Best Recipes Boxes UK 2022

Are you lacking creativity in the kitchen?

Perhaps you don’t have time to sit down and plan out a healthy meal for you and your family given work commitments.

It can be difficult to find new recipes that are fresh and healthy but convenient and enjoyable to make.

As someone who works full-time, I find I often lack imagination at mealtime despite wanting to eat healthy and tasty meals.

The good news is that there are a number of companies in the UK that provide nutritionist-designed recipes that are delivered to your doorstep.

In this article, we’re going to take a close look at some of the leading companies providing recipe boxes in the UK.

The companies in this feature provide meals containing high-quality ingredients with easy step-by-step cooking instructions, while offering flexible subscriptions plans to suit your budget or lifestyle.

Best Recipe Boxes UK – Top Three Picks

What Is A Recipe Box?

Recipe boxes are handy tailored food subscription delivery services.

Simply put, they provide you with all of the ingredients required to create a tasty meal, and are delivered to your door as frequently as you’d like.

You’ll be given clear and concise instructions on how to use the ingredients provided to create a tasty meal for you, you and your partner or your family.

When you receive your delivery, you’ll find a range of fresh ingredients, some of which will need to be put straight in your fridge.

You’re given step-by-step instructions on how to prepare the ingredients before you start the cooking process.

Most recipes will usually take between five and 40 minutes to make.

If you’ve selected more than one recipe as part of your subscription plan, you may have a number of bags containing the various ingredients required for each of the different meals on your menu.

How Do Recipe Boxes Work?

If you’ve decided that you’d like to try a recipe box from a recipe box company in the UK, you’ll first have to log onto their website.

Once there, you’ll find that most companies will offer a range of recipes that can cater to your specific needs, such as if you’re pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan.

You can also customise your order depending on whether you need meals for yourself, you and your partner or your family.

Once you’ve selected what recipes look best for you and your family, you simply enter your personal and payments details.

Your recipe box will be shipped directly to your door so you won’t have to worry about making a trip to the supermarket for dinner.

Once you’ve received your recipe box, it’s important to check whether any of the ingredients need to be stored in the fridge.

What We Looked For…

• Fresh Ingredients – You want to have peace of mind that you’re eating a diet consisting of fresh ingredients.

• Range Of Diets – Whether you eat a plant-based diet, you’re a vegetarian or a pescatarian, or you’ve got an allergy to dairy or gluten, it’s important that these recipe box companies cater to the needs of everyone irrespective of dietary requirements.

• Customer Reviews – We find that customer reviews can be indicative of how a company is performing over a period of time so we always take a look at independent review websites to see what people are saying.

• Sustainability – It’s never been more important to have a sustainable approach to operations as the issue of climate change becomes a more pressing concern to the human population.

• Price – Recipe box companies are providing a premium service so customers should be prepared to pay a premium price. Having said that, it’s still important to get value for your money.

Best Recipes Boxes UK 2022

So, with the introductions out of the way, here is our pick of three of the best recipe box services in the UK right now.

1) allplants

Website: www.allplants.com

As their name suggests, allplants are a company that have an obsession with eating plants.

allplants founders Alex and JP believe the world would be much better off if we all ate plants.

While they’ve got a plant-based philosophy, they also believe meals should be tasty, nutritious, easy to make.

That’s why they created allplants to provide Britons with the chance to eat a plant-based diet in a convenient but healthy way.

All of their recipes are created and cooked by chefs to contain what their website describes as the “tastiest, most exciting plant-based ingredients” you’ll find.

By instantly freezing their meals, the nutritious goodness and the amazing taste are locked in.

On your end, you just need to pop their meals in the oven before tucking into some tasty plants.

The Pros:

• Qualify Ingredients
• 100% Plant-based
• Sustainable Approach
• Quicky and easy to cook
• Easy and convenient to heat
• 45,000 meals every week

The Cons:

• Price – A premium price for a premium service.

Our Verdict:

We were sent three allplants recipes to try – and I was pleasantly surprised.

As someone who tries to eat plant-based four or five times a week, I was excited to see if allplants could deliver on taste and convenience.

When I cook vegan meals, I often find they can take a little longer and lack some imagination.

But allplants delivered on taste with their Teriyaki Udon, Mac & Greens and Rigatoni Bolognese.

All three were easy to cook but the standout was the Udon dish which had tasty flavours.

Although their meals are stored in containers, all of allplants’ packaging is recyclable. They’re committed to using sustainable, scalable, high-quality, and wherever they can, organically grown ingredients.

All things considered, allplants is our top pick given their plant-based approach, the sheer convenience of their vegan meals and their recyclable packaging.

2) HelloFresh

Website: www.hellofresh.co.uk

Having first started in Germany in 2011, HelloFresh are perhaps one of the most recognisable names within the recipe box marketplace and operate in 14 countries worldwide.

Their mission is simple – they want to change the way people eat forever.

HelloFresh aim to do this through providing affordable meals that use high-quality ingredients without sacrificing on taste.

Given that over 200 million HelloFresh meals were delivered in 2020, it’s promising to see that the company have adopted a sustainable approach to their business.

They promise less food waste and a CO2 neutral delivery of every box.

HelloFresh’s website says that their chef-created meals are tested 200 times to ensure they meet their high standards, while they provide step-by-step recipes that are easy to follow.

They proudly describe themselves as “dietarily diverse”, whether you want meat and vegetables, you’re a vegetarian or pescatarian or you’re feeding a family.

