Hello Fresh vs Gousto vs Mindful Chef

Recipes boxes and meal delivery kits offer a convenient way to shake things up at home and get fresh inspiration for mealtimes.

There are loads to choose from and different boxes cater to different audiences. 

Some focus on healthy recipes, others organic meals or low-carb options. Some deliver restaurant-style meals to your front door as an alternative to a takeaway.

To help you choose, we asked thousands of people who'd used these kits what they thought of them, covering everything from the range of recipe ideas, quality of ingredients and value for money.

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Best recipe boxes: Hello Fresh vs Mindful Chef, Gousto and more

Two companies got a customer score of 70% in our survey, coming top of the table, while one well-known brand came last with 55%.

Which? members can log in now to find out how customers rate different companies and find out which is a Which? Recommended Provider.

If you're not a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the companies reviewed with insights on pricing and what they offer. Join Which? today to see the full results. 

Table notes: Based on a Which? survey of 2,477 people in November 2023. The numbers in brackets show how many respondents rated each brand. Overall customer score is based on satisfaction and the likelihood to recommend to others.

Here's an overview of what the different brands offer. 

For ease of comparison, prices are based on three meals (including meat options) for two people including delivery (excluding any offers). 

Green Chef 

Cost of a three-meal box (inc. meat options, feeds two) - £48.28

Green Chef, which is actually owned by Hello Fresh, has a focus on sustainable ingredients and minimising waste. It allows you to choose meals based on a range of dietary needs, including vegetarian, vegan, lower-carb and pescatarian.

Meals can be ordered for two or four people and customers can order two to five meals per box.

It offers discounts for students and keyworkers.

Join Which? to see how customers rated Green Chef in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Green Chef.

Gousto

Cost of a three-meal box (inc. meat options, feeds two) - £35.97

Gousto offers a choice of more than 75 recipes a week. Recipes can be filtered by factors such as 'quick and easy', 10-minute meals, calorie-controlled and family meals.

You must order a minimum of two meals per box and meals are for between one and five people. 

Students can get a 10% discount.

Join Which? to see how customers rated Gousto in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Gousto.

Hello Fresh

Cost of a three-meal box (inc. meat options, feeds two) - £33.98

One of the most well-known options, Hello Fresh says it offers over 100 recipe choices each month, with a fuss-free subscription you can easily cancel or change as needed.

Meals can be filtered by a range of requirements, including protein-rich, calorie-smart, quick-cook and family, as well as veggie, 'mostly meat' and family.

You can order for two, three or four people.  If you order for two people the minimum order is three meals per box. But if you're ordering for three or four people your minimum order is two meals per box. 

It's almost always got a joining offer running, but is it worth it?

Join Which? to see how customers rated Hello Fresh in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Hello Fresh.

Mindful Chef

Cost of a three-meal box (inc. meat options, feeds two) - £53.99

Mindful Chef says it aims to balance nutritious meals with great taste, to make healthy eating easy and delicious. It never sends refined carbs such as white pasta or rice, and says its chicken is 100% British and free range.

It's also very flexible, allowing you to skip or pause at any time.

Customers can choose from 20 recipes each week.

Meals can be ordered in one, two and family-sized portions, and the minimum order is two meals per box. 

Join Which? to see how customers rated Mindful Chef in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Mindful Chef.

Riverford

Cost of a three-meal box (inc. meat options, feeds two) - £48.28

Riverford is the only recipe box in our survey that delivers solely organic ingredients.

There are around 13 recipes to choose from a week. Most contain two portions but there's one Family option that contains four portions.

The minimum order is one meal per box. 

Join Which? to see how customers rated Riverford in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Riverford.

Simply Cook

Cost - £9.99 (sauce kit only, no ingredients)

Simply Cook works a little differently to other recipe boxes. Each box contains four recipes and for each recipe, you get three 'flavour pots' that form the base of each meal.

You still need to buy the ingredients, however this means you can adapt recipes to your requirements, for example swap beef for chicken. It's also good if you have an unpredictable schedule, as the pots have a longer shelf life and you can just buy the fresh ingredients when you need them.

Join Which? to see how customers rated Simply Cook in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Simply Cook.

