If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s this: eating out frequently is expensive and very unhealthy. But cooking healthy food from scratch takes a lot of time. Thankfully, meal kit delivery services offer a 3rd way.
And when you look at the benefits of having food delivered to your house, it’s not hard to see why the best meal kit delivery services are blowing up with popularity right now.
AT A GLANCE: BEST MEAL DELIVERY SERVICES
BEST OVERALL: Hello Fresh
This is our go-to recommendation, because the entire experience, start to finish, is carefully designed to be smooth and fun.
RUNNER UP, BEST OVERALL: Sun Basket
Beloved for its dedicated diet meal plans, Sun Basket is a big hit with vegan, keto, gluten-free, and diabetes dieters.
ALSO GREAT: Home Chef
This meal kit service provides a high level of customization for its recipes and a fantastic online ordering experience.
FRESHEST PICK: Freshly
These pre-prepared meals require no cooking, are delicious and never frozen, and are nutritionally optimized.
MOST POPULAR: Blue Apron
As the original meal kit, Blue Apron has had lots of time to master its recipes—and you can tell from how great they taste.
GLUTEN FREE: The Good Kitchen
A rising star in the pre-prepared meal delivery space, The Good Kitchen offers high-end dishes that heat up in minutes.
MOST VARIETY: Home Bistro
A gourmet option, with unrivaled transparency about where they source their ingredients.
QUICKEST MEAL: Green Chef
Akin to Sun Basket, this meal kit service has diet-specific plans that make eating healthy a breeze.
BEST FOR VEGANS: Veestro
The champion of plant-based pre-prepared meals, Veestro is another top pick for vegan eaters low on time.
Benefits of Meal Kit Delivery Services
OUR TOP PICK - HELLO FRESH
As the most popular meal kit in America, Hello Fresh is doing a lot of things right.
It’s affordable, the food is delicious, and the experience—from the website to the recipe card—is refined and beginner-friendly.
The Top 10 Best Meal Kit Delivery Services (2024
Update)
We’ll talk about some things you should consider when selecting a meal kit company later, but for now, let’s jump into the good stuff: our top 10 picks for the best meal kit delivery services available right now.
BEST OVERALL  | BEST OVERALL | HelloFresh |
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RUNNER UP  | RUNNER UP | Sun Basket |
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ALSO GREAT  | ALSO GREAT | Home Chef |
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FRESHEST PICK  | FRESHEST PICK | Freshly |
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Most Popular  | Most Popular | Blue Apron |
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Gluten Free  | Gluten Free | The Good Kitchen |
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BEST VARIETY  | BEST VARIETY | Home Bistro |
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QUICK MEAL  | QUICK MEAL | Green Chef |
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PLANT BASED  | PLANT BASED | Veestro |
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1. HelloFresh - Our Top Pick
“The combination of flavors has been great. The delivery is reliable and arrives cold even in the summertime. I recommend HelloFresh without reservation.”
It’s hard to beat HelloFresh, America’s largest meal kit company. With 12-16 weekly recipe options that taste stunning, one of the smoothest online ordering experiences, and prices as low as we’ve seen for a full-service meal kit, it’s our clear top pick.
Read our full HelloFresh review here.
The chefs behind Hello Fresh have no problem keeping their weekly menu full of interesting, diverse, and tasty dishes, like…
- Korean Beef Bibimbap, w/ zucchini, mushrooms, and carrots
- Truffled Mushroom Flatbreads, w/ shallots and green side salad
- One-Pan Orzotto Italiano, w/ chicken sausage, tomatoes, and spinach
While HelloFresh does have a nutritionally-optimized range of recipes, they don’t rely on diet-specific plans—like paleo or keto—as their bread and butter. However, we still think that for most people who don’t stick to a rigid diet, this isn’t a problem at all.
There wasn’t one specific thing that makes us love HelloFresh so much—it’s the entire thing. Every time you get on the website, unpack a delivery, or cook food… everything just feels so natural. You can tell they spend a lot of time designing the smooth, customer-friendly experience.
And with recipes starting at $6.99 per serving, it’s far more affordable and healthy than eating out all the time.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is HelloFresh Best For?
HelloFresh is our top pick because it’s an all-around balanced pick for most people. If you want to try meal kits and are curious about the whole experience, HelloFresh may be perfect for you.
2. Sun Basket — A Dieter’s Favorite
“Great organic food. Great recipes. Awesome seafood and incredible cuts of meat. Really easy to eat paleo without going out all the time.”
Sun Basket is a close second because they arguably have the best meal kit service for people on specific diets, like paleo, ‘carb conscious’, gluten-free, and keto. The 15-20 weekly recipes are divided into meal plans by diet, so it’s really easy to find the recipes that will hit your nutritional targets.
Read our complete Sun Basket review here.
