Popular home delivery meal kit firms are cashing in on lazy home cooks by charging nearly 240 per cent more than the ingredients cost in the shops.
Recipe subscription companies, such as Gousto, Hello Fresh and Mindful Chef, deliver food boxes directly to the doors of diners, saving them a trip to the supermarket.
But when the Daily Mail checked how much it would cost to make some of the meals ourselves, we found firms were charging up to £9.78 per portion for ingredients that, in reality, can cost as little as £2.90.
That's an increase of a staggering 237 per cent.
A standard box containing three recipes for six meals, split between two people, costs £50.64 through Mindful Chef, while the ingredients bought individually can be purchased for just £15.24.
A Gousto alternative is priced at £32.25, while the supermarket cost is only £11.24.
While the same sized box from Hello Fresh is priced at £32.99 - before any delivery charges are added - an increase of 164 per cent on the £12.51 it would cost to buy the goods direct.
As part of the experiment, the Daily Mail priced up ingredients for a selection of recipes in each of meal kit boxes.
The Hello Fresh meal kit analysed cost 164 per cent more than if buying the ingredients direct from Aldi or Tesco
Mindful Chef boxes for six meals cost more than £55 eventhough the individual ingredients can be purchased at a supermarket for under £16, our experiment found
Mindful Chef’s smoked haddock kedgeree, with green beans and soft boiled egg came in at £9.78 per portion via the subscription, while the cost of the exact ingredients if bought from Aldi was just £2.90 per meal.
Similarly, their Spanish-style pork steaks with red pepper butter beans and parsley drizzle cost £8.78 each from the home delivery firm, but just £2.08 from the supermarket.
The Gousto recipes included sweet and sour chicken with rice, which cost £5.37 per portion from the box, while the ingredients could be purchased for as little as £2.10 a meal.
Their creamy spaghetti carbonara had an even bigger mark up, with the ingredients costing as little as £1.56, compared to the box price of £5.37.
Similarly, teriyaki pork stir fry from the Hello Fresh box came in at £5.49 per meal, while the Daily Mail sourced ingredients from either Aldi or Tesco for the recipe for just £1.56.
All meal subscription services market themselves as offering value through convenience, reducing food waste and saving time on planning and shopping.
They also use generous introductory discounts to woo customers, but experts say the long-term cost can soon add up once these cut price deals fall away.
People who buy meal kits are also less likely to bulk buy cupboard staples, such as rice, pasta and dried or tinned goods, making them cheaper in the long run.
‘There's a heavy price for convenience,’ consumer expert Martyn James said. ‘Most people don't really how much they are paying in hidden fees for subscription food services.
‘If you're too busy to regularly visit the supermarket but want to eat well or more healthily, then these services may seem like the ideal choice.
‘But as this research shows, when you price up the contents of the box, you're often paying way over the odds for goods that could be much cheaper.
A spokesman for Gusto disputed claims their meal kits were far more expensive, saying shoppers tended to have less waste by having exact portions delivered to their door
‘People should give their wallets a workout instead, by thumbing through a recipe book or finding the best online delivery deals with the supermarkets or local shops.’
A spokesman for Gousto disputed that their meal kits were more expensive for shoppers.
‘Gousto makes it easier for households to cook from scratch without the time and effort of a traditional supermarket shop,’ he said.
‘Because supermarkets don’t sell ingredients in recipe-sized portions, shoppers are forced to buy larger quantities than required, driving up costs and food waste.
‘When you add up the true cost of buying all 33 ingredients needed for these three recipes, the supermarket shop comes out around 20 per cent more expensive, with much of the excess likely to go unused.
'Precise portioning also helps reduce food waste and associated carbon emissions, delivering benefits for households and the planet.’
A spokesman for Mindful Chef said their boxes only used 'responsibly sourced' British meat and their ingredients typically delivered 51 per cent less food waste than supermarket equivalents.
'Comparing the cost of supermarket ingredients alone isn’t a like-for-like assessment and doesn’t capture the full value that a Mindful Chef recipe box provides,' he said.
'Our pricing reflects responsibly sourced British meat and fish, high animal-welfare standards, and fair pay for the farmers and independent suppliers we work with.'
Hello Fresh were contacted for comment.
