Healthiest
Winner
Best Vegan
Life gets busy, and you dislike the idea of going to the store yet again, but you still have to eat. Chicago has a lot of great dining and takeout options, but if you’re trying to save your diet or your wallet, these aren’t always the best choice. Chicago meal delivery is an option, and some great companies serve the city and surrounding areas.
We’ve looked at many Chicago meal delivery services to come up with this list of the best. We looked at taste, freshness, styles of meals, and how accommodating each meal delivery service is. We like Kitchfix as the grand winner, but there are so many good ones to choose from. Here’s our list of the best.
KitchFix
BEST PREPARED MEAL DELIVERY & PALEO MEALS DELIVERED
Of all the meal delivery services in Chicago, Kitchfix is one of the best for people invested in their health, interested in nutrient-dense meals, and follow one of today’s popular dietary lifestyles, including paleo, high protein, and Whole30.
Kitchfix uses fresh ingredients that are organic and sourced locally whenever possible to provide you with delicious tasting, healthy, heat and eat meals. The meals are perfect for individuals, but they also have a few family-sized meals that appeal to a range of tastes, like their chicken cacciatore.
All of Kitchfix’s dishes are gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free, so they’re ideal for anyone with these food allergies or who are just looking to avoid these ingredients. Food lovers that like to cook from scratch can have more control over their ingredients, there’s the option also to order some grocery items, like coffee, avocados, tomatoes, and more.
Kitchfix meals are available in two portions sizes, M or L. The M portion sizes are ideal for moderately active people looking to get healthier or lose weight, with meals averaging 300-400 calories. The L meals are ideal for athletes, weightlifters, high protein needs, and those looking for meals with 500-600 calories each.
Kitchfix has two options for enjoying their meals. You can either order them a la carte or take advantage of their Subscribe service, which sets you up for four weeks of regular meal delivery at a discounted price. Kitchfix also has a point service, where you earn points for each purchase. Points earned can be redeemed within 90 days toward Kitchfix meals, although they don’t apply toward Subscribe service.
Kitchfix delivers to the entire Chicago area, including the suburbs of the city. You can also pick up your meals at their Grand Ave location on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays from 4 pm – 8 pm.
Fresh Plan
HEALTHY MEAL DELIVERY CHICAGO
Are you craving healthy, delicious food? The type of meal that satisfies your taste buds and leaves your body feeling refueled and energized after? Have you thought about cooking but wish a made from scratch meal would just appear in front of you, ready to pop in the oven to heat and heat? Let us introduce you to Fresh Plan.
Fresh Plan is our choice for healthy premade meals delivered Chicago because they offer the perfect marriage of taste, quality ingredients, flavor, and perfectly balanced nutritional meals for weight loss and other health-focused goals.
Fresh Plan offers two different healthy eating plans. Customers choose between a 1,200 or 1,700 calorie option. These are designed for both maintenance and weight loss, depending on what you want to achieve and how active you are. You can also choose between two or three meals per day. If you’re not interested in a full week of Fresh Plan, you can opt for just weekdays or just weekends.
Fresh plan works with local farmers and purveyors whenever possible, and all of their meals are free of GMOs, artificial ingredients, and preservatives. With this company, the focus is purely on health, flavor, and nutritional balance. Each meal goes through a nutritional analysis to calculate just the right amount of protein, fats, carbs, and everything else that goes into fueling your body.
Fresh Plan offers premade, oven-ready dishes like BBQ pulled chicken, with sweet potatoes and green salad, and lemon chicken quarters. The food is flavorful, and each dish tastes like it was prepared from scratch but still fits easily into your busy life.
The downside of Fresh Plan is their lack of flexibility. Customers don’t get to choose their own meals but instead are delivered a predetermined selection of dishes. No meals are repeated during the month, so there’s plenty of variety. This just might not be the best choice for picky eaters or those with special dietary needs.
Madison & Rayne
BEST VEGAN MEALS DELIVERED
Madison & Rayne is a meal kit delivery service in Chicago. While they aren’t exclusively vegan or vegetarian, you can request most meal kits in a vegetarian form. But vegan and vegetarian options aren’t enough to win this category. The food also has to be great. With Madison & Rayne, this is a guarantee.
Madison & Rayne believes that customers should be able to enjoy fresh, home-cooked meals, even if they are short on time, the kids are picky eaters, and everyone in the family seems to have different ideas about which foods belong in each dish. Madison & Rayne are great when it comes to satisfying different tastes.
In addition to choosing a vegetarian option for many of their meals, if you contact Madison & Rayne, they go above and beyond to make sure your meal kit doesn’t contain any foods that you don’t want. Did you see a creamy pasta dish on their menu that sounds delish, but you’re a vegan? No worries, they’ll do their best to make a dairy-free version, just for you.
