Blue Apron or Hello Fresh

jillybaby86
jillybaby86 Posts: 66 Member
edited November 14 in Food and Nutrition
I really would like to try Blue Apron or Hello Fresh, which do you prefer? Pros/Cons., etc.!
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Replies

  • lkokot
    lkokot Posts: 80 Member
    I think both have trials where you can get first couple means for free so why not try both and then choose?
  • jillybaby86
    jillybaby86 Posts: 66 Member
    You have to have codes for the free meals... so I figured I would see which one other people like more and go with that one!
  • Stella3838
    Stella3838 Posts: 439 Member
    I have tried both, but ended up with Home Chef for about 6 months while the budget allowed. I thought they had better meal choices.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    They all are pretty much the same.. I personally used Hello Fresh for years and love it. We specifically use it as "date night" dinners for the hubby and I. Much cheaper than going out to eat and so much fun to cook together with some wine. :drinker:
  • LulaicaLoses
    LulaicaLoses Posts: 36 Member
    I've personally used Hello Fresh and have enjoyed it. We had one rough week, but other than that, the meals have been delish and filling. None of the ones we've gotten are too difficult (though I'm not a good scale since I cooked heavily prior to HF). But my fiance has picked up cooking a meal a week and likes learning new stuff. If you're interested in a trial code, message me. None of my friends really need them (they either sub to a different service or won't use it), so I always have some to give out.
  • jillybaby86
    jillybaby86 Posts: 66 Member
    Thanks everyone! That looks amazing @rls1321
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    have tried Hello Fresh and the food was nice, and the recipes straightforward.

    The recipes are free to download which is a great way of expanding your cooking repertoire.
  • sarasmiles124
    sarasmiles124 Posts: 138 Member
    We have just started with HelloFresh and are enjoying the recipes. The food still has lots of flavor and it is well portioned. There are sometimes enough for leftovers (lentil recipes). I always look forward to seeing what they have coming up week to week.
  • JilliejamOne
    JilliejamOne Posts: 19 Member
    Love Home Chef. Portion Control is great. Food is great. Great for empty nester who need to learn to cook for two again. We stopped because we got too busy to cook. Now that the holidays are over we might start over.
  • chancie72
    chancie72 Posts: 270 Member
    I did hello fresh for awhile. I liked it..just was a little to much for my budget to continue
  • katharmonic
    katharmonic Posts: 5,720 Member
    I have tried Blue Apron, Home Chef and Hello Fresh, as well as Marley Spoon (Martha Stewart's version). They are all pretty similar but I have stayed with Hello Fresh because I have liked the meals a little better overall. Marley Spoon was my least favorite - surprisingly the food was super bland and I didn't really care for any of the recipes I tried. I find it a good way to incorporate meal planning and portion control with a lot of good variety. I've gone back to several recipes and make them on my own too.

    My biggest issue with all of them is packaging waste. I feel like Hello Fresh does the best with minimizing it, but you still have the cold packs that can't be recycled (they can be reused, but who needs that many cold packs). If it weren't for that, I would probably get a box every week but as it is, I only do it occasionally.
  • LulaicaLoses
    LulaicaLoses Posts: 36 Member
    edited January 2017
    katharmonic wrote: »
    I have tried Blue Apron, Home Chef and Hello Fresh, as well as Marley Spoon (Martha Stewart's version). They are all pretty similar but I have stayed with Hello Fresh because I have liked the meals a little better overall. Marley Spoon was my least favorite - surprisingly the food was super bland and I didn't really care for any of the recipes I tried. I find it a good way to incorporate meal planning and portion control with a lot of good variety. I've gone back to several recipes and make them on my own too.

    My biggest issue with all of them is packaging waste. I feel like Hello Fresh does the best with minimizing it, but you still have the cold packs that can't be recycled (they can be reused, but who needs that many cold packs). If it weren't for that, I would probably get a box every week but as it is, I only do it occasionally.

    They sent out an insert a couple of weeks ago (I think) about how to recycle their packaging. Supposedly the ice packs are safe to be cut open and the liquid/gel flushed and then the plastic recycled. I'm too worried about what it'll actually do though to attempt it. The rest of the 'recycle your shipping' was pretty common sense. Just the ice packs part seems a bit frightening.

    Edit: Here's the web version of the recycle your package. The insert had a bit more to it (covering the summer packaging and winter packaging). https://www.hellofresh.com/recycling/
  • jillybeansalad
    jillybeansalad Posts: 239 Member
    edited January 2017
    I use HelloFresh. I pause the shipping of every other week because I can't cook that many meals without cutting into study time (and it's pricey, imo). I get the vegetarian meals and it has helped me broaden my horizons. The full meals (they are 2 servings) are generally around ~1,000 calories.
    If you want a free box, let me know. I have codes up the wazoo.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    jillybaby86 wrote: »
    You have to have codes for the free meals... so I figured I would see which one other people like more and go with that one!

