Picking the best meal delivery service is very difficult, considering the numerous options out there. We narrowed down the top candidates based on the following principles:
- Weekly meal variety
- Variety of diet options
- Subscription cancelation and pausing policy
- Price
- Convenience
These were just some of the main factors used to judge the services in our review. Keep reading for more details.
THE 10 BEST MEAL DELIVERY SERVICES IN 2021
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Editor’s Choice
- Amazing variety of meals
- Completely customizable
- Best value for money
- 15-minute meal kits available for those in a rush
Blue Apron
Best Meal Kit Delivery Service for 2021
- Fantastic meals for a fair price
- Streamlined, quick, and efficient service
- Great step-by-step recipes
Sun Basket
Top Choice for Vegans
- Highly considerate of various diets
- Quick and easy meal preparation
- Healthy yet inexpensive meals
- Besides meals, it offers spices, sauces, herbs, etc.
Purple Carrot
Best Healthy Meal Delivery Service
- Fantastically convenient
- Healthiest meals for the whole family
- Transparent, considerate, and eco-friendly
- High protein, chef’s choice, and gluten-free options
HelloFresh
Best Choice for Losing Weight
- Best customer service according to Newsweek
- Reader’s Choice Award for best meal kit in 2019 and 2020
- Simple, healthy, and cheap alternative to grocery shopping
- Options for carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, etc.
EveryPlate
Most Affordable Option
- Very convenient and simplified
- The best prices per meal
- Easy to skip or cancel
- Straightforward cooking for carnivores and vegetarians
Freshly
Best Cooked Meal Delivery Service
- The best choice of meals for everyone
- Pre-cooked meals that can be prepared in three minutes
- The best option for busy single people or families
- Great meal variety
Green Chef
Best Keto Meal Delivery Service
- Among the best meal selection and plan variety
- Reasonable prices for outstanding quality
- Superb recipe instructions and a highly informative website
- Four amazing chef meal plans
Factor 75
Top Pick for Ready-to-Eat Meals
- Offers free delivery, unlike most of the competition
- Delicious, balanced meals
- Fresh, quality ingredients
Daily Harvest
Best Frozen Meal Delivery Service
- Incredibly healthy
- Very convenient
- Reasonable pricing
OUR MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE REVIEWS
Home Chef
Editor’s Choice
- Number of meals per week: Around 20 meals
Home Chef is ranked the best meal delivery service on our list because the company is transparent, efficient, healthy, and cheap. It’s hard to get all those things in a single service, and that’s why Home Chef wins.
Oh, and did we mention that you can pick from over 20 meals each week and customize them to your liking? The customization options from Home Chef are genuinely unique.
Home Chef is very considerate to people with all types of diets, and the company doesn’t put a huge price tag on specific meals. The prices are affordable for everyone who wants to replace fast food and live a healthier life.
Sure, the cost adds up if you’re using meal prep delivery services each day of the month, but Home Chef truly has fair pricing. Besides ordering Home Chef online, you can buy its kits in Kroger-owned grocery stores.
Finally, you can change your order frequency whenever you please, and if you want, you can cancel your subscription at any time. Home Chef delivers Monday through Friday to nearly all of the US.
Pros
- + Amazing variety of meals
- + Completely customizable
- + Best value for money
- + 15-minute meal kits available for those in a rush
Cons
- − Some meal nutrition facts are left out
Blue Apron
Best Meal Kit Delivery Service for 2021
- Number of meals per week: Around 20 meals
If you’re looking for the best-rated meal delivery service, Blue Apron is the real deal. The company offers an easy three-step process:
- Choose a meal
- Unpack the bag
- Cook something tasty
But what’s inside the bag? Here’s what you get:
- Recipes from renowned chefs, with intuitive instructions
- Premium-quality ingredients, which are all fresh, safe, and delicious
- Appropriately balanced portions for a healthy diet
- Entirely eco-friendly packaging
Blue Apron offers convenience at more than reasonable prices. There’s a decent variety of meals for the whole family. Also, the company delivers its kits in well-insulated packaging that keeps the ingredients fresh.
Blue Apron’s fresh meal delivery services are available all week long in most locations across the US. Plus, you can skip a week or cancel your subscription at any time.
