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There are plenty of reasons why you might be watching calories. Maybe it’s for weight loss, maybe it’s for a different healthy goal, but either way, it can be a struggle. The constant measuring, calculating, and feelings of deprivation take a toll. Fortunately, we know of a few of the best meal delivery services that also offer low-calorie meals to make it easier to enjoy healthy meals while maintaining the proper calorie deficit for weight loss.
We looked at many companies, judging them on calorie content, variety, taste, quality, price, and more. Modify Health comes out on top for providing great nutrition and taste without going overboard on calories. Some other meal delivery services made our list too. Here’s how they all stacked up.
ModifyHealth
BEST WINNING CATEGORY
ModifyHealth‘s mission is to provide “Better Health. Delivered.” and help restore health and wellness through food as medicine. As the #1 doctor and dietitian referred meal delivery service in the US, they are a leader in helping people on their path to health and weight loss. If you’re looking to achieve your weight loss goals, ModifyHealth is a great option as they provide both nutritionally tailored meals for weight loss along with optional dietitian coaching and support.
Their Mediterranean meal service and the program are designed by expert nutritionists, dietitians, and chefs. ModifyHealth offers healthy, Mediterranean-inspired meals (all under 550 calories) that are ideal for a sustainable weight loss plan.
All their meals are vacuum-sealed, allowing food to stay fresh for 7-10 days, a huge improvement over the standard 4-5 days. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months for added convenience.
Their dietitians give you the added reassurance and support you need, setting ModifyHealth above the competitors. Healthy, fresh, quality foods delivered to your door!
Key Benefits of ModifyHealth:
- Nutritionally-tailored Mediterranean diet meals (550 calories or less)
- Meals designed by nutritionists, dietitians, and chefs
- Supports healthy weight loss with dietitian guidance
- All entrees are gluten-free and low sodium
- Organic ingredients with non-GMO produce
- Quick and convenient – simply heat and eat in under two minutes
- Choose your meals on their website week to week
- Great variety with 33+ Mediterranean entrees available
- Both animal protein and vegetarian options available
- Full nutritional information and ingredients, so never worry about food allergies again
- Reasonable prices: $11.75 – $12.50 for entrees
- Free shipping nationwide means no hidden charges
- Optional trained dietitian support to help find the right meals for you and to help you stay on track
Trifecta Nutrition
RUNNER UP
If you like a hands-off, hassle-free approach to low-calorie meal delivery, Trifecta Nutrition has you covered. Trifecta caters to those looking to eat healthily and fuel their body with the nutrients it needs to meet their health-centered goals. They offer meal plans for special diets, like clean eating, paleo, keto, vegan, and vegetarian lifestyles.
We like Trifecta because no matter which plans you choose, all meals average around 500 calories or less. This takes so much of the guesswork out of eating balanced meals, and you get to skip the grocery store as an added bonus.
Trifecta offers several great plans for prepared meals, which is convenient as your nutritional needs change as you come closer to your health goals. Their low-carb (keto) plan is popular, focusing on healthy fats and lean proteins, as well as pre-portioned meals for paleo diets, clean eating, Whole30, and vegetarian specialty diets.
When you order with Trifecta, they choose the meals from a rotating selection of chef’s choices. If you’d rather have a bit more control, there are also options for customized meal prep where you order a la carte items to build your own low-calorie meals, or you can order individual meals from their classic menu. Either way, they make enjoying a healthy, low-calorie meal super easy.
More Benefits of Trifecta:
- A team of nutrition experts develops all meals
- Meals arrive in a temperature-controlled box every week
- Nutritional tools to help you decide which low-calorie meal plan is best for you
- Simplifies healthy eating with no meal planning and balanced macro-nutrients
- Organic produce, non-GMO, humanely raised, and gluten-free ingredients in each meal
- Plans start at $108 per week
Splendid Spoon
BEST PLANT-BASED LOW-CALORIE MEALS
Splendid Spoon is a plant-based meal delivery service with an incredible menu and lots of variety. There’s a common misconception that plant-based eating is synonymous with low-calorie, but anyone that has paid close attention to calorie count and macros on their plant-based diet knows that this isn’t always the case. Splendid Spoon makes it easy to hit those health goals and enjoy a deliciously filling meal.
