Best For Kids
Winner
Best Organic
Are you walking through your door at the end of the day, ravished with hunger but are turned off by the idea of spending any time in the kitchen? Do you like the idea of having nutritious, tasty meals waiting for you to just heat & eat? If you can answer yes to either of these, it’s time to find the best prepared meal delivery service for your needs. These companies take convenience one step further than meal kit delivery services can, and the food is delicious too!
Here is a rundown of some of the most popular prepared meal delivery services and what separates them from each other.
Factor Meals
BEST PREPARED MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE​
When you order meals from Factor Meals, you get chef-prepared meals that are delivered to your door fresh, ready to heat & eat. Central to its main platform is a commitment to nutrition and quality ingredients. This includes grass-fed, pasture-raised, hormone-free protein, along with no GMO, gluten, refined sugars, or soy.
As a bonus, you have the option of signing up for a 20-minute nutritional coaching session with a registered dietician, completely on Factor’s dime. This is a great perk but the real question is how does Factor 75 stack up against other premade meal delivery services in terms of taste and customer service?
Overall, customers are happy with Factor. Their unique, tasty flavor profiles win them major points, and customer service seems to be responsive when looking over reviews. All of these things combined make Factor the clear winner of the best prepared meal delivery service.
Key Benefits
- Priced more economically than many other ready to eat meal deliveries, with meals ranging between $11-$15 per serving
- Meals are delivered fresh, not frozen
- Shipping is free with Factor Meals
- Some (not all) food allergies can be accommodated for
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks available
Trifecta Nutrition
BEST ORGANIC PREPARED MEALS
Trifecta Nutrition is the winner of the healthiest prepared meal delivery service. They put all organic, grass-fed, wild-caught, and sustainable ingredients in their prepared meals.
Trifecta offers several different diet plans, including paleo, keto, vegan, and clean eating meal plans. One unique thing about Trifecta is that you don’t choose your own meals. Instead, meals are curated for you based on the meal plan you choose. This can be a problem for picky eaters, while others enjoy the variety and ease of not selecting their own meals.
Trifecta Nutrition’s macro-balanced meals are created by an in-house personal chef using science-backed nutrition. You can choose between several popular dietary plans, including Keto, Paleo, Clean, Classic, Vegan, and Vegetarian. You can also forgo a plan and order meal components a la carte. All Trifecta meal plans are gluten-free too.
Trifecta customers can join an engaging online community to receive diet support, share weight loss progress, and get expert nutrition advice.
Key Benefits
- Meals designed to appeal to a range of special diets
- A la carte bundles allow you the freedom to create your meals
- Meals are delivered fresh, not frozen
- Hands-off meal planning with meals automatically chosen to fit your chosen meal plan
- Most reviews are positive, but it’s worth taking a look at some of the complaints about ingredients and customer service
Nurture Life​
BEST PREPARED MEALS FOR KIDS​
We all know kids can be picky eaters, especially the littlest ones. Many ready-to-eat meal delivery services offer meals that aren’t exactly kid-friendly, which can create a challenge when trying to streamline dinnertime for the entire family. There are a few different kid-friendly meal services out there, but Nurture Life seems to be the best.
Nurture Life offers reasonably priced meals designed to meet the nutritional needs and taste preferences of young eaters. Some of their ingredients are organic, and they do offer at least a handful of meals to accommodate special dietary needs (dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, etc.).
Key Benefits
- About 20 meals to choose from each week
- Flavor profiles and portion sizes designed for younger eaters
- Nurture Life shipping area is expanding, so check first to make sure it’s available in your area
- Meals are delivered fresh, not frozen
- Portion sizes might not be substantial enough for older kids
Modify Health
HEALTHIEST PREPARED MEALS
Finding a prepared meal delivery service that can accommodate dietary restrictions is harder than you think. While many prepared meal delivery services offer plans that are low calorie or plant based, finding prepared meals that can accommodate things like Diabetes, Celiac Disease, and heart health issues can feel impossible.
