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With social distancing becoming the new normal, meal delivery services have emerged as a safe, fun, healthy and affordable alternative to eating out, ordering fast food or making forays to the grocery store. Also, these super convenient meal kits are an ideal solution if you're looking to stick to your New Year's resolutions as they allow you to plan ahead while also helping with portion control.
When looking for a meal delivery service, there are a few things to consider beyond just the price per meal. Most meal kit delivery services allow you to pick your meals from a selected group of recipes that changes each week. Make sure that the variety of meals is to your liking and the amount of preparation required fits in your busy schedule.
We've tested and ranked an array of options to come up with the Top 10 best meal delivery services on the market right now.
This site is a free online resource that strives to offer helpful content and comparison features to its visitors. Please be advised that the operator of this site accepts advertising compensation from companies that appear on the site, and such compensation impacts the location and order in which the companies (and/or their products) are presented, and in some cases may also impact the rating that is assigned to them. To the extent that ratings appear on this site, such rating is determined by our subjective opinion and based on a methodology that aggregates our analysis of brand market share and reputation, each brand's conversion rates, compensation paid to us and general consumer interest. Company listings on this page DO NOT imply endorsement. We do not feature all providers on the market. Except as expressly set forth in our Terms of Use, all representations and warranties regarding the information presented on this page are disclaimed. The information, including pricing, which appears on this site is subject to change at any time.
HelloFresh is one of the easiest and most convenient meal kit delivery services. With straightforward recipes and pre-portioned ingredients, all of its meals are done and dusted in 6 steps or less, allowing you to sit down and enjoy your dinner within 30 minutes. What’s more is that the convenience doesn’t end with the meals: HelloFresh’s website is extremely user-friendly, and modifying, cancelling or reactivating a subscription is as easy as pie. The diversity of meal plans may not be as great as other meal kit delivery services but the quality, ease and convenience of HelloFresh is second to none.
Home Chef lets its customers set up a "taste profile” to help it to determine the meals best suited to them. Each week there is a selection of 18 different dishes to choose from, including quick, 5-minute lunches and entrées, and there are also add-ons such as smoothies. Plus there are options for all types of dietary specifications, including nut-free, gluten-free and dairy-free. The recipes are simple and easy to prepare, and some of the ingredients even arrive pre-cooked, which is a huge time saver.
Sun Basket caters to a variety of diets, including vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free and pescatarian, with 18 different recipes to choose from each week for all of its special plans. Developed by award-winning San Francisco chef Justine Kelly, Sun Basket’s menus showcase ingredients and flavors from around the world. You may be eating Okinawa flaked tuna and egg stir-fry with arugula-mango salad one night, and Tex-Mex chicken fajitas with sweet-pepper tomato salsa the next. The variety of meal plans and dishes as well as the high-quality of ingredients and focus on sustainability sets Sun Basket apart from many of its competitors.
Blue Apron is the most well-known in the industry and has taken leaps and bounds in recent years to try and change how we’re eating at home. The company wants to help customers learn more about how to cook well at home, and to become more intimately acquainted with their food and the ingredients that go into it. One drawback of Blue Apron is that it offers less variety than most of it's competitors. That said, even with the smaller selection you can experiment with some brilliantly designed and delicious recipes.
Most meal kit delivery companies claim that they’re different than other services, but with Freshly there really is one big difference: there’s no actual cooking involved. That’s right, all of Freshly’s meals come pre-cooked and are ready to eat in under 3 minutes. Freshly’s ethos is to offer fresh ready meals that are both nutrient-dense and delicious. Its recipes are put together by a team of in-house chefs, culinary scientists and nutritionists, whose focus is on gluten-free, high-protein dishes that contain less than 500 calories and 35 grams of carbs.
EveryPlate is known as being the budget-friendly meal kit delivery service. And if you are watching your spending, there’s no better option than this. Each week, EveryPlate offers a variety of scrumptious meal options that you can throw together yourself. But the best part is the price tag. For less than $5 a meal, you can have healthy, hearty, and home-cooked meals all week long.
Factor is a meal delivery company that has put high-quality, paleo and keto friendly food front and center. The company's meat is grass fed and pastured, with no antibiotics or hormones, and the produce is organic and non-GMO. In addition, the meals do not have any added sugar and are gluten and soy free, so for people on paleo or ketogenic diets, it's worth checking out. With Factor you can select a 4, 6, 8, 12, or 18 meals per week plan.When you sign up, you’ll fill out a “taste profile” that covers which ingredients you can’t or won’t eat. Simply put, Factor provides high-quality, ready-to-eat meals, customized for you.
Green Chef is your one-stop shop for chef-driven recipes using USDA certified organic, non-GMO, and sustainable ingredients from trusted suppliers. The first certified organic meal kit delivery service, the company has a cooperation with farmers, purveyors and fishermen, bringing you the kind of top quality ingredients you’d otherwise have to hunt for at the farmer’s market. All of its recipes are designed to be cooked and ready to eat within 30 minutes. Ingredients come pre-portioned and many additional items such as flatbreads, sauces or dressings arrive premade. This convenience simplifies things and makes for a definite time saver,but the downside is you’re not learning how to make them.
