The Best Meal Prep and Delivery Services

Pros:

• Marley Spoon meals got our testers (and their kids) cooking and eating a bit outside their comfort zone—the harissa salmon salad, for example, was a big hit.
• Meal add-ons from the Marley Spoon market were very impressive and often from real fixtures in the food world: mini cheesecakes, gnocchi, a Roberta’s pizza, or spices from Spicewalla.
• It’s really easy to select meals that involve little to no prep one night, and then jump back to more involved meals the next. The meals are clearly labeled by the effort required on the website.

Cons:

• The packaging is efficient—all the meals are loaded into one box as if it was just your weekly grocery shopping—but the result of that is that everything isn’t always packaged as carefully as it could be. We had a couple things leak over a few weeks of orders.

• Grain bowl with ready to heat chicken farro, spinach, cranberries, and almonds
• Southern-style barbecue chicken thighs with creamy grits and succotash
• Pork tenderloin with two-bean salad and lemon dressing
• Smoked salmon poke bowl with cucumber and edamame

Pros:

• This is an old-school meal kit that just cranks out really good recipes with pre-portioned ingredients. The pork tenderloin with honey butter felt like the kind of wholesome, balanced American family meal that we might not bother prepping from scratch on a weeknight otherwise.
• The vegetarian meals we sampled were easy and satisfying.
• The instructions are very helpful; the sort of rundown that could really help a budding home cook just out of college learn some technique.

Cons:

• The process isn’t really easier than cooking recipes from, well, a site like Epicurious (we had to prep everything ourselves right down to the pickled onions). So if that’s your priority you should adjust your expectations.

• Szechuan pork noodle stir-fry with carrot, scallions and peanuts
• Caramelized onion meatloaf sandwiches with potato wedges and horseradish dijon-mayonnaise
• Sweet ginger pork chops with buttery rice and roasted green beans
• Saucy pork burrito bowls with cilantro lime rice, salsa fresca and smoky crema

Pros:

• Home Chef is highly customizable: You can adjust the protein option in many recipes (or add a protein to vegetarian options), in addition to changing the weekly number of meals you get and portions for each meal in your order.
• You can opt for a variety of meal types within the same box: Classic kits, quicker express kits that take 30 minutes or less, oven-ready meals that you assemble and pop in the oven, and fully microwavable options.
• For weeks when you’re super busy, you can take advantage of add-ons like lunches, desserts, breakfasts, and even La Colombe latte cans.

Cons:

• After a few weeks, recipes can give a déjà vu vibe, with ingredients and formats feeling similar to weeks past.

• Tortellini in lemon asiago cream sauce with broccoli and mushrooms
• Sheet pan salsa chicken with elotes corn and carrots
• Fried sesame shrimp with snow pea stir-fry and rice
• Salmon with miso butter and green beans amandine

Pros:

• As heat and eat meals go, CookUnity’s flavors are quite impressive; even the cod in spicy Moroccan tomato sauce we tried (reheated fish is not usually our idea of a good time) was a pleasant surprise.
• Texture is consistently good as well: Veggies were crispy, shrimp was not mushy or overcooked, chicken was moist.
• A returnable bag program in five of CookUnity’s markets helps cut down on packaging waste.

Cons:

• Not everything works as well as a reheated meal. We’d suggest steering clear of anything fried.

• Chana masala with coconut rice and sautéed vegetables
• Shrimp coconut curry with tomato pepper chutney and curry leaf rice
• Pesto chicken breast with roasted potatoes and baby kale salad
• Southern fried chicken with spicy honey and buttermilk mashed potatoes

Pros:

• Green Chef offers a number of plans that are compliant with dietary preferences and restrictions, like keto, vegan, low-carb, and gluten-free.
• You can opt for a bi-monthly or monthly subscription that won’t require to you remember to log on and manually skip every single off week.
• Green Chef gives helpful instructions for sustainably disposing of nearly every component of its shipment packaging (though some processes may take you a decent amount of effort and time).

