Hello Fresh Review
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By CANDICE GREY ConsumersCompare.org Update: Jul 10, 2024 |
- Fast and easy meals delivered to your door.
- Pre measured ingredients and healthy food options.
- Recipe cards for clear instructions on how to prepare the food.
- The customers choice on which meals they want.
- Easy and hassle free subscription service.
- Convenient
Hello Fresh is a meal service that offers a variety of food options that are delivered to your front door. These are not pre-made meals and it will require you to actually cook the ingredients in the box. As you probably already know, healthy meal services are popping up everywhere you look. If you are on social media, you have probably seen multiple ads for different companies trying to lure you into a purchase. There are also a variety of celebrities paid to flaunt their home-cooked meal in hopes that someone will want to purchase them because of their popularity. Anyways, back to Hello Fresh, and how it all came to be!
In 2011 Hello Fresh first originated in Berlin, Germany and it was founded by Dominik Richter, Thomas Griesel, and Jessica Nilsson. They started small but have quickly boomed into one of the largest meal-kit provider services in the United States. In 2018, Hello Fresh then acquired Green Chef which is a US organic meal company. As you can tell, they have quite the momentum on their side. [1]
How Does Hello Fresh Work?
When you first go onto the website it will ask you to pick out your preferences: Household size, schedule, and dietary preferences. Once your preferences are selected you will be prompted to create an account, because without an account you will not be able to customize and create the meal options you want to try. Once you are inside the site, it will then take you to the menu page, where you can choose the type of meals you would like to try and cook. For example, there are a few different plans to choose from:
- Veggie Plan- $5.00-$9.00 per serving with a 3-meal option.
- Classic Plan- $5.00-$9.00 per serving with a 2,3, or 4 meal option plan.
- Family Plan- $5.00-$7.00 per serving with a 2 or 3-meal option plan. [2]
Examples Of The Food You Will Be Cooking:
Classic: Presto Pesto Panko Chicken, Korean Beef, and Fajitas.
Family: Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry, Parmesan Chicken Dippers, Grilled Caprese Burgers, and Little Ears Pasta.
Veggie: Sweet N Sour Yakisoba Noodles, Harissa Sweet Potato Pita Pockets, and Gorgeous Greens Farro Bowl.
The ingredients are pre-measured for the customer, and each meal comes with instructions on how to create the meal. In your preferences, you can choose between five options. These include meals under 600 calories, a “fit style” meal, beef-free, pork-free, or even a quick meal option. If you do not care, just click no preference. Lastly, you can customize when you want your shipments sent to you and can cancel or pause anytime.
You will first sign up with an account on the company’s main website, and it will ask you to customize your preferences such as your household size and dietary likes. You will then choose from their 3 different plans, and specify how many people are in your family so they know how much food to send over. Each plan subscription can be cancelled or changed at anytime.
Is Hello Fresh Safe?
The first thought that popped into my mind was simply about the freshness of the food, and how sanitary this is. On the website, they quote “Our boxes are layered with insulating liners and ice packs to keep ingredients cool until you get home. All your meats and dairy are wrapped with special material to keep them cool until you get home on delivery day.” [3]
There has been very little chatter about any food going bad, and if it were to go bad the company would most likely cover it for you. So is Hello Fresh safe? Yes, this is a safe company with safe food to eat! They source their food from quality places. The seafood comes from an ocean-friendly. In fact, the company was rated a “Best Choice” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program. The meat and poultry come from farms and ranches that have high standards as well, so you should not worry about getting poor-quality food.
Pros and Cons of Hello Fresh
There are definitely pros and cons to any meal service, and this type of service is not for everyone. If you are on the go and very busy you might not have time to utilize all of the ingredients in the boxes each week. It would be a crying shame to pay for these fresh ingredients only to let them go bad due to you eating out because of a busy schedule. When looking into a meal service, ask yourself if you will really have the time to cook the meals.
The meals start at $60.00 per week and can go all the way up to $100 per week depending on your food preferences and your family size.
PROS
- Fast and easy meals are delivered to your door.
- Pre-measured ingredients and healthy food options.