Make sure your food stays fresh - read our guide on how to store food for longer in your fridge

Best meal kits: Nonna Tonda vs Pizza Pilgrims and Pasta Evangelists

While recipe kit meals typically take 20 to 40 minutes to prepare, home delivery meal kits are more like a ready meal. Meals need a little prep, such as cooking pasta or heating up parts, but have already been prepared and are usually ready to eat in as little as five to 10 minutes.

We asked customers to rate the most popular and widespread options, to find out which ones hit the mark for a quick and tasty meal by post. 

One brand impressed enough in our survey to be a Which? Recommended Provider, while another high profile option scored less well, with users less impressed at the value it offers.

Which? members can log in now to see the full results.

If you're not a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the companies reviewed with insights on pricing and what they offer. Join Which? today to see these and thousands of other independent reviews. 

Table notes: Based on a Which? survey of 2,477 people in November 2023. The numbers in brackets show how many respondents rated each brand. Overall customer score is based on satisfaction and the likelihood to recommend to others.

Here's an overview of what each company offers. Prices for meal kits are based on two meals for two people including delivery (excluding special offers).

Nonna Tonda

Cost of a two-meal box for two - £27

Nonna Tonda is run by a husband and wife duo who make the fresh pasta for the dishes each day. 

Each week there's a choice of two meat and seafood-based pastas and two vegetarian pastas.

Customers can order two, four or six portions a week. Customers can also top-up their boxes with an Antipasti selection.

Join Which? to see how customers rated Nonna Tonda in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Nonna Tonda.

Pasta Evangelists

Cost of a two-meal box for two - £30

Pasta Evangelists has more than 40 dishes to choose from each week, including family favourites such as lasagne and carbonara. 

There are vegetarian and vegan options, child-sized portions and sides and desserts. Some bundles include three courses.

Dishes come in single or double portions, with a discount of around 10% on double portions. 

The company also delivers cooked, hot meals in some areas.

Join Which? to see how customers rated Pasta Evangelists in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Pasta Evangelists.

Pizza Pilgrims - Pizza in the Post

Cost of four pizzas - £30

This restaurant chain - which is largely London-based, with a few outposts in Leeds, Oxford and Brighton - delivers pizza kits in the post.

Kits can be delivered weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Each kit contains the ingredients to make two or four pizzas and you can choose from Margherita, double pepperoni and spicy honey, and a Chef's monthly special.

Gluten-free bases are available. 

Join Which? to see how customers rated Pizza Pilgrims in our survey.

Want to order without reading our full results? Visit Pizza Pilgrims Pizza in the Post.

How to choose the best recipe kit or meal box for you

Recipe boxes and meal kits offer convenience and the chance to have a 'home-cooked' meal without too much planning and shopping, and give you the chance to try new dishes.

They can be useful for people learning to cook or who struggle to get to the shops, such as those who work long hours and who are less mobile.

They can be also handy for minimising food waste, because ingredients are pre-measured for specific meals.

Recipe boxes such as Hello Fresh, Gousto and Mindful Chef send you the ingredients and instructions to cook a meal from scratch. Often the ingredients are pre-measured and sometimes also peeled and chopped, which means meals can be prepared relatively quickly.

You can choose how many meals you want each week but there's usually a minimum order of two. Depending on the company, meals can be for between one and five people.

Meal kits require even less work. You receive the prepared components of a meal, and need to do minimal prepping or cooking before serving up.

Take advantage of trial offers

It's worth browsing the menus on different sites to see what tempts you, and considering the importance of factors such as having organic veg, higher welfare meat or a B-corp certification when choosing.

If you're looking to mix up your meals, don't be afraid to swap around and try a few different boxes. This will give you a better idea of what you like or don't like.

Most companies have generous introductory offers (for example, Hello Fresh is currently offering 60% off your first box and 20% off for two months, while Simply Cook has a month's free trial), and make it relatively easy to pause or cancel your subscription, so you can take advantage of these to get a flavour of the different options.

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How we tested recipe kits and meal boxes

We surveyed 2,477 people in November 2023 who had used recipe boxes or meal kits in the past two years. 

We asked them to rate the companies they'd tried on a range of factors including value for money, the amount of unnecessary packaging used, variety of recipes, quality of food, ease of following recipes and portion size. 

Our analysis is based on 3,856 different customer experiences, as some people had tried multiple companies.

The overall customer score is based on satisfaction and the likelihood of recommending the company to others. 

To give a company a rating, we needed a minimum of 30 responses.