Affordable chef-prepared meal plans -
Meal delivery services compared. Factors to consider when choosing a meal delivery service. How we tested meal kit services. Other meal delivery services we tested.
Meal delivery service FAQs. See at Blue Apron. Best for meal kits. See at Factor. Best meal delivery service for weight loss. See at Pete's Paleo.
Best for gluten-free meal delivery service. See at CookUnity. Best meal delivery with a variety of recipes. See at Mosaic Foods. Best for prepared plant-based meal delivery. See at HelloFresh. Best meal delivery service for families.
See at Purple Carrot. Best plant-based meal kit service. See at Green Chef. Best for organic meal kits. See at EveryPlate. Cheapest meal kit service. See at Fresh N' Lean. Best prepared meal delivery service.
See at Home Chef. Best meal kits for eating keto. FILTER BY all Meal Kit Prepared Meal. Showing 11 of 11 Results. Show less. Pros Steak and seafood options are included in a standard meal plan Affordable if you choose more than two recipes per week.
Cons Fewer recipe options than other services Doesn't allow for much customization. Type Meal kit. Recipes per week Good for Vegetarian, pescatarian, diabetes-friendly, low-calorie, picky eaters, quick meals.
Diet types: Vegetarian, diabetes-friendly, wellness, family-friendly, fast and easy. See at Blue Apron Best for meal kits Blue Apron. Show expert take Show less.
Pros Tons of healthy menu options per week Healthy food to service most diets and nutrition plans. Cons Expensive if you only choose a few meals per week Quality was somewhat inconsistent.
Type Prepared meal. Good for Healthy, low-calorie, pescatarian, vegetarian, keto, paleo, diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, Whole See at Factor Best meal delivery service for weight loss Factor.
Pros Quality ingredients including mostly organic meats and produce Great for those avoiding gluten or empty carbs No subscription required. Cons No real discount for ordering a larger volume of meals The website isn't the best.
Good for Healthy, paleo, keto, low-calorie, diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, Whole30, high protein. See at Pete's Paleo Best for gluten-free meal delivery service Pete's Real Food. Good for Gluten-free, dairy-free, keto, paleo, vegan, low calorie, low carb, plant-based.
See at CookUnity Best meal delivery with a variety of recipes CookUnity. Editors' choice. Pros Nearly all the meals I tried were good or better Interesting use of global recipes and flavors Affordable, especially for the family plan.
Meal options per week Good for Vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, low-calorie. Full Review Read full review. See at Mosaic Foods Best for prepared plant-based meal delivery Mosaic Foods. Pros More than 50 weekly recipes Good for keeping to specific diets or eating plans.
Good for Vegan, vegetarian, keto, gluten-free, low-calorie, Whole30, families, picky eaters. See at HelloFresh Best meal delivery service for families HelloFresh.
Pros Interesting and filling vegan recipes Extremely fresh and high-quality ingredients. Cons Limited to eight recipes per week Expensive. Recipes per week 8. Good for Vegan, vegetarian.
See at Purple Carrot Best plant-based meal kit service Purple Carrot. Pros Healthy recipes and mostly organic ingredients Allows you to swap the protein in certain recipes.
Cons On the expensive side Premium recipes incur major upcharges. Good for Organic, healthy, low-calorie, pescatarian, vegetarian, keto, gluten-free, Whole30, gourmet. See at Green Chef Best for organic meal kits Green Chef.
Pros The most affordable meal kit service Most recipes were either good or better Not a ton of plastic waste. Cons Some produce was past its prime Recipes are somewhat basic Very little customization allowed.
Good for Healthy, family-friendly, comfort food, picky eaters, quick and easy. See at EveryPlate Cheapest meal kit service EveryPlate.
Pros Most of the food we tried was good or great Healthy options to service many eating plans. Cons On the pricey side of average No family-sized meals making it expensive to feed a crew.
Good for Keto, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, Mediterranean, vegan, vegetarian, high-protein. See at Fresh N' Lean Best prepared meal delivery service Fresh N Lean. Pros Good selection of keto-friendly meal kits Recipes are simple and fast Budget-friendly if you choose a larger plan.
Cons Some recipes were clunky and bland Too much plastic used in packaging. Good for Keto, low-carb, healthy, families, picky eaters, low-calorie, vegetarian. See at Home Chef Best meal kits for eating keto Home Chef. Meal kit versus prepared meal delivery The first big decision you'll make is whether you want meal kits, which require some prep and cooking, or a prepared meal service that sends fully cooked meals that are ready to heat and eat.
