Short answer: at normal prices, Gousto is the cheapest UK recipe box at every box size we compared. Three recipes for two people cost £6.04 a portion with delivery, against £6.32 at HelloFresh. Cook for four, five nights a week, and Gousto drops to £3.40 a portion.
Recipe box prices are hard to compare because every brand sells a grid of box sizes, adds delivery differently and leads with an introductory discount. On this page we rank the five big UK recipe boxes on the same basis: the normal price, delivery included, divided by the number of portions you actually get. The figures come from the brands’ own box selectors and are the same ones as on our cost pages, so when a price changes there, the ranking here changes with it.
The cheapest recipe box for two people
Three recipes for two people is the box most households start with, so this is the fairest head-to-head.
| Rank | Recipe box | Per portion, with delivery | Box price | Delivery | Every box size | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gousto | £6.04 | £32.25 | £3.99 | What Gousto costs | 50% off your first boxGet offer at Gousto ↗ |
| 2 | HelloFresh | £6.32 | £32.94 | £4.99 | What HelloFresh costs | 50% off your first boxGet offer at HelloFresh ↗ |
| 3 | Green Chef | £6.75 plus delivery | £40.50 | Shown at checkout, not included | What Green Chef costs | 40% off your first boxGet offer at Green Chef ↗ |
| 4 | Riverford | £7.50 | £45.00 (typical box) | Free | What Riverford costs | Free chopping board on your first orderGet offer at Riverford ↗ |
| 5 | Mindful Chef | £9.85 | £53.10 (typical box) | £5.99 | What Mindful Chef costs | 30% off your first 4 boxesGet offer at Mindful Chef ↗ |
Take five recipes instead of three and the gap stays the same, with Gousto at £5.05 and HelloFresh at £5.49 a portion. Delivery is charged per box, so spreading it over more meals is where most of the saving comes from.
The cheapest recipe box for a family of four
| Rank | Recipe box | Per portion, with delivery | Box price | Delivery | Every box size | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gousto | £4.27 | £47.25 | £3.99 | What Gousto costs | 50% off your first boxGet offer at Gousto ↗ |
| 2 | HelloFresh | £4.91 | £53.88 | £4.99 | What HelloFresh costs | 50% off your first boxGet offer at HelloFresh ↗ |
| 3 | Riverford | £4.92 | £59.00 (typical box) | Free | What Riverford costs | Free chopping board on your first orderGet offer at Riverford ↗ |
| 4 | Green Chef | £6.25 plus delivery | £75.00 | Shown at checkout, not included | What Green Chef costs | 40% off your first boxGet offer at Green Chef ↗ |
| 5 | Mindful Chef | £6.50 | £72.00 (typical box) | £5.99 | What Mindful Chef costs | 30% off your first 4 boxesGet offer at Mindful Chef ↗ |
Family boxes are where recipe boxes start to look reasonable next to a normal food shop. Riverford comes close to HelloFresh here because its delivery is free, but it sells one recipe per box and only had three family recipes on the menu we checked, so a four-night family week is not possible there.
The cheapest recipe box for one person
Only two of the five sell real one-person portions, and cooking for one is expensive in every box: you pay the same delivery charge for half the food.
| Rank | Recipe box | Per portion, with delivery | Box price | Delivery | Every box size | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gousto | £10.00 | £26.01 | £3.99 | What Gousto costs | 50% off your first boxGet offer at Gousto ↗ |
| 2 | Mindful Chef | £16.05 | £42.15 (typical box) | £5.99 | What Mindful Chef costs | 30% off your first 4 boxesGet offer at Mindful Chef ↗ |
If that is more than you want to spend, a two-person box eaten over two evenings costs less per meal than either one-person box. Our page on meal boxes for one person also covers ready meals you order per portion.
