HelloFresh vs. Hungryroot 2024: Meals or Groceries?

HelloFresh and Hungryroot are both convenient ways to enjoy home-cooked meals. They may seem quite similar, but they actually differ in some important ways. As a longtime user of meal kits, I’ll walk you through the details that make these services unique.

After testing these kits side-by-side, I liked HelloFresh better. Ultimately, it came down to flavor. I was happy with all the meals I got from both services, but HelloFresh’s meal kits simply tasted better and were more enjoyable to eat. 

There’s more to these services than just the meals, however. Hungryroot has unique strengths including easy prep and extensive grocery options, so either service may suit your needs better. Read on for my tested insights on the most important differences between these services.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety: Both Services Offer a Huge Range of Recipes

HelloFresh and Hungryroot each have massive menus with well over a hundred menu items and recipe ideas. While the food offerings are similar in size and scope, there are also some key differences between how these services work and how their menus are structured.

Menu Size: Large Menus With Different Strengths

Hungryroot’s grocery-based recipes make the menu super flexible. Selecting a meal puts the necessary ingredients directly into your shopping cart. Once you’ve reached the minimum number of items, you can mix and match ingredients to customize the recipes you chose.

HelloFresh’s menu is just as big, but it’s structured differently. You still have 100+ dishes to choose from, but you can’t mix and match ingredients as easily as with Hungryroot. That’s because HelloFresh dishes are more complex and contain many more unique ingredients.

Quick Kits: Hungryroot Is Designed to Save Time 

Hungryroot recipes cut down on cooking and prep time in the kitchen. Many ingredients come pre-prepped or pre-chopped or even pre-cooked, which reduces the number of steps. Many dishes I tested simply called for a couple ingredients to be heated up and mixed together.

HelloFresh, on the other hand, tends to require more effort to bring its dishes to life. Most produce has to be cleaned and chopped from scratch, and most meat comes raw and unseasoned. The tradeoff is that you get fresher and often better-tasting meals when you cook from scratch, so you can decide if you prefer convenience to flavor or vice versa.

Both services offer a range of meal prep times, and HelloFresh even has difficulty levels for its recipes. However, they exist on different spectrums, with Hungryroot emphasizing convenience above all else and HelloFresh focusing on flavor. As a result, even Hungryroot’s most complex dishes are on par with HelloFresh’s simplest recipes. 

Marketplaces & Premium Upgrades

Hungryroot and HelloFresh offer slightly different ways for you to treat yourself. Hungryroot’s menu functions like a grocery store, so you can add extra goodies to any order as you please. HelloFresh has a smaller marketplace that is separate from the meal kit menu and only accessible to active subscribers. 

HelloFresh’s marketplace has a narrower selection than Hungryroot. While it has some grocery items like raw proteins, it mainly exists as a place for fun extras to add to your meal delivery. Hungryroot, meanwhile, functions as a legitimate grocery delivery service with basics like whole milk and fresh fruit.

Dietary Requirements: Hungryroot Caters to More Niche Diets

HelloFresh’s massive menu can accommodate vegetarians and some other basic diets, but its recipes aren’t flexible enough to cater to the needs of more specialized diets. Hungryroot is much better for strict diets because its grocery store model means you can tailor any recipe to your needs.

Hungryroot lets you add filters like “keto” or “vegan” to the food and grocery menus. Whether you need full meals or just want to stock your fridge with diet-suitable ingredients, it’s much easier to do it with Hungryroot. My order came with a package of Beyond Beef, which is a plant-based protein that isn’t always easy to find in stores.

Both Services Have Family-Oriented Plans

HelloFresh and Hungryroot are both smart choices if you’re feeding a family. Both have a range of kid-friendly meals as well as larger recipes to suit a crowd. In particular, Hungryroot has a consistent selection of family-sized main courses and side dishes. 

Being a grocery delivery service, there’s no limit to how much you can order from Hungryroot. HelloFresh meals technically max out at 6 servings. I recommend checking out each menu to determine which is truly the best fit for your family.

Sample Meals: Both Services Make It Easy to Cook

HelloFresh Meals

HelloFresh has a massive menu that changes weekly. Look for informative tags that indicate popular Hall of Fame dishes, seasonal offerings, and more.

Here are a few of the dishes I ordered when I tested the service (pictured above, from left to right): 

• Open-Faced Tuscan Chicken Sandos: This speedy recipe is actually similar to a typical Hungryroot meal: the chicken comes pre-cooked, and the preparation is streamlined. I love the tanginess that the balsamic dressing brings to the sliced tomato, but I ultimately think the shortcuts keep this dish from being a favorite.

