Gousto vs HelloFresh Which Meal Kit Is Better

Trying to decide what to cook for dinner every single night can feel like a full-time job. Between planning meals, writing shopping lists, wandering up and down supermarket aisles, and dealing with ingredients that go bad in the fridge before you can use them, weeknight dinners can quickly lose their charm.

That is why meal kit subscription services have taken over modern kitchens across the UK. Instead of running to the shop after a long day at work, you get a box delivered straight to your doorstep packed with pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-follow recipe cards.

When it comes to the top recipe box companies in the UK, two big names dominate the conversation: Gousto and HelloFresh.

Both brands promise to save you time, reduce your food waste, and bring delicious home-cooked meals to your dinner table. But which one is actually worth your hard-earned money?

In this complete comparison guide, we break down Gousto vs HelloFresh across everything that matters: recipe variety, taste, pricing, portion sizes, dietary options, packaging, and overall convenience.

At a Glance: Gousto vs HelloFresh Summary

If you are in a rush and want a quick overview before diving into the details, here is how the two services stack up side-by-side:

Feature	Gousto	HelloFresh
Weekly Recipe Choices	Up to 175+ recipes weekly	Around 40–50 recipes weekly
Box Sizes	1, 2, or 4 people	2 or 4 people
Recipes Per Box	2 to 5 recipes per week	2 to 5 recipes per week
Speedy Options	10-Minute Meals & Prepped in 5	Rapid recipes (15–20 Mins)
Starting Price Per Meal	From £3.20 per portion	From £3.15 per portion
Dietary Flexibility	Huge range (Vegan, GF, Dairy-Free, Low Calorie)	Good range (Vegetarian, Calorie Smart, Family)
Delivery Fee	£3.99 per box	£4.99 per box

1. Recipe Variety and Choice: Who Gives You More Options?

When you sign up for a meal kit, the last thing you want is to feel bored by the menu options after a few weeks. Variety is where your weekly dinner routine either stays exciting or falls flat.

Gousto’s Menu Offering

Gousto is the clear king when it comes to sheer volume. They offer a staggering 175+ recipes every single week. Their menu rotates constantly, meaning you could use Gousto for months and rarely see the exact same dish twice unless you specifically reorder your favorites.

Gousto divides its huge menu into very clear categories:

• Everyday Favourites: Classic comfort food like spag bol, burgers, and bangers and mash.

• 10-Minute Meals: Super-fast stir-fries, pasta dishes, and wraps designed for busy nights.

• Global Kitchen: Authentic street food and curry recipes from around the world.

• Prepped in 5: Recipes where the active prep work takes just five minutes before cooking.

• Save & Savor: Budget-conscious meals that deliver great taste without extra costs.

HelloFresh’s Menu Offering

HelloFresh takes a slightly more curated approach. They offer around 40 to 50 recipes each week. While 50 recipes is still plenty of choice for most households, it is noticeably smaller than Gousto’s massive catalog.

HelloFresh organizes its menu into helpful preferences like:

• Family Friendly: Mild, crowd-pleasing meals designed to satisfy both kids and adults.

• Rapid: Quick meals designed to go from fridge to plate in 15 to 20 minutes.

• Calorie Smart: Nutrient-dense meals kept under 650 calories per serving.

• Veggie: Balanced meat-free dishes packed with fresh vegetables and plant proteins.

• Custom Recipes: Options to swap, upgrade, or add double protein to certain meals.

The Winner for Variety: Gousto. Having over 175 options every week simply gives you far more flexibility to find meals your household will love.

Click here to get up to 50% off your first Gousto box today!

2. Pricing and Value for Money: Which Is Cheaper?

Value for money is a huge factor when picking a recipe box. You want to make sure you aren't paying a massive premium compared to a standard supermarket trip.

Both Gousto and HelloFresh use a sliding price scale. This means that the larger your box (more people and more meals per week), the cheaper each individual portion becomes.

Gousto Pricing Breakdown

• 1-Person Box: Around £7.40 to £7.82 per portion (4–5 meals).

• 2-Person Box: Around £3.80 to £5.38 per portion depending on how many meals you choose.

• 4-Person Box: Drops as low as £3.20 per portion when ordering 5 recipes.

• Standard UK Delivery Fee: £3.99 per box.

Gousto is unique because it offers a dedicated 1-person box, making it much friendlier for single householders who do not want to cook double portions every night.

HelloFresh Pricing Breakdown

• 2-Person Box: Starts around £5.80 per portion for 2 recipes, dropping to around £4.30 per portion for 5 recipes.

• 4-Person Box: Drops as low as £3.15 per portion when ordering 5 recipes.

• Standard UK Delivery Fee: £4.99 per box.

HelloFresh does not offer a 1-person box option; their minimum order size is built for 2 people.

Introductory Discounts

Both brands are famous for offering huge discounts to new customers. You can regularly find welcome codes offering 50% off your first box, followed by smaller discounts on your second, third, and fourth boxes.

