Fresh n’ Lean Review
Fresh n’ Lean is one of a growing number of precooked meal delivery services that are offering a healthy and convenient way to feed the family. Every meal is made from organic ingredients, packed with nutrients, and is gluten-free.
Fresh n’ Lean combines convenience with great nutrition, taste, and variety. The platform is on a mission to give Americans their time back, as it estimates we spend on average 37 hours per month slaving away in the kitchen. In contrast, the meals here can be prepared in just a few minutes, and are designed to be perfectly balanced in terms of nutrition so you’re not missing out.
What is Fresh n’ Lean?
Fresh n’ Lean is an instant meal delivery service that’s focused primarily on providing tasty and nutritious vegan meals. However, it’s branched out into other types of diet plans in recent years and now offers an impressive menu of keto, paleo, and protein plus diets. You can choose to receive breakfast, lunch, and dinner for every day of the week, or mix and match to only cover certain meals.
Fresh n’ Lean Pros & Cons
- Exciting and innovative dishes
- Meals can be prepped in minutes
- Made with fresh ingredients
- 100% organic
- Meat is free from added hormones or antibiotics
- Range of specialist diets catered for
- Free shipping
- Meals never arrive frozen
- Dishes taste great
- A little pricey
- Plans are only designed for one person
- Fixed menu choices
- The skipping and canceling process is inconvenient
Who is Fresh n’ Lean Good For?
People looking to try new dishes – Unlike many rival instant meal services, Fresh n’ Lean has put a lot of effort into trying to make the menu as varied and interesting as possible. It’s rare to find a boring dish on offer and the rotating weekly menu always has something exciting to pique your interest
Specialist dieters – The platform has vegan, paleo, keto, and an additional a la carte menu to choose protein packs for those looking to bulk up. There’s a genuine variety to the plans too, and meals have been carefully balanced to provide the right mix of protein, carbs, vitamins, and minerals
Time-saversTime-savers – Saving time was one of the driving forces behind the founding of Fresh n’ Lean, and it certainly follows through on its promise. Every meal is precooked before being shipped out and can be heated through in the microwave in just a few minutes
Fans of organic ingredients – For those that really care about the source of their ingredients, the platform has you well covered. It’s USDA organic certified and all of the meats are free from antibiotics and added hormones. We’re surprised to see such high-quality ingredients and Fresh n’ Lean blows other microwave meals out of the water
Who Isn’t Fresh n’ Lean Good For?
Those that like control over choices – For a service that caters to so many specialist diets it’s a little disappointing to see such little control over the weekly menu. While you’re able to exclude up to three ingredients, you don’t actually get to choose your dishes for the week and you’ll get what you’re given. This is because the service is so specialized here that Fresh n’ Lean can’t afford to offer a huge range of options. You can build from an a la carte menu but must spend a minimum of $85 and availability is limited
Large families – Each plan is designed around providing weekly nutrition for just one person. If other members of your household want to try the service out they’ll need to sign up for a separate plan. This can start to get pretty pricey if you’ve got a large brood to feed
How Fresh n’ Lean Works?
You’ll first need to select one of the platforms six diet plans:
Protein plus
Keto
Paleo
Vegan
Low-carb vegan
Bulk – A la carte
You’ll then choose whether you’d like breakfast, lunch, and dinner covered each day, or if you only want certain meals included. The number of servings will be for either five days or seven days, meaning the minimum number of weekly meals will be five and the maximum is 21. When the meals arrive there’s no need for any prep and they can be popped straight into the microwave.
Chill
Heat
Eat
Fresh n’ Lean Website and App
It can take a little bit of navigation to find everything you need from the website, and you’ll need to do some digging to find detailed information on each of the plans. Menus and plans are marked clearly enough, but prices and weekly options are a little buried under several pages of general information and FAQs.
There isn’t an accompanying app right now, but Fresh n’ Lean has a notice on the website stating that one is in development and should be ready in the near future. This is a little inconvenient as account management isn’t great via the website and you’ll actually need to call or email customer service if you want to cancel or make any changes rather than being allowed to do this directly via your account.