Modify Health is at the top of list of the best meal delivery services for people with specific dietary needs and those who want to focus on healthy eating. Modify Health delivers nutritious meals that can appeal to different dietary preferences and needs.
Their current meal plans include Low-FODMAP, Mediterranean, gluten free, diabetes friendly, heart friendly, and carb conscious. Choose from more than 60 meals per week and enjoy free shipping on every order. Meals arrive fresh and are ready to eat in 2 minutes or less, making healthy eating more convenient than ever before.
Modify Healthy also has a focus on customer education. They don’t just want to serve you healthier meals, they want you to understand how the things you eat impact your health. There’s a dietitian hotline for on-demand support with phone and video consultation options.
Key Benefits
- Free shipping on every order
- Meal plans for a wide range of dietary preferences and restrictions
- Healthy, delicious meals ready in 2 minutes or less
- High-quality ingredients that are mostly organic
- More direct dietitian support than most meal delivery services offer
Splendid Spoon
BEST VEGAN PREPARED MEALS
A lot of prepared meal delivery services offer a number of vegan or vegetarian meals every week, but Splendid Spoon is the best prepared meal delivery option if vegan meals are your top priority. Other meal delivery services can feel limiting if you don’t eat animal products, but at Splendid Spoon, the entire menu is plant-based! The menu is also artificial sugar, gluten, and dairy free.
This is a subscription based delivery service, but you can change or cancel your subscription anytime. You can select 7, 14, or 21 items to get delivered every week. The menu has everything from quick breakfast smoothies and health shots to hearty bowls and noodle dishes.
There are 50 items on the menu each week, but that doesn’t mean 50 new items per week, unfortunately. Much of the menu stays the same from one week to the next, so it can feel a bit repetitive after multiple deliveries.
Splendid Spoon has plans to accommodate lots of different dietary restrictions. You can easily filter for meals that are high protein or fiber. There are also filters for meals low in fat, carbs, calories, sodium, and sugar. Multiple restrictions can be selected at once to narrow your menu even more.
Key Benefits
- All meals are 100% plant-based and free of artificial sugar, gluten, and dairy
- Choose a plan with 7, 14, or 21 items per week
- Ready to eat meals from Splendid Spoon are healthier than most traditional meal kits, plus they save time and prevent food waste
- 50+ premade smoothies, bowls, dishes, and snacks every week
- Filter for items that are high protein or fiber and low fat, carb, calorie, sodium, or sugar
Paleo On The Go
BEST PALEO PREPARED MEALS
Paleo On the Go is a Paleo and AIP friendly premade meal delivery option. For people who follow the Paleo lifestyle, the best option has become to skip sorting through menus and go with a meal delivery company that specializes in Paleo-accepted meals.
Even if you’re not exclusively Paleo, you might enjoy what Paleo On the Go offers – which is mostly organic produce, grass-fed or sustainably sourced proteins, and gluten-free meals. One of their strong points is in the variety they offer, including samplers and a sweet-tooth bundle.
Key Benefits
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and bakery options
- Offers meals that are fully Autoimmune Protocol compliant
- Delivered frozen to preserve freshness
- Generally good reviews, although some customers complain of lackluster flavor profiles
- Individual meal prices are at the higher end of what you’ll pay with ready to eat meal delivery
Fresh N Lean
BEST VARIETY OF DIET PLANS
Looking for pre-made meal delivery that works with your healthy lifestyle? Fresh N Lean deserves serious consideration. Fresh N Lean offers meal plans specially created for Paleo, Keto, Vegans, Low Carb Vegans, and Protein+ for those looking to bulk up on protein consumption
Fresh N Lean uses local, seasonal ingredients whenever possible. You’re able to customize meals up to a certain point. Fresh N Lean’s website states that if you notify them of food allergies or preferences, they’ll do their best to accommodate them.
