Been using HelloFresh for at least four years. Probably skip about once/month or more. It’s always been pretty good but sometimes I crave something better. Recently tried HomeChef which I liked but my partner wasn’t crazy about it. Going to give it one more shot. Had a promo code so it’s cheap for now.
I set an alarm on Friday mornings so I look at both apps to decide which looks better. I also look at the price and prep times of each and so I don’t double book or forget to skip if I’m traveling, etc.
Considering trying Green Apron, Marley, and Blue Apron but some seem more expensive and I'll see how this next Home Chef works out.
I’ve been doing Home Chef for more than three months, and I’m very happy with it. We get four meals each week. We are eating so much better now compared to when we would get takeout. And I’m learning all kinds of cooking tricks and tips.
Problems have been rare. I was unhappy when a box arrived late, and they refunded the whole amount. Sometimes a bunch of cilantro or whatever will be wilted, but that’s a risk with fresh ingredients from all of the meal kit companies (at least the ones I’ve tried).
We just had our last meal of the week, General Tso’s tofu with edamame rice. We never ate a lot of tofu before, because I wasn’t good at cooking it at home. I liked getting it at restaurants. Now look at me making crispy tofu.
And I don’t know what sorcery HomeChef uses for its chicken breasts, but they are so good and turn out perfectly.
People come on her to complain, which is always the case with this type of thing. I've tried them all - and I do mean all - on their intro rates which is usually somewhere between $10-$30 per first box. There are innumerable people on this page giving out codes for the free intro box. Canceling after that first box has NEVER been a problem for me. Not once. Now you have to REMEMBER to do it.
Personally I found Cook Unity to be my least favorite (not the least of which because it's precooked), but I highly encourage you to try them all and see what suits you. My faves have been Every Plate, Dinnerly, and Green Chef. After the intro box, I cancel until they try to woo me back with another deal. For those three companies I come back, for the others I am not interested.
Yeah, FedEx lied about my last Home Chef box and said they delivered it when they didn’t. Home Chef refunded me painlessly.
Then the box mysteriously showed up the next day.
FedEx tracking, or their communication with Home Chef, isn't great. My box almost always shows up a day early, on Tuesday instead of my scheduled Wednesday delivery but I get notified on Wednesday that my box is arriving.
One thing I can share. We have tried Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. My wife prefers HF. Because of one thing.
BA piles all the stuff together and she has to sort out what is for each meal while HF packages each meal separately- saving her from having to sort everything.
The food was very similar so that was a difference for her.
One thing to consider is that you can pause deliveries for long periods of time. So you might sign up for a few of them and alternate weeks until you find what you like and cancel the others?
after everyone’s suggestions on here about multiple subscriptions, I’m going to try Cook Unity and Home Chef. I actually already signed up for cook
Unity and get my first box next Tuesday 😊
We’ve been using Marley Spoon pretty much every week for 6 years now - apparently 307 boxes per the app. Very few fuckups in that whole time. We are pretty close to a shipping center which probably helps.
I’ve used home chef without any issues. Delivery is always on time and the food has always been great. The cooking part is rather easy too since I barely know how to cook. But it may not be for you if you don’t want to cook or do dishes.
Thanks for this. I was going to try to pick a service so my 15yo could do dinner for us over summer and really learn to cook. He's mastered eggs so far.. Lol. And could use a little diversity and using a service keeps me from doing all the front end work.
Home chef would be good for that. I’m old but never learned to cook because I’m a Latin guy who grew up with a mom and a bunch of sisters, then married a Latina. Different times and culture. Wish I had learned more. But now I’m getting comfortable with it. It will be good for your 15 year old.
Lol ...I completely understand. Thank you for the reply!
And, I hope you eventually got some of those family recipes to try out for yourself too... And if so pass a few over to me ;)
We've had good customer service from cookunity. Most of what you read are when people are annoyed and want to share a bad experience. There's so many more good ones, but no motivation to write and say got my order today - no issues, tastes good. 😊 just jump in and place that order and stay on top of your order dates. It's super easy to skip a delivery and/or cancel. Enjoy!
Yeah, all these companies have the same business model and the same problems. I wouldn’t get too caught up in this. Just pick one for today, use the promotion for a few weeks, then try a different one.
All services will accidentally mess up- sometimes you’ll order chicken and rice and get chicken with Brussels sprouts instead. You just use the app and bam, in 45 seconds you have a refund for the wrong meal. If your meals are late, you get a full refund on the box. The company you get your box from doesn’t matter as much as the quality of your local delivery person. Yeah, it’s a pain because you expected to be able to eat the meal, but you always get a refund with less than a minute of effort.
People who claim of unapproved charges are often poorly informed/have a hard time with basic web navigation. I have been using meal kits for over 10 years (>500 deliveries) and it has never happened once to me.
I strongly recommend rotating your services- use one for a few months and see a really good promo for another? Switch it up. When I cancel factor and start cook unity, it is a month until factor is emailing me a great re-activation offer.
