Mindful Chef alternative
Mindful Chef is the priciest of the big recipe boxes. If you're already picking the same healthy meals each week, you're paying a premium for recipes you already know by heart. Save them in Basket List and buy the ingredients yourself.
The recipes are genuinely good. Healthy, well-balanced, mostly gluten-free. But at £5 to £7 per serving it's the most expensive recipe box in the UK. The portions are small too — families often need to double up, which makes it even pricier.
After a while you know your favourites. You don't need someone to choose your meals — you just need a faster way to get the ingredients.
At £5 to £7 per serving, Mindful Chef is the priciest major box. Families paying double that for extra portions are spending over £100 a week on dinners.
Designed for one or two people. If you're feeding a family, you're ordering double or topping up with extra food anyway.
Mindful Chef chooses the suppliers. If you care about where your food comes from, you might prefer buying organic yourself from Waitrose, a farm shop, or a local market.
Mindful Chef prices start from £4.95 per serving, but most customers pay more. A box of four meals for two people costs around £40 to £56 per week. If you are feeding a family, you need two boxes or extra portions — pushing the weekly bill to £80 or more.
Similar meals made with supermarket ingredients may cost less. A salmon and vegetable tray bake that costs £6 per serving from a meal kit can sometimes be made for less with supermarket ingredients, depending on brand, offers, and portion size.
For regular recipe-box users, the potential saving can add up over a year. Treat the figures here as examples, then compare them against the meals and supermarkets you actually use.
Mindful Chef (2 people, 4 meals)
Around £40 to £56 per week. Works out at £5 to £7 per serving.
Mindful Chef (4 people, 4 meals)
Around £80 to £112 per week. You need to double-order or add extra portions.
Supermarket shop with Basket List (4 people, 4 meals)
Around £30 to £45 per week for the same meals. You choose where to shop and what to spend.
Potential saving example: £30 to £50 per week
Based on replacing regular recipe-box meals with a supermarket shop for similar meals.
Prices and savings are examples only. Recipe-box pricing, discounts, delivery fees, supermarket prices and portion sizes vary. Basket List does not deliver ingredients; it helps you create shopping lists from recipes you choose.
You know which healthy meals work for you. This just makes it easier to shop for them.
Step 1
Add the meals your family loves — Mindful Chef favourites, recipes from cookbooks, or your own creations. Include the full ingredient list so you never have to look them up again.
Step 2
Choose what you want to cook, set how many people you are feeding, and Basket List builds your shopping list. Shared ingredients are merged so nothing is doubled up.
Step 3
Take your list to Waitrose, Tesco, Aldi, or wherever you prefer. Pick organic if you want to. Tick items off as you go and share the list with your household in real time.
The valuable bit of Mindful Chef is knowing your week is sorted with healthy meals. That doesn't change. You still pick meals, still get the full ingredient list, still know exactly what to buy.
What changes is where the food comes from. Instead of paying Mindful Chef £6 a serving to post it to you, you walk into Waitrose or Tesco and buy the same things for half the price.
Bonus: you get to choose your own organic brands and pick produce that actually looks good to you.
Meal planning
Mindful Chef: picks meals from a set menu each week. Basket List: you pick from your own saved recipes.
Shopping list
Mindful Chef: no list — ingredients arrive in a box. Basket List: builds your list in seconds from your chosen meals.
Where you shop
Mindful Chef: their suppliers only. Basket List: any supermarket, market, or farm shop you like.
Cost (2 people, 4 meals)
Mindful Chef: £40 to £56 per week. Basket List: £15 to £25 for the same meals.
Your own recipes
Mindful Chef: limited to their menu. Basket List: add any recipe you want, from any source.
People who like eating well but don't like paying £5 to £7 a serving for it. Usually they've been on Mindful Chef long enough to know what they want.
You love the clean, gluten-free meals but want more control over the weekly spend. Basket List lets you plan similar healthy dinners, choose your own supermarket ingredients, and decide where organic matters most.
After months with Mindful Chef, you have your favourites sorted. Save them once, build your weekly list in under a minute, and compare the supermarket version for your own household.
Mindful Chef picks the ingredients for you. Some people want to choose their own organic brands, shop at their favourite store, or swap in seasonal produce. Basket List gives you the list — you decide the rest.
Even with Mindful Chef's eco efforts, recipe boxes still come with a lot of packaging. When you shop yourself, you buy only what you need and cut down on single-use wrapping.
Try it for free
Same healthy meal ideas, your choice of shop, and a clearer way to compare costs.
No card needed. One plan covers your whole household.
Mindful Chef runs £5 to £7 per serving. Supermarket ingredients for similar meals may cost less, but the exact saving depends on recipes, supermarket choice, offers, delivery fees, portion sizes, and whether you buy organic.
The food doesn't change — only where you buy it. Save the recipe and its ingredients in Basket List, then shop at Waitrose, Tesco, or wherever you get your fresh stuff.
No. You shop yourself. Basket List helps you save recipes and build the shopping list; it does not deliver ingredients.
About 15 minutes to add your first handful of recipes. After that, weekly lists take about 30 seconds.
Yes. One cookbook, shared between everyone. Same recipes, same lists, no extra charge.
14 days, full access, no card.
