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Best Meal Delivery Service
April 13, 2019
This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Over the past few months, I’ve been ordering and cooking all the Meal Delivery Services available to me in the old New York City. From Plated to Hello Fresh to Freshly, I’ve tested them all and am sharing my results for the Best Meal Delivery Service.
I really like the idea of meal delivery services, but I don’t always love the recipes or the cost. Right around the time I gave birth to Blake, I did order several meal delivery kits to make cooking dinner easier on my husband since I was basically too exhausted to care about cooking. This is what basically inspired my hunt for the best meal delivery services out there.
Best Meal Delivery Service Criteria
This time around, I tried to either get a new member discount or find a discount code online to make this as inexpensive as possible since I’m paying for these out of pocket. Besides price, I tried to pick the meals that my kids would most likely eat (pasta, tacos, pizza, flatbreads, etc..) and rated them based on the quality of food sent, tasty level and overall ease. Most were so-so and there were only two that I loved that would totally order again. I had a few preconceived notions about each of these services and was pleasantly surprised that I ended up liking ones that I expected not to like.
Please keep in mind that these are my opinions and experiences. These companies are not affiliated with me or this blog post in any way. If you happen to love a meal kit that I don’t like or had a bad experience with, feel free to share in the comments below.
Daily Harvest
Price: $45.78 for 9 cups (smoothies and soups)
What they offer: “Organic, ready-to-blend smoothies, savory Harvest Bowls, oat bowls, and more.”
What I thought: They taste fine, but your local smoothie bar might be a better choice. The soups were so so. For how much they cost, I thought it wasn’t worth the price. Especially living in New York City where everything is already overpriced, so that’s saying a lot.
Would I order again? No.
More information on the Daily Harvest website here.
Sun Basket
Price: $35.97 for 3 meals for 2 people
What they offer: “Quick & easy meals delivered to your door. Organic & Non-GMO Produce. Hormone-Free Meats. Wild-Caught Fish. Sustainably Sourced Meats.” Basically ultra-healthy everything put into your meals.
What I thought: I found a kink in the website because I ordered two weeks in a row, expecting a box and nothing came. It was the strangest thing. But, once the boxes did show up, I thought the recipes were decent.
Would I order again? Meh. On the fence with this one.
More information on the Sun Basket website here.
Purple Carrot
Price: $52.00 for 3 meals for 2.
What they offer: “Plant-based recipes and pre-portioned ingredients delivered to your door each week.”
What I thought: The recipes were creative and the photos in the booklet looked really yummy. But, they were a little more involved and time-consuming than I’d like them to be. For someone who doesn’t like tofu, this wasn’t the service for me, though the black bean soup was really tasty. Also, I canceled my membership and I still had a second box show up at my door. So, that was annoying.
Would I order again? No.
More information on the Purple Carrot website here.
Hello Fresh
Price: $33.94 for 2 meals for 2 people
What they offer: “Delicious, pre-measured ingredients and simple, chef-made recipes that we deliver to your doorstep every week. Extra flexible for your busy lifestyle.”
What I thought: HelloFresh is, according to google, the largest meal-kit company and I think because of this, the quality is seriously lacking. My box was missing some ingredients. Some of the produce was mushy. Even though there were some ingredients missing, the recipes were pretty good. I also never got confirmation emails of when the box was arriving and couldn’t figure it out on the website. So, that was kind of sucky.
Would I order again? No.
More information on the HelloFresh website here.
Green Chef
Price: $44.93
What they offer: “Healthy and flavorful meal kits delivered to your door. Certified organic ingredients in every meal that fit your diet and lifestyles.”
What I thought: Really liked these simple meals and loved the containers everything was packaged in. The recipes I ordered were surprisingly simple to make and very flavorful considering how few ingredients were required. The website was easy to use (and easy to cancel…haha!)
Would I order again: Yes!
More information on the Green Chef website here.
Martha & Marley Spoon
Price: $33.00 for 2 meals for 2 people
What They Offer: “Martha & Marley Spoon brings Martha Stewart’s celebrated recipes and smart cooking techniques to your kitchen. Designed with easy weeknight cooking in mind, our vast selection of recipes reflect Martha’s love for seasonal ingredients and delicious flavors.”
