The meal kit industry is booming, and for a good reason – meal kits are a great and convenient way to eat well without going to the grocery store. Vegetarians and meat lovers alike can benefit from and enjoy meal kits delivered directly to their doorstep.
Choosing the right meal kit service can be challenging, with so many different services on the market. That’s where we come in with our meal kit comparisons, helping you choose between popular meal kit services.
Here, we review HelloFresh and Martha & Marley Spoon. Our team re-tested these services for two weeks in 2024 to ensure our information is up-to-date and accurate. Let’s see how the two compare to determine which meal kit service is best for you.
Short On Time? Our winner is Martha & Marley Spoon. Here is why….
- Largest variety of meals
- Chef-designed and Martha’s Best meals
- Consistently delicious recipes
- Generous, satisfying portion sizes
- Supporting many diets and lifestyles
- Great price for high-quality home-cooked meals
What is HelloFresh?
HelloFresh is the most popular meal kit in the United States and one of the best-known meal kit services. The company offers weekly deliveries of traditional meal kit recipes using high-quality ingredients. HelloFresh has a large weekly menu with many crowd-pleasers and easy-to-cook meals.
What is Martha & Marley Spoon?
Marley Spoon is a weekly meal kit delivery service designed by legendary home chef Martha Stewart. It offers over 100 weekly recipes to choose from, including Martha’s Best recipes and some oven-ready, one-pot meal options. The recipes vary from familiar American-style classics with an upscale twist to cuisines like Indian, Mexican, Italian, and more.
Pros and Cons
HelloFresh Pros
- Excellent variety of weekly recipes to choose from
- Fresh, high-quality ingredients
- Options to support vegetarian, low-carb, and low-calorie diets
- Includes market add-ons like breakfasts, snacks, etc.
HelloFresh Cons
- Doesn’t support specialty diets like keto, gluten-free, and vegan
- Some recipes may require specialized tools
Martha & Marley Spoon Pros
- Choose from Martha’s Best Meals, created by Martha Stewart
- Pre-portioned, high-quality ingredients
- Offers add-on options like desserts, coffee, and breakfast items
- Vegetarian, dairy-free, low-calorie, and low-carb meal options
Martha & Marley Spoon Cons
- Ingredients do not come individually sorted per recipe
- Does not cater to individuals with severe food allergies or dietary restrictions.
The Meal Plans
HelloFresh Meal Plans
With HelloFresh, you can choose a plan with servings for 2 or 4 people and receive anywhere from 2 to 6 meals per week. They also have the HelloFresh market, where you can shop for many add-on options like breakfasts, snacks, and more.
Along with your weekly number of meals, HelloFresh lets you specify preferences to get recipe recommendations for your dietary needs and goals. Their tailored menu options include high protein, low carb, veggie, pescatarian, low-calorie, and plant-based.
Marley Spoon Meal Plans
Marley Spoon has plans for 2 or 4 people, with as few as 2 and up to 6 meals delivered in your weekly box. This includes traditional meal kits and oven-ready, one-pot menu offerings. Marley Spoon also offers a market where you can add on items like breakfasts, snacks, and more.
When signing up for Marley Spoon, you can specify preferences to get recommendations that suit your dietary needs. The categories include Gluten-Free Friendly, low-calorie, low-carb, Picky-Eater-Approved, Quick & Easy, and vegetarian options. No matter which you choose, you’ll still be able to choose from the full menu each week.
Marley Spoon Meal Plans:
The Meals Style
Each week, HelloFresh and Marley Spoon offer 100+ recipes to choose from. Both companies offer a variety of styles, including many culinary styles—all American classics, Italian, Mexican-style, Asian, and more—so either option will likely have some meals to suit your taste each week.
With HelloFresh, the weekly menu includes a variety of classic dishes with a twist. When you sign up, you can specify preferences to get recipe recommendations for meals that suit your taste, including family-friendly, calorie-smart, protein-smart, seasonal, vegetarian, and some premium options.
HelloFresh Menu:
Martha & Marley Spoon has the upper hand regarding specific diets, with more recipes to support preferences, including low-carb, low-calorie, dairy-free, gluten-free, Mediterranean, vegetarian, climatarian, or vegan. Like HelloFresh, you can choose preferences when signing up to get recommendations and browse the full menu of options each week.
Marley Spoon Menu:
Is It Tasty? Our Experience
Over the past six years, the Meal Kit Review team has enjoyed HelloFresh and Marley Spoon. Recently, we re-tested both services for two weeks in 2024 to update our past reviews and verify that all info is still accurate.