A few examples of meal kits you can request a vegetarian version of including Community Tavern Bucatini With Duck Confit, Tomato & Cashew Curry With Chicken, and a fajita rice bowl. Each dish states right on their site what foods are substituted in place of the non-vegetarian items.
Madison & Rayne might not be best for someone who is looking to lose weight by watching calories, fat, or carbs. That’s not to say that their meals aren’t healthy, but these are more gourmet-style family dishes packed with flavor than a meal kit for special dietary needs. All the nutrition information is included on the recipe cards that come with each meal kit.
You can order Madison & Rayne a la carte or as a subscription service. Any delivery fee is assessed per order and depends on where in the Chicago area you want your meal kit delivered to and how large your order is. Smaller orders are more likely to be charged a small delivery fee.
Meez Meals
BEST MEAL KIT DELIVERY SERVICE
Meez Meals is a meal kit delivery service that serves the general mid-west region of the country, including Chicago, Il. Unlike services that deliver prepared meals, Meez packs everything you need to prepare a homecooked meal in your kitchen, without the fuss of meal planning, grocery shopping, chopping onions, and peeling yet another carrot.
The ingredients in each Meez meal kit are prepared for you, down to the smallest detail. Peeled, chopped, diced, and ready to go into the pan or oven. These meal kits are ideal for when you’re looking for home-cooked options on a busy night or you’re entertaining and want to prepare something a little special.
Meez kits are available in various portion sizes, so you can choose a kit just for yourself, your family, or the dinner party you’re having next weekend. They even have an appetizer platter for just such an occasion.
Meal kit options are available in many delicious varieties, like Mexican Chicken Paella, Chimichurri Steak with Fingerling Potatoes, Chipotle Spiced Tofu Tostadas, molten lava cake, fresh baked cookies, and even more of your favorites. Even with all these different flavors, one of the best features is that these dishes can be on your table in about 20-30 minutes tops.
Currently, Meez doesn’t exclusively use organic ingredients when possible. Instead, to choose to focus on a combination of freshness and value for the ingredients that go into their products. Some products they use, like tofu, are almost always organic.
Meez meal kits are easy to customize, either by eliminating/adding ingredients yourself or requesting that something be excluded during the preparation of your kit. For example, if you’re avoiding gluten, Meez is happy to swap out a wheat pasta for a gluten-free alternative.
Meez meal kits prices vary depending on the dish and the number of servings you choose. Most meal prices are in the ballpark of $11-$15 per serving. Delivery is always free.
Eat Purely
Eat Purely is a meal delivery company that has been serving the city of Chicago since 2016. They create made-from-scratch meals that are designed to nourish your body while allowing you to enjoy home-cooked, comfort-style meals in your own home, without all the prep work and cooking.
Eat Purely offers heat & eat meals that arrive fresh, never frozen. They use intentionally-sourced ingredients in each of their meals so that their customers are getting great-tasting, amazing meals that fit with their healthy lifestyles. Eat Purely is perfect for busy individuals and families in the Chicago area.
Unlike many national meal delivery services, with Eat Purely, you don’t need a subscription. You can order your meals to be delivered up to 7 days ahead of time, but same-day delivery is also available if you place your order by 2 pm. This is perfect for those days that just get away from you, and you need the convenience of a fast, healthy meal.
Eat Purely has a good selection of meal categories on their site. Lunch & Dinner features meals like Steak Faitas, the Vegan Shepard, and pizza kits. There are also breakfasts, desserts, kids’ meals, and family-style meals to choose from. Prices vary, but most meals fall in the $10-$14 range.
One area where Eat Purely might not be ideal for some people is with their special dietary options. They have choices for vegan, gluten-free meals, etc., but there aren’t many. Currently, they’re unable to accommodate special requests to modify their meals due to allergies, food intolerances, or personal preferences.
Eat Purely delivers to the entire Chicago area. Delivery is free with each order of $39.99 or more.
Eat Clean Chicago
Eat Clean Chicago is a meal prep delivery service to help food lovers in the greater Chicago area eat cleaner and live healthier lives. They’re a great option for your busy lifestyle when you don’t have a lot of time for cooking but don’t want to rely completely on prepared heat & eat meals.
Eat Clean does offer some options for complete microwave/oven prepared meals, but they offer are prepared, clean bulk ingredients that you can use to prepare your own delicious dish. Eat Clean Chicago has a menu that includes keto, low carbs/high protein, high carbs, low fat, juices, and by the pound options. Beef, chicken, seafood, and salad also have their own menu categories.
To give you a better idea of their menu, the Keto category features the Greek Freak with oven-roasted Greek chicken with broccoli. The high carbs menu, which is perfect for carb-cycling, has dishes like an all-American English muffin burger with smoked brown sugar bacon, cheese, chipotle bbq sauce, and a side of baked potatoes.
Each meal is perfectly portioned to