A Comparison of 2024’s Top Meal Delivery Services and Businesses
The US Department of Agriculture estimates that the typical American adult spends 44 minutes each time they go grocery shopping. The time required for dinner preparation and cleanup, which can take up to an hour, is not even included in this.
Since meal delivery services allow consumers to avoid the grocery store, save time in the kitchen, and maybe save money by minimizing food waste, it is not surprising that the industry has grown rapidly in recent years.
To be completely educated about what our top recommendations for the finest meal delivery services have to offer, read our research before you join the trend.
Our Top 10 Best Meal Delivery Services:
- HelloFresh – Best meal delivery service overall
- Home Chef – Best for flexible plans
- Factor – Best for dietician-approved, restaurant-quality recipes
- Martha & Marley Spoon – Best for improving your culinary skills
- EveryPlate – Best for affordable, family-friendly meals
- Green Chef – Best for organic ingredients
- Fresh and Easy – Best for comfort meals with little to no prep
- Freshology – Best for heat-and-serve meals catering to diets
- Trifecta – Best for pre-prepared, low-calorie meals
- Blue Apron – Best for busy families and couples
A Closer Look at the Top 10 Meal Delivery Services
1. HelloFresh
The greatest meal delivery service is HelloFresh.
Enjoy healthy, fresh meals with no preparation thanks to HelloFresh. “Surprised at the quality of ingredients and ease of putting together exceptional meals,” Ron Stewart, a former corporate executive chef at Pastini, said of HelloFresh’s recipes, which he described as “delicious as well as nutritious and balanced.”
HelloFresh offers more than 100 breakfast, lunch, and supper recipes every week. Simple, detailed recipe cards with pre-measured, fresh ingredients are included in every kit to help you prepare dinner in less than an hour.
Although they also provide low-carb and low-calorie meals, this service is best suited for people and homes without specific dietary requirements. Before placing your purchase, you can go over the nutritional value, allergens, and any other things you might need for each meal separately.
Reasons for selecting HelloFresh: Your subscription and food delivery can be simply changed or cancelled at any time. Meals are simple and eliminate the need to purchase additional ingredients beyond what is provided for each recipe.
We like that HelloFresh informs you in advance of the cookware you will require so that you may begin cooking as soon as your order comes. The fact that we could substitute proteins from their wide menu was even more convenient.
2. Home Fresh
The best option for flexible plans is Home Chef.
A food service called Home Chef caters to cooks of all abilities. Recipe cards with detailed directions and pictures are included with every delivery. Improved culinary abilities promote better eating habits and, consequently, improve nutrition, according to research by Hartmann et al. Because it teaches you new dishes and skills, Home Chef is a great tool for improving your health.
Every week, you can select from more than 20 dishes and change the proteins to suit your preferences. Recipes containing certain allergies, like tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, mushrooms, fish, and shellfish, can be filtered and removed using Home Chef. They are unable to ensure that there is no cross-contamination in their food, though.
We choose Home Chef because their partially prepared, pre-portioned ingredients reduce food waste and simplify and speed up dish preparation and cleanup.
Our experience: We discovered that Home Chef’s recipe cards were simple to follow and that the meals were substantial enough to comfortably serve a hungry adult. We appreciated that we could keep our recipe cards for future use in a binder that came with your initial order.
3. Factor
Factor: Best for restaurant-caliber recipes that have been authorized by dieticians
Heat-and-serve meals from Factor, a chef-crafted and dietician-approved meal service, offer a convenient option to explore healthy diets. Body Designs president and dietitian Mary Sabat says they’re “worth the extra money” and provide “many options for someone trying to stick to a specific diet.”
Factor provides clear information on their nutrition and ingredients, allowing you to weed out recipes that might not fit your wellness objectives. Depending on whatever low-calorie meals you choose to consume, their meals range in calories from 300 to 900, making weight loss simple.
Reasons for selecting Factor: Factor offers healthy extras including juices, smoothies, shakes, cookies, desserts, and breakfasts in addition to their microwave- or oven-ready meals.
Our experience: The ingredients were clean and of great quality, even though the recipes frequently called for a lot of fat. We appreciated that a free consultation with one of their licensed dietitians allowed us to pinpoint the ideal food plan for us.
4. Martha & Marley Spoon
The greatest for honing your cooking abilities is the Martha & Marley Spoon.
Fresh ingredients that have been pre-portioned are delivered by the carefully designed meal service Martha & Marley Spoon.
Each recipe has “tags” that indicate if it is dairy-free, gluten-free, or kid-friendly, and they are all taken directly from the kitchen of celebrity chef Martha Stewart. You can choose and personalize your dishes, but they also automatically fill your box with recipes based on your past preferences.
Fresh meals with six-step recipe cards are delivered in an insulated box. Should you be lacking an ingredient from your pantry, you can add goods to your order through the online “market.” For best flavor, nutritional content, and freshness, the business advises freezing animal proteins within two days of delivery and eating vegetables within four days.
The reason we choose Martha & Marley Spoon is that they provide a hands-on opportunity to sample different flavors and pick up culinary skills from a famous chef.
Our experience: Compared to many of the places we frequently visit, Martha & Marley Spoon offered meals of higher quality. The experience was well worth the few extra minutes it took to prepare compared to other food delivery services.
