Article updated on August 19, 2024 at 1:28 PM PDT
Skip the grocery store and get these meal delivery services straight to your door.
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David Watsky Senior Editor / Home and Kitchen
David lives in Brooklyn where he’s spent more than a decade covering all things edible, including meal kit services, food subscriptions, kitchen tools and cooking tips.
David earned his BA from Northeastern and has toiled in nearly every aspect of the food business, including as a line cook in Rhode Island where he once made a steak sandwich for Lamar Odom.
Right now he’s likely somewhere stress-testing a blender or tinkering with a toaster. Anything with sesame is his all-time favorite food this week.
Expertise Kitchen tools | Appliances | Food science | Subscriptions | Meal kits
Our experts have logged more than five years of cooking more than 75 meal kits and tasting more than 100 prepared meals from various services to help land on our list of the best in 2024.
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What’s the best meal delivery service overall?
Blue Apron serves up steak and seafood for as little as $8 per serving, depending on the plan you choose.
David Watsky/CNETCheap groceries feels like a thing of the past, making meal prep a lot more difficult. In fact, meal delivery services are worth the money more and more lately — I even did the math. Whether you want to save time meal planning, stick to your budget or eat more healthy meals, I’ve tested every meal delivery service I could get my oven mitts on. From prepared meals to meal delivery kits, I found the best meal kit delivery service you can buy.
After spending more than 60 hours on cooking kits, heating prepared meals and taking lots of notes, Blue Apron is my top pick for this list as the best meal kit service overall. Blue Apron’s standard menu includes everything from healthy, low-calorie meals to hearty bistro steaks and roasted salmon or trout at no extra charge. It’s also very convenient, since its recipes mostly take less than 30 minutes.
If you’re looking to learn more, below you’ll find the best meal delivery services of 2024, all tested and reviewed by CNET.
Best meal delivery services of 2024
Weekly menu choices available range from simple pasta dishes to inventive global cuisine, with high-end recipes including those for steak and seafood at no extra cost. The value of this service is clear. I compared the cost of Blue Apron meal kits to the cost of buying the same groceries at a market and two out of three were cheaper when made with Blue Apron.
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Ordering steak and seafood recipes will give you the most bang for your buck.
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A recent independent analysis found that Blue Apron meal kits have the most environmentally friendly packaging.
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A recent independent analysis found that Blue Apron meal kits have the most environmentally friendly packaging.
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Why I picked Blue Apron: With tasty, premium entrees such as steak and seafood at some of the best prices in the meal kit category, Blue Apron represents the best overall value for any meal delivery service I tried. I also loved the oven-ready family-style meals which take about 5 minutes to prepare and make four or five servings.
Blue Apron is the granddad of meal kit programs in the US and the brand still manages to deliver excellent meals with easy-to-follow recipes all at a fair price. It’s also the most eco-friendly meal kit, according to this study.
Weekly menu choices available range from simple pasta dishes to inventive global cuisine, with high-end recipes including those for steak and seafood at no extra cost. The value of this service is clear. I compared the cost of Blue Apron meal kits to the cost of buying the same groceries at a market and two out of three were cheaper when made with Blue Apron.
Photo Gallery 1/5
Blue Apron’s steaks and seafood are the best I’ve had from a standard meal kit plan.
Blue Apron
” page-position linktext=”Read full review” linkurl=”https://www.cnet.com/health/nutrition/everyplate-review-best-cheap-meal-kits/” like=”~ The most affordable meal kit service ~ Most recipes were either good or better ~ Not a ton of plastic waste” dislike=”~ Some produce was past its prime ~ Recipes are somewhat basic ~ Very little customization allowed” can-collapse=”true” can-truncate=”true” truncate-on-page-load=”true” offer=”{“id”:”840296b7-7415-402d-8e44-94827e1fa5c6″,”label”:”EveryPlate”,”slug”:”everyplate”,”edition”:[“US”,”ES”],”imageId”:”eda3a91b-b6e5-40c4-b985-bf2721d33f0e”,”imgUrl”:”/content/image/redirect/eda3a91b-b6e5-40c4-b985-bf2721d33f0e/resize/75×56″,”typeLabel”:”Tech Product”,”objectType”:”content_product”,”icon”:”type-icon ct-cmg-tech-product ct-small”}” techobjectinfo=”{“uuid”:”840296b7-7415-402d-8e44-94827e1fa5c6″,”slug”:”everyplate”,”name”:”EveryPlate”,”productType”:”PRODUCT”,”updateType”:”PRISM”,”mod”:1723925242075}” overridecredit overridecaption=”
” imagegroup=”{“uuid”:”39ec8cc7-b738-46a1-94b9-dcf6309b0bb2″,”alt”:”umami beef bowl”,”caption”:”
This simple umami beef bowl with cucumbers and carrots was one of my favorites.
