Comparing One of the Cheapest Meal Delivery Services with The Most Popular One.
Meal kit services offer you a convenient and delicious way of getting dinner to the table with a minimum fuss. Meal kits will help you avoid meal planning and grocery shopping and are designed to help you eat healthier. Moreover, it can save you the heavy meal prep process!
But – with so many options available, it can be pretty overwhelming, especially if you are new to the world of meal delivery service. This is why we created the Meal Kit Review. We hands-on try and review meal kits to help you make an educated decision.
You probably came across two meal delivery services in your research of meal kit delivery services: Hello Fresh and Every Plate. These two companies are top-rated, but what are the differences between the two, and the bottom line – are they worth it?
Before we start with the comparison, one question that is asked often is – Is Everyplate owned by Hello Fresh? The simple answer to this question is yes. Every Plate is owned by HelloFresh and was launched in 2018 as an affordable meal kit subscription alternative.
At first glance, the two services are a lot alike. Both send tasty meals recipes with all the pre-portioned ingredients needed to cook dinner at home, but Hello Fresh is noticeably more expensive. Is it worth the extra cost? Are the meals offered better?
Every Plate Vs. Hello Fresh
Hello Fresh and EveryPlate Meal Plans:
Both Hello Fresh and EveryPlate offer only subscription meal kit service, with no option for a one-time purchase of meal boxes.
Hello Fresh
Hello Fresh offers six different meal plan options – Classic meat and veggie meal plan, Family-friendly meal plan, 100% Vegetarian meal Plan, Calories-smart meal plan, Pescatarian meal plan (veggie meals plus seafood meals), and quick and easy meal plan, with fuss-free meals.
Each of the Hello Fresh plans can cater to two or four people (family plan), and you can choose how many meals to get per week, from two to six.
EveryPlate
EveryPlate offers three meal plans:
- The classic plate Plan– a four-person or two-person box, with three to five dishes delivered per week, as you choose. You can choose your meals from the full array of meat, seafood, and vegetarian options.
- The family plan – caters to two or four people with three to five dishes per week, as you choose. Kids-approved recipes designed for spending more quality time around the table with your picky eaters.
- The Veggie plan, with three vegetarian options for two or four people.
HelloFresh Vs. EveryPlate- Weekly Meals Variety
Hello Fresh
Hello Fresh offers a fantastic amount of 28 weekly chef-designed recipes per week. The extensive menu selection includes great favorite meals with an upgrade, categorized as family-friendly, low-calorie, low-carb, vegetarian, gourmet, light Prep, and easy clean-up.
On top of the regular meal kits variety offered every week, Hello Fresh also offers a great market – an online store offering customers a vast range of add-ons options, from fresh produce and grocery store essentials to prepared and ready-to-heat-and-eat meals, sides and desserts options. All items can b added to your weekly HelloFresh delivery order.
EveryPlate
Every Plate offers its customers a nice amount of variety with 13 weekly recipes. As an EveryPlate customer, you also have the option to upgrade to a premium meal for an additional $2.99 per serving. The weekly menu also includes two protein packs as add-ons to your delivery box.
Since Every Plate is focused on keeping prices low, the menu does not cater to special dietary restrictions such as gluten-free, low carb, or low-calorie. The Every Plate recipes are well suited to regular diets.
Recommended Meal Kits To Try From The Menu:
Our tasting experience with Both EveryPlate and Hello Fresh meal kit services was very pleasing. The meals were always delicious and fun to cook.
However, it is notable that the Hello Fresh meals are more upscaled and exciting, as appose to Every plate meals that were pleasing yet relatively simple, more suitable for picky eaters and students that are low on the budget.
Some Noteworthy Delicious Meals to Try From Hello Fresh:
- Bellissimo bruschetta burgers with herby potato Wedges & roasted asparagus
- Honey salmon with potato wedges & zesty green beans
- Steak au Poivre & garlic herb shrimp and lemony green beans
- Easy prep one-pan pork Fajita lettuce wraps with Blue Corn tortilla chips & lime crema
- Cherry balsamic chicken with almond couscous & roasted carrots
- Thai Coconut ground beef meatballs with sweet rice, roasted green beans, topped with peanuts
Some Fantastic Classic Meals to Try From EveryPlate:
- Popk and poblano tacos
- Chicken in a lemon garlic cream with roasted zucchini and potatoes
- Roasted bell pepper flatbreads
- Garlic BBQ pork chops with mashed potatoes and roasted yellow squash
- Griddled burgers with creamy dijon aioli & fries
- Pork fried rice with veggies and scrambled egg
Style and Complexity of The Recipes:
The recipes quality is crucial when it comes to meal kits. Without interesting chef-designed recipes, you are only getting a big box of fresh products to your doorstep.
