Six alternatives to HelloFresh are compared here, including Gousto, Mindful Chef, Green Chef and supermarket meal kits. Price per portion across UK meal kit providers ranges from around £2.32 to over £11 depending on box size, provider and any introductory discount, making per-portion cost the most useful comparison point between services.
TL;DR · LAST REVIEWED 21 July 2026
- Gousto is generally the closest direct competitor to HelloFresh on price, while offering a wider recipe menu of 175 or more weekly options.
- Mindful Chef sits at the premium end of the market, with gluten-free and dairy-free recipes as standard, but a noticeably higher per-portion price.
- Green Chef focuses on vegetarian, vegan and plant-based menus with broadly similar pricing to HelloFresh and Gousto.
- Introductory discounts across all providers commonly bring the first box price down to £2 to £3 per portion before reverting to standard pricing.
- Box size affects per-portion cost significantly: ordering for more people per box tends to reduce the price per portion on most platforms.
- For households doing significant takeaway spending, meal kits at £6 to £8 per portion are still considerably cheaper than an equivalent takeaway order.
UK meal kit providers compared by price per portion and menu focus
| Gousto | £3.20 to £10.25 per portion | 175+ weekly recipes, most menu variety |
| Mindful Chef | £2.32 to £11 per portion | Gluten-free and dairy-free by default, premium ingredients |
| Green Chef | Broadly comparable to HelloFresh | Vegetarian, vegan and plant-based focus |
| HelloFresh | Broadly comparable to Gousto | 50+ weekly recipes, widest brand recognition |
| Supermarket meal kit ranges | Typically lower per portion, no subscription | No recipe variety commitment, buy as needed |
Source: Provider pricing pages and independent price testing, accessed July 2026
KEY FACTS
- Gousto: from around £3.20 to £10.25 per portion depending on box size, with 175+ recipes on rotation
- Mindful Chef: from around £2.32 to £11 per portion depending on box size and discount, all recipes gluten-free and dairy-free by default
- HelloFresh: around 50+ weekly recipes, broadly comparable per-portion pricing to Gousto before discounts
- Introductory discounts across most providers average 30% to 40% off across a customer's first four boxes
- Delivery is typically included in the per-portion price, though some providers add a flat delivery fee of around £5.99 to £6.99 per order
Is Gousto cheaper than HelloFresh
Gousto's price per portion, from around £3.20 to £10.25 depending on box size, tends to run slightly below HelloFresh's comparable full-price boxes, while also offering a considerably wider weekly recipe menu of 175 or more options against HelloFresh's roughly 50.
Gousto has established itself as the most direct rival to HelloFresh in the UK market, and independent price testing has generally found Gousto's per-portion cost coming in slightly below HelloFresh's on a like-for-like box size and meal count, particularly once introductory discounts are stripped out and standard pricing is compared. The bigger practical difference between the two is menu breadth: Gousto rotates 175 or more recipes weekly, against roughly 50 for HelloFresh, which matters for households that want more variety over an extended subscription period rather than repeating the same handful of meals. Both platforms offer flexible subscription management, including the ability to skip weeks or pause a subscription without penalty, and both offer steep first-box discounts that typically bring the initial per-portion price down to somewhere between £2 and £3 before reverting to standard pricing on subsequent orders.
Why does Mindful Chef cost more than HelloFresh and Gousto
Mindful Chef prices its recipes higher than HelloFresh and Gousto, from around £2.32 up to £11 per portion depending on box size, reflecting its focus on gluten-free, dairy-free and higher-welfare British ingredients as standard across every recipe.
Mindful Chef positions itself at the premium end of the UK meal kit market, building every recipe around gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients by default, alongside British meat and free-range chicken sourced specifically from farms it names as award-winning suppliers. This ingredient positioning is reflected directly in price: a one-person box can run close to double the per-portion cost of Gousto's cheapest comparable plan, while the family-size box brings the per-portion price down closer to £4.75 to £5.12, still above Gousto and HelloFresh's equivalent family pricing. For households managing coeliac disease, a dairy intolerance or another dietary requirement that HelloFresh and Gousto do not build into every recipe by default, the higher price reflects a menu that does not require filtering or substitution to meet those needs, which is the trade-off worth weighing against the lower headline cost of rival providers.
How does Green Chef compare for plant-based households
Green Chef focuses its menu specifically on vegetarian, vegan and plant-based recipes, with per-portion pricing broadly comparable to HelloFresh, making it a closer price match than Mindful Chef for households wanting a meat-free menu without a significant cost increase.