The Winner for Value: It is a tie. HelloFresh can be slightly cheaper per portion if you are feeding a family of four on a 5-meal plan. However, Gousto has a lower delivery fee (£3.99 vs £4.99) and supports single-person households much better. overall, the prices are very close.

3. Dietary Requirements and Special Diets

If you or someone in your home follows a specific diet—whether by choice or due to allergies—finding the right meal kit is essential.

Gousto for Special Diets

Gousto makes filtering for dietary needs remarkably simple in their app and website. Every recipe is clearly labeled, and you can easily filter the weekly menu by:

• Plant-Based / Vegan: dozens of dedicated vegan recipes every week.

• Gluten-Free: Recipes made without gluten-containing ingredients.

• Dairy-Free: Clear options for those with lactose sensitivity.

• Fine Dine In: Premium restaurant-quality options for date nights.

• Calorie Controlled: Dishes kept under 600 calories per portion.

Gousto’s commitment to plant-based eating is particularly strong, with innovative vegan recipes that go far beyond basic salads or plain beans.

HelloFresh for Special Diets

HelloFresh covers the basics well, particularly for Vegetarian and Calorie Smart diets. However, they can be a bit more limited if you have strict medical dietary requirements like severe gluten intolerances or dairy allergies.

While they offer plant-based options, their weekly selection of strictly vegan or allergen-free meals is smaller than Gousto’s. HelloFresh does, however, allow you to "customise" certain meals by swapping out protein sources (for example, swapping chicken breast for halloumi or steak).

The Winner for Special Diets: Gousto. Their allergy filtering, gluten-free range, and vegan options are much broader and easier to navigate.

Explore Flexible Meal Plans Now!

4. Cooking Experience, Prep Time, and Ease of Use

No one wants to come home from work and spend two hours following a confusing, multi-step recipe with twenty different bowls to clean up afterward.

The Gousto Cooking Experience

Gousto puts a massive focus on speed and convenience.

• Recipe Cards: Large, sturdy cards with clear step-by-step photos, prep times, and list of necessary equipment.

• Ingredient Prep: Gousto often includes pre-made pastes, sauces, and spice blends. This cuts out tedious prep work like peeling ginger or blending sauces from scratch.

• 10-Minute Range: Their 10-Minute Meals are genuinely fast. By using quick-cooking ingredients like fresh gnocchi, thin egg noodles, or pre-cooked grains, dinner is served before you know it.

The HelloFresh Cooking Experience

HelloFresh leans slightly more into traditional cooking techniques.

• Recipe Cards: Very clear, colorful, and easy to follow with visual step-by-step instructions.

• Ingredient Prep: HelloFresh recipes tend to require a bit more manual chopping, grating, and sauce-making. You will often make your own garlic mayo, salad dressings, or spice rubs using individual ingredients provided in the box.

• Cooking Skills: If you enjoy the process of cooking and want to practice your kitchen skills (like making pan sauces or roasting vegetables properly), HelloFresh feels a bit more like a traditional cooking class.

The Winner for Ease and Speed: Gousto. Their pre-blended pastes and dedicated 10-minute recipes make cooking effortless on exhausting workdays.

5. Taste, Quality, and Portion Sizes

At the end of the day, all the convenience in the world doesn't matter if the food doesn't taste great or leaves you feeling hungry an hour later.

Taste and Flavor Profiles

• Gousto: Known for bold, international flavor profiles. Their curries, Mexican fajitas, Asian stir-fries, and pasta dishes tend to be heavily seasoned and rich in taste. They do not hold back on spices or sauces.

• HelloFresh: Excellent at classic, crowd-pleasing comfort food. Their burgers, creamy pasta bakes, roasted meat dishes, and hearty grain bowls are consistently delicious and reliable.

Portion Sizes

Both services offer generous portion sizes that leave most adults feeling completely full.

• Gousto portions are well-balanced with carbohydrates, vegetables, and protein.

• HelloFresh portions often feel slightly heavier, particularly on carb-heavy dishes like rice bowls, pasta, and potato wedges.

If you are cooking 2-person meals as a couple or single person, both services often leave you with enough food for a light lunch the following day depending on the dish.

The Winner for Taste and Quality: It's a Tie. If you love bold spices and fast global street food, you will likely prefer Gousto. If you love classic home-cooked comfort food, pub-style burgers, and rich bakes, HelloFresh shines.

Claim your exclusive HelloFresh welcome discount right here!

6. Packaging, Delivery, and Sustainability

Eco-conscious shoppers care deeply about how much plastic and cardboard comes with their weekly food deliveries.

Gousto’s Sustainability Efforts

Gousto has made massive strides in reducing plastic across their supply chain.

• Eco-Chill Insulation: They use an innovative, cardboard-based insulation box liner called "Eco-Chill" that keeps food cold during transit and is 100% recyclable in standard household paper recycling.

• Reduced Plastic: Small ingredients like spices and garlic arrive in tiny paper sachets or loose in the box whenever possible.

