After testing every major meal delivery service in Australia, I’ve learned that while HelloFresh delivers quality meals, they’re not the perfect fit for everyone. Between their high delivery costs, complex recipes, and premium pricing (they rank far from the top in our guide to the cheapest meal kits in Australia), many households are searching for alternatives that better suit their needs.
Whether you’re looking to cut costs, save time in the kitchen, or find more dietary options, I’ve personally tested every major competitor to help you find a better match. This guide complements our comprehensive review of Australia’s best meal delivery services, focusing specifically on the top HelloFresh alternatives.
From budget-friendly meal kits to convenient ready-made meals, I’ll break down exactly what makes each service unique, helping you discover which option best fits your lifestyle, budget, and cooking preferences.
You can also see how HelloFresh compares to all other meal kits in our meal kit price comparison tool.
Page Contents
Top HelloFresh Competitors
- Type: Meal Kit
- Price: $8.5 - $12.50 / Serving
- Delivers To: Australia-Wide
- TopFeature: Huge variety of meals
- Type: Prepared Meals
- Price: $9.00 - $11.50 / Serving
- Delivers To: Australia-Wide
- TopFeature: Ready to eat, delicious meals.
- Type: Meal Kit
- Price: $4.44 - $8.00 / Serving
- Delivers To: NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD, NT
- TopFeature: Exceptional value
Types of Meal Delivery Service
Before exploring HelloFresh alternatives, it’s essential to understand the two main types of meal delivery services available in Australia:
Meal Kits
Meal kits deliver pre-portioned ingredients alongside detailed recipes. They’re perfect for home cooks who enjoy cooking but want to skip meal planning and shopping.
Each ingredient comes precisely measured to minimize food waste, while step-by-step recipes help develop your cooking skills. These services typically cost less than prepared meals and give you greater control over the final preparation and seasoning of your dishes.
Prepared Meals
Prepared meal services deliver ready-to-eat dishes that require minimal preparation, usually just a few minutes in the microwave. These are ideal for busy professionals, seniors, or anyone prioritizing convenience over the cooking experience.
Available in both fresh and frozen options, prepared meals offer perfect portion control and often accommodate specific dietary requirements. While they cost more than meal kits, they save significant time and require no cooking skills.
Want to know more? Check out our guide to Australia’s best frozen meal delivery services.
Now, on to the best alternatives to HelloFresh.
Marley Spoon
Most similar to HelloFresh
Marley Spoon is the closest premium alternative to HelloFresh, particularly appealing if you’re looking for more variety in your weekly menu. Their massive selection of 70+ weekly meals (compared to HelloFresh’s 38) includes plenty of options for special diets, with at least 8 vegetarian and 10 gluten-free meals available every week.
Both services deliver fresh, premium ingredients in organized boxes with color-coded recipe bags. However, Marley Spoon’s recipes often require more cooking experience and intuition. While HelloFresh excels at bold, restaurant-style flavors with foolproof instructions, Marley Spoon’s recipe cards can occasionally have inconsistencies in cooking times and temperatures.
You’ll pay slightly more for Marley Spoon, with a typical family box (4 people, 5 meals) costing $190.79 compared to HelloFresh at $165.00. They also offer unique customization options on about 20% of their weekly meals, letting you swap proteins or modify portions to suit your preferences.
Marley Spoon delivers to most metropolitan areas across Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, and surrounding regions. Their marketplace also offers premium ready-made meals from ChefGood, plus additional sides, snacks, and drinks for extra convenience.
What sets them apart from HelloFresh is their commitment to variety and dietary accommodation. You can read more about my experience cooking with them in my full Marley Spoon review here.
My Muscle Chef
Delicious no-prep meals
If HelloFresh isn’t working for you because cooking every night takes too long, My Muscle Chef offers an excellent prepared meal alternative. Despite the fitness-focused branding, they’re not just for gym enthusiasts – their extensive menu of 70+ meals caters to everyone looking for convenient, healthy food options.
What impressed me most during my testing was the remarkable quality of their meals. The flavors consistently match what you’d expect from home cooking, with standout dishes like their Salmon Risotto and Beef Rendang rivaling restaurant quality. Each meal takes just 90 seconds in the microwave, perfect for busy weeknight dinners.
Their menu covers a wide range of dietary needs with meals between 300-700 calories, high-protein options, and at least 8 vegetarian dishes. They’ve also expanded beyond main meals to offer protein-rich breakfast options, snacks, and convenient protein shakes.
While slightly more expensive than cooking HelloFresh meals yourself, with prices ranging from $9.55 – $11.40 per meal, the convenience and taste make it worthwhile. They also offer bulk discounts of up to 15% when ordering 25+ meals. You can read more about my experiences trying their full range in my detailed My Muscle Chef review.
Get Up To $120 Off Your First 6 My Muscle Chef OrdersClick this link and use code SAVE120
EveryPlate
Affordable & simple
EveryPlate is owned by HelloFresh and operates as their budget-friendly alternative, offering similar quality ingredients at significantly lower prices. A box for 4 people with 5 meals costs just $113.00 with EveryPlate compared to $165.00 with HelloFresh, making them an excellent choice if you’re looking to reduce your weekly food costs.
