Gousto Vs Hello Fresh: Which Reigns Top Of Meal Subscription Boxes?
Just over a year ago me and Luke first tried Gousto. We were intrigued about the whole meal subscription box idea. And the idea of having the ingredients to make a full meal delivered to you seemed great. So much better than having to actually go to the supermarket. A few months ago we decided to save doing a massive weekly shop every week. So we tried out some meal subscription services again. As we’d tried Gousto before we opted to try them again and did 5 weeks in total. Then we tried Hello Fresh as they seemed the other talked about brand in the sector. I thought I’d do a Gousto vs Hello Fresh comparison of the two across different factors. And then give you our verdict of which company we prefer.
Gousto or Hello Fresh: The order process and food choice
The order process for both is pretty similar. You choose how many meals you want to receive and for how many people. Then you choose your delivery date, how often you want to receive them and set up all your payment details. Both websites were really easy to navigate and set up which is great. They both also have an app, but I’ve only tried the Gousto one. On Gousto you can do your weekly recipe selection, skip boxes and do everything else via the app.
Between me and Luke we’re quite fussy. For example, he doesn’t like Asian food, I don’t like things which are too spicy. And we both prefer meals which have meat in them. When we’ve browsed on the site to choose our meals on Gousto we’ve always found so much choice in the meals we can pick. So we usually have to narrow what we have from about 5 initial choices.
Sadly we didn’t have the same situation with Hello Fresh. On our first week we did manage to just about find three recipes which we liked the look of. But when it came to our second week there were pretty much no choices we both liked the look of. There were so many curries and Asian cuisine food that we had to skip the week altogether.
Gousto vs Hello Fresh: Delivery and what you receive
In regards to the physical delivery, both options were again quite similar. We didn’t experience any issues with getting them. The plus Hello Fresh have is that because they’re shipped with DPD. So you do get an hour slot for delivery on the day. Whereas with Gousto we just had to wait in. We used to get them delivered to us on a weekend. But now we get them sent to my nan as she’s always in. They will leave the box in a safe place though if you’re not in.
With Gousto you get everything in one box so the items aren’t separated out to what you need with each meal. I don’t mind this at all as it means I can put all the meat and vegetables in the fridge and then the other bits in the cupboard.
With Hello Fresh you get individual bags which have all the ingredients for each meal in them and then the meat is separate. While it was nice having everything you needed in one bag I would have preferred to put the vegetables in the fridge too and I didn’t want to open the bags as it defeated the idea of having them both together. This is more of a personal preference really.
How do Gousto and Hello Fresh compare on recipe cards
Both recipe cards are fairly similar in the fact that you get images, an ingredients list and a step by step of how to make the recipe. But the Hello Fresh cards are quite a bit bigger. I didn’t actually like the size as it made them harder to store and despite being bigger the cards felt busier. They had a bit too much information on them.
With Gousto on our second week, we got a free binder which means we can keep all of the cards together and use them again. We didn’t receive anything similar with Hello Fresh but we did only have it for a few weeks so it may have been something which is sent further down the line.
Gousto or Hello Fresh: Cooking and the results
As both of the brands had similar cooking instructions the actual cook for both were pretty much the same. I love how everything is individually packaged to give you just the right amount of ingredient that you need. And one thing which I did like with Hello Fresh is that it showed you the brands of some of the products used as opposed to Gousto where everything was packaged as Gousto.
I’m going to be honest, we much preferred the finished results of the Gousto meals compared to the Hello Fresh ones but this might be because we liked the recipes better.
As you can probably have guessed from what I’ve said above the battle of Gousto vs Hello Fresh will always see Gousto as the winner. There’s always so much diversity in the food choices and it’s definitely the company we’d continue with.
If you’re looking to sign up you can get £20 off Hello Fresh by using my code here (I also get £20 off). Or if you want to sign up with Gousto you get 10% off your first box by using my code here (and I get £5 credit).
