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Meal kit vs. prepared meal delivery
Meal kits or prepared meals? It’s the first decision you’ll have to make. Some services offer both, however.
The first big decision you’ll make is whether you want meal kits, which require some prep and cooking, or a prepared meal service that sends fully cooked meals that are ready to heat and eat. Meal kits will demand more of your time and energy but they’ll also cost a little less per serving. Some meal kits can actually save you money over groceries. Prepared meals require almost no time and energy, other than what it takes to actually eat the food, but typically run a few bucks more per serving.
Cost
Our testing editors rated Green Chef meals well but the healthy meal kit service is pricier than most.
After you’ve chosen between meal kits or meal delivery, you’ll want to find a service within your budget. There are meal kits with recipes for as cheap as $5 a serving with basic menus and no-frills recipes. More expensive services include recipes with more exotic ingredients, high-end cuts of meat and organic produce, but can cost as much as $15 a serving. Here I’ve outlined all the best cheap meal delivery services.
Healthiness
We made sure every ingredient was accounted for before starting a recipe.
Most meal delivery services have healthy options, and some are much healthier than others. If you’re keen on eating low-calorie, low-carb, plant-based or pescatarian food, certain meal kits and meal delivery services will be better than others. Our list of the healthiest meal delivery services is a good place to find all the most nutritious options.
Daily Harvest is one of the healthiest meal delivery services we tried.
Number of meals per week
Some meal delivery services offer big value if you order more meals.
Lastly, you’ll have to decide exactly how much food you’ll want sent to you per week. If you can’t imagine yourself cooking more than twice per week, don’t order more than two meal kits because they typically won’t last more than a week in the fridge. Most meal kit services offer plans as small as two meals per week and as many as six.
Most prepared meals either arrive frozen or can be frozen after unboxing. That means it’s less of an issue if you order too many meals on your first go around. However, some fresh food delivery services, including Gardencup, Thistle and Sakara Life, are not meant to be frozen.
Most services allow you to change the number of meals or servings in your plan even after you’ve started. With nearly every service, the more meals you order per delivery, the cheaper it is per meal.
