offer delicious meals with great flavors!
Some of the meals we tried and loved from Home Chef were Seared Scallops with Garlic Butter Risotto, Broccoli Cheddar-Stuffed Chicken with Roasted Garlic Carrots and Zucchini, Shrimp Fajita Quesadillas with Cilantro Cream, and Mushroom Parmesan Penne with Garlic Baguette.
Meals from the Hello Fresh menu we tried and enjoyed were One-Pan Chicken & Black Bean Quesadillas, Creamy Tuscan Spaghetti & Meatballs, Crunchy Curried Chickpea Bowls, and Salmon Banh Mi Baguettes.
Is It Tasty? Our Experience
The Meal Kit review tried out two weeks of 2024 meal kit offerings from both Hello Fresh and Home Chef to bring you our honest experience.
Hello Fresh
Of all the fresh, easy-to-make meals from Hello Fresh, the Mediterranean Baked Veggies with Couscous, Almonds & Feta was our favorite. This veggie-forward, calorie-smart offering impressed us with great flavors. We received fresh-looking asparagus, beautiful fresh tomatoes for this dish, and a good portion of vibrant feta cheese. The tomatoes are well balanced with the briny flavor from the feta cheese and the green freshness of the asparagus, with just the right crunch from the almonds. The couscous rounded out the meal and ensured it was a nutritious and filling dinner.
Home Chef
The Meal Kit Review team tried several Home Chef recipes, and the Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl with Smoked Almonds and Green Beans is our favorite from 2024. We used the Customize It feature to get ground pork as a protein swap, and the recipe came with instructions for how to adapt for this switch. This easy recipe has just a hint of mild spice, and we loved how the flavors came together. The Teriyaki glaze has a nice sweetness that’s well-balanced by the sriracha, and the nuts and snap peas we received added a nice fresh crunch to the dish.
Other Popular Meals To Try
Here are some more popular meals from both Hello Fresh and Home Chef that we recommend.
Hello Fresh
- Hawaiian-Style Coconut Tempura Shrimp with Tropical Slaw, Zesty Rice & Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Sauce
- Mushroom Flatbreads with Gouda Cream Sauce & Parmesan
- Pork Filet with Creamy Pan Sauce plus Roasted Sweet Potato Couscous
- Black Bean & Portobello Burrito Bowls with Green Pepper, Pico de Gallo & Lime Crema
- Vegan Coconut Curry Tofu Lettuce Wraps with Bell Pepper, Cilantro & Lime
- Chicken Ramen in a Shoyu-Style Broth with Mushrooms, Chili Garlic Oil & Crispy Onions
Home Chef
- Fig Jam and Blue Cheese Beef Burger with Garlic Pepper Fries
- Bacon Carbonara Chicken with Parmesan and Sun-Dried Tomato Green Beans
- Salmon Cakes with Dill Hollandaise and Greek-style Potatoes
- Creamy Artichoke Cacio e Pepe with Garlic Bread
- One-pan Garlic Pepper Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo with Parmesan
- Cilantro-Lime Mahi-Mahi with Corn and Peppers
Ingredient Quality: HelloFresh vs. Home Chef
Both Home Chef and Hello Fresh use consistently high-quality ingredients, often of better quality than those of your regular grocery store.
Home Chef has partnered with first-class food suppliers such as Paysan Breton Butter, World Wide Farms for farm-fresh herbs and vegetables, and Sea to Table for sustainably sourced seafood. Their meat and poultry are sourced only from USDA-inspected suppliers to ensure food safety.
Hello Fresh uses mainly domestically sourced meats with no added hormones. They state that their poultry is both antibiotic and hormone-free. Their pork is certified to be hormone-free, and the seafood is naturally and sustainably sourced. The vegetables are not always organic but are always high-quality.
Nutritional Values & Diet Support of Home Chef and Hello Fresh
With both Hello Fresh and Home Chef, we noticed that the meals are packed with nutritious ingredients. Not only that, but they seem well-balanced in terms of carbs, healthy fresh vegetables, and portion sizes.
