I've been in a bit of a cooking rut lately of just making the same dishes over and over (salads for lunch, bolognese for dinner) and so when I saw a Black Friday sale on Hello Fresh and Chefs Plate, I knew it was something I wanted to try out.
I'm a bit lazy in general, so the idea of a meal kit being delivered straight to my apartment door in Toronto truly spoke to the indolence in my soul. That being said, I was a little skeptical of the meal kits — would they be worth it? Would they be tasty? Would I be able to cook them properly?
I'm happy to say that I had a pretty good experience with both Hello Fresh and Chefs Plate, but there is one meal kit delivery service I'd order again over the other one.
Here's a breakdown of the whole experience, from signing up to how I found the overall process.
The Hello Fresh experience
A screenshot of Hello Fresh's website showing different protein options.
Hello Fresh
My boyfriend and I are trying to eat less meat and have been experimenting more with seafood, tempeh and tofu and I was pleased to see a huge variety of protein options with Hello Fresh.
They had pre-selected a few meals for me, but after perusing their weekly offerings, I settled on Italian-Spiced Salmon with Tuscan-Inspired Salad, Falafel Platters with Roasted Potatoes and Garlic Hummus Drizzle and Indian-Spiced Veggie Burgers with Beyond Meat, Sweet Potato Wedges and Cilantro Yogurt Dip.
The burgers were actually meant to be ground pork but I very much appreciated that in many of the recipes, you could choose what kind of protein you'd prefer, which is ideal if you have religious or dietary restrictions, or, if like me, you're just trying to switch things up.
There was also no price change for selecting Beyond Meat which is a huge bonus as it can be seriously pricey to buy meat alternatives at the grocery store.
The three meals I selected to feed two people worked out to be $38.97 total (it was on a serious discount for Black Friday) and it also came with a free breakfast item I got to select, of which I picked turkey sausage.
Chef's Plate recipes
A screenshot of the Chefs Plate website showing different protein options.
Chefs Plate
Like Hello Fresh, the recipes looked very yummy and there were different options in proteins, carbs and veg to cater to different dietary preferences. However, unlike Hello Fresh, Chefs Plate charges when you want to swap your protein and they don't seem to carry any of the Beyond Meat products, so that's important to note if that's something that'll affect your decision.
The recipes I chose were Fresh Linguine with Shrimp & Tomato Pesto with spinach, Honey-Garlic Turkey Bowls with bok choy, Larb-Inspired Pork Salad with zesty rice and the Baja-Style Fish & Rice with salsa fresca.
For four meals to feed two people, Chef's Plate worked out to be $36.62 (again, on serious Black Friday discount) but I picked a "premium" recipe (the shrimp linguine) which cost me about $10, so my bill could have been around $26.
The delivery
A brown box from Hello Fresh. Right: A brown box from Chefs Plate.
Sarah Rohoman | Narcity, Sarah Rohoman | Narcity
The two meal kits were set to arrive on the same date and I was able to keep my eye on the tracker Hello Fresh offered to see when it would be arriving.
Unfortunately, the tracker initially showed me a time of around 10:30 a.m. but it kept updating, and I ended up receiving both meal kits around 12:30 p.m. It wasn't a huge deal that it was late — it was more that I was actively keeping an eye out for it to arrive, which was slightly annoying.
They both came in fairly large but manageable boxes straight to my front door and when I opened the boxes, there were individual recipe cards for all of the meals that laid out what kitchen equipment you'd need, what at-home ingredients were necessary (salt, pepper, olive oil, etc.) and how long each recipe would take, along with the actual instructions.
Most of the ingredients for each recipe came in a brown paper bag with the recipe name labelled on it, which I very much appreciated, and the proteins all were tucked down at the bottom of the box closest to the ice pack to ensure maximum freshness.
Hello Fresh's recipes
Italian-Spiced Salmon with Tuscan-Inspired Salad from Hello Fresh. Right: Falafel Platters with Roasted Potatoes and Garlic Hummus Drizzle from Hello Fresh.
Sarah Rohoman | Narcity, Sarah Rohoman | Narcity
Of the three Hello Fresh recipes I picked, I very much enjoyed the Italian salmon and the falafel platters, but the Beyond Meat Indian-spiced burger was a bit meh.
I hadn't cooked fresh fish in a while as it's quite pricey, but the recipe walked me through all the steps with ease and I ended up with a delicious and perfectly cooked filet of salmon that showed me just how easy it would be to incorporate more seafood into my cooking.
The falafel platter legit tasted like takeout and was my favourite recipe from Hello Fresh. I'm going to start stocking frozen falafel in my freezer from now on as it's an easy and tasty way to bulk up pretty much anything.
As for the Indian-Spiced Veggie Burgers with Beyond Meat, which I was most excited about, I thought it was just okay. There was nothing wrong with it necessarily, it just didn't excite me the way the other dishes did. That being said, I really liked the sweet potato fries and the dip that went with it.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience with Hello Fresh and found the recipes to be easy to follow, mostly tasty and with very, very generous portions.
Chefs Plate's recipes
Fresh Linguine with Shrimp & Tomato Pesto with spinach. Right: Larb-Inspired Pork Salad with zesty rice.
Sarah Rohoman | Narcity, Sarah Rohoman | Narcity
Of the four recipes I tried from Chefs Plate, I enjoyed all of them and I'm still thinking about one of them.
I hate cooking rice as I always get it wrong, so I was hesitant about some of these recipes, but it turns out when you follow the recipe it all just works out the way it should.
The Honey-Garlic Turkey Bowls and the Baja-Style Fish & Rice are something I could see myself recreating, and the Larb-Inspired Pork Salad showed me how to incorporate carbs into my salad, which I'd previously never done.
The premium recipe that I accidentally selected was well worth the upcharge - the Fresh Linguine with Shrimp & Tomato Pesto with spinach was really damn delicious and I'm already planning on incorporating it into my go-to meals.
The cost
As of right now, for three recipes for two people from Hello Fresh to be delivered to my apartment in Toronto, it's $88.98 in total, which works out to be $12.99 per serving.
For Chefs Plate, three recipes for two people is $64.93 in total, which is $10.82 per serving.
That being said, the two companies are always offering promotions and discounts, so you can likely score some savings if you keep you're eye out for them.
The winner
Overall, given the fact that I enjoyed both meal kits, I'd choose Chefs Plate simply because it's cheaper.
If cost wasn't a factor, I'd order Hello Fresh again as I did enjoy being able to choose different proteins in my recipes for no extra cost.
The meal kits aren't something I can see myself buying every week as it works out to be cheaper for me to do my own groceries in general, but if I have a particularly hectic week coming up or if my depression is extra spicy I could see this being a good way for me to still be able to feed myself when my desire to do so is low.
If you're new to cooking, these kits are a great way to get more comfortable in the kitchen as every step is literally written out for you.
If you're short on time or creativity, I truly think these are helpful and will help you get inspired.
Good luck!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.
