Will HelloFresh save me money?

The idea of skipping grocery shopping and still being able to have restaurant quality meals at home sounds amazing! I get to skip the headache of the supermarket and I get to eat super tasty meals without eating at a restaurant.

Meal delivery services and meal kits have gained so much popularity over the years, and they do tell you that you will get fabulous meals and save time. They very rarely state that they will actually save you money though. Let’s take a look and see if there is any savings to be had by using meal kits like HelloFresh.

Are HelloFresh meals cheaper than grocery shopping?

Part of the convenience of using HelloFresh is that you don’t have to go grocery shopping. Almost all of the ingredients are delivered straight to your door. Usually, the only items that HelloFresh expects you to have on hand is basics like vegetable oil, butter, salt, pepper, and sugar.

I priced out each of these recipes using Walmart because that is a store that is commonly available in most places in the US. Walmart was not the cheapest option on every item, but it consistently was middle ground for overall food prices.

If I had shopped around and picked up some items at one store and utilized items I already had in my pantry or freezer, then the costs would actually be lower. I also only choose items that were closest to the sizes that HelloFresh sends, so I could have saved more by buying different sizes or colors. (Green bell peppers are way cheaper than red bell peppers)

Hello Fresh Sweet Chili Pineapple Chicken (recipe for 4 servings)	Grocery Shopping at Walmart for 4 servings
2 red bell peppers 2 limes 4oz sweet Thai chili sauce 6oz carrot 8oz pineapple 1/2 oz cilantro 2 shallots 1 cup jasmine rice 1 oz peanuts 1 thumb ginger 20 oz chicken cutlets	2 red bell peppers $2.76 2 limes $1.16 Great Value Sweet Thai Chili Sauce (13.25 oz) $1.97 Carrot (1lb bag) $0.97 pineapple (20 oz can) $1.28 fresh cilantro bunch $0.88 shallot (3oz bag) $1.88 Minute brand Jasmine Rice (12oz box) $2.38 Great Value Dry Roasted Peanuts (16oz canister) $1.98 Ginger (.25 lb) $0.90 Purdue Thin Sliced Chicken Breasts (1.1-1.7lbs) $7.80
(HelloFresh’s cheapest plan is $7.99 per servings) Family of 4 Total Price = $31.96	Family of 4 Total Price: $23.96

If I were to follow the HelloFresh recipe but purchase the same foods at the grocery store, it will cost about 25% less. As a bonus, if I do the grocery shopping myself, I will probably end up with leftovers that can be used for lunches the next day. I will also end up with extra pineapple, carrots, and peanuts that can be used for easy snacks for the week too!

By grocery shopping, I will have a jar of Sweet Thai Chili Sauce that can be used later on for another meal. As well as extra rice, ginger, shallots, and cilantro that can be used for other meals too.

Let’s take a look at another popular recipe:

HelloFresh Southwestern Shrimp Tacos (recipe for 4 servings)	Grocery Shopping at Walmart for 4 servings
2 poblano peppers 2 Roma tomatoes 4 tbsp sour cream 20 oz shrimp 2 red onions 2 limes 2 tbsp southwest spice blend 12 flour tortillas	2 poblano peppers $1.24 2 Roma tomatoes $0.70 Great Value sour cream (8oz) $1.16 Great Value frozen raw Small peeled deveined Tailoff Shrimp (24oz) $10.12 2 red onions $2.40 2 limes $1.16 Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning Blend (Salt Free) 2.5 oz $2.92 Mission Street Tacos Flour Tortillas (12 count) $2.24
(HelloFresh’s cheapest plan is $7.99 per servings) Family of 4 Total Price = $31.96	Family of 4 Total Price: $21.94

This recipe came out very similar to the other one, where doing your own grocery shopping would save you about 32%. This recipe had less leftovers, but you will still have sour cream and southwest seasoning to use in other dishes.

The recipe is assuming that every person will eat 3 tacos, so depending on how many everyone actually eats, you may have some leftovers for lunch the next day. We also ended up using a little bit more shrimp, so if we had bought a bigger pack of tortillas we could probably easily have enough for lunch.

Do people save money using HelloFresh?

I can honestly only think of 2 kinds of people that will save money by using a meal delivery service like Hello Fresh.

