AD Affiliate | When it comes to home delivery recipe boxes, Gousto and Hello Fresh appear to be the titans of home delivery meals. You might be asking yourself, which is better Gousto or Hello Fresh? Which box is better? Are they worth the money for the meals? Well today I am here to help. I currently have regular delivery of both Hello Fresh and Gousto. I’ve had 4 Hello Fresh boxes, and 5 Gousto boxes so far.
In this review I’ll be going over which box is the best for value, quality, delivery, starting offers and much more! But if you have any questions that aren’t answered feel free to leave them in the comments.
Gousto is a leading meal delivery service that sends delicious dinners to thousands of happy customers nationwide.
Hello Fresh is a recipe box delivery service and this is how we work: Our Head Chef Patrick creates new recipes each week that are both delicious and nutritious meals that you can create at home. They are simple to do and can be done in around 30 minutes.
Welcoming Deals & Cost of Meals
Let’s start with Hello Fresh on this round. The Classic box for two people will cost £5 per meal for three recipes a week (£29.99 in total) or £4.37 per meal for four recipes a week (£34.99 in total). For four people, you pay £3.83 per meal for three recipes a week (£45.99 in total) or £3.44 per meal for four recipes a week (£54.99 in total. Hello Fresh works out a little bit more expensive than Gousto for larger boxes, but the classic box is the same price as a regular box from Gousto.
If you like the sound of Hello Fresh and sign up here, you’ll get £20 off your first box!
With Gousto the 2 person box costs £6.25 for 2 recipes a week (£24.99) or £5 for 3 recipes a week (£29.99) or for 4 recipes is £4.37 (£34.99). The family box is for 2 adults and 2-3 children, for 2 recipes a week is £3.97 per serving (£31.75) for 3 recipes a week is £3.56 per serving (£42.75) for 4 recipes a week is £2.98 per serving (£47.75).
With Gousto when you sign up here you get 50% off your first box and 30% off all other boxes in your first month.
So for me Gousto wins this round. But Hello Fresh isn’t that much more expensive for 2 people.
Variety of Recipes
Hands down, Gousto has a larger variety of meals BUT Hello Fresh has some incredible recipes. I personally preferred Gousto’s menu choice why my partner preferred the options from Hello Fresh. I think it comes down to what you like, Gousto has a lot of recipes that are very out there, whereas Hello Fresh boxes seem to be spins on classical meals.
Here are the recipes I’ve had from Gousto.
The Top Row from left to right: Harissa Halloumi Sandwich & Carrot Slaw, Sticky Hoisin Tofu Burger & Red Cabbage Slaw (vegan and the best recipe I’ve had hands down from either box, genuinely life changing), Pan-Fried Fish With Gnocchi, Mushrooms & Spinach, All-In-One Fragrant Coconutty Haddock Curry.
The Bottom Row from left to right: Smoky ‘N’ Sweet BBQ Chicken Fajitas, Portobello Mushroom Shawarma With Harissa Feta (a must try recipe if you get a box), All-In-One Beef Stifado Orzo Stew, Guatemalan-Style Green Chicken Stew.
If you like the sound of the recipes sign up here!
I’ve also has some great recipes from Hello Fresh as seen above (there menu only lets you go back 3 weeks, so I can’t grab images of the others I’ve had). But I also had the Barat Roasted Butternut and Aubergine On Flatbreads With Fig Jam, Rocket And Feta, Mango Chutney Glazed Chicken Wraps, Prince Harry’s Chicken Pie and many more incredible recipes!
If you like the sound of Hello Fresh and sign up here
Why I have personally enjoyed Hello Fresh, I just found that Gousto’s recipes had more variety week to week, which is why I leant that way. But my significant other actually prefers the taste of Hello Fresh meals.
Gousto has a menu of 50 recipes to choose from each week whereas with HelloFresh there’s only 18.
Delivery
I have a lot to say on this one, and this is where Gousto takes the win for me. When you order from either company, you receive a notification of delivery the night before. The courier will then message you on the day. Unfortunately with Hello Fresh, all of my boxes have been delivered by Yodel. Which means I’ve only received 4/6 boxes I ordered. Yes you read that right. Two boxes weren’t delivered – I also received no communication from Yodel the day said boxes where meant to arrive. If you scroll through the Hello Fresh twitter page, you will see this appears to happen often. The customer care team did sort it very quickly on both accounts, but it felt like the service wasn’t 100% reliable.
I have had zero issue with Gousto, even when I moved home the delivery went so smoothly.
If you’re worried about the packaging, I’d like to stress that both come really well wrapped. All the fridge items always come really well packaged and on ice so you don’t need to worry about the quality. The items for each recipe are always marked and packaged together.
Membership Details
Let’s start with Gousto, you choose the recipes you want and have until midday three days before delivery to edit them if you change your mind . Your recipes are available to pick two weeks before the delivery date. If you pause your Gousto subscription it stops all future orders until you choose to resume. If you skip a week, it will automatically renew the week after. Gousto unlike Hello Fresh has the option to have a one-off box.