Pros
- + Fantastic meals for a fair price
- + Streamlined, quick, and efficient service
- + Great step-by-step recipes
Cons
- − The meal variety could be slightly improved
Sun Basket
Top Choice for Vegans
- Number of meals per week: About 20 meals
Here’s why Sun Basket might be the absolute best vegetarian meal delivery service:
- It offers distinguished quality ingredients
- Experts and critically acclaimed chefs make the recipes
- With Sun Basket, your meals are done in a matter of minutes
If you ask us, Sun Basket hits all the right spots. And we aren’t the only ones who rate the service highly. If you scour the internet, you will see it gets much praise, and it’s well deserved.
Sun Basket has some of the most incredible meal variety. Furthermore, all its meals are healthy, made with fresh and organic ingredients.
It’s one of the most inclusive vegan meal delivery services because it offers meals for vegetarians, vegans, and people on paleo, gluten-free, carb-restricted, diabetes-friendly, and pescatarian diets.
If you want to lose weight or just stay healthy and well-fed, you can’t go wrong with Sun Basket. If you wish to cancel or pause the subscription, you’ll be able to do it anytime. As of now, scheduled deliveries arrive Monday through Thursday.
Pros
- + Highly considerate of various diets
- + Quick and easy meal preparation
- + Healthy yet inexpensive meals
- + Besides meals, it offers spices, sauces, herbs, etc.
Cons
- − People who dislike healthy food won’t enjoy this meal prep
Purple Carrot
Best Healthy Meal Delivery Service
- Number of meals per week: Around 15 meals
Purple Carrot deserves a high rank because it’s practically the best meal kit delivery service in 2021 for vegetarians, vegans, and others who want a plant-based diet. Purple Carrot promotes these healthy diets because they help reduce blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes risks.
Purple Carrot is also a very eco-friendly company that wants to save the environment. You can learn a lot about recycling, healthy recipes, and more from its website, which we recommend checking out.
Back to the meal plans, it offers healthy breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners. You can get two-serving plans or order a four-serving option for the whole family. Purple Carrot is also the best meal delivery service for families who want to eat healthily.
What’s great about these meals is that each includes the recipe, calorie count, and prep time spelled out on Purple Carrot’s website. If you like transparency and details, you’ll like this feature a lot.
All the weekly meals come at once, arriving on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. But you can skip or cancel Purple Carrot deliveries at any time.
Pros
- + Fantastically convenient
- + Healthiest meals for the whole family
- + Transparent, considerate, and eco-friendly
- + High protein, chef’s choice, and gluten-free options
Cons
- − No meal plan options for meat-eaters
HelloFresh
Best Choice for Losing Weight
- Number of meals per week: 22 or more
HelloFresh is practically the best meal plan delivery service. It offers a variety of dietary choices, with fresh veggies or meat for omnivores. The meal plans allow you to count calories, cut down on carbs, and eat more veggies.
You’ll find a wide array of meals offered each week, and these recipes are all designed by expert nutritionists and chefs. You can always add more items to your meal, such as garlic bread or salad. HelloFresh is very conscientious, both about its customers and the environment.
The company wants to offer a cheap, simplified alternative to grocery shopping and cooking by yourself. HelloFresh has proper labels for each meal on its site, providing insight into micronutrients and calories. This is why HelloFresh is probably the best low-carb meal delivery service.
You can pause or cancel HelloFresh whenever you want. As a note, it must be five days in advance because they have a tight delivery schedule. HelloFresh delivers three times a week nationwide, but not in Hawaii or Alaska.
Pros
- + Best customer service according to Newsweek
- + Reader’s Choice Award for best meal kit in 2019 and 2020
- + Simple, healthy, and cheap alternative to grocery shopping
- + Options for carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, etc.
Cons
- − Nutrition details only available on the site
EveryPlate
Most Affordable Option
- Number of meals per week: 13 meals
EveryPlate is the most affordable meal delivery service, period. No service even comes close to its cost, which truly makes the service stand out. Even the cheaper services don’t offer reasonable meal prices for smaller orders.