- Recipe cards for clear instructions on how to prepare the food.
- The customers choice on which meals they want.
- Easy and hassle-free subscription service.
- Convenient
CONS
- More expensive than buying the ingredients at the grocery store.
- If you are a picky eater, you might not utilize all of the ingredients you are paying for.
- The meals are not customizable.
- The writing on the recipe cards is very small, so beware if you cannot read the small print.
- All of the ingredients are fresh and MUST be used so that you do not waste food and money.
Conclusion
Overall, this company makes it easy for the customer with their meals coming with pre-cut food and instructions that are straight to the point. Yes, this is rather expensive if you eat at home more than you eat out. For those who eat out more, this is a more cost-effective way to eat throughout the week, however, and it is healthier too.
As with anything, there are definite pros and cons, but this meal service does not have any large red flags that make me cringe. The food is said to be fresh, and the meals are versatile to meet the standards of anyone’s palate. The company is offering $60 off your first order, so it may be a good option to try out even if it is for one time only.
I ADORE HelloFresh. I love to cook…but end up buying a lot of things (such as spices or apricot jam) that I will either never use again or not for a long time. With HelloFresh, you get exactly the amount you need for the recipe. I have been trying to get my diabetic husband to eat healthier but he is very picky. There is NOT ONE meal that we have gotten from here that he did not enjoy. If I told him we were going to a restaurant to get Chicken Schwarma, he would refuse to go. I make it from home (without telling him what it was) and he LOVED it! The menus are varied and easy to follow. You do not waste ingredients. I love the freshness of the food though I have had the need to freeze the protein upon occasion. I just use up the veggies in other ways. Well worth the money, as when you add in the cost of never being able to use up all the spices you would need to make all the various dishes, it’s quite economical.
I ordered on box and was signed up for a weekly subscription. I got charged on my credit card on the Thursday. Called in to cancel the order. They said they could not cancel it because it was past the dead line which was the Wednesday. He continued to tell me that he could offer me a $80 credit to my account for next time. I told him I had just went out and bought $400 worth of groceries and could not afford to pay for next weeks order. He said ok I can give you a full weeks credit on your account. I told him that I have a full pantry and fridge, I will not have room for the food when it comes! Is not the point of Hello Fresh to reduce food waste? He then continues to agree to give me a 50% refund, but thats ALL that he can do. What a joke. Sounded like I was talking to a brainless robot reading off a script. Bargaining with me about refunding me on a box that wont even be shipped until Monday! I’m a student and money is very tight for me right now. I will never use Hello Fresh again. Poor customer service!
This is one of the worst meal delivery services ethically! They do not notify you of a delivery coming (if you forget to skip a week) before charging you, and then once you are charged they will not allow any cancelation or recipe changes. They preselected beef and pork recipes, which I don’t eat, for a delivery I forgot to skip and would not change a thing and only offered me credit for half a box next time! So I canceled my plan and will never order from them again. $78 down the drain.
Food really good, tried via someone else’s plan. Website truly blows however. Obnoxious closing techniques constantly at work. We went to site with intention of buying but trouble signing signing up led me to think your biz practices suck!
So frustrated, motivated to pen review. Get a new web designer, please! We’ll try again in a few months after we look at alternatives.
I wanted to like Hello Fresh, but it just annoyed me. (Not only Hello Fresh, but all of the meal delivery services like Hello Fresh as well). The recipes were good, the food was good. But I can find good recipes for free. And I can buy the ingredients for much cheaper. If it made my life easier or saved me time, it might be worth the extra expense, but each recipe took me an hour and a half from the time I entered the kitchen to the time dinner was served.and it took about thirty minutes to clean the kitchen after cooking, because every meal made a huge mess with tons of dishes to wash.
If it doesn’t save me time or money, I just don’t find value in it.
I wanted to like Hello Fresh, but it just annoyed me. (Not only Hello Fresh, but all of the meal delivery services like Hello Fresh as well). The recipes were good, the food was good. But I can find good recipes for free. And I can buy the ingredients for much cheaper. If it made my life easier or saved me time, it might be worth the extra expense, but each recipe took me an hour and a half from the time I entered the kitchen to the time dinner was served.and it took about thirty minutes to clean the kitchen after cooking, because every meal made a huge mess with tons of dishes to wash.
