Curious if Meal Kits Are Cheaper Than Groceries? I Did the Math to Find Out

It is not a secret for anyone that the prices of the grocery store are high. With pricethe recent shortage linked to bird flu and global instability, the prices of the grocery store should Jump up to 3.3% this yearAccording to the American department of agriculture.

The influenza costs on everything, from maple to maple syrup have people looking for food hacks that save money, and Meal kitsOnce considered an expensive alternative to the grocery store, could be a surprising option. To keep subscribers, Blue Apron recently announced a six -month price freezing. It made me ask me if the meal kits are now cheaper than buying the same grocery stores to prepare dinner.

Meal kit services such as Each plate,, Blue Or Hellofresh are known to help people busy saving time and eat betterBut I crunched the figures to find out if one of the best meal delivery services could save money from your weekly supermarket scan.

After examining several lists of ingredients for various recipes, I found that certain meal kits have the same price as grocery storeOr in some cases even cheaper. It depends on the service and the meals you choose.

Here is a breakdown and how I got these figures.

How I did the calculation

To see the amount of blue, HelloFresh and all the meals of plaque to do, I evaluated the ingredients for two real recipes which are included in a standard subscription.

When choosing the grocery store, I used the cheapest version of the even or similar ingredient that I could find at Shop-Ro, a budgetary grocery in my region. Since the meal kit recipes only include the amount of ingredients required, I practiced the cost by how much you really use for a recipe, not the full price of the bottle, the pot, the box or the bag.

I chose basic and non -organic items, unless they have been specified on the card or the revenue website of the meal kit.

How I chose the recipes

If you are looking for meal kits as value proposalYou will have to be smart about the recipes you choose. Steak, chicken and fish tend to be more expensive to cook at home than plant -based meals, so I specifically chose recipes featuring these proteins. (I also recommend that you take advantage of them if you register for a service).

All services do not include steak recipes with no supplement, but HelloFresh and Blue Apron do it. The blue apron generally offers at least a fairly high -end beef cut like Surlonge Bifteck at no additional cost.

HelloFresh offers one or two beef recipes per week, but it is generally a cheaper Like Chuck Steak. Seafood options are limited with a basic hellofresh, but I found a Barramandi recipe on this week’s menu, in addition to Ranch steak with Caesar salad.

Budget services, including each plate, generally do not offer steak or seafood, this is how they maintain low prices. For my plates analyzes, I chose a Cherry beef ball And pork recipe.

Blue APRON presents the best value

Blue Has the most high -end recipes of the three that I chose to analyze. I chose a recipe with surlonge steak and another with new rainbow trout nets.

When I estimated the grocery store to prepare these meals, they succeeded at $ 11.26 and $ 8.23, respectively, with an average price of $ 9.75 per portion. The two meals proved more expensive to buy at the supermarket than the cost of $ 8 per function for the largest blue apron plan (the cheapest).

As well as it may seem, the biggest plan of Blue Apron is a huge five meal kits per week with four portions each, and probably practical for most people. If you choose a more reasonably reasonable plan – say three meal recipes with four portions each – the price per portion jumps at $ 9.50. It is even cheaper than the cost of buying the grocery store, but only a little.

Add the weekly $ 11 shipping cost and the blue apron slips on the cost of buying the grocery store, but only slightly. When you consider the convenience that a meal kit provides, it is difficult to argue that Blue Apron is not a good value in 2024.

Hellofresh was the worst value, but not much

Hellofresh Perhaps the most popular meal kit service, but it was also the worst value of the three. I chose a barramundi recipe and a kit of chuck steak flour to compare with local grocery prices.

By my calculations, the HelloFresh meal kits would just cost $ 6.55 By serving to buy the grocery store and prepare meals yourself. This represents about $ 2.50 cheaper than the $ 9 mean -on mealfresh meal plan per portion, and it is before taking into account your weekly delivery cost of $ 11. If you were to distribute these shipping costs over two or three meal kits, the real cost per function is more $ 11 to $ 12.

HelloFresh can have one of the largest weekly menu of meal kits and a friendly control interface, but it turns out that popular service does not offer as much value as other meal kit companies.

Each plate is almost the same as the purchase of grocery store

Each plate Two meal kits cost $ 4.98 and $ 5.82 when buying à la carte at the grocery store, which is on average $ 5.40. It is only 60 cents less than the price per function of the meal kits of each plate, which cost $ 6 per portion regardless of the plan you choose.

Add the shipping cost of $ 10 per box and the cost of the meal kit is getting closer, but it is always about the same price as buying all the races yourself.

The meal kits of each plate are not much during steak or seafood, so you can expect protein more favorable to a budget such as chicken, chopped beef and pork chops. All plate meals are also easy to prepare and satisfy, which makes it our best cheap meal kit in 2024.

To get the most out of your meal delivery, see my guide for hacking a subscription to meal delivery in 2025.