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HelloFresh Canada Review 2020
Check out our quick comparison table below to use our free promo offer code MKC80, and read the rest of our HelloFresh review for more details on Canada’s most popular meal kit company.
As meal kit delivery services have gotten more popular across Canada in 2019 and into 2020, several competitors have popped up in Canada’s urban centers, but for many rural areas, HelloFresh is the only option available. However, it has been the tasty options and life-changing convenience that has had us raving about the service and recommending it to our friends and family!
Official website:
www.hellofresh.ca
Plans for
Price ranges
$78.93 - $165.03 / week
$9.69 - $11.49 / serving
Pros and Cons
Save $80
Get a total of $80 off for your first 3 recipe boxes from HelloFresh, including free shipping on your first order
Editorial Notes
No matter if you are single or have a family, vegetarian or not, Hello Fresh menu has an option for you. Out of three delicious plans and a good variety of meals, you will always have something to choose from. You will always have an answer to the most asked question in the Universe, “What’s for dinner?”
HelloFresh meals are delivered almost everywhere in Canada. In case you need to skip a week, you are welcome to do so with just a couple of clicks. When you receive your meal kits, they will be thoroughly packed. Please don’t forget to return all the reusable packaging.
Use the HelloFresh coupon MKC80 to receive $80 off your first 3 orders!
CoVID-19 Safety Measures
HelloFresh: Credibility and Reputation
HelloFresh started delivering food subscription boxes eight years ago in Germany and quickly expanded its operation to Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Australia, and New Zealand. HelloFresh Canada branch started operations in 2016. Since that time, they have quickly expanded to become the biggest meal kit service company in Canada.
Ian Brooks, the Canadian CEO, stated that Hellofresh can deliver fresh food to dinner tables nearly a week faster than top-end supermarkets. Virtually guaranteeing that you are getting the freshest food available to consumers, no matter where you live. Hellofresh has considerable experience in food logistics after running meal kit services on several continents around the world, and by cutting out the middleman when it comes to getting food from the field to your plate ASAP!
Two unique aspects of Hellofresh are the ability to deliver nearly anywhere in Canada, and their commitment to environmental responsibility. Unlike all of Canada’s other meal kit companies, Hellofresh is available in most bedroom communities and rural areas. If you live outside of our major urban centers, you know how hard it can be to get custom services like meal kits delivered to your house. (An argument can be made that meal kits are actually most valuable to rural customers who have to deal with higher grocery prices, much less fresh produce, and comparatively sparse selections.)
Additionally, Hellofresh has taken the lead in trying to minimize the environmental impact when it comes to meal kits. The truth is that one of the drawbacks to meal kits is that their individual packaging makes for a lot of waste relative to buying produce in the traditional manner. That said, Hellofresh has done an excellent job making nearly every piece of packaging recyclable and has pioneered a freezer bag recycling program where they pick up last week’s freezer bags instead of simply having you throw them out.
| Established in | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Registered in | Toronto, ON |
| CEO | Dominik Richter |
| Clients in Canada | 90,000 |
| BBB grade | A- |
| Independent rating |
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HelloFresh Meal Plans and Menus
Like most meal kit providers, Hello Fresh has several plans available, depending on your needs.
Each week you will get to choose from 7-8 recipe options from the Hello Fresh menu. It bears repeating that choosing your options is incredibly simple, as the Hello Fresh app is as smooth as one would expect from the biggest meal kit provider in the world. It involves roughly four taps of the phone, and you can plan next week’s meals in under two minutes! My wife and I will often plan three weeks at once when we remember to do it.
If you ever want to skip a week or two because you’re away from home, or just want to save a few bucks, it’s very easy to do so via the app.
After nine months with HelloFresh, we’ve seen roughly 15-20 recipes ever repeated in the menu (and considering that we ordered almost all of them again, it’s likely because they were quite popular). Here’s our Hello Fresh review of the most recent plans available:
Recipes per week
Number of people
Meat & Veggies
Family Friendly Plan
Vegetarian Plan
Price per serving
$10.33
$11.49
$9.69
$11.25
$11.49
$10.33
$11.25
$9.69
$11.49
$10.33
$11.25
$9.69
Shipping
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
$9.99
Weekly Total
$133.95
$78.93
$165.03
$99.99
$78.93
$133.95
$99.99
$165.03
$78.93
$133.95
$99.99
$165.03
HelloFresh Quick & Easy Plan: 3 or 4 recipes per week, for 2 people
This is the most popular plan from HelloFresh, and it’s the one we currently subscribe to. There are always 1-2 vegetarian options included in the Hello Fresh menu, and a wide variety of different meats cycled through (not four different types of chicken each week). People who are more experienced than me will likely be able to prepare the majority of these meals in 30 minutes. It sometimes takes me 40 minutes or so. The Quick & Easy Plan starts at $11.25. You can instantly save $80 across 3 orders with the Hello Fresh coupon code MKC80.
