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Article updated on October 31, 2021 at 6:00 AM PDT

Freshly Review: Are These Prepared Meals as Good as They Look?

This popular, prepared meal delivery service is one of the most well-known in the growing category. But is the food any good?

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David Watsky
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David Watsky Senior Editor / Home and Kitchen
David lives in Brooklyn where he's spent more than a decade covering all things edible, including meal kit services, food subscriptions, kitchen tools and cooking tips. Since earning a BA in English from Northeastern in Boston, he's toiled in nearly every aspect of the food business, including as a line cook in Rhode Island where he once made a steak sandwich for Lamar Odom. Right now, he's likely somewhere stress-testing a blender or researching the best way to make bacon. Anything with sesame is his all-time favorite food this week.
Expertise Kitchen tools, appliances, food science, subscriptions and meal kits.
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Freshly
8/10 CNET Score
See at Freshly
8.0/ 10
SCORE

Freshly

See at Freshly
Pricing Starting at $9/meal
Type Pre-made
Regional Availability Continental United States
Number of Meal Options per Week 30
Menu Options/ Diet Types Gluten-free, dairy-free, plant-based, carb-smart, and calorie-conscious

Score Breakdown

Taste/results 8/10Value 8/10Recipe variety 7/10Healthiness 8/10

Pros

  • Meals are satisfying and portions are plentiful
  • Crowd-pleasing meals that are good for kids and families
  • Affordable when compared with other services
  • Meals arrive fresh, not frozen

Cons

  • Recipes aren't the most exciting
  • Not as healthy as other meal delivery services
  • Almost no seafood options
  • Added cost for shipping

Editor's note: As of January 1, 2023, Freshly and FreshlyFit have ceased all meal delivery operations.

Meal delivery options have ballooned in a big way over the past several years. This is a good thing if you're searching for a way to make mealtime easier. I mean, way easier. All the competition in the space amounts to more meal subscription options, such as healthy and vegan meal delivery, meals for families and some solid budget meal-by-mail options. You can get meals delivered for under $5 per serving if you look in the right places, in fact. 

Freshly's prepared meal subscription isn't an old service by any means, but it is one of the first to get in on the prepared lunch and dinner game at a national level. Freshly doesn't purport to be the healthiest meal delivery in the category or focus on upscale recipes or menus tailored to niche diets. It does, however, boast some of the freshest, tastiest meal delivery in 2022. Freshly's meals are intended to be crowd-pleasers aimed at a wider audience versus some services such as Factor 75 or Fresh N Lean that have more of a niche audience in mind.

freshly.png
Freshly

Freshly may be one of the best-known meal delivery services, but is it one of the best?

Be it due to skilled marketing, time in operation or just a good track record Freshly is easily one of the most popular prepared-meal subscription services. A quick scan of online Freshly reviews shows it has a growing base of loyal customers. It probably has one of, if not, the best brand IDs along with meal kit services such as Blue Apron and HelloFresh. But just because you've heard of a company doesn't mean it's one of the best prepared meal services -- not by a long shot. 

Pete's Paleo and Mosaic Foods are two examples of truly excellent and healthy meal delivery services that are not well known. So what about Freshly. Does it live up to its strong public image?

Is Freshly any good? 

To cook up this review of Freshly, I tried eight recipes over the course of a few weeks to give the service a fair shake and dive into the details of the popular meal delivery service. I went into my tasting not expecting high-end cuisine -- that's not really what meal delivery is about -- but rather hoping the service would make good on its promise of delivering fresh-tasting and flavorful meals that are conveniently packaged and shipped weekly to take the guesswork, and work-work, out of lunch or dinner on busy days. 

Below is a breakdown of the popular meal delivery service and my firsthand review of Freshly.

Freshly pricing

Meals per weekPrice per meal (shipping is extra)
4 $11.79
6 $10
10 $9.29
12 $9

How does Freshly work?

Freshly's prepared meals come individually packaged and portioned, so these work especially well for single folks or couples without kids. Meals are assembled much like old-school TV dinners but are far more attractive and -- spoiler alert -- they taste better, too. Freshly meals arrive cold but not quite frozen, so it's up to you whether to heat and eat them right away or freeze a few meals for a rainy day. (Note: Some foods freeze much better than others, I found.)

freshly
Freshly

Through the website, you can choose a Freshly meal plan subscription that includes as few as four or as many as 12 premade meals per week. Freshly has plenty of meal choices good for lunch or dinner, along with options for folks with dietary restrictions, including gluten-free, keto or low-carb and low-calorie. There are a few plant-based options too, but not nearly as many as other services offer. Off the bat, I'd say there are some much better meal delivery services for vegetarians or vegans in 2022. 

Freshly ships to every state in the lower 48 (sorry, Hawaii and Alaska). You can also change, pause or cancel your Freshly meal plan anytime, so it's very low-risk if you just want to check it out for a week or two.

Read moreBest Seafood Delivery Services for 2022

How much do Freshly meals cost?

