List of the Best Meal Delivery Services

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So, you’re thinking about having meals delivered to your home? Where do you start? The number of services ballooned during the pandemic when many of us were stuck at home. Below is a list of the best meal delivery services.

Suppose you’re still on the fence about trying a meal delivery service, don’t worry. None of the following options require any ongoing commitment. So, you can try it weekly to see if you like it. If you are too busy or out of town, skip a week or two. And, if you want to switch and try another company, you can cancel at any time without penalty.

Another benefit of using this type of service is that it reduces food waste. In many cases, the portions are pre-measured for one or two people. As a result, it reduces food waste by as much as 25% compared to grocery shopping.

Meal Delivery Services

Blue Apron

Blue Apron is an ingredient and recipe-style meal kit delivery service. The company delivers weekly boxes with the necessary ingredients, pre-sized portions, and recipes to customers across the United States. Their goal is to make cooking fun and help you eat healthy.

  • Meal Options: Currently, their menu selection includes well-balanced meal types such as meat, fish, Beyond meat, vegetarian, health-conscious, and even diabetes-friendly. Overall, they offer more than 50 weekly meals.
  • Portion Sizes: Designed for portion control and to reduce waste, sizes are set to feed two to four people.
  • Packaging: All of the product’s packaging can be recycled, and the ice packs are reusable.
  • Ingredients: Blue Apron ingredients include fresh produce, sustainable seafood, and exclusive spice blends. However, all of their ingredients are not certified organic.
  • Prep-Time: Based on their current menu of plans, the average prep-time range is from 25 minutes to as much as 55 minutes.

Visit the Blue Apron site.

Daily Harvest

Daily Harvest is slightly different from the other companies on this list. The company started as primarily a smoothie company. However, they quickly expanded to offer other food options, including healthy bowls, flatbread pizza, snack bites, tasty desserts, and more. Their smoothies are filled with a diverse menu of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. I’ve been a subscriber for over a year and am very satisfied with their products. I buy one of every type of smoothie they offer to ensure I get a wide variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the month.

The only negative is their products sometimes arrive damaged. However, I’m unsure if Daily Harvest is to blame or UPS.

To sign up, go to the Daily Harvest website and enter the code RE-76HLE6G. You’ll get $35.00 off your first order.

Green Chef

Green Chef allows you to choose from over 30 culinary options curated with organic ingredients. Green Chef is the first USDA-certified organic meal kit company.

  • Meal Options: Currently, their menu selection includes meal types such as Keto and paleo, Balanced Living, and Plant-Powered with veggie and vegan dishes.
  • Portion Sizes: Choose from portions designed to feed two to four people.
  • Packaging: Everything comes in eco-friendly packaging with recyclable materials. Also, the contents are insulated to remain fresh during shipping and delivery.
  • Ingredients: All of the ingredients are organic, which means they don’t have any GMOs, pesticides, or antibiotics. In addition, they prep and measure the ingredients, so all you have to do is unpack and cook.
  • Prep-Time: On average, you can go from unpacking to eating in less than 30 minutes.

Visit the Green Chef website.

Home Chef

Home Chef is a well-established ingredient and recipe program. You can set it up for weekly delivery or purchase certain items at your local Kroger grocery store.

  • Meal Options: Options include carb-conscious, calorie-conscious, and vegetarian. They offer a weekly, rotating menu of more than 30 meals. Plus, Home Chef offers salads!
  • Portion Sizes: Designed to feed one to four people.
  • Packaging: Packaging is on par with the others.
  • Ingredients: Home Chef offers a broad range of menu categories, such as meat-based, vegetarian, and carb/calorie-conscious options. Also, they have a somewhat unique “without” selection, which allows members to order dining without certain elements. For example, you can order without nuts, milk, soy, or wheat. Surely, this is a nice option if you have any sensitivities.
  • Prep-Time: Prep time ranges from quick and easy 5-minute meals to as many as 60-minute culinary masterpieces.

Home Chef allows you to customize your box to a certain extent. For example, you can double up on protein or swap the protein for a particular meal. Visit the Home Chef website.

Hungryroot

Hungryroot is a grocery delivery service that offers more than 100 products. Based on member feedback, customers save an average of $22 per order compared to a trip to the supermarket.

  • Meal Options: They offer a selection of fresh produce, meat, seafood, plant-based proteins, grains, and pasta. Also, they offer bread and bakery items, dairy, eggs, sauces, dressing, and dips. Plus, they have a selection of beverages, snacks, and sweets.

Visit the Hungryroot website.

Marley Spoon

Marley Spoon is a meal delivery service offered by Martha Stewart. The service offers a wide variety of meal kits (almost 30) with quality seasonal ingredients curated by actual chefs. Specialty options include family-friendly, vegetarian, and even low-carb. The kits include pre-portioned ingredients ready to prepare in 30 minutes or less.

