There's also a lack of vegan offerings with this meal kit. But if you're someone looking for dietician-approved meals, tasty recipes, and options for wine and breakfast, you might be very satisfied with this kit.
Read the full Blue Apron review. Favorite meal: Crispy skin salmon with salsa verde and farro salad. Cost: Visit Blue Apron for updated pricing.
Different plans are available. Each dish we tested, from hibachi-style steak and rice bowls to apricot dijon chicken legs, was quick and easy to prepare and used high-quality ingredients. While we were disappointed by the recipe for creamy peppercorn chicken with roasted potatoes and carrots chicken breast can easily dry out when baked, and the sauce was overwhelmingly peppery , we found the other meals satisfying.
However, EveryPlate is focused on affordability and not specific diet plans, which means its recipes may not suit everyone. But if you're looking to subscribe to a meal kit on a budget, EveryPlate just might do.
Read the full EveryPlate review. Favorite meal: Apricot dijon chicken legs with roasted carrots and lemon garlic couscous. Cost: Visit EveryPlate for updated pricing. Meals like chipotle-spiced steak with potato salad were simple, sophisticated, and downright American, just like the homemaking queen.
The service is also far from ideal for those with dietary restrictions—in typical American fashion, every recipe revolves around an animal protein or heavy carbs. Since we originally posted our review, Martha and Marley Spoon has added more vegetarian and low-carb options, but we haven't tested them yet.
The service did score points with us for its eco-friendly packaging, made almost entirely from biodegradable materials. Most of its recipes were also easy to follow for new cooks. Want to learn more? Read our full Martha and Marley Spoon review.
Favorite meal: Chipotle-spiced steak with potato salad and charred snap peas. Like Sunbasket, Green Chef promises organic ingredients and a variety of different diet-based meal plans think keto, paleo, and vegan at different price points, with about eight options to choose from per week.
What sets Green Chef apart from other services is its commitment to organic and ethically sourced ingredients. The company is USDA-certified organic, meaning that customers are buying certified ingredients from suppliers that follow strict standards.
When we tore open our bags for dishes like red-miso steak stir-fry and chicken with harissa apricot sauce, we were surprised to see that many of the ingredients were pre-prepped. The carrots and cabbage were already chopped, the miso sauce was already prepared, and there was a baggie of finely minced garlic and ginger that was almost a paste.
All these pre-prepped ingredients made preparing our food very speedy and simple. Most were plated and ready to eat in 30 minutes, and we only dirtied a handful of prep bowls, one pan, one pot, and a cutting board.
However, convenience has its drawbacks. Many of the pre-chopped veggies were brown or wilting by the time we went to cook with them. But otherwise, we quite enjoyed Green Chef. Read the full Green Chef Review.
Favorite meal: Red-miso steak stir-fry with udon noodles, carrots, edamame, pickled ginger and carrots. Cost: Visit Green Chef for updated pricing. This meal delivery service offers a wide variety of recipes that will satisfy omnivores and vegan customers alike with its certified organic produce.
Fresh pappardelle verde with sweet pea pistou and sugar snap peas and crispy tempeh tenders with barbecue sauce and lemon-shallot green beans were among its standout offerings when we tested. We were impressed by how easily our Sunbasket dinners came together, relying on just a few key ingredients and spice blends to do most of the heavy lifting.
That meant spending less time cooking and more time enjoying the food. We particularly loved the flavorful veggies and non-meat protein options, making Sunbasket perfect for people who avoid eating meat. You can easily skip weeks, adjust delivery frequency, pause your account, or cancel your subscription entirely by easily navigating the Sunbasket website.
Favorite meal: Fresh pappardelle verde with sweet pea pistou and sugar snap peas. Cost: Visit Sunbasket for updated pricing. There are several options to choose from when it comes to buying a meal delivery kit. To help make your selection a little easier, here are some of the most important factors to keep in mind before you subscribe to a delivery service:.
As with any subscription service, the price is one detail that should not be overlooked, especially since you'll be paying for the delivery on a weekly or monthly basis.
As a rule of thumb, stick to the basics when you first start out with a meal delivery service. See what it has to offer at a price point that matches your budget, and then weigh your options if you decide you want to switch things up.
Not everyone is a connoisseur in the kitchen, and some folks may want their dinner to be prepared more quickly or easily than others.
Certain recipes can take longer to prepare, while some may be less labor intensive. Before ordering your meal kit, check to see how long each recipe is intended to take, as well as how much additional chopping, cutting, or prepping you may have to perform.
If you find yourself having little to no time to cook, then a pre-made meal kit like CookUnity could be your best option.
Meal delivery services tend to offer a variety of options to meet a wide range of dietary needs, whether it be low calorie, vegan, or gluten-free dishes. There's also the benefit of customization, which allows consumers to change some of the ingredients within the meal kit to suit their needs.
