Lately I feel like there have been an abundance of commercials for home meal delivery services. Services that deliver a box of fresh, pre-portioned food and recipes right to your doorstep. I wanted to try them out, so…I tried 6 home meal delivery services, and I’m sharing what I thought and a comparison of the different services. Since posting this meal delivery services comparison review, I’ve added several services I tried and loved, I think up to date I’ve tried 10 services. I’ll keep updating this article as I try more.
With life being so busy – between work, being a new mom and just life in general, I was starting to really feel like I was in a cooking rut. I didn’t even want to think about what to make for dinner, I had zero inspiration, zero time to go to the grocery store, and zero motivation. When I kept hearing all the commercials for meal delivery services, I thought I’d look into them and give them a try. There are so many different companies out there! I made a list of all the different ones I wanted to try out, and each week tried a different service.
Here are some of the pros and cons, and at the bottom of the post I share a comparison chart to give an overview.
I was a little late to the game trying Sun Basket, but they have easily become my favorite (I should have listened to friends who had tried it sooner!) If you want to read a review of the best healthy meal delivery service I wrote about them, click here.
Pros:
- Healthy meals (that don’t taste ‘healthy’). I like that I don’t have to look at the calories per meal, because they’re generally all under 600-700 calories per meals (other meal delivery services per serving sometimes are 1200+ calories!)
- Lots of options
- They let you preview the meals before you become a member
- Lots of options for different diet-friendly meals (like vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.)
- Organic ingredients
- They include eggs! A lot of meal delivery services don’t include eggs for recipes that call for eggs, so I was very pleasantly surprised that they did.
- Their weekly box comes with a magazine which includes the recipes and also other helpful articles and recipes, it read like a magazine!
Cons:
- The meals are very healthy and delicious, but if you’re looking for something a little more on the indulgent side, this service is probably not for you. They have a lot of unique healthy recipes, so you don’t miss any of the unhealthy stuff. But if you’re a ‘steak & potatoes’ type of person, I’d try one of the other services.
- The magazine (which was listed in the pro section) is nice, but it’s a little hard to find the recipes that are in your meal kit – I wish they would list the page numbers on the ingredients to make it easier to put the ingredients together with the recipe.
Pros:
- Loved that there were lots of meals to choose from
- Lots of delivery day options which is always nice
- Absolutely LOVE that besides the designated meal plans you can add additional meals (so if the plan is 3 meals for a family of 4, if that week you want 4 or 5 of the meals, you can add them on and not change your plan!)
- One can add on breakfast/fruit/smoothie/premium meals which is nice
- Food is really tasty – their flatbreads or meatball options, whenever I see them on the menu I order them because they’re so good. Honestly, their food tastes SO GOOD!
- A binder came with the first order so that one could put all the recipes in the binder
- Definitely most flexibility if you’re a family of 2, 4 or 6 or if there are vegetarians, you don’t have to completely change plans, you can choose vegetarian options. This is great for families
- All the ingredients for a recipe were in a bag
- The food is so good, I got my sister hooked on this service after she tried two other services. They have the most ‘family-friendly’ meals too (meaning menu items that I think the whole family would enjoy!)
- I wrote another post about Home Chef and meal delivery for special occasions (like for example for Valentines Day!)
Cons:
- Their website was a little difficult to figure out at first (I had to email them to ask about how to ‘skip/pause’ weeks)
Pros:
- Fresh n’ Lean offers already cooked healthy meals where all you need to do is heat the food up!
- Loved that they offer breakfast/lunch/dinner and snacks
- Especially loved their Protein + plan, the meals really filled me up!
- The food was really good, and again, really filling and it made me feel good if that makes sense (like my body loved how it felt after eating the food)
- The meals had a pretty long fridge shelf life – these are not frozen meals, so I liked that I didn’t have to eat it within a day or so of receiving it
- Major pro was not having to ‘prep’ or cook anything
- Really enjoyed that the food could be microwaved or cooked via stovetop or oven
- Loved that you could order a la carte meals or a whole plan/weeks worth
Cons
- If you order breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks for a weeks worth, the box is really big and the meals take up a lot of fridge space (but it’s not so much a con because you then have meals for the whole week)
- They are single serving meals so if you’re feeding a family you would need to order multiples.
Pros:
- Loved the flexibility of the plans (you can chose 2-7 meals per person per week)
- The food was by really really good, I literally kept two of the recipe cards to make again and there were SO MANY TASTY options!
