Home Chef vs. Hello Fresh

Home Chef and Hello Fresh offer very similar services. They both deliver fresh meal kits on demand. I can see more similarities than differences, but there are some of those too. If I had to pick one over the other I would have hard time deciding which one I like better. Comparing Home Chef and Hello Fresh is really like comparing oranges and oranges.

Let me start by saying that I tried both. My husband always orders Home Chef if I leave for a longer time, so we have more Home Chef recipes at home.

The way both services work is almost the same. You have to visit their website and pick your plan. You have to choose the meals you would like to cook, pick the number of people, and decide how many meals per week you would like to get delivered. Hello Fresh offers meals for 2 or 4 people, while Home Chef offers food for single people, a couple, or a family. I assume family is 4 people, but you can add extra serving for more people. Home Chef has 2 or 4 meals per week, while Hello Fresh – 3, 4, or 5.

Home Chef and Hello Fresh both allow you to pick your meals each week and to modify them to your liking. You can skip meals, modify, substitute ingredients, add extras, or double up on protein. Both companies offer vegetarian options, meats, fish, and low calorie meals.

Currently Home Chef is running a special to get $60 off first 4 boxes, which is $15 off each box. This makes each serving $6.99. Hello Fresh offers $80 off or 8 free meals. Normally their servings cost $8.99.

Shipping is always free with Hello Fresh and free with $45 minimum order at Home Fresh. All plans except for one qualify for this offer, so we can say that shipping is almost always free there too.

Home Chef offers 38 recipes to choose from each week, while Hello Fresh has 20. The choices at both are great and delicious.

For a person like me who is not adventurous in the kitchen, both are perfect. I usually order 2-3 meals per week, so choices are great whether it’s 38 or 20 options.

Both services deliver recipes and ingredients packed in insulated boxes, with each meal in a separate brown bag. I can recycle all the packaging and it feels good. Both companies are watching their plastic usage and I like it.

If you would look at the paper recipes from Home Chef and Hello Fresh, they look very similar. There is a horizontal picture on one side of the page. It takes almost the entire page and makes your mouth water – that’s how good the picture is. Both recipes have nutritional value, prep and cook time, and ingredient list.

On the other side of the menu you will see step-by-step instructions with a list of items you will have to supply, such as pots, pans, salt, pepper, and oil. Both also have a suggestion for wine, so you can plan this meal and get wine to make home cooking more special. Cooking directions are very clear and easy to follow. I couldn’t say which ones are better.

Overall, I like both companies. Since we have more Home Chef experience and never got disappointed, I might choose them, but only because I tried them before. Both offer special deals, student discounts, and send coupons via random subscription boxes that are not even related to food, like FabFitFun. Both could include more organic products and recipes, hopefully they’ll do that in the future. Both offer exotic, but easy to make meals to my full satisfaction and are overall great companies.