Honest Review of Hungryroot
To preface this post - I am a former HelloFresh customer, I paid for HelloFresh for over a year but the recipes are limited after so long and the cook/prep time took too long. I switched to Hungryroot in mid-December and have received three boxes from them.
I'll be breaking down this review into three parts 1.Meal and grocery options 2.Time/Prep 3.Cost.
Meal and Grocery options 8/10 I have no dietary restrictions that require me to use Hungryroot, since they largely advertise being a better option for people with restrictions. For someone without restrictions who wants to live/eat healthier the meal options are great. I enjoy the organic part of the service, grass fed and sustainability sourced meats and in three boxes I havent had an issue with the quality of produce. The produce comes extremely fresh, and the card included in the subscription gives you use-by dates on all of the meat and produce. I struggle with creating recipes which is why I choose meal kits over grocery shopping, their recipes have overall been tasty and very simple. I enjoy the grocery part of the service, I live a "grab and go" life when it comes to breakfast and they have plenty of pre-made options for my lifestyle. The snacks are good as well, but I find myself picking from the kids section for those.
Time/ Prep 10/10 This was a very large aspect of switching for me, HelloFresh recipes took a very long time to cook despite their 20 minutes or less options. I have yet to cook a Hungryroot meal that takes me longer than 30 minutes. In my last box I ordered a lot of "bowls" the vegetables for these options came pre-sliced and packaged which is incredibly convenient. They have a variety of options for pre-cooked meats that are heat and eat, but I've largely avoided these out of fear.
Cost 2/10 This is the reason I am canceling my Hungryroot subscription. That probably wasn't what you were expecting at the end of this review, but it's very evident the service overcharges. I've subscribed to Factor, HomeChef and HelloFresh in the past by far Hungryroot is the most expensive for a single person. Their meals and groceries are based off of a point system, so you never actually see how much you are paying for itmes. I paid $150/week for one person, focusing my subscription on dinners and breakfast since these are the only two meals I eat during the day. I decided to do a cost breakdown on how much it would be to purchase everything from Walmart that I received in my first box, the cost went from $150 to $102. There isn't a huge price gap, however, the quanity purchased from a grocery store is much different than a meal subscription service. For the cost of 8oz of Italian sausage through Hungryroot I could buy 1lb from Walmart and have multiple meals. I understand that subscription services are meant as a convenience, so we expect to pay extra, but in my opinion Hungryroot isn't worth it for the quanity you receive.
Hopefully this review was clear, I'm open to answering any questions on the service or the others I have mentioned in this post!