- If you’re an adventurous eater, this is the plan for you!
- You can add on dessert, I did and we loved it
- All the ingredients for one recipe were in one bag which was really nice
- Loved that they sent aluminum/throw away pans for items needing to be baked
- I used ingredients I never would have tried, really unique menu items
Cons
- Didn’t like that you had to use your own eggs (example, if a recipe called for eggs or oil, they do not provide it. Oil is understandable, but I thought they should not assume I have eggs on hand).
- Some of the flavor combinations/meal options are a little out there. My sister tried this one and ended up switching to Home Chef because her husband just did not like the menu options.
I wrote a post on a Plated review if you’re interested in that.
I tried Martha & Marley Spoon after writing this review but had to add it in. It is Martha Stewart’s meal delivery program. The food is good, very family friendly. I liked that some of the recipes are from Martha’s cookbooks.
Pros:
- Very family friendly.
- Love that some of the recipes are from Martha’s cookbooks, and that there are adaptations and time saving tricks. For example if a recipe is made in a pressure cooker/Instant Pot, it will give directions for the pressure cooker and how to make it if you don’t have one.
- The food is super good, recipes the whole family would love. I’ve kept several of the recipes to make again.
- There are plenty of options.
- I felt like the portions were perfect.
Cons:
- I did feel like some of the recipes used a lot of dishes to make them, but I’ve come to find that a lot of meal delivery kits recipes do use quite a few dishes and kitchen utensils.
Update on Terra’s Kitchen – they now only offer prepared food, and I believe they use The Good Kitchen as their source of food (read more about TGK below, use code PHI15 for 15% off your first order with TGK)
Pros:
- All organic (the other organic meal service I LOVE is Sun Basket, I’ve gotten so many comments about them and they’re allergy/diet friendly!)
- Meals came with sauces that were already made and were really tasty
- Minimal prep, only had to chop 1 or 2 things per recipe
- Loved the way the food/recipe cards were labeled and color coded, it made it very easy to know which items to use
- Meals were done (start to finish including prep) in 30 minutes
Cons:
- Didn’t like that one couldn’t swap out meals/recipes. You choose a plan and then are just sent the designated meals
- Online system doesn’t show more than two weeks in advance upcoming meals
- This could be a pro or con – the portion sizes were huge. Each meal for 2 we ended up having leftovers for a 3rd meal.
- We waited 4 days to make one of the recipes – veggie burgers- the arugula and kale were rotten. Contacted customer service and they immediately apologized and gave a credit on our account.
Pros:
- The food tasted really good
- Appropriate serving sizes, no extra portions
- Liked that one could choose between a few meals
Cons:
- Lots of chopping/prep work
- Lots of dishes/utensils required
- Lots of making sauces/different components of the dish
- Missing key ingredients (emailed their customer service and they immediately apologized and gave me a credit on our account.)
- Cooking instructions/times were wrong on 2 of the 3 recipes (example 6 minutes to cook an entire chicken breast – it was still raw on the inside)
- Cooking times varied and the dishes took a lot longer than expected to make, one 30 minute expected time ended up taking close to 50 minutes from start to finish.
- A lot of leftover ingredients (example: sent whole head of garlic when all one needs is 1 clove)
Pros:
- Really liked that all the ingredients for a particular recipe came in a box with all the ingredients for that recipe
- Unique flavor combinations
- One can choose different meal options, but there’s not a lot of flexibility between plans (if you want a family plan, there are only a few options, same with the vegetarian plan, there are only three options, and one can’t get a vegetarian meal with other meat meals)
- Liked that the meal options include a breakfast one
- All the food was tasty
- Easy directions to follow
Cons:
- The website is as not as easy to use as other ones, but once one knows where everything is it gets easier
- There are not a lot of options on some of the plans (for example, if you want a family plan and have 3 meals, there’s only 5 to choose from) versus if you’re on a 2 person plan, there’s like 6+ meals to choose from.
- They have the same meals very frequently so it gets difficult to find options you haven’t tried
If you’re looking for healthy and delicious meals for your kids, I would definitely recommend Yumble. Their food is nutritionist approved and is food your kids will actually want to eat. I had my son Ben try it out, and he did actually eat the food. I personally loved having a fully cooked meal all ready to go in the fridge ready for him. I tried a few bites and was super impressed, all the food tasted super good! Yumble Kids is definitely made for busy moms who want good meals for their kids.