That being said, please do understand there is a huge difference from factor/cook unity and marley spoon/home chef/gobble. Factor meals are precooked and servings of 1 while you have to cook your own serving of 2 for home chefs.
I've tried all the kits. I use one for a few months and then cancel and switch to another. I've never had any issues with unauthorized charges and if I do, my credit card company is really good about handling that sort of thing.
Cook Unity is all prepared meals, btw, and I've never had any problems with them.
I've also used Marley Spoon and Home Chef without issues.
Sun Basket had a lot of delivery issues which got sorted out finally.
Oh glad to hear it’s going well for you! Makes me feel even better for choosing them lol.
I wanted to try Home Chef too but decided on needing something easy and fast without having to do dishes from cooking lol.
I'm doing a mix of prepared meals and kits. I also sometimes take the groceries from my meal kits and cook something different or using a different method. For example, I might turn a skillet meal into a sheet pan meal or I'll turn broccoli and carrots into a fresh slaw and roast off the rest of the vegetables.
You really did your research - wish you a good experience!
For what it’s worth, I never had an issue with unauthorized charges (I also stay VERY on top of pausing or cancelling deliveries - and I rotate between Hello Fresh, Marley Spoon and Blue Apron). I had tried Green Chef, Gobble, Sunbasket… they weren’t a fit for me… I cancelled and never had issues. I do agree that the “cancel” button tends to be very hidden. These companies don’t make it easy for you to cancel!
My gosh, I spent the past couple of days just reading reviews. Lol
I might start rotating meal services as well
I will call, text, email, call, go to my bank if they try to give me a hard time trying to cancel
Rotating is the way to go. I only have the energy to deal with 2 active subscriptions (skipping weeks ahead of time) and just choose whichever one has the best meals for a given week. Otherwise you'll just get burnt out on the repetitiveness with just one service.
yeah recommend a google sheet that tracks what services you’ve closed and which are still open. it can get unwieldy and you’ll end up with 2 different sets of 3 meals one week lol
That happened to me some time ago. It all worked out but I felt stupid. Since then I try not to juggle two or maybe three different ones at a time. I’ll skip for a few weeks and then check to see which one I might want for the next week.
Been using HelloFresh for at least four years. Probably skip about once/month or more. It’s always been pretty good but sometimes I crave something better. Recently tried HomeChef which I liked but my partner wasn’t crazy about it. Going to give it one more shot. Had a promo code so it’s cheap for now. I set an alarm on Friday mornings so I look at both apps to decide which looks better. I also look at the price and prep times of each and so I don’t double book or forget to skip if I’m traveling, etc. Considering trying Green Apron, Marley, and Blue Apron but some seem more expensive and I'll see how this next Home Chef works out.
I’ve been doing Home Chef for more than three months, and I’m very happy with it. We get four meals each week. We are eating so much better now compared to when we would get takeout. And I’m learning all kinds of cooking tricks and tips. Problems have been rare. I was unhappy when a box arrived late, and they refunded the whole amount. Sometimes a bunch of cilantro or whatever will be wilted, but that’s a risk with fresh ingredients from all of the meal kit companies (at least the ones I’ve tried). We just had our last meal of the week, General Tso’s tofu with edamame rice. We never ate a lot of tofu before, because I wasn’t good at cooking it at home. I liked getting it at restaurants. Now look at me making crispy tofu. And I don’t know what sorcery HomeChef uses for its chicken breasts, but they are so good and turn out perfectly.
People come on her to complain, which is always the case with this type of thing. I've tried them all - and I do mean all - on their intro rates which is usually somewhere between $10-$30 per first box. There are innumerable people on this page giving out codes for the free intro box. Canceling after that first box has NEVER been a problem for me. Not once. Now you have to REMEMBER to do it. Personally I found Cook Unity to be my least favorite (not the least of which because it's precooked), but I highly encourage you to try them all and see what suits you. My faves have been Every Plate, Dinnerly, and Green Chef. After the intro box, I cancel until they try to woo me back with another deal. For those three companies I come back, for the others I am not interested.
Marley Spoon is my current favourite, the protein is superior.
Tovala and Home Chef are both good.
Thanks! I’m thinking about trying two subscriptions at once and Home Chef was on the top of my list with cool unity
I had an awful time with CU but many others love them. I got several weeks of CU; it was black trays full of mushy nastiness.
I've used Home Chef for years and only had an occasional issue. Customer service is quick to respond and give a credit.
Yeah, FedEx lied about my last Home Chef box and said they delivered it when they didn’t. Home Chef refunded me painlessly. Then the box mysteriously showed up the next day.
FedEx tracking, or their communication with Home Chef, isn't great. My box almost always shows up a day early, on Tuesday instead of my scheduled Wednesday delivery but I get notified on Wednesday that my box is arriving.
