Gobble vs. HelloFresh 2023: Which Is Right for You?

If you love the idea of cooking up a storm in the kitchen, but find yourself short on time, both Gobble and HelloFresh are great options for speedy and exciting meal kits delivered to your door. That said, one is certainly quicker than the other.

Gobble’s chefs do the prep work so you don’t have to. That means if speed and ease are your main priorities, Gobble could be the way to go. But overall, HelloFresh won this contest for me, thanks to its user-friendly service and more affordable pricing. 

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: It’s a tie

This category is a really close call. In terms of numbers, HelloFresh just beats Gobble with 25 or more meals on the menu each week, across a range of cooking levels and times. On the Gobble menu, you’ll find around 16 entrees, but you’ll also spot a selection of soups, salads, breakfasts, and desserts.

HelloFresh also excels when it comes to cuisine variety, with a well-rounded offering of international and classic American dishes. 

For example, when I inspected one weekly menu, there were around five Italian meals, seven home-style American dishes, five Tex-Mex, and the rest were either Thai, African, Indian, or French. 

Gobble’s cuisine is varied, too. On the menu I examined, around half the dishes were Italian, with the rest divided up evenly between other international foods like Thai, Korean, Mexican, and Argentinian.

Both companies provide meal kits – as opposed to prepared meals – which you cook yourself. Gobble’s recipes are designed to be turned around in 15 minutes or less, since its in-house chefs peel, chop, and marinade all the ingredients to save you time. 

HelloFresh does have some Easy Prep and Easy Cleanup options, but generally, the meals take anywhere from 15 to 50 minutes to make. 

Meal Customization

Winner: HelloFresh

When it comes to dietary preferences, HelloFresh has a slight edge. It offers six meal plans – three of which are tailored to specific diets (Veggie, Fit & Wholesome, and Pescatarian).

Gobble offers only three plans: Classic, Lean & Clean, and Vegetarian. Similarly to HelloFresh’s Meat & Veggies plan, the Classic plan doesn’t really count as a specific dietary offering. Still, a solid showing – just not as good as HelloFresh.

Both companies also label their recipes with other dietary tags for further sorting. Over at HelloFresh you’ll find tags such as Calorie Smart and Carb Smart, while Gobble showcases the spice level, its bestsellers, and lists all the allergens without you having to click through to the recipe. 

While HelloFresh doesn’t show its allergens at first glance, it does allow you to filter out a small list of ingredients when you sign up, including beef, pork, and seafood. Gobble does this, too.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing

Winner: HelloFresh

The ordering process for both companies is pretty straightforward, and both require you to sign up and input your details (including payment details) before selecting meals for your first box. 

Gobble will get you to add your email and sign up before you can see the plans and pricing. With HelloFresh, the Personalize Your Plan page is the first step of the signup, so you can get an idea of prices before adding your email address and registering with the service.

 If you need to adjust an order or make any other changes to your plan, both HelloFresh and Gobble provide a FAQ section to assist you. This makes the process easy and relatively painless.

To amend an order on HelloFresh, simply log-in, click My Menu, and make any changes as needed. Just ensure you make your amendments by 11.59 pm (PST) at least five days prior to your next delivery.

With Gobble, you’ll need to log-in and navigate to your Delivery Calendar. Scroll to the appropriate week and click Customize Order. Make sure you make your adjustments by 11.59 pm the Wednesday before your meals are scheduled to be delivered.

The minimum order for both companies is two recipes that serve two people per week.

HelloFresh delivers to all states in the contiguous United States. Its delivery days are determined by zip code, though. For example, my location (northeastern NY State) offered delivery Tuesday through Saturday.

Likewise, Gobble delivers across the contiguous US, except for Montana. There’s also limited delivery in Nebraska, New Mexico, and Kansas. Your delivery day will be determined by your zip code but will always fall within Monday to Friday, since it doesn’t deliver on weekends.

For ultimate convenience, HelloFresh has an app that allows you to manage your account, track your delivery, and amend your meal selections with ease.

In contrast, Gobble’s online Delivery Calendar allows you to keep tabs on your order. If you need to alter your order or subscription, you have to log-in and change the info via the website.

When it comes to unboxing your HelloFresh and Gobble deliveries, both companies organize their ingredients well. 

HelloFresh packages its ingredients separately in paper bags, while Gobble packages them in plastic – though each ingredient is either peeled and/or chopped, and even marinated ahead of time for convenience.