Comparison:
After writing this post, I got a lot of questions about meals that are already made (cooked) or servings for one. I tried a service called The Good Kitchen – they do fully prepared farm to table meals. They’re fresh meals, but you can put them in the freezer when you get them to extend the shelf life. I’ve gotten these meals several times now, and they’re super good!! The meals were really delicious, albeit a little pricey. I emailed them and they’re offering SweetPhi readers 15% off on their first order using code PHI15.
Also, after writing this post and reading the comments, Sun Basket is really loved by a lot of people. It’s all organic and the meals look super tasty-I have it on my calendar to try next month. Use this link to get $35 off Sun Basket meals!
Summary:
If you’re interested in home meal delivery services, the right one is out there for you!
I was pleasantly surprised that each and every one of the services I tried offered a ‘first time customer’ discount of some kind. I do need to mention -this post is not sponsored by any of the companies I mentioned in any way. I paid for all the services myself (some have referral programs where if you order using my code or special link, you’ll get a discount and I’ll get some kind of credit for future orders or a small amount from your first order.) All opinions are mine alone and based on my experience.
Funny thing is, without even looking at the graph, my favorite service was Home Chef and a close second was Plated (they have dessert options)! Both had seemingly the best options and the least amount of dishes! For healthy, organic and very dietary needs accommodating (if you’re gluten-free/etc.) my favorite was Sun Basket, a service I tried after putting together the chart, I get them frequently now because we’re always trying to eat a little healthier. If you’re looking for healthy already cooked meals, Fresh n’ Lean is the one I’d recommend! If you’re looking for meal delivery for your kids where their meals are already made, I’d recommend Yumble Kids.
Have you ever tried home meal delivery services? What did you think?
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Kay Lane says
I am very impressed with your recommendations and suggestions. I am a retired senior and was so pleased to see the single service Fit and Lean, that is already cooked. I am also interested in the Sun Basket, is that pre-cooked, I kind of got lost in the summary.
Must be age, LOLO
Sweetphi says
Hi Kay, sorry it can get a little confusing with all the different companies. Fresh n’ Lean has already prepared meals that one just needs to heat. Sun Basket sends ingredients that one then chops/cooks/etc. to make the meal. Hope that helps 🙂
Clare says
Started with Home Chef and really liked the plan and meals but the regional delivery service they use in my area was horrible. I don’t know how many refunds I received due to late delivery, wrong delivery and no delivery. Switched to Hello Fresh and UPS delivery has been spot on. Meals are good and I’m satisfied at this time.
Sweetphi says
So sorry you had issues in the past, but so glad you found a service you like!
Barbara says
Thanks for sharing all of this information and your well researched, hands on knowledge! Great article!
My husband and I are retired and I love to cook. So far I’ve used 3 meal plans…Home Chef, Blue Apron & Martha’s Marley Spoon.
Home Chef is my favorite by far…tasty meals and I absolutely LOVE their packaging! Blue Apron is good too but I don’t like the produce individually wrapped and rolling around loose in the box. I used Martha’s Marley Spoon for 2 or 3 weeks; it’s is my least favorite and won’t use them again.
After reading your article, I’m going to try Sun Basket and Hello Fresh.
Sweetphi says
So glad you found the review helpful! Hope you enjoy trying the two new other services
Sheila says
I am on my first week of Hello Fresh and have only prepared one meal, thus far. It was very tasty! Will be trying another tonight.. can’t wait!
Sweetphi says
So happy to hear the feedback 🙂
Jeanette B says
Hello fresh is good, but so much chopping, chopping, chopping. Can be repetitive too. Trying Home chef now and alternating. Love Home chef now.
Sweetphi says
Totally agree, I too love HC 🙂
Diane Reed says
I cook for a senior citizen. Would like a meal once a week for 2, no dessert. Seems like all the services require at minimum 2 meals a week. It has taken a year for me to talk him into one weekly so we can have a little variety. Any suggestions?
Sweetphi says
Hi Diane, I too have come across where all the services where you cook meals do require a minimum of 2 meals. Do you mind me asking where you live? I know that several meal delivery services have partnered with grocery stores. For example here in Wisconsin Home Chef has partnered with a grocery store so you can walk into the grocery store and buy a Home Chef meal kit – so that would be an option for you. I know Plated partnered with Albertsons so they might offer that where you are.
Sherry Luden says
I would like to try some of your recommendations, but they are too expensive for my limited income. I use Dinnerly, which is $5 per meal.