In general, we remain satisfied with both meal kits. The boxes arrived well-packed and easy to sort, with high-quality produce and meats. Both deliveries came with comprehensive recipe cards with full-color photos of the steps. Here are our most recent favorites from both companies and why we loved them.
Marley Spoon
Our team loved Martha’s Best Chicken Shawarma Hummus Bowl with Shepherd’s Salad. This recipe was simple and easy to make, even with the different components of the dish. We loved the depth and variety of flavors with the marinated shallots and shepherd’s salad atop the delicious spiced chicken. The flatbreads and hummus were an amazing and perfectly portioned touch. We were delighted with this flavorful and easy-to-cook meal!
HelloFresh
We really enjoyed the Pasta Swirls and Sauce with Baby Broccoli and Oregano Gremolata from our latest HelloFresh experience! This dish featured delicious, fresh baby broccoli and tasty pork sausage that went amazingly well with the pasta and Gremolata. The almonds in the sauce gave it a great crunch, and the zest from the lemon added a great zing to this dish. What a delicious, elevated way to enjoy pasta and veggies!
Other Popular Meals To Try
HelloFresh Meals
- Sweet Potato & Pepper Quesadillas with Southwest Crema & Tomato Salsa
- Sheet Pan Monterey Jack Un-Fried Chicken with Roasted Carrots, Potato Wedges, & Sriracha Mayo
- Garlic Herb Butter-Basted Scallops with Spaghetti & Burst Grape Tomatoes
- Sweet & Spicy Pork Noodle Stir-Fry with bell Pepper, Cilantro, & Peanuts
- Apricot & Almond Kale Salad with Cheesy Toast Croutons & Creamy Balsamic Dressing
- Chicken & Potatoes with Cheddar Sauce
Martha & Marley Spoon Meals
- Buffalo Chicken Salad with Ranch
- Lemony Shrimp & Asparagus Foil Packets with Garlic Bread
- Vegan Coconut Corn Chowder with Childes & Lime
- Chicken Fajita Bowl with Peppers & Sour Cream
- Spinach & Artichoke Pizza Bianca with Mozzarella & Red Pepper Flakes
- Pork Shawarma Hummus Bowl with Shepherd’s Salad
The Ingredient Quality
Both meal kit companies provide customers with fresh, high-quality ingredients in each delivery box.
HelloFresh uses hormone-free, sustainably sourced meat, poultry, and seafood. While some of the produce is organic, HelloFresh focuses more on including fresh fruits and vegetables with every meal.
Martha & Marley Spoon uses many of the high-quality ingredients that one would expect from Martha Stewart. The company offers antibiotic-free chicken and high-quality meat from various local suppliers. Like HelloFresh, some, but not all, produce is organic, and many recipes on the menu use a seasonal, farm-to-table approach.
Diet and Lifestyle Support
When picking which meal kit delivery service to use, you need to know if they offer enough recipes to suit your dietary needs. HelloFresh and Marley Spoon both support some special diets, but the options are slightly different.
HelloFresh offers meals for high protein, low carb, veggie, Pescatarian, low calorie, and plant-based diets. You can choose these preferences when signing up to get recommendations and browse the menu with clear labels to help find meals for your needs.
When signing up for Martha & Marley Spoon, you can select low-calorie, low-carb, gluten-free, friendly, vegetarian, or picky eater-approved crowd-pleaser recipes. The menu also clearly labels dairy-free and kid-friendly recipe options.
Optional Add-ons
Both HelloFresh and Marley Spoon offer add-ons to make your weekly meal kit delivery go even further.
The HelloFresh market offers many add-on items, including breakfasts, quick lunches, and other everyday grocery staples to add to your weekly delivery.
Marley Spoon also has a market with various grocery add-ons. Their add-on options include beverages, desserts, snacks, and ready-to-heat meals, including breakfast options.
HelloFresh Market:
Pricing
These days, cost is a key consideration when choosing a meal kit. Here, we compare the per-serving cost for HelloFresh vs. Marley Spoon and the price of shipping. Per serving, Marley Spoon is the more affordable option, though its shipping cost is slightly higher.
HelloFresh
Per Meal Cost: $11.49-13.29
Shipping: $10.99 per box
Marley Spoon
Per Meal Cost: $8.69-12.99
Shipping: $11.99 per box
The Delivery Box
Both HelloFresh & Marley Spoon deliveries arrive in a high-quality cardboard box with an easy-to-identify logo. The packaging includes ice packs that keep your food at a safe temperature during delivery. Both boxes also include colorful printed recipe cards for each meal.