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This simple umami beef bowl with cucumbers and carrots was one of my favorites.
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Why I picked EveryPlate: At just $6 per serving — even cheaper with a sign-up offer — and an emphasis on delicious, hearty meal options and generous portion sizes, EveryPlate is the best cheap meal kit service I’ve tried.
EveryPlate keeps overhead costs low (often cheaper than if you bought the groceries yourself) by offering just eight easy meal kit recipes to choose from weekly, which mostly excludes vegetarians and those on special diets, but the eight available meals are full of variety and flavor otherwise. You can expect a lot of comfort food from this meal kit service such as meatloaf, burgers and pasta dishes but everything I made was solid. Best of all, you can score meals for as low as $1.49, with free shipping on your first order.
Why I picked Mosaic Foods: This plant-based service was one of the best-prepared meal services I tried, and not just among vegan options. Every recipe was at least good, often better, and family meals start at just $6 a serving when you choose a family plan.
I sampled more than 10 of Mosaic Food’s plant-based prepared meal offerings and the vegetarian prepared meal delivery service had an astoundingly high hit rate. Mosaic uses global flavors and employs creative use of meat substitutes such as tofu, jackfruit, cauliflower and vegan sausages to create tasty and satisfying vegetarian meals. While everything I ate from Mosaic was at least good, some standouts included the bean and jackfruit chili, tomato olive and feta ragout and a tangy Thai noodle dish.
Why I picked Green Chef: This meal kit service uses almost all organic meats and produce, and offers interesting and healthy recipes for the discerning home cook. The recipes I tried were healthy, tasty and easy to make.
While it may be one of the pricier options, I like Green Chef for its versatility in the different specific diet plans available. The healthy meal kit service also boasts the most organic ingredients of any meal kit service including produce, meats and fish. Green Chef also offers paleo, keto, pescatarian, vegan and vegetarian meals as well as gluten-free meal kit recipes and meals.
Why our testers picked Purple Carrot: For authentic, organic, plant-based cooking, Purple Carrot delivered big with a bounty of interesting recipes and fresh ingredients.
Out of all the vegan meal kits I’ve tried, Purple Carrot’s provided me with the best base for cooking vegan cuisine and its ingredient mainstays such as lentils and grains. There are about eight recipes to choose from each week. I tested a full week’s worth of meals and enjoyed all of them.
Meal delivery services compared
| Service | Options per week | Service type | Good for | Cost per serving | CNET rating (out of 10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Apron | 80+ | Meal kits | Vegetarian, low-calorie, gluten-free, pescatarian | $8-$12 | 8.2 |
| Purple Carrot | 30 | Meal kits | Vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free | $11-$13 | 8.6 |
| Mosaic Foods | 80 | Prepared meals | Vegan, vegetarian, healthy, low-fat, families | $6-$12 | 9.2 |
| HelloFresh | 80+ | Meal kits | Vegetarian, keto, paleo, gluten-free, diabetic, pescatarian | $10-$12 | 8 |
| Green Chef | 47 | Meal kits | Vegan, vegetarian, organic, gluten-free, diabetic, pescatarian, Mediterranean diet | $12 | 7.8 |
| Factor 75 | 35+ | Prepared meals | Healthy, low-calorie, pescatarian, vegetarian, keto, paleo, diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, Whole30 | $11-$14 | 8 |
| CookUnity | 100+ | Prepared meals | Healthy, gourmet, low-calorie, pescatarian, vegetarian, keto, paleo, diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, Whole30 | $11-$14 | 8.8 |
| Pete’s Real Food | 25+ | Prepared meals | Healthy, paleo, keto, low-calorie, diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, Whole30, high protein | $16-$19 | 9 |
| EveryPlate | 25+ | Meal kits | Family-friendly, comfort food, picky eaters, healthy quick and easy | $6 | 8.8 |
Meal kit vs. prepared meal delivery
Meal kits or prepared meals? It’s the first decision you’ll have to make. Some services offer both, however.
David Watsky/CNETThe 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. Meal kits will demand more of your time and energy but they’ll also cost a little less per serving. Prepared meals require almost no time and energy, other than what it takes to actually eat the food, but typically run a few bucks more per serving.
Cost
If you opt for a cheaper meal kit service, you might not get as many steak and seafood options.
David Watsky/CNETAfter you’ve picked between meal kits or meal delivery, you’ll want to find a service within your budget. There are meal kits with recipes for as cheap as $5 a serving with basic menus and no-frills recipes. More expensive services include recipes with more exotic ingredients, high-end cuts of meat and organic produce but can cost as much as $15 or $20 a serving. Here I’ve outlined all the best cheap meal delivery services for 2024.