For households eating primarily or entirely plant-based, Green Chef's dedicated focus removes the need to filter a broader recipe list down to a smaller set of suitable meals each week, which is a common friction point on omnivore-focused platforms. Pricing sits broadly in line with HelloFresh's standard boxes rather than at Mindful Chef's premium end, though as with all of these providers, introductory discounts tend to be more generous than ongoing standard pricing, and per-person cost improves when ordering for more people per box. Anyone comparing Green Chef against HelloFresh or Gousto's vegetarian recipe options specifically, rather than their full omnivore menu, should compare the vegetarian subset directly, since a fully plant-based provider's dedicated menu will typically offer more weekly variety within that category than a general provider's vegetarian filter.
Are supermarket meal kits a cheaper alternative to a subscription box
Supermarket meal kit ranges typically cost less per portion than subscription meal kit services and require no ongoing commitment, but offer far less weekly recipe variety and no delivery convenience, which is the core trade-off against HelloFresh, Gousto or a comparable subscription.
Major UK supermarkets sell their own pre-portioned meal kit ranges, sold as one-off purchases in store or via online grocery delivery rather than through a dedicated weekly subscription. These tend to be cheaper per portion than a subscription meal kit service, since there is no dedicated delivery infrastructure or recipe-development cost built into the price, and no commitment to order every week. The trade-off is variety and planning: supermarket meal kit ranges typically offer a handful of recipes at a time rather than 50 to 175 weekly options, and require a shopping trip or a standard grocery delivery slot rather than a dedicated recipe-box delivery. For a household that wants convenience without a subscription commitment, or that only wants a meal kit occasionally rather than every week, a supermarket range can be the more cost effective choice.
How much can switching or comparing meal kits actually save
The main lever for saving money on meal kits is comparing per-portion price across providers after introductory discounts end, choosing the largest box size the household will actually use, and cycling between providers' introductory offers rather than staying on standard pricing indefinitely.
Introductory discounts across nearly every UK meal kit provider bring the first few boxes down substantially, commonly by 30% to 40% on average across the first four orders, before reverting to standard per-portion pricing. Households that actively manage their subscription, rather than leaving it on auto-renew at full price indefinitely, can capture much of that discount repeatedly by switching provider periodically or by pausing and restarting a subscription to access a returning-customer offer where available. Box size also matters directly: ordering for four people per box rather than two typically reduces the per-portion price by a meaningful margin on most platforms, since fixed delivery and packaging costs are spread across more portions. For households comparing the cost against takeaway spending specifically, meal kits at a standard £6 to £8 per portion remain considerably cheaper than an equivalent takeaway order, which is where the category continues to earn its place in a household budget even without an active discount. Delivery day flexibility is another practical factor worth checking before committing to a provider, since some services offer a wider choice of delivery days and postcodes than others, and a mismatch between delivery slots and a household's schedule can lead to missed deliveries or spoiled ingredients regardless of how competitive the per-portion price looks on paper.
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DISCLAIMER
This article is editorial information, not financial advice. Kael Tripton Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Figures were correct at the last review date shown above; verify current rates and rules with the primary sources listed below before acting.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gousto or HelloFresh cheaper
On standard, non-discounted pricing, Gousto's per-portion cost has generally come in slightly below HelloFresh's in independent price comparisons, while also offering a wider recipe menu, though the exact gap depends on box size and which specific recipes are chosen each week.
Why is Mindful Chef more expensive than other meal kits
Mindful Chef builds every recipe around gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients as standard, alongside specifically sourced British meat and free-range chicken, which is reflected in a higher per-portion price than HelloFresh or Gousto's standard, non-dietary-restricted menus.
Do meal kit discounts apply to every box or just the first one
Most providers offer their steepest discounts across a customer's first two to four boxes, with the discount tapering across that period before reverting to standard pricing, rather than applying the full discount to only the very first box.
Are meal kits cheaper than a supermarket shop
It depends on the comparison. Meal kits are generally more expensive than planning and buying the same ingredients separately at a supermarket, but can work out cheaper than takeaway spending and reduce food waste through pre-portioned ingredients.
Can you pause a meal kit subscription instead of cancelling
Yes, all of the major UK meal kit providers compared here allow subscribers to skip individual weeks or pause a subscription temporarily without cancelling outright, which is generally the easiest way to manage cost without losing access to introductory or loyalty offers.
SOURCES
- Gousto official pricing – accessed 21 July 2026
- Mindful Chef official pricing – accessed 21 July 2026
- HelloFresh official pricing – accessed 21 July 2026