Cons:

• While it’s nice that you can choose meal portions for two, four, or six people, recipe cards are designed for two servings and offer parenthetical notes when directions should be adjusted for larger-format recipes. Sometimes, these tweaks aren’t so simple. For instance, when a tester was cooking a veggie stir-fry that called for a large pan in the baseline two-serving recipe, accomodating double the food volume on the stove was tricky.

• Baked ricotta chicken with roasted peppers and mozzarella, and pesto green beans
• Roasted chickpea & broccoli bowls, with couscous, grape tomatoes, kale, almonds, dates, and herb miso-tahini sauce
• Spicy Thai-style turkey larb salad with toasted peanuts, mint, and cilantro
• Honey ginger shrimp with sautéed cabbage, carrots, scallion, and sesame seeds

Pros:

• We really like the way Blue Apron formats their instructions. It really teaches you how to prep everything before cooking. It’s much more detailed than your typical recipe instructions.
• They offer really nice proteins. The highlight for was the quality fillets of salmon or cod that arrived each week. We even tried scallops in one “premium” basket. If you don’t have time to shop at the butcher or fishmonger or feel at all intimidated by that experience, the proteins alone make this kit worth it.
• There are a number of simple options available that still feel quite special when you’re done with them.

Cons:

• Some of the most interesting meals do involve upcharges and are only available for two, not four.

• Seared chicken and sherry-maple pan sauce with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots
• Chimichurri salmon with barley, peppers, and tomatoes
• Potato hash and eggs with kale, cheddar and hot sauce
• Baked tofu and creamy tomato curry with brown rice and peanuts

Pros:

• It offered new vegetarian recipes that could be incorporated easily into a regular weekly cooking cadence.
• The packaging is minimal and comes with very clear instructions on how to dispose of everything they send (if you’ve ever gotten a meal kit loaded up mysterious, unmarked, giant ice packs you know this can be useful)
• The final product was reliably good.

Cons:

• The fresh produce was not always perfectly ripe. This isn’t a shock for a company that has to deliver mass amounts of vegetables around the country, but if you are a person who goes through half a dozen carrots before choosing one, that’s something to be aware of.

• Crispy brussels sprout tacos with cherry orange salsa and peanut sauce
• One-pot mafaldine with tomato cream and winter greens
• Minted spinach soup with ras el hanout carrots and yogurt
• Almond butter tofu with swiss chard and carrots

Pros:

• Prep work is really fast because it’s generally limited to chopping larger produce or proteins. There are also a lot of one pot meals to keep you from making too big a mess.
• Customization is incredibly easy. The website asks you if you want to switch proteins and how many servings you’d like to order.
• Gobble repurposes ingredients like garlic confit in lots of dishes in a way that seems smart and efficient rather than repetitive.

Cons:

• The solution from customer service (which is lovely by the way) if something is missing from an order is to credit an extra meal to your account. That’s fine and we don’t have a better solution, but it does mean that if it happens you may be out a complete meal that week.

• Crispy fried chicken cutlets and country gravy with brussels sprout hash and chicken cutlets
• Blackened flat iron steaks with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots and flat iron steak
• Pan-seared tilapia piccata with broccoli and linguine pasta and tilapia fillet
• Three-cheese lasagna rolls with butternut squash and sage brown butter sauce

Pros:

• A lot of these recipes really did hold up to the promise of quick assembly (sometimes as quick as 5 minutes).
• This is a reliable way to make sure you’re eating a steady stream of vegetables each week.
• Once you get in the rhythm of checking and editing orders by the cutoff time (which is close to a week before the actual delivery), it’s very easy to customize what you get every week.

Cons:

• The recipes, as given, can be underseasoned. We found ourselves adding a lot of extra seasoning and acidity, and sometimes even additional vegetables for a little extra variety.

• Korean BBQ chicken zucchini bowl
• Margherita pizza chimichurri salad
• Coconut Curry Chicken Seven-Veggie Wrap
• Beyond burger with crispy lettuce

Dinnerly, a branch of Marley Spoon, launched in early 2017, offers greater simplicity than its parent service, with fewer ingredients and steps in its recipes. The delivery service allows customers to choose up to six weekly meals. This is a super budget-friendly option, and one of the least expensive (on a per meal basis) meal kits on the market. However, it does require a minimum order: Customers must order at least two portions per recipe and at least three recipes per week.

