Where things stand on 9 November 2026: none of the UK recipe box or ready meal brands we follow has announced a Black Friday deal yet. Black Friday is on Friday 27 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November. Until the deals appear, the normal new-customer offers below are what you can get, and several of them are already large.
Black Friday is less of an event for meal kits than for TVs or trainers. The big brands already give new customers 30% to 50% off their first box all year, so a Black Friday deal is mostly a slightly bigger first-box discount or a free extra. This page shows the current offer for each brand, what they did on Black Friday before, and how to tell whether a deal is actually better.
Meal kit offers right now, and what to expect on Black Friday
| Brand | Offer for new customers now | Black Friday 2026 | Earlier Black Fridays |
|---|---|---|---|
| HelloFresh | 50% off your first box | Not announced | The brand that pushes Black Friday hardest. In 2023 it offered 60% off the first box, 25% off the boxes after it and a free dessert |
| Gousto | 50% off your first box, then 40% and 20% | Not announced | We found no evidence of a Gousto deal bigger than its usual offer |
| Green Chef | 40% off your first box | Not announced | No confirmed details |
| Mindful Chef | 30% off your first 4 boxes | Not announced | No confirmed details |
| Grubby | 30% off your first box | Not announced | No confirmed details |
| SimplyCook | First box for £5 including postage | Not announced | No confirmed details |
| Riverford | Free chopping board on your first order | Not announced | No Black Friday discounts that we could find |
| allplants | 10% off with newsletter sign-up | Not announced | In 2024 allplants ran a giveaway of free boxes instead of a discount |
| Oddbox | £10 off your first box through a referral | Not announced | Oddbox positions itself against Black Friday discounting |
| Frive | 40% off your first week | Not announced | No confirmed details |
The offers in the second column come from our discount code overview, which we check every month. Each brand’s discount page has the conditions.
Is a Black Friday meal kit deal better than the normal offer?
Often not by much, and sometimes not at all. The trick is to look at the total discount over the first few boxes, not at the percentage on the first one.
Take Gousto’s normal offer on its standard box of three recipes for two people, which costs £32.25 before delivery: 50% off the first box, 40% off the second and 20% off boxes three to six. Added up, that is £54.83 off over six boxes. A Black Friday deal of 60% off only the first box of a similar £32.94 box saves £19.76. The bigger headline number is worth about a third as much.
That works the other way too. If you only want to try one box and cancel, a large first-box discount is exactly what you need, and the spread-out offer does little for you. So decide first how many boxes you plan to take, then compare.
What usually changes on Black Friday
- A higher first-box discount: typically 10 percentage points above the normal offer, as HelloFresh did in 2023.
- Free extras: desserts, breakfast items or treats added to the first boxes rather than more money off.
- No change at all: brands that already run a big offer all year, or that object to Black Friday discounting, simply keep their normal deal.
Black Friday offers are for new customers almost without exception. If you already have an account, the brands mostly reward you through referral credit or win-back emails instead.
Before you sign up: three things to check
- What you pay after the offer. Our cost pages show the normal price for every box size: Gousto, HelloFresh, Green Chef, Mindful Chef and Riverford.
- Delivery cost. Most discounts do not cover delivery, which is usually £3.99 to £5.99 a box.
- The Christmas weeks. A subscription started at the end of November runs straight into Christmas. Skip the weeks you are away before each week’s cut-off. If you want a Christmas dinner box, see our Christmas food boxes 2026 overview.
Frequently asked questions
When is Black Friday 2026?
Friday 27 November 2026, followed by Cyber Monday on 30 November. Meal kit deals, when they come, often start a few days earlier and run until Cyber Monday.
Which meal kit has the best Black Friday deal?
None has announced one yet. On past form HelloFresh is the most likely to run a dedicated Black Friday offer. Compare it on the total saving over the boxes you plan to keep, not on the first-box percentage.
Can existing customers get Black Friday meal kit deals?
Rarely. The offers are built to win new customers. Existing customers usually get referral credit for bringing in a friend, and sometimes a win-back offer by email after cancelling.
More to read
- All current food box discount codes, in one table.
- Recipe boxes in the UK compared on normal price, box sizes and delivery.
- Gousto vs HelloFresh: which is better value after the intro offer.
