Preparation
Sometimes, the idea of the prep work for a meal kit can seem overwhelming. Perhaps you have young children at home, or you want to make sure an elderly parent is getting adequate nutrition, and maybe you yourself just want a few more minutes in your day. That’s why a growing number of meal delivery services are offering prepared meals to customers. Your options have come a long way from TV dinners. Read on to find out why the companies listed below earn our picks as being the best in their respective categories.
Best Overall: CookUnityBest Vegetarian: ModifyHealthBest for Seniors: Magic KitchenBest Gluten-Free: EpicuredBest Splurge: Sakara LifeBest Allergy-Friendly: The Good KitchenBest Variety: Freshly
Prepared meals are a growing category of meal delivery services, and with so many companies striving to deliver high-quality, prepared meals to consumers, making a choice can be difficult. CookUnity earned our pick for best overall due to its variety of dietary accommodations, easily navigable website, and diverse, delicious meals. In addition, CookUnity offers a variety of plans and a reasonable price point.
Company
Starting Price per serving
Delivery Area
Products Arrive
Customers Can Choose Delivery Date?
Free Shipping?
Best Overall:CookUnity
$11.09 per serving
47 states
Fresh
Yes
Yes
Best Vegetarian:ModifyHealth
$12.95 per serving
48 states
Fresh
No
Yes
Best for Seniors:Magic Kitchen
$10.00 per serving
48 states
Frozen
Yes
First order only
Best Gluten-Free:Epicured
$10.29 per serving
48 states
Fresh
No
No
Best Splurge:Sakara Life
$28 per serving
48 states
Fresh
No
Yes
Best Allergy-Friendly: The Good Kitchen
$11.50 per serving
50 states
Fresh
No
No
Best Variety:Freshly
$9.58 per serving
48 states
Fresh
No
No
This depends largely on the company and the meal plan that you select. That said, many companies delivering prepared meals offer good nutritional information, and many serve up specialized options that you might not find in your grocery store freezer section.
Most companies offer at least some basic customization for dietary preferences. Some companies, such as The Good Kitchen and Epicured, go above and beyond and cater to a wide variety of diets and allergens.
Almost every company we reviewed offers the ability to customize what meals are in your delivery. This is an important component of meal delivery services that helps ensure that customers don’t get bored with their selections.
Most prepared meals consist of a single serving, but companies allow you to order multiples of any meal so you could simply order more of a meal if you intended to feed it to your family. Some also offer options for four or six servings for more family-friendly options.
Our testers ordered from, cooked, and rated 40 different meal delivery services. We carefully scored each one based on meal selection, nutritional information, sustainability, and customer service, as well as the flavor, freshness, and quality of each meal and ingredient. Our testers wrote in-depth reviews and filled out detailed surveys about each company, which we used to assign an overall score to each one.