Splendid Spoon has a large menu of nutritious foods, but we like that they offer a special filter for low-calorie selections, so you don’t have to scroll through every single meal to see if it meets your caloric intake guidelines. Meals like a Moroccan Spiced Buckwheat Bowl or the Creamy Butternut Squash Noodles are full of yum and low in calories.
Splendid Spoon also offers juices, soups, and immune-boosting shots to compliment your calorie lifestyle in addition to their plant-based meals.
More Benefits of Splendid Spoon
- Specific plans for dietary and healthy body composition reset
- Expand outward from their low-calorie selections and choose from more than 50 meal and snack options
- Plant-based, gluten-free, dairy-free, and non-GMO
- Mostly organic ingredients, including organic fruits in their smoothies
- Meal plans for one type of meal (breakfast or lunch) start at $65 per week for five meals
Factor Meals
Factor Meals are designed by dieticians for optimal nutrition but chef-created for great taste. Factor_ specializes in meals for healthy, active people with health and fitness goals. Factor_ offers a meal plan specifically for those looking for low-calorie meals, and it features some serious flavor.
There are only about 6-8 meals on the low-calorie menu on any given week, but they’re satisfying and full of flavor. A couple of dishes you might see on the menu include Creole Shrimp Jambalaya, Ricotta Chicken, or Vegan Mushroom Marsala for those looking for vegetarian options.
The meals on Factor’s low-calorie meal plan hover around 500 calories each, giving or taking about 30 calories in either direction. Factor_ is also known for satisfying portions, so the chances are good that you’re not going to feel hungry or deprived with this meal delivery service.
More Benefits of Factor Meals
- Chef-prepared meals are fast, convenient, and take all of the guesswork out of low-calorie eating
- Multiple other meal plan options like keto, low-carb, and plant-based in case your health needs or goals change
- Shakes, juices, and snacks that can be used as a low-calorie meal replacement
- Choose 4, 6, 8, 12, or 18 meals per week
- Meals start at $11.00 per generous serving with the largest meal plan option,
Paleo on the Go
Paleo on the Go is a great low-calorie meal delivery service for anyone who enjoys clean eating and the paleo lifestyle. The general philosophy of the paleo diet is to enjoy nutrient-rich foods that were readily available to the hunters and gatherers of the past. It also eliminates the long list of processed foods that fill the typical American Diet.
Paleo on the Go makes it onto our list because their meals average about 400 calories per serving. You’ll find a few meals with higher caloric content, but not many. They also have a good-sized menu of entrees, breakfast dishes, soups, bakery items, and family-size entrees.
More Benefits of Paleo on the Go:
- Paleo on the Go has a strong commitment to ethics in how they source their ingredients, and they offer transparency on the ingredients they use
- Their meals make calorie counting easy and are ideal for anyone losing weight, wanting to get healthy, or having specific dietary restrictions
- AIP (autoimmune protocol) menu options
- Order individual meals, and meal bundles, or subscribe to save
- Heat and eat meals delivered to your door
- Individual meal prices vary but average around $17 + for dinner options
Pete’s Real Food
Pete’s Real Food offers chef-created meals that are packed with the goodness of seasonal, healthy food. Pete’s Paleo has a menu that changes both weekly and seasonally to include the freshest, highest-quality ingredients that go into each of their low-calorie meal plans. Pete’s Paleo is a healthy meal delivery service focusing on Paleo first, but there’s a long list of health benefits that come with that.
The first is that most of their meals are considered low-calorie. They average between 400-500 calories each, with some being a bit more or less. If you love the idea that you can enjoy low-calorie dishes Honey and Rosemary Glazed Pork Tenderloin or Lemon Tahini Turkey, but are turned off by the idea of paleo, don’t be. Paleo isn’t one of those fad diets. It’s a dietary lifestyle that is respected by many diet and nutrition professionals.
With Pete’s Paleo, you can choose a meal plan where you’ll have a chef’s choice of meals delivered weekly. You can also choose the “Eat What You Love” option and choose individual meals from their menu options.
More Benefits of Pete’s Paleo
- Pete’s Paleo is a no-junk meal delivery service – no gluten, dairy, soy, or processed ingredients
- Family plan with four servings of five different meals
- They offer a Light Plan with 3.5 ounces of protein and 5 ounces of vegetables in each dish – perfect for weight loss
- Individual meal prices start at about $14 per serving
Bistro MD
Bistro MD specializes in weight loss meals, but their delicious low-calorie meals are perfect if you’re looking to keep track of caloric intake for any reason. Bistro MD offers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack options to support your healthy eating habits. With this low-calorie meal delivery service, you’ll find that the average caloric value of each meal is even lower than many others on our list.