Creating an account / Sign-up
Sign up is pretty straightforward and should only take a few minutes, all you’ll need is an email address and your zip code to get started. As the platform chooses the meals for you, there shouldn’t be any delay in processing your order. Simply choose the day you’d like to receive your first box.
Fresh n’ Lean Meal Plans and Meal Selection Options
There are five plans to choose from, plus an a la carte menu where you get to pick and choose from a grocery list of items. This is known as the ‘Bulk’ menu. However, availability for this is limited each week and requires a minimum spend:
Protein plus – Designed specifically for athletes, gym-goers, and anyone looking to get fit. You’ll find 177% of your FDA recommended allowance of protein here to help you recover from tough workouts
Keto – The keto plan is ultra-low-carb and packed with clean fats and premium protein. The diet promotes fat burning and can help with weight-loss
Paleo – Designed around the idea that you don’t eat anything our stone-age ancestors didn’t have access to, the paleo diet here is focused on grass-fed beef, ultra-low carbs, and lean protein
Vegan – Made with almost 100% organic, seasonal veg, the vegan plan is entirely built around sustainable farming practices and provides an interesting array of dishes to try
Low-carb vegan – Much like the standard vegan diet, but with carbs cut to an absolute minimum. You’ll never get more than 28% of your calorie intake from complex carbohydrates
Bulk – This plan is centered around covering all of the key food groups at once, balancing carbs, protein, and veggies. You don’t pick specific menu items here but will browse through a grocery list of orders like beef patties, quinoa packs, and sweet potatoes and you’ll do the cooking yourself
Fresh n’ Lean Meal Types
It’s great to see such a wide variety of dishes on offer here. We often find that instant meals can lack the wow factor of other meal kit services, but you’ll find all sorts of innovative dishes and international delicacies to keep you interested. Some popular choices from recent menus have included:
Kung pao cage-free chicken with brown rice and sweet potatoes
Sustainable salmon with walnut pesto
Zucchini and bell pepper frittata
Banana cinnamon pecan oatmeal
Tofu with coconut curry brown rice
Chimichurri broccoli with quinoa
Grass-fed beef meatballs with Brussel sprouts
Spring veggie bowl
Beanless chili con carne
Fajita bowl with grass-fed ground beef
You can also enjoy breakfast for dinner. One-pan dinners for quick clean are fast, easy, and yummy! Alternatively, Blue Apron meal types include several 20-minute meals for mouth-watering dinners. Try these Blue Apron dishes today:
Tofu Bánh Mì with Sesame-Roasted Romanesco
Turkey Meatballs & Bok Choy in Coconut Lemongrass Curry
Sheet Pan Italian Pork Roast with Fingerling Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts & Hot Honey Dressing
Choosing Fresh n’ Lean Recipes
Unfortunately, you don’t actually get a choice of your menu items here and each day’s meals are fixed. You simply choose your diet plan and dishes will be assigned to you for that week. It’s a good way to try out something new and interesting, but it won’t be for everyone.
How Much Does Fresh n’ Lean Cost?
There’s a big variance in the cost of the different plans depending on the types of ingredients used and how many meals and days you sign up for. Generally, dishes with more protein and animal products tend to be more expensive. Shipping is always free.
Things can get a little complicated and there are around 60 different price combinations in total depending on whether you just choose breakfast, lunch, or dinners only or any combination of the above. For simplicity, we’ve covered the most popular options below, two meals per day for either five or seven days per week.
