But are they worth it?
Heres a look at how these services work and compare to each other.
What Are Meal Subscription Services?
Theyre like a mix of meal planning, grocery shopping, and recipe discovery apps all rolled into one.
Plus, the meals are all portion-controlled (so you dont waste food and can watch your waist).
Cost
This is probably the first question on peoples minds when it comes to these services.
Blue Apronhas two plans: a 2-person and a 4-person subscription, both with 3 meals per week.
Hello Freshcosts a bit more, again with 2-person and 4-person subscription options and 3 meals per week.
Platedprices are based on the number of plates you order, with a minimum of 4 plates per order/week.
Winner:Blue Apron.
On a per person basis, Blue Apron costs the least per meal.
All three let you select meals and see the recipes beforehand, but some are more flexible than others.
Oddly, though, not all combinations may be available.
So choice is limited here.
You choose from three out of five available meal choices.
However, there are no combination limitations.
You get a much wider range of foods, including no added gluten and low calorie options.
it’s possible for you to also change your Plated subscription options to deliveries every other week.
Winner:Plated, for more meal options and the ability to add more meals to your order.
The descriptions of the foods are also more edifying than the other services.
For the most part, Hello Freshs recipe cards are simple and easy to follow.
Plateds recipe cards were okay, covering the basics.
Pleasedont wash your raw chicken.
Winner:Blue Apron.
Food Quality and Variety
Finally, lets talk about the most important thing: The food itself.
This ones very subjective, but I enjoyed most of the meals from these delivery servicessome more than others.
(You cansee their recipes archive here.)
(You cancheck out their cookbook here.)
As my friend and fellow food-eater Anne wrote:
Blue Apron taught me a lot about shallots.
Seriously I use them all the time now and never did before.
Also, putting together a quick easy salad dressing, which I now do all the time.
And just wiping out a frying pan and reusing it.
So obvious yet it never occurred to me.
Oh quick potato salad.
I have a strong love of potato salad, but never made it because it took too long.
Now Ill whip one up for dinner.
Plateds dishes seemed the most consistently flavorful to me.
Rather than more experimental recipes (like Blue Apron), Plateds meals seemed more authentic or traditional.
Winner:Tie between Blue Apron and Plated.
Its hard to pick this one.
So Are They Worth It?
More on meal delivery services from G/O Medias partner.
