Frive vs Gousto Heat & Eat: Which Should You Actually Buy?
TL;DR: Compare a single portion with a single portion and the two are priced within pennies of each other. What differs is what you get for the money. Frive carries roughly twice the protein, and every meal we make is free from artificial ingredients and UPFs, which is not something Gousto claims for this range. Heat & Eat is lighter on calories and higher in fibre, and it covers dinner. If you care what's actually in the food, that's where the two part company.
Gousto spent a decade selling you the ingredients and the recipe card. Now it's selling you dinner. Heat & Eat is a chilled range that arrives cooked, heats in the microwave, and puts Gousto in the same aisle as us for the first time.
Here's the thing we'd want to know in your position. Frive exists because we think a convenient meal shouldn't cost you the quality of the food. Every dish we make is built from whole ingredients, with no artificial ingredients or UPFs, and most of our mains clear 40g of protein. So when a new ready meal range lands, the first thing we do is read the label. We went through the ingredient declaration and the nutrition panel on every Heat & Eat dish on the menu, priced both services properly, and set the two side by side.
Here's how they compare.
Frive vs Gousto Heat & Eat at a glance
Brand overviews
Frive
We're Frive, and our whole thing is natural healthy eating made easy. Chefs cook the food, nutritionists sign it off, and it turns up chilled at your door ready to heat in under five minutes. Everything is made from 100% whole foods with no artificial ingredients or UPFs, portions land between 400 and 650 calories, and the mains are built around protein rather than filler. More than 25 million meals in, we're the UK's highest-rated ready-to-eat meal service on Trustpilot, and honestly that's the bit we're proudest of. The menu changes every week, so you're not eating the same six dinners on repeat.
Gousto
Gousto is best known for its recipe boxes. Raw ingredients, a card telling you what to do with them, and you do the cooking. That's still the core of the business, with more than 150 recipes to choose from each week.
Heat & Eat is Gousto branching out into the ready meal market. It launched in August 2026 with a TV campaign behind it, and founder Timo Boldt framed it as a push into the mainstream dinner market. The meals arrive cooked and chilled, and you heat them in the microwave. If it's the recipe box side you're weighing up rather than the ready meals, our HelloFresh vs Gousto comparison covers that properly.
Frive vs Gousto Heat & Eat compared
Ingredients and how the food is made
Ingredients are the one thing you can't judge from a photo of the meal, and it's where the two services separate most.
Frive meals are made from 100% whole foods. No artificial ingredients, no UPFs, no maltodextrin or yeast extract or added colours, and the full ingredient list sits on every product page so you can check before you buy. The proteins are beef, lamb and free-range poultry. If you can't picture an ingredient in a home kitchen, it isn't in our food.
Gousto takes a different route. Heat & Eat is cooked through the supply chain that already serves its recipe boxes, and the range is priced to compete with the supermarket chiller. We read the ingredient declaration on every dish on the menu, and most of them carry at least one additive you wouldn't cook with at home: yeast extract, maltodextrin, added colour or flavouring. A small number don't. Gousto publishes all of this openly, which is more than a lot of the category does, but it's worth noting the company makes no claim that the range is free from ultra-processed ingredients.
One other thing worth a glance if you're buying for the protein. Across the range, the starch is the largest single ingredient in every dish, and the named meat or fish sits somewhere between 5% and 19% of the pack. Our guide to what's really in a supermarket ready meal explains why that ratio tells you more than the name on the front.
Frive is best for anyone who wants to read a label and recognise every word on it. Heat & Eat suits someone who wants a step up from the supermarket chiller and isn't reading the ingredient list.
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Nutrition
Calories are the easy bit. Protein and salt are what decide whether a meal actually works for training, weight management, or just keeping you full until bedtime.
Frive mains are built around protein first. The median main meal carries 44g, and 39 of the 44 mains on this week's menu clear 30g. Because our portions are generous, density matters too, and we come out at 8.2g of protein for every 100 calories. Nothing on the menu goes past 2.6g of salt.
Heat & Eat sits lower on protein and higher on salt. The median dish gives you 21g and 4.9g per 100 calories, with the range running from 15g to 30g. Salt runs from 2.0g to 3.1g a meal, and the top of that is more than half the 6g adult daily maximum in one sitting. Credit where it's due though: fibre is the one measure where Heat & Eat beats us comfortably.
