Can I give Hello Fresh as a gift?

Whether or not you subscribe to Hello Fresh, you can buy an e-Giftcard on the Hello Fresh site to send a box of Hello Fresh meals as a gift. Your recipient does not have to be a Hello Fresh subscriber, either. Hello Fresh offers a $60 box for two people and a $120 box for four, each with three different recipes. You can choose a box of meat and fish, a box of vegetarian meals, or a box of mixed meals, but you cannot choose in advance the specific meals your recipient will eat.

Once you buy the e-Giftcard, your recipients will get the chance to pick their menu. Your initial choice seems to be a recommendation, as the meal kits cost the same, and recipients will be able to pick from a selection of menu options. There are meat meals, vegetarian, family-friendly, and 'calorie-smart' options available on a changing weekly basis. If your recipient is a fan, Hello Fresh says there will be coupons or offers that accompany the gift, but no subscription commitment will be required to redeem the e-Giftcard, of course.

Yes! It's like sending a DIY craft and a gift certificate to a Mongolian grill all at once! In fairness, you're probably more likely to send a Hello Fresh box as a gift if you're already a Hello Fresh fan, but as a former subscriber to several different meal kits, I can attest to enjoying some of my meals enough that I would happily share them. It would be much nicer if Hello Fresh gave you complete control over which meals your recipients will eat, but meals only stick around a week before they are sent back into the rotation, so it's impossible to know precisely what you are giving.

It is a gift with a surprising amount of effort involved, of course. You are essentially sending someone a box of raw food. Your gift is choosing a recipe and doing the shopping, but you are not actually gifting the meal, which is the best part, nor are you forgoing the cleanup. So if you give a Hello Fresh box as a gift, you should also promise to clean up. Maybe you should cook the box as well.

Send a Hello Fresh gift box to someone who doesn't have time or the ability to go shopping for ingredients for a nice recipe. Meal kits got me out of my cooking rut when other obligations bogged me down. If you know folks who used to cook when they had more time, a Hello Fresh box would be a nice gift.