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Servings and Recipes/Week
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Total Cost
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|---|---|
|
- Protein plus
2 people, 5 recipes per week |
$10.84/serving ($108.4 total + FREE shipping = $108.4/week)
|
|
- Protein plus
2 people, 7 recipes per week |
$10.84/serving ($151.76 total + FREE shipping = $151.76/week)
|
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- Keto
2 people, 5 recipes per week |
$11.00/serving ($110 total + FREE shipping = $110/week)
|
|
- Keto
2 people, 7 recipes per week |
$11.00/serving ($154 total + FREE shipping = $154/week)
|
|
- Paleo
2 people, 5 recipes per week |
$11.00/serving ($110 total + FREE shipping = $110/week)
|
|
- Paleo
2 people, 7 recipes per week |
$11.00/serving ($154 total + FREE shipping = $154/week)
|
|
- Vegan
2 people, 5 recipes per week |
$11.00/serving ($110 total + FREE shipping = $110/week)
|
|
- Vegan
2 people, 7 recipes per week |
$11.00/serving ($154 total + FREE shipping = $154/week)
|
|
- Vegan, Low-carb
2 people, 5 recipes per week |
$11.00/serving ($110 total + FREE shipping = $110/week)
|
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- Vegan, Low-carb
2 people, 7 recipes per week |
$11.00/serving ($154 total + FREE shipping = $154/week)
|
Diet Friendliness
Fresh n’ Lean is a perfect choice for vegans, followers of keto, and fans of the paleo diet. Plus, the Bulk a la carte menu options opens up a wealth of healthy, lean protein sources to give your workout a boost. The meals are generally low calorie and low on carbs, so it’s a good choice too for those looking to lose weight, but we should stress this isn’t a set diet plan so you’ll need to monitor your intake yourself.
Add-Ons: Wine & More
We really like the way extras work here. They’ve been tailored to match the plan you’ve signed up for so you can snack on the go and not worry about breaking your diet. Add-ons are reasonably priced too so it won’t break the bank to add a few here and there. Options include:
Granola mixes
Muffins
Almonds
Additional breakfasts
Oatmeal
Fresh n’ Lean Customer Service
The support line is open seven days a week between 7 am and 7 pm PST, and you can email your query too. You may find the answers you were looking for over on the extensive FAQ page, so it’s always worth taking a look there before you call.
Fresh n’ Lean Cancellation Policy
You can cancel at any time with no financial penalty. However, as meals are made fresh at the start of the week, you’ll need to cancel by 12pm PT on the Saturday before your next order. Plus, you can’t cancel via your online account and will need to call or email which is a little inconvenient. We’d recommend calling so you don’t go over the deadline.
Fresh n’ Lean Alternatives
If you’d like a little more freedom of choice from your meal kit menu or are simply shopping around, why not check out these alternatives
|
Meal Kit
|
Price / Serving
|
Minimum order
|
Meal options
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Splendid Spoon
|
$9
|
5 Servings
|
5-15
|
|
HelloFresh
|
$7.49
|
4 Servings
|
2-5
|
|
Nutrisystem
|
$9.29
|
5 Servings
|
4-4
|
Summary
Fresh n’ Lean is the ideal choice for anyone that’s trying to stick to a controlled specialist diet plan. The service can cover every meal of the week for paleo, keto, vegan, and high protein diets, and the convenience of the instant meals makes it a big winner for us. Plus, the dishes taste great, come with a respectable amount of variety and are incredibly nutritious.
If we had to level a criticism it would be that you have very little control over the menu. In recent years the industry has been offering more choices to customers, not less, and we hope to see more options in the future.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How Many People Does Each Meal Feed?
Portions are designed for just one person, but you could share the meals out among your friends and family if you order on the largest plans.
Does Fresh n’ Lean Take Allergies into Account?
Yes, on a limited basis. You can choose to remove three ingredients from your meals each week which covers allergies like nuts and shellfish, but the list isn’t comprehensive.
Can I Make a One-Off Purchase?
Yes, but you’ll need to call Fresh n’ Lean at the time of purchase to let them know that’s what you’d like to do and they’ll put a stop to your next shipment.
Is There Enough Protein for Very Active People?
Yes, in fact, the Fresh n’ Lean Protein Plus plan is specifically designed for active customers and has well above the recommended daily allowance of protein to replace what you’re burning.
Is Fresh n’ Clean Environmentally Friendly?
Yes. The platform supports sustainable and organic farming, and all packaging is 100% recyclable or biodegradable.