Frive is best if you're training, tracking macros or trying to hit a protein target. Heat & Eat suits someone who wants a moderate-calorie dinner with good fibre and isn't counting protein. Either way, our guide to hitting 30g of fibre a day is worth a read.
Menu range and plans
Variety is what decides whether a meal service lasts past the first month, and how much of your week you can actually hand over.
Our weekly menu carries 40+ main meals and changes every week, so you're looking at more than 100 different meals over a month. Around it sit breakfasts, sides, snacks and desserts, protein smoothies and juices and shots. Then there are the plans, which is where most people start: high protein, weight loss, low carb, balanced, vegetarian and vegan. There's a gluten free range too, and a plan built for anyone eating around a GLP-1.
Heat & Eat is deliberately smaller. It's a short dinner menu of around eight dishes, mostly meat and fish, with a vegetarian option on it. No breakfast, no sides, nothing sweet. Gousto's recipe box menu is far bigger, but that's a different product and it involves you cooking.
Frive is best if you want more than the evening meal handled. Heat & Eat suits someone who only needs dinner covered and is happy with a short menu.
Preparation and delivery
Convenience is why most people try meal delivery. The delivery schedule is usually what decides whether they stay.
We deliver four days a week. Meals arrive chilled, keep for up to seven days in the fridge and are ready in under five minutes in the microwave. No defrosting, no oven, no washing up.
Gousto delivers next day, seven days a week, and Heat & Eat can be bought on its own or dropped into a recipe box. Heating takes seven to nine minutes. The packs say seven, but several dishes want heating, stirring, heating again and then standing for two minutes. It's microwave only, with no oven instructions. If the microwave itself is the worry, we've covered whether microwave meals are bad for you elsewhere.
Frive is best for people who want deliveries spread across the week and the fastest turnaround. Gousto suits people who want next-day delivery, or who are already ordering a recipe box and fancy dropping a few ready meals in.
Pricing and value
The two services sell in different units, and that's where most comparisons go wrong. Here's the honest version.
Frive is priced per meal and you pick them one at a time. A meat meal is £7.90, vegetarian and vegan meals are £7.80 and seafood is £8.80. New customer discounts are available, along with student and Blue Light rates. No lock-in, and you can pause or cancel whenever you like.
Gousto sells Heat & Eat by the box rather than by the meal, and the price per meal moves with the size of the box. Order a single-portion box and you'll pay £7.40 a meal if you take the maximum five, £7.82 for four, £8.67 for three and £10.25 if you only want two. Prices exclude delivery. Order the two-person box instead and the per-portion price drops to £4.65, but every dish then arrives as a pair, so a five-recipe order is five choices eaten twice.
So the fair comparison is £7.90 against £7.40, and only at Gousto's largest single-portion box. Take fewer than five and we come out cheaper.
What a meal actually costs
The £4.65 you'll see quoted is real, but it's the two-person price, and it means eating five dishes twice each. Line up one portion against one portion and the gap all but disappears. What's left is what the money actually buys. Gram for gram, protein costs you around half as much from us, because our meals carry roughly twice as much of it. Our guide to how much meal prep delivery really saves you covers the wider maths.
Frive is best value if you're eating on your own, you want every meal to be different, or protein is what you're paying for. Heat & Eat is cheaper if you're feeding two people the same dinner and repeats don't bother you.
Reputation and reviews
Reviews are the only real check on whether a service delivers what it promises. New products don't have them yet.
Frive holds 4.5 on Trustpilot from more than 9,500 reviews, and freshness, nutrition and consistency are the themes that come up most. More than 25 million meals have gone out of our kitchen.
Gousto is well established with a long review history, but that history is about recipe boxes. Heat & Eat is new enough that no independent review of the range has been published yet. Most of the write-ups in circulation are by rival meal prep companies, and at least one of them has the basic details wrong.
Frive has the track record on ready-to-eat meals. Gousto has the track record on recipe boxes. On Heat & Eat specifically, nobody has one yet.
Is Gousto Heat & Eat healthy?
It's better than most of the chilled aisle, and it isn't pretending otherwise. Every pack gives 2 of your 5 a day, calories are moderate, and the fibre is genuinely good. The gaps are protein, salt and processing. A median of 21g is light for a main meal, the saltiest dish carries more than half an adult's daily maximum in one sitting, and most of the range contains additives you wouldn't cook with at home.
