I got curious about meal kits after a friend kept posting photos of elaborate dinners she made on weeknights. She has two kids and a full-time job — I could not figure out how she had the time. Her answer: the kit does the planning, the shopping, and the measuring, and she just cooks.

I tried three of the major services — HelloFresh, Blue Apron, and EveryPlate — each for one week. Here is what I found, the honest version, not the “first box free” version the ads show you.

HelloFresh: the reliable middle ground

HelloFresh was the easiest to get started with. The recipes are clear, the ingredients are pre-portioned in labeled paper bags — grab a bag from the fridge, and everything for that meal is inside. Average cook time was 30 to 40 minutes, which they advertise accurately.

The produce quality was good but not perfect. One week the green beans were a little sad-looking — still usable, but not crisp. The protein portions were generous. Three meals for two people ran about sixty dollars per week at full price, which works out to ten dollars per serving. That is cheaper than takeout but more than buying groceries yourself.

The recipes leaned crowd-pleaser. Lots of tacos, pasta, chicken with pan sauce. Nothing challenging, which was fine for weeknights but got repetitive by week two. If you know how to cook basics, HelloFresh will not teach you new techniques. It will just save you the grocery store trip.

Blue Apron: more interesting, more work

Blue Apron’s recipes were noticeably more interesting — miso-glazed eggplant, shakshuka, dishes with techniques I had not tried before. The ingredients were slightly higher quality than HelloFresh’s. But the prep work took longer. A recipe listed at 35 minutes regularly took me 45 to 50.

Blue Apron does not pre-bag by meal. All the produce arrives together and you sort it yourself, which I found annoying. For the price — similar to HelloFresh — I expected the same level of convenience. The food was better, but the experience was more effort.

EveryPlate: the budget option that punches up

EveryPlate is HelloFresh’s budget brand. The price is about five dollars per serving — genuinely competitive with grocery shopping if you factor in food waste. The tradeoffs: fewer recipe choices (about 14 per week versus HelloFresh’s 30+), less packaging organization, and ingredients that are not individually wrapped — everything arrives in one box.

The recipes are simpler — more burgers, fewer international dishes. But for a family or someone who just wants to stop thinking about what to cook, EveryPlate delivers. Three weeks in, I had not thrown away a single wilted vegetable, which is more than I can say for my normal grocery runs.

The verdict

Meal kits are not cheaper than careful grocery shopping. They are cheaper than careless grocery shopping plus takeout to replace the food you forgot to cook. If food waste is your problem, a meal kit will save you money. If you already meal plan and cook efficiently, they are a convenience luxury.

For me, EveryPlate was the sweet spot — cheap enough to not feel guilty, simple enough to actually cook on weeknights. I kept the subscription but skip weeks when I have time to grocery shop properly.