Have you ever cooked a certain dish and had a lot of leftover ingredients? Then you realized you won’t be using these ingredients again because you don’t know other recipes that include them. You feel guilty throwing them out so you leave them in your fridge or pantry until they go bad. Food waste is a major environmental problem globally and responsible for eight percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Cooking at home is fun and often more affordable than buying already cooked meals. Unless you’re an experienced cook or creative enough to recycle your leftover ingredients, you can reduce your food waste by shopping ingredients smartly. One way to that is by subscribing to a meal kit delivery service. Not only will you improve your cooking skills but you’ll also receive the right amount of ingredients needed to make your meals.
HelloFresh and Blue Apron are two of the leading meal kit delivery services in the market today. Both services work similarly to each other and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. We will compare both services to help decide which to subscribe to.
HelloFresh vs Blue Apron: Introduction
What Is HelloFresh?
HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service that aims to help cooking at home be more convenient and fun. They offer easy-to-make recipes with step-by-step instructions on how to make the meal. You can choose from a wide range of recipes, whether you like meat, fish, or vegetables. Each recipe also comes with nutritional information so you can monitor your diet.
Their packages come with pre-measured ingredients and sustainable packaging that keeps all the ingredients fresh until you cook them. They provide all the ingredients measured in the amount that the recipe calls for to minimize food waste and save time. No need to go to the supermarket.
You can access HelloFresh through your browser by going to its website. But it also has an app you can download for iOS and Android devices.
What Is Blue Apron?
Blue Apron is also a meal kit delivery service that helps home cooks improve their skills in the kitchen. They offer chef-designed recipes that are easy to make, especially by beginners. Users will receive the ingredients they need to make a meal, together with detailed instructions on how to make it. The recipes also indicate the tools needed to prepare the dish.
All the ingredients in the package are already pre-portioned. They are also sustainably sourced to ensure quality with minimal environmental impact. Blue Apron also features recipes that use seasonal ingredients to expand your experience as a cook. They will source these ingredients for you.
Apart from recipes, Blue Apron also has an online marketplace where you can buy kitchen tools, such as aprons, knives, pans, and pots, among others. They also offer a selection of wines that you can pair with your chosen meals.
You can create an account through its website or download the Blue Apron app from Google Play Store or the App Store, depending on your device.
HelloFresh vs Blue Apron: App Features
What Are the Features of HelloFresh?
The HelloFresh app is ideal for home cooks who want to enhance their cooking skills conveniently. You can use the app to guide you in cooking your favorite meals and discover new recipes. In order to address the HelloFresh VS Blue Apron debate, we have to know each one’s features. Let’s start with HelloFresh.
Huge Recipe Archive
One of the reasons HelloFresh is a popular meal kit delivery service is its huge archives of recipes. The app has thousands of delicious, easy-to-follow recipes you can sort, save, and rank. Save your favorite recipes and share the files with your friends and family.
Instructional Cooking Videos
HelloFresh not only provides easy-to-follow recipes. It also has cooking videos you can watch on the app to help you prepare your meal correctly. Apart from guiding you in cooking your dish, the videos also provide kitchen hacks and cooking techniques that will come handy as you spend more time in the kitchen.
Subscription Management
You can use the HelloFresh app to manage your subscription easily and track your orders. It allows you to change your subscription plans, as well as selecting your weekly meals. You can skip a week or cancel your plan at any time. This is more convenient than going to the service’s website.
Syncing With a Health App
If you’re an iPhone user, the HelloFresh app allows you to sync your health app so you can easily monitor your diet. Through the HealthKit feature, you can track your nutritional intake when you’re done preparing your meal. You can use the app to count your calorie intake much like apps such as Noom or MyFitnessPal.
What Are the Features of Blue Apron?
Like HelloFresh, the Blue Apron app also has features designed for individuals who just started cooking and want to learn how to make new recipes. In this next part of the HelloFresh vs Blue Apron comparison, we’ll dive into the latter’s features.
New Recipes Weekly
Choose from Blue Apron’s range of chef-designed recipes that suit your dietary preference, from Mediterranean meals to simple meals, like pasta or sandwiches. You can also choose from its wide selection of vegetarian meals.