Bistro MD offers literally dozens and dozens of lunch and dinner options. It’s one of the largest menus you’ll find among meal delivery services. The selection of breakfast and snack options is equally impressive. One thing is for sure. If you choose Bistro MD, you’re not going to get bored.
More Benefits of Bistro MD
- Nutritious meals using environmentally responsible sourcing practices
- Meals designed to combine a love of food and scientific nutrition into delicious, healthy recipes
- Clean eating with no artificial ingredients, preservatives, refined sugars, or trans fat
- Meal plans include standard, heart-healthy, diabetic, gluten-free, and menopause
- Specialized plans for men and women
- Meal plans start at $142 per week
Vegan Low-Calorie Meals
Sprinly
Plant-based diets are great for their nutritional density, but being plant-based doesn’t necessarily mean you can eat what you want, when you want, with reckless abandon and not worry about calories. Sprinly is a great vegan meal delivery service that can help you rein in your daily caloric intake.
Sprinly’s menu isn’t as low-calorie as most of the others on our list. You’ll find some meals in the 400-500 calorie range, but many fall between 500-600 calories, with a few topping that 600 mark.
If you’re just looking to reduce the number of calories you’re currently taking in without tons of planning and meal prep, then Sprinly is a good option. If you’re looking for healthy meal delivery services that offer a lot of options under 500 calories, this might not be the best fit.
What Sprinly does follow through on is taste and generous portion size. Each week features a rotating menu of about six plant-based meal options like Japanese Soba Noodles and a Coconut Kale Quinoa Antioxidant Salad. While Sprinly is on the higher end of the low-calorie matrix, each calorie comes with nutrient-packed, healthy food.
More benefits of Sprinly:
- Sprinly meals feature clean, organic ingredients
- Dairy-free and gluten-free
- Fresh, ready-to-eat meals delivered weekly
- Generous portions, even for mighty appetites
- Choose 6, 12, or 18 meals per week
- Meal plans start at $109 per week
Purple Carrot
Services that deliver fully prepared meals are great, but sometimes you crave a home-cooked meal. Purple Carrot has you covered on both of these fronts. They’re a plant-based meal service that offers both heat & eat meals and meal kits, with a good sprinkling of low-calorie options thrown into the mix.
With their prepared meals, about half of their menu options on any given week meet the standard requirements for low-calorie, meaning they’re 500 calories or less. With their meal kits, there are usually only a couple that falls into the low-calorie range, but meal kits are also unique in that you can adapt the ingredients and portion size to meet your caloric needs.
A few of their low-calorie healthy meal kits include Palestinian Spiced Peppers and Roasted Sweet Potatoes with spicy cashew sauce. For heat-and-eat meals, look for the Jackfruit Carnitas, Jambalaya, and Tofu Tikka Masala, among others that fall into the 500 calories or less category.
More Benefits of Purple Carrot:
- Healthy meal kit options include breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices
- Choose heat and eat meals or brush up on your cooking techniques with a meal kit
- Choose high protein, quick and easy, gluten-free, or chef’s choice meals
- Flexible plans start at $9.99 per serving
Low Calorie Meal Kits
Marley Spoon
Cooking low-calorie meals can be a challenge, but you might not always be in the mood for prepared meals. A meal kit company can help you learn how to prepare healthy meals in your own kitchen without the fuss of shopping and meal prep. In our opinion, Marley Spoon is the best meal kit company for anyone looking for a way to support weight loss with great-tasting, home-cooked meals.
Marley Spoon isn’t specifically a low-calorie meal kit service, but they do offer a good selection of low-calorie meals each week.
The best way to find Marley Spoon low-calorie meals is to search the meals in their Health & Diet category. You will still want to go in and check the nutritional information for each meal kit to make sure that it’s a low-calorie food. Some meals from Marley Spoon are deceptively high in calories, so always double-check.
The upside to Marley Spoon, aside from the variety and taste, is that they simplify the process of meal prep and allow you to create your own meals easily, with less food waste than if you had shopped for the ingredients yourself. Plus, they offer mostly easy recipes that can be prepared in six steps or less.
More Benefits of Marley Spoon
- Choose your own meals from a rotating weekly menu.
