Best Meal Delivery Services of 2024? I Tested 25 and Here's the Winner
A good meal delivery service or meal kit is fresh, high-value and delicious. I let my taste buds do the testing to bring you the best prepared meals and dinner kits you can buy.
Our Experts
What to consider
Meal kit versus prepared meal delivery
Cost
Healthiness
Number of meals per week
Our Picks
What to consider
Meal kit versus prepared meal delivery
Cost
Healthiness
Number of meals per week
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.
I know meal delivery well, having spent over 100 hours cooking more than 50 meal kits and eating well over 100 prepared meals from Hello Fresh, Cook Unity, Blue Apron and Daily Harvest. I even did the math to compare whether meal kits are cheaper than buying equivalent ingredients at the grocery store. After testing over two dozen food services, my belly is full, and I’ve identified the clear winners.
Meal kits and delivery services are intended to save you a trip to the store and potentially reduce food waste from leftover ingredients you may not use. You can find more about my testing methodology below, but the main points are that meal delivery and kits must be fresh, healthy, tasty and worth the money. Based on this, Blue Apron is my top pick 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 highly convenient, with most recipes taking under 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
- Steak and seafood options are included in a standard meal plan
- Affordable if you choose more than two recipes per week
- Fewer recipe options than other services
- Doesn't allow for much customization
Blue Apron's steaks and seafood are the best I've had from a standard meal kit plan.
Why I picked Blue Apron: Blue Apron represents the best overall value for any meal delivery service with premium-style recipes such as steak and seafood included in the cheapest meal plan. I also love Blue Apron's family-style and oven-ready meals which take about 5 minutes to prepare and net four or five servings. Perfect for feeding a crew or meal planning for the week.
Blue Apron is the original meal kit program in the US and the brand still manages to deliver excellent meals with easy-to-follow recipes all at a fair price. I found the recipes inventive without being overly complicated and of the eight or nine meal kits I've made from Blue Apron, none of them have been bad.
Blue Apron is a meal kit subscription -- so they'll keep sending meals week after week. Running menu choices available range from simple pasta dishes to more daring global cuisine, with high-end recipes including nice cuts of beef and fresh seafood at no extra cost.
Plans range between $8 and $12 a serving (chepaer if you order more servings) and the value is clear. In fact, I compared the cost of Blue Apron meal kits to the cost of buying the same groceries at a grocery store and two out of three were cheaper when made with Blue Apron.
It's also the most eco-friendly meal kit, according to this study, vaulting Blue Apron to the top of this list.
Blue Apron's steaks and seafood are the best I've had from a standard meal kit plan.
- Tons of healthy menu options per week
- Healthy food to service most diets and nutrition plans
- Expensive if you only choose a few meals per week
- Quality was somewhat inconsistent
Best prepared meal delivery service
CookUnity
Why I picked CookUnity: This prepared meal service focuses on gourmet fare made by chefs with both local and national acclaim. Since the shuttering of Fresh N Lean, Cook Unity has emerged as the best prepared meal service for those seeking interesting food without having to do any cooking.
The food is aimed at those with refined tastes and an adventurous palate. The best thing about CookUnity is the sheer volume of meal options you can choose from from culinary masters of different cultural backgrounds and culinary styles. There's always something different on the Cook Unity menu although each one is specific to a region so someone in Brooklyn may not have all of the same options as someone in Chicago.
Food is delivered fresh, not frozen although most of the meals would be easy to freeze and save for later. I liked almost everything I tried, with recipes ranging from very healthy to more comfort-style food. There are plenty of options for vegetarians too, but note that the menu will vary depending on where you live since they pull from local chefs to create the weekly offerings. Use promo code CNET30 for a 30% discount on your first purchase.
- More than 50 weekly recipes
- Good for keeping to specific diets or eating plans
- Some recipes are a little boring and uninspired
- Extra $10 for shipping
The spicy beef soup (aka chili) was super fast, simple and satisfying.
Best meal kit service for families
HelloFresh
Why I picked HelloFresh: HelloFresh serves up convenience, selection and family-friendly options better than any other meal kit service. There is truly no end to the combinations you can make from the weekly menus with swaps and substitutions allowed to please even the most particular eaters in your family.
HelloFresh has the most recipes per week, well over 50, and of any meal kit service I tried making it a good option for families and homes with picky children (or adults). This meal kit service's portion sizes are generous and there are meals to fit eating plans and diets of all sorts. There are dozens of keto meals, low-calorie options and heart-healthy meals for those cutting down on fat and sodium.