The Pros:

• Easy-To-Use
• A Wide Variety Of Meals
• Include Pescatarian and Vegetarian Options
• Experience In The Industry
• Sustainable Practices

The Cons:

• Price – You’re paying a little extra for the convenience
• No Dairy- Or Gluten-Free Options
• Limited Range Of Vegan Options

Our Verdict:

I was intrigued to try HelloFresh having heard a lot about their services over the past few years.

I was sent three recipes to try – Warm Mediterranean Vegetable and Chorizo Pasta Salad, Mango Chutney Glazed Chicken Wraps and Warming Beef Harira Style Soup.

All three recipes were extremely tasty and took around 30 minutes to make. I was pleasantly surprised by just how tasty my wife and I found the meals.

The instructions were easy to follow, although I did need to provide some of the basic ingredients for some of the recipes such as olive oil, pepper and salt.

I wouldn’t hesitate to order from HelloFresh in the future.

3) Mindful Chef

Website: www.mindfulchef.com

Launched in 2015, Mindful Chef was set up by school friends Giles, Myles and Rob.

They wanted to create a health-focused food box company – and they’ve gone on to ship over 10 million ingredients to UK customers from small farms across the country.

Mindful Chef’s website says that their meat is 100 per cent grass-fed, their chicken is free-range, their fish landed fresh in the UK and their vegetables are cultivated naturally.

If you’re thinking about signing up the Mindful Chef, you’ll want to understand a little bit more about their approach to nutrition.

Their website explains that they believe in reducing your intake of sugar and refined carbs, so they’ll never include pasta, bread or white rice in your recipe boxes. Their recipes are all gluten- and dairy-free.

Instead, Mindful Chef seeks to create recipes that find clever ways of incorporating fresh vegetables.

If you care about saving our planet like me, you’ll be interested to learn about Mindful Chef’s sustainable approach to their business.

The Pros:

• Qualify Ingredients
• Straightforward Recipes
• Lots Of Choice (Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian)
• Sustainable Approach
• Great reviews on Trustpilot
• Charitable Initiatives

The Cons:

• Price – A premium price for a premium service.
• Some Unnecessary Packaging – Some use of plastic packaging for small ingredients

Our Verdict:

Mindful Chef sent a sample box to me to try to see how their meals worked.

I received Coffee-rubbed Steak With Sweet Potato Wedges and Teriyaki Aubergine Edamame Quinoa.

I really enjoyed cooking the steak recipe, especially as I’ve never used coffee rub before. The step-by-step guide was simple to follow and it took just less than 30 minutes start to finish.

We try to eat plant-based as much as possible so I was excited to try a new way of eating aubergine. The second meal required a little more effort on my part but it was still filling and tasty.

Mindful Chef was a hit in my house and I can see the appeal of receiving healthy recipes in meal boxes that are easy and enjoyable to make.

3) Pasta Evangelists

Website: pastaevangelists.com

Do you enjoy Italian cuisine but you’re lacking some inspiration?

The Pasta Evangelists are a small team of pasta enthusiasts based in London.

Their website explains that they started the Pasta Evangelists to show that “there’s so much more to pasta than meets the eye”.

They believe pasta can make everything better and their founder Alessandro is looking to bring fresh and quality pasta to British kitchens.

Having grown up making pasta by hand with his nonna in Italy, Alessandro and the rest of the Pasta Evangelists team believe their pasta is the best in the UK.

Their aim is to provide five-star pasta dishes that are comprised of beautiful sauces and garnishes sourced directly from Italy.

Pasta Evangelists source their ingredients from small farmers and local growers in Italy, ensuring that they’re sourced seasonally and sustainably.

The Pros:

• Italian ingredients
• Freshly Made
• Ready In Five Minutes
• Recyclable Packaging
• 15 new recipes every week

The Cons:

• Delivery – some of the customer reviews referenced issues with delivery.
• Price – You’re paying for premium Italian ingredients.
• Only Italian recipes – But the hint is in the name!

Our Verdict:

As someone who loves Italian food, I was excited to try Pasta Evangelists.

I tried their Tortelloni all’Amatriciana with a Sage Butter Sauce and Tuscany’s Famous Wild Boar Ragu with Fresh Pappardelle recipes.

The quality of the ingredients was immediately apparent and the meals really did take just five minutes to cook which was super convenient but not at the expense of the taste.

Although I wasn’t sure whether the single portion size would be filling, I was pleasantly surprised that I felt content after both meals thanks to the premium ingredients.

I can see the appeal of enjoying a couple of restaurant-style pasta recipes a couple of times a week from Pasta Evangelists. The meals are perfect for a date-night dinner or a special occasion.

Anything Else To Consider?

If you have any dietary restrictions, you’ll need to pay close attention to the ingredients in the recipes before you place your order.

In order to maintain the integrity of the ingredients, you should make sure you refrigerate any chilled items contained within your order.

Some of the recipe box companies featured in this article recommend certain recipes to be cooked earlier in the week.

Wrapping Up – Our Final Thoughts

We’ve reached the end of our feature on the best recipe boxes in the UK.

We’ve walked you through some of the key things to consider when you’re looking for a recipe box company to provide tasty meals.

If you’ve got minimal dietary requirements, HelloFresh could be a good option for you with their range of recipes.

However, Mindful Chef’s meals are all dairy and gluten-free for customers who have allergies to consider.

For UK residents passionate about their Italian cuisine, Pasta Evangelists offer high quality dishes that will make you feel like you’re eating at a restaurant but from the comfort of your home.

While HelloFresh currently tops our list, you won’t go too far wrong by selecting any of the recipe boxes on this page.