Pros:

• It’s easy to customize, not only the preparation style, but the number of meals you get. If you sign up for two per week it’s easy to add one or drop one when you like.
• It’s convenient to add other groceries to an order like eggs, fruit, even jarred marinara, if that’s your thing.
• Instead of recipe cards, which are so common, Dinnerly gives you recipes in its app; great from a waste perspective.

Cons:

• Lots of recipes require you to provide some of your own staples: eggs, butter, flour, things like that.

Dinnerly is best for: Someone who wants a one stop shop for both meal kits and groceries.

Pricing: Meals start at $4.99/serving. Shipping is $11.99.

Sample Menu Items:

• Salisbury steak casserole with mashed potato topping
• Mediterranean turkey meatballs with couscous tabbouleh and garlic sauce
• Cumin chicken kale bowl with creamy za’atar dressing
• Red curry ground beef rice noodles with scallions

Availability: Throughout the contiguous U.S., but only to specific zip codes.

The Sakara meal delivery service was co-founded by Whitney Tingle, a certified yoga instructor, and Danielle DuBoise, a holistic health coach. The service aims to provide fresh, plant-based healthy meals made with organic ingredients. There’s no planning, meal prep, or cooking necessary. The company presents its meal programs as wellness-focused and they all can include herbal detox teas and “beauty water concentrates” (think mineral- and antioxidant-rich drops).

For their signature program, you can choose whether you’d like to receive meals three or five days a week, and depending on your delivery zone, you may also choose which meals you would like to receive (breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner). Check out a full review of Sakara here.

Pros:

• In general what we got was more filling than expected (or than it looked like it might be).
• Even though so many of the meals are salads, Sakara really knows how to make a salad dressing enticing (we loved the avocado tahini and creamy cilantro).
• The breakfast parfaits were delicious meals. They were surprisingly complex and ate like fancy desserts.

Cons:

• Per meal cost is around 28 dollars and sometimes one of those meals is a single donut or muffin.

Sakara is best for: People who eat a lot of salads and organic meals, and want to save time.

Pricing: Meals start at $28. Members get a 15% discount.

Sample Menu Items:

• Technicolor quinoa salad quinoa, pumfu, seasonal greens, carrots, purple cabbage, and cashews
• Smoky sweet seasonal bowl wild rice blend, white beans, walnuts, and dried cranberries
• Spiced buckwheat apple waffle almond flour, chia seeds, and maple syrup dried apple
• Signature burger with bleu “cheeze,” eleuthero ketchup, and root veggie fries

Availability: Nationwide

These ready-made meals arrive in an insulated box with ice packs. Add them to your freezer and then heat them for three minutes when you’re ready for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Fresh n’ Lean’s menu has protein-packed, paleo, keto, vegan, and vegan low-carb options. Notably, Fresh n’ Lean is one of the few meal delivery services that lets you order a single serving if you want to just try it out with zero commitment. Additionally, all the meals are certified organic.

Pros:

• As precooked meals go, the texture on these, particularly the chicken, which is notoriously rubbery in precooked, heat and eat meals, was quite good.
• The flavors were really robust, particularly anything labeled as spicy. All the meals said to season with salt and pepper, but we found they didn’t really need any.
• The snacks (nuts mostly—lemon chili almonds are quite good) are an inexpensive and easy add on.

Cons:

• Because everything is precooked and sealed up these are not the most beautiful meals and you should apply your aesthetic expectations accordingly. Also: There are instructions for three ways to prepare each meal (microwave, oven, stovetop). Surprisingly the microwave was by far the best and most consistent.

Fresh n’ Lean is best for: Single people who want a break from cooking two or three nights a week.

Pricing: Meals start at $10.32.

Sample Menu Items:

• Bang bang shrimp and broccoli with creamy coconut rice
• Chimichurri steak with skillet veggies and cilantro lime potatoes
• Pesto-crusted salmon with summer vegetable medley
• Indian butter chicken with jasmine rice

Availability: Nationwide.

