HelloFresh vs Green Chef: Which Meal Service is Better?

We love meal kit delivery services. So many of them are affordably priced and it’s a convenience you cannot beat. Of course, people would rather skip the grocery store trips and have food delivered right to their doorstep.

This is especially true if you have a family. If you’ve ever had to shop for yourself, your husband and your children, you know you can spend well over an hour in the store and have to hit like every aisle. It’s a lot.

Meal kit services cut this out and don’t even have to cost you more than you’d spend at the grocery store every week. Plus, some even have kid approved recipes so you can rest assured that your child will actually eat what you make them.

HelloFresh is an excellent example of this. Not only do they say certain recipes are “kid approved”, but We had an actual child try one of these recipes and she concurred.

HelloFresh calls themselves “America’s #1 Meal Kit”, so if you’ve ever heard of these meal kit services, this is probably the one you’re most familiar with.

On the other hand, meal kit services aren’t always about simplicity and family-friendly-ness. Some customers use them because certain services offer meals that can meet a variety of dietary restrictions, making healthy eating more convenient.

One such service that offers plans that meet a variety of dietary restrictions is Green Chef. Green Chef’s claim is that you’ll get healthy and flavorful organic meal kits delivered straight to your doorstep. You’ll receive natural ingredients in every meal delivery that perfectly fit your diet and lifestyle.

Honestly, the worst part about meal kit delivery services is having some many options to choose from. Today, we’re going to make things simpler by comparing HelloFresh and Green Chef side by side.

Let’s figure out which one of these heavy hitters is right for you!

Head-to-Head Comparison	HelloFresh	Green Chef
Meal variety	HelloFresh offers meals for the standard diet, vegetarian meals and calorie conscious meals.	Vegan Meals Keto Meals Paleo Meals Gluten free/celiac meals
Price per serving	$8.99, but they offer Gourmet meals that can be significantly more expensive.	$10.49-$12.99 depending on your meal plan.
Vegetarian plans	The Vegetarian Plan is $8.99 per serving.	A small menu. The Plant Powered Plan starts at $9.99 per serving.
Kid-friendly meals	HelloFresh Kid-Friendly recipes are actually kid tested. My kid tried the pasta recipe we received and enjoyed it.	No meals that are specifically kid friendly. However, in my opinion, you’d still be able to find some options that a child would eat.
Delivery cost	HelloFresh charges $7.99 for shipping.	Green Chef charges $8.99 for shipping.
Availability	48 states (excludes Alaska and Hawaii)	48 states (excludes Alaska and Hawaii, and parts of Louisiana)

Okay, so maybe that quick side by side comparison isn’t the best way to decide which service is better for you. They have a lot of similarities, so we need to dig deeper and provide you with more thorough information to help you make the decision.

Pricing

Winner: HelloFresh

When it comes to pricing, HelloFresh is the clear winner. HelloFresh’s “standard” meals are significantly less expensive than Green Chef’s cheapest meal, plus HelloFresh’s shipping is a dollar cheaper.

The only thing you’d need to watch out for are HelloFresh’s Gourmet meals. They are absolutely delish, but they can cost as much as an extra $9.99 per serving. However, some of the Gourmet meals only add an additional $5.99 per serving, making them just a hair more expensive than some of Green Chef’s “standard” meals.

All in all though, HelloFresh is budget friendly. Plus, keep in mind that the more meals you opt to receive from HelloFresh, the cheaper the “per serving” price is!

Plans

Winner: Green Chef

Green Chef is rather justifiably more expensive because they have plans that accommodate specific dietary restrictions. On the other hand, HelloFresh’s plans really only accommodate the standard American diet and vegetarianism

Green Chef offers a:

Plant Powered Plan (vegan)
Keto/Paleo Plan
Balanced Living Plan

HelloFresh offers a:

Meat & Veggie Plan
Veggie Plan (Vegetarian friendly, but NOT vegan friendly)
Family Friendly (Kid tested and approved recipes)
Calorie Smart (Meals under 650 calories, but can be from any other plan)

Food variety

Winner: Green Chef

When HelloFresh first got started the food was really tasty, but definitely had that “home-style” vibe. However, every service has classed their menus up a bit and are very “foodie friendly” now.

