Recipe boxes UK
Recipe boxes like Gousto and HelloFresh make meal planning simple. But at £4 to £8 per serving, the cost adds up fast. Basket List gives you the same planning ease — pick your meals, get a ready-made shopping list — and lets you buy ingredients wherever is cheapest.
Keep cooking the meals you love. Just stop overpaying for the ingredients.
A recipe box is a weekly meal kit delivery. You pick your meals from a set menu, and the company sends pre-portioned ingredients with step-by-step recipe cards. You cook at home using their ingredients. It takes the guesswork out of meal planning, but you pay a premium for that ease.
Recipe boxes pick meals for you and send everything you need. No shopping, no guessing what to cook.
You get exact amounts for each recipe. Less food waste, but no leftovers for lunches or extras.
Most UK recipe boxes charge £4 to £8 per serving. A family of four can easily spend over £100 a week.
Recipe boxes are great when you first try them. New meals, no planning, everything arrives at your door. But after a few months, most people notice two things: the cost is high, and you keep getting the same types of meals.
A typical Gousto box for two people costs around £30 to £35 for four meals. HelloFresh is similar. Mindful Chef runs higher at £5 to £8 per serving. Scale that to a family of four and you are looking at £60 to £120 a week just for dinners.
The same meals made with supermarket ingredients cost 40 to 60 percent less. The savings are real — often £2,000 or more per year for a family.
Gousto (family of 4, 5 meals)
Around £60 to £70 per week. Works out at £3 to £3.50 per serving.
HelloFresh (family of 4, 5 meals)
Around £65 to £75 per week. Slightly higher per serving than Gousto.
Mindful Chef (family of 4, 5 meals)
Around £100 to £120 per week. Premium ingredients at a premium price.
Supermarket shop with Basket List
Around £35 to £50 per week for the same meals. You choose where to shop and what to spend.
You already know what you like to cook. Basket List takes those recipes and does the rest — no box, no delivery fee, no fixed menu.
Step 1
Add the meals your family loves with their full ingredient lists. Do it once and reuse them every week.
Step 2
Choose what you want to cook, set how many people you are feeding, and Basket List builds your shopping list.
Step 3
Take your list to Aldi, Tesco, Lidl, or anywhere you like. Tick items off as you go and share the list with your household in real time.
The best part of a recipe box is not the box itself. It is the planning. Someone else decides what you are eating, works out the ingredients, and gives you a list. That is the hard bit of cooking, and recipe boxes solve it well.
Basket List keeps that planning layer. You still pick meals, still get a full ingredient list, and still know exactly what to buy. The difference is you are not paying a premium for someone to post it to your door.
What you drop is the delivery and the pre-portioned packs. In return, you get freedom to shop wherever you want, buy whatever brand you prefer, and save a serious amount of money each month.
Meal planning
Recipe box: picks meals from a set menu. Basket List: you pick from your own recipes.
Shopping list
Recipe box: no list needed, ingredients arrive. Basket List: builds your list in seconds from your chosen meals.
Where you shop
Recipe box: their suppliers only. Basket List: any supermarket, market, or online shop.
Weekly cost (family of 4)
Recipe box: £60 to £120. Basket List: £35 to £50 for the same meals.
Try it free for 14 days
Keep cooking the meals you love from your recipe box — just buy the ingredients yourself and save up to £2,000 a year.
No card needed to start. Plans are per cookbook and include access for everyone in your household.