Consumers who sign up to a recipe box delivery service can save up to 74% on the cost of meals by buying ingredients separately at the supermarket, according to a research firm. Observer Found.
When you analyze the contents and prices of some of the most popular meal kits, you’ll find that it’s much cheaper to buy the individual ingredients, even if you have to buy an entire jar of sauce or a whole pack of rice.
Kits, in which the ingredients needed to make a dish are measured out and delivered to consumers’ homes, have soared in popularity during the pandemic. They are marketed as a convenient way to eat fresh meals and typically include meat, fish, vegetables, sauce or spice packets, and a recipe card.
Our analysis was conducted on the four most popular kits: Hello Fresh, Gousto, Green Chef and Mindful Chef.
We compared this cost to the prices at Tesco, the country’s most popular supermarket, and looked at two things: the cost of the same amount of ingredient (if a recipe calls for 15ml of soy sauce, that’s the amount we calculate), and the total cost that someone who doesn’t have any of the ingredient would pay up front.
All of the boxes we looked at consisted of two meals for two people, and consumers can add multiple meals, often bringing down the cost per meal.
Green Chef
Green Chef says its recipes are developed by nutritionists and takes orders for two to five meals per week for two to four people.
The shop describes itself as a “recipe box for healthy eating,” and while delivery costs vary depending on where you live, a box for two people delivered to London cost £7.98.
We ordered pork chilli con carne and pork steak with mustard sauce for 2 people for £33 (£8.25 per portion) and weighed the filling.
Our analysis found that for the same ingredients by weight, chili would cost just £2.13 per serving, nearly 75% cheaper. Even if you buy full packs of each item from the supermarket (220g of cheddar cheese, even though you only need 60g), the total cost would be £4.79. And that means leftover pork, pasta sauce, broccoli, spices and sour cream to use at a later date.
The pork steak with mustard sauce kit costs £8.25 per portion, but when broken down it works out to £3.13. Buying all the ingredients would cost £6.17, still a saving of 25%.
Hello Fresh
Green Chef’s sister brand, Hello Fresh, delivers boxes from the same centre and takes orders for two to four people, two to five meals a week.
Delivery costs are quoted at £4.99, and may incur additional charges for orders to Northern Ireland, Scottish Highlands, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man.
A portion of Peri Peri Chicken Breast Traybake costs £6.75 – if you bought the same ingredients by weight in Tesco it would cost just £2.11.
The company also sells its Sticky Honey Beef Rice Bowl for £6.75 per portion – the ingredients cost £2.11 per weight in Tesco, almost 70% cheaper – but if you buy in bulk you still only save 8p.
Gusto
Gousto accepts orders for two to five meals for one to five people, with delivery costing £3.99.
A chicken set with tomato sauce and harissa mash costs £6.50. In Tesco the ingredients are £1.98 by weight, a saving of 70%, and if you buy everything in bulk it costs £5.71, still a saving of 12%.
Its crispy lemon chicken with chilli rice costs £6.50, but each part costs £2.07 – so if you buy in bulk it costs just £6 (a saving of 8%) and you’ll have plenty of rice, soy sauce and sesame seeds left over for other dishes.
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The Mindful Chef
Mindful Chef, which is majority owned by Nestle, sells kits for one, two or four people containing two to five recipes, with delivery costing £4.99.
The prawn korma costs £8.87, but if you buy the same one in Tesco – which contains 165g of prawns rather than the kit box’s 180g – it will cost you £2.98, and a bottle or pack with all the ingredients will cost you £7.83, almost 12% cheaper.
A bowl of fried chicken and fried rice is also £8.87 – if you only buy what you need from the supermarket you can spend just £4.11.
In our research, this is the only dish where it wouldn’t make financial sense to buy all the ingredients: the bill would come to £11.78, but that’s down to expensive jarred white miso, garlic paste and chilli paste that can be stored in the fridge.
All of the companies offer discounts like free delivery or discounts on your first order. The prices we looked at are the full price of the food, excluding delivery fees.
Aside from the savings, consumers also have the advantage of being able to check the quality of the ingredients when buying direct (or from an online shop).
Materials sent Observer There were bruised chillies from Gousto and badly shriveled Chinese cabbage from Hello Fresh, and the ginger puree for my soggy honey rice bowl was missing from the Hello Fresh box.
HelloFresh and GreenChef say prices fall depending on the number of meals ordered: HelloFresh has five recipes for four people for £3.15 a portion; GreenChef has four meals for four people for £5.50 a portion, claiming the price increase is due to inflation.
“Customers don’t just pay for the ingredients we deliver. Our service offers a lot of added value beyond the physical product, and it can’t be compared to a brick-and-mortar grocery store.”
“Our customers save time throughout the entire meal preparation process, from planning the meal to shopping for the right ingredients,” the company said.
Mindful Chef says there is a “sometimes” price difference compared to supermarkets, and operates on a zero-waste model: “Mindful Chef customers come to us to make healthy eating easy with chef-designed recipes to their specific specifications and pre-portioned ingredients delivered straight to their door, saving them time spent traveling to the supermarket,” the company says.
While some “very good cooks” are able to make the most of every ingredient they buy by the kilo or bottle, the paper says this is “unusual” in the average British household. “How many times have you thrown out a half-used sauce or leftover vegetables because it’s past its sell-by date or expiry date?”
Goost also argues that pre-measured delivery increases convenience and reduces waste: “If customers bought the whole ingredients needed for these recipes at the supermarket, they would end up spending a lot of money on fresh herbs, spice jars and sauces that may not be used again for a long time, resulting in increased waste,” the company said.
HelloFresh customers will be compensated if ingredients are substandard or missing. Goost said it will compensate if ingredients are damaged. In the past, concerns have been raised at the packaging level.
HelloFresh claims to have a 25% lower carbon footprint than similar products in supermarkets and also uses more paper. Mindful Chef claims that 80% of its packaging is recyclable. It claims to have a 54% lower carbon footprint than going to the supermarket to buy the same meal. Meanwhile, Gusto claims to have a 23% lower carbon footprint and that 72% of its packaging is recyclable.