Methodology is designed as a time saver for busy people who don’t think they can commit to planning and preparing meals. If you want to outsource the effort it takes to create heathy, nutritious meals, Methodology has got you. They offer a rotating, plant-based menu they say is healthy and designed to optimize gut health by maximizing plant variety, nutrient density, and fiber, minimizing saturated fat, and avoiding processed food altogether. The entire menu of premade meals is free of gluten, dairy, and refined sugar. Methodology also takes steps to be sustainable and a more environmentally-friendly meal kit. The food is packaged in glass jars or recyclable plastic, and you can even arrange to have your packaging picked up and reused.

Pros:

• Especially when you consider that these are fully cooked, heat-and-eat meals, they are very well prepared. We were particularly impressed with the perfectly cooked salmon.
• There is good variety of meals here and it typically includes entrees we wouldn’t have cooked for ourselves otherwise.
• The meals are very filling, a nice feature that isn’t always true of pre-cooked meal delivery services.

Cons:

• They repeat ingredients (we saw lots of mushrooms and nutritional yeast, for example), which makes this a good addendum to your cooking, but perhaps not something to commit to for five meals a week in perpetuity.

Methodology is best for: Busy, health-minded folks.

Pricing: Meals start at $18.

Sample Menu Items:

• Herb crusted pork tenderloin
• Comforting grass-fed beef stroganoff
• Korean spiced cauliflower stew and braised grass-fed beef
• Sweet and savory BBQ pastured chicken salad

Availability: Nationwide.

Factor is another meal delivery service that does all of the cooking and prep work for you. Simply select the meals you’d like and they come fully cooked and require just a quick reheat. Factor meals include grass-fed meat and pasture-raised eggs, as well as items that are gluten-free, antibiotic- and hormone-free, soy-free, non-GMO, and have no added sugars. Meals can also be catered to the Paleo or keto diet.

Pros:

• There are lots of high protein, filling options that are ready after a few minutes in the microwave.
• They are certainly a step above the microwavable meals found in grocery stores.
• Meal quality was consistent across the full round of testing.

Cons:

• This is not the friendliest meal option for lactose intolerant individuals who eat meat, as the bulk of their meat options have some sort of dairy component to them.

Factor is best for: People who want more protein in their diets but don’t like cooking that protein themselves.

Pricing: Meals start at $10.99.

Sample Menu Items:

• Filet mignon and mushroom risotto with garlic butter green beans and red peppers
• Baja salmon and shrimp with chipotle butter sauce, purple cabbage, roasted peppers, black beans and rice
• Sausage and creamy spinach fusilli with blistered tomatoes and garlic green beans
• Roasted bell pepper and ground beef bowl with parmesan broccoli

Availability: Currently ships to every state except Hawaii and Alaska.

This doctor-designed program incorporates high-quality, nutrient-dense ingredients that are grown on an organic, sustainable farm in New Jersey. As the name suggests, this meal kit aims to provide food that can help to keep you healthy for the long run. There are a variety of weekly menus to choose from, including vegan, pescatarian, kosher, and flexitarian weekly meal plans. Each meal is designed by Chef Luigi Fineo.

Pros:

• The breakfasts were the best part with creative ideas like a savory breakfast polenta with squash and a chocolate chia pudding
• Both the breakfasts and lunches are the sorts of things lots of people would never have time to prepare themselves in the morning, so they’re a fun change of pace.
• For single people it’s great to have perfectly portioned one-serving meals.

Cons:

• A lot of the food is simply not visually appealing—which makes sense since it’s being packaged and shipped in plastic containers. This is something we noticed with more than one meal delivery service that focused on fully cooked food. If you don’t want to do any cooking at all, set you aesthetic expectations accordingly.

Food for Longevity is best for: Busy people looking for morning and mid-day meals while they work.

Pricing: Meals start at $12.79.