• Pork Banh Mi Burgers: HelloFresh loves to come up with new takes on the burger. This dish brings together the aromatic flavors of Vietnamese banh mi and combines them with an American-style bun and fries on the side. This was a tasty dish that packed a lot of fun flavor without being too difficult to prepare.

• Pork Katsu: This is among the more complex recipes on HelloFresh’s menu. In addition to cooking the rice and chopping and roasting the carrots, you have to bread and pan-fry each pork cutlet. This can be quite the endeavor if you aren’t used to cooking with oil. Still, I found the flavor to be far worth the effort!

Hungryroot Meals

Hungryroot’s menu doesn’t change with as much frequency because its recipes are simply combinations of a few grocery items. This format, however, means that there is almost endless variety on the menu.

Here are a few of the dishes I ordered from Hungryroot (shown above left to right): 

• Lemony Sausage Broccoli Pasta: This was possibly the most complex dish I cooked from Hungryroot, and yet it still only has 5 ingredients. All you have to do is cook the pasta, sausage, and broccoli separately, then mix them together with lemon juice and grated parmesan. This was a simple but hearty pasta dish.

• Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad: This dish is my least favorite of the bunch and an example of the drawbacks to super simple recipes. The salad is merely chopped lettuce mixed with dressing, and I didn’t find the pre-cooked chicken nuggets to be very crispy or yummy. If I ordered it again, I’d swap out the chicken for a different protein and add another veggie to round out the salad.

• Paneer Tikka Masala: I love Tikka Masala, but it’s not easy to make from scratch. This simplified recipe is perfect because it comes with a premade sauce that actually tastes like the masala sauce from my go-to Indian takeout spot. Hungryroot’s recipe recommended riced cauliflower with this dish, but I omitted that from my order and made Jasmine rice at home. 

Meal Customization: Hungryroot Has Excellent Customization & Filters

Both services let you modify meals to suit your particular needs. With Hungryroot, you can replace an item in any recipe with something else from the menu, such as swapping in steak in place of chicken. This feature is much more limited with HelloFresh, which only offers ingredient swaps on select recipes.

Hungryroot Caters to More Dietary Needs

Hungryroot’s recipes are all combinations of around 3-5 packaged ingredients. As such, the menu is infinitely more customizable than HelloFresh’s. It also has an extensive list of filters that HelloFresh can’t compete with.

Hungryroot’s filters include ingredients you’d like to avoid (like tree nuts), whether you’d like meals of 500 calories or less, spice level, preferred proteins, and recipe serving sizes of 2 or 4. You can filter for vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, egg-free, soy-free, gluten-free, tree nut-free, peanut-free, and shellfish-free recipes.

Hungryroot offers the most extensive menu and recipe customization quiz I’ve seen among meal delivery services. This quiz asks you about the foods you like and don’t like, along with any dietary restrictions, what flavors you enjoy, what appliances you have available to cook, and much more.

Based on the quiz, Hungryroot recommends recipes for you. You can keep them, exchange them for other recipes, or swap ingredients out for others you prefer. Recommendations are great for those who’d like to explore different cuisines they didn’t know would fit their preferences. 

HelloFresh Has Fewer Swap Options

HelloFresh has fewer options when it comes to catering to specific diets. There are 6 meal plans to choose from when you sign up, only 2 of which cater to specific diets (Veggie and Pescatarian).

Meal plans function more like menu filters than strict diets. If you select the Veggie plan, the menu will show only vegetarian recipes. However, you can easily change plans and mix and match across the whole menu.

You can swap or “upgrade” the proteins and sides on some of its dishes. You’ll have options like adding chicken to an otherwise vegetarian risotto, for example, or doubling the portion of beef in a chili. This is only supported with a few recipes each week, however, so don’t expect the same level of control as you get with Hungryroot.

Allergens: Both Are Labeled, But Hungryroot Is Better

Overall, Hungryroot’s grocery model provides more accommodations for people with allergies. Most grocery items are individually packaged, so the general risk of cross-contamination is low. 

If you see a recipe that contains an ingredient you are allergic to, simply omit that ingredient from the order. Depending on the ingredient, Hungryroot’s grocery section may even have an allergen-free alternative available for you to swap in.

HelloFresh recipes are loosely labeled by diet, but you can’t filter the menu any further. You’ll have to check the ingredient lists and make substitutions from your own fridge if you’re looking to omit allergens such as dairy or wheat. Meals are labeled with dietary tags like calorie-smart and carb-smart, for example, but that’s about it.