Note that you need to pay for shipping, but even so, the cost of this service is still lower than others. Remember that you get an insulated box of delicious ingredients, and you get exact recipes from the recipe card.
If you’re suspicious about the price, relax—the ingredients are fresh and safe. They’re just simple and easy to cook. EveryPlate is the best online meal delivery service for students, people who enjoy meat and veggies, and folks eating on a budget.
Many delivery services focus on providing vegan and vegetarian diet plans these days, but EveryPlate gives equal attention to those who eat meat.
Pros
- + Very convenient and simplified
- + The best prices per meal
- + Easy to skip or cancel
- + Straightforward cooking for carnivores and vegetarians
Cons
- − No nutrition info for the meals
Freshly
Best Cooked Meal Delivery Service
- Number of meals per week: Over 30 meals
Freshly offers delicious pre-cooked meals at fantastic prices. What’s more, it’s the best prepared meal delivery service for weight loss because the meals are gluten-free, have less sugar, and are less processed. As such, the service provides excellent nutrition and balanced meals.
Most services save time by providing the ingredients for you, but this one cooks for you too. You’d expect the prices to be much higher, but no, they’re fair and square.
The service has an amazing app with non-stop live support, and the site is easy to navigate. The meal plans vary from 4 to 12 meals per week, which is great for families and singles alike. In fact, Freshly might be the best meal delivery service for singles out there.
Canceling the subscription or skipping a week is easy, and it can even be done three weeks in advance. The meals are well insulated and can withstand up to 60 hours pre-delivery before they go bad.
Pros
- + The best choice of meals for everyone
- + Pre-cooked meals that can be prepared in three minutes
- + The best option for busy single people or families
- + Great meal variety
Cons
- − Shipping cost added to the total during checkout
Green Chef
Best Keto Meal Delivery Service
- Number of meals per week: 8 meals
Green Chef has to be one of the best healthy meal delivery services. It offers four plans:
- Keto
- Balanced Living
- Plant Powered
- Carb-Conscious
Each of the plans is suited for a certain lifestyle, offering everyone a terrific choice. Even though the name sounds vegan or vegetarian, Green Chef also offers a menu for meat lovers, called Balanced Living.
Overall, there’s a vast choice of meals each week, and we suggest trying them all out. Green Chef offers organic ingredients, which come prepared in pre-measured sizes, with tasty original sauces.
The recipes are straightforward and easy to follow. Each meal takes around half an hour to prep and cook. Even the packaging is well-thought-out, with proper insulation. No wonder Green Chef is the best organic meal delivery service, among some others.
Green Chef delivers to most of the continental US—except for Alaska, Hawaii, and some parts of Louisiana. It delivers Monday through Saturday. Note that the meal plan cost doesn’t cover shipping and handling.
You can cancel or pause your Green Chef subscription at any time.
Pros
- + Among the best meal selection and plan variety
- + Reasonable prices for outstanding quality
- + Superb recipe instructions and a highly informative website
- + Four amazing chef meal plans
Cons
- − Shipping and handling costs extra, except for your first order
Factor 75
Top Pick for Ready-to-Eat Meals
- Number of meals per week: 20 or more meals
Factor 75 is one of the best prepared meal delivery services. It offers the following plans:
- Four meals a week
- Six meals a week
- Eight meals a week
- Twelve meals a week
- Eighteen meals a week
The more meals you subscribe to, the lower the cost per serving. The meals might seem expensive, but you have to keep in mind that these meals have already been cooked for you.
Once you pick the number of servings, you choose from the available meals offered, which change weekly to keep things interesting. Factor 75 could be the best meal delivery service for one person—or several.
These are all well-balanced meals, with proper ingredient and nutrition details available on the website. If that wasn’t enough, each meal also has a well-written description.
Finally, you can pause, change, or cancel the meal delivery subscription at any time, but you have to do it before Wednesday, 11:59 Central Time, when the weekly cut-off happens.
Pros
- + Offers free delivery, unlike most of the competition
- + Delicious, balanced meals
- + Fresh, quality ingredients
Cons
- − Slightly more expensive because meals are pre-cooked
Daily Harvest
Best Frozen Meal Delivery Service
- Number of meals per week: Up to 12 meals
Daily Harvest could very well be the best meal delivery service for vegetarians. It differs from the competition because it offers frozen fruit and plant-based soups, smoothies, lattes, bowls, cookies, and chia parfaits.