Blue Apron also has Premium recipes that cost extra cash. If you want to be adventurous, select from their seasonal recipes. It lets you experience cooking meals using ingredients you don’t regularly see in grocery stores.
Wine Selections
Blue Apron gives you access to its delicious wine selection from renowned winemakers. You can choose from the reds and whites to suit your taste. All their wines come from their vineyard so expect quality at reasonable prices.
If you’re not sure what wine to get, Blue Apron will provide you with tasting notes and pairing tips so you’ll get the perfect wine for your meals.
Management of Account and Delivery Schedules
Using the Blue Apron app is an easy way to manage your account. The service allows you to skip a week, especially if you don’t like anything from the week’s menu. You can also change your delivery dates to match your lifestyle.
Photos of Meals
Proud of your cooking achievement? Use the Blue Apron app to take photos of your final product. Save the photos on your device and share it on your social media accounts. Make your dish more appealing by using the app’s special effects and filters.
You can also use Photoshop to edit your photo and make your meals more appetizing. Here’s a guide on how to use Photoshop to improve your pictures of your meals.
Saving Recipes
If you’ve enjoyed a meal and want to make it again in the future, the Blue Apron app allows you to save your favorite recipes. Whenever you crave for a certain dish you’ve made before, simply go to your saved recipes. You can also print them out so you can still access them offline.
HelloFresh vs Blue Apron: In-Depth Comparison
You need to consider certain factors to find the meal kit delivery service for you. These factors include price, subscription flexibility, menu, accessibility, and app’s performance. We’ll compare both services based on these criteria to see which one has better value.
Subscription Price
The price of the service is a major factor to consider. Affordability is appealing but will it give you enough? Some services, on the other hand, cost more but you get less. Let’s look into the price differences between HelloFresh and Blue Apron.
HelloFresh
HelloFresh offers two to four recipes per week. The serving sizes are for two and four people.
For two people
- Three recipes per week: $8.99 per serving + shipping
- Four recipes per week: $8.99 per serving + shipping
- Five recipes per week: $8.99 per serving + shipping
- Shipping fee: $8.99
For four people
- Two recipes per week: $8.99 per serving + shipping
- Three recipes per week: $7.49 per serving + shipping
- Four recipes per week: $7.49 per serving + shipping
- Shipping fee: $8.99
Note that HelloFresh offers discounts all year so keep an eye on promo codes.
Blue Apron
Blue Apron also offers two to four recipes per week, depending on the serving size. You can choose meals for two people or four people.
For two people
- Two recipes per week: $9.99 per serving + $7.99 shipping
- Three recipes per week: $9.99 per serving, free shipping
For four people
- Two recipes per week: $8.99 per serving with free shipping
- Three recipes per week: $7.99 per serving with free shipping
- Four recipes per week: $7.49 per serving with free shipping
Blue Apron also offers discounts from time to time.
Subscription Flexibility
HelloFresh and Blue Apron both have flexible subscription plans. The two services allow its users to cancel their plan at any time. They also let you skip a week whenever you don’t like anything from their menus or simply don’t want to order a meal.
When canceling a plan, HelloFresh encourages users to do it before their weekly cutoff to stop their next order. It is the same when you want to skip a week of delivery. You can also schedule it six weeks prior.
Blue Apron, meanwhile, allows you to skip orders up to five weeks in advance. If you want to cancel your account, you need to contact Blue Apron’s Customer Experience team to know the process. Keep in mind that any orders tagged as “Order Processed” or “Shipped” on your Upcoming page cannot be canceled.
Variety of Menu
HelloFresh offers five types of meals: Meat and Veggies, Veggie, Family Friendly, Calorie Smart, and Time Savers. You can customize your menu every week by choosing from about 20 recipes for that week. Examples of recipes include Spicy Maple Chicken, Pub-Style Shepherd’s Pie, Tex-Mex Pork Enchilada bowls, and Crunchy Curried Chickpea bowls, among others.
