SimplyCook Review: Great Flavour Kits, But Not a Full Meal Kit

What SimplyCook Actually Sends You: The Model Explained

SimplyCook sends flavour pots (pre-mixed spice pastes and marinades), spice blends, cooking sauces, and recipe cards. It does not send proteins (chicken, beef, fish, tofu), vegetables (onions, peppers, potatoes), or dairy (cream, butter). The model requires you to buy fresh ingredients from a supermarket separately, using the SimplyCook recipe card to know what to buy. The benefit: the flavour development — the most technically challenging part of recreating restaurant-quality home cooking — is handled for you, while you source the simple, fresh components that any supermarket provides. The caveat: this is not a convenience substitute for HelloFresh, which truly eliminates the shopping trip. If your reason for looking at meal kits is specifically to avoid grocery shopping, SimplyCook does not deliver that. If your reason is to cook more interesting, flavour-diverse meals without needing a large spice collection, SimplyCook is the cheapest available way to do that.

The Price Case: Cheaper Than HelloFresh, But a Different Model

At £9–£12 for a box of four recipe kits (each serving two), SimplyCook costs approximately £1.13–£1.50 per serving for the flavour kit element alone. Adding the fresh ingredients you source yourself brings the total closer to the HelloFresh and Gousto per-serving cost — but the comparison is not exact, because SimplyCook’s fresh ingredient component is grocery-priced rather than premium-delivery-priced. The practical cost comparison: a household that already shops regularly at a supermarket will spend less with SimplyCook than with HelloFresh, because they absorb the fresh ingredient cost into their normal shop at normal prices rather than paying premium delivery pricing for the same items. A household that does not want to maintain a regular grocery shopping habit will find HelloFresh or Gousto more convenient despite the higher cost.

The Customer Service Model: What 12,990 Reviews Actually Represent

A 12,990-review Trustpilot base with a Customer Happiness Team that responds to every review is a meaningful commitment. The response pattern across 2026 is consistent: every negative review receives a prompt, named response from the team; every positive review receives thanks. The named team member “Lewis” is cited specifically in one March 2026 review as providing “excellent service.” This is not automated response — it is a service culture that the review base documents as consistent. The single “Awful customer service” review in August 2026 is an outlier against 12,990 entries, and even that review received a response.

The Subscription Transparency Issue: What “UK Legislation” Reference Means

The Trustpilot buyer who cited “underhanded tactics that the UK government is trying to get rid of through legislation” is likely referencing the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024 provisions around subscription traps — specifically around the clarity of subscription terms and cancellation processes. SimplyCook offering a 20% discount when subscribers attempt to cancel is a standard subscription retention practice, not unique to SimplyCook, but one that has attracted regulatory attention. The practical advice: if you want to cancel SimplyCook, navigate directly to the cancellation option rather than engaging with retention offers — the 20% discount offer can be useful if you genuinely intend to continue but want a lower price.