The calorie count is quite different from meal to meal with both companies and can range from around 500 for the low-calorie meals to 800 calories or higher for the more calorie-rich dishes. Home Chef also offers some great 5-minute salad options that are very low on the calorie count and can drop as low as 250 calories per serving!
It is important to note that both companies fully detail each dish’s calorie count and other essential nutritional facts in their online menu. Their menus also use an easy tag system, making it easy to spot which recipes suit your preferences and various dietary needs.
Both Hello Fresh and Home Chef offer a variety of menu options to suit different dietary preferences and requirements.
Hello Fresh’s menu includes options for the following diets: vegan, vegetarian, calorie-smart, carb-smart, high-protein, and family-friendly. They also offer meals tagged as quick and with easy prep and clean-up.
With Home Chef, customers can find meals tailored to these diets: vegetarian, keto-friendly, paleo-friendly, gluten-smart, pescatarian, high protein, carb-conscious, and calorie-conscious. They also offer oven-ready meals and microwavable options for a busy lifestyle.
Our Dietitian Take on It
“HelloFresh and Home Chef both offer well-balanced meals with lean proteins and plenty of veggies. HelloFresh has a greater variety of dishes, specific diet preference options, and cuisine types, so you never get bored. Home Chef is a better option for those looking to prepare simpler recipes, which may be a better choice for those who don’t have as much time to spend in the kitchen.”, highlights Kathryn Drakeford, MA, RD, CSP, LD, CLC.
Optional Add-ons
Both Hello Fresh and Home Chef offer customers add-ons for their weekly meal kit deliveries.
With Hello Fresh, customers can browse the HelloFresh Market each week to add additional meals to their weekly box. The market includes quick breakfasts, lunches, snacks, desserts, and other everyday grocery items you can add to your weekly order. You can also get additional sides for your weekly meals, like bread or salad.
Home Chef offers a variety of Bundle & Save extras that customers can add to their meal deliveries. These add-ons include breakfast items, appetizers, quick lunches, beverages, and snacks. You can also grab extra proteins to add to your meals throughout the week.
Pricing
Cost is one of the key differences between Hello Fresh and Home Chef. So, Let’s break down the costs for both services, including shipping. With both meal kit delivery services, your cost per meal will be lower on a larger plan. This means that someone opting for a 4-person plan will pay less per meal than someone who picks a 2-person plan. Overall, Home Chef is a bit more affordable per meal than Hello Fresh (true to May 2024).
Hello Fresh
Per Meal Cost: $7.99 – $11.49
Shipping: $10.99 per box
Home Chef
Per Meal Cost: $6.99 – $9.16
Shipping: $9.99 per box
Home Chef vs. Hello Fresh – The Delivery Box
Hello Fresh and Home Chef deliver in carton boxes labeled with their company logo. Inside the box, individual meal kit ingredients are bagged and tagged. This makes unpacking stress-free. The boxes also contain recipe cards for each meal kit.
Both companies place any ingredients that need to be refrigerated at the bottom of the box with ice packs. This ensures that food stays at the appropriate temperature during the delivery process and can be left outside for a while without worry.
Hello Fresh and Home Chef appear to be committed to ensuring that their meal kits reach customers in the best condition while doing as much as possible to reduce packaging waste and embrace eco-friendly practices.
For instance, Hello Fresh works efficiently with their insulation and packaging to reduce package weight and waste. Home Chef uses reusable containers to package certain items with their portion cups, bottles, and jars.
With both meal kit services, their boxes, plastic bags, and plastic containers can be fully recycled. In fact, both Hello Fresh and Home Chef offer full guides on how to recycle their shipping products. Both companies’ ice packs are non-toxic and can be easily rinsed off and reused at home. If you prefer to dispose of them, throw the contents in the trash and recycle the plastic bag.
Hello Fresh’s recycling guide can be found here. Home Chef customers who want to recycle their package components should look here.
Subscribing and Managing Your Account with Hello Fresh vs. Home Chef
With both services, you will answer a series of questions about your dietary preferences and needs as part of the sign-up process. This helps guide you in selecting the best plan for your household.
