Registered Dietitian’s Freshly Meal Kit Review
As a busy business owner and registered dietitian, the convenience of Freshly intrigued me! Freshly makes heat and eat meals to take out all of the work so you can sit down to dinner in 3 minutes flat! But do they taste good?
Disclaimer: As you will see, I am a harsh critic.
I was not paid for these reviews, or given free product.
Overview:
Freshly is a ready to heat and eat meal delivery service; ideal for people short on time or on the go. Their meals are ready to eat in about 3 minutes or less! Think of a higher class version of lean cuisine or hungry man meals with more veggies.
Herbed Paleo Pork Chop
with Carb Smart Parsnip-Cauli Mash
I really liked the parsnip mash. But I LOVE parsnip; it’s the whole reason I ordered this meal.
The pork chop had good texture. Flavor was just ok, a bit lacking..
This is something I found consistent with these meals. The textures were good, but flavors not where I’d like them to be.
490 calories, 28g protein, 8g fiber, 29g carbs
Price Breakdown:
6 servings with no discounts was $63 after shipping, breaking down to just over $10 per serving.
If you get more meals, then the price per meal is a little less.
Some meals have a bit higher price than others. Meals with bison or steak were about $2 more.
Shipping is not included, price varies depending on where you live and how big your box is.
If you’re comparing this to a store bought frozen meal, it’s a bit over double the cost. The food IS better, but I don’t know if its enough to make up for the price difference.
Wholesome Chicken Sauté Bowl
with Pad Kee Mao Sauce
Bland city. I had to add my own sauce to it. This was only slightly better than a Lean Cuisine. Don’t recommend in terms of flavor. Lots of veggies though.
This is also not enough nutrition - 260 calories is very low for a meal. There are circumstances where this makes sense, but as an everyday meal for most people, even someone trying to lose weight, this is too low.
260 calories, 28g protein, 10g fiber, 29g carbs
Freshly vs Freshly Fit
There are two kinds of menu items - the standard Freshly meals and “Fit” meals.
The Freshly Fit meals have lower carbs and higher fat (about 20g carbs in the fit meals vs 45 in the standard ones)
As a Registered Dietitian - I don’t think this is enough of a difference to be too concerned about. The difference in carbs is small, and both ranges are perfectly healthy. All meals were balanced with protein and vegetables, which are the two biggest things I recommend including in every meal!
When choosing meals, you can choose a combination of standard and fit meals based on what sounds good to you. It seems like this is more of a marketing move than anything meaningful
Oven-Baked Chicken Florentine
with Creamed Spinach & Parmesan
This meal looks really good but missed the mark.
It was perfectly edible - the chicken’s texture was good. But the flavor was, again, a bit sad.
I really liked the eggplant/zucchini/bell pepper side though, so it wasn’t a total loss.
440 calories. 36g protein, 5g fiber, 15g carbs
Ordering Process & Menu
Each week there are a large number of meals to choose from - this particular week there were 25 standard options and 12 “fit” lower carb options.
Meal options do repeat frequently, with most of the items on the menu every week.
Menus are available to select from several weeks in advance, so you could go in once every 2-3 weeks and make selections for weeks ahead.
Skipping is pretty easy. I tend to skip all future weeks so that I don’t get surprised by a charge and order I didn’t expect.
Vegetarian? Nothing. Not one meal. Skip this service if you are vegetarian or vegan.
Dairy free? Around 60% of meals were dairy free.
Gluten free? ALL meal options are certified gluten free!
Crave-No-More Shepherd’s Pie
with Ground Beef & Cauli-Butternut Mash
This is how the meals come in a tray - I plated most of the meals (it does look nicer on a plate) but there was no way to transfer this one without it turning into mush!!
I liked the nuts on top, they gave a nice crunch to this dish. It was a bit greasy and needed salt, but overall was one of the better meals in terms of flavor.
510 calories, 27g protein, 7g fiber, 27g carbs
Packaging:
Each meal comes in a plastic tray with a film on it (of course) and a cardboard sleeve telling you what the meal is. They stacked nicely in the fridge. Meals came fridge temp - not frozen.
Meals were then nestled in lots of insulation that was hard to dispose of. I wasn’t sure what to do with it - it was a lot of packaging to throw away. This is a common issue with meal delivery services though.
Chicken & Spring Pea Risotto
with Mushrooms & Seasonal Herbs
I was so excited for this meal when I ordered it, and very dissapointed when I ate it. I didn’t even finish it all - the flavor was just not there and the texture of the “risotto” wasn’t great.
This meal also had fewer veggies than most of the Freshly meals did.
Skip this one.
Calories 580, Protein 40g, Fiber 4g Carbs 47g
Ease of Cooking:
So simple! Just peel back the corner of the film, and pop them in the microwave. Cook times vary, but on average, takes about 3 minutes per meal in the microwave.
I liked to put them onto a plate to eat though - it made it feel a bit more classy.
Grading Time!
Customization…….D
Delivery/Packaging…….B-
Nutritional Value…….B
Price…….$10/meal (inc shipping)
Flavor…….F
Texture…….B
Ease of Cooking…….A
Meal Variety…….B-
Final thoughts:
I really wanted to like Freshly as it’s SO convenient. But unfortunately, I didn’t. They are slightly better quality than the frozen meals at your local grocery store, but at a much higher price. Overall I would say it is not worth the extra cost.
Check out my other meal kit reviews for Sunbasket (my current favorite service), Hello Fresh, and Gobble