Each meal comes in a cute cup that has all the ingredients labeled. Daily Harvest is a truly modern meal prep service, and since everything is organic and natural. These cups are awesome for those living a fast-paced life and don’t have time to cook for themselves.
Daily Harvest is a very healthy meal delivery service, but sadly, meat lovers aren’t offered anything from the menu.
If you aren’t satisfied with the subscription, you can pause or cancel it whenever you please.
However, we assure you that most people don’t ever think of canceling after trying out these amazing gluten-free, paleo, low-carb, vegetarian, and vegan meal cups. Daily Harvest might also be the best meal delivery service for diabetics and other people with restricted diets.
Pros
- + Incredibly healthy
- + Very convenient
- + Reasonable pricing
Cons
- − Nothing on the menu for meat-eaters
HOW WE PICKED THE BEST MEAL DELIVERY SERVICES
Our Ranking Methodology
Here are some of the basic considerations we had in mind when we ranked the meal kit delivery services in this article:
Quality of Ingredients
Quality should always come first, no matter the product or service. Each of the services on our list offers top-quality ingredients. In fact, in most cases, these ingredients are organic and farm-grown.
Recipe Variety and Accuracy
If you’re a food lover, you might be looking for a prepared meal delivery service because you’re hoping to try something new. All of the services here offer a fantastic choice of recipes.
Variety is necessary for life, but so is convenience. The recipes from the services we picked are simple and intuitive for everyone to understand.
Cancellation Policy
If you dislike a service—for example, if you decide it isn’t the best-tasting meal delivery service—or you need to pause it temporarily, you should be able to do that with ease. We intentionally didn’t choose any delivery service that gives you a hard time skipping a meal delivery or canceling.
Price
The pricing of all the services here is very fair. Some of them are laughably low, while others are just decent. Note that price is usually tied to quality, meaning that making a bigger meal delivery investment often pays off.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE
Buyer’s Guide
Here, we summed up some of the main points a person should consider when choosing the best premade meal delivery service. We put a lot of research and thought into ensuring you have all the info in one place. Let’s get to the specifics.
What to Expect From a Meal Delivery Service
What You Get
Every meal delivery service is different, so make sure you know what to expect. Each of the home meal delivery services we listed has a unique delivery system, but they’re mostly alike. For example, most of them use insulated boxes, which keep the food fresh for a long period.
Scheduled Deliveries
Each of the mentioned services has a system in place. They deliver all the meals according to this system, meaning that the shipping is organized too. Depending on the shipping service, the times of delivery may vary.
Meals Mostly Aren’t Pre-Cooked
Did you find a healthy meal delivery service you like, and then you realized that it only delivers uncooked meals? Sadly, most of these services don’t cook everything for you.
They give you the ingredients and recipes, but you have to cook them—unless the service specifically advertises cooked meals. If this doesn’t appeal, maybe consider buying a slow cooker or an equally simple food preparation device.
Nor Are They Frozen
Frozen food doesn’t sound too healthy, does it? In most cases, it isn’t, but luckily the top meal delivery services don’t offer frozen food. Only Daily Harvest provides it, but it has a unique way of delivering food, and in this case, freezing the food is acceptable. Pre-cooked frozen food is the worst, which is why we mentioned this.
Important Considerations
Everyone likes innovation and change, especially when it comes to food. If you haven’t given it much thought, consider this when choosing the best meal delivery service:
Cost
Note that no matter how expensive meal delivery services may seem, they’ll never be as expensive as ordering takeout. For instance, US citizens spent over $11 billion on pizza delivery last year.
Whenever you’re buying a product or service, the first thing you should consider is the price. Some meal delivery services are way too expensive—so you won’t find them on this list. The cost-to-value ratio played a major role in choosing the top 10 best meal delivery services.
Check out the Weekly Recipes
Some services offer more recipes per week than others. It means they provide better variety, which is always a plus. Also, make sure to check out the dietary options they have.