HelloFresh also fairly affordable, with most plans costing $10 per serving but there's no real discount for ordering a large plan. HelloFresh recipes are quick to make and and easy to follow, even for beginner cooks. I found some of the recipes a tad basic, with lots of comfort pasta dishes and simple cuisine. But if you're feeding a family of four or five, basic may be just what the doctor ordered.
The spicy beef soup (aka chili) was super fast, simple and satisfying.
- The most affordable meal kit service
- Most recipes were either good or better
- Not a ton of plastic waste
- Super simple recipes that kids can help with
- Some produce wasn't the freshest
- Recipes can be basic
- Very little customization allowed
Many of EveryPlate recipes are simple and fuss-free. I like that.
Best cheap meal kit service
EveryPlate
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's meal kits are simple, quick to make and comforting -- but that doesn't mean they're not also great. I liked nearly all of the eight meal kits I made from EveryPlate and with the lowest price per serving of any subscription, it's a great pick for those trying to keep the family fed without putting the budget at risk.
EveryPlate keeps overhead costs low (often cheaper than if you bought the groceries yourself) by offering just a dozen easy meal kit recipes to choose from each week with no swaps or substitutions allowed. These options include some vegetarians and those on special diets, but you'll find mostly classic American comfort food on EveryPlate's menu.
If you're looking to try an easy meal kit service without risking much dough, you can score meals for as low as $3 a serving with free shipping on your first order.
Many of EveryPlate recipes are simple and fuss-free. I like that.
- Tons of healthy menu options per week
- Healthy food to service most diets and nutrition plans
- Expensive if you only choose a few meals per week
- Quality was somewhat inconsistent
Factor has plenty of keto options including this bunless burger.
Best meal delivery service for weight loss
Factor
Why I picked Factor: With plans that cost as little as $11 a meal and options for a variety of diets and eating plans, Factor's heat-and-eat food is a solid option for those looking to eliminate cooking from the to-do list.
Factor, which is owned by the same parent company as HelloFresh, is a healthy prepared meal service and had some of the best meals I tried, including a zesty pesto salmon and a divine keto cheesecake.
Among the hits were a few misses, so you may have to learn the menu over time to avoid the duds. Factor puts a focus on healthy meals with plenty of low-carb options, and all the nutritional information is listed on the website before you choose your meals each week. With all the keto and paleo meal options, it's certainly a solid choice for people keeping to either of those plans.
Factor's portions aren't huge but they're big enough to satisfy this hungry fellow without the risk of overeating. There are cheaper prepared meal services out there but if you're after healthy food that includes meat, fish and lots of vegetables, Factor ticks a lot of boxes with it's freezable premade food.
Factor has plenty of keto options including this bunless burger.
- Good selection of keto-friendly meal kits
- Recipes are simple and fast
- Budget-friendly if you choose a larger plan
- Some recipes were clunky and bland
- Too much plastic used in packaging
Some plastic is necessary for meal kits to work, but Home Chef uses more than the average service.
Best keto meal kit delivery
Home Chef
Why I picked Home Chef: Home Chef is a meal kit service with a sprawling menu that includes tons of low-carb options. Even if you're not going full keto, but just want to curb your carb intake, Home Chef offers 15 recipes a week with less than 15 grams of net carbs in each.
On balance, Home Chef meal kits weren't the best I tried, but the bulk of meals I made took less than 25 minutes and the portions were more than satisfying. That coupled with its slew of easy, healthy low-carb options makes Home Chef the best meal kit service for keto eaters.
You'll find plenty of comfort food among the low-carb meals just in case you want to spring for this a pasta or pizza cheat day. There's also lots of options for plant-based eaters and oven-ready meals that need only to be assembled and cooked -- no chopping or prep required.
Home Chef functions like many of the others with easy-to-prepared cooking kits that can feed a family of four or five. The plans start at around $10 a serving for the largest plans and go up from there. The meal kits can also be be purchased in person at Kroger since the supermarket chain owns this popular meal kit operation.
Some plastic is necessary for meal kits to work, but Home Chef uses more than the average service.
- Nearly all the meals I tried were good or better
- Interesting use of global recipes and flavors
- Affordable, especially for the family plan
- The pizzas were just OK
- Extra $10 for shipping on orders of less than 12 items
Best vegetarian meal delivery
Mosaic Foods
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 great, and family meals start at just $6 a serving when you order family meals.
