Coming up with something to cook every night of the week can be a daunting task. Add a spouse or kids into the mix and suddenly you’re trying to satisfy a handful of palates, preferences and dietary restrictions. If you’re overwhelmed, we can’t blame you. But there is a solution. Meal delivery services dispatch fresh ingredients and new recipes to your door each week, and they can even help you meet your dietary goals with weight loss options, vegan or vegetarian picks and the like. Rather than try each and every kit to find one you love, we’ve done some legwork for you by researching the best healthy meal kits on the market today. And if “healthy” isn’t your key focus, you can also check out our list of the best overall meal kits on the market.
A meal kit delivery service can be surprisingly affordable, some offer dishes for as little as $5 per serving, and they make cooking a variety of entrees a no-brainer. Review weekly menus, select your number of meals per week and a mail-order healthy meal kit box will arrive on your doorstep within a few days. And just like that, you’ll be ready to eat home-cooked meals that you’ll feel good about. These chef-crafted meals even eliminate the need for grocery shopping and the urge to order takeout. Don’t have time to prep a fresh meal at all? There are prepared meal delivery services too!
With so many different meal kits on the market, it can be tough to decide where to start. That’s where I come in. I’ve been writing about food and cooking for many years now, have a degree from the French Culinary Institute and have worked for various food publications. I’m also a mom, with an active teen and tween I cook for daily. If you’ve got a big family to feed, you might be interested in our reviews of the best family meal kits. Read on for my picks for best healthy meal kits, and scroll down to see how I tested and ultimately chose the winners.
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Update, Jan. 23, 2025:We checked all product prices and availability. Our number one pick for best healthy meal delivery service remains unchanged.
For this review, I personally tested the seven most popular meal kits at dinner with my family — the ones you’ve probably already heard of — and evaluated them based on the following criteria:
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Menu choices/nutritional value, because you want a good variety of recipes and quality ingredients that fit your dietary needs (such as plant-based, keto or gluten-free concerns) and can help you stick to your healthy eating goals.
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Subscription price, because everyone has different budgets.
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Ease of use, because you’re getting a meal kit to make your life easier, so you don’t want anything too complicated or time-consuming.
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Taste, because, above all, you want to eat delicious meals!
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Packaging: Is there too much? Too little? Is it putting too much waste into the world? We factored this into our reviews.
How we tested healthy meal delivery services
We tested all the best healthy meal delivery services hands-on. In selecting the top picks, I considered feedback from other on-staff meal kit testers in order to get a variety of opinions — from a family with both an infant and a tween, to a family of three vegetarians, to a family of five. I also received input from Facebook Groups devoted to meal kits, along with expert advice from Jaclyn London, a New York City-based registered dietitian.
Every healthy meal kit we reviewed has different strengths and weaknesses. Some are very easy, others offer more variety, some are great for families, and others are geared toward vegetarians.
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Healthy meal delivery services FAQs
What are healthy meal kits?
Meal kits are meals that are delivered to your home in a box. Unlike fully prepared meals or grocery delivery, they contain premeasured, high-quality ingredients and an accompanying recipe, enabling you to create a fresh-cooked meal at home without having to run to the grocery store or measure your own ingredients. You can usually order a meal kit to come between one and seven days per week, and you’ll find services that offer meals for two, four and, with a few services, even more people.
What can I expect from a health-conscious meal delivery service?
A weight lifted off your shoulders! With each delivery of preportioned ingredients and recipes that may feed two, four or more people, you won’t have to worry about what’s for dinner. There are healthy food options to suit every budget, cuisine and dietary need. These companies generally allow you to filter meals by your dietary preferences (omnivore, vegan, gluten-free, pescatarian, carb-conscious, etc.), ease of use and time constraints. You can usually choose your delivery day and even add extras like portions of protein, breakfast foods and quick lunches.
Do meal delivery services require a subscription?
Most meal kit companies offer major discounts to first-time customers, making it very affordable to try a bunch before you commit (or don’t) to any one meal plan. All you have to do is take advantage of any one of these offers and then mark your calendar with an alert for the date by which you must cancel the subscription service.
We received complimentary samples of some meal delivery services and purchased others ourselves, but reviewed all with the same criteria.
