Cooking boxes: a real solution for consumers or a waste of time?

In the UK, the market for food preparation boxes reached 1.5 billion dollars in 2022, i.e. 0.25 billion more than in 2021¹. A recent survey by Grand View Research also estimates that the market is set to double by 2030, to approach $3 billion. For many Britons surveyed in a report by Statista, food preparation boxes do indeed save time and organisation in their daily lives. But what are the real advantages and disadvantages of recipe boxes?

What is a recipe box?

Cooking boxes are meal ideas offered to consumers in the form of hampers delivered to their homes. Users choose the recipes, the number of diners for each recipe and the ingredients are then delivered to their home, along with an instruction sheet on how to make the recipes. In the UK, nearly 25% of consumers have boxed meals delivered to them several times a week, according to a report by Statista. Among the younger generation, the figure is higher, with 54% of Millennials having already used the services of such a company².  

What are the most popular recipe boxes?

In the UK, the most popular cooking boxes are Gousto and HelloFresh, a German company that is expanding internationally. The British have also recently discovered Abel & Cole, a cooking box focusing on organic produce. 

Let's look at these three concepts in figures: 

- Gousto expected to achieve sales of £315 million in 2021, with 90 million meals sold across the UK

- The company accounts for 8% of food shopping users in the UK³

- HelloFresh counts 8.11 million active users worldwide in 2022 and the company accounts for 14% of grocery delivery users in the UK

- By 2021, HelloFresh was reporting profits of £255 million in the UK.

- In 2022, Abel & Cole announced sales of $159.1 million

- The company accounts for 3% of food shopping users in theUK⁴

What are the advantages of cooking boxes?

1 - Inspiration for cooking

Recipe boxes give consumers inspiration for their everyday meals. At Gousto, for example, users have access to 75 new recipes every week, in addition to 28 vegetarian recipes and 10 vegan recipes. German competitor HelloFresh offers 21 new recipes from which customers can choose their meal ideas, based on the seasonality of products. Finally, Abel & Cole offers the recipes of 9 cooking "gurus" in several collections based on different themes ("Easy Batch cooking", "Slow cooker stars", "One pot cooking", etc). 

2 - Simple, detailed recipes

The meal ideas in the cooking boxes are generally simple to prepare, with detailed instructions. HelloFresh offers meal ideas that take an average of 30 minutes to prepare, with step-by-step images. On Gousto, the average preparation time for recipes is 35 to 40 minutes. However, some are quicker, particularly in the "Quick & Easy" section. As for Abel & Cole, they offer users all kinds of recipes, both for their everyday cooking and for their weekly Sunday evening preparations. For example, the recipes designed for steam cookers require more time, but they can be used to plan several meals at once. 

3 - Fresh, local products

Although they don't tell you where the products come from before you buy them, the recipe boxes do say that they use local ingredients. Gousto, for example, claims to use as many British products as possible for its meal ideas, although some ingredients come from other countries. HelloFresh, for its part, promises that its meat comes from local farmers or "European suppliers of equivalent quality", and that all fresh ingredients are sourced in the UK. However, some products are imported from abroad, depending on quality or availability. Abel & Cole, however, assert that the majority of the products offered in their cooking boxes (or their meat, fruit and vegetable boxes, etc) are certified organic. In fact, not all their ingredients are local, as the UK does not allow all types of produce to be produced organically.

What are the disadvantages of recipe boxes?

While they offer a number of advantages, recipe boxes also have their drawbacks for consumers.

Rather high prices 

The Gousto cooking boxes offer meals from £2.99 per person. HelloFresh recipes cost an average of £4.67 per person. That's £47.85 and £50.99 per week for 4 people respectively. That's almost twice what half of Britons are prepared to pay for a monthly cooking box, according to a survey by Attest⁵. Similarly, Abel & Cole meal ideas are generally more expensive, as organic products represent a higher cost. These figures are backed up by a recent article in Forbes, which highlights the fact that meals from cooking boxes cost on average three times more than those bought from the big chains⁶.

Guest limit 

Cooking boxes don't allow you to select meal ideas for more than 6 people. They are therefore not suitable for all households, nor for meals with family or friends. In the case of a specific meal or special event, consumers will have to approach the major retailers to select their ingredients.

No power over choice of ingredients 

Consumers can't select the ingredients for the boxes they want to cook themselves, according to their dietary preferences or criteria of traceability and product origin. This represents a number of constraints for some customers with particular dietary intolerances or requirements.

The need to already have some ingredients

Recipe boxes only send shoppers the main ingredients for their meal ideas. The condiments, spices and herbs needed to prepare them are neither supplied in the cooking boxes, nor can they be ordered by consumers. As a result, shoppers must already have several products at home or go to a supermarket to buy them, short of their recipe box. Only Abel & Cole allows its users to buy fruit, vegetables, meat and other products on their site, through different types of dedicated delivery boxes.

Little traceability of ingredients

Although the Gousto and HelloFresh recipe boxes claim to select local, high-quality products, consumers have no exact information about their origin before purchase. The origin of the ingredients is indicated on the packaging, but users of the cooking boxes have no way of knowing this until they are delivered. However, Abel & Cole's customers have several indications about the producers who supply the company. But consumers have no guarantee that the detailed products will be available when they order.

A significant environmental impact

Puisque les ingrédients doivent être livrés jusqu’aux entrepôts, puis catégorisés et mis en forme dans les box, avant d’être envoyés aux clients avec leurs fiches recettes imprimées automatiquement, les box à cuisiner représentent un impact important sur l’environnement. De même, si les box à cuisiner se targuent de prioriser des emballages recyclables pour les ingrédients, plusieurs journalistes et experts rappellent que recyclable ne signifie pas recyclé et que le plastique ne peut se recycler à l’infini. Pour beaucoup “le meilleur emballage est celui qui n’existe pas”14. Enfin, GreenPeace met en avant le fait que la “compensation carbone” promise par les entreprises de box à cuisiner est souvent une forme de greenwashing⁷. Finally, GreenPeace highlights the fact that the "carbon offsetting" promised by food packaging companies is often a form of greenwashing⁸. It seems like an important disadvantage, as 75% of Britons are very or somewhat worried about the impact of climate change⁹.  

More interactions and transactions

The recipe boxes represent only part of the meals that consumers will make in their week. In fact, they will have to go to a large retailer for the other meals in their week, as well as their hygiene or cleaning products. This multiplies the number of interactions, journeys and transactions for consumers using cook-in-boxes.

About us Mealz

With meal ideas containing 5 ingredients, 5 preparation steps and achievable in 25 minutes, Mealz inspires consumers in their everyday cooking. These culinary inspirations can delight young and old alike during the week, or be adapted for more guests at a weekend meal. Every week, our food content team proposes 20 new recipes based on different themes, but always centered on eating better. What's more, Mealz offers meal ideas at €3 and €4 per person, to preserve consumers' purchasing power. What's more, our solution lets shoppers know the origin and traceability of ingredients before they buy. They can also replace the products suggested by our AI and select them themselves if they wish.

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Powered by AI and recommendation engines, our contextual solution is integrated as close as possible to the consumer's purchasing act, within e-commerce sites. Mealz simplifies online shopping, by offering shoppers personalized meal ideas based on their food preferences and consumption habits. Consumers can add to their shopping baskets at any time with products they don't already have, to prepare recipes or other meals for their week. This way, they don't have to multiply their interactions and transactions with different brands or companies.

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