This is particularly useful when it comes to protein options or excluding a particular ingredient due to an allergy or taste preference. Before you select your meal kit delivery service, check to see what delivery days or times it offers. Some may vary based on your location, but you'll typically be able to select a delivery date for Monday-Friday, with some services offering weekend availability.
This is important to keep in mind as you sign up for your first delivery to ensure you are receiving your meals at the most convenient time for you. For each service, we ordered at least one box of three or four meals worth two to four servings each.
Using the service's website, we chose a diverse variety of meals when available. We prepared the food on a weeknight for ourselves and our partners or families, and evaluated the quality of ingredients, recipe accuracy and variety, difficulty, speed, cleanup, taste, and more.
We scored and compared each meal and kept detailed notes like true food nerds. Meal prepping and grocery shopping can feel overwhelming. Meal kits are a great way to expand your tastes and eat healthier, bringing you through the cooking process one step at a time and slicing the time it takes to prepare your food in half.
We found many recipes that only took 15 or 20 minutes, and oftentimes less! One study found that popular restaurant meals can have a whopping 1, calories on average per serving. Using a meal kit service can help you better manage your portions and ingredients to eat more nutritious meals and lead a healthier lifestyle.
They can also help you control grocery costs because you won't have excess food going bad in your fridge before you can decide what to do with it. Almost every service we tried offers a large discount on the first box. Your box is good to sit on your doorstep until the end of the day.
Because delivery windows for these services are as broad as a full day, they package ingredients to last outside your actual refrigerator until the end of the day. Most often, produce and dry ingredients will be grouped in bags above ice packs, and any meat will be fully insulated below ice packs.
The packaging is going to be bulky and cumbersome. Recipes are usually seasonal, but favorites are often repeated. Every meal kit service has a different approach to repetition, but most try to make recipes as seasonal as possible to keep you from getting bored and to guarantee fresh, sustainable produce.
That being said, most companies make note of the most popular dishes and offer them many weeks a year, regardless of the season. If you really love one of your meals, hold onto the recipe card for future reference so you can request it again—or make it yourself using store-bought ingredients. Cook your meals soon after receiving them.
Because of transit times, they might actually be older than what you buy from the store. Use common sense when approaching certain dishes—seafood, fresh greens, and chicken should be prepared first, while red meat, pork, and harder produce can last a few more days.
Cancel at least one full week before you want your last box. If you want to skip a week or take a break from deliveries, most services allow you to make those selections, too.
Many meal kits are now offered in grocery stores. To combat the high operational costs of delivery-only services, many companies have partnered with or been acquired by major food stores and are now offering its kits in the grocery aisles. While we only tested delivery services, many of the recipes we tried are also available in stores for equal or lower prices.
Some meal kit companies now offer prepared and heat-and-eat meals. We've noticed a recent trend toward speed and convenience in the meal kit world, both with traditional companies and with frozen and ready-to-eat brands.
Home Chef now offers at least two oven-ready dishes per menu every week, and Sunbasket has introduced both oven-ready and pre-made options. We recommend having a good cast iron pan or a Dutch oven handy. Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.
The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , TikTok , or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more. Cassidy covered all things cooking as the kitchen editor for Reviewed from to An experimental home chef with a healthy distrust of recipes, Cassidy lives by the "Ratatouille" philosophy that, with a few techniques and key tools, anyone can cook.
She's produced in-depth reviews and guides on everything from meal kits to stand mixers and the right way to cook an egg. Madison covered all things cooking as the kitchen editor for Reviewed in Formerly the editor-in-chief of Culture Magazine, Madison is the founder of GRLSQUASH, a women's food, art, and culture journal.
Her work has also appeared in The Boston Globe, Cherrybombe, Gather Journal, and more. She is passionate about pizza, aesthetic countertop appliances, and regularly watering her houseplants. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia and a Master's of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy from Boston University.
Previously the Digital Editor at Culture Cheese Magazine and a former barista , she's also had her work published in The Boston Globe, Modern Luxury, Boston Magazine, and more.
Danielle has a B. from Syracuse University and a AAS in Culinary Arts from Newbury College. Previously, Danielle was a Test Cook and Associate Editor at America's Test Kitchen, as well as a freelance recipe developer and food writer.
We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. These affordable meal delivery services deliver on quality and flavor.
Kayleigh is an associate food editor for the Performance Marketing team at Dotdash Meredith. She has nearly a decade of combined experience in both the media and culinary industries.
Jonathan Valdez, RDN, CDCES, CPT is a New York City-based telehealth registered dietitian nutritionist and nutrition communications expert. Grocery prices have gotten into astronomical territory in recent years—and in other news, grass is green.