Each brand at its cheapest
The price per portion always falls as the box gets bigger, because the delivery charge and the packing are spread over more meals. This is each brand’s cheapest portion at any box size it sells.
| Rank | Recipe box | Cheapest portion | For this box | Delivery | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gousto | £3.40 | 5 recipes for 4 people, £64.00 | £3.99 | 50% off your first boxGet offer at Gousto ↗ |
| 2 | HelloFresh | £4.24 | 5 meals for 4 people, £79.80 | £4.99 | 50% off your first boxGet offer at HelloFresh ↗ |
| 3 | Riverford | £4.92 | 3 recipes for 4 people, £59.00 | Free | Free chopping board on your first orderGet offer at Riverford ↗ |
| 4 | Green Chef | £6.25 plus delivery | 3 meals for 4 people, £75.00 | Shown at checkout, not included | 40% off your first boxGet offer at Green Chef ↗ |
| 5 | Mindful Chef | £6.30 | 5 recipes for 4 people, £120.00 | £5.99 | 30% off your first 4 boxesGet offer at Mindful Chef ↗ |
Boxes that look cheaper, but are not like for like
- SimplyCook costs £9.99 for four kits plus £1.99 postage, about £2.50 a kit. A kit is the pastes, spices and stocks only: you buy the meat, fish and vegetables yourself, so the real cost per meal is much higher than the kit price.
- Grubby is fully plant-based at £6.67 a portion for three kits for two. Delivery is free on the first box, but Grubby does not publish what it charges after that, so we cannot add it in.
- Pasta Evangelists starts at £6.50 a portion for fresh pasta dishes, with £2.99 delivery that is free from £30. It is pasta night rather than a weekly menu.
- The Cookaway works out at about £11.70 a serving for a recipe box for two to three, more of a weekend treat than a weekly shop.
Is a recipe box cheaper than ready meals?
For two people, not by much. allplants charges £6 a meal with free delivery and COOK’s Meal Box For One works out at £6.43 a meal, close to Gousto’s two-person price, and you do not cook. For a family the recipe box wins: Gousto’s four-person boxes come to £4.27 a portion or less, while the ready meal services we follow charge about £4.50 to £9 a meal. Our ready meal comparison has the full prices.
What about the introductory discounts?
Every brand here makes the first boxes much cheaper, sometimes half price. We leave that out of the ranking on purpose: the offer runs for a few weeks, and the normal price is what you pay after that. If you plan to take only a few boxes, the offer matters more than the ranking, so compare the current deals on our discount codes page. In November, also check our Black Friday meal kit overview.
How we worked out these prices
- Normal prices only, taken from each brand’s own box selector or box builder. The prices were checked between 1 October 2026 and 2 October 2026.
- Delivery included, per box. Green Chef only shows its delivery charge at checkout, so its figure is the box price alone and the table says so.
- Mindful Chef and Riverford price every recipe separately. For them we use a typical box: the number of recipes times the median recipe price on that week’s menu. Their cost pages also show the cheapest and dearest possible box.
- Recipe boxes only. Flavour kits, pasta boxes and ready meals are listed separately above because you are not buying the same thing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest meal kit in the UK?
At normal prices, Gousto: £6.04 a portion with delivery for three recipes for two, and £3.40 at its largest family box. SimplyCook looks cheaper, but it only sends flavour kits and you buy the fresh ingredients yourself.
Is HelloFresh or Gousto cheaper?
Gousto, at every box size both sell. For three recipes for two the difference is £6.04 against £6.32 a portion. Our Gousto vs HelloFresh comparison also covers menu size and flexibility.
Is a recipe box cheaper than the supermarket?
We have not priced the same recipes at a supermarket, so we will not give you a figure. What a box does save is waste: you get the exact quantities for each recipe, so there are no half-used packs left in the fridge.
How can I make a recipe box cheaper?
Take more meals per box, because delivery is charged per box. Cook for the largest household size you can use, use the introductory offer, and skip the weeks you do not need rather than letting a box arrive.