• Food Waste: By delivering exact amounts of ingredients, Gousto practically eliminates household food waste.

HelloFresh’s Sustainability Efforts

HelloFresh is also committed to environmental responsibility.

• Climate Neutral: HelloFresh offsets 100% of its direct carbon emissions.

• Color-Coded Meal Bags: HelloFresh packs ingredients for each specific meal into separate, color-coded paper bags inside the main box. This makes organizing your fridge incredibly easy—you just grab one paper bag when it is time to cook.

• Insulation: They use recyclable paper insulation and ice packs to maintain freshness during delivery.

The Winner for Sustainability and Packaging: HelloFresh takes a slight lead for organization due to their color-coded paper meal bags, but Gousto wins on overall plastic reduction and innovative paper insulation.

7. App Experience and Flexibility

Both Gousto and HelloFresh run their subscriptions primarily through mobile apps (available on iOS and Android) as well as desktop websites.

Gousto App Features

• Easily scroll through up to 175+ weekly dishes.

• Rate meals after cooking to teach the app's algorithm what flavor profiles you prefer.

• Pause, skip weeks, or change your delivery address with a few taps.

• Access past digital recipe cards if you lose the physical ones.

HelloFresh App Features

• Clean, user-friendly interface.

• Easy to select weekly recipes or swap ingredients on customizable dishes.

• Built-in cooking timer feature inside digital recipe steps.

• Manage delivery schedules, pause boxes, or cancel anytime before the weekly deadline.

Both services offer complete flexibility. You are never locked into a contract—you can pause your account for a holiday, skip individual weeks, or cancel entirely whenever you want without paying extra fees.

Download the Gousto app and grab your half-price welcome box!

Gousto vs HelloFresh: Pros and Cons

To give you a quick final snapshot, here is a breakdown of the main pros and cons for each brand:

Gousto Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Massive menu with 175+ recipes to choose from every single week.

• Super-fast 10-Minute Meals and 5-Minute prep options.

• Great for single-person households (1-person box available).

• Fantastic range of plant-based, gluten-free, and dairy-free options.

• Lower delivery fee (£3.99).

Cons:

• Some recipes rely heavily on pre-made sauce pastes rather than cooking from scratch.

• Popular recipes can sell out if you pick your meals late in the week.

HelloFresh Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Ingredients come organized in convenient color-coded paper bags.

• Outstanding classic comfort food, burgers, and family bakes.

• Teaches great fundamental cooking skills and techniques.

• Ability to customize or upgrade proteins on select meals.

• Slightly cheaper per portion on large family-sized plans.

Cons:

• Smaller overall weekly menu choice (around 50 recipes).

• Higher delivery fee (£4.99).

• No 1-person box option available.

• More manual prep and chopping involved.

Click here to check out latest weekly menu and special offers!

The Final Verdict: Which Meal Kit Should You Choose?

Both Gousto and HelloFresh are outstanding recipe box services that can transform your weeknight cooking routine, reduce your supermarket stress, and bring excitement back to dinner time.

However, they cater to slightly different types of cooks:

• Choose Gousto if: You want maximum variety (175+ recipes), fast 10-minute meals, strict dietary options (vegan/gluten-free), or live on your own as a single person.

• Choose HelloFresh if: You love classic comfort food, enjoy learning practical cooking techniques from scratch, prefer organized color-coded meal bags, or want to feed a traditional family.

If you are still on the fence, the best strategy is to take advantage of the new customer welcome discounts offered by both brands. Try a week of Gousto at half price, then try a week of HelloFresh at half price, and see which one fits your kitchen and lifestyle best!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Is Gousto or HelloFresh better for a single person?

Gousto is significantly better for single people. Gousto offers an official 1-person box, whereas HelloFresh’s smallest box size feeds two people. If you use HelloFresh as a single person, you will always have leftovers for lunch the next day.

2. Do I have to be at home when my box is delivered?

No. Neither service requires you to be at home for delivery. Both Gousto and HelloFresh pack their ingredients in insulated boxes with heavy-duty ice packs that keep food cold for up to 24 hours. You can specify a "safe place" (like a porch, shed, or with a neighbor) in the app.

3. Can I cancel my subscription at any time?

Yes. Both Gousto and HelloFresh operate on a flexible subscription model with no lock-in contracts. You can pause your subscription, skip weeks, or cancel your account completely through their app or website at any point before the weekly deadline.

4. Which meal kit is better for families with young children?

Both are great, but HelloFresh slightly edges out Gousto for traditional family eating due to their dedicated "Family Friendly" menu category, which focuses on mild, familiar comfort foods that fussy eaters enjoy. However, Gousto also offers family-friendly tags and customizable options.

5. Do meal kits really save you money compared to supermarkets?

For small households (1–2 people), meal kits can be cost-competitive with supermarkets when you factor in zero food waste and not having to buy full bottles of oil, spices, or specialty sauces that sit in your cupboard unused. For large families, buying in bulk at a traditional supermarket will usually be cheaper, but meal kits offer unmatched convenience and time savings.