Promotion $80 discount available
Get a total of $80 off for your first 3 recipe boxes from HelloFresh, including free shipping on your first order
Claim Now
Discount code
MKC80
HelloFresh Vegetarian Plan: 3 recipes per week, for 2 people
Eating more vegetarian is all the rage these days—and for good reason! It’s not only healthier (when done correctly), it’s also easier on the environment. The Hello Fresh website says that “Our Vegetarian Plan involves an abundance of seasonal produce, hearty grains, and vegetarian-friendly proteins. It’s specially designed with our vegetarian friends in mind, although we have a feeling even the most loyal meat-lovers will fall in love with the wide variety of creative and flavorful recipes.” The per-serving cost of the HelloFresh Vegetarian Plan is $11.49 . Savings of $80 across 3 orders are available with the Hello Fresh coupon code MKC80.
HelloFresh Family-Friendly Plan: 3 recipes per week, for 4 people
This is the best value-per-serving plan that Hello Fresh offers at $10.33 per serving (per-person, per-meal). After sending millions of meal kit boxes out around the world, HelloFresh claims that they have perfected the art of easy-to-prepare meals that kids will enjoy. Recipes are created with the family in mind, as spice levels are easy to control. I don’t have children, so I can’t personally vouch for this. While families will no doubt notice the price increase on their grocery bill, I think the massive luxury of having all of your dinner preparation needs taken care of would be exponentially greater with a family to think of. Plus, the healthy side takes on a new dimension if you use your meal kit to replace even 1-2 fast food nights per month! Don’t forget to save $80 with the HelloFresh promo code MKC80.
| Cooking skills needed | Basic |
|---|---|
| Ingredients sourced from | Canadian farms |
| Vegetarian restrictions | Select with plan |
| Exlude an ingredient (e.g. pork) | Restrict in settings |
| Calorie range | Choose by meal |
| Low carb options | Choose by meal |
| Allergy restrictions | Choose by meal |
A word from the site’s founder
HelloFresh Worked Better than a Marriage Counselor!
Look, I know I’m going to take some heat for saying this, but if I’m being honest, I have never truly pulled my weight in the cooking department since moving in with my talented, brilliant, amazing wife. And yes, she might also be my go-to proofreader, so it’s a virtual guarantee that she will read this.
I contributed to the general household chores chart by doing the laundry, outdoor maintenance, and lawn care, as well as usually taking the lead on supper clean up.
But let’s be honest … that’s not really equal.
And … let’s just say it didn’t go unnoticed.
My problem wasn’t that I shied away from the time “slaving over the hot stove.” It was all the other stuff. The mental load of planning meals, making sure we had groceries (no easy feat in our humble rural abode), thawing meat, etc. That’s where the whole cooking process lost me.
Enter Hellofresh!
Now, every Tuesday, a magic box appears on our porch packed with three delicious individual bags of yummy goodness. It takes me three minutes to haul the box in, unpack everything, and I don’t think about supper again until 30-45 minutes before it needs to be on the table!
I’m slowly but surely improving my culinary abilities as I learn different flavor combinations, and why extra steps—like searing before baking—can really add new dimensions to the taste palate. Who knew that adding garlic to meals was the key to life?!
If you’re a fellow, free-loading eater reading this, you might be thinking to yourself, This sounds swell and all, but he must be exaggerating on this whole it-made-a-difference-to-my-marriage thing.
Trust me—I’m not.
Show this to your partner that does the 80%+ of the cooking in your house, and they will likely explain to you just how much it means to my wife that I help take a little bit of that mental burden off of her shoulders. Go ahead and ask … I’ll wait!
Terms and Fine Print
Delivery
| Delivery area | AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, ON, PE, QC, SK |
|---|---|
| Home delivery | Yes |
| Work delivery | Yes |
| Must be present for delivery | No |
| Delivery window | 8am-8pm |
| Box stays cold for | 12 hours |
HelloFresh will deliver the meal kit to your doorstep sometime between 8 am and 8 pm once a week. Delivery is available in ON, BC, AB, SK, PE, NB, NS, and MB. You can get Hello Fresh meals almost anywhere in Canada, from Toronto and Montreal to Calgary and Edmonton! You don’t have to be at home to receive your HelloFresh meal kit. It will be left for you at your door.
Flexibility
| Switch between plans | Yes |
|---|---|
| Minimum subscription length | 1 week |
| How to cancel subscription | Online account |
| Extra charge for skipping week | No |
| Weekly deadline to cancel/skip | Wednesday |
| Auto-renewal | Yes |
| Personalization options | Number of people, recipes per week |
As soon as you sign up for HelloFresh, you enroll in a weekly, auto-renewing meal kit subscription. You can select a plan out of three options and customize the number of people and recipes per week. Your meal kit will be delivered on a certain day of the week. In case you would like to skip a week, you should notify the company. There is no charge for skipping a week or for switching to a different plan.