Sample Menu Items:

• Carrot cake bread with vegan cream cheese icing
• Okinawan sweet potato curry with miso salmon
• Pasta puttanesca with Mediterranean chicken
• Waffles with cheesy eggs and mixed berry compote

Availability: Nationwide, excluding Alaska and Hawaii

One of the best meal delivery services for the smoothie enthusiast, Daily Harvest sends you the ingredients to blend both smoothies and soups. It also has bowls, flatbreads, and even family-size bakes. This is an easy way to work more fruits and vegetables into your diet with minimal cleanup afterwards. Daily Harvest’s recipes are created by nutritionists and all the ingredients (98% of which are organic) are frozen within hours of harvest, which, the company says, locks in the flavor at its peak.

Pros:

• Everything is really easy to take on the go; not just the smoothies, but the harvest bowls as well.
• The bowls serve as an excellent and easy to prepare base for any extra proteins you want to put on top (a nice thing about this, is that you know you won’t end up with rubbery pre-cooked chicken)
• Using it 2-3 days a week, the large box lasted us a whole month.

Cons:

• Portion sizes are not as substantial as meal kits that focus more on dinners.

Daily Harvest is best for: Commuters who don’t have time to prep breakfast.

Pricing: Items start at $6.99.

Sample Menu Items:

• Herbed squash and asparagus risotto harvest bowl
• Acai and cherry smoothie
• Sweet potato and wild rice hash harvest bowl
• Tomato and zucchini minestrone soup

Availability: 95% of the continental United States.

Splendid Spoon’s plant-based, weekly menu consists of high-quality grain bowls, soups, flatbreads, and smoothies. All of its meals are guaranteed to be GMO-free and gluten-free. The extensive menu features more than 40 meals. If you have food restrictions or nutrition preferences, you can filter your menu choices to eliminate beets, cilantro, mushrooms, soy, tree nuts, caffeine, coconut, sesame, and spiciness.

Pros:

• For a plant-based meal service, the prepared dishes are creative and we appreciated that there were so many options in every category (smoothies, shots, and bowls).
• Convenience, convenience, convenience. The smoothies and juices are all grab and go, and provide a nice supplement to other meals throughout the day.
• The company provides notably good customer service. When we received an expired juice (these things do happen and should be expected from time to time with any meal kit working at a nationwide level), we got a real human to respond and send out replacement juices right away.

Cons:

• We had to add our own spices to get everything to a level of seasoning we liked.

Splendid Spoon is best for: Vegans and vegetarians who currently utilize the freezer aisle of their local grocery store.

Pricing: Items start at $9.13.

Sample Menu Items:

• Naked burrito bowl with plant-based chorizo and fajita veggies
• Coconut curry rice with stewed chickpeas and spring roll
• Kimchi fried quinoa with edamame and veggie spring roll
• Hearty vegetable bolognese with wild rice and garlicky green beans

Availability: Nationwide, except for Alaska and Hawaii.

Revive Superfoods prides itself on its nutrient-dense smoothies, but has other offerings as well. In addition to creamy smoothies, it also has oatmeal, dairy-free desserts, soups, burrito bowls, açaí bowls, falafels, and more. Revive’s lineup is primarily breakfast- and lunch-focused, but does have choices for every meal of the day.

The smoothies, which are the real focus of this meal delivery kit, are rounded out with filling ingredients like seeds and pea protein and in addition to fresh fruit and vegetables.

Revive also has a wide selection of oatmeal, like its best-selling banana and chocolate overnight oats. It’s sweetened with maple syrup and dates, and in addition to banana and chocolate, it’s got coconut, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla—and the aforementioned chia seeds and pea protein. To prepare the oats you just have to add your liquid of choice and allow the cup to soak overnight. It can also be heated in the microwave if you want something faster same-day.

Revive’s hot meals are just as easy to prepare. They all come precooked, and need to be heated for 4–5 minutes in the microwave.

Pros:

• There is good variety, even in the standard, pre-set pack.
• Not just the oatmeal, but also the smoothies were quite filling. We thought the smoothies could stand up as a full breakfast on their own.
• The precut ingredients in the cups were very convenient to blend up, and the fact that the cups are designed to be reused as the drinking vessels with a straw-ready lid is a nice touch.