How easy is a recipe card to follow, or how a recipe is indulging or simple can make or break your meal kit cooking and eating experience?
Hello Fresh
Hello Fresh tend to offer classic favorite meals with well-known tastes and cooking techniques, but always with a chef’s nice twist.
The meal kits of Hello Fresh are relatively easy to prepare, so dinner is never a chore. However, there are always slightly more sophisticated meal options if you prefer (categorized as ‘GOURMET’ on the weekly menu).
Notably, the focus of Hello Fresh is on helping customers make well-balanced and nutritious meals at home, using high-quality ingredients and lots of fresh veggies.
Every plate
As EveryPlate meal kit delivery service is focused on offering the most affordable meal kits, at the bottom line, they provide simpler meals with fewer ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes. You will find many classic-style recipes like pasta, fajitas, or fried rice. Most meals do not use too many utensils or complicated cooking processes.
Both meal delivery services make an effort to make the weekly menu diverse, with many culinary styles. You will be able to find light Mexican-style meals, some Italian classics, Asian-style meals like stir-fry or noodles, and more.
HelloFresh Vs. EveryPlate- Quality of Ingredients
Hello Fresh
The Hello Fresh ingredients in their meal kits are carefully picked and always of the highest quality. Their meats and seafood are primarily domestically sourced and responsibly raised without any added hormones. The company also offers some organic ingredients in their meals.
From looking at their menu, you will note that Hello Fresh is focused on assisting customers in increasing their fresh vegetable intake and creating a healthy eating lifestyle. The weekly menu features seasonal vegetables, like brussels sprouts and pumpkins during fall or tomatoes and green beans during summer.
Every Plate
As the prices of EveryPlate are relatively low, we did not have high expectations during our EveryPlate testing experience.
However, we were happily surprised to see that the quality of the ingredients they send is very good. Everything seemed to be of excellent quality.
The Delivery Box and Delivery Areas:
HelloFresh delivers to all contiguous USA. EveryPlate ships to the vast majority of the continental USA zip codes. You can find out if EveryPlate ships to your address as part of the signup process by entering your zip code). Neither of the two ship delivery boxes to Alaska or Hawaii.
Hello Fresh
The delivery box from Hello Fresh arrives with all your ingredients sorted and labeled per meal kit. Each meal’s ingredients are packed in separate paper bags, which means no sorting is required during the unpacking process. Inside the box, you will also find full-color recipe cards for each meal. The two-sided recipe card outlines the ingredients you got, extras you will need to have at home (like olive oil, salt, and pepper), step-by-step instructions, calorie count, cooking time, and food allergies information (even though they do not offer plans for specific allergies like nut-free plan or dairy-free plan).
Every Plate
As EveryPlate is focused on kiping costs and pricing low, the ingredients are not packed sorted per meal, so you will need to sort these while unpacking. It only takes a few minutes, so it’s not a big deal – and it saves a lot of packaging costs.
With both delivery boxes, the proteins are located at the bottom of the box with gel ice packs to keep it cool during the delivery process, and even stay out of the fridge a bit after delivery if you are not home to accept it.
Managing Your Online Account
With both Hello Fresh and EveryPlate meal kit delivery services, signing up for a new subscription account is easy to do online. Both offer websites and app that makes managing your account incredibly easy to do.
Once you have signed up, you can manage all your account elements, including meal planning for weeks ahead, updating your dietary preferences, and stipulating payment preferences.
You can also very easily skip weeks when needed and pause your account on the spot, with no need to contact customer service or paying any extra fees.
EveryPlate Vs. Hello Fresh – The Final Verdict
Our Winner Meal Delivery Service is Hello Fresh!
We enjoyed the tasting experiences with both Hello Fresh and EveryPlate meal delivery services. We did feel that they were suited to different audiences, especially in terms of bottom-line cost and the style of meals.
After looking at all criteria, our vote goes to the Hello Fresh meal kit service.
Hello Fresh offers a notable reacher variety in their weekly meals, and they include a better number of interesting ingredients. We felt that the style of dishes was more appealing and tempting for great home-cooked dining options.
When considering the price per meal and shipping costs, Hello Fresh does come out as more expensive than Every Plate – But we felt that this extra cost was well worth it when looking at the high-quality of freshest produce they send and the meals you end up eating!
Moreover, Hello Fresh offers meal options for some special diet needs like low-carb, vegetarian, and calorie-smart options.
Lastly, we loved the Hello Fresh market feature, which can make your life even easier by saving you extra grocery shopping trips.
