Everyone you know is trying meal kits — but are they worth it? The average Canadian family of four spends $306.75 weekly on groceries, up 26% over the last five years. Meal kit companies, like HelloFresh and Goodfood, claim they can save you money by offering portioned ingredients on top of cutting time spent cooking and shopping. Peak Money crunched the numbers and found meal kits are slightly more expensive — but they could be worth it, for some. For instance, HelloFresh offers five meals for a family of four (20 servings) for $200 a week, totalling $9.99 a plate. If you were to buy everything to make one HelloFresh meal, like steak and potatoes, from scratch, it would cost you around $33.86, or $8.46 a plate. But let’s be realistic — most people don’t just shop for one plate. They buy in bulk and meal prep. For example, if you buy all the ingredients for steak and potatoes from No Frills (which typically offers more servings than one meal), you can stretch those four plates into leftovers. So, if you value time and enjoy meal variety, meal kits might be worth the extra cost per meal. If you prefer to save money through meal planning and bulk shopping, stick with cooking at home.