Freshly Review

Friday, September 13th

2024 Meal Delivery Company Reviews

Freshly

• Prepared meal service
• Menu categories include Signature Collection, Purely Plant, Freshly Fit, Proteins & Sides
• 45+ meals to choose from
• Arrives fresh, can be frozen for extended storage
• Order 4-12 meals per week
• Certified gluten-free safe service
• Priced at $8.99+ per serving
• 24/7 customer service

Freshly wants to help you eat healthy without the hassle. All of their ready-to-heat options include minimally-processed ingredients, more nutrients (through "simple swaps and sneaky veggies”), and less sugar than the average meal. Another big plus for some customers is Freshly's certification as a gluten-free safe service (but be aware, if you've used Freshly in the past, that they are no longer peanut-free).

Refrigerate or freeze

Freshly's meals are never frozen, so you'll need to put them right into the refrigerator when you receive them. They'll keep for 3-5 days, and you're encouraged to eat certain items first (like seafood): those will be marked with a badge on the package. You can also put your meals in the freezer for longer storage; microwave it directly from the freezer and add a few minutes to the cooking time on the instructions.

Very flexible delivery options

To get started with Freshly's meal deliveries, you'll be asked to choose a delivery day after you enter your email address and zip code. In our area, the available delivery dates were Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and we could get our first package just five days after placing our order. The latest date you can schedule your initial shipment is just under three weeks, if you're trying to plan ahead (or avoid a time you won't be home).

Get 4-12 meals every week

Freshly meals are ordered by quantity: in other words, you'll choose from 4-12 meals per week, with a starting price of $8.99 each. That's good news for one-person households who don't want to be locked into the two-serving minimums often found with competitor delivery companies. While you'll have to order at least four meals every time, you'll save money the more you buy. For example, going from four to six meals saved us $10.80 (which is almost like a buy-five-get-one-free promo), seven meals equaled a $12.60 savings, and going all the way up to 12 netted a discount of $33.60. We're not thrilled that Freshly caps the order at 12 meals - after all, what if you've got a family of four and you'd like to stock the fridge with a week of easy dinners for everyone? - but it is what it is.

Helpful filters to sort through 45 meal choices

As you set up your choices, use the Sort & Filters options to focus the matching results as needed. You can opt for carb conscious, plant-based, and/or dairy-free diets; categories like FreshlyFit (lower calorie) and Signature Collection; or even sort by the macro that's most important to you (like protein, carbs, or sodium). There were about 45 meal options at the time of this review, with some slight shifts as we scrolled from one delivery week to another. Many of the meals were the same from week to week, so if you find something you love, chances are good you can get it again (instead of some meal delivery services that rotate all recipes every week).

Failing rating

It wasn't a pleasant discovery to see that Freshly has gone down to an "F” rating from the Better Business Bureau, for failing to respond to the most recent 11 complaints filed there. And we're not talking about a week delay - but months going by with no answer.

Very mixed feedback

Then again, complaints registered in other places received a response 100% of the time. We're really not sure what to make of that. Plus, we found more than 10,000 five-star reviews for Freshly from users around the world. We're not sure if the meal quality and delivery reliability is overly dependent on your location - do subscribers in the UK have a better or worse experience than the ones in the USA or Norway, for example? - but it was reassuring to see that, beyond the BBB troubles, there are still enough people getting Freshly meals and liking them to keep this company from falling to the bottom of the pile.

Might be worth it for some customers

For some people, Freshly would make a lot of sense - particularly those who want to simplify their lives with ready-to-heat meals they can have on hand anytime. We're still a little on the fence with the way the company responds to customers (or doesn't), especially since this used to be our first-place choice among meal delivery services, but if Freshly's approach interests you, it's not a huge risk to give it a try.