Are They Worth It? Food Subscription Boxes Like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron: See What’s Inside Here!

Hello Sophisticated Spenders!

I’ve tried 3 different food subscription boxes and here’s what I thought of each one:

Hello Fresh:

What You’ll Receive: 3 meals for 2

Packaging: You receive 1 big box with 3 smaller boxes.  Everything for each meal is in it’s own smaller box.  Hello Fresh was the best at packaging all of your meals.

Recipes:  The recipes were easy to prepare.  I even learned some cool techniques that I’ve used over and over and over again

Taste:  I loved pretty much all of the recipes.  You will not get bored with the recipe selections.

Portion sizes: You will be full after each meal!  Some of the meals for 2 were actually enough for 4 servings for me (lunch for the week).  Which made it a total of 12 meals instead of 6.  (This was true for all 3 companies).

Selections:  There are 6 possible meals to pick from.  So you select the 3 out of 6 possibilities.  They let you know the allergen info on each recipe.

Here’s a picture:

Price: $69.00 for 3 meals for 2 people.

Intro Deal: $40 off your 1st box (Click here to use my link for the deal)

Website Layout: Super easy.  You log in and press a button if you want to pause your meals or keep them coming.  They also have an app.

Blue Apron:

What You’ll Receive: 3 meals for 2 people.

Packaging:  All of the ingredients are pretty much thrown into 1 box.  You have to sort out all of the ingredients. (NOT a fan of that).

Recipes:  DO NOT add salt every time they tell you.  You’d be adding like 10 pounds of salt in your meals.  More on that below.

Taste: Food was amazing tho.  There were more exotic ingredients.  I really felt like a fancy chef.

Portion Sizes:  Big portion sizes too.  Some of the meals were enough for 4 instead of 2.

Selections:  There are 6 possible meals to choose from.  They don’t tell you if they’re allergen free or not.

Here’s a Picture:

Price: $59.94 for 3 meals for 2 people.

Intro Deal: I still have 1 free box to give away.  I think that’s the only deal available.

Website Layout:  I was able to login with my Facebook account so that was pretty cool.

If you skip a box, you still get copies of the recipes (online).  That was pretty amazing!

Green Chef:

What You’ll Receive: 3 meals for 2 people.

Packaging:  The ingredients are all in 1 box and you have to sort them out yourself.

Recipes:  Some were crazy easy and some were complicated.  But the videos are available online.  That makes it easier.

Taste:  I’ve been wanting to go paleo for a while and didn’t quite know how to go about it.  This has been the answer.  The food was pretty amazing.  And crazy healthy.

Portion Sizes:  Very generous portion sizes here too.

Selections:  They have the largest number of options for boxes.  I selected the paleo boxes.

Here’s a Picture:

Price: The most expensive depending on your meal plan. My first regular priced box was $98.94 (ouch)!

Intro Deal: 4 FREE meals (Click here to use my link for the deal)

Website Layout:  Website is pretty awesome.  You’re able to log in and see the menu options and decide if you’d like the box or not.  In addition to being able to see the recipes for the boxes you skip, you can also watch the videos on how to prepare the dishes.  A+ in my book!

Final thoughts:

–Don’t use salt every time they tell you.  I actually never use salt.  I use 3 items when cooking:  Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Trader Joe’s garlic salt grinder and Trader Joe’s peppercorns grinder.

–You really only need 1 box per month.  You can buy all of the ingredients yourself and re-create and even redesign each recipe.

–I learned how to grocery shop.  I used to throw away SO much food.  Now I learned that I don’t need an entire bag of onions.  I only need 1 or 2.  Now I really shop smart at Whole Foods (and Trader Joe’s).

-I also learned portion control.

-Fresh!  I loved cooking all natural meals.  We really need to get back our roots when it comes to cooking.

–Don’t forget to cancel (or pause) those boxes.  It can get overwhelming way to soon.  Pace yourself.  I was SO tired of cooking after I received like 4 boxes in a row.  I quickly got annoyed.  So I took a break and decided on a monthly schedule.  That worked better for my nerves.

-These boxes were an overall good idea.  I learned a lot of cool (and easy) recipes.

-You will crush any eating challenge after you’ve tried a free box.  If you’d like to participate in the grocery game challenge or the lunch streak, you’ll have a head start.  The recipes are easy to create and you’ll know how to grocery shop on the cheap!

-I overall LOVED my experience.  I loved all 3 so I’ve kept my account with all 3 companies.  I browse their weekly menus and unpause my deliveries if I see something that really catches my eye.  I really love the convenience of that.

I’d love to hear your thoughts?

Did you receive any of my free boxes?

What were your thoughts?

What am I missing here?

Which questions did I forget to answer?