The following post contains affiliate links and coupon codes.
These deals may change at anytime or no longer be valid when you read this post.
The following information is based off of my experience and could change.
Meal Delivery Fast Facts
- I purchased from these three different companies using my own money: Gobble, Home Chef, and HelloFresh.
- They are all subscription services, but you get to choose how often they are delivered.
- You can easily cancel or pause your account or you can just skip weeks.
- There are menus each week and you choose meals from the different menus.
- Most of them have specialty options such as gluten free, nut free, dairy free, etc.
- You get to pick how many meals you will get in your box and how many servings each meal has.
- Meals come packaged in a box with cold packs.
- They come with recipe cards.
- The boxes have everything you need to cook a complete meal (except salt and pepper).
- I learned a lot about cooking from ordering these boxes (different methods to cook certain foods and also different flavor combinations to try).
Box Reviews (in order that I tried them)
Gobble
Price
Get your first box for just $36 shipped. You'll need to add 6+ servings to your box (3 recipes with 2 servings each is what I did). This makes it $6 per serving. Use code WINTER636 at checkout. The end date to this deal has not been announced.
Packaging
The box it came in was recyclable and part of the insulation was recyclable. The cold packs did not mention if they were recyclable (but, of course, can be reused).
Some of the food was packaged in plastic and some was wrapped in paper. There was single-use packaging, but not all of it was.
Taste
Everything we ate from Gobble was delicious! I did get two Asian type meals and the sauces were exactly the same (though the entire meal was completely different).
What's Notable?
Gobble had the most user friendly website. The meals were also the easiest of all the companies I tried, but the instructions were sometimes hard to follow. Gobble prides themselves on 15 minute meals, and I'd say this is pretty accurate.
This was the only company that left out a food item from one of my meals, but they were very easy to work with and refunded me for the missing items.
I did not reorder from them because the protein serving sizes were too small for our family (one chicken breast or piece of fish to share between two people). This would be a great option if you were just buying it for yourself.
Click this link to order your first Gobble box! Use code WINTER36 at checkout if the deal doesn't automatically show up.
Home Chef
Price
Get $90 off your first 4 boxes. This breaks down to $30 off first and second boxes and $15 off third and fourth boxes. You don't have to get all 4 boxes. This price ends up being $5-6 per serving depending on how many servings you get.
Just click this link to redeem offer - no code needed. This offer ends at the end of January.
Packaging
I was very impressed with the way these meals were packaged. The box, insulation, and cold packs are all recyclable or compostable. Some food items are in paper but most are in plastic. There was single-use packaging, but not all of it was. Several items came in plastic that could be recycled or reused for something else (homemade spice blend, etc).
Taste
We've loved everything we have eaten from Home Chef (even the accidental box I ordered where they picked all of my meals)!
What's Notable?
You place your order and pay before you pick your meals. That confused me when I first signed up.
Their recipe cards are large and already have holes punched in them. I especially liked this because I use a three ring binder to hold all of my recipes.
Their recipes were very easy to follow and each card tells you how many days you have to cook each meal (I found this to be very helpful).
HelloFresh
Price
Get $80 off your first 4 boxes. You don't have to get all four boxes for the deal to apply. The end date to this deal has not been announced.
Packaging
This was the only company that used bubble wrap for the insulation; however, they were also the only company who didn't use a plastic bags to separate each meal. Each meal was contained in a brown paper bag. A lot of food items were also packaged in paper instead of plastic. There was single-use packaging, but not all of it was. Other than the bubble wrap, this was the most eco-friendly company.
Taste
We loved everything we ate from HelloFresh!
What's Notable?
HelloFresh's recipe cards were easy to read and very similar to Home Chef (but they weren't pre-punched with holes).
The website was a little hard to figure out at first, but was better after using it.
Did I Enjoy The Meal Delivery Boxes?
Absolutely! It was so easy to just take out an entire meal from my fridge to prep and have ready in under an hour (mostly in under 30 minutes). All of the guesswork was gone, but I still had some control in choosing meals and cooking them.
I also, unexpectedly, learned a few things. I used methods to cook and spice combinations that I had not used before. I will be able to continue using these even now.
What Company Did I Like the Best?
Right now - during the month of January - I would say that Home Chef is my favorite. I did like this company the best AND they have the best deal right now.
If you are making this purchase after January, then you should go with either of the other companies.
I personally wouldn't have been able to try any of these had it not been for the deals they were offering. I couldn't justify paying full price for any of these services. That doesn't mean that you can't justify it - we all have different income and needs.
Go check out these three companies yourself and see which one you like the best!
More questions?
Feel free to ask in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer!
