Freshly Meal Delivery Box Review

Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Freshly, Real Simple, Sun Basket, Daily Harvest— there are so many meal delivery box services out there.

Years ago, I tried Blue Apron. After an hour of patiently waiting for dinner, my kids were hangry (hungry + angry). I vividly remember pleading with them to stop screaming and let me chop up the dill (the final garnish) so we could eat. As I said this statement, I realized NOBODY CARED about the dill. Blue Apron was not realistic for life with a full-time job and young kids.

I vowed never to buy another meal delivery box that made mealtime harder.

Before my last maternity leave, I researched the options to see which one would make my life easier. I needed a meal delivery service that was:

• Easy to make… like SUPER easy
• Contained healthy ingredients
• Could be easily customized
• Reasonably priced

I settled on trying out Freshly as lunch for myself. Often as a mom, I plan out dinners for the week for grocery shopping. When buying food, I often overlook planning for my own lunch. So Freshly’s single-meal size seemed perfect to take to work.

Now that I’ve used it for a while, I am confident in giving you my review of the meal delivery service, in case you were thinking of trying it too (or gifting it to someone else).

Note: Using any link to Freshly in this post will get you $40 off your first two weeks.

How Freshly Works

1. Go to Freshly.com to sign up and get $40 off your first two weeks (they break it out $20 off the first week, $20 off the second).
2. If you didn’t during the sign-up process, go to your profile icon, then “dietary preferences” to let the system know of any allergies or foods you want to avoid. For example, I have spicy food and seafood flagged as foods I want to avoid.
3. Go to the “Deliveries” page to review and select your meal options. How many you choose depends on your plan size that ranges from 4 to 12 meals a week.
   Note! As you set your meals for the upcoming week, it changes all subsequent weeks accordingly so set your closest week first, then the next, etc.
4. If there are any weeks you want to skip, press “Skip this week” button. You can do this for the next four weeks only.
5. As long as your delivery date is far enough away, you can always press the “change meals” button to update them.
6. Once your meals are set, you are done.
7. Freshly will send a confirmation email when your food starts being made and shipped. Once this happens, you cannot change your meals.

From what I remember after I initially set up the account, the earliest delivery I could get was a few weeks out. So, you will have to plan ahead of your first delivery.

When the meals arrive, they’re packaged quite well. There is insulation/padding all around the inside and the meals are sandwiched by two GIANT ice packs.

Take off the top ice pack and you’ll see your meals stacked nicely and kept super cold.

One time, our food was delivered so late, we were already asleep. We found the food the next morning on our porch, and it was STILL COLD. These are well-packaged!

I point out the ice pack because I am genuinely excited about the ice pack. We’ve re-used these ice packs so many times and even given them to neighbors too. They are awesome! #bonus

Also, each meal has a “use by” date on the back with the ingredients and nutrition information. It took me a while to find this so I want to make sure to point it out if you’re nervous about not being able to use them in time.

The use-by date is often within about 7 days.

Photos of Freshly Meals

Since Freshly would obviously make sure their food photos were beautiful, I thought you’d like to see photos of real meals taken by a non-photographer. Each photo is taken directly after cooking but before stirring.

Note: Using any link to Freshly in this post will get you $40 off your first two weeks.

Freshly Meal Review

I tried Freshly because I needed easy to make, healthy meals. After getting a few deliveries of four meals, these are my thoughts:

PROS

• Each meal takes less than 6 minutes to heat up in the microwave.
• Every meal I’ve tried has been very flavorful.
• These meals are so helpful to have during those busy seasons.
• The food may not always look like a lot, but it’s very filling.
• The fresh, healthy ingredients make me feel better about the meals. Mashed cauliflower and zucchini noodles aren’t something I’d regularly choose for myself but are healthier options, and delicious.
• I love that they include the “use by” date so it can help me plan when to use my meals.
• The system flags meals that include ingredients from your dietary restrictions list, and you can filter by them as well when browsing. It’s a nice feature.
• Updating your meals is super easy.
• Freshly meals would make a great gift for someone who just had a baby.
• Seriously, those giant ice packs are a nice bonus.

CONS

• The most time-consuming part is remembering each week to skip or set your new meals. I set a weekly reminder on my calendar.
• If a meal is no longer available, it deletes from your future meal plans. If you forget to check, you may end up with duplicates of another meal.
• If you forget to set your next week’s meals, it resends the same meals from the previous week.
• If you order every week, it can get costly. So, I use these as a nice treat for myself. One less thing to worry about that week.

The biggest downside is the mental workload of Freshly, remembering in advance to set the meals or skip. If Freshly had an option to have each week skipped by default so I could unskip when I need it, that would be ideal. However, remembering to open a website or app and push a few buttons is so much easier than actually making the food.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the meals I’ve gotten from Freshly. It was extremely helpful to have on maternity leave. I try to keep most weeks skipped, but when I am in a busy season at work, I am happy to unskip. Freshly definitely makes mom life a little easier.

Freshly Discount Code URL

Ready to try Freshly for yourself? Click on my Freshly referral link for a $40 discount off your first two weeks.

Have you tried Freshly before or another meal service you’d recommend? Comment below, I’d love to hear your review or recommendations as well!