HelloFresh

What's in the box: Pre-portioned fresh ingredients and step-by-step recipe cards for the meals you picked that week, with optional ready-made meals and add-ons.

HelloFresh is one of the largest and best known meal kit services in the US. Each week, subscribers choose from a menu of more than 100 recipes. The company ships pre-portioned ingredients with step-by-step recipe cards. Besides traditional meal kits, the site now offers ready-made meals for nights when cooking is not an option, plus market add-ons. Plan styles cover meat and veggies, vegetarian, pescatarian, family friendly, quick and easy, calorie smart (650 kcal or less per serving), high protein, carb smart, Mediterranean, and fit and wholesome. The company also highlights GLP-1 friendly recipes. You can swap proteins or adjust portions, and most recipes are pitched at 30 minutes or less. The sample dishes lean toward familiar comfort food with global twists, such as bibimbap, banh mi burgers and lo mein. The site says you can pause or cancel anytime. The trade-offs are the usual ones for meal kits. Individually packed ingredients create a lot of packaging, and the cost per serving usually runs higher than buying groceries yourself. Subscriptions renew automatically, so you need to remember to skip the weeks you don't want. For households that want variety and less meal planning, it is a solid, mainstream choice.