Nutrisystem is a dieter’s meal delivery service. This service provides a full diet plan complete with nutritionally-balanced meals based on your goals, body type, and food preferences. One of the key features of Nutrisystem is that, aside from the fact that plans are already tailored to fit your specifications, you can tailor just about any aspect of the meal plan you don't like. And since Nutrisystem has more than 160 meal options to choose from, there’s plenty of variety to go around.
Freshology is a branch of the popular Diet-to-Go meal delivery service. If you like the idea of ready-to-make meal kits delivered to your door, then you’re going to love Freshology because it does you one better. These meals are already made by professional chefs. So they arrive cooked, and ready to eat as soon as they get there. Freshology is one of the only meal delivery services that offers the freshest, most ready to eat meals on the market.
To rate these best meal delivery services and help you to decide which companies are worth your money and kitchen time, we dug in deep so you don’t have to. We ordered and tried out each of these meal kits to assess the following:
With a meal kit service, you choose recipes each week that are shipped fresh to your door with pre-portioned ingredients and a step-by-step recipe card. These easy-to-prepare meal kits allow you to cook up a tasty, healthy meal without having to travel to the grocery store and spend hours preparing.
Besides being healthy and convenient, meal kits are a great way to get familiar with different cooking techniques and seasonings and even get your spouse and kids involved.
Meal delivery service prices vary from one company to the next, and is often based on how many meals you order per week. Since companies offer different pricing structures that can appear complex, the best way to compare prices is to look at how much each serving (meal) costs.
EveryPlate is one of the more affordable meal delivery service companies, charging $4.99 per serving across the board. From there, the prices can go up depending on the type of cuisine, the quality of ingredients, and other factors. HelloFresh, one of the best-rated meal delivery services out there, charges $7.99-$8.99 per serving and offers a wide variety of recipes and high quality ingredients. At the higher end of the spectrum is Green Chef, whose meals range between $10.99 and $12.99 but feature USDA-certified organic ingredients and plenty of healthy, tasty recipes.
Most meal kit companies today offer special family meal plans. There are often fewer family recipe options per week, and they are a little less adventurous than the recipes for couples and singles. The focus is usually on hearty, kid-friendly meals that can be cooked in a single pot—and leave some leftovers for later.
One factor that can really make a difference when choosing a meal kit company is the shipping cost. The shipping costs range from around $6.99 to $9.99 or more per order, basically the same price as a meal serving. With many companies, the shipping cost is waived if your overall order is above a certain total. For instance, with Plated, shipping costs $7.95 per order, but is free if you order more than $60. With Home Chef the shipping is free if your order exceeds $45.
With HelloFresh on the other hand, all shipping is free - no matter how much you order. While with Sun Basket, the shipping isn’t waived with a minimum order amount.
If you’re ordering for yourself, it may be difficult to hit that order minimum, but by doing so, the savings on shipping could offset your delivery costs. If you’re ordering for a family of four, you should be able to exceed the minimum order no problem.
Yes. One of the major draws of meal delivery services is the time factor. People from all walks of life have been turning to meal delivery services to save time.
Parents, busy professionals, and even college students have seen major changes in their schedules after signing up for meal delivery services. For one thing, they save you the trip to the grocery store. With everything you need delivered straight to your doorstep, you have more time to spend on what matters, be it work, kids, or other errands.
Meal delivery kits are also easy to make and can save you time searching for recipes and then chopping, grating, and preparing ingredients. With all the ingredients delivered portioned and ready to cook, you’ll be able to drastically minimize the time you spend in the kitchen--and that includes doing dishes afterwards.
If you have dietary specifications like gluten allergies, food sensitivities, or if you’re abiding by a low-carb diet—meal kits can be a great way to help you break the monotony. Most companies have special meal plans that are suited for specific diets, so you don’t need to feel so limited by your dietary limitations. Others let you substitute ingredients when you’re ordering meals so that you can leave out problematic ingredients. And since all of them list the ingredients on the menu, you’ll have no problem finding meals that meet your dietary needs.
From ditching the plastic straws to carpooling to work and bringing your own bags to the grocery store, the importance of conservation is something we should all be able to agree on. Meal kit companies can help by supporting sustainable providers and making sure that you have exactly the amount of food you need so you’re not over-purchasing and throwing out food.
With the growth of the meal delivery market has come an increase in specialty purveyors focusing on anything from vegan to kid-friendly or gluten-free. No matter what your food preferences or allergies may be, there is a service that will meet your needs:
Of course, make sure the service you choose delivers to your area before getting too excited. Then pick the best service that offers the right combination of features and food for your lifestyle. There’s something for everyone, so get on the meal delivery service bandwagon, and find out what it’s like to eat healthier and easier today!