Their website is easy to use, and there are 6-8 choices per week. The ingredients, so far, have all been fresh. The meals are not bagged separately, and there are no printed cards. You have to use your computer or phone to read them.
Since there is only me, the 2 person plan gives me up to 6 meals, depending on how hungry I am. For me, Dinnerly works quite well. Each box is $38.95 including delivery. The meals are not really fancy, but are good. Eggs are not included. Prep is not excessive and most recipes are one or two pans.
All in all, for low income folk, it would recommend trying Dinnerly.
Kayla Shipp says
I have been using Dinnerly for about 2 months and more often than not there are ingredients left out of the box…including the meat! Two times the vegetables have not been fresh and in fact were unusable. Be careful if thinking about purchasing Dinnerly. You get what you pay for. Hopefully they will work on checking the boxes as they leave so that they can assure all the included items are in the box and are fresh. I used Hello Fresh for several months and had never had this problem. However, they started going up to over $65.00 for 3 meals (2 servings) which is why I tried Dinnerly.
Sweetphi says
Thanks for sharing that feedback, that does not sound like a good experience!
Jim says
My wife and I have tried Hello Fresh the meals were really good but the produce isn’t very fresh at all. Some it we had to through out and go buy more. Contacted them all I got was sorry to hear that and that was it so trying Home Chef.
Sweetphi says
Thanks for sharing your feedback. I think you’ll love Home Chef!
Daphne Gilpin says
I like how you explained that using meal delivery services helped you get out of your cooking rut from being so busy all the time. My husband and I have been a bit bored with the cooking we’ve been doing at home lately. I’m glad I read your article because I feel like trying a meal delivery service would help us get out of our cooking rut as well.
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! It definitely helps getting me out of a cooking rut – I get into them every few months when I find myself just making the same things over and over, I know it’s time to order a few boxes lol! Hope you enjoy, I think you will – I’ve learned some really neat tips and have used ingredients I never would have purchased!
Brandy says
Hello I too was needing a little inspiration, tired of having same ol thing. I gave hello fresh a try for about 2 months. Its just my husband and I so we did plan for 2 people 3 meals a week. In beginning it was pretty good, but then we started to have issues with missing ingredients and rotten produce. Atleast they did give credits for issues. Also the steaks were very tough. A few times we were still hungry. Im looking forward to trying home chef. Thank you for your reviews!
Sweetphi says
Completely agree with your comment, I think you’re going to LOVE Home Chef!
Gladys Mercer says
Hello, I was wondering if you’ve ever done any testing and reviews on prepared meals that are not kits?Sometimes our family is going in 20 directions and we still don’t have the time to prepare the meals that are in the kits. But we still want to be able to sit down and have a meal with the family after a busy day without placing a paper drive through bag down in the middle of the table. We were suggested a company called Flexpro Meals and we were wondering if you’ve ever reviewed them or perhaps could suggest one that would meet our family of 4’s needs?
Thank you, Gladys
Sweetphi says
I have not ever done any reviews on fully prepared meals for families (I’ve looked but haven’t found any yet…) Definitely will look into this!
Sweetphi says
I will add that I have reviewed two fully prepared meal delivery services (The Good Kitchen and Fresh ‘n Lean – both have new customer discount codes mentioned in my post and those look very similar to Flexpro, but offer more options).
Richard Miller says
I would like a plan that allows me to select individual meals for two people, instead of 2 of each selection. I am diabetic and my wife is not, plus we have different tastes in some items, so I refuse to subscribe to a plan that forces me to select multiples of each item?
Sweetphi says
Completely understand, I’d suggest Fresh n’ Lean, you can order meals ala carte!
Ray says
This would be my first attempt at trying meal delivery services. I appropriate the guidance. Due to your high grading for Home Chef I really wanted to give them a try but their awful website turned me away. I don’t think you’ve take away enough points from them. The fact that they make you put your credit card going into without going into much of the details is pretty nervy. So they’re out. I think I’m going with Green Chef.
Sweetphi says
Hi Ray, all the sites make you input your credit card, but I hear what you’re saying. The food from Home Chef just tastes so good and they have a really great variety, that it makes up for any website things- their site actually is now one of my favorites to use because of its ease!
Larry Weaver says
Thanks for pointing out how there are food delivery options that can be pretty family friendly. My wife will be out of town this weekend, and I am left to figure out what to do for dinner with my kids. I’m not a great cook, so I will look into food delivery options in my area that can offer meals that my kids would enjoy.