Getting dinner on the table every night is enough of a feat, and when you factor in skyrocketing grocery bills and a jam-packed schedule, it can seem insurmountable. Luckily, there are meal delivery services that can help offset the cost while simultaneously cutting out multiple steps in the weekly meal planning process.
Read on to find our top picks for the cheapest meal delivery services on the market right now. When it comes to budget-friendly dining, EveryPlate takes the proverbial cake. Each week, subscribers are treated to a menu of over two dozen meal kits, plus add-on items including salads, soups, desserts, and even extra proteins like ranch steaks and ground turkey.
Choose from gourmet picks like sriracha apricot pork chops, comfort food classics like Parmesan-crusted chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, and globally inspired fusion foods like banh mi burgers and soy-glazed meatloaf. Owned by the same entity as Marley Spoon, Dinnerly boasts an extensive menu of family-friendly meals ranging from pasta bakes to enchiladas to stir-fries.
Food waste is like throwing money into a paper shredder, and services like Daily Harvest are here to nip that in the bud. Featuring an entire menu of frozen foods, all of which are plant-based and gluten-free, Daily Harvest allows you to keep quick and delicious meals on hand without worrying about anything spoiling after a few days.
Looking to get more servings of nutritious fruits and veggies into your daily meal rotation? Everything comes frozen and preportioned in convenient little cups, requiring only a few minutes of blending, thawing, or reheating before enjoying.
Feeding a crowd? Perhaps the best option for families on our list, Home Chef provides a menu of three dozen comfort food-leaning meals that feed up to six people each. Menu selections run the gamut from steak and broccoli stir-fry to portobello mushroom burgers to pasta with meatballs, plus gourmet-style dishes like panko-crusted mahi mahi and scallop risotto.
You can also add items like extra proteins, soups, salads, sides, and desserts to your order—and those options change each week, too! As far as pricing, that will vary depending on what you order and how many servings you need.
Blue Apron combines the gourmet feel of high-end restaurants with the ease and convenience of home delivery into one truly stellar meal service. One of the leading names in the meal kit world, Blue Apron has turned restaurant-quality meal delivery into an art form.
Choose from gourmet signature dishes like duck confit with coconut curry ramen, vegetarian picks like cheesy romesco gnocchi, and even Weight Watchers-approved choices like crispy skin salmon with Calabrian mayo. Meal Kits. Heat and Eat. Designed by both dietitians and chefs, the meals are formulated to meet specific nutrition requirements including diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, sodium-controlled, and renal-friendly.
Whether you follow a vegan eating style, want to pack more protein into your meals, or even follow a popular diet like keto, paleo, Whole30, or Mediterranean, Fresh N Lean makes getting your daily nutrition easy, convenient, and delicious.
Since , the company has been churning out fully prepared meals that only require a few minutes of reheating before enjoying. Perhaps the biggest name in the entire meal delivery industry, HelloFresh has set the standard for delivering flavorful, tried-and-true recipes made with high-quality ingredients.
With that said, whether or not a meal service is right for you will depend on multiple factors unique to you and your situation. While the services on our list all provide meals at wallet-friendly price points, those who are working with a tight budget may find it more cost-effective to go grocery shopping for ingredients themselves rather than investing in meal delivery.
Additionally, if you have specific dietary needs , like a severe gluten allergy, for example, it may be a safer option to prepare and cook meals in your own kitchen to reduce the risk of any cross-contamination.
In many cases, yes! However, this will depend on the size of your family. Most meal kits max out at four servings per recipe, and a handful of them can accommodate six. With that said, services like Daily Harvest allow you to order up to 24 frozen meals in each box, and you can order multiple boxes per week if needed.
This allows you to keep your freezer stocked with tasty meals to feed however many people are at your table. They certainly can be! Many meal delivery kits provide nutritious recipes that utilize fresh produce and meats or meat alternatives , and in some cases, you can alter or omit ingredients here and there to tweak the amount of sugar or sodium in the meal.
That depends on which restaurant—but in many cases, they are! Fun recipes that are easy and educational make this the best meal delivery service for beginners.
The recipes are easy to prepare with simple step-by-step instructions that anyone can follow, and the pre-portioned ingredients provided are always fresh. HelloFresh offers six different meal plans to choose from, including a vegetarian option, a family-friendly option, and a pescatarian option.
Each recipe includes a difficulty rating and nutrition facts. HelloFresh is better than many meal services at catering to different dietary needs. You can order anywhere from two to six recipes per week — way more options than other meal delivery services — for two or four people each.
I tried three meals from HelloFresh and I loved the whole experience. My favorite things about this company were the packaging and the recipe cards.
HelloFresh boxes contain surprisingly little plastic and the meals are separated into individual paper bags, which was way more convenient than sorting through a box full of ingredients. The recipes, another huge strength, included large pictures of each step and helpful tips.
