Study Confirms Meal Kits Cause Lower Carbon Emissions Than Meals From Supermarkets

As our diets continue to have a huge impact on climate change, Aotearoa's leading meal kit delivery service, HelloFresh, has released a study that proves meal kit delivery services can help Kiwis to reduce their carbon footprint.

The 2022 HelloFresh Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysed the environmental footprint across the whole supply chain from field to fork. It revealed that meals from HelloFresh have 25% lower CO2e emissions, compared to the exact same meal prepared with ingredients purchased from a supermarket.

The study showcased that one meal cooked using supermarket ingredients causes on average 4.6 kg CO2e emissions compared to HelloFresh which causes on average 3.9 kg per meal. It also revealed that ingredients are by far the biggest contributor to emissions, followed by distribution due to long distance driving.

The main differentiator between HelloFresh and supermarkets is the data-driven subscription model that forecasts weekly customers’ food demands which results in lower volumes of unsold inventory and food waste. A recently published research paper underlines that cooking with HelloFresh substantially reduces household food waste by 38 percent in comparison to traditionally cooked dinners.

HelloFresh also has a shorter supply chain which sources ingredients directly from Kiwi suppliers, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and logistics. The other key factor is pre-portioned ingredients meaning customers don't buy more than they need for a meal.

To help Kiwis change the way they eat to benefit the climate, HelloFresh has launched Climate Superstar recipes that are focused on low emissions - the meals are 50% below the carbon budget threshold of an average Kiwi dinner.

Tom Rutledge, CEO of HelloFresh ANZ said:

“At HelloFresh, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. As a product that so many Kiwis have come to enjoy, we want to help them change the way they eat by providing more sustainable food choices.”

“Our globally benchmarked research shows that we’re making progress towards this goal, and our focus is continuously innovating the HelloFresh product to provide even more sustainable options for our customers.

“There are lots of ways to reduce your carbon footprint through your food choices, such as embracing a meat-free day each week, eating seasonal produce, or choosing our new Climate Superstar recipes. We’re proud to offer these as another way to help make mealtimes more sustainable for New Zealanders”

Taking into account the CO2 equivalent impact and based on the emissions per serve, HelloFresh has worked with the world’s largest sustainability database, HowGood, to conduct an ingredient-level assessment to identify the lowest-carbon recipes.

Kiwis can look out for the Climate Superstar tag on the HelloFresh menu to find out which meals have the lowest carbon impact each week and add them to their weekly box.

Find out more information about the Climate Superstar recipes here and the full Life Cycle Assessment technical summary here.

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