I sampled more than 10 of Mosaic Food's plant-based prepared meal offerings which include rice bowls, noodle dishes, flatbreads, oat bowls and smoothies. Of the food I ate, this vegetarian prepared meal delivery service had an astoundingly high hit rate. Most meals arrive fresh but can be frozen and thawed later for a quick lunch or healthy, vegetarian dinner.
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. Everything I ate from Mosaic was at least good, but some standouts included the bean and jackfruit chili, tomato olive and feta ragout and a tangy Thai noodle dish.
Meals clock in at around $10 or $12 each. Family-style dishes cost $20 and feed four, bringing the per-serving price down to a reasonable $5.
- Healthy recipes and mostly organic ingredients
- Allows you to swap the protein in certain recipes
- On the expensive side
- Premium recipes incur big upcharges
I put Green Chef's meal kits to the test once again.
Best healthy meal kits
Green Chef
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 cook.
It may be one of the pricier options, but 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.
Green Chef allows for swaps and upgrades so you can slide beef into a fish recipe or even spring for organic chicken in place of non-organic. Some swaps are free while others incur a surcharge, some of them fairly steep, but it's all outlined on the intuitive website and easy to decipher before placing a weekly order.
I put Green Chef's meal kits to the test once again.
- Quality ingredients including mostly organic meats and produce
- Great for those avoiding gluten or empty carbs
- No subscription required
- Shipping is wildly expensive
- Only worth it to buy in bulk
- The website isn't my favorite
Pete's Real Food (formerly Pete's Paleo) is an excellent meal service if you're adhering to a paleo or whole foods eating plan.
Best gluten-free meal delivery service
Pete's Real Food
Why I picked Pete's Real Food: It's more expensive than other prepared meal services on our list, but the quality of food doesn't get much higher than Pete's. The cuisine is designed to fuel those following the precise paleo diet, but even those not keeping to the plan should enjoy this grub.
Pete's Real Food (formerly Pete's Paleo) won me over in a weeklong taste test of its healthy organic and paleo meals, earning a spot as one of the best healthy, organic meal delivery services. Pete's meals are all fully prepared and ready to heat and eat. The dozen or so Pete's Real Food meals I've tested were all cooked well: meats were tender, vegetables (mostly) cooked to proper doneness and all the flavors worked.
If you're in training or keeping to a paleo plan and looking for lots of protein, healthy fats and nutrient-filled carbs such as sweet potatoes and beets, Pete's should hit the spot.
The biggest drawback is Pete's expensive shipping which typically costs around $40. This means it's really only worth it to order meals in bulk.
Pete's Real Food (formerly Pete's Paleo) is an excellent meal service if you're adhering to a paleo or whole foods eating plan.
- Interesting and filling vegan recipes
- Extremely fresh and high-quality ingredients
- Limited to eight recipes per week
- Expensive
Purple Carrot recipes are slightly more involved than your average meal kit.
Best vegan meal kits
Purple Carrot
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. Several of us here at CNET have tried Purple Carrot and the inventive meatless meal kits have become a clear staff favorite.
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 kits are pricey, with most plans netting out to about $12 per serving. There are also fewer recipes to choose from each week but that means quality control is far higher than services who offer 20 or 30 recipes in a given menu.
Purple Carrot also had the freshest produce of any service I tried with much of it coming from organic farms. There aren't many options for keto dieters but this meal kit subscription is a dream for vegans looking to get dinner on the table with less fuss.
Purple Carrot recipes are slightly more involved than your average meal kit.
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 |
Factors to consider when choosing a meal delivery service
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.
The 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.
After 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.
While 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.
Lastly, 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.
How I tested meal kit services
Meal kits are judged on several factors as we cook our way through a box of recipes.
All 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.
To 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.
Other meal delivery services I tested
Dinnerly meal kits are fast, easy and won't cost you an arm and a leg.
- 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.
Who are meal kits good for?
Meal kits are best for those seeking truly fresh food.
- 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.
Who is prepared meal delivery good for?
Prepared meals are great for those uninterested in cooking.
- 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.
Meal delivery service FAQ
Are meal delivery services worth it?
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.
Are meal kits cheaper than buying groceries?
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.
What's the cheapest meal delivery service?
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.
What are the most popular meal delivery services?
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.