What I thought: These recipes were slightly on the fancier side, but still easy and delicious. I ordered a breaded chicken cutlet and a steak with scalloped potatoes. All very tasty and ‘our’ kind of food. Everyone cleared their plates.
Would I order again? Definitely.
More information on the Martha & Marley Spoon website here.
Plated
Price: $55.75 for 2 meals for 2 people.
What they offer: “Chef-
What I thought: Good, reliable recipes. Not too hard, but also not stupid easy either. I used to order these (before owned by Albertsons) and really liked the meals I got. Still do like the meals. I think because they are now owned by an actual grocery store, their produce and meats are more reliable/better quality than most.
Would I order again: Yes!
More information on the Plated website here.
Freshly
Price: $49.99 for 4 single-serving meals
What they offer: “The #1 Rated Fresh Meal Delivery Company. Skip The Grocery Store, Meal Prep, & Cooking. All of your meals are prepared and cooked by our chefs and delivered fresh.”
What I thought: I really wanted to love this service. I mean, there’s no cooking required! It was like a fresher, healthier tv dinner. Except that they didn’t taste great and were kind of expensive for what you get. Read: small portions. Everything I ate could use salt. Memorable, but not in a good way.
Would I order again? No no no. Not worth it for me. I wanted to love this more than I did.
More information on the Freshly website here.
Blue Apron
Price: $27.95 for 2 meals for 2 people
What they offer: “Blue Apron makes cooking fun and easy. We’ll provide you with all the ingredients that you need to make a delicious meal in exactly the right proportions.”
What I thought: I get all sorts of Facebook targeted ads from Blue Apron, so I was excited to try this meal kit service. While the recipes were easy and fine, the quality of the meat was terrible and the flavor was a little lacking. I really wanted to like this one, but it was plain and not memorable in the least. Unless you call spitting out chicken you can’t chew a memorable experience.
Would I order again? No.
More information on the Blue Apron website here.
Home Chef
Price: $49.80 for 2 meals for 2 people
What they offer: “Our weekly deliveries of fresh, perfectly-portioned ingredients have everything you need to prepare home-cooked meals in about 30 minutes.”
What I thought: Really really good recipes. I loved the packaging because it was organized by recipe. Produce and meat were all fresh and all three recipes were winners. Everyone liked them all.
Would I order again? Yes! Absolutely. This was one of my favorite meal kits out of all of the ones I ordered.
More information on the Home Chef website here.
Dinnerly
Price: 3 dinners for 2 people for $28.93
What they offer: “Dinnerly is the most affordable meal delivery service on the market. Open the door to unfussy, affordable weeknight cooking.”
What I thought: So, upon opening this box, there were no recipe cards!! So confusing. I’m not sure if they just forgot them or if that’s the norm because they are all about saving the environment, but man, did that throw me for a loop. Literally every other box came with recipe cards, hence my confusion. Once I downloaded my recipe cards from the website, all the ingredients made a little more sense. Dinners were simple and my kids liked them just fine. Things like mac and cheese and tostadas. Nothing super memorable or super flavorful. We were able to stretch the pasta dinners beyond the recommended 2 servings, so that was good.
Would I order again? Meh. Probably not.
More information on the Dinnerly website here.
Every Plate
Price: 3 dinners for 2 people for $19.94
What they offer: “America’s best value meal kit delivering filling, familiar, pre-measured ingredients with simple recipes, at only $4.99/meal. Flexible menus, plans, and deliveries.”
What I thought: Didn’t totally love the packaging as everything was loose in my fridge and got annoying after a day or two, but the meals were flavorful and delicious. My kids didn’t love the risotto or the chicken sausage parm burgers, but Gordon and I thought they were great.
Would I order again? Most likely, yes. It wasn’t my very favorite but definitely wasn’t bad.
More information on the Every Plate website here.