5. EveryPlate
EveryPlate: The Greatest for Family-Friendly, Low-Cost Meals
EveryPlate caters to people who wish to serve their families tasty, easy meals. Every week, a variety of 25 meals from their Meat & Veggie, Veggie, Family Friendly, Quick & Easy, and Nutrish & Delish menus are available for selection.
To maintain freshness, frozen meals are meticulously packaged in an insulated box upon delivery. Ingredients should be eaten within five days of delivery and refrigerated as soon as they are opened, as EveryPlate does not advise refreezing them.
Other than vegetarianism, EveryPlate doesn’t accommodate unusual diets because it prioritizes affordability. To make sure the meals satisfy your dietary requirements, check the ingredients for each recipe before placing your order.
We selected EveryPlate because their recipes don’t call for expensive or specialized equipment, making it easy for novice cooks to get in the kitchen and prepare delectable, quick meals in a matter of minutes.
Our experience: We were able to reduce food waste, decrease cleanup, and quickly put dinners on the table thanks to EveryPlate’s uncomplicated recipes. However, we did think the portions were a little small.
6. Green Chef
The best source of organic ingredients is Green Chef.
A range of nutrient-dense meals prepared with organic, farm-fresh veggies and quality proteins are available at Green Chef, which is chef-curated. Upgrade your meal with sides, desserts, and breakfast add-ons.
Pre-measured and mostly prepared ingredients, such as handmade marinades and sauces, are included with every dish, along with a recipe card that includes special advice from the chef. More preparation may be needed for some recipes, such as grating, peeling, chopping, and dicing.
Although Green Chef can not currently accommodate allergy sufferers, you can find more specific information by looking at the ingredient lists for each dish.
Why we selected Green Chef: Every dish has been tried and evaluated by expert chefs, and Green Chef provides premium, organic ingredients for wholesome, tasty meals.
Our experience: We valued Green Chef’s encouragement to explore novel spices and intriguing recipes by pushing us outside our comfort zones. Although the recipes took longer than anticipated (about 45 minutes), the ingredients were tasty and fresh.
7. Fresh and Easy
Comfort food that requires little to no preparation is best served fresh and simple.
Home Chef delivers ready-to-heat meals under the Fresh and Easy meal delivery service. Select from meals prepared in the microwave or oven using the same quality products and fresh ingredients for which Home Chef is renowned. Another option is to attempt a 15-minute meal kit, which calls for assembling pre-portioned components quickly.
Although salads, sandwiches, and “extras” are also offered, the majority of meals are substantial entrees. Special dietary requirements are not accommodated by Fresh and Easy.
Why we choose Fresh and Easy: They provide the same level of quality as Home Chef, but with less personalization, with the goal of giving customers on a budget value.
Our experience: We were thrilled with how little cleanup was required and thought Fresh and Easy was ideal for quickly preparing healthful meals. We do wish there were more vegetarian and other diet options available.
8. Freshology
The best option for diet-friendly heat-and-serve meals is Freshology.
For anyone trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle or lose weight, Freshology offers ready-to-eat meals of restaurant quality. Dietician-approved meals that are heart-healthy, lower in sodium, calorie-controlled, and nutritionally balanced are available on the menu in balanced quantities.
Since Freshology’s meals don’t contain any additional preservatives, deliveries should be promptly chilled to maintain optimal freshness. Meals can be frozen if needed, however they should be thawed before reheating. Meals have a seven-day shelf life. Fresh, unfrozen meals are sent twice a week in insulated boxes with cold packs to customers who live within a specific radius of a Freshology kitchen.
At this moment, Freshology does not provide vegan or kosher options, nor gluten-free meals for people with celiac disease. But if you wish to eliminate bread, their Keto-Carb30 menu is minimal in carbs. Each recipe includes specific ingredients and nutritional information.
Reasons for selecting Freshology: Freshology offers heat-and-eat meals that provide accessibility to excellent, healthful eating. To guarantee gratifying and delectable meals, they source organic materials whenever feasible and employ fresh, local ingredients.
Our experience: Not having to worry about what to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner was pleasant. As we would with leftovers from our favorite restaurants, we appreciated that meals were delivered completely cooked and could be eaten cold or reheated.
9. Trifecta
Trifecta: Ideal for low-calorie, prepared meals
Experts in nutrition and medicine created Trifecta, a meal delivery service focused on fitness. It is perfect for weight loss and is designed to help you burn fat and gain muscle.
Select the number of weekly entrées you desire from their Clean, Paleo, Whole30, Keto, Vegan, and/or Vegetarian programs when you sign up. While you are unable to choose which meals you will receive, you are able to exclude up to two major items from each order, including fish, cattle, duck, pig, tree nuts, and mushrooms.
They offer an app on their App Premium plan through which you can customize your dietary needs and use personalized macro-tracking features. It also includes educational resources on fitness and gives you access to community boards to keep you motivated.
Why we chose Trifecta: They offer fully prepared, organically sourced meals with flavorful, nutritious ingredients. Their online app is designed to eliminate barriers to achieving weight-loss targets.
Our experience: We felt good eating ingredients sourced from local, family-run farms. We also liked how their app helped us determine what to eat for our macro targets.
10. Blue Apron
The most well-known company in the sector, Blue Apron, has made significant strides in recent years to try to alter the way we eat at home. The brand wants its customers to become more familiar with their food and the components that go into it, as well as to learn more about how to cook successfully at home. The fact that Blue Apron provides less diversity than the majority of its rivals is one of its disadvantages. Nevertheless, you may still try out some delicious and inventively made meals even with the reduced choices.