HelloFresh vs Purple Carrot: Which Meal Kit Delivery Service Should You Try?

Oftentimes making nutritious, homemade meals can take a backseat to busy schedules and vibrant social lives. To make your life simpler, there’s a plethora of meal kit delivery services offering healthy, affordable options. Let’s take a closer look at two of our top picks: HelloFresh vs Purple Carrot.

As much fun as dining out is, research shows high-quality diets can lead to lower obesity rates1. In fact, having healthy, particularly vegan, meals ready to prepare in your fridge is linked with lower disease rates2, a balanced gut microbiome3, and better metabolic health4.

One thing to love about this plant-based delivery service is the easy-as-(vegan)-pie signup experience. You’ll first set up an account for the weekly meal kit subscription service and select a category preference for recipes.

You can choose between high-protein meals which have at least 20 grams of protein per serving, low-prep meals which are designed to use fewer pots and pans, gluten-free, and “no preference” (a great choice if you’re up for anything).

Next, you’ll choose the number of meals you want each week and whether you’d like two or four servings per meal. While the serving sizes aren’t customizable for households of odd numbers, we’ll often plan ahead to have leftovers for the next day.

At checkout, your cart is based on the number of meals and serving size you’ve selected.

For the first week of your subscription, Purple Carrot will recommend meals based on your provided preferences. From there, you can select meals from a list of options.

Each meal notes dietary preferences such as gluten-free, soy-free, or high protein. Prep time and calories will also be displayed.

Every week features eight rotating dinner recipes, plus options for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. On busier weeks, you can opt to receive prepared meals or frozen meals instead of the meal prep kits.

Since Purple Carrot is a weekly subscription service, you’ll pay per week—and you can pause or cancel your subscription at any time free of charge.

From easy-to-follow recipe cards to its user-friendly app to a seasonal magazine with menu highlights, HelloFresh has a handle on convenience. To get started, you’ll create your HelloFresh account by personalizing your meal kit plan.

Here, you’ll set your preferences so that their system will show you the most relevant recipes for you. You can choose up to six options from meat and veggies, just veggies, family-friendly, fit and wholesome, quick and easy, and pescatarian.

You’ll be able to swap proteins and sides if they aren’t a perfect match and choose from over 60 recipes on its website under “weekly menus”. Here, you’ll discover recipes by cook time, notable mentions like “Hall of Fame” and “Best of 2022”, and descriptors like calorie smart, carb smart, protein smart, vegan, and more.

After setting your preferences, you’ll choose your plan to be for two or four people with two to six recipes per week. HelloFresh will then populate meals based on your preferences, and you’ll be notified that you have a certain amount of time to swap meals before your box is out for delivery.

You should get your first delivery box containing your pre-measured ingredients and recipe cards with nutritional information and step-by-step cooking instructions within a week of placing your order and is sent in a box with cooling technology that will keep the ingredients fresh for up to 48 hours.

If you need to skip a week or cancel your subscription, you can manage your entire account from the mobile app or the website.

If you’re wondering which meal kit delivery service is the least expensive, you should know that HelloFresh is one of the most affordable subscriptions that still prioritizes high-quality, and often locally sourced, ingredients. It’s worth noting that shipping isn’t included with HelloFresh like it is with Purple Carrot.

The more recipes and servings you order, the lower the cost per serving. Generally, HelloFresh meals are under $10 a serving and Purple Carrot meals are right above $10 a serving.

Both Purple Carrot and HelloFresh will note the common allergens when you view your curated weekly menu items and when you’re browsing the weekly menus. So while you can pick recipes free of allergens like soy, nuts, dairy, and gluten, if you have a food allergy, having your box picked for you won’t be as seamless.

If you have a severe food allergy, these products might have cross-contamination from being processed in the same facility. It’s also worth mentioning that HelloFresh only lets you swap recipes once the weekly menu they’ve picked for you is set to ship.

HelloFresh uses some organic ingredients like local and seasonal produce at peak freshness. The brand states that its produce has a "31% lower life-cycle carbon footprint than those of the same size from a supermarket," according to an analysis the company published in 2022.

We also love that the HelloFresh boxes and packaging are recyclable (the only thing you can’t recycle are the water liners).

Purple Carrot, on the other hand, states that most of its non-produce items are organic, but that its produce comes from various sources.