And the food is delicious, with recipes like…
- New England Baked Bean Cassoulet, w/ Italian sausage
- Spicy Mojo-Marinated Steak Fajitas, w/ salsa and guacamole
- Five Spice Braised Tofu, w/ soba noodles with miso-tamari dressing
Rather than individual recipe cards, Sun Basket sends you the entire recipe booklet for the month, so you have extra recipes written down if you’re feeling adventurous later. They also offer a wide range of salads, snacks, soups, and sauces to offer some extra diversity when you need it.
Coming in at $11.99 per serving, it’s priced a bit higher than other meal kits, but it’s hard to beat the simplicity of the diet-specific meal plans. And if you were to eat out on a rigid diet, you’d spend a lot more than $11.99 per meal anyway.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is Sun Basket Best For?
If you follow a lifestyle that demands a rigid diet, like paleo, keto, gluten-free, or others, Sun Basket feels like a breath of fresh air. The dedicated meal plans are super easy to follow and always have great recipes.
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3. Home Chef - #1 Customer Service
“With home chef, I am now excited to come home to my box and see what to cook. As for cost, it comes out comparable to always grabbing a meal on the way home or ordering out.”
Home Chef offers customizable recipes that end up making 26+ weekly recipe options, which is significantly more than any other meal kit delivery service. Much like HelloFresh, the recipes—while really healthy and nutritionally balanced—are not easily sifted through if you’re looking for a really specific diet plan.
Read our full Home Chef review here.
But wow do they taste delicious…
- Parisian Bistro Bone-In Chicken, w/ dauphinoise potatoes and Vichy carrots
- Al Pastor Tacos, w/ pineapple and chipotle
- Baked French Onion Penne, w/ cremini mushrooms
Home Chef also offers “oven-ready meals” and “5-minute lunches” that provide a little diversity for when you want healthy food but don’t have much time to cook. We also think the website is really intuitive, making it really easy to organize your shipments and recipes quickly.
Prices start at $9.95 per serving, but there are also some premium meals that go up to $17 per serving if you’re feeling fancy.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is Home Chef Best For?
This is one of the best meal kit delivery services for its customizable recipes and great online experience. It’s a fantastic pick for if you demand a high amount of recipe diversity.
4. Freshly - Another Great Pick
“We have tried freshly for about 3 months now and the meats have always been juicy and tender. TV dinners don't even come close to Freshly.”
Freshly doesn’t send you fresh ingredients you have to cook yourself—they send pre-prepared meals that only need to be heated up in the microwave for 3-5 minutes… and there are 30+ dishes to pick from at any time.
But despite being pre-made, they’re always fresh and never frozen… and they’re nothing like old-school TV dinners that taste and feel like cardboard.
Read our complete Freshly review here.
Just check out these recipes:
- Low Country Boil, w/ sausage, corn, and shrimp
- Turkey And Sweet Jalapeno Relish, w/ sorghum pilaf
- Veggie Tikka Masala, w/ veggie biryani
And pre-made doesn’t mean tasteless. Freshly’s dishes are incredibly delicious—even the meats are tender and juicy. They’re also nutritionally optimized and can cater to different diet types, like paleo, low carb, and diabetic-friendly.
Price comes out around $12.50 per serving, which is a bit higher. But then again, there’s no complex cooking process, no dishes, and they’re super convenient, fast, and portable.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is Freshly Best For?
For anyone who needs healthy food but just doesn’t have 45-60 minutes to cook each day, Freshly offers nutritiously-dense options at an affordable cost.
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5. Blue Apron - Most Popular
“The shipments are always delicious and delivered cold. And the recipe cards are helping us to learn to cook a lot faster and easier.”
Blue Apron was the original meal kit delivery service in America, and it’s had years to refine it’s process—and they’re doing a great job. With 15-20 weekly meal options, Weight Watches-approved meal plans, and a market that offers side items—like cooking tools and ingredients—Blue Apron’s a well-rounded pick.
Read our full Blue Apron review here.
We loved our Blue Apron recipes, like…
- Calabrian Shrimp & Orzo, w/ zucchini and red hot chili paste
- Smoked Gouda & Monterey Jack Grilled Cheese, w/ mushrooms and pickled shallots
- Smoky Chickpea Gyros, w/ feta and romaine salad
Blue Apron’s recipe cards were noticeably easy to follow, and they’ve just recently introduced
new insulation that people are raving about as far more effective—especially in the summer heat.
Prices land as low as $9.99 per serving.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is Blue Apron Best For?
This is a great pick for anyone who wants great food at an affordable price. It’s a very well-rounded meal kit, but doesn’t offer too much for rigid diets.
“The Good Kitchen meals are perfect and I don’t have to force feed myself the food is clean, tasty, and portion appropriate. A huge thanks!”
Each of The Good Kitchen’s 10 weekly recipe options contains zero gluten, soy, or sugar, making them great for keto, paleo, and Whole30 eaters. It’s a smaller company, but many customers seem to prefer that, because the customer service is able to be more personal and helpful.