HelloFresh includes three vegetarian recipes on the weekly menu. They also now have Beyond Meat substitutes. The service emphasizes using quality ingredients, but not all of their ingredients are organic. The service has partnered with established chefs, including Jamie Oliver, to develop recipes.
Blue Apron, on the other hand, offers Signature and Vegetarian meals on their menu. The Signature consists of meat, fish, Beyond Meat, WW Approved, Diabetes-Friendly recipes, and meals designed for the health-conscious. The service doesn’t have meals or plans designed for people with food allergies.
According to Blue Apron, they work with over 100 family-run farms that practice sustainable farming. Most of the ingredients they have are organic, but not all. You can find recipes, such as Seared Tilapia and Gremolata, Indian-Style Chicken Tacos, and Crispy Potato and Kale Hash on their menu.
Unlike HelloFresh with 20 recipes every week, Blue Apron only offers six different meal options, depending on your plan. You can check the nutritional and allergy information for each meal. The service also works with celebrity chefs, including chef Tim Hollingsworth.
Accessibility
Both HelloFresh and Blue Apron are accessible to the people in the US. The former delivers to all states across the continental US except Hawaii and Alaska. Despite that, they’re working on delivering to those states as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Blue Apron delivers meals to the contiguous US. For wines, however, the service does not deliver to every state due to varying state laws. Blue Apron ships wines to the following U.S. states:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
It’s also easy to create an account for HelloFresh and BlueApron. You can do it through their websites or the apps, depending on the device you’re using.
App Usage
HelloFresh and Blue Apron share the same goal, which is to make cooking more fun and convenient. One way to do it is by having an app where you can easily access the things you need, such as your account, delivery schedules, recipes, and payment methods, among others.
The apps are both responsive and easy to use. They are also well-organized so it’s easy to find the things you need. The apps allow you to see past recipes and future menus complete with the ingredient list and nutritional information.
HelloFresh vs Blue Apron: Pros and Cons
HelloFresh and Blue Apron are the top meal kit delivery services for a reason. They both offer delicious meals and easy to follow recipes. But each service has its own strengths and weaknesses. These can help you decide on which side to take in the HelloFresh vs Blue Apron debate.
Pros and Cons of Using HelloFresh
Pros
- Delicious meals
- Recipes that are easier to follow
- Sustainable packaging
- Wider variety of recipes
- Fresh ingredients
- Healthy options
- Vegetarian selections
- Calorie-smart options
- Option to skip a week
- Easy cancellation process
- Helpful cooking tips and hacks
- Cancel any time
Cons
- Steeper price
- Shipping fee on top of the subscription
- Ingredients not all organic
- Lack of specific dietary options
Pros and Cons of Using Blue Apron
Pros
- More adventurous recipes
- Tasty meals
- Vegetarian and diabetes-friendly meals
- Healthy recipe options
- Fresh ingredients
- Option to skip weeks
- Cancel subscription any time
Cons
- Complicated cancellation process
- Fewer options
- Lack of options for those with food allergies
- Some meals cost more
- Packaging not as sustainable.
HelloFresh vs Blue Apron vs Other Competitors
Meal kit delivery services make cooking more accessible and convenient for beginners. You have a lot of options today, including HelloFresh and Blue Apron. While these two services are the most popular in the market, there are companies that have an edge over them.
Plated
If you’re looking for a service that caters to more dietary preferences, Plated would be a good option. They offer recipes that feature meat, seafood, and vegetables. You can also choose meals that are gluten-free, low-carb, under 600 calories, and quick to prepare. Most of its recipes lean towards authenticity rather than being experimental.
Purple Carrot
Purple Carrot is another meal kit delivery service you should consider, especially if you’re looking for vegan recipes. They also offer flexible subscription plans so you can skip a week or cancel at any time. The downside of this service, however, is that they choose the meals for you.
Final Word on HelloFresh vs Blue Apron
Meal kit delivery services, like HelloFresh and Blue Apron, play an important role not only in minimizing food waste in every household. They also help beginner home cooks improve their skills in the kitchen and discover new recipes. Choosing between the services will depend on your lifestyle, taste, and budget. Use this guide to help make a smart decision.