For example, this week on HelloFresh’s menu they have Triple Mushroom Truffle Gnocchi with Garlicky Panko and Parmesan, but they also have Sizzling Hoisin Shrimp with Ginger Scallion Rice and Roasted Green Beans. The variety is definitely there.

However, Green Chef is going to take this category because they have that food variety and plans that accommodate a range of dietary restrictions.

One week you can be eating Truffle Linguine with Chicken, Cremini Mushrooms, Peas and Garlic from their Balanced Living plan. The following week you could have Thai Peanut Noodle Stir-Fry with Baby Bok Choy, Red Bell Pepper, Carrots and Shiitakes from their Plant-Powered plan.

Because Green Chef offers plans that meet a variety of dietary needs and have a diverse variety of cuisine, they are the winners for food variety.

However, it should be noted that you cannot mix and match meals from each plan. Conversely, you’re not locked into your plan, you can change it from delivery to delivery, so you can try a little bit of everything!

Accommodate dietary restrictions

Winner: Green Chef

When it comes to accommodating dietary restrictions, Green Chef has this in the bag. As much as we love HelloFresh, they really only have you covered if you’re a vegetarian or follow a “regular” diet.

With that being said, we have two qualms with Green Chef’s ability to accommodate dietary restrictions effectively. Green Chef’s Keto Plan isn’t really keto-friendly. When comparing the carb content of the “keto” meals against their Balance Living Plan meals, they are definitely much lower carb.

HOWEVER, typically the recommended carb intake on keto is around 30 net carbs for the entire day. Yet, some of these keto meals have 35 net carbs, with most being around 20 net carbs. That leaves little to no room left to consume other food if you’re using Green Chef meals on your keto diet.

Additionally, some of Green Chef’s lower calorie meals range anywhere between 600-800 calories. As we pointed out in our in depth review of Green Chef, a Big Mac actually has less than 600 calories.

HelloFresh’s calorie conscious meals tend to be right around 650 calories, but they range from 500-800 calories, so they tend to be a little better than Green Chef.

But overall, Green Chef has more options if you are looking for a service that fits into a restrictive diet.

Ingredient quality

Winner: HelloFresh

Honestly, this was such a close race. Both services had amazing ingredients.

The only issue to be found was with a scallion we received with our Green Chef meals. We found that it was slightly wilted. However, it should be noted that this was the last meal we ate, so that probably played a role.

Overall though, both companies had awesome ingredient quality. The meats were packaged well. The seasonings were absolutely delicious. Even the produce was high quality, save for the slightly wilted scallion.

Because of that one thing though, we named HelloFresh the winner.

Ease of use

Winner: Green Chef

Neither meal kit is difficult to work with. Plus, HelloFresh even grades their meals by difficulty, as well, so even if you’re a novice, you can select meals based on that.

The only thing that sets them apart is the fact that Green Chef sends more pre-prepped ingredients. This makes Green Chef slightly more user friendly.

Because of this, we have named Green Chef the winner for this category.

Ordering experience and packaging

Winner: Green Chef

Both meal kit delivery services are similar when it comes to the order experience and packaging.

You can set up both services online.

They both have an app for subscription management. Though, Green Chef’s is only on iPhone, not Android, which is a little rude, but not a total deal breaker.

They both come delivered in insulated boxes with ice packs with each meal packaged separately.

Plus, both services package their proteins separately minimizing the risks of cross contamination.

This means, the only area left to judge was the delivery process. With both services, our items were still cold to the touch when they arrived. But, with HelloFresh, our first order was a day late.

Due to this, Green Chef wins by default.

The Bottom Line

When you compare these heavy hitters side by side, you see a lot of similarities, but Green Chef “wins” just by a hair.

Conversely, that doesn’t mean HelloFresh sucks. They’re the cheaper service and scored really well in our in depth review. Their food is absolutely delicious, their packaging is effective, the order process can be done efficiently and their meal preparation is simplistic.

What really sets them apart is Green Chef’s inclusiveness when it comes to accommodating dietary restrictions. Meaning, if that’s what you’re looking for in a service, Green Chef is the way to go.

However, if that’s not the case, both services are definitely worth trying. In fact, they’re so good because they’re owned by the same company. That’s why they’re so similar. So, if you’re not looking for a company that offers meals for a restrictive diet, try them both!

Read our full Hello Fresh review.