WHAT ABOUT MEAL PREP SUBSCRIPTIONS? A quick review of the most popular companies.
By Kayley George, RDN, LD
Meal prep subscriptions are the new easy, healthy shortcut used for cooking. It reduces the hassle of buying ingredients, reducing the wastage, limiting the number of leftovers, and saving time. Although there are new companies popping up every week, I will be comparing three of the most popular options: HelloFresh, Blue Apron, and Home Chef. While many of their options may appear similar, we’re going to break down each one in more detail.
HOW DOES IT WORK
The basic steps are to place the order for the week. In this step you have different categories to choose from e.g. vegetarian, signature, etc. then you choose the number of meals and the number of people you want to feed. The subscriptions promise good quality ingredients that are pre-measured and shipped directly to your doorstep. It comes along with a nutritional information chart and a recipe to follow.
WHICH IS THE BEST SUBSCRIPTION?
The feature that all the subscriptions share is that you can pause or skip your meals any week without any additional charges. Besides that, there are many options to choose from with special categories. All three platforms offer vegetarian menus and have multiple options to choose from. Along with plant protein, there are seafood options available as well. The packaging is promised to be recyclable and the recipes are tested by many before reaching you. All three subscriptions have kept their options culturally diverse helping the customer explore different foods from worldwide using easy recipes. Recipes range from Persian Rice to Poke Bowls to Street Tacos.Each subscription has different categories in which meals have been classified.
WHICH CATEGORY FITS YOU?
HelloFresh has 4 categories, meat & veggie, veggie, family-friendly, and low calorie There are a total of 20 meals to choose from. Other than these labels of one pot,calorie smart, easy clean up, calorie smart, lightening prep, spicy, one pan, quick assist in choosing the meals.
Blue Apron has 2 main categories that affect the price as well: signature (for 2 or 4) and vegetarian. There are a total of 12 choices to pick your meals from for each order. Additional filters are diabetes-friendly, carb-conscious, Mediterranean Diet, and 600 calories or less. Along with this, a special feature of Blue Apron that sets it apart from the other subscriptions is that wine could also be bought through the website and each meal has a wine pairing suggestion.
Home Chef is the most customizable among the three subscriptions. Initially, there is a step by step questionnaire as soon as the customer signs up on the website. The questions are based on what type of protein you like, your dietary preferences, foods you would like to avoid, how many people you are cooking for and how many times you plan on cooking in the week. There are five categories of meals: adventurous, quick, and simple, low-cal (i.e. less than 600 calories), carb-conscious (12-35g of carbs), less than 30 minutes, and vegetarian. Along with this, there are labels that state ingredients that people might be allergic to such as wheat, milk, soy, etc. As you can see,Home Chef has other extra features that other subscriptions are missing. For example, the protein can be doubled, there are oven-ready, grill-ready, entry salad meals, and extras such as protein packs. By clicking on the recipes, the levels of difficulty and spice level could be viewed.
ARE THEY ACTUALLY HEALTHY?
HelloFresh offers low calorie meals i.e. meals with avg. 650 calories that are dietitian-approved such as the lemon cream chicken cutlets with mashed potatoes and roasted veggies. This meal has a total of 710 kcals, 38g fat, 53g carbs and 39g protein. If you’re looking to lose weight, be wary of the calories and carbohydrates in some of these meals from HelloFresh. The label of “dietitian-approved” is not the equivalent of being in line with your weight loss. goals.
Blue Apron has the WW certification for healthy recipes. An example of this is Seared Salmon with Nicoise-Style Potatoes and Green Beans with a total of 610 kcals, 32g fat, 42g carbs and 37g protein. The kcals and step-by-step recipe can simply be viewed by clicking on the meals in the menu section. Furthermore, click on view all and then the recipe card; scroll down the card to view the nutrition breakdown. Although the kcals are mentioned for all meals, recipe cards (nutrition breakdown) are not present for all meals.
Home Chef also has specific categories to address your nutrition goals. Low-calories meals have less than 600 kcals whereas low-carb meals have around 12-35g of carbs (WIN!). An example of the low-cal and carb-conscious meal is the Grilled Mojito-Lime Chicken and poblano slaw. It has a total of 494 kcals, 25g fat, 25g carbs and 41g protein. Although it varies person to person, a general rule of thumb is to stay under 30-45g of carbs per meal, so this chicken dish fits in perfectly.
ARE YOU SAVING TIME?
A fundamental goal with these subscription services is saving time, so it’s important to compare the time commitment for each. On average, HelloFresh meals take about 30 minutes to make. The menu of the upcoming weeks is available from 6 weeks before so meals could be planned ahead of time. This is what sets HelloFresh apart from other subscriptions as this gives a chance for the customer to view and select the meals far in advance. Blue Apron meals also require the same amount of time as Hello Fresh (i.e. 30 minutes) but don’t forget that the menu selection is available only four weeks before compared to six. Lastly, the third subscription Home Chef has meals that roughly take about half an hour, but it offers 15-minute meal kits for busy schedules as well. Not to mention there are easy prep options which are either oven-ready or grill-ready. One of the best features is an entrée salad that requires no cooking and only 5 minutes of prep. Additional protein packs are also available that will take around 15 minutes to cook. Like Blue Apron, Home Chef has the menu items available four weeks ahead to choose from.
FINALLY, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE MONEY!
When it comes to pricing, Hello Fresh is 7.49 per meal and there are shipping charges of 7.99 per order. Hello fresh also offers coupons and has student discount offers.
Blue Apron is about $9.99 per meal for the ‘serves 2’ and $8.99 for ‘serves 4’. The shipping is free for orders above $50 which most of the orders qualify for. Along with the meal subscriptions, wine and other kitchen utensils and supplies could be added to the order.
Home Chef meals can be ordered in two ways. Online order or store pickup. Home Chef has partnered with Kroger and has meals ready to go in the store. The meals cost 6.99 per serving. There will be additional shipping charges based on the location but there are discounts for military, first responder, medical employees, and teachers.
CONCLUSION
Overall, all three subscription services have their unique features. The qualities that make each subscription distinctive is that HelloFresh offers a menu far ahead of time along with a reasonable price per meal and easy access full-nutrition breakup. Blue Apron carries certification for healthy meals, delivers wine, and has free delivery in most cases. Lastly, Home Chef is the cheapest and the most customizable meal plan, a good subscription for picky eaters. At the end of the day, it depends on your lifestyle and which subscription fits best! Feel free to check out our FREE guides on meal prepping and our 1-week meal plan guides.
For more information on how a registered dietitian can alleviate the stresses of meal planning and prepping, contact us for a FREE discovery call so that we can help you out!
Published on Jul 13, 2020 at 2:26 pm