The service got off to a rocky start when winter weather disrupted the power grid in Texas. As a result, deliveries were lost, arrived late, and boxes were damaged. The social media backlash was harsh. As a new customer who experienced this first-hand, I have to say that this is not what I expected from Martha Stewart. However, Marley Spoon handled the matter well, and the service is now above normal.

  • How it Works: Choose from almost 30 different meal options to be delivered to your door every week.
  • What’s in the box: The chilled box includes all the ingredients to store and prepare your meals. Also, easy-to-follow instructions (usually six steps), including photos, walk you through the preparation of the meals. We keep our favorite recipe cards for future use!
  • Packaging: Uses sustainable packaging, so everything is recyclable or reusable. Visit the Marley Spoon website to learn more.

You can’t go wrong here if taste is the most important thing to you. We tried about half of the selections on the menu and would rate all as good to excellent.

Misfits Market

Misfits Markets offers a broad selection of organic produce and sustainable products for regular delivery. The company helps fight food waste by selling food that can’t be sold in grocery stores. Grocery stores reject fruits and veggies that are too big, small, oddly shaped or have superficial differences. Misfits Market steps in and purchases that food directly from the source. Then, they resell them to you at a considerable discount.

  • Meal Options: Variety.
  • Portion Sizes: Variety.
  • Packaging: Sustainable.
  • Ingredients: Varies based on product.
  • Prep-Time: Varies based on product.

If you sign up for their newsletter, you’ll receive a code for a $7.50 discount on your first order.

For more information, visit the Misfits Market website.

SunBasket

SunBasket is a “healthy meal delivery service for any lifestyle.” Overall, the service is just like any of the others. However, several things set SunBasket apart.

  • Meal Options: A wide variety of meal options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts. Notably, they let you swap out the protein on some meals. So, if you’d rather have pork than chicken, you can switch during the menu selection process. Of course, you can’t do this in every case, but it is nice to have the flexibility. Also, it is worth noting that SunBasket offers a variety of snacks in individual servings. This is a nice extra when you need to piece together a lunch box quickly.
  • Portion Sizes: They have portions available to serve one or two people. It is important to note that many others don’t have individual serving options.
  • Packaging: All packaging materials are sustainable and can be recycled or reused.
  • Ingredients: The majority of the ingredients are organic.
  • Prep-Time: Preparation time varies based on the type of meal, but ranges from three to 30 minutes. For example, their Fresh & Ready option comes in microwaveable wooden bowls. They come ready to pop in the microwave and eat in three minutes. In addition, they have full meal kits that are either “speedy,” “pre-prepped,” or “classic cooking,” which is a full kit.

For more information, visit the SunBasket website (use this link to get a $40 discount).

Thrive Market

Thrive Market is a little different than the others. It operates more like an organic grocery store. Their online catalog offers a selection of more than 6,000 products, curated especially for members. And, the products aren’t limited to just food. They also carry supplements, bath and body items, and home stuff. Conveniently, as a member, you can personalize the delivery schedule according to your preferences. Plus, you can easily add or remove items, skip a delivery, or pause your subscription anytime.

  • Packaging: Offers carbon-neutral shipping.

Visit the Thrive Market site to learn more.


Summary of Ratings

Menu SelectionPrep TimeTastePriceDelivery
Blue ApronGood30 – 50 ninGoodAverageGood
Green ChefGood30 minGoodAverageGood
Daily HarvestExcellent<10 minExcellentHighOK
Home ChefGood5 – 30+ minGoodAverageGood
HungryrootGoodVariesGoodAverageGood
Marley SpoonExcellentGoodExcellentHighGood
Misfits MarketGoodVariesGoodAverageGood
SunBasketExcellent3-30 minExcellentAverageGood
Thrive MarketGoodVariesGoodAverageGood

Other options I’m considering

I haven’t had a chance to try these yet. I’ll write a review if/when I do:

  • Farmbox Direct – Provides all-natural produce.
  • Freshly – Another meal-based provider with over 40 dishes to choose from. Freshly meals are sent to you fresh; all you have to do is heat them. The only negative is they are light on vegetarian and plant-based options.
  • Hello Fresh – Offers a menu of over 50 items with pre-measured ingredients. Plans include 15-minute meals and quick lunches.

Discounts, Coupons, and Promo Codes

If you’re looking for a coupon, discount, or promo code, all the services offer some form of savings, especially for first-time customers. In most cases, all you have to do is visit the site, and you’ll be prompted to receive the code. Or, all you have to do is provide an email address, and they’ll send it to you.

The most popular offer currently includes $90 off across your first four boxes. For example, one of the services provides $90 off. This gives you $36 off the first box, a $20 discount on the second, a $15 reduction on the third, and then you save $10 off the fourth. It’s not a bad way to ease into it!

Food Delivery Services

If you want to have your groceries picked up and delivered to your home, there are several reliable and affordable options.

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