    I've been using Blue Apron for a while and love it. I've also tried Plated which I really liked but unlike BA, they don't include detailed nutritional info for their meals (just calories). Also frustrating, the post their recipes to their site as PDF files, meaning there isn't a quick and easy way to add the recipe to the recipe builder.

    I've got a couple of free BA boxes to give away, so DM me if you want to try it out and I'll have them send one to you. :)
  • murp4069
    murp4069 Posts: 494 Member
    I've been getting Blue Apron for about a year and a half. We love it. Yeah there are meals here and there that we don't love, but overall it's opened our eyes to some great foods and combinations we'd have never tried before. We're considering Hello Fresh as well and perhaps rotating them.

    Fwiw, I find using Blue Apron to be a great tool for portion control and weight loss. The meals aren't particularly low calorie, but both my husband and I prefer our largest meal at dinner so it really works for us. In any event, most of the meals are between 550-800, so they aren't particularly high calorie either.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    I have only tried blue apron. My family loved it. My daughter would get excited when she would see that we were having a blue apron night. My picky husband was even willing to give them a try.
  • Ldenzel
    Ldenzel Posts: 91 Member
    My husband and I use both Hello Fresh and Home Chef. We got into a bad habit of always eating out b/c we were terrible grocery shoppers/meal planners. We get 6 meals per week delivered so we don't have to worry with that part. It is quite pricey, but that just ensures we make all the meals so we don't lose money. Definitely worth it for us - I've lost almost 20 lbs since we started and I think that has a lot to do with pre-portioned sized and not eating out every night!

    I have a few codes for free boxes from Hello Fresh. DM me if you'd like me to send one to you!
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    I saw in the paper that Amazon is hooking up with Martha Stewart to compete with Blue Apron. It's game on, baby.
  • pacingoamy
    pacingoamy Posts: 78 Member
    Regarding the waste, I did want to point out that a many local nonprofits can reuse these items (meals on wheels, pet organizations, churches, etc.) I was surprised to find how many of these organizations are LOOKING for refuse from these groups. Just check around :-)
  • DaniG_1987
    DaniG_1987 Posts: 40 Member
    We LOVE Hello Fresh. I did a little research and on average the HF meals are a little bit healthier than the Blue Apron (though the Blue Apron meals are a bit fancier--which is also fun). HF makes my life so much easier, we are actually saving money (and calories) using the service. We do 4 meals a week and it is nice to a) not have to think about 4 meals out of the week when grocery shopping b) I know a rough estimate of the calories I am going to consume for dinner for the 4 days so it makes planning out the rest of the food and staying within my calorie lane each day that much easier. We have also started looking at old HF recipes and making them on some of our non-HF nights. We have had several issues of meat packaging opening during delivery but HF is always quick to compensate for the issue.

    If anyone wants I have a couple of free box coupons I can send out or if I run out of those I have a coupon code for 40% off that is good for your first box.
  • DaniG_1987
    DaniG_1987 Posts: 40 Member
    mrstrod1 wrote: »
    katharmonic wrote: »
    I have tried Blue Apron, Home Chef and Hello Fresh, as well as Marley Spoon (Martha Stewart's version). They are all pretty similar but I have stayed with Hello Fresh because I have liked the meals a little better overall. Marley Spoon was my least favorite - surprisingly the food was super bland and I didn't really care for any of the recipes I tried. I find it a good way to incorporate meal planning and portion control with a lot of good variety. I've gone back to several recipes and make them on my own too.

    My biggest issue with all of them is packaging waste. I feel like Hello Fresh does the best with minimizing it, but you still have the cold packs that can't be recycled (they can be reused, but who needs that many cold packs). If it weren't for that, I would probably get a box every week but as it is, I only do it occasionally.

    I was a little put off by the shipping waste too - I mean I am not a real eco-girl but i do try to not create excess waste where I can. I have been wanted to try some of the meal programs for a while so I did a bunch of research and I found a company that answers the waste problem!

    Terra's Kitchen - seems to have very easy (many too easy) recipes, all foods are pre-cut and measured so that all the prep-work is done - you just cook. ley1nn0lcc5t.jpg They send your order in this reusable shipping box which they have picked up the day after your order arrives - The boxes can be used at least 100 times! I haven't gotten my first box yet, it is arriving Thursday but when I do I will post up my thoughts and impressions.

