HelloFresh vs Terra's Kitchen 2023: The Perfect Replacement

If you’ve been looking for the perfect replacement for Terra’s Kitchen, which went out of business a couple of years back, your search is over! After thorough consideration and research, I think HelloFresh is a perfectly good alternative.

Not only is HelloFresh one of the most popular meal kit delivery services on the market, but the brand’s menu is quite similar to what Terra’s Kitchen used to offer. Plus, the offer is more varied, and customers have the opportunity to try out a wider range of cuisines and recipes.

For more on this, check out my HelloFresh vs. Terra’s Kitchen comparison!

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: HelloFresh

Even if Terra’s Kitchen were still in business, HelloFresh would’ve won this round due to its menu diversity and culinary richness. First of all, the HelloFresh menu lets you choose between 60+ different recipes each week. Terra’s Kitchen wasn’t that far away, with 50 recipes on the menu, but the company used to focus more on the Mediterranean Diet.

HelloFresh, on the other hand, is more about introducing new flavors and cuisines into the menu. While most meals are inspired by American, Mexican, and Italian cuisines, you’ll find meals inspired by Asian, Indian, Greek, French, and others.

Also, I like that HelloFresh tends to include one or two dishes that you wouldn’t have tried otherwise, such as Spicy Tunisian Bulgur and Salmon Bowls or Pork and Zucchini Bibimbap (a Korean-inspired meal).

In terms of dietary options, Terra’s Kitchen may have been better prepared than HelloFresh, with options for paleo, gluten-free, low-calorie, vegetarian, and vegan lifestyles. But this doesn’t mean you can’t follow a veggie-forward lifestyle with HelloFresh!

Plus, HelloFresh’s menu can easily accommodate families from small to large since you can order up to six recipes per week for two or four people. Furthermore, most of the meals are child-friendly, so you don’t have to worry about not finding something suitable for the young members of the family. 

The menu includes veggie, carb-smart, Mediterranean, and calorie-smart options, but with a bit of browsing, you’ll definitely find meals for more restrictive diets such as keto or paleo. Plus, there are different levels of difficulty (from easy to hard), and the cooking times range between 10 and 50 minutes.

Terra’s Kitchen menu was better suited for adults, even if the meal prep and cooking time were a bit shorter (15-30 minutes). This was mainly due to the fact that the meals used to be focused on simplicity.

A meal like Cheesy Bacon and Broccoli Pasta is rather easy to put together and place in the oven. The same is true about salads, tofu, or chicken – high-quality ingredients and flavorful recipes that don’t take long to prepare and cook.

HelloFresh has a similar approach towards simplicity, but it also features the Premium-Picks section, with top-of-the-line recipes and higher quality ingredients (for which you’ll pay extra) that take a bit longer to put together.

Luckily, even a complete beginner can follow a well-designed recipe. So, if you want to impress your guests, you can order a special meal (like a delicious Pecan-Crusted Chicken) and prepare it to perfection by just following the steps provided by HelloFresh in its recipe cards.

With both companies, the emphasis is on sustainability and farm-to-table meal kits that include the highest-quality ingredients. Also, in both cases, the ingredients are pre-portioned to avoid food waste. For this, each serving is designed to satisfy a fully-grown adult.

HelloFresh has a well-stocked à la carte Market, so if you feel your regular order is lacking, you can add side dishes, snacks, breakfasts, groceries, and more. Also, the company recently introduced 10-minute lunches in the standard orders – this way, you have options for all the main meals of the day.

On a similar note, Terra’s Kitchen used to offer side dishes, extra proteins, fully-prepared salads, soups, yogurts, healthy snacks, and smoothies.

Meal Customization

Winner: HelloFresh

HelloFresh wins this one due to its HelloCustom feature, where you can change, swap, or upgrade 12+ sides and proteins each week. With this option, you can customize recipes and make them fit your taste by trying different proteins or veggies for the same dish.

Also, with meal kits (applies to both HelloFresh and Terra’s Kitchen), you can customize your meals after they arrive by choosing not to add an ingredient or swapping it while cooking. Still, this means you’ll have some ingredients left over, which can be an inconvenience and may turn into food waste.

You can’t exclude specific ingredients from the menu (in either case), but you can browse using filters and tags. For instance, Terra’s Kitchen allowed users to filter meals based on allergens, protein sourcing, cooking time, ingredients, dietary options, and cuisine type.

