I have found that meal kit delivery subscriptions, such as HelloFresh, can be extremely convenient, saving me the time I would normally spend grocery shopping. In fact, we here at The Manual consider HelloFresh to be one of the best meal kit delivery services. With HelloFresh, you can get weekly boxes filled with all the pre-portioned ingredients necessary to make healthy, unique, and varied recipes, along with the instructions and nutrition information for each recipe delivered right to your house. This eliminates the need for weekly menu planning and grocery shopping, plus, it simplifies meal preparation, reduces food waste, and introduces you to new dishes and cooking techniques.
However, HelloFresh is a subscription service rather than an ala carte meal box, so if you go on vacation, change your budget or diet, or just decide you want to try a different approach to meal planning and prep, you might want to cancel or change your HelloFresh subscription. If you find that you want to skip a delivery, change, or cancel your HelloFresh subscription, I've got you covered. Keep reading to find out how to cancel HelloFresh.
Benefits of meal subscriptions
Meal kits have gained popularity primarily due to their exceptional convenience, streamlining the home cooking experience by delivering precisely measured ingredients alongside recipes. This trend saw a surge during the height of the pandemic driven by the desire to avoid crowded grocery stores and relish restaurant-quality meals from the comfort of home. Services like HelloFresh offer pre-made meals for people seeking a time-saving option.
Despite perceptions of higher costs, meal kits can indeed be a more economical choice compared to dining out or frequent takeout. Larger households can also benefit from bulk order discounts.
Additionally, meal kits foster healthier eating habits through portion-controlled servings and emphasize the use of fresh, nutritious ingredients. Catering to specific dietary needs further enhances their appeal.
HelloFresh subscription plans
HelloFresh is a subscription service that auto-renews each week unless you pause, change, or cancel your plan on your customer account page. There is no membership fee to start receiving boxes. When you sign up, you can select from one of several meal plans, each of which can be purchased in a two- or four-person serving size and in quantities of two, three, four, five, or six different meals per week. The meal plans offered by HelloFresh include the following:
- Classic Meat and Veggie: A standard omnivore diet with recipes featuring meat, poultry, fish, and fresh vegetables from a variety of cuisines.
- Veggie: Meat-free recipes featuring vegetables.
- Family Friendly: Recipes that are specifically tailored to appeal to young palates.
- Pescatarian: Vegetable-heavy dishes that do not contain meat or poultry but do contain fish and seafood.
- Fit & Wholesome: This plan includes dietitian-approved recipes that are all under 650 calories per serving.
- Quick and Easy: For those short on time, these recipes can typically be made in less than 20 minutes.
How to change your HelloFresh subscription
Customers are never locked into their HelloFresh meal plan. At any point, you can log into your customer account page and change the number of meals you receive each week, the number of servings per recipe, and the type of recipes you receive.
For example, you may start with two servings of four different recipes in the pescatarian plan each week but then decide you want to try two servings of just three Calorie Smart
Step 1: Log in to your customer account page.
Step 2: Change the number of meals you receive each week, the number of servings per recipe, and/or the type of recipes you receive.
How to cancel HelloFresh subscriptions
You can cancel HelloFresh subscriptions by logging into your customer account page.
Step 1: Log in to your customer account page.
Step 2: Click on your name in the upper right-hand corner.
Step 3: Click "Account Settings."
Step 4: At the very bottom of the Plan Settings page, go to the "Status" section and click "Cancel Plan."
Step 5: Finally, just follow the prompt(s) for your cancellation. You will receive a message confirming that your account has been canceled.
It’s important to note that you must pause or cancel an order by 11:59 p.m. PT five days before your next scheduled delivery or you will be charged for that upcoming order. HelloFresh cannot process cancellations requested after the cut-off date because the order will have already been processed.
Pros and cons of meal kits
As with any type of service, there are some pros and cons to meal kit delivery services. So if you've gone through the steps to cancel a service like HelloFresh, or if your considering restarting deliveries after a pause, consider some of the pros and cons.
According to Take Charge America, a nonprofit dedicated to financial education, meal kits can help you save money because getting quality meals delivered will allow you to cut down on the times you eat out or have takeout delivered. Youl'll also expose yourself to new cooking techinques and learn new recipies.
However, Take Charge America also warns of some cons to getting meal kits delivered. First, while the kits are cheaper than take out, they average about $10 per meal per person, which is much higher than if you bought the groceries yourself. Additionally, most services offer an introductory discount for new subscribers. Take Charge America recommends that if you choose to take advantage of those discounts, keep track of the length of the discounted period and cancel before the higher prices kick in.
