Has anyone tried Freshly?

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swimmchick87
swimmchick87 Posts: 458 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I did a search but the most recent posts I could find were years old. I keep debating trying this service out. I live alone and I hate cooking for one. If I make a traditional recipe I have to eat it for many meals in a row so the leftovers don't go bad, plus the time and effort cooking and cleaning up the cooking mess just to be done eating in 15 minutes drives me crazy. I end up getting a lot of the low-prep foods from Trader Joe's, but I'm getting bored of that and want something new. Freshly is pricey, but if the meals are actually good it would be worth it to not have to cook and have variety in what I'm eating every day. Any experiences? Any specific meal recommendations if I do end up ordering?

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  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    We tried it for my mom, who is unable to cook for herself, diabetic, and needs to lose weight. She felt the meals were too small (but to be fair she massively overeats left to herself) and the flavors boring. She liked the pasta better than other options. However, it wasn’t expensive and was easy - just pop in the microwave, none of that “we send you a carrot and instructions and you have to chop it and turn it into dinner” like some other services.

    I keep getting cards in the mail offering me a free introductory week. I’m pretty sure you could find a similar offer somewhere, no risk, try it out.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,165 Member
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    I tried Freshly a couple of years ago. I liked the meals, I thought the portion sizes were fine. I had endless troubles with delivery though. Like every other week there would be delays and spoilage. The customer service was great, the refunded the money promptly, but finding out Sunday afternoon that I had no food for the week because the delivery had been delayed too long was just not workable for me. I'm guessing they're better on that front, since they're still in business though. I especially liked the Steak Peppercorn, the "fried" chicken, the chicken tikka masala. I thought most of the things I tried were pretty good. When it actually got to my house, anyway.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,972 Member
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    I tried them a couple years ago as well.

    For me the portions were a bit small, and at that time the selection eventually started to get pretty boring/repetitive.

    I was much happier with Factor, and they had a wider variety of calorie options, and the meals changed frequently with new options pretty much every week.

    Neither was cheap, so I'm back to cooking more often than not, but tend to cook enough for that meal +1 which I will eat the next day or freeze for a lunch.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    swimmchick87 wrote: »
    I did a search but the most recent posts I could find were years old. I keep debating trying this service out. I live alone and I hate cooking for one. If I make a traditional recipe I have to eat it for many meals in a row so the leftovers don't go bad, plus the time and effort cooking and cleaning up the cooking mess just to be done eating in 15 minutes drives me crazy. I end up getting a lot of the low-prep foods from Trader Joe's, but I'm getting bored of that and want something new. Freshly is pricey, but if the meals are actually good it would be worth it to not have to cook and have variety in what I'm eating every day. Any experiences? Any specific meal recommendations if I do end up ordering?

    I can't help you with Freshly, but I can help you with the "get bored with leftovers" issue - make a bunch of different dishes that freeze well and then you can rotate. High liquid foods like soups and stews tend to freeze very well.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    I am not familiar with Freshly but I just did 8 weeks of Hello Fresh and was very happy with the service. I signed up for 3 kits a week, 2 servings each, so I would have to cook only every other day. The food was good, the portions filling, and the ingredients were fresh. I am starting to crave some of my own recipes again so I have stopped it but if I ever get into a rut again I will not hesitate to reactivate. I saved the recipe cards from my favorites and their website also has recipes you make from ingredients you purchase.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,665 Member
    edited October 2021
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    We use Freshly to eliminate chronic food decision-fatigue that results in too much take-out. The food is fine. Not great, but edible. I don’t like a lot of salt and these are OK for me. The portions are good for me, since I like to eat a salad first. My spouse has to add some leftover meat if he doesn’t want to get hungry later in the evening.

    ETA: No delivery issues.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    We’ve had no delivery issues, and my mom lives way out in the middle of nowhere.
  • jen_fitnhappy
    jen_fitnhappy Posts: 102 Member
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    I’ve been a subscriber for well over a year! Not sick of it yet! We have them 5 nights a week and the other two I’ll cook or do takeout. I started subscribing because I got so busy with work that I resorted to a lot of takeout meals for convenience. Also, anytime I cook my husband overeats and Freshly is great for portion control. The meals are a bit small so I make salad and we supplement with that, the amount of food is perfect with a salad. I could probably even do without the salad.

    We both think the food is great and there are a lot of different options to choose from. You’ll find what you like as you go along. In the past year and a half I’ve had delivery issues maybe only three times and customer service refunded me immediately.
  • swimmchick87
    swimmchick87 Posts: 458 Member
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    Thanks for the input! I decided to order and see how I like it. I checked on how easy it is to cancel and it seems that people have no issues with that. The meals are a bit low calorie for me, because I do an IF sort of thing and I eat most of my calories in the evening. So just one 400-500 calorie meal for dinner won't cut it. But I figure I can always do the meal earlier when I get home from work and then a snack later in the evening. Sometimes that's my eating schedule anyway and it works pretty well for me.
  • pjspear
    pjspear Posts: 1 Member
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    I've tried and quite liked it. Lots of whole grains and lentil choices. Nice portion sizes. Very flavorful. My husband couldn't stand it--too healthy. Lol.

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