And the recipes are incredible, like…
- Coconut Curry Salmon, w/ za’atar cauliflower rice
- Chimichurri Steak And Eggs, w/ fingerling potato hash
- Eastern NC Pulled Pork, w/ bacon braised collard greens
Prices land around $11 per serving, with plans ranging from 10 to 21 meals per week.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is The Good KitchenBest For?
If you’d love to patronize a smaller company with healthy pre-prepared dishes, The Good Kitchen’s a great underdog to partner with.
7. Home Bistro
The gourmet meal kit delivery service of the list, Home Bistro’s 50+ pre-prepared meal options use high-quality ingredients with the highest level of sourcing transparency (they tell you exactly what farms they partner with for everything).
And get a load of these meals…
- Lemon-Caper Piccata Steak, w/ garlic marble potatoes and cauliflower gratin
- Moroccan Ratatouille And Peri Peri Sauce, w/ roasted Brussels sprouts and Lebanese rice
- Chianti Braised Short Ribs, w/ orzo with Pecorino Romano cream sauce, shaved broccoli, and mushrooms
Home Bistro also offers a wide variety of meals fit for specific diets. Everything from diabetic-friendly, to paleo, to Mediterranean, and beyond.
Pricing is higher than normal—$13 per serving for the least expensive meals—but as you can tell, this is a step beyond the normal delivered meal experience.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is Home Bistro Best For?
If you have a taste for the fancy and are capable of spending a bit more for truly gourmet meals that are fast and convenient to heat up, Home Bistro will satisfy.
Get FREE Delivery First Two Weeks
8. Green Chef
“I love my Green Chef. Finally got me cooking good meals, 3 times a week, without wasting a bunch of food. I'm all in!”
An up-and-comer in the lifestyle diet space, Green Chef offers 15-20 weekly meal kit recipes categorized by diet—like keto, paleo, omnivore, and plant-powered. They claim you can cook all of their recipes in 30 minutes, and we found that to be mostly true.
Read our full Green Chef review here.
Their meals go something like this…
- Cuban Fried Quinoa And Pork, w/ mojo sauce, pineapple, bell pepper, and pepitas
- Mediterranean Veggie Bowl, w/ feta white bean stuffed patties and salad
- Teriyaki Portobello Rice Bowl, w/ pineapple, edamame, vegan Sriracha-ginger sauce
$12.99 per serving is a bit more pricey than normal meal kits, but on-par with Sun Basket, Green Chef’s true rival.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is Green Chef Best For?
A top pick by paleo, keto, and plant-based eaters, Green Chef’s 30-minute recipes are both creative, easy to follow along with, and delicious.
9. Veestro - 100% Plant Based
“A convenient way to incorporate plant-based meals into my diet so I could make a smoother transition into a healthy lifestyle.”
Veestro is newer to the scene, but they’ve made quite a splash, with 50+ pre-prepared meal options—all 100% plant-based. You can buy a la carte or by bundles, which saves you a bit of money. And the recipes are unbelievably creative for only being made from plants:
- Mediterranean Falafel, w/ basmati rice and organic hummus
- Moroccan Melange, w/ fresh veggies and a spice-infused sauce
- Southwest BB “Chick’n”, w/ potatoes, zucchini, and corn
Prices start closer to $13 per serving, but if you order a 30-meal bundle, you can get them as low as $9.99 per serving. And no worries if you’re worried about freshness—they’re flash frozen using a proprietary process to preserve quality.
The Good
The Bad
Who Is Veestro Best For?
If you’ve been hoping to transition to a healthier lifestyle that relies more on plants and less on meat—but don’t have much time to learn to cook veggie-forward food—Veestro is a no-brainer.
GET $40 off Your First Order with CODE: POWERPLANT30
3 Things To Consider When Looking At Meal Kit Delivery Services
There’s a lot to think about here (we get it), and it can be hard to make a choice. Let’s clear up a few things you may want to consider.
1. Do you have time to cook, or would pre-prepared food be better?
True meal kits teach you how to cook and are generally cheaper, but they do take time, between cooking and cleanup. Pre-prepared foods are much faster, can often be taken to work easily, and are super convenient—but they’re pricier. Which works better with your lifestyle?
2. Need to stick to a specific diet?
Most meal kits offer recipes that work for special lifestyle diets, like paleo and keto, but a few of them really target those diets as a specialty. You’ll want to consider whether you’d like a dedicated diet meal kit or if you’re comfortable sorting through recipes to find ones that’ll work for your nutrition guidelines on non-diet specific sites.
3. What can your budget afford?
Be honest with yourself. If you need a cheaper option, meal kits (especially the bigger ones) are the way to go. If you can afford to splurge some, go ahead and try out a pricier option or pre-prepared meal delivery.
We’re confident these are the best meal kit delivery services you can order from right now, but there are still many more out there. Think we missed a winner, or is our list spot-on? Let us know!
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