- Choose how many meals you want each week – 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6
- Quality ingredients, including lean proteins and healthy fats
- Low-carb and gluten-free meals are also available
Buyers Guide
You’re looking for low-calorie meal delivery options, but there are so many choices. It’s enough to leave you scratching your head and resigning to the bag of carrot sticks in the refrigerator. Before you take the leap, consider these.
Calories Under 500
The term “low-calorie” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. For example, HelloFresh has a category of Calorie Smart meals, but they didn’t make it onto our list. The reason is that their low-calorie meals cap out at about 650 calories, which is significantly more than what some are looking for in a single meal.
The general guideline we used here was 500 calories or less per meal. Some were a little bit more but typically don’t go over by much. We like FreshlyFit because almost all meals meet this requirement.
Clean Ingredients
When you’re ordering from a meal delivery service, you want to know that you’re eating quality ingredients. The best way to make sure of this is by looking for a meal service that’s committed to clean eating. Look for organic produce, humanely raised and responsibly sourced meat and seafood, zero preservatives, non-GMO, and meals free of processed foods, refined sugars, and unhealthy fats.
Specialty Diets
Of course, you’re focusing mostly on eating low-calorie food, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have other dietary restrictions or preferences to consider. When you’re looking to have meals delivered, it’s important that the company offer meals that are aligned with your dietary needs.
Many of the services on this list also offer meals designed for the keto diet, low-carb meals, gluten-free diets, dairy-free, and more. If you’re plant-based, vegan, or vegetarian, it’s going to be even more important to you that your daily meals contain lots of fresh produce. Those who are diabetic will want to stay away from refined sugar and favor nutritionally balanced meals that will help keep them in their calorie deficit.
Some services offer meal plans designed specifically for special diets, with keto, low-carb, and paleo being very popular. Even if you don’t see a plan for your dietary lifestyle, if you look at the individual meals, you’ll often find that they fit in with your diet or can be modified during meal prep to exclude certain ingredients.
Prepared Meals Vs. Meal Kits
Do you prefer to have pre-made meals ready to just pop in the microwave when you’re ready to eat, or do you like to spend a little time in the kitchen cooking a meal from scratch with fresh ingredients? This is the main difference between pre-made meals and meal kits.
Both types of services save you time by eliminating grocery shopping and most meal prep, but one does require a bit more time in the kitchen. The plus side to meal kits is that you get to learn new cooking skills, gain confidence in the kitchen, and find new ways to prepare low-calorie meals in your own home with plenty of fresh produce that you didn’t have to painstakingly pick out on your own.
Another thing to consider is how many portions you’re looking for. Most kits contain two or four servings, which isn’t going to work if you’re looking for single-serve meals unless you freeze the leftovers. If single-serving meals are important to you, pre-made meals might be the way to go.,
Also, consider whether you prefer fresh meals or if you like to have a stock of frozen meals on hand when the time or energy to cook runs low. You’re more likely to get frozen meals with prepared meal service, and even if they’re delivered fresh, they can easily be placed in the freezer to enjoy later.
Portion Sizes
A weak spot for many following a low-calorie diet is feeling like they’re constantly hungry. The last thing you want is to get excited about a low-calorie meal and find that it’s only low-cal because it’s more of a snack-sized portion. Splendid Spoon and Factor_Meals both offer good portion sizes, great flavor, and calorie control.
FAQs
Which meal delivery service is best for weight loss?
If you’re looking for a meal delivery service that will also help you lose weight, it’s important to consider your other dietary goals before signing up. Some offer high-protein or low-carb options, and others are designed for performance athletes and bodybuilders.
What is the lowest calorie food delivery service?
Many weight loss companies, like Nutrisystem or WeightWatchers, offer low-calorie meal options that fit in with their weight loss plans. If you’re looking for a meal delivery service only, Freshly is a top choice with their FreshlyFit meals.
Does HelloFresh do low-calorie meals?
HelloFresh does offer a category of Calorie Smart meal kit options, but it’s debatable whether these fall in line with what we typically consider low calorie. By definition, their Calorie Smart meals have 650 or fewer calories. Many people looking for low-calorie meals prefer not to go over the 500 mark per serving.
Bottom Line
Whether for weight loss or a different healthy goal, eating low calorie shouldn’t mean giving up flavor, texture, nutrition, or convenience. Freshly is our top pick, but each on our list has something great to offer. Stop agonizing over every calorie, sign up for one of these services, and enjoy all the food on your healthy journey.