Key Benefits
- Choose between plan and a la carte options
- Breakfast, lunch, and dinners available
- Economically priced with free shipping
- offers bulk buying options of main proteins, veggies, grains, and more
- Reviews are mixed, with some customers citing product inconsistencies as a concern
Cookunity
Cookunity meal delivery service has a chef-collective that creates weekly menus for each region of the USA. Unlike other prepared meal delivery services that ship the same menu items to all areas, Cookunity will show you a menu based on your location. This allows chefs near you to use the freshest, local ingredients to prepare your meals.
All items arrive fresh, ready to heat and plate in minutes. You’ll find lots of globally inspired flavors and fusion dishes, so Cookunity is a great choice if you want to use a prepared meal delivery service to try new things!
This is a subscription-based service, but there’s no commitment. You can skip a delivery or cancel your subscription anytime. Each week, you can browse the menu and choose 4 to 16 meals to have delivered.
The weekly menu includes plenty of vegan and vegetarian meals, plus options that are gluten-free, low carb, less than 600 calories, low sodium, and dairy free. You can also filter the menu to find meals that fit into the keto or paleo diet.
Key Benefits
- Fresh menu every week from the chef collective in your area
- Vegan and vegetarian meals
- An incredible variety of flavors you won’t find with other prepared meal delivery services
- Flexible subscription
- Choose between 4 and 16 meals per week
- Great menu to mix and match! Heat multiple items to share for unique family meals
Top Chef Meals
Finding a prepared meal delivery service that appeals to all ages can be a big challenge, but Top Chef Meals has mastered it. This is one of the few prepared meal delivery services with no subscription required to order, so there’s no risk in giving it a try.
Meals are delivered for free to much of the USA, while some states are charged a flat rate fee of $19.95 for overnight priority shipping. All meals are chef-prepared, flash-frozen, and shipped immediately so items arrive at peak freshness. If it’s your first time ordering from Top Chef Meals, their getting-started packages make it easy to try some of the fan-favorite menu items before you build a larger order.
They have some classic meal plans, like keto and paleo, that make this prepared meal delivery service appeal to busy people who want tasty meals that are good for them. They also have plans to accommodate special diets, like renal, diabetic, low carb, low sodium, gluten-free, and low fat. Their senior meal plan is one of the most popular plans because it offers well-rounded nutrition to support the health needs of seniors.
Key Benefits
- No subscription or commitments
- Meal plans to accomodate special dietary restrictions
- Keto, Paleo, and getting started packages
- Free delivery to some areas
- Chef-prepared meals with high-quality ingredients
- All meals are flash-frozen to preserve flavor, texture, and nutritional value of meals
BistroMD
Bistro MD is another prepared meal delivery service that puts health at the forefront of everything they do, similar to Modify Health. Bistro MD has meal plans with specific health needs in mind, and all plans promote healthy weight loss over time with the science of metabolism correction. There is a meal program for men, women, menopause, vegan, heart health, keto flex, and diabetes.
All meals arrive frozen, not fresh, which is something different most other prepared meal delivery services we recommend. The only downside to prepared meal delivery with frozen meals is the risk of meals being watery when they’re reheated, but the flash freezing process used by Bistro MD ensures that’s not an issue with their meals.
Healthy meals are delivered weekly, but you get to choose how many meals you need. The 5-day plan includes 5 lunches and 5 dinners, while the 7-day plan has 7 meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week. There’s also a snack menu to keep you satisfied between meals. This is a prepared meal delivery service that’s ideal for a person who has no time to cook or shop because every single meal for the week can be delivered to your door!
Key Benefits
- Frozen meals have a longer shelf life
- More healthy meal plans are offered than other meal delivery services
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks to choose from
- Heart healthy, diabetic friendly, and gluten free meals
- Chef-prepared meals with tons of positive customer reviews
- Customizable menu with more than 150 items
Buying Guide
Prepared Vs Meal Prep Kits
This is an area where most people who use meal delivery services have strong opinions. Popular companies like Blue Apron have promoted the idea that with a meal delivery service, you get a box of individual ingredients ready to prep and cook. Many companies do offer this style of meal kits, but prepared meal delivery services offer an even simpler alternative to mealtime.
