FreeFood alternative · Barcelona
Looking for an alternative to FreeFood?
FreeFood does one thing well — anti-inflammatory, gluten- and dairy-free prepared meals you pick à la carte. HealthyFoodBCN runs a different model: a private chef cooks a full plan around your goals and household, fresh twice a week.
FreeFood is one of the more honest stories in Barcelona's healthy-food scene. David and Marina built it after their daughter's gluten intolerance forced them to actually figure out clean eating from scratch — and the result is a properly thought-through anti-inflammatory menu, not the usual 'wellness' marketing wrapper. The site runs cleanly, the Instagram audience is loyal, and the food rotates seasonally. So the comparison isn't whether FreeFood is good — it's whether à la carte single-dish delivery is what you actually need, or whether you'd rather have your whole week planned and cooked around you. HealthyFoodBCN does the second version.
At a glance
| FreeFood | HealthyFoodBCN | |
|---|---|---|
| Per meal | €7.95–11.95 | €7.50–15 |
| Who cooks it | FreeFood's central kitchen team (founders David & Marina) | Frank Diaz, ex-Can Roca, Madrid Fusión 2019 |
| Freshness | Batch-cooked weekly, Friday delivery (Wednesday order cutoff) | Cooked fresh, delivered twice a week (Mon + Wed) |
| Control | Pick individual dishes from a rotating weekly anti-inflammatory menu | Plan built around your goals, allergies, family |
| Languages | Spanish (some English testimonial content) | English, Spanish, Catalan, Russian, Ukrainian |
Where FreeFood wins
- A genuine anti-inflammatory, gluten-free, dairy-free angle — built around a daughter's gluten intolerance, not retrofitted for marketing
- Strong sustainability and 'clean eating' identity — seasonal, no added gluten or dairy, 22K-follower Instagram community
- Ships peninsular Spain (not just Barcelona) via Seur Frío, with free delivery over €50
- Lower per-meal price for someone who only wants a few dishes a week, no full plan commitment
Where HealthyFoodBCN wins
- Plan is built around you specifically — calories, allergies, training, family makeup — not picked from a shared weekly menu.
- A named chef cooks every plate — Frank Diaz, Madrid Fusión 2019 — with restaurant-grade plating. FreeFood is a family kitchen, not a chef-led service.
- Full-day coverage: breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner if you want it. FreeFood is single-dish à la carte.
- Five languages including English, Catalan, Russian and Ukrainian. FreeFood operates mainly in Spanish.
- Delivered twice a week, cooked the day before. FreeFood is a single Friday drop you eat from across the week.
HealthyFoodBCN is for someone in Barcelona who wants their whole week handled — breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner — built around their actual goals, allergies and family. We charge more per day because Frank cooks each plan individually rather than batch-cooking a shared menu. If you want clean eating across every meal of the day, with one chef who knows your household, we're the closer fit.
The price math
FreeFood at €8–12 per dish times two meals a day across five days is €80–120/week for one person, lunches and dinners only. HealthyFoodBCN is about €44/person/day for two meals (roughly €220/week) and about €60/day for a full day (roughly €300/week), around €20 per plate, so we cost more per meal. The difference is the model: FreeFood is à la carte dishes off a shared menu, while Frank cooks a full plan individually around your macros, allergies and dislikes. The honest read: if you only want a few lunches and dinners dish-by-dish, FreeFood is cheaper and the cleaner fit; if you want every eating occasion handled by a named chef cooking your actual plan, that's the premium.
Best-fit recommendation
Stay with FreeFood if you want anti-inflammatory or gluten-free meals à la carte, with no plan commitment, and you don't need a chef relationship. Try us if you want every meal of the day handled, the plan built around your real life, and one named chef cooking it.
Common questions
Is FreeFood actually gluten-free and dairy-free?
Yes — the menu is built that way from the start, not adapted. The founders' daughter is gluten-intolerant, which is the origin story. HealthyFoodBCN handles gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and most other allergy profiles too, but our menu isn't single-protocol — Frank builds around each household's specific list.
Can FreeFood do breakfast?
FreeFood is primarily lunch and dinner dishes. HealthyFoodBCN covers breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner if you want full-day coverage — useful if you're trying to dial in calories or training nutrition across the whole day.
Does FreeFood deliver outside Barcelona?
Yes, FreeFood ships peninsular Spain via Seur Frío. HealthyFoodBCN is Barcelona city and metro only — that's the trade-off for cooking each plan fresh twice a week rather than batching for national logistics.
Find the plan built for you
Different lives, different plans. Pick the one closest to yours and see how Frank designs the food.
Compare with other alternatives
Want a plan built around you?
Tell us how you eat in a normal week. Frank designs a plan and we deliver twice a week, fresh.