Their menu features 30+ different recipes each week, including around 6 vegetarian options. While this is fewer than HelloFresh’s 38+ weekly choices, they’ve struck a good balance between variety and simplicity. Expect familiar, crowd-pleasing meals like Mexican Beef Tacos and Sweet Chilli Chicken Stir Fry that take 30-40 minutes to prepare.
What makes EveryPlate different is their streamlined approach. Ingredients arrive loose in the box rather than separated by recipe, and meals use 6-8 ingredients instead of 8-10. This helps keep costs down without compromising on taste. They also offer smart customization options like doubling proteins or adding extra vegetables for a small fee.
They’re particularly good for larger households, offering boxes for up to 6 people and 6 meals per week – options that aren’t available with most other services. You can read more about my experiences cooking with them in my full EveryPlate review.
Dinnerly
Simple family meals
Dinnerly is Marley Spoon’s budget-friendly service, offering a simpler approach to meal kits at nearly half the cost of HelloFresh. A typical box for 4 people with 5 meals costs just $135.80 with Dinnerly compared to $165.00 with HelloFresh, making them perfect for cost-conscious households.
Their menu is impressively large with 100+ different recipes each week, including about 15 vegetarian options and 20 “no added gluten” meals. While the recipes are simpler than HelloFresh (using 6-7 ingredients instead of 8-10), they still deliver satisfying homestyle meals that take around 30 minutes to prepare.
What makes Dinnerly unique is their “Saver” meals that can reduce costs by an additional $1.00-$1.50 per portion. They also offer customization options on about 20% of weekly meals, letting you double proteins or swap ingredients. However, you’ll need to provide more pantry staples than HelloFresh and follow digital recipes instead of printed cards.
Dinnerly delivers to most metropolitan and rural areas across Australia, with a $9.99 delivery fee. While portions can vary between meals, their commitment to quality ingredients hasn’t been compromised as they use the same suppliers as their premium parent company Marley Spoon. You can read more about my experiences cooking with them in my full Dinnerly review.
Lite n Easy
Healthy, Calorie-Controlled Meals
If HelloFresh isn’t meeting your weight management goals, Lite n Easy offers a completely different approach with their calorie-controlled prepared meals. As Australia’s longest-running meal delivery service, they’ve helped thousands of people achieve their weight loss goals through portion-controlled meals that require zero cooking.
Their extensive menu features over 65 different dinner options each week, drawn from a catalog of 235+ meal variations. Unlike HelloFresh’s cooking requirements, these meals just need a few minutes in the microwave. They offer both fresh and frozen options, with satisfying portions that include a good balance of protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates.
What sets Lite n Easy apart is their structured approach to weight loss, with complete meal plans at either 1200 or 1500 calories per day. While more expensive than cooking HelloFresh meals yourself at $26-28 per day for full meal plans, the convenience of having everything prepared and portioned can be invaluable for staying on track with your diet. They also offer dinner-only packages from $10-15 per meal if you prefer to manage your other meals independently.
Lite n Easy delivers across Australia with an impressive 24-hour turnaround in metro areas. While they’re not a direct replacement for HelloFresh’s home cooking experience, they’re worth considering if weight management is your priority. You can read more about my experiences trying their full range in my detailed Lite n Easy review.
Try Lite n Easy TodayDiscover weight loss meals with Lite n Easy
Making the most of HelloFresh
There are plenty of reasons you might want to move away from HelloFresh, although it’s also worth considering whether some minor changes to approach might make HelloFresh work for you.
HelloFresh for Singles – With meals being delivered for 2 or 4 people, it’s easy to be discouraged if you’re only cooking for yourself. However, I have found this to always be super helpful for meal kits as you can get away with cooking half as much. How? By making sure you’re cooking meals only once and reheating them for the next evening. Check out my article on the best meal kits for singles for more help on the best ways to do this.
Ingredient Problems – Unfortunately, fresh ingredients are tricky things to manage at large scale for companies like HelloFresh. The trick is to be aware of this and treat every ingredient with the respect it deserves. Get your meat and veggies in the fridge as quickly as possible, store the herbs right and use a cupboard/pantry that doesn’t get too warm. Discover my top tips for looking after meal kit ingredients.
Too Expensive – We can all tell that HelloFresh is more expensive than grocery shopping, with our research showing that it’s roughly 30% more costly. Over the course of an entire year, this can add up to a significant amount of dollars. To save some money, we highly recommend using our Meal Kit Method that could save you over $1500 a year whilst still getting meal kits delivered every week. This method simply takes advantage of the regular offers that each meal kit service offers to existing customer.
Get onto Live Chat – I’ve had very few problems using HelloFresh, but there was one time when my salmon didn’t turn up! It was a fairly crucial element to the dish, so it was very disappointing not to receive the salmon in my delivery. By going onto the HelloFresh Live Chat system, I had a $10 credit on my account within 5 minutes and I was able to nip to the shops and get some new salmon fillets. It’s not ideal, but if you’re not happy with any ingredients then make sure to jump on live chat with HelloFresh!
After all that, if you’re still not happy with the service HelloFresh is providing then we guide you on exactly how to cancel HelloFresh.
Featured Service