Cost After you've picked between meal kits or meal delivery, you'll want to find a service within your budget. Sunbasket : This service has high-end meal kits, but the bloated cost keeps it off our list.
While the quality is high, the prices are too. BistroMD : These meals are intended to promote weight loss, but the cost is high, and the flavors aren't good enough to justify the price. Daily Harvest : Daily Harvest's semi-prepared smoothies, bowls and soups are good and fairly affordable, but the meals are inconsistent and contain a lot of sodium.
Dinnerly : This meal kit service is one of the cheapest, but the recipes were inconsistent. Territory Foods : The food was some of the best I tried, and I found the recipes diverse and interesting. Sakara Life : This fresh food service was tasty and good for a cleanse, but it's also one of the most expensive meal subscriptions we tried.
Trifecta Nutrition : Trifecta's vegan meals are healthy and tasty but also very expensive. Hungryoot : We liked this hybrid service but leans more toward grocery delivery than meal kit. Snap Kitchen : Snap Kitchen has solid prepared meals, mostly under calories.
The portions were a bit small, and some meals were underwhelming. FlexPro Meals : These frozen keto meals were some of the worst I tried. Nutrisystem : Though it's affordable, I disliked most of the meals I tried from this frozen meal subscription.
Rootberry : This vegan meal delivery service is reliable but the food is not to the level of others on our list. Who are meal kits good for? Families seeking an easier way to make home-cooked meals.
Meal kits help you avoid the nightly debate about what you're going to make for dinner and save a trip to the grocery store if you're missing breadcrumbs or flour.
Those trying to eat healthier. Meal kit services all offer in-depth nutritional information, including carbs, calories, sugar, sodium, and protein. Many meal kit services even offer specific diet plans that filter out foods that don't fit a dietary preference or restriction, such as gluten-free, diabetes-friendly, keto or carb-conscious and paleo meals.
Anyone who wants to learn to cook. With all the ingredients sent along and easy recipe instructions, meal kits are a low-pressure way to learn to cook. Who is prepared meal delivery good for? Those looking to save time. Meal delivery is great for anyone who wants easy meals and fewer evenings spent cooking but doesn't want to pony up the dough for expensive takeout.
Those looking to eat better. Many prepared meal delivery services cater to Whole30, keto, paleo, vegan, vegetarian and organic eaters and can help you regulate fat, sugar, carbs and calories on a weekly basis. Families, in some cases.
Certain meal kits with larger serving sizes are good for families. Meal kit services also have family plans that cost less per serving than buying meal kits for one or two people.
Are meal delivery services worth it? Are meal kits cheaper than buying groceries? What's the cheapest meal delivery service? What are the most popular meal delivery services? The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice.
Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives. Nutrition Guides Meal Delivery Best Meal Kit Delivery Service Best Healthy Meal Delivery Service Best Cheap Meal Delivery Service Hungryroot Review EveryPlate Review Best Plant-Based Meal Delivery Service Best Keto Meal Delivery Best Grocery Delivery Service Fresh N Lean Review Blue Apron vs.
Hello Fresh. Dieting Program Guides Best Weight Loss Programs Optavia Diet Review Noom Diet Review Nutrisystem Diet Review Weight Watchers Diet Review Noom vs. Weight Watchers. Vitamin and Supplement Guides Best Multivitamins for Men Best Multivitamins for Women Best Fiber Supplements Best Probiotics Best Supplements to Gain Weight Best Vitamin Subscription.
Healthy, low-calorie, pescatarian, vegetarian, keto, paleo, diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, Whole But I like that I could skip the trip to the store and the endless scroll through recipes, and some of the dishes are intriguing, with ingredients I wouldn't ever think to combine crisped gnocchi with furikake and a miso-tomato sauce?
Color me skeptical-curious. The flavors are bold and bright. Don't want to cook at all? Purple Carrot also sells fully prepared meals. Purple Carrot. There are oven-ready meals that come with their own tin and grill-ready meals that arrive in a foil bag.
I am not a mom to anyone besides two cats who eat out of cans, but if I were a parent to human children, I imagine these options would feel like blessings. But did the challenge of making do without make me a better home chef?
Perhaps it did, reader. Perhaps it did. Home Chef. Meet Martha and Marley Spoon, a. This meal kit collaboration between the American lifestyle icon and the popular Berlin-based meal company offers a plethora of classic, family-friendly meals. I enjoyed the red chili beef enchiladas , where all of the flavors from the tomatoes, bell peppers, and chorizo chili spice melded together deliciously.