I have to admit; I was impressed by the protein-sourcing filtering feature since it allowed customers to see where the meat was coming from. This showed the brand was truly dedicated to animal welfare and to providing their clients with high-quality ingredients.

On the other hand, HelloFresh uses colorful tags to indicate the category of a meal (10-min Lunch, Premium Picks, Seasonal Faves, and so on). Also, you see the cooking time and the dietary preferences that apply.

While both companies provide information on the possible allergens in each recipe (it’s up to you to find it), there’s still the risk of cross-contamination. HelloFresh clearly states that the food is prepared in a facility that processes some of the most common allergens, such as milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybean.

Lastly, to make it even easier for you, HelloFresh starts with six regular meal plans (Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Family Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, Quick & Easy, Pescetarian), which you can mix and match to create your own.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing

Winner: HelloFresh

The ordering process is similar for both companies and goes quite smoothly once you know what you want. However, I think HelloFresh’s offer manages to cover a wider range of households, as you can order up to 6 weekly recipes for 2 or 4 people. Terra’s Kitchen, on the other hand, was limited to 4 meals for 2 or 4 people.

HelloFresh makes it easy to change your meal preferences and the number of servings you need from one week to another. All you have to do is update your meal quantity and menu preferences in your account settings. Just be sure to make the edits by 11:59 pm PST, 5 days prior to your next scheduled delivery.

Luckily, you can see the menu 5 weeks in advance, so you have plenty of time to decide. And if you want to test things out, you can try the minimum order, which for HelloFresh is 2 meals for 2 people.

The company delivers to all states across the continental US and areas in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Anchorage, Alaska. HelloFresh also has plans to include more of Hawaii and Alaska in the near future. Terra’s Kitchen's minimum order was 3 meals for 2 people, and the company used to deliver across the US, but it wasn’t available everywhere.

I think the company lacked transparency in this aspect because you had to type in your zip code to find out if your location was on their delivery list. Also, before you could select a delivery date, you had to choose the meal plan and the number of meals.

When it comes to packaging, I have to admit that the one from Terra’s Kitchen was quite impressive. The food was neatly stacked in individual boxes placed on pull-out trays inside a mini-fridge. This way, the company would guarantee the food reaches your door in its freshest state. Plus, everything was nicely organized and easy to transfer into your fridge.

The great thing about this type of packaging is that it can be reused up to 100 times (the courier came by to pick it up), which cuts down delivery packaging waste. Also, you didn’t have to worry about recycling the leftover materials since Terra’s Kitchen encouraged customers to return the ice packs and plastic packaging with the vessel.

HelloFresh isn’t as advanced when it comes to packaging, but it does put a lot of effort into reducing plastic usage and working with recyclable materials. For instance, most of the boxes are made of 100% recycled content cardboard, the meal kit bags are made of paper, and the ice packs are recyclable.

Also, the ingredients for each meal are nicely packed together in a paper bag sealed with a numbered sticker. The number on the sticker corresponds to the number on the recipe card (bag 3 is for recipe number 3, for instance), so it’s easy to match the recipes with the right ingredients.

The protein (meat or fish) is individually packed and placed separately at the bottom of the box, close to the dry ice pack. This way, it stays cold even if there are delays with the transport. Also, since it’s clearly labeled, there’s no risk that you’ll mistake it for something else.

Both companies put a lot of effort into clearly labeling the ingredients with “consume by” dates, storage instructions, and nutritional information (among others). Also, perishable ingredients (meat, eggs, dairy, leafy greens) have to be stored in the fridge, while some are best stored in a pantry.

Meal Prep

Winner: HelloFresh

HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service (and so was Terra’s Kitchen). This means there’s going to be some prep and cooking for each meal you choose. I like that HelloFresh lets you browse the menu based on the level of difficulty (a feature that was also available on Terra’s Kitchen), so you can choose recipes based on your kitchen skills.

In general, prep time can vary between 10 minutes for easy-prep lunches and 50 minutes for more complex recipes. The ingredients arrive pre-portioned, and you may have to do some peeling or chopping.

Also, if the recipe includes sauces or some kind of stock (veggie, chicken, and so on), you’ll receive it ready-made, in the right quantity. The only ingredients that won’t be delivered are the ones that are readily available in most kitchens, such as salt, pepper, cooking oil, butter, or sugar.