People prefer prepared meal kits or meal prep options for many reasons. For some, it’s the fact that they can have a nutritionally balanced meal on the table in a matter of minutes at the end of a long day. For others, prepared meals mean less time in the kitchen (a true blessing for people who don’t like to cook).
If you’re someone who likes to tool around in the kitchen, you want to skip these companies and go for one that offers meal prep instead. If you like the idea of heat & eat options, there are some great choices, like Factor 75, on this list.
Keep in mind you don’t have to choose just one option or the other. You can get prepared meals for busy weeknights and branch out with meal kits when you have more time to spare. The best meal delivery is one that works for you!
Fresh Vs Frozen
There are pluses/minuses to both fresh and frozen prepared meal options. For many, fresh just simply tastes better and there’s some reassurance to knowing your meal hasn’t sat around in a freezer for who knows how long. Trifecta is an example of a company that gets good reviews for the freshness of their meals.
On the other hand, frozen isn’t always such a bad thing. Frozen meals last longer, and companies like BistroMD and Paleo On the Go ship frozen to preserve flavor and reduce the cost of waste.
If you opt for fresh meals, make sure the number of meals per week in your delivery doesn’t exceed what you’ll be able to eat before the food goes bad. If you order frozen meals, allowing meals to thaw slowly in the fridge is recommended by most companies. Reheating straight from the freezer can decrease the quality of the meal, so try to plan ahead and let the items you want in the next day or two start thawing int he fridge when you unpack the delivery!
Subscription
You’ve probably noticed, most meal delivery services work as a subscription. When you sign up for deliveries, you’ll select a certain number of meals per week or month you want to receive. For some, a subscription makes it convenient to get recurring deliveries, but others like to avoid signing up for a subscription they might forget to pause or cancel.
Before signing up for a subscription, make sure you understand what you’re agreeing to. Can you skip weeks as needed? Can you change the number of meals per week in the box if your needs change? Is it a hassle to cancel? These things can make or break the customer experience for a subscription based service.
If you aren’t interested in subscribing, limit your search to companies that allow you to shop a la carte without committing to future deliveries.
Meal Variety
One of the only downsides of premade meals is a lack of variety. It’s all too easy for premade meals to taste bland or lose the texture you’re used to with a freshly cooked meal. Finding a company with meals that arrive at peak freshness and recipes that will keep you excited about what you’re eating is essential.
Variety is more important to some people than others, though. If you consider yourself a picky eater, you probably like to stick to familiar flavors. In this case, a company with a menu that doesn’t change too much, like Splendid Spoon, could be a good fit. If you’re a more adventurous eater, look for a company that highlights a wider selection of ingredients, spices, herbs, and sauces in their meals.
Another aspect of meal variety is the ability to choose your own meals. For example, Trifecta chooses the meals you receive in every box based on your selected meal plan. That means every box is a new surprise, which certainly isn’t for everyone.
Ingredient Quality
Finally, considering that someone else is making these meals, the quality of ingredients used is key. This is also where you’ll want to consider your preferences, like how important organic produce or sustainably sourced proteins are for you. There are plenty of companies out there (like Cookunity) who are committed to the quality and integrity of ingredients used.
Most companies provide information on their ingredients in the FAQ section of their website. If a company is hesitant to talk about how their ingredients are sourced and what their quality standards look like, take that as a big red flag!
Ultimately, higher-quality ingredients create better-tasting meals. Services that ship chef-prepared meals are more likely to have high standards for their ingredients because chefs understand how important it is to start a dish with good ingredients.
Bottom Line
There’s a lot to consider when determining which is the best prepared meal delivery service for your needs. Companies like Factor and Nurture Life win top accolades here for their quality ingredients, taste and value.  Each of these premade meal delivery services deliver healthy meals in single servings ready to heat and eat.Â