Our answer to all of that is simpler. Food should be made from food. That's why there are no artificial ingredients or UPFs in anything we make, why a nutritionist signs off every dish, and why the protein comes from actual meat and fish rather than the sauce. If that's your priority, start with our healthy ready meals plan, or see how the rest of the category stacks up in our supermarket ready meals comparison.
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Which should you choose?
Go with Gousto Heat & Eat if you're feeding two from one box, you're not counting protein, and a short dinner-only menu is enough. Go with Frive if you're training, watching your macros, steering clear of ultra-processed food, or you want breakfast, snacks and sides handled as well as dinner.
The five things that actually separate them:
- Single portion against single portion, the prices land within pennies of each other. Heat & Eat only gets meaningfully cheaper in the two-person box, where every dish comes as a pair.
- Our median main carries 44g of protein against 21g, so even at their lower price a gram of protein costs less from us.
- Most of the Heat & Eat range carries additives such as yeast extract, maltodextrin or added colour. Nothing we make does.
- Heat & Eat carries more fibre per meal than we do. That one goes to Gousto.
- We cover the whole day, every day, with plans for however you eat. Heat & Eat covers dinner.
Ready to give it a go? Whatever you're after, there's a plan built for it: high protein if you're training, weight loss if that's the goal, low carb, balanced, vegetarian and vegan. Every one of them is made from 100% whole foods with no artificial ingredients or UPFs, cooked by chefs, and on the table in under five minutes. There's a new customer discount on your first order, and you can pause or cancel any time. Have a look at this week's menu and see what you fancy.
FAQs
What is Gousto Heat & Eat?
Heat & Eat is Gousto's chilled ready meal range, launched in August 2026. The meals arrive cooked, and you heat them in the microwave in seven to nine minutes. You can add them to a Gousto recipe box or buy them on their own.
How much does Gousto Heat & Eat cost?
It depends on the box. A single-portion box works out at £7.40 a meal if you take five, £7.82 for four, £8.67 for three and £10.25 for two, all before delivery. The two-person box drops to £4.65 a portion, but every dish then arrives as a pair, so five recipes means five choices eaten twice. An introductory discount applies to a first order.
Is Gousto cheaper than Frive?
Compared like for like, barely. A Frive meat meal is £7.90 and a single Gousto portion is £7.40, and only if you take the maximum five in a box. Take fewer and Gousto costs more, up to £10.25 a meal for two. The £4.65 figure often quoted is the two-person price, where every dish arrives as a pair. Per gram of protein Frive works out at roughly half the cost, because our meals carry around twice as much. New customer discounts are available on Frive.
Are Gousto Heat & Eat meals healthy?
They're reasonable. Every pack gives 2 of your 5 a day, calories are moderate and fibre is good. Protein is light for a main meal at a median of 21g, and salt runs high, with the saltiest dish carrying more than half the adult daily maximum in one sitting.
Are Gousto Heat & Eat meals ultra-processed?
Gousto doesn't claim the range is free from ultra-processed ingredients, and most dishes on the menu carry additives such as yeast extract, maltodextrin, added colour or flavouring. A small number don't. Gousto publishes full ingredient lists, so you can check any dish before you order. Frive meals are made from 100% whole foods with no artificial ingredients or UPFs.
Does Gousto Heat & Eat have vegetarian options?
There's a vegetarian dish on the menu, but the range is mostly meat and fish and it's a short menu, so choice is limited compared with a full meal prep service. Frive runs dedicated vegetarian and vegan plans.
Is Frive or Gousto better?
They're built for different jobs. Heat & Eat is higher in fibre, lighter on calories and covers dinner, and it's cheaper if you're feeding two people the same meal. Frive carries around twice the protein per meal, is made from 100% whole foods with no artificial ingredients or UPFs, and covers breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks with plans for high protein, weight loss, low carb, vegetarian and vegan.
At the time of writing, the Gousto Heat & Eat menu was showing eight dishes. Menus, prices and discounts change. Every price quoted is the standard price published on each site, before any introductory discount, and was accurate as of 10 September 2026. Nutrition and ingredient figures are taken from the published product information on each menu on that date.
