POST UPDATED 15th February 2026

Following other bloggers, allows you to take advantage of some really great offers. I tried a HelloFresh box because it was the first time I had tried a subscription box. When the recent Gousto offer came up. I had heard great things about the boxes and that the portion sizes were more generous than HelloFresh. 

Having tried both boxes, it was only right to talk about my experience in a comparison blog post. Let’s take a look at which box would be best for you. Gousto vs Hellofresh.

In this blog post, I am going to break down the great offers I took advantage of.

I will also be talking about whether this is a sustainable subscription for our family.

And reviewing which meals I loved the best.

Backstory 

Not enough time to cook

My hubby is a keen cook. I’m good at throwing random recipes together and baking. However, as parents, we don’t always have the time to create a healthy meal from scratch. 

I meal plan every week and also find the best supermarkets to purchase our groceries. But all of this is pretty exhausting.

Sitting around the table to eat a family meal

We’ve always wanted to create healthy meals for tea time. This is especially important now that my little one is going to school soon. 

Family time, around the table, has become a thing, and I’m glad. We sit at our small dining table. Have no phones or other distractions. And we all talk about our day. Adding a no-hassle, yummy, nutritious meal to that scenario is a huge benefit for us. 

Benefits of the meal two boxes we got 

I love how the boxes are packaged. With the correct amount of ingredients, you need. I’ve found that with both boxes, the ingredients were of a quality standard. Which is a bonus. 

Having a guide and the ingredients in front of you is fun. It allows my hubby to get creative. And we all participate in the creation of a lovely family meal. It also means I don’t have to meal plan.

Would I subscribe to the box permanently?

For our family, the answer is no. Simply because we couldn’t afford to pay the full price for the boxes, and get all the other food bits we need for the household on an average week.

However, if you’re single, or a couple. Maybe an elderly person. I do think the boxes are suitable for certain people in specific situations. 

When I lived alone for 8 months, I worked 10-12-hour days, with a commute on top of that. I batch-cooked everything I ate at home. Otherwise, I would have lived on toast. Money wasn’t an issue during this period of my life, and I absolutely would have subscribed to the box at this point. It all depends on your individual circumstances. 

Cancelling the subscription

Is it easy to cancel?

Because some people cannot afford to maintain an ongoing subscription. Both blogger offers came with instructions on how to cancel.

Both websites allow you to pause the subscription or miss a week. Simply because people’s circumstances change.

How to cancel

It’s easy to do in the app for HelloFresh and gousto. If you’re unsure – go to the help section or Google the process. 

Cancelling with HelloFresh didn’t impact my cashback with Quidco and I also cancelled my gousto subscription, after the first box arrived. 

Welcome back offers

Both websites want customers to come back. And as described above, I think they have something valuable to offer.

I haven’t been with gousto long enough to receive a welcome back offer.

But you can see the welcome offer from HelloFresh. My next delivery would cost me £34.38.

More details for connecting with me

Portion size

I see a lot of reviews online talking about portion size and whether you get enough food, with the subscription boxes. As we have a family of three to feed, we need to choose between the option of bigger portion sizes or more meals and variety.

When we ordered the HelloFresh box, some of the portion sizes were great. But others were not. Because HelloFresh is more prepared for you and involves less work, you can be limited in the amount of food you have after putting the meal together.

The meals we’ve had from gousto are more generous in portion size. And because there is more freedom to adapt the recipes, you can add more if needed. For example, a bigger portion size of chips, from potatoes you may have at home.

Grouping together ingredients

With HelloFresh you get the bulk of the ingredients in separate paper bags. This makes organising the meal a little easier. With Gousto, although I liked how the fridge section was packaged in the box, it was a little confusing that the ingredients were not grouped.

Recipe cards

Both subscription boxes come with recipe cards – so you do have a guide.

You can also rate the recipes in the app and provide feedback on what you thought.

Check out some of the recent posts on the blog

My thoughts on some of the meals and boxes 

HelloFresh meals

More detail on the HelloFresh portion size

I wanted to talk a little bit about the portion size for some of the meals we selected from HelloFresh. The Linguine gave us the best portion size to feed two adults and a toddler. However, some of the portion sizes were small. Demonstrated by the image below. That said, the Classic Beef Mince Cottage Pie was very filling. Even though it didn’t look like a lot of the plate.

Gousto meals

Final thoughts on which box to choose

Based on everything I’ve experienced and written about, it really is a compromise between how much time you have and what you’re looking for in terms of creative input. Also, whether there are fussy eaters in your household, how many people you have to feed and what portion size you’re looking for.