I was also a fan of the pastrami-spiced burger with homemade thousand island. These recipes take a little more time and effort, and they also require you to have some of your own pantry ingredients on deck. That said, Martha and Marley Spoon is a great option for people who want a meal kit that still allows them to cook, as opposed to one that does all of the cooking done for them.
Marley Spoon. While many food delivery services emphasize minute home-cooked meals, Gobble advertises entrees that take half that amount of time to prepare from start to finish. And they make do on that minute promise. My favorite meal was the chicken burger with sriracha aioli and yuca fries.
The recipe was easy to follow; the sauces, dressings, and spice blends were pre-made; and the burger was juicy with lots of flavor thanks to the Cajun seasoning, spicy aioli, and honey-Dijon slaw.
The weekly menu includes roughly 15 easy-to-make dinners, but what I especially appreciated were all the optional add-ons. I recommend getting one of the soups to have on hand for a quick lunch—the chicken tortilla soup is a wonderful choice.
They even have the option to add on breakfasts like Belgium waffles and bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and desserts like premade chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate lava cake. When trying it out for myself, I liked that there were many dinner options to choose from 28 a week, to be exact and that every meal came with an easy-to-follow recipe card with only five steps.
I went with the pastrami-crusted steak , orange chicken , and Thai red curry stir-fry —all good, all fuss-free. The flavors were on point but mellow, so to take them up a notch, I added more seasoning. For the orange chicken I doubled the orange juice and soy sauce and also added honey and chili flakes.
They offer a weekly menu of 30 meals to choose from and cater to a variety of diets, including Mediterranean, keto, vegan, and gluten-free.
But what I like most about this meal delivery service is the variety of flavors within the menus. With options like salmon with creamy chimichurri , creamy mushroom and meatball soup , and Italian roasted carrots with barley and ricotta , I found it easy to stay satisfied without getting bored.
One of the best meals I tried was the enchilada-spiced ground turkey bowl. Not only was it tasty—smoky and savory with a pleasant crunch thanks to toasted pepitas—but also the premade enchilada sauce and ready-to-use paprika-cumin blend helped keep the prep and cook time down to 25 minutes total.
Green Chef. That said, CookUnity does offer a huge variety of options. Some favorites? The grilled chicken yassa with jollof rice and plantains , the short rib with herb mashed potatoes , and the ginger salmon cakes with miso-Sriracha sauce. Just play around and try a bunch of meal options to learn what you like best.
It has a lot going for it: There are plenty of options to choose from, the shipping is quick, and the meals are super easy to cook. I sometimes eat meat the cuts of beef and pork I received were tasty, fresh, and high-quality but was happy to see plenty of vegetarian and plant-based options to choose from, like black bean and corn tacos and bulgar grain bowls.
My only caveat is that there was a lot of sameness to many of the meals I tried—repeat ingredients or the same seasonings used across disparate international cuisines. Still, portions were large, leftovers were plentiful, and I really enjoyed the convenience of knowing dinner was taken care of.
Hello Fresh. Hungryroot is essentially a virtual grocery store with hundreds of recipes built around the food on its digital shelves. After using Hungryroot for half a year, I eventually grew bored of the recipes, which were basically permutations of a core set of foods and ingredients—the same sesame ginger sauce applied to different styles of bowls and salads, for instance.
But I became deeply attached to several grocery items, such as the prepackaged garlicky herb chickpea duo , a dish I loved mixing into quinoa or farro for a quick and refreshing lunch. Even the best home cooks can get a little tired of making dinner post holiday cooking season.
If you want to eat meals that are nutrient-dense but dead easy to prepare, Factor is probably the way to go. Factor is a little like a fancier, dietitian-approved TV dinner.
Here are the steps: Take the meal tray out of its paper sleeve, poke holes in its plastic lid to let air out, and pop the tray in the microwave for two minutes.
The carnivorous dishes became a little repetitive, to be frank: Many of them consist of a small slab of meat sitting on a bed of some purée, accompanied by a couple dollops of different greens. Not bad for a ponzu chili steak bowl with charred snap peas and ginger rice.
I also appreciated the relatively low level of packaging with this kit, and the fact that there were plenty of comfort foods and vegetarian options.
Neal include products Free trial samples for review think hcef-prepared useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we Planss earn Afforable small commission. Healthline Affordable sports event food deals shows you brands and products that we stand behind. We tested the best meal delivery services to help you decide which are actually worth subscribing to. Sunbasket, Factor, and Blue Apron are only a few that made the list. There are a several meal delivery services that can help make meal prep easier. However, they differ in meal types, suitability for various diets, quality of ingredients, variety of flavors, and cost.
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