Are Meal Delivery Services Worth It? My Freshly Review
Our modern busy lifestyles have left no room to prepare healthy, nutritious meals. We’ve become a nation reliant on unhealthy instant meals and takeouts. Freshly is on a mission to revolutionize the way we think about instant meals, offering a filling, nutritious and convenient alternative.
Freshly takes convenience to the next level with an impressive range of fully prepared and pre-cooked meals delivered straight to your door. Meal plans are fully customizable and customers have more than 30 different dishes to choose from, making it one of the most popular names in the food delivery industry. You won’t find any refined sugars, chemical preservatives, highly processed sugars or artificial ingredients as the service aims to combine health and convenience.
What is Freshly?
Freshly is a weekly meal delivery service that provides oven-ready, pre-cooked meals. The dishes are never frozen, 100% gluten free and there’s an impressive menu to choose from. What’s more, you can choose the number of meals you want per week, and then have the meals delivered daily. Freshly meals are an ideal choice for people with a busy lifestyle, you can heat them up in just three minutes.
Meal variations rotate on a regular basis, so you’ll never become bored with the same old stuff, and there are options to cater to multiple tastes.
Freshly Pros & Cons
- Meals ready in three minutes
- Deliveries are offered daily
- More than 30 dishes to choose from
- A regularly rotating menu
- Customers have full control over their choices
- You can amend orders or cancel at any time with no charge
- Packaging is recyclable
- It’s a little expensive - Buying your own groceries would be cheaper
- Only microwave meals are on offer
- Some meals aren’t very substantial
- Shipping costs extra
Who is Freshly Good For?
Anyone short on time – With lighting fast preparation times, Freshly is the obvious choice for those of us that have no spare time to cook
People looking to eat a healthier diet – Freshly doesn’t claim to be the next big diet fad, but it does make every effort to ensure its microwave meals are healthier than the competition. This includes not using processed sugars and adding in simple swaps and sneaky veggies to help you live a healthier lifestyle
People craving the taste of home cooking – Freshly always has 30+ meals to choose from, and it regularly makes tweaks and changes to its menu. So, if you’re looking for a hearty meal at dinner time you’ve got a comprehensive range of dishes to choose from
Convenience – Customers can dip in and out of the service whenever they like, put a pause on their accounts for a few weeks, and even cancel altogether without any additional charges. This means you can slot Freshly into your life during busy periods, and brush up on your cooking skills when you’ve got more free time
People with nut allergies – The provider takes great care to ensure all of its products are completely free of peanuts and caters to those with allergies
Who Isn’t Freshly Good For?
Families on a budget – Those using Freshly to feed the whole family will quickly find the costs mount up. The service is better suited for singles, smaller families and those that only need to use the service occasionally
People that like organic fruit and veg – While every effort is made to reduce sugar and produce gluten-free meals, the service isn’t organic or non-GMO registered. If you’re keen on knowing the source of your ingredients, you might want to try another provider
Lacking gourmet variety – Freshly is very much a home-cooking staple, with classic dishes like meatloaf, chilli and pork chops. If you’re looking for the latest in haute cuisine or a combination of fancy ingredients, you won’t find it here
Vegetarians – There’s not a great deal of choice for vegetarians, and you’ll find a lot of meat-based dishes on the menu
How Freshly Works?
Simply choose how many meals you’d like delivered each week, 4, 6, 10 or 12, then browse the menu of dishes. Freshly will ship daily, so you can decide which meals you’d like delivered on which day, and the service is available across almost all of the continental United States.
Choose
We Cook & Deliver
Eat & Repeat
Freshly Website and App
The website is super easy to navigate, and everything you need to know is clearly marked out. You can browse the full range of meals, and clicking on each one brings up useful info such as calorie count and ingredients alongside carbs, fat, and protein information.
There are some limited search categories to help you narrow down your decision, including a ‘Freshly Fit’ option for those looking for lean, healthy meals, or a takeout twist for people hankering for something more substantial.
The service has apps available for both iOS and Android, and its functionality is almost identical to the desktop version.
Creating an account / Sign-up
Sign-up can be completed quickly with an email address and a zip code, and the whole process is done in a few minutes. All you need to worry about is which of the meals you’re going to choose.
Freshly Meal Plans and Meal Selection Options
Freshly keeps things very straightforward when it comes to its meal selection options, and you have total control over how many meals you want and you get to mix and match from the full menu, choosing 4, 6, 10 or 12 meals to be delivered each week.