If it doesn’t save me time or money, I just don’t find value in it.
Received first meal completely warm, not even ice pack was cool. Complete waste of money.
Last summer I received a BOX from HELLO FRESH.
It was for someone else in my neighbor hood but it had my address?
I returned it to FED-EX office with the WORNG ADDRESS written in bold letters on the BOX.
2 days latter it showed up again, the box smelled horrible!
Once again I took it back to FED-EX, this time I spoke to manager, he explained that HELLO FRESH does not take back orders. They are instructed by HELLO FRESH to redeliver all packages.
Next I called HELLO FRESH several times before some one answered, I asked the women for customer service.
The women said she didn’t know if they had one? I asked if a manager could return my call.
She replied someone will call you back, no one ever did. UFB!
“I am still receiving coupons addressed to someone else”
Hello Fresh in the UK used to be terrific but now it’s diabolical. I was given discount codes to tempt me back as a regular customer, the 1st box, 5 meals for 2 people, had missing or incorrect ingredients in every meal. The 2nd box had 2 ok meals but 2 bags which didn’t have matching recipe cards, the numbers matched but not ingredients to recipe, it turned out the recipe cards were for next weeks menu. The final bag of food had a number which didn’t match anything. The food didn’t look fresh and the perishables like meat all had very short use by dates. I complained strongly to customer services who weren’t helpful at all. I will never deal with Hello Fresh again and would never recommend anyone here in the UK to use them either. This is such a shame as they used to to be so good but not now.
1st order i received all meats were NOT frozen as well as ice packs. Pack of sealed chicken exploded inside make shift cooler and chicken slime was leaking out bottom of box to the point that flies were on my doormat after removing. 75% of ALL veggies were slimy rotten especially the potatoes to the point they stunk and a finger could push through potatoes . Stupid me still cooked the roasted garlic zucchini flat bread pizza and was sick for 2 days! Called to get money back and all calls went to Caribbean or Philippines and could not hear Rep because of chickens in the background !! ALL went in TRASH !! Would not even give to a dog !! AND the lady that introduced me All of hers came SPOILED last week !! I have health issues with 2 blood clots in my leg and single & live alone, so i hoped this was going to help me ~ NOT AT ALL . ZERO STAR review but it would not allow me . 2 days of sickness from a 6X9 pizza. FOOD POISONING !!!
Got discount on first order. Delivery would be coming in two weeks time. Waited on delivery day for the food box to arrive. No food box came so phoned up the company. Company had cancelled my order and refunded my money and did not have a decency to contact me of this.
So I signed up and before you pick your meals it needs credit card info, RED FLAG . But i entered the info and on to the next page. But the system had already picked four meals and they are coming tomorrow? WHAT is this, the meals had pork which I do not even eat, I tried to change my meals and delivery but just got the run around on the web site getting logged out signing back in trying to change the order but It was just a mess. I cancelled everything and after i cancelled it said my first order was on the way, No thank you , I know better then entering credit card info before I even picked what I want. Hopefully no food shows up as I cant even eat the pork.
I canceled my orders days before because they only allow you to see foods after you order hellofresh and there was nothing i would eat. they still sent me craps food and charged me i would stay away from these aholes
What a Disappointment
What a waste of time and money. I just prepared my first Hello Fresh meal, Saucy Beef Burrito Bowls, strickly accordong to recipe. Prep time 10 min., cook time 25 min. 2 hours later the meal was ready. It looked far more appetizing than the picture. However, it contained inferior, fatty ground beef and a tomato that had a hard white center that had to be cut out. It was so mealy that I substituted a fresh tomato I had in my pantry. After the ridiculous time it took to prepare, the dish was less than mediocre, bland and nothing I would accept at a restaurant. Don’t waste your money or time!
The worst customer service I have ever seen. Sent me a meal box of food types that I would never order, even after I had cancelled my subscription. No reply from customer service.