Preparation
Choosing what to make for dinner every night—and then doing the shopping, prep, and cooking to get it on the table—can be daunting for even the most dedicated home cooks. Thankfully, just because you don’t have time to start from scratch every night doesn’t mean you have to pull out your stack of takeout menus. In recent years, dozens of companies have started offering a better way to eat when you’re low on time or energy: meal delivery services. The best meal delivery services help you get food on the table in a fraction of the time you’d normally spend cooking. Some send kits with preportioned ingredients you put together on the stove (or in the oven), while others send fully prepared meals. The best-rated meal delivery services also offer a range of options to choose from so you can have foods that fit your dietary needs and lifestyle delivered right to your door.
So, how do you choose the service that’s right for you? We’ve done the legwork to find the best options for a variety of different needs, from multi-serving family-friendly options to individually portioned vegan meals. Here are the best meal delivery services, whatever your needs may be.
Best Overall: HelloFreshBest for Home Cooks: Martha Stewart & Marley SpoonBest Value: DinnerlyBest Vegan: Purple CarrotBest Heat-and-Eat: CookUnityBest for Families: Home ChefBest for Easy Prep: GobbleBest Gluten-Free: ModifyHealthBest Organic: Green ChefBest for Singles: Daily Harvest
Meal delivery services can be a great resource for anyone—whether you just want some help with shopping or prep a couple of times a week or you want ready-to-eat meals pretty much every day of the week. While the best option for each customer will depend on their own specific needs, we’ve found that the easy meal kits from HelloFresh are the best option for most people. The company offers a wide range of foods to suit many tastes, including options for a number of specific diets, and allows customers a lot of flexibility in portion size—all while maintaining one of the most affordable plans on the market.
Company
Starting Price
Delivery Area
Products Arrive
Customers Can Choose Delivery Date?
Free Shipping?
Best Overall:HelloFresh
$7.99 per serving
48 states
Fresh
Yes
No
Best for Home Cooks:Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon
$8.69 per serving
43 states
Fresh
Yes
No
Best Value:Dinnerly
$4.99 per serving
48 states
Fresh
Yes
No
Best Vegan:Purple Carrot
$11 per serving
50 states
Fresh
No
Yes
Best Heat-and-Eat:CookUnity
$10.39 per serving
47 states
Fresh
Yes
Yes
Best for Families:Home Chef
$7.99 per serving
48 states
Fresh
Yes
No
Best for Easy Prep:Gobble
$11.99 per serving
47 states
Fresh
No
No
Best Gluten-Free:ModifyHealth
$12.95 per serving
48 states
Fresh
No
Yes
Best Organic:Green Chef
$11.99 per serving
48 states
Fresh
Yes
No
Best for Singles:Daily Harvest
$6.79 per serving
48 states
Frozen
Yes
Yes
The serving size of each meal varies from service to service. While some companies offer individually portioned heat-and-eat meals meant for one, others offer meal kits that serve a minimum of two people. Many services offer more than one option, so customers can choose either individual meals or family-friendly meals that usually serve four to six. If you’re looking for meals that serve just one person, without leftovers, check out a company’s sample menus and look at the serving sizes of a few items before signing up.
Meal delivery services vary in price, but they are designed to eliminate food waste, which can help cut costs. The costs of preparing the meal or kit (and packaging and shipping it) can make each portion more expensive than buying ingredients in a grocery store. That said, eliminating waste may save you money if you often find that you are unable to use up foods (or eat all your leftovers) before they go bad.
Most meal delivery services are designed to be healthier than restaurant food or takeout. Many also offer a variety of dietary options so that customers can specifically choose low-calorie or low-carb options. Some specifically work with nutritionists to help customers adhere to specific diets, including keto and paleo. Nearly all allow customers to see the list of ingredients or nutritional values for each dish on the menu.
Some meal delivery services offer frozen meals, while others offer fresh ingredients—including fresh produce. All of the services and meal kits recommended above arrive fresh rather than frozen, and those that include vegetables include either fresh produce or precooked (or partially cooked) vegetables, depending on how the produce will be served and how much cooking you’ve opted to do in your meal plan. All meals arrive chilled and well insulated so produce and other ingredients stay fresh throughout their journey.
In evaluating the best meal delivery services, our testers ordered, made, and tasted meals from dozens of the best-rated meal delivery services in the country. Each company was evaluated on a wide range of factors, including the number of options they offered, their ability to serve customers with a variety of dietary preferences and lifestyles, the ease of preparing the meals, and, of course, the foods’ flavors and textures. We also took into account the company’s sustainability metrics, including how recyclable its packaging is and where it sources its ingredients. Lastly, each company was evaluated to see how well it served specific audiences so that we could be sure we were taking each kind of customer, and their needs, into account.