Once you’re signed up, both Hello Fresh and Home Chef offer the ability to manage your account online or with their unique mobile app. You can pick weekly meals, skip a week, and order add-ons from the website or mobile app for either meal kit service.
What Do Customers Think Of Hello Fresh and Home Chef?
We headed to Reddit, where people can share their opinions on just about anything, for some more customer feedback on Hello Fresh and Home Chef.
For Hello Fresh, customers often comment on the price, noting that the service is convenient and not necessarily the best for a budget. They also praise the good recipes and how the service can make cooking fun.
Regarding the Hello Fresh service, @DontYuckMyYum says: “I get 3 meals a week and it gives me dinners for 6 nights out of the week and I have no food waste from leaving stuff in the fridge/freezer or cupboards and forgetting about them. It makes everything so easy.”
@Feetyoumeet enjoys the convenience, sharing that “Hello fresh is definitely less stress, ingredients are ready to go and the food is really good.”
With Home Chef, customers praise the menu design and the fact that the service helps them learn new ways to prepare meals. However, some users have had some issues with delivery and packaging.
For overall value, @MealFinds says “I like Home Chef for the value and price transparency.”
Regarding add-ons, @Aggravating-Guest-12 was very impressed, stating, “if you haven’t tried the Blueberry Lemon Butter cake, get it!”
Delivery Area
As of 2024, both Hello Fresh and Home Chef currently deliver to 98% of the United States. To check if Home Chef provides to your area, you can enter your zip code at the beginning of the sign-up process, and their system will confirm if you are in the delivery zone. Hello Fresh also prompts you to enter your address before checkout to confirm that your boxes can be delivered.
Customer Support
Hello Fresh and Home Chef offer extensive FAQ pages to quickly answer many common customer questions about their services. In addition to the FAQ, Hello Fresh offers an online chat or phone call customer support service. With Home Chef, you can also use online chat, call their phone, or send an email request for assistance.
Benefits Of Using Meal Kit Services Like Hello Fresh & Home Chef
Meal kit services like Hello Fresh or Home Chef can be an easy, convenient way to enjoy healthy meals at home, helping you stick to a routine of eating fresh, home-cooked foods. By having ingredients for healthy dinners delivered right to your door, you can enjoy home-cooked meals without planning and shopping for ingredients yourself. These services are an excellent fit for busy lifestyles, limiting your trips to the grocery and helping streamline planning what you’ll eat for dinner each week.
Meal kit delivery services can also help support your health goals and dietary needs with low-calorie, keto, and other food options. These specially designed recipes make it easier to stick to your diet goals and find new, delicious meals that suit your needs.
Bottom Line – Our Winner is Hello Fresh
Both Hello Fresh and Home Chef are highly-rated meal kit options and are easily among our favorite companies. Both meal kit services are ideal for people who want delicious home-cooked meals at dinner time, and each offers add-ons for lunch and breakfast if you choose.
The results were very close for us, but Hello Fresh is our winner!
The Hello Fresh meals we have tried over the years have always met our expectations – and often exceeded them with delicious flavors! Their recipes are easy to follow, and the variety offered is tough to beat.
Hello Fresh also continues to add options to customize your meals, swapping out both proteins and sides to tailor the menu to your needs and preferences.
If you haven’t tried Hello Fresh yet – we highly recommend it!
Why Trust Us? Our Review Process
The world of meal kits has been expanding rapidly over the last ten years. Finding a service that perfectly suits you can be confusing and overwhelming. That’s where the Meal Kit Review can help.
Our team at the Meal Kit Review are seasoned professionals who have been using meal kit services for many years. We are well-versed in both the pros and cons of each meal kit delivery service and with our attention to detail, we ensure that we provide you with the most relevant feedback collected from in-depth first-hand experience.
We take a hands-on approach to reviewing each meal kit. Our team orders the product, cooks it according to the provided instructions, and uses that experience to review each service. We sample various recipes for each meal kit we review and keep our expertise up-to-date with new offerings.
We are very proud of our processes, and our mission is to be the one-stop shop for meal kit information.
