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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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