    Meanwhile I'll be cooking a HelloFresh meal for dinner tonight. :smile:

    I looked into this with Hello Fresh and according to their website almost everything is recyclable. The only packaging we don't recycle is the containers that hold the meat and the containers that hold honey or stock. You can even save the shiny material thing and mail them in for money off a future box. Our recycling company takes the ice packs after you drain them.
  • DaniG_1987
    DaniG_1987 Posts: 40 Member
    LulaicaLoses wrote: »
    katharmonic wrote: »
    I have tried Blue Apron, Home Chef and Hello Fresh, as well as Marley Spoon (Martha Stewart's version). They are all pretty similar but I have stayed with Hello Fresh because I have liked the meals a little better overall. Marley Spoon was my least favorite - surprisingly the food was super bland and I didn't really care for any of the recipes I tried. I find it a good way to incorporate meal planning and portion control with a lot of good variety. I've gone back to several recipes and make them on my own too.

    My biggest issue with all of them is packaging waste. I feel like Hello Fresh does the best with minimizing it, but you still have the cold packs that can't be recycled (they can be reused, but who needs that many cold packs). If it weren't for that, I would probably get a box every week but as it is, I only do it occasionally.

    They sent out an insert a couple of weeks ago (I think) about how to recycle their packaging. Supposedly the ice packs are safe to be cut open and the liquid/gel flushed and then the plastic recycled. I'm too worried about what it'll actually do though to attempt it. The rest of the 'recycle your shipping' was pretty common sense. Just the ice packs part seems a bit frightening.

    Edit: Here's the web version of the recycle your package. The insert had a bit more to it (covering the summer packaging and winter packaging). https://www.hellofresh.com/recycling/

    We cut open our frozen packages and let them go down the drain over night. We have been doing this for several months and have not had any issues with plumbing. We do have to run a little water every once in awhile and stir up the goop to help it go down but I read that is was just plant material, so should be fine for the drain.
  • daj150
    daj150 Posts: 815 Member
    Blue Apron is great. They are all pretty great. For the most part, Blue Apron's selections have always been great for us, so we stayed with Blue Apron. In regards to all of the recycling talk, Blue Apron has ways for you to recycle all of the packaging. My only issues I ever really had were not with Blue Apron or the other companies, but rather our mail carrier leaving the boxes in the scorching sun all day and ruining the food by the time I got home from work, when we had a large sign that said leave by garage, which was almost full shade all day.
  • Babbs1977
    Babbs1977 Posts: 42 Member
    DaniG_1987 wrote: »
    We LOVE Hello Fresh. I did a little research and on average the HF meals are a little bit healthier than the Blue Apron (though the Blue Apron meals are a bit fancier--which is also fun). HF makes my life so much easier, we are actually saving money (and calories) using the service. We do 4 meals a week and it is nice to a) not have to think about 4 meals out of the week when grocery shopping b) I know a rough estimate of the calories I am going to consume for dinner for the 4 days so it makes planning out the rest of the food and staying within my calorie lane each day that much easier. We have also started looking at old HF recipes and making them on some of our non-HF nights. We have had several issues of meat packaging opening during delivery but HF is always quick to compensate for the issue.

    If anyone wants I have a couple of free box coupons I can send out or if I run out of those I have a coupon code for 40% off that is good for your first box.

    I'd love a code if you don't mind. :)
  • Jinsenj
    Jinsenj Posts: 27 Member
    I use home chef and love it. Sooooooo good
  • moesis
    moesis Posts: 874 Member
    When we used to get Hello Fresh, we found the meals to be hit and miss. After looking back on it, My family probably only enjoyed 30-40% of the meals that were sent to us. With that much food waste, HF was too expensive for us to continue. Not to mention their customer service was horrible to deal with when they missed an ingredient.

    Minnesota Homegrown was a much better option, the company owner drives around every other week, drops off your new meals and picks the reusable packaging. A big plus for me was that all the ingredients were locally sourced and organic. The big downfall is for everyone else is that it is only available to those in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN metro area.
  • MayaSPapaya
    MayaSPapaya Posts: 735 Member
    I just am trying Hello Fresh this week, but have had lots of Blue Apron in the past (my dad has a subscription). Both are tasty, but Blue Apron's dishes are "fancier" and more different, like I find they have me making things I would never have thought of making whereas Hello Fresh is more basic dishes. So i prefer Blue Apron, but both are very good. It just depends on what you're looking for.
  • king_laceyii
    king_laceyii Posts: 28 Member
    I have used blue apron before here my quick synopsis:

    Pro:
    - You get to eat and cook foods you normally wouldn't
    - Everything comes portioned and the recipe is easy to follow
    - The food is really good

    Con:
    - The time it takes to prepare each meal is grossly underestimated for the recipes
    - Sometimes you are forced to get a meal you didn't want to necessarily try
    - Can get pricey after a while
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