Both companies appear to make similar efforts to recycle their packaging, but paper bags are quite clearly the more environmentally friendly choice here.

That said, everything from Gobble arrives in a cardboard box with an insulated liner, both of which can be recycled. The food is kept cold with gel ice packs which can be cut open and poured in the trash. The leftover plastic can be recycled.

The materials that HelloFresh uses otherwise are pretty much the same and can be recycled in the same fashion.

Meal Prep

Winner: Gobble

Both companies deliver fresh ingredients that can go straight into the fridge, though HelloFresh recommends freezing its proteins until a few hours before you want to cook them.

Meat should be used within five days once thawed, and seafood within two. Gobble states that its ingredients can be stored in the fridge for up to seven days.

Although HelloFresh’s ingredients are perfectly portioned for each recipe, the company doesn’t do as much prep work as Gobble. In fact, Gobble’s meal kits are designed to be super easy, cooked in a single pan, and on the table within 15 minutes – not to mention save on a ton of washing up. 

You’ll find everything chopped and ready to cook, plus a selection of ready-to-pour marinades and sauces.

HelloFresh does offer a limited selection of Easy Prep meals, that include sheetpan recipes, but on the whole its ingredients require a lot more care and attention on your part. Its recipes are also divided into difficulty levels, so you can choose meals to suit your schedule. 

Customer Support

Winner: HelloFresh

HelloFresh wins this category thanks to its great app. It also offers a highly effective chatbot (with a live chat option if you ask for it) and a customer service phone number where someone is always happy to help. 

Gobble offers a chatbot (with a live option), too, plus a phone number, text option, and email submission form.

To test the system, I decided to ask about allergens. When I approached the HelloFresh chatbot, it pulled up the information I needed almost immediately. It effectively scours through the FAQs to pull out the relevant information – and it did so here.

I didn’t have to speak to anyone on this occasion, but regardless, HelloFresh has always provided excellent customer service whenever I’ve needed to contact them. I’ve spoken to the company on the phone many times and have always found the team to be courteous, professional, and helpful.

I tried to find out how Gobble handles questions about allergens – the articles that the chatbot pulled up were not really useful, so I sent an email and was pleasantly surprised to get a response the same day.

Lastly, in the matter of canceling your subscription, both companies provide a detailed FAQ section that deals with this precise topic. 

Pricing

Winner: HelloFresh

Of course, one of the most critical metrics of comparison for any two meal delivery services is price. No one is going to enjoy a service if it’s way over budget. 

HelloFresh prices start at 18 free meals + first box ships free + 3 surprise gifts with code DR18HF per serving. In comparison, Gobble’s meal kits begin at Price: Missing Product gobble per serving – quite a big difference.

The cheapest starting price for HelloFresh is for four people ordering six meals per week – so, of the two companies, HelloFresh is definitely the most budget-friendly choice for busy families. 

If you’re an individual or two-person household ordering just two meals per week, however, HelloFresh’s prices are on par with Gobble – except Gobble offers free shipping, and HelloFresh charges a flat rate of $9.99, so that’s something to consider.

Features Comparison: Gobble vs. HelloFresh

And The Winner Is: HelloFresh

Although Gobble is definitely a great go-to for speed and easy meal prep, HelloFresh wins this contest for me. It provides a better user experience through its website and app, has a better price point, plus I really enjoy the variety it offers.

It is also worth mentioning that HelloFresh also made it onto our list of the 10 Best Meal Delivery Services 2023.

FAQ

Is Gobble a good food delivery service?

It depends on what you’re looking for. If you want to cook your own quick and easy meals at home and are willing to pay for such convenience, Gobble is an excellent choice. Every ingredient is prepped and ready to cook – no chopping or peeling required – and cleaning up afterward is easy, too.

What is the best healthy meal delivery service?

If it’s a choice between Gobble and HelloFresh, the healthier option is probably HelloFresh, thanks to its Calorie- and Carb-Smart options, and its Fit & Wholesome plan. That’s not to say Gobble is unhealthy – but for us, HelloFresh has the edge. In fact, HelloFresh made it to our list of the 10 Best Healthy Meal Delivery Services of 2023.

Why is Gobble so expensive?

Gobble is more expensive than other meal delivery services because it focuses on convenience. This requires a lot of work on Gobble’s part – its chefs measure, peel, chop, and create sauces from scratch so you can just throw everything together with ease.

It’s also worth noting that Gobble’s shipping is free, so this is probably factored into the meal prices.