Support and Usability
HelloFresh is a well-established international food delivery company with a solid reputation. You can make your orders online on their website, or you can use a mobile app. In addition, you can also quickly check out any of your old recipes (which are automatically cataloged), check/change the status of future weeks, etc.
In case you encounter any issues and need help, HelloFresh customer support is easily accessible via various means of communication. You can easily reach customer support by phone, by email, via social networks, and by regular mail.
Phone
(855) 272-7002
Email
hello@hellofresh.ca
Online chat
Social media
Downloadable App
Address
2 – 41 Dovercourt Rd, Toronto, ON M6J 3C2
HelloFresh App Review
After all my bragging above, I thought I’d quickly show you what you will be looking at when you check out the Hello Fresh App.
As you can see, selecting your meals for the week is two-click-easy!
You can also quickly check out any of your old recipes (which are automatically catalogued) check/change the status of future weeks, etc.
| Producer | Hellofresh SE |
|---|---|
| Available for | All ages |
| Price | Free |
| Play Store rating |
|
| App Store rating |
|
| Total downloads | 40,000 |
| Languages |
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Frequently Asked Questions:
How long will the meal kit stay cold on my doorstep and fresh in my fridge?
Forever. Not literally, but your food can sit on your doorstep in the hottest sun the Canadian prairies have to offer (+30 degrees Celsius) and still be very chilled when you bring it in. I tested this with my first package because I was worried about the obvious negative consequences. That specific time, the freezer bags were roughly 30% thawed. Almost every other time (even in summer), when I opened my Hello Fresh box, the freezer bags/meat part of the kit was still 100% frozen!
I have read online on a couple of other HelloFresh review pieces, about the odd time where food was not at its ideal ripeness when opened. I personally have not seen that at all. Even “fussy goods” like avocados have been excellent for us. The cuts of meat especially have been of the highest quality.
The only fly in the ointment that I can personally report after nearly a year with HelloFresh is that one time when it was -42 degrees Celsius, our parsley leaves got semi-frozen and didn’t look particularly appetizing when we opened one kit. All-in-all, that’s not a bad worst-case scenario from where I’m coming from. The world isn’t meant to operate in -42!
The bottom line is that HelloFresh is a massive company that delivers food boxes all around the world—in all climates. They’re pros at this stuff.
I have read online on a couple of other HelloFresh review pieces, about the odd time where food was not at its ideal ripeness when opened. I personally have not seen that at all. Even “fussy goods” like avocados have been excellent for us. The cuts of meat especially have been of the highest quality.
The only fly in the ointment that I can personally report after nearly a year with HelloFresh is that one time when it was -42 degrees Celsius, our parsley leaves got semi-frozen and didn’t look particularly appetizing when we opened one kit. All-in-all, that’s not a bad worst-case scenario from where I’m coming from. The world isn’t meant to operate in -42!
The bottom line is that HelloFresh is a massive company that delivers food boxes all around the world—in all climates. They’re pros at this stuff.
Is there a delivery charge?
Do you have Keto, Paleo, Gluten-free, Halal, and Kosher options?
Do I have to enter a credit card to take advantage of your “Free” offer?
Do I have to be home to get my HelloFresh delivery? What happens if I’m not home?
Where are HelloFresh ingredients sources, and is their food organic?
The Bottom Line
HelloFresh is hands down, our favorite meal kit delivery service in Canada. Users have a lot of choice in terms of meal planning, ingredients are consistent with the highest quality, it’s well packaged, and honestly—tasty, in spite of being healthy! Plus, they get top marks for their commitment to recyclable packaging and cooler pack retrieval program.
There are small things to fix, but overall, Hello Fresh delivers an excellent culinary experience to your doorstep, whether it’s in Toronto, in Calgary, or anywhere in between. To see how Hello Fresh compares to other companies, check out our Hello Fresh vs GoodFood, Fresh Prep vs. Hello Fresh, and Hello Fresh vs Chefs Plate pages. We hope our HelloFresh Canada review will help you make the right decision. Ready to order? Don’t forget HelloFresh promo code MKC80!
Save $80
Get a total of $80 off for your first 3 recipe boxes from HelloFresh, including free shipping on your first order
Updated on Dec 02, 2020
Company Reputation
Plans and Meals
Delivery and Flexibility
Support and Usability
Select up to four quick and easy recipes out of 22 meals each week
Select up to four family-friendly recipes out of 22 meals each week
This plan contains 6-8 vegetarian meals with no meat or seafood