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24 responses to “Gousto Vs Hello Fresh: Which Reigns Top Of Meal Subscription Boxes?”
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Rhian Westbury
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This post is SO helpful! I’ve been wanting to get back into meal subscription boxes for a long time now. I tried Gousto years ago and enjoyed it but I think I’ll have to give Hello Fresh a go now! x
I’ve wondered about these sort of services. Perhaps one day I will give them a shot. In the meantime you wrote a great helpful review. Thank you.
In only in Mumbai there is this service available, known as ‘dabba service’. I really wish these meal subscription boxes start everywhere.
I’ve heard of Hello Fresh but never heard of Gousto? Maybe UK only? These services are definitely great at helping people learn how to cook, and evaluate portion sizes!
Such a very insightful post to read. You made a good comparison with the two services that you’ve had by trying both of them and I can say that you are more satisfied with Gousto service rather that Hello Fresh.
This is such a helpful post! Gousto sounds so much nicer than Hello Fresh! I think it’s really sweet that they sent a complimentary binder as well!
Honestly, I haven’t been tried that food or meal services but base on your review they both have good service. I will try this meal services and will go back for my opinion.
I have never tried out one of these meal boxes but have always wanted to. It looks like I am going to have to try out Gusto and see what I think. Looks delicious.
I have never tried any meal subscription boxes. I am not sure if they do have it in my country. I am going to find out about it and if they do, I am definitely going to try it out
To be honest I cool everyday for my family and we only eat organic. But I can see how good this would be for people with no time to cook!
This is such a helpful post. I have tried Gousto but not Hello Fresh. One thing for me that would put me off is how the ingredients are packaged. For example, if I were to go to a supermarket and buy the ingredients, I would not pop them all in plastic bags and I think that is something that needs to be worked on, especially as I know that Gousto at least uses biodegradable insulation and reusable water cool packs! We are fussy eaters too, I am a vegetarian and like you, I’m not massive on spicy food!
Oh this is SO helpful as we have tried Hello Fresh but wondered how they compared to Gousto! I thought Hello Fresh was good but also expensive for us as a family of six.
I’ve always wanted to try both of these meal subscription boxes so this is such a helpful post! The only thing putting me off is that it is likely to be a more expensive way of shopping for us.
We’ve used Hello Fresh a lot but I’ve never tried Gousto. I find the Hello Fresh recipes quite complex and they’re also quite heavy on the calories – lots of oil, sour cream and creme freche.
Great comparison this is really helpful! I have been looking at these subscription boxes for a while now as my little one have so many clubs they attend I am often faffing around with mine and hubbys tea! The recipes always look delicious but what are the portion sizes like? My husband eats huge portions LOL!
I love this comparison. We’v used Gousto in the past and really enjoyed the meals…we do really like Asian food though so would like to try Hello Fresh.
I have never heard of Gousto but have for sure heard for Hello Fresh. I loved this detailed review! I will have to give Gousto a try very soon! It seems easy and yummy!
I have never heard of Gousto before and meal subscription boxes are something that I have never tried. But your article is very helpful and it gave me a good insight into this meal subscription boxes. Thanks for sharing
Meal subscription boxes like this motivate me to cook from scratch. But I am a rubbish cook with out them. I have tried a few and I like that you get the recipe cards to make the meals again.
I wanted to try Hello Fresh again but they had weekes where I didn’t like the meals so I stopped and now want to give Gusto a try
Oh, wow! I never tried some meal subscription box before. It sounds pretty cool. I will definitely check this out.
Fab seeing a review of them both. I’m absolutely dying to try Gousto but they don’t deliver to my area yet. When they do I will most defo be ordering as I keep hearing such fab feedback x
I toyed with the idea of joining but when I had a look at some meals they were hit and miss with what all of us would eat and it would of worked out really expensive for us as a month I only spend about £150 on our food shopping.
We have reviewed both of these sub boxes on our blog and I prefer the Gousto box too!