Freshly Meal Types
The focus here is on the traditional home cooking, the kind mom used to make, and you’ll find classic dishes like:
Peppercorn steak
Homestyle chicken
Hearty stews
Three-bean turkey chilli
Chicken ‘n’ dumplings
Shepherd’s pie
If you’re looking for something with a more international flavor to it, Freshly does occasionally rotate some more exotic and international items into its list including:
Thai lemongrass chicken bowl
Miso-glazed beef
A range of Italian pasta dishes
Choosing Freshly Recipes
There are no specialist recipes for specific dietary requirements, and none of the dishes make any bold claims to help with weight loss. Freshly’s goal is to provide simple, hearty, no-frills meals. This might disappoint some that are on the lookout for something more specific, like an extensive selection of veggie or organic options, but there’s enough choice to keep most customers happy.
Bear in mind that since the menu regularly rotates its items, you might find some of your favorites disappear one week to be replaced with something else. Although you’ll find customer service very responsive, so if you fill in a feedback form there’s a good chance it’ll reappear in future weeks.
How Much Does Freshly Cost?
Price is entirely based on the number of meals per week you get delivered, and there are no separate costs for individual items. On top of the prices listed below, you’ll need to pay an additional shipping cost. However, Freshly will only disclose this on checkout as the charge will vary depending on how many meals you’ve ordered and where you’re located.
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Servings and Recipes/Week
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Total Cost
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$11.49/serving ($91.92 total + FREE shipping = $91.92/week)
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$9.49/serving ($113.88 total + FREE shipping = $113.88/week)
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$8.99/serving ($179.8 total + FREE shipping = $179.8/week)
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$8.49/serving ($203.76 total + FREE shipping = $203.76/week)
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Diet Friendliness
All Freshly meals are gluten and peanut-free, and you can filter in the menu against certain ingredients in case you have other allergies. In addition, the calorie count and nutritional information is provided for every meal. However, there are no diet-specific options to choose from, and the company doesn’t offer any special categories or claim to be an aid to weight loss.
Add-Ons
In keeping with the no-frills nature of the service, there are no complex add-ons available. You do have the option to set up weekly meal orders as a recurring, or one-off, gift to someone, but there are no special items offered and you’ll be choosing from the standard menu.
Freshly Customer Service
You can contact Freshly customer service team 24/7 via email or through live chat on the home page. There’s quite an extensive support center too, with dozens of frequently asked questions alongside a list of common technical issues, troubleshooting articles and guides on how to keep your food fresh.
The customer service team is incredibly responsive and encourages users to provide feedback on the types of meals they’d like to see added to the menu.
Freshly Cancellation Policy
You can cancel your Freshly subscription at any time by logging into your online account or using the app. You won’t be under any contract obligations, and will only pay for orders that have been processed. If you’re not happy with the service for any reason you can apply for a refund too.
Alternatively, you can choose to suspend your deliveries at any time and restart them again at your convenience.
Freshly Alternatives
If you’re looking for a more exciting meal selection, a wider variety of subscription packages or need a more niche provider to fulfill your needs, you might want to try one of these Freshly alternatives.
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Meal Kit
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Price / Serving
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Minimum order
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Meal options
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Daily Harvest
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$5.99
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1 Servings
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9-24
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Blue Apron
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$7.49
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4 Servings
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2-4
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Home Chef
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$6.99
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4 Servings
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2-6
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Sunbasket
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$11.99
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4 Servings
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15-20
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Summary
Freshly provides one of the most consistently reliable and convenient food delivery services on the market. The meals are not always the healthiest, but they’re hearty, filling and taste delicious. Plus, it’s hard to argue with the service when you can prepare them in three minutes. The time savings alone will make Freshly more than worth it for a lot of customers.
However, Freshly isn’t the best choice for those looking for a huge variety of dishes, or people seeking a specialist diet. There are plenty of other delivery services that cater to vegetarians, the organic food market, pescetarians, diabetes diets, and ethically sourced produce. You may want to start your search elsewhere if these factors are important to you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How Many Servings Are in a Meal?
All meals are served as single portions and priced per person. If you’d like more meals for the family you’ll need to order extra portions.
Is Freshly Worth the Price?
Freshly uses pretty straightforward ingredients that you could get much cheaper at your local grocery store. You’re really paying for the convenience and for someone else to do the cooking for you, and in this respect, it’s definitely value for money. Although if you have spare time, you might want to consider trying some of the recipes at home yourself.
Is Packaging Recyclable?
For the most part. About 85% of Freshly’s packaging is either recyclable or biodegradable. Follow the instructions on disposal once you’ve finished your meal.
Is Freshly Healthy?
It’s definitely healthier than comparable microwave meals, and Freshly removes processed sugars and adds extra veg to its meals where possible, but the ingredients are still fairly basic. If you’re planning a real health kick or a food detox, an alternative organic delivery service may be a better option.
Does Freshly Deliver Every Day?
Yes, deliveries are made every day and you can choose which days your meals arrive. We’d recommend booking at least five days in advance to get the best slots.
Is Freshly Organic?
No, Freshly isn’t certified organic and doesn’t provide any details on the locations it sources its produce from.