With HelloFresh, meal prep is even easier because all the ingredients per meal kit are packed in paper bags. So there’s no confusion or guesswork on the ingredients. Also, the portioned-out ingredients ensure you always have the “perfect” portioned-controlled dinner.
In the Marley Spoon box, recipe ingredients are packed together in a small inner cardboard box. Anything that needs to be cold is at the bottom, between two ice packs to ensure freshness. Unpacking and storing the ingredients takes a bit longer, but it is still relatively quick and easy.
Subscribing & Managing Your Account
HelloFresh’s and Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon’s app and website make it very easy to manage your account. Online or in the app, you can register, order, choose your meals, change meal plans, change the delivery date, and skip weeks or cancel when needed.
Each company’s site and app also allow you to view future menus, a breakdown of ingredients, and other essentials such as cooking time and nutritional information.
What Do Customers Think Of It?
What Customers Think of HelloFresh
Overall, HelloFresh customers love the ease and convenience of the meal kit service. Customers also like the variety of weekly recipes and how the meal kit teaches them new cooking dishes. However, some note that the price is no longer budget-friendly.
One Reddit user was skeptical of the price at first but loved the convenience, saying, “I can’t imagine going back to full grocery shopping. The convenience of having delicious, well-seasoned meals brought to my door is fantastic. Just the right ingredients, nothing to spare to get old in the pantry”
@NovaPrime2285 loves how many new things they learned from HelloFresh, commenting, “HF has helped me to learn more in the kitchen, to cook better, portion my seasoning and such better, so being on HF for a few months has certainly introduced me to not only new meals, but spices and foods I otherwise generally ignored.”
HelloFresh App Score & Reviews
The HelloFresh app has an average score of 4.7/5 stars in the Apple App Store, with over 193K ratings. Here’s a snapshot of some recent app reviews:
What Customers Think of Marley Spoon
Marley Spoon customers appreciate the variety of meals, especially with so many vegetarian and vegetable-forward options every week. They also love the quality of produce and items received. However, some have had issues with delayed deliveries.
@BonBell822 highly recommends the service, with pros like “HUGE selection of meals to choose from each week along with desserts and lots of vegetarian options… More customization options, including the ability to add portions”
Reddit user @BeMandy71 says they’ve been 100% satisfied with Marley Spoon. “I find the recipes tasty and interesting. The portions are good.”
Marley Spoon App Score & Reviews
The Marley Spoon App has 7.9K ratings, with an average score of 4.7/5 stars in the Apple App Store. Here’s a sample of some customer reviews of the app:
Customer Support
You can find answers to many questions online with either HelloFresh or Marley Spoon, as both services offer an extensive FAQ with answers to many common questions. Finding Marley Spoon’s FAQ page is a bit harder, but after clicking “Customer Service,” you will see many helpful categories to browse.
In addition to the FAQ, HelloFresh offers an online chat with their AI support or a phone call to customer support. With Marley Spoon, you can call their customer support line or use the “Contact Us” form to submit your question.
Delivery Area
HelloFresh delivers to all of the continental United States and to select areas in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Anchorage, Alaska.
Marley Spoon’s US operation delivers to most of the contiguous United States. You can enter your address during the sign-up process to confirm that they deliver to you. Marley Spoon also operates and delivers internationally in the UK and Australia.
Bottom Line
Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon Is Our Winner!
HelloFresh and Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon both offer a wide selection of recipes with flavorful and high-quality ingredients to make every dinner an enjoyable experience.
HelloFresh is one of the largest meal kit services and has lots of experience creating delicious recipes that people love to cook and eat. Martha & Marley Spoon, our favorite, is best suited for people who want high-quality, home-cooked, chef-designed, fun, and easy meals.
We chose Martha & Marley Spoon as our winner because of the most critical elements—the taste and ease of use. Their menu has a great variety of recipes, and every one was a hit! They also offer generous portion sizes compared with many meal kits that satisfied us and a wide variety of diet support, from vegetarian to dairy-free and gluten-free-friendly.
Why Trust Us? Our Review Methodology
Finding a meal delivery service that meets your needs can be confusing and overwhelming. That’s where the Meal Kit Review can help.
Our team are seasoned professionals with years of experience using various meal kit companies. We are well-versed in both the pros and cons of each meal kit delivery service and take a hands-on approach to reviewing each company.
Our reviewers order the product, cook it according to the provided instructions, and use 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.