Healthiness
Daily Harvest is one of the healthiest meal delivery services we tried.
David Watsky/CNETWhile most meal delivery services have healthy options, some are much healthier than others. If you’re keen on eating low-calorie, low-carb, plant-based or pescatarian food, certain meal kits and meal delivery services will be better than others. Our list of the healthiest meal delivery services for 2024 is a good place to find all the most nutritious options.
Number of meals per week
With most services, the more meals you choose per week, the cheaper the price per meal.
Fresh n’ LeanLastly, you’ll want to home in on exactly how much food you’ll want sent to you per week. If you can’t imagine yourself cooking more than twice per week, don’t order more than two meal kits because they typically won’t last more than a week in the fridge.
Most prepared meals either arrive frozen or can be frozen after unboxing. That means it’s less of an issue if you order too many meals on your first go around. Most services allow you to change the number of meals or servings in your plan even after you’ve started.
With nearly every service, the more meals your order per delivery, the cheaper it is per meal.
Meal kits are judged on several factors as we cook our way through a box of recipes.
David Watsky/CNETAll the meal delivery services may look delicious in their website glamour shots, but that’s certainly not enough to convince me. To settle on this list of the best meal delivery services I tried as many as we could get our hands on, noting everything about them from freshness and flavor to ordering, packaging and delivery.
Testing meal kits for CNET means rolling up our sleeves and cooking at least one week’s worth of meals from each service, often more. How each meal kit tastes, how easy it was to prepare and the portion sizes are all considered. I also evaluate the website and how easy it is to navigate along with determining how easy it is to pause, cancel or change your order at any given time. To learn more, I have an in-depth look at how we test meal kits here at CNET.
How I test prepared meals
Some meal delivery services require cooking from scratch, while others offer dishes that just need to be heated up.
David Watsky/CNETTo test each meal delivery service, I tried at least five and sometimes as many as 10 meals from any given service. I chose a range of meals from the various menu and meal plan offerings and took note of the ordering process, recipe variety and information available.
I reheated meals according to the instructions. If there were none, I heated them the way I would if left to my own devices. Often that meant warming gently in a nonstick skillet or reheating in my air fryer. Many of the meal delivery services offer a microwave heating option, but I almost always found that produced worse results than my trusted methods, even if they typically take a few seconds longer.
Dinnerly meal kits are fast, easy and won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
David Watsky/CNET- Sunbasket: This service has high-end meal kits, but the bloated cost keeps it off our list.
- Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon: This is another meal kit service aimed at foodies. 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.
- Splendid Spoon: If you want premade smoothies, this is a good service to try, but be prepared to pay about $10 for each one.
- 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. Ultimately the cost — meals costing $11 to $17 — kept it out of the top.
- 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: I liked this hybrid service but leans more toward grocery delivery than meal kit.
- Snap Kitchen: Snap Kitchen has solid prepared meals, mostly under 450 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: Although 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.
Meal kits are best for those seeking truly fresh food.
David Watsky/CNET- 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.
Prepared meals are great for those uninterested in cooking.
David Watsky/CNET- 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 every week.
- Families, in some cases. Certain meal kits with larger serving sizes are good for families. Mosaic Foods, for instance, has family meals that net out to just $6 a person. Meal kit services also have family plans that cost less per serving than buying meal kits for one or two people.
If you’re looking to cut some of the legwork out of dinner, meal kits and prepared meal services are definitely worth it. The most budget-friendly services cost about the same as buying all the groceries you’d need to make the same meal, with the convenience of having all the ingredients or a box of fully prepared meals sent to your home each week.
If you score one of the cheaper, budget-friendly meal kits you can get meals as low as $5-$8 per serving. That’s cheaper than eating out or getting restaurant food delivered and is about the same cost as buying the groceries needed to make the same meals. Most meal delivery services run in the $10 to $12 per serving range, while the more premium services, including Green Chef, Sunbasket and Pete’s Real Food, cost more like $12 to $16 per serving.
In a previous story, we crunched the numbers to find out how much meal kits cost versus buying the same groceries.
EveryPlate and Dinnerly are the cheapest meal kits, with plans that start at $6 or $7 per serving. Blue Apron and HelloFresh are also affordable, with plans as cheap as $8 a serving.
The cheapest prepared meal delivery service is Mosaic Foods since it has family meals that cost just $6 per serving.
In reviews and best lists, Blue Apron and HelloFresh are two of the most popular meal kit services for 2024. Fresh N Lean and Factor are some of the most popular options for prepared meal subscriptions.
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.
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