And the Best Meal Delivery Service is…
So, to sum up, my two favorite meal kits were Martha & Marley Spoon and Home Chef, with Plated in a close second. All three of these services were high quality, delicious meals that everyone in my family enjoyed and I would definitely order again. The rest aren’t worth my time.
Thank you so much for doing this. If I’m going to spend money on premade meals I want it to be worth it. I’m glad to have a refernce with honest reviews with all the info to make an informed decision. I’ve shared this post with several friends and family members. 🙂
Thanks so much for doing this. We get so many coupons to try these services and have been a little apprehensive about trying tjem. You’ve made simple and easy.
I have used Blue Apron in the past but the downside is that the prep is a bit complicated and my husband hates that with all that prep, there are no leftovers. I’m considering signing on for Gobble. They prep/marinate the meals and everything is supposed to be ready in 15 minutes. They have also just started a “lunch” option. The intro is 6 meals for $36.
I use home chef and it is by far the BEST delivery service I have used. I recently tried hello fresh again, to give it a second shot because my coworker swears by it. I was annoyed by their not so user friendly app and one of the menu cards was missing, they wouldn’t send me a paper copy! And overall it’s more expensive then home chef. I enjoyed blue apron but my significant other did not. I’ve been using home chef for over 2 years. I typically do every other week unless the meals are too good to pass up. Everything always comes fresh, I have never had problems with produce not being fresh. Don’t get me wrong I love grocery shopping and making dinners/lunches from scratch but this service seriously makes my busy work life so much easier. Glad you liked it!
I think if we were to spend that amount I’d rather eat out and not have to prep or anything. I’m lazy like that! Thanks for the interesting reviews. That’s good information to know.
We tried several of the services and Home Chef won every time. I really like the options near holidays of ordering large ‘side dishes’ instead of meals! Their quality is consistently good, unlike some of the others. I also appreciate the full nutrition information provided for each meal since we most often pick the lower carb options.
We ordered a few of these boxes right after our twins were born. We tried Home Chef, Hello Fresh, & Blue Apron. We really liked Home Chef! We still make those recipes (just buying the ingredients from the store) over a year later! We didn’t really care for the other two. I’m glad that you agree! I still browse the recipes on Home Chef (you can download any recipe card for free!) for other new recipes to try!
Appreciate family’s input on reviews Sometimes they can be brutal. . Cooking for my family of 7 creates a challenge. I’ve tried Plated also and found service to be spectacular. Food and recipes both fresh and innovative. This was years ago when they first started but I was always very happy with all they sent. Ingredients were sometimes fresher than I could get in the store and the family loved the change in routine menu for sure. Definitely fed more than stated portion but my children were smaller. Feeding just 2 prople now so haven’t used the service in awhile but so very happy to see that you liked Plated also. Thanks Lauren, this was great to see and read
I love having this review! We’ve never tried a meal delivery service but if we ever do this will come in handy. I hadn’t ever heard of most of these. I’m tempted to give one a try now.
What a fun project! We use Hello Fresh for busy weeks and have always enjoyed it, but now I’ll look forward to trying some new companies. Thanks for the info!
I appreciate you and your family testing out all of these meal delivery services. I’ve seen pictures of the meals that other people try out & they don’t look very appealing to me. I’m glad to know which services you preferred and your honesty! I may try out Home Chef or Martha & Marley Spoon (I’ve never heard of this one before.) I’ve followed you for a few years now and I trust your judgement. Also Congratulations on your little one on the way!
Thanks for all the info. I’ve never ordered a meal kit before because I love to cook and also because there are also so many options and I’ve not wanted to waste my money trying to find the best service. So this is so perfect. I’d thought about the Marley one so I think I’ll give them a try the next time my hubby travels. 😉
Good info. Thanks for sharing
I like buying my own produce. I know a lot of options are available but I still like buying my own.
Really good info to know. Thank you so much for all of your testing. I’ve often wondered about some of these places. Of course, where we live nothing is usually available; not even from WalMart and the grocery delivery you can use there. But, I keep hoping. LOL
One question I do have however, on the very bottom, you’ve given one last name, but nothing about them at all.