Also, it helps that HelloFresh includes well-designed recipe cards that describe the prep and cooking process step-by-step (text and images). However, Terra’s Kitchen took this one step further by adding trivia facts and cute stories about the meals and sometimes the ingredients you were cooking. This way, you got to learn something new while doing the prep and cooking, which sounds a lot more fun.

Customer Support

Winner: HelloFresh

HelloFresh makes it easy for customers and curious visitors to find answers to their inquiries through either the extensive Help Center a FAQ section or the blog where the brand posts fresh content regularly.

There’s also a Cookbook (or Recipes) section where you can find 2500+ recipes and cooking instructions. So, if you ever lack inspiration or feel stuck in your dinner routine, HelloFresh offers tips and guidance for everyone, not just paying customers. But you’ll have to do the shopping and all the prepping.

HelloFresh also has a solid social media presence (where you can also send messages) and regular contact channels such as phone and a 24/7 virtual assistant via chat. If you have a simple question, I recommend trying first with the virtual assistant – she’s well-prepared to answer a wide range of inquiries.

Terra’s Kitchen used to have a reliable customer support team that was easy to get a hold of by phone or email. Plus, the brand was active on social media. Still, the canceling process was a bit confusing since the instructions on the support page didn’t match the features available on users’ accounts. However, if you got in touch with the support team and asked for a cancelation, you didn’t encounter any resistance.

With HelloFresh, things are straightforward since you have the necessary tools in your account. You can easily skip a week, pause your subscription, or cancel your account. However, you have to respect the cut-off date, which is 11:59 pm PST, 5 days prior to your next scheduled delivery.

Pricing

Winner: HelloFresh

Starting at Price: Missing price for Product undefined per serving, HelloFresh isn’t too pricy, but you can’t say it’s budget-friendly either. It’s just right. In all fairness, high-quality ingredients from sustainable sources don’t come at a low cost. Plus, all the recipes are designed by professional chefs, so you can trust the instructions on the recipe cards.

Also, the price per serving is influenced by the size of your order. For instance, if you order the minimum (2 servings for 2 people), you’ll pay $12.49 per serving. Add to this the cost of shipping, which is $10.99 per order, and the weekly cost can vary considerably.

Plus, if you choose meals from one of the several special series HelloFresh runs (Premium Picks, Winter Warmers, Spring Selects, Cookout Collection, Taste of Summer, Date Night, Harvest Series, Celeb Chef Series), you'll have to pay a surcharge per serving which will be indicated in the recipe preview when selecting your meals.

Terra’s Kitchen was on a similar pricing level, with the average cost per serving at around $14 and starting at $12.49. However, orders over $100 got free shipping (which was $6.99 otherwise). But you had to pay extra for add-ons such as sides, ranging between $3 and $7 per item, or fully-prepared salads, which were between $8 and $9 per serving.

Features Comparison: HelloFresh vs. Terra’s Kitchen

And The Winner Is: HelloFresh

HelloFresh is the clear winner since Terra’s Kitchen isn’t in business anymore, but it would’ve won nonetheless. There’s more menu variety, more options for different types of cooks, and the prices are a smidge lower.

Plus, if you check out HelloFresh’s meal plans and options for customization, you’ll see why I see it as the clear winner between the two companies. And, if you need extra reassurance, our experts placed it in the top five of the best meal delivery services.

FAQ

Is Terra’s Kitchen better than HelloFresh?

No, but the two companies are quite similar. Terra’s Kitchen’s and HelloFresh menus are somewhat similar, but HelloFresh has more variety and more options from worldwide cuisines. Also, you can customize some of your meals and decide whether you want to cook something simple or something a bit more restaurant-worthy.

Does HelloFresh use quality ingredients?

Yes, HelloFresh only works with high-quality, seasonal, and farm-sourced ingredients delivered by reliable suppliers at peak freshness. Also, the ingredients reach your doorstep in the best condition, ready for prepping and cooking.

Is it hard to cancel HelloFresh?

Not at all. If you want to cancel or pause the weekly deliveries, you can do so using your online account. Just be sure to pause/cancel by 11:59 pm PST 5 days prior to your next scheduled delivery. Otherwise, you’ll still be charged for the following week’s order, after which your subscription will be canceled/paused.