Cons:

• The instructions for the smoothies suggest filling the cups, with the frozen fruit and veggies still in them, with a liquid of your choice (we used dairy and oat milk), and then pop all that in a blender. We found that wasn’t enough liquid to blend effectively and most required an extra half cup of liquid.

Revive Superfoods is best for: People who are too busy for breakfast (but should really be eating it).

Pricing: Items start at $6.49.

Sample Menu Items:

• Rich and creamy black tea smoothie with hints of chao, cinnamon, and dates
• Tangy and sweet strawberry-forward smoothie with hints of kiwi and lychee
• Tropical acai bowl with mango and pineapple toppings
• Lentil and sundried tomato bowl featuring tomatoes, eggplant and golden raisins

Availability: Nationwide.

Sunbasket has a health and sustainability angle, offering Paleo, gluten-free, pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan, carb-conscious, Mediterranean, “quick and easy,” diabetes-friendly, and “lean and clean” recipes developed by former Slanted Door chef Justine Kelly. All meat ingredients are antibiotic- and hormone-free and the eggs are organic. When it comes to fish, Sunbasket uses wild-caught seafood recommended by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program. With more than 20 weekly recipes, you can choose between oven-ready meals, prepped servings, and classic meals that still require you to do all the chopping; servings vary between two and four.

Pros:

• The recipes were creative and interesting and come with an option for either vegetarian or various proteins (pescatarian and not). We really liked that flexibility.
• The recipe cards were clear, easy to follow, and most importantly, easy to have on the counter while we were working.
• All the ingredients were fresh and arrived in good condition, which is a challenge for any nationwide meal kit company to pull off.

Cons:

• The portions are a little smaller on Sunbasket than on some others.

Sunbasket is best for: A new home cook looking to experiment with new ingredients or techniques.

Pricing: Meals start at $9.99/serving.

Sample Menu Items:

• Hawaiian steak stir-fry with broccoli and pineapple over steamed rice
• Chicken pozole verde with tomatillos and green chiles
• Chipotle turkey chili with sweet potato and sumac-cucumber salad
• Pork mee goreng with fresh ramen, cabbage, and scrambled eggs

Availability: Nationwide, excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, and parts of New Mexico.

FlexPro’s heat-and-eat lineup is another offering for those who don’t like to meal prep. It’s targeted towards fitness-minded people with two different menus: One geared toward weight loss and another, the “lean muscle” menu, geared toward building muscle. Both menus can be tailored to work with specific dietary preferences. Customers create their entire menu and can filter their choices to be keto-friendly, low-calorie, high-protein, low-carb, beef-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and/or pork-free. FlexPro also has a Power Bakery with protein-packed cookies and brownies that you can add to any weekly order.

In addition to FlexPro’s ready-made meals, they also have something called the meal prep box. In the meal prep box, you can order ready-made proteins, like sous vide chicken, prime rib, shrimp scampi, sirloin steak, pulled pork carnitas, and rotisserie chicken. These are perfect for tossing into salads or bowls throughout the week.

Pros:

• In addition to full meals, you can order components (rice and beans, for example) to create your own full meal instead of settling for a side you might not want just because the main sounds good.
• The prepared pastas were a kid favorite and came out nicely al dente.
• There are some nice add-on options, including peanut butter protein balls.

Cons:

• Considering this an online meal delivery service, their website could use some improvement. It’s hard to change or cancel orders (even harder to cancel a subscription) and you can’t look at everything they have to offer without actually putting through your first order. Also: Some of the more challenging textures to prep ahead of time (chicken, gnocchi, etc.) were not what we’d hoped for.

Pricing: Meals start at $11. The meal-prep boxes (of just proteins) start at $11.48/pound and require an $85 minimum per box.

Sample Menu Items:

• Chicken and chorizo paella with peas and tomato
• Rosemary’s beef and orzo on a bed of creamy sundried tomato orzo
• Scrambled eggs paired with seasoned diced potatoes and slices of prime rib
• Chipotle bowl with a medley of black beans, bacon, chorizo, and cheesy poblano corn

Availability: Nationwide.