After two weeks of deliveries and 6 recipes tried, I have some thoughts on my experience with Marley Spoon.

So I’ve never actually heard of Marley Spoon up until recently, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try it out as part of my review series. If you’re new here, start with my Hello Fresh review series before reading the rest of the post!

This is not a sponsored post. If you are interested in trying Marley Spoon, you can use my referral link here to get a free Marley Spoon box plus up to 25% off three boxes after that.

Overview

Marley Spoon is a meal kit subscription service where you choose a meal plan that works for you, and they send you what you need every week. You decide how many meals per week and for how many people. Besides the recipe cards with the cooking instructions, you also receive the ingredients in brown baggies and delivered in an insulated box. For those who care, they do actually give you an option to opt out of including the physical recipe cards in the package for sustainability purposes.

However, please note that they do require to have certain “staples” on hand, such as: vinegar, neutral oils, olive oil, ketchup, salt and pepper, flour, sugar, milk, butter, and eggs. It’s always good to check the ingredients needed in each recipe before choosing it.

They offer two types of plans: a couples plan or a family plan. The couples plan contains 2 servings per meal and is ideal for 2 adults while the family plan contains 4 servings per meal ideal for a household of 4.

The Meals

I feel like the menu options seem “fancier” than HelloFresh, but there’s a lot of salad-types for sides. They also often offer the chance to add to your box with extra protein, sides, desserts, coffee or smoothies. Sometimes they have breakfast as options too, but these are not normally part of every week’s menu. Please note that they do not offer a full menu fitting to specific allergies or diets, aside from vegetarian.

I’m not really a fan of a lot of their recipes, which is why I only did two deliveries. I’m fairly picky and I don’t like vinegar or salads, and a good deal of their menu options have these. That’s a personal preference though, and my husband has had no complaints over the meals we’ve gotten from Marley Spoon. I do like the fact that they sometimes offer ready-to-heat options, so it’s convenient. But, some recipes require grills, so keep that in mind.

Taste-wise, I would say it’s a hit or miss for me with Marley Spoon. There’s some that I really liked (i.e., the steak options, harissa grilled salmon), but some were very mediocre (i.e., beef ricotta meatballs, chicken vesuvio). The instructions are also not as clear as it was with HelloFresh. For example, say they give you a whole bulb of garlic. It’s thrown in the box and not in any of the separate recipe brown bags. A recipe that requires garlic will merely tell you to chop or mince garlic. It doesn’t always specify how much to use. Whereas with HelloFresh, they put the ingredients in just the exact portion you’ll need them for, and in their own recipe brown bags where they’re needed.

The Pricing

Here are the pricing as disclosed in their FAQs:

Couples plan

• 2 meals for 2 people per week= $47.96 + $8.99 shipping ($56.95 total)
• 3 meals for 2 people per week= $62.94 + $8.99 shipping ($71.93 total)
• 4 meals for 2 people per week= $79.92 + $8.99 shipping ($88.91 total)
• 5 meals for 2 people per week= $99.90 + $8.99 shipping ($108.89 total) 
• 6 meals for 2 people per week= $113.88 + $8.99 shipping ($122.87 total)

Family plan

• 2 meals for 4 people per week= $79.92 + $8.99 shipping ($88.91 total)
• 3 meals for 4 people per week= $113.88 + $8.99 shipping ($122.87 total)
• 4 meals for 4 people per week= $143.84 + $8.99 shipping ($152.83 total)
• 5 meals for 4 people per week= $179.80 + $8.99 shipping ($188.79 total) 
• 6 meals for 4 people per week= $203.76 + $8.99 shipping ($212.75 total)

For transparency, I do want to point out that I used a discount for Marley Spoon. I chose their Couples plan of 3-4 meals for two people.

For my particular deliveries, here’s the breakdown of cost:

• Delivery 1 – total: $40.91 ($71.92 + $8.99 shipping); $5.11 per meal per person
  • Harissa grilled salmon
  • 20-min. sausage cacciatore with gnocchi
  • Ready to heat: beef ricotta meatballs
  • Seared steak and green beans
• Delivery 2 – total paid: $42.94 ($62.94 + $8.99 shipping); $7.16 per meal per person
  • Bunny chow chicken curry
  • Chicken vesuvio and parmesan roasted potatoes
  • Grilled chimichurri steak

The Verdict

Honestly, I don’t think I’ll go back to Marley Spoon. There’s just not enough recipe options that I actually like in their weekly menus. I ended up skipping a lot of the weeks. However, that’s because I’m extremely picky, so please take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I will continue to evaluate other companies so keep an eye for more reviews. Next up, Gobble!

Wanna Try Marley Spoon?

This is not a sponsored post. However, if you are interested in trying Marley Spoon, you can use my referral link below to get a free Marley Spoon box plus up to 25% off three boxes after that.

Try Now!