With HelloFresh you can make your choices up to four weeks in advance. If you don’t make them, recipes are automatically picked for you. The cut off for edits is at 11.59pm on the Tuesday, the week before your delivery, and you can skip up to 6 weeks.
Both have great options but because of the one off option Gousto wins for me!
For the time being, I’m keeping my subscription for both, we have the boxes on alternate weeks, so Hello Fresh one week, and Gousto the next. I just love the convenience of having everything I need delivered straight to the door. Personally Gousto takes the edge for me, but I do like Hello Fresh too?
Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever ordered from either, or if you’re considering doing so.
If you enjoyed this post read my Delicious Creamy Tomato And Butternut Soup Recipe or 6 Pancake Recipes To Try and sign up to my mailing list below!
I’ve never tried nor considered recipe boxes before as they’re not that many in my country yet. Though if I get the chance to be able to try out Hello Fresh or Gousto one time, I’d love to. In terms of the type of dishes, Gousto seems like it would suit my preference more. 🙂
It seems that I would personally upvote for Gousto! Good customer management – ordering, packaging and delivery are the ideal package to me. Thank you for sharing this!!!
So many of my friends and family prefer Gousto too, but I don’t feel the same! Even though there are less recipes on Hello Fresh, there are so many where we think ‘wow that sounds amazing’, whereas we can trawl up and down the Gousto page for ages trying to find something! Also, hello fresh tastes like restaurant quality. The recipes are longer and more complicated I find, but I don’t feel like Gousto tastes better than something I could cook myself… interesting to see how everyone’s opinions are different though!
This is so interesting, I’ve never tried either because I love to cook and find them pretty expensive, but my friend who has just moved into her own house likes them. I maybe would try them when they add more recipes, they always do good discount codes too. Thanks for sharing!
I have never tried either of these boxes. I want to try Gousto at some point, the meals sound amazing. I am currently using a different recipe box. Thank you for sharing.
I never tried any of them, but they sound like a great way to reduce the cooking and what to have or not for dinner. I think Gousto offers more options, maybe when we will move we will give it a try, thanks for sharing x
I’ve never tried neither of them, but I love the concept ☺️
I love your new blog design!! I’ve always wanted to try these boxes and have heard lots of good things about them – great review x
I have heard of hello fresh. Not really heard much of the other one. When I move into my place I buy I want to try hello fresh. Thank you for sharing. Xx
Thanks for this – I’ve tried Hello Fresh and had mixed reaction of loving one box and not loving the next. Subscription meal boxes are such an interesting option especially in Covid-19 times. Thanks for doing a deep dive into your experiences.
I was actually given a free Hello Fresh box from someone on Twitter and it arrived yesterday so I have this week to test out the recipes. I’ve read another post recently though about Gousto and how much better they are. I’ve never tried either so I’ll give HF a go this week and see how I get on! I’m just excited to try some new recipes tbh!
Gousto is my favourite! Not sure why but probably down to the variety, freshness and ultimately more options I like 🙂
Emma
I have always wanted to try a recipe box because I get pretty bored of cooking the same meals all the time and this would definitely help! X
This is something that I’ve always wanted to try. Sometimes after work it can just feel like an impossible task getting food ready, but this makes the process so simple and it means I’d get to try different types of meals, I love the variety that this has to offer!
I’ve heard a lot about Hello Fresh but I’ve never heard about Gousto. Gousto seems like such an amazin recipe box. I’ll definitely check it out.
Antonia || Sweet Passions
I adore my Gousto delivery, it has fast become the highlight of my week now! I could not get on with Hello fresh even from ordering I had issues which is a shame because I really want to be able to compare.
This is a great review of both, very balanced.
I tried to recreate some of my gousto meals this weekend and I have to say the quality of the ingredients were no where near as good as what they send in the boxes. Think I have been spoilt a bit x
I’ve heard amazing things about Hello Fresh from friends and family but Gousto sounds just as amazing! Such a good review, thank you. Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
This is the post I needed to read this week. I’ve been toying between the two for weeks and not been able to make my mind up. This is defo the future of home cooking so I need to get on it. I’m kind of weighing towards Gousto just because of their recipes!
Rosie
I absolutely love Gousto and am 100% loyal to them. Their choice of meals per week is always really exciting and I love how sustainable their packaging is, I’ve heard a lot that Hello Fresh fall short on this side of things annoyingly. But, I think at some point I might give Hello Fresh ago and it’s so interesting to learn that your partner prefers this company.
Thank you for sharing lovely.