Depending on the plan you choose, Freshly meals clock in between $9 and $11.79 per meal. It's certainly more expensive than cooking at home, overall, but it's cheaper than takeout and healthier, generally speaking. There are shipping costs as well that vary somewhat but generally don't exceed $10 per box.

Environmental impact and packaging

Freshly is as good as any meal service with regards to recyclability. You can check out this slick video on the company's website explaining how nearly every piece of your order right down to the ice packs can be recycled.

Read more:How to properly recycle takeout containers

new-freshly-packaging-2021
Freshly

Is Freshly meal delivery any good?

I've tried a good many prepared meal services at this point, and while others like Home Bistro may hit higher highs, Freshly was the most consistent meal service I've tested thus far. You can tell it focuses on fan favorites and universally popular dishes rather than attempting those more out-of-the-box recipes. For what it is and aims to be, I'd say that's a good thing. 

Freshly meals are premade and shipped in cooler boxes and so they're not likely to win any Michelin stars, but I was pleasantly surprised by how flavorful and, well, fresh most of my Freshly meals were. The culinary team has clearly thought carefully about what sort of meals will both travel and reheat well, and this made a big difference for me when comparing it with some other meal delivery services.

Here's a breakdown of each Freshly meal I had and how I liked it: 

Almond-ginger chicken bowl: These bowls were some of the most successful Freshly meals for me. They all had good flavor, especially the Asian-style grilled chicken and veggies over rice with a punchy ginger sauce. The bowls are also the easiest to heat quickly and well without drying out the ingredients. Plus, they make a rather satisfying lunch or a quick and easy dinner.

ginger-bowl
Freshly

Turkey meatloaf: The meatloaf had really nice flavor and was very tender. It was also not overly greasy or salty, and the accompanying bean salad and cauliflower mash were nice complements. It felt like comfort food without being too heavy.

Buffalo chicken with loaded cauliflower: This simple dish was also good but felt more like a lunch than a dinner. The buffalo sauce wasn't too spicy, and the grilled chicken stayed moist when reheated.

Cauliflower bolognese: I try to stay away from any prepared pasta, and this cauliflower bolognese was a prime example of why. Even when reheated using my preferred method (see below), the end result was mushy and unappealing. The flavors were fine but not enough to make up for mushy pasta. Nothing is, to be honest.

freshly
Freshly

Steak peppercorn: This steak was another entree I had low expectations for, but I can say it overachieved in comparison with the pasta (above). It wasn't a Ruth's Chris ribeye by any stretch, but it was decent despite being cooked most of the way through. The side dishes were also solid, and the whole meal was filling. My suggestion: Keep this steak -- and any steak for that matter -- out of the microwave at all costs.

Read moreBest Meat Delivery Deals for May

Chicken tikka masala: This is probably my favorite guilty-pleasure takeout dish and so my standards are high. Freshly's might not have totally matched the version I usually pick up from my favorite Indian restaurant, but it was a solid effort. I reheated it in a skillet, and the result was some very tender and tasty chicken in a creamy masala sauce with fluffy rice. A delicious meal that I would eat again.

chicken-tikka-masala
Freshly

A big hack: How to prepare Freshly meals

Try not to heat any Freshly meals in the microwave if you can help it, with perhaps the exception of certain sides like mashed cauliflower or roasted potatoes. For chicken bowls, stir-fries and pasta, simply toss it all in a nonstick skillet for a few minutes, covered over low heat along with the sauce before serving. Yes, you'll have a pan to rinse -- but I promise it's worth it. I ordered two of each meal and tried heating them a few different ways. Every single time the microwave lost, often by a landslide. For larger pieces of chicken, steak and pork loins you could also use the low-and-slow skillet method but add a splash of water or chicken broth to bring some of that life and moisture back, or cover and heat them in your convection oven (also on low) or a countertop oven.

The verdict on Freshly meal delivery

No review of Freshly would be complete without a final verdict. I liked Freshly more than most of the meal delivery services I've tried but I wouldn't call it my favorite. That honor still goes to Fresh n' Lean. I'd categorize Freshly's style as comfort food with a slight healthy bent, and most everything I tried tasted fresh and came out well when I prepared it. As someone who cooks often, I wouldn't see myself eating Freshly meals more than a couple of times a week. But if I didn't enjoy cooking as much or was too busy to make the bulk of my daily meals, I think it would be a different story.

Now that I'm working from home indefinitely like many of us are, preparing lunch daily has become a bit more of a time-suck than it used to be (it's hard to justify ordering in when your stove is 4 feet away). I can certainly imagine having a few Freshly meals on hand that are ready to rock when the 12:30 p.m. lunch craving hits and I'm tight on time or motivation. Especially those saucy bowls, which make a tasty, healthy reprieve from the humdrum sandwich or salad routine. 

Want to know more about other meal delivery services? We've written about the best prepared meal delivery services for 2022 and the best meal kit delivery service for 2022. And if you're looking for gift ideas for the food lover in your life, check out the best kitchen gifts for a home cook or foodie

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