Ingredient Quality & Nutrition: HelloFresh Utilizes Local Produce 

One of the most striking differences I noticed between these services is how they package produce. Most or all of Hungryroot’s produce appears to be nationally sourced and packaged in plastic. Instead, most HelloFresh veggies are loose in the package. I actually prefer HelloFresh’s approach because it means less wasteful packaging.

Fresh Produce: Hungryroot’s Veggies Arrive Sealed in Plastic

Almost all the produce I received from Hungryroot was pre-processed and sealed in plastic. This is helpful when you want to get dinner on the table as fast as possible, but I prefer to avoid plastic packaging for ecological reasons.

HelloFresh produce is delivered to you with minimal processing. Instead of a bag of broccoli florets, you get a head of raw broccoli that you break down yourself. This means you have to wash and chop your own veggies, but I think the extra effort is worth the global peace of mind.

Sourcing: Both Services Are Transparent

Both services are open about seeking high quality ingredients, but they have slightly different goals. Hungryroot prioritizes healthy ingredients that are free from preservatives and additives, while HelloFresh emphasizes its partnerships with small farms. Neither service specializes in organic products like Green Chef, but you can find occasional organic ingredients on either menu.

Nutritional Info: Both Services Provide Basic Info

HelloFresh offers detailed nutritional labels on its website and within the meal kits themselves. Hungryroot provides estimates for its dishes based on the combined nutritional content of the separate ingredients. If you swap out any of the items, you’ll have to recalculate the total nutritional makeup.

With both of these services, it’s important to remember to account for any additional salt, oil, or other ingredients you may use during the cooking process.

Ordering & Delivery: HelloFresh Is Easier to Use With Extensive Delivery Options

HelloFresh just takes the top spot here thanks to its easy sign-up process and more extensive delivery availability. Its recipe ingredients are packaged together and pre-portioned, which helps reduce food waste. Many Hungryroot recipes result in leftover ingredients, which can result in wastefulness.

When it comes to the initial signup, HelloFresh’s streamlined process makes it a lot easier to get started. Hungryroot has an introductory quiz with a fairly long list of questions about your eating habits and preferences. The questionnaire is meant to narrow down your menu recommendations, but it starts to feel like a slog when all you want to do is check out the menu.

Order Sizes: Different Ways of Measuring a Minimum Order

HelloFresh’s minimum order is 2 meals of 2 servings each, and the maximum order is 6 meals for 6 people. You can further expand your menu options with various marketplace add-ons and protein upgrades, but everything is centered around the number of meals and servings you are signed up for.

Hungryroot’s menu functions a little differently, as the minimum order is tied to credits rather than the number of servings. Your subscription fee covers the minimum order of 55 credits, and each meal is worth a certain amount of credits based on the ingredients it’s made up of.

Delivery Days: HelloFresh Has More Days Available

HelloFresh delivers to the 48 contiguous states, but may only deliver on specific days in your zip code. As you check out, you can enter your zip code to see available delivery days. For example, my HelloFresh delivery options in New York state were Tuesday through Saturday.

Hungryroot delivers to most (but not all) zip codes in the contiguous US. Like HelloFresh, its delivery day options depend on your location and can be any day of the week.

However, Hungryroot only allows you to edit orders that haven’t been finalized. Orders are finalized on Mondays and Thursdays, so check this when you sign up. HelloFresh allows you to edit your order up to 5 days before delivery, with a cutoff time of 7 pm ET.

Tracking Was Quite Similar 

Tracking is another feature that will differ based on where you are in the country. For my address, both Hungryroot and HelloFresh used small local couriers for the final leg of the delivery. Tracking information was easily available with either via my account page.

I have to say I got many more text reminders and updates from HelloFresh compared to Hungryroot. Whether that’s more helpful or annoying depends on how often you like to receive texts and emails from meal delivery services.

Unboxing: Both Offer Well-Organized & Recyclable Packaging

Both of these services provide a decent unboxing experience. It’s difficult to pick a distinct winner because the packing styles reflect the different personalities of these services. HelloFresh is a streamlined meal kit delivery service, while Hungryroot is a flexible grocery delivery service.

Additional Organization: HelloFresh Sorts Ingredients by Recipe

Hungryroot's meal kits aren’t bundled together, but there’s a list of recipes and their accompanying ingredients for each meal kit on the inventory list. The advantage of receiving individual ingredients is that you can mix and match should you feel culinarily inspired.