Shipping Usually Isn’t Free
If a meal delivery service doesn’t have a free shipping policy, you’ll have to pay extra for each delivery. However, the shipping costs usually aren’t that high. Some of the services have free shipping, but they’re the minority.
Advantages
Meal prepping has many great benefits, which we summed up right here:
- Convenience is probably the number one plus of the best ready-to-eat meal delivery service. No matter the service you pick, you will surely save a lot of time.
- Next, you get to save a pretty penny while eating healthy. Restaurants are overrated anyway, and they cost a small fortune.
- Like we just said, you’ll eat a balanced meal and improve your diet instead of ordering junk food.
- Furthermore, those who want to lose weight, hope to get in shape, or have specific meal goals will have a much easier time of it when their meals are planned.
- Finally, meal prepping takes your mind off cooking and actively thinking about your next meal, which can be a headache.
Disadvantages
Is there even one disadvantage of the best meal kit delivery service? Of course, nothing in life is perfect.
Possibly the only drawback of these services is the cost. Sure, you can save more money if you buy groceries yourself and then cook. However, meal prepping saves money because it saves time. And if you value your time more than money, meal prepping is the way to go.
Wrapping Up (Pun-Intended)
Sorry about the low-effort pun, but you know we like to keep things spicy. Jokes aside, we hope this article answered your questions and resolved any doubts you may have had about finding the best meal delivery service in 2021.
If you’re new to this, prepare to be amazed. Doing groceries is a chore for most people, and so is preparing food daily.
Restaurants are healthier than fast-food chains, but they cost a fortune. With the best home meal delivery service, you will eat healthier, spend less money, and have more time for yourself. That’s a triple win situation if you ask us.
FAQs
Which meal delivery service is best?
As you can see from our ranking, we consider Home Chef the best prepared meal delivery service. Nevertheless, remember that our list is ranked very close, meaning that nearly any of these services could’ve won.
Picking a meal prep service is subjective, like anything else related to food. If you’re a true gourmand, or you simply enjoy food, you can try out multiple candidates on our list before issuing a final judgment.
Which meal delivery service is the healthiest?
The best meal delivery services on our list are all healthy to some extent. If we had to pick the healthiest one, we’d say Blue Apron, but that’s a subjective opinion. Some people may say HelloFresh is the healthiest, for example.
There are many healthy options out there. You could always try several of them out before you form your own opinion.
What is the best meal delivery service for weight loss?
There are actually several excellent delivery services for weight loss. Some of the best are Purple Carrot, Sun Basket, Green Chef, HelloFresh, and Blue Apron. If you can’t decide between them, we suggest that you give one or two a try, if not all of them.
Then you will be able to decide which is the best meal delivery service for weight loss, based on your needs. If you intend to lose weight, we might also suggest buying a reliable juicer.
Are meal subscriptions worth it?
Some meal subscriptions aren’t worth it, but the best meal prep delivery services are, for sure. If you choose one of the best, you’re ensuring at least one healthy, balanced meal a day, which is always great.
Eating healthy is difficult, so it’s essential to make every effort you can to do so. Even the healthiest meal subscriptions are convenient and affordable if you choose the right one.
Is Hello Fresh cheaper than grocery shopping?
For the average American, it isn’t. However, HelloFresh provides convenience and saves a lot of time—and they say time is money. No matter what, HelloFresh and the rest of the best meal kit delivery services on our list are much cheaper than eating at restaurants or ordering takeout.
Is Marley Spoon or Hello Fresh better?
Marley Spoon and HelloFresh are excellent, but here’s why HelloFresh is a bit better. It offers more plans, it’s usually cheaper for each meal, and it has a better variety of recipes.
HelloFresh is delicious and convenient, and it provides more value for your dollar. Of course, if you wish to try Marley Spoon, do it, and then compare it with HelloFresh yourself.
Taste is subjective—if you want the best meal prep delivery service, don’t try only one.
Is Home Chef worth the money?
Home Chef is well worth the money. Its cost is not nearly as high as other services, even though it provides excellent meals. What’s great is that it bundles the ingredients together for its recipes.
The service focuses on convenience and saves you precious time on each step, which is a massive plus by any means. After all, we rated Home Chef as the best meal delivery service among fierce competition, and that says a lot about the quality of its service.