The recipes are easy to follow and there are several kid-friendly dishes on the menu. Plus, HelloFresh lets you customize to your liking. HelloFresh has some balanced meals, but a lot of recipes can be high in fat and calories. outside their health-forward options. HelloFresh will save you time grocery shopping but might not save you money or might cost more than you spend on dinner now.
Sunbasket is a meal delivery service that caters to people valuing sustainable business practices and healthy, organic ingredients. Sunbasket is the meal kit to choose if you're looking for the freshest ingredients and the healthiest recipes.
Although more expensive than competitors, Sunbasket has menus for every diet and lifestyle, whether vegan, paleo, gluten-free, keto-friendly and more. This service prioritizes quality, first and foremost.
Sunbasket has a variety of meals for those who are paleo, vegetarian, gluten-free, and more. In addition to their many creative dishes — like the Moroccan-spiced salmon with jeweled couscous and lemon yogurt or the triple-mushroom quinoa with watercress, scallions, and peas — Sunbasket has an online market, similar to Blue Apron, where you can purchase everything from breakfasts to snacks, to quick lunches and even specialty meats.
The catch with Sunbasket is the price tag. The meal kit portion includes ingredients you follow recipes and cook yourself or options for ready-to-eat meals.
The actual price is personalized to how much food you order. Most meals with Hungryroot you prepare yourself are ready in about ten minutes.
Hungryroot mixes in some Walmart and Instacart by also offering a grocery delivery service to its meals. Options include healthy snacks, sweets, fresh fruit, breakfast items and more.
Hungryroot uses a credit-based system that assigns grocery items and recipes a credit value when ordering your plan that corresponds to the number of servings selected. Exclusive to Northeastern U. Outside normal grocery and prepared meal delivery, those in Brooklyn, Manhattan or other delivery zones in New York can also have alcohol delivered with FreshDirect.
Deliveries with FreshDirect can be made up to a week in advance or if you want your groceries quick they can be scheduled for same-day or next-day delivery in selected two-hour windows subject to availability.
Alright, food lovers! Enter the modern marvel: Home Meal Delivery Kits! Most services offer flexible subscription models. You can usually choose how many meals you want to be delivered each week and for how many people. One of the coolest things about these kits is the variety. Many companies rotate their menus regularly, offering a mix of classic favorites and global dishes that might be new to you.
Some companies even offer breakfast, dessert, and snack options. The cost per meal can be higher than if you sourced the ingredients yourself. Also, while companies are making efforts to reduce packaging, there can still be a fair amount in each box, which could be a concern for the eco-conscious among us.
Before we even thought of tasting anything the fun part! From popular blogs to user reviews on various platforms—think Trustpilot, Yelp, and even Reddit—we dug deep to understand what customers truly want. We prioritized services that offered a range of options.
Once we had our list, it was time for our favorite part: taste-testing! We sampled dishes from numerous services, rating them on flavor, freshness, portion sizes, and overall satisfaction.
Yes, it was as delicious as it sounds! We analyzed the cost per meal, looking for services that provided value for money without compromising on taste.
An overlooked but super crucial aspect! And of course, we made some cheeky calls to their customer service to see how responsive and helpful they were. We favored services that used eco-friendly packaging, had recycling options, or showcased any efforts towards sustainability.
Armed with all this data, our team sat down for some serious discussions and maybe a food coma or two! We debated, discussed, and sometimes even passionately argued to whittle down our choices to the final list. Gone are the days when ordering food was a rare treat. With the advent of meal delivery services, a plethora of culinary delights are just a click away.
Imagine getting gourmet dishes or even simple home-cooked style meals delivered right at your door, without the hassle of grocery shopping or meal prepping.
But with the vast sea of options available, how does one pick the right service? Enter meal delivery services! They cater to a range of preferences, from health-focused meals to indulgent treats. Before you get overwhelmed with options, take a moment. Think about what you really need.
Are you aiming to lose weight? Maybe you need high-protein meals. Or are you a gourmet at heart, seeking new and exotic flavors? Pinning down your priorities can narrow the field significantly.
From those avoiding gluten to vegans, and from keto enthusiasts to pescatarians, the spectrum is vast. Check if your prospective vegan meal delivery service can cater to your specific dietary needs.
We all dream of eating like royalty, but the wallet does have its limits. While exploring, keep an eye on the price tag. Some services might seem affordable at first but can rack up costs with add-ons.
Find one that offers the best bang for your buck.
The middle tier are Hellofresh (owns EP), MarleySpoon (owns D), BlueApron and HomeChef. I like Homechef best. You can customize web-analyst.pro › showcase › nutrition › cheapest-meal-delivery-services Meal kits range in price from roughly $5 to $15 per serving, but most of them fall into the $8 to $12 range. Then you'll want to consider food
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