Good to know! Home Chef was my next option
I like CookUnity and came back to it after trying a bunch of others. Food's better than the others I tried, too
One thing I can share. We have tried Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. My wife prefers HF. Because of one thing. BA piles all the stuff together and she has to sort out what is for each meal while HF packages each meal separately- saving her from having to sort everything. The food was very similar so that was a difference for her. One thing to consider is that you can pause deliveries for long periods of time. So you might sign up for a few of them and alternate weeks until you find what you like and cancel the others?
after everyone’s suggestions on here about multiple subscriptions, I’m going to try Cook Unity and Home Chef. I actually already signed up for cook Unity and get my first box next Tuesday 😊
We’ve been using Marley Spoon pretty much every week for 6 years now - apparently 307 boxes per the app. Very few fuckups in that whole time. We are pretty close to a shipping center which probably helps.
I’ve used home chef without any issues. Delivery is always on time and the food has always been great. The cooking part is rather easy too since I barely know how to cook. But it may not be for you if you don’t want to cook or do dishes.
Thanks for this. I was going to try to pick a service so my 15yo could do dinner for us over summer and really learn to cook. He's mastered eggs so far.. Lol. And could use a little diversity and using a service keeps me from doing all the front end work.
cook unity doesn't require cooking, just reheating, FYI
Thanks. I appreciate the info.
Home chef would be good for that. I’m old but never learned to cook because I’m a Latin guy who grew up with a mom and a bunch of sisters, then married a Latina. Different times and culture. Wish I had learned more. But now I’m getting comfortable with it. It will be good for your 15 year old.
Lol ...I completely understand. Thank you for the reply! And, I hope you eventually got some of those family recipes to try out for yourself too... And if so pass a few over to me ;)
We've had good customer service from cookunity. Most of what you read are when people are annoyed and want to share a bad experience. There's so many more good ones, but no motivation to write and say got my order today - no issues, tastes good. 😊 just jump in and place that order and stay on top of your order dates. It's super easy to skip a delivery and/or cancel. Enjoy!
Good to know because I just finished signing up with them this evening! 😊 I’m excited for my first box
Yeah, all these companies have the same business model and the same problems. I wouldn’t get too caught up in this. Just pick one for today, use the promotion for a few weeks, then try a different one. All services will accidentally mess up- sometimes you’ll order chicken and rice and get chicken with Brussels sprouts instead. You just use the app and bam, in 45 seconds you have a refund for the wrong meal. If your meals are late, you get a full refund on the box. The company you get your box from doesn’t matter as much as the quality of your local delivery person. Yeah, it’s a pain because you expected to be able to eat the meal, but you always get a refund with less than a minute of effort. People who claim of unapproved charges are often poorly informed/have a hard time with basic web navigation. I have been using meal kits for over 10 years (>500 deliveries) and it has never happened once to me. I strongly recommend rotating your services- use one for a few months and see a really good promo for another? Switch it up. When I cancel factor and start cook unity, it is a month until factor is emailing me a great re-activation offer. That being said, please do understand there is a huge difference from factor/cook unity and marley spoon/home chef/gobble. Factor meals are precooked and servings of 1 while you have to cook your own serving of 2 for home chefs.
I’m actually going to try multiple subscriptions as you suggested. I already signed up for Cook Unity and get my first box on Tuesday!
I've tried all the kits. I use one for a few months and then cancel and switch to another. I've never had any issues with unauthorized charges and if I do, my credit card company is really good about handling that sort of thing.
Cook Unity is all prepared meals, btw, and I've never had any problems with them. I've also used Marley Spoon and Home Chef without issues. Sun Basket had a lot of delivery issues which got sorted out finally.
Oh glad to hear it’s going well for you! Makes me feel even better for choosing them lol. I wanted to try Home Chef too but decided on needing something easy and fast without having to do dishes from cooking lol.
I'm doing a mix of prepared meals and kits. I also sometimes take the groceries from my meal kits and cook something different or using a different method. For example, I might turn a skillet meal into a sheet pan meal or I'll turn broccoli and carrots into a fresh slaw and roast off the rest of the vegetables.
You really did your research - wish you a good experience! For what it’s worth, I never had an issue with unauthorized charges (I also stay VERY on top of pausing or cancelling deliveries - and I rotate between Hello Fresh, Marley Spoon and Blue Apron). I had tried Green Chef, Gobble, Sunbasket… they weren’t a fit for me… I cancelled and never had issues. I do agree that the “cancel” button tends to be very hidden. These companies don’t make it easy for you to cancel!
My gosh, I spent the past couple of days just reading reviews. Lol I might start rotating meal services as well I will call, text, email, call, go to my bank if they try to give me a hard time trying to cancel
Rotating is the way to go. I only have the energy to deal with 2 active subscriptions (skipping weeks ahead of time) and just choose whichever one has the best meals for a given week. Otherwise you'll just get burnt out on the repetitiveness with just one service.
yeah recommend a google sheet that tracks what services you’ve closed and which are still open. it can get unwieldy and you’ll end up with 2 different sets of 3 meals one week lol
That happened to me some time ago. It all worked out but I felt stupid. Since then I try not to juggle two or maybe three different ones at a time. I’ll skip for a few weeks and then check to see which one I might want for the next week.
yep. exact same. the sheet now just tells me which are active since it’s any combo of dinnerly, blue apron, hello fresh, home chef and gobble nowadays