The ingredients from HelloFresh are well organized. They’re packaged separately in paper bags and are pre-measured to ensure there’s absolutely no waste.

Storage & Freshness: Easy to Figure Out 

Hungryroot provides a Kitchen Guide in each delivery that includes storage instructions for each ingredient. Both services also provide name-brand ingredients that have storage instructions on the labels.

Recycling: Strengths & Room for Improvement

Recycling and eco-friendliness is among my top concerns with meal delivery services. Both of these services have taken good steps toward becoming more sustainable, though there is always more that can be improved.

One example of a step in the right direction is Enviro Ice, which is the brand of ice pack that Hungryroot uses. Once it thaws, the liquid inside can be used as plant food or safely disposed of down the drain. The ice pack in my HelloFresh shipment was more difficult to dispose of as the liquid inside isn’t drain safe, but at least the plastic is still recyclable.

Meal Prep: Hungryroot Wins for Speed

If ease of prep is your highest priority, then Hungryroot is the clear choice. Its meals consist largely of pre-prepped ingredients. While HelloFresh has a number of recipes in the Under 20 Minutes category, there’s still a fair amount of chopping and cooking involved with most dishes.

Easy-Prep Kits: Hungryroot Meals Come Together in a Few Simple Steps

Hungryroot’s recipes are packed with shortcuts. Most of the dishes felt like I was just heating up a pre-seasoned protein and covering it with a premade sauce. This is a far cry from the extensive slicing and sautéing that HelloFresh calls for. As meal kits, both services require at least some prep. To avoid prep entirely, look for heat-and-eat prepared meals from a service like Factor.

As I mentioned, HelloFresh has a selection of quick and easy prep options on its menu. These are similar to Hungryroot’s offerings in that they often come with pre-cooked protein and other shortcuts. However, they represent just a small portion of HelloFresh’s menu, which mostly contains more involved recipes.

Recipe Cards & Method: HelloFresh Gives Much More Guidance

All my Hungryroot recipes were on a single piece of printer paper, with small blocks of text providing a summarized take on each recipe. If you know your way around a kitchen, these simple recipes are actually pretty nifty. They are quick to reference and contain only the bare minimum of information.

Compare this with HelloFresh’s colorful recipe cards, which are printed on sturdy card stock with a full page dedicated to each meal. These are inspirational and useful to a budding home cook, who can reference the handy cooking tips. The high quality construction means the recipes can be saved for future use as well. Even though I didn’t mind the Hungryroot’s simple approach, HelloFresh deserves recognition for some of the best recipe cards in the game.

Customer Support: HelloFresh Offers 24/7 Live Chat

HelloFresh easily wins this section with its 24/7 live chat customer support. In addition to having an easily navigable mobile app, offering 24/7 live chat customer support bumps HelloFresh into the gold standard of meal delivery customer service.

Response Time: HelloFresh’s Live Chat Wins the Day

I was connected to a HelloFresh live chat customer support agent within 1 to 2 minutes each time I reached out. Although Hungryroot’s online chatbot proved to be more helpful than HelloFresh’s, the chatbot still can’t compete with a live human.

HelloFresh also has a phone line available from 11 am to 7 pm ET, 7 days per week. This is a useful way to connect with live customer support, but I still find 24/7 live chat the easiest way to connect with HelloFresh live agents. You can even do so via the app on your mobile device, so customer support live agents are always a few taps away.

Finding Answers: Both Services Have Chatbots & FAQs

Hungryroot’s chatbot directs you to an email address when it can’t answer your question. I tested the email service a few times and found that customer support takes 24 to 48 hours to respond.

Hungryroot’s live customer service responds between 10 am to 6 pm ET, 7 days a week. To best reach a Hungryroot customer service agent, I recommend reaching out via text.

Hungryroot’s customer support texting is the best mode of contact, but response times vary. I found that agent response time varied between 2 minutes to 5 hours during hours of operation. My questions were answered thoroughly, but the timeliness of the answers was inconvenient.

In our tried-and-tested HelloFresh review, we found out how easy it is to call, email, or chat directly with a rep.

You can contact either service with a question, even if you don’t have a subscription. This is pretty standard for most meal delivery services and is always worth noting since it’s useful for determining whether the company’s foods and features are best for your lifestyle.

Both services make it easy to cancel your subscription online via app or website. 