Sweetphi says
Hope you find something you enjoy! Have a wonderful weekend
Marsha says
Great info sweetphi! Thank you! I want to have already prepared meals delivered for a co-worker who is ill and has to cook for grandchildren after a long day at work. I’m thinkinking maybe twice a week. I’m financially challenged and was wondering what your recommendation would be.
Sweetphi says
Prepared meals are unfortunately not cheap, I have not found any for financially challenged, sorry!
Theresa says
I’ve been using HomeChef for almost 3 months now, for myself, my husband and my daughter. My daughter is vegetarian so its great that I can order a meal for her and a meal for my husband and myself with meat. I generally order two days of meals and its worked out great! We haven’t had a meal that we didn’t enjoy, and it’s helping my daughter learn to cook as she prepares her meal while I prepare ours (she’s 18 and ready for college). When I looked at other plans this one seemed to have the most flexibility for how many meals, and meal selections you want each week, with the option to skip a week if you need to.
Sweetphi says
Totally agree!! Thanks for commenting
Annemarie says
Thanks for this information. I am looking for a home delivery plan for my mother and your information is very helpful. She has mobility issue so prepared meals I plan on investigating the prepared meal services you reviewed, Fresh n/‘ Lean and Terra’s Kitchen.
I have been using Hello Fresh for the last 3 weeks and the meals are great, However,, I think the prep for some of the recipes takes more time than I would like. I am going to try some of the plans you reviewed to see if they take less prep time.
Sweetphi says
I’d definitely suggest prepared meal services. Also, for you I’d recommend Home Chef, their food is really good and the prep is not as intensive as Hello Fresh.
darlita says
I am trying all just like you. Home Chef and Everyplate in my opinion, did not have great chicken, we could not even eat it. It reminded me of chicken I had bought in bulk once, it was so tough, like it was not natural or healthy. Hello Fresh has amazing recipes. Sensible meals which is not listed on here, has tasty food cooked and delivered to your door. Delivery service in USA is pretty bad lately, so I would be careful with any freshly cooked food delivered to your door.
Sweetphi says
Thanks for sharing your feedback/experiences. I have found that Hello Fresh is very repetitive and not a lot of selection, so I tend to really like Home Chef. They (HC) also has recently added ‘customize’ to a lot of their recipes, so you can sub out the protein in the recipe (so for example if you don’t want chicken you can try the recipe with beef).
Joy says
You didn’t mention portion sizes. I have tried a local make-in-store meal prep service that was pretty good but we couldn’t get over the Tiny portion sizes. The 2-3 serving meal is more like 1-2 servings. We get one tiny chicken breast (2-3oz) per person and my husband could eat 3 by himself. I’m a small 125# female and i’d Say I eat fairly small portions. I would eat 2 by myself.
Anyhow, I was thinking of trying home chef but I would like to know what their portion sizes are like. Basically, is 2 servings really enough to feed an average appetite male and a small appetite female?
Thank you your reviews have been super helpful.
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your comment. I definitely know what you mean about some services having odd portion sizes. I’d say with Home Chef you’re definitely set with 2 normal portion sizes, they’re one of the good/generous portion size companies!
Eva says
You rated Home Chef pretty high. But have you used it lately? I have been with Home Chef for 4 years and LOVE it.
BUT, Kroger bought it around September 2018. My opinion IS that Kroger has lowered the quality of product that is sent. Food is still good but, steaks were Sirloin Tip now it’s New York with more marbling than meat. The asparagus was as thin as a pencil and only 8 pieces. Meal was for two people.
I worked for Kroger for 15 years. They have changed many of there benefits. One is no more pension fund for employees. Big company cutting costs to make more money. I could go on etc. So they are doing that with Home Chef. Really is sad.
I have checked out other Meal Delivery places and I agree with your comparisons.
Sweetphi says
Thank you for your comment and feedback. I actually do still use Home Chef, I just made two meals this week and both were super delicious…I actually really like some of the changes they’ve made recently…for example they have added a ‘customize’ option for recipes where you can swap out proteins (you can get chicken instead of pork or organic etc.) and they have these minimal prep dishes I really like. So personally I haven’t noticed anything except changes I enjoy. Hopefully there’s a different company that you’ll enjoy – I would suggest Sun Basket for some really tasty/high quality meals!