1. Lots of Food Waste – If you are someone that buys a lot of food and especially produce but never ends up cooking it all, then Hello Fresh may end up being cost efficient. There is little to no food waste with HelloFresh Meals. There is literally just enough for the dinner that you cook. If you are someone that is not a big fan of leftovers and rarely take them for lunch, then this works well for you. We have tried HelloFresh and other companies and the portion sizes tend to run average to small, so it is rare to have anything left for another meal.
2. Eats Out a Lot– If your family loves going to restaurants and eating amazing food regularly, then using HelloFresh will definitely be a savings compared to restaurant prices. Most of the recipes are fairly simple and are of great quality. They also offer a pretty wide variety of cuisine and fusion options. We have fallen in love with a lot of the rice bowls and pasta dishes.

Other than these two types of situations, I am doubtful that there will be much savings by regularly using meal kit services. If you typically already go grocery shopping and cook at home, a meal kit may give you a break from thinking about menu planning for a few weeks, but it won’t save you any money.

If you want to find out more about saving money on grocery shopping check out “Wise Buying- Everything you need to know” to learn easy ways to spot a good deal.

Part of the fun of having a meal kit delivered is skipping the grocery store, but the box won’t come with everything you will need for other meals like breakfasts and snacks. If you don’t have the time or energy to go grocery shopping, just order online and arrange a curbside pick-up. You can stop by after work or whenever it is convenient and skip the inside of the store!

If you absolutely hate grocery shopping but want to save money, check out “Why is Grocery Shopping so Exhausting?” for tips to make food shopping less stressful.

Is HelloFresh cheaper for families?

HelloFresh does charge by the number of servings so the more servings you order that price will become cheaper. Now a family of 2 that orders two meals a week will pay $9.99 a serving (which is $19.98 per meal).

A family of 4 that orders 4-6 meals a week will only pay $7.99 a serving but that still equals $31.96 a meal. Yes, it is hard to feed a family of 4 for $32 at a restaurant, but I rarely spend more than $12 on a meal for our family and it will have leftovers that can be used for other meals.

There are some other kit companies available that have cheaper options than HelloFresh. There are also some that are really expensive if you want your kit to include premium meats or very specific diets.

Most companies will offer different plans of recipes that will include heart healthy, kid friendly, easy clean up, gluten free, and keto approved. If you have a truly specific diet, you may not find a lot of options though, many companies only offer 1-2 options a week for each category.

Can you save money by using meal delivery kits?

The great thing about all the meal delivery kit services is that they are constantly trying to attract new customers! This means that they regularly have specials and limited time offers where you can get deep discounts.

Some discounts can offer free shipping and will save you the $9.99 delivery fee, and other times they will offer free meal credit or reduced price per serving. Some services even let you send a free first box to a friend.

If you haven’t tried a meal kit, I encourage you to ask your friends and family members if they have. Most of the time once you try a service, they will send you offers by email that you can send to friends.

Unfortunately, you can usually only get one special deal as a customer. So, while you may get a few weeks at a heavily discounted price, you will end up paying the regular price per week.

These companies have started to get smarter in their marketing, so now their free meal offers can usually only be redeemed after you have ordered so many weeks of meals at the regular price.

My best tip for saving money on meal delivery kits, is to skip the kits and jump on to Pinterest! Both of the recipes that I priced out came directly from HelloFresh’s Pinterest account. They allow you full access to their recipes collection.

Whenever I am in the mood to try something new or fancier than what I normally cook, I will check out their recipes. Another great thing about doing the shopping yourself means you can make substitutions and omit food that your family does not like.

My family is not a fan of blue cheese or onions, so we can skip those or change them to foods we prefer better. The meal service companies rarely allow you to make any substitutions.

To truly save money on your grocery budget, you just need to get more creative in meal planning. Let’s say we pick out the two recipes above and we now have a list of ingredients that we will have extra of like carrots, ginger, shallots, sour cream, pineapple, and cilantro.

I’m not focusing on the items like the rice, peanuts, or southwest seasonings, because those can last a long time in the cabinet. Now with these extra ingredients, I will start thinking of other dishes that can use the remaining amounts.

I can cook the carrots with ginger & shallots as an easy side dish for a meal. I can make an easy salsa with pineapple and cilantro. These are excellent starting points to make the most of these items before they go bad.

Meal planning sometimes feels like a crazy game of sudoku but once you get the hang of it, you can really cut down your food waste and save a ton of money at the grocery store!