As far as meal delivery services are concerned, Blue Apron and Hello Fresh are the biggest brands in the game, only for a good reason. These two brands offer meal kits, which deliver detailed recipe cards and pre-portioned ingredients.
This allows clients to enjoy home-cooked and delicious dishes without the hassle of meal prepping and planning. Because these services are very similar, it can only be natural that you find it difficult to choose between the two. This is why the following tips can help you determine the best, depending on your needs:
1. Check Meal Flexibility and Options
Part of the enjoyable fun of using these meal kit services is to discover new ingredients and recipes. However, it is also a great idea to have different choices of meals, particularly if your home has family members with special diets and food allergies. All these two kits allow you to see and choose recipes or meals beforehand.
For instance, Blue Apron picks default meals for customers depending on their saved preferences. Apart from the three meals that Blue Apron chooses for you, it is also possible to swap out meals from different menus. Hello Fresh is akin to Blue Apron, though it doesn’t have combination limitations.
2. Consider Shipping and Packaging
Hello Fresh assumes that customers have sugar, butter, pepper, salt, and oil already on hand; thus, they don’t normally include the ingredients in their meal boxes. The brand packs and portions the ingredients for every meal in individual kits. The ingredients are refrigerated, then packed with food-safe materials, making them fresh. Every meal includes a recipe card with simple step-by-step instructions, an ingredients list, and nutritional information.
On the other hand, Hello Fresh charges $8 for shipping, and at the date of delivery, there would be a window between 8.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m. when your package arrives. The brand also allows you to add a few special instructions to your account should you have some shipping needs.
3. Pay Attention to Deliciousness
Basically, this isn’t a scientific or official measure and is absolutely objective. However, some reports indicate that Blue Apron has the tastiest dishes.
When it comes to Hello Fresh vs Blue Apron, you will like additional flexibility and variety with meal choices in Hello Fresh, though the meals are more bland and basic. Blue Apron is creative, and the brand uses unique ingredients.
4. Compare the Price and Service
Blue Apron service is straightforward with pricing and plans. It offers you the option of preparing meals three times per meal with a two-individual plan and four or two times in a week with a family package. A weekly subscription will cost you around $60 for a couple of packages and approximately $70 for a family plan.
When it comes to Hello Fresh, you will have the choice of having ready-to-cook dishes delivered up to five times a week. Although the general subscription price is a bit costly, the package provides more options.
5. Look at the Diet Friendliness
Hello Fresh caters to different eating patterns, such as low-calories, pescatarian, and vegetarian diets. While the ingredients and nutritional information for every recipe are readily available online, options might still be limited for restrictive diet packages, including vegan, paleo, or ketogenic.
In contrast, the Blue Apron features different recipes in the weekly menus, all approved by Weight Watchers.
6. Determine the App and Website
Meals kits are meant to make life simple. Therefore, their apps and websites must make ordering meals easy as well. The Hello Fresh website and app is easy to navigate. They come with an explore section, allowing customers to view every trending news and recipes.
Blue Apron app and site has the same setup as Hello Fresh. However, one noticeable dissimilarity is that you might make a different plan selection. By clicking the dropdown menu, you may choose any meal plan, which is currently available.
In Conclusion
Both Hello Fresh and Blue Apron are outstanding. What box you love the most will all come down to the kind of cook you are. In case you are new to cook, it is advisable to go for Hello Fresh.
Though if you are a professional cook and want to expand your horizons by learning unique or new recipes, Blue Apron is the best option.