Pricing: HelloFresh Has a Simpler System

It’s tough to compare the pricing between these 2 services since they function differently. HelloFresh charges a flat rate per meal, while Hungryroot converts your money into points to track how many meals and groceries you can put in each shipment.

Both Services Offer Good Value

The lowest per-serving price for Hungryroot works out to $8.99. Hungryroot’s minimum order of $70 is enough to get you 3 meal servings for 2 people per week.

HelloFresh offers competitive pricing among meal delivery services. Larger meal boxes come at a higher overall cost but offer better per-serving rates, while smaller boxes cost more per serving. For instance, if you order 6 meals for 4 people, your first box costs $107.75 with our link. 

Shipping Prices Are Straightforward, But Pricing for Extras Is Less Clear

While HelloFresh generally charges a flat rate of $10.99 for shipping, Hungryroot only charges $6.99 per delivery if you order less than $70 per week. Hungryroot also offers free shipping on orders above $70, which is a nice perk. 

Hungryroot has tons of add-ons, but determining how much they cost is difficult as the service uses a rather complicated credit system that relates to the number of servings you’ve chosen. Some ingredients, such as certain meats, use up more credits than others, and there’s no set price. 

The extras in HelloFresh’s Marketplace are priced in a much more straightforward way, however you can’t browse this section until you’ve signed up for the service, so it’s not easy to price up add-ons in advance. 

Hungryroot vs. HelloFresh – Pros & Cons

Hungryroot

Pros

• Massive range of diets catered to

• Recipes are extremely simple and speedy

• Functions as a complete grocery store

Cons

• Lots of plastic in packaging

• Dishes can sacrifice convenience for quality

• Barebones recipes can be daunting for new chefs

HelloFresh

Pros

• Recipes are thoroughly tested and delicious

• Learn to cook complex dishes from scratch

• Range of difficulty levels from easy prep to complex gourmet recipes

Cons

• Marketplace grocery items hidden until you subscribe

• Limited options for specialized diets and allergies

• Many recipes cannot be modified

HelloFresh vs. Hungryroot – Quick Overview

And the Winner Is: HelloFresh

HelloFresh stands out as my preferred choice in the realm of meal kits. The straightforward sign-up process eliminates any initial hassle (and doesn’t involve a long quiz), and once your order arrives, the perfectly measured ingredients ensure minimal food waste, aligning with sustainable cooking practices.

It’s also easy to make its recipes. No matter which level of recipe you choose, the recipe cards are clear and simple to follow, making it accessible for both novice and seasoned home chefs. Plus everything I cooked tasted great. 

Despite the extra plastic packaging and slightly confusing pricing system, Hungryroot might be the best choice if the idea of premade sauces and pre-prepped ingredients appeals to you. The simple meals don’t taste as good as HelloFresh, but they are the easiest kits I’ve tried and much cheaper than paying for fully prepared heat-and-eat alternatives. 

It's no wonder that many echo my sentiments about HelloFresh. It’s a big company and the large, affordable menu has garnered a large fanbase. It even made it onto our list of the Top 10 Best Meal Delivery Services for 2024 .

FAQ

How do HelloFresh’s vegetarian recipes compare to Hungryroot’s?

Hungryroot’s menu includes more vegetarian and vegan recipes than HelloFresh offers. Thanks to its customizable grocery-store model, Hungryroot stocks up on a wide variety of plant-based proteins and fresh produce that suit any type of vegetarian diet. HelloFresh offers around 15 vegetarian dishes each week, which is still a great selection.

How is Hungryroot different from HelloFresh?

Hungryroot is a meal kit delivery and grocery delivery hybrid, while HelloFresh is a traditional meal kit delivery. Hungryroot delivers weekly groceries and recipe suggestions based on an extensive customization quiz about your taste and dietary preferences. HelloFresh delivers meal kits that include only what you need to make the specific recipes you’ve selected.

Does HelloFresh cater to dietary needs?

Yes, HelloFresh caters to a range of dietary needs including vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian diets. You can exclude certain meats from your meals, but you can’t exclude ingredients that are common allergens like tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, and gluten.

Does Hungryroot deliver to my area?

Hungryroot delivers to the 48 states, but not to all zip codes. You can check whether Hungryroot delivers to your area by typing in your zip code during its sign-up process.

Do Hungryroot or HelloFresh offer student discounts?

HelloFresh offers discounts to college students across the US (excluding HI and AK). When researching both companies' pricing, I found you can get free shipping on your 1st box with HelloFresh, plus 15% off all subsequent orders for your 52 deliveries. Hungryroot doesn’t offer student discounts.