I’ve never tried a recipe box before – TBH I think it’s something that would have to wait until Flora’s a little older and less picky, haha. Interesting comparison, and very useful for those who are thinking of trying out a service like this 🙂 x
Thank you for sharing Kayleigh! I haven’t tried a meal box but Hello Fresh is quite popular here in The Netherlands. Sadly the delivery issues occur here too. My local supermarket has done a competing box which looked good as well. Something to consider when going back to the office, I think. -Jenni
I’ve tried Hello Fresh in the past but I’ve never used Gousto – Mindful Chef blows them both out the water, you should totally try that one next xx
Loved this review! I’ve actually been leaning towards starting a meal kit delivery service soon. I’m often running out of dinner ideas haha Thank you for sharing! I’ll see what options I have in Canada aside from Hello Fresh and make a decision! Thanks for sharing xx
Lynn | http://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
This was such a good read for me as I’ve been debating about whether to order from Hello Fresh, but Gousto seems to be the winner here, especially in terms of delivery, it must be a nightmare not having all of your boxes delivered from Hello Fresh with Yodel, it seems Hello Fresh needs to correct that problem if it’s happening to other customers! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Great suggestions, I like the Gousto one 😚
Thanks for sharing
https://uncuaderno4cero.wordpress.com/
I have only ever tried Hello Fresh but I loved it! Me and my partner would go food shopping each week and then when it came to it couldn’t be bothered cooking and we were wasting a lot of food. So I loved how easy and simple the Hello Fresh recipes and the fact that there is hardly any waste too. It also taught me a lot of new recipes. I keep all of the recipe cards in a folder so I can remake them. I have never tried Gusto but heard a lot of good reviews.
Oh I so need to do one of these subscription meal boxes, they would work so wonderful for my busy week days! Thanks for sharing your thoughts
I use Hellofresh regularly and I love it. It’s so convenient and I love their recipes, although I only choose the veggie and plant based meals and sometimes the choices are quite limited. I’ve never had a problem with delivery as it’s always delivered by DPD in my area and fortunately not Yodel!
I’ve never tried Gousto but I’m really tempted to give it a try after reading your review. Do they have a good variety of vegetarian and vegan options?
Gousto have so many good plant based recipes! I’ve tried 5 vegan recipes so far and loved them all – you can also adjust most of the recipes to vegetarian when ordering! I highly recommend x
This is so interesting! I always hear so many people talk about Hello Fresh but I can’t believe some of your boxes just weren’t delivered! I’ve always been interested to try a meal kit delivery service so thanks for the comparison here!
I love a good recipe box. I have tried a few in the past but only as one offs as they are just too expensive for me. They are a fab way to get your creative juices flowing in the kitchen and creating dishes you may not have made otherwise.
I’ve never tried or heard of these so thank you for sharing! This sounds really nice, might have to check it out!!
xoxo Olivia | http://www.oliviaandbeauty.com
I’ve tried Hello Fresh before, but am thinking of giving Gousto a go. I’ve heard they have really good veggie options!
I’ve tried a box from Gousto and Hello Fresh and agree that Gousto is just slightly better but they both have fab options. The Gousto spag bol is also really good, I’ve made it a few times now and it’s great to batch cook and have whenever!
Tash – A Girl with a View
I dont know if this has changed now but when I was considering recipe boxes, Hello Fresh actually didn’t have the option to chose the exact recipes. You could only chose as per diet – for instance, vegetarian, non-vegetarian etc. I ended up going with Gusto for this reason – I wanted non-vegetarian but didn’t want red meat. But on the whole, I kind of gave up on these boxes due to the amount of waste. I just found the packaging to be too much on a regular basis.
We use Hello Fresh and have done for a few years now but recently we’ve had issues with boxes not arriving, surveys about not supplying certain condiments etc and main ingredients being swapped out with no warning. We have been looking at possibly trying Gousto but we’re not quite there yet. Hello fresh don’t get me wrong has it’s good points, both my husband and I love the majority of meals, we find the portions mixed, some things it’s too much and others it doesn’t seem quite enough but we’re okay with that generally. We haven’t really had a bad meal so far maybe a few we probably wouldn’t rush to have again but it’s good that you can try things once and don’t need to have it again if you don’t want to. The meals are very tasty and we’ve tried things we’ve never had before, like risotto, we’d never had it before Hello Fresh and we have continued ordering risottos now because we love it, there are so many variations it doesn’t get boring. My gripe is with Yodel, they are the worst courier company ever. When we first started using HF, DPD we’re the courier and we had hardly any issues back then until Yodel took over now they are very unreliable. I’ve tracked deliveries saying they are on route, taken screenshots showing where the driver is and that he’s so many stops away , then suddenly our box never arrives….wtaf is with that? There’s never an explanation why it never arrives, yes we’ve had our money back no questions asked and stating we’ll investigate it but there’s never any feedback which is poor customer service….I want to know what happened when I know it was on route, what suddenly changed?
Not sure now what to do but we do love the HF meals, we cook them together and they generally aren’t that complicated to follow. We have noticed you do tend to use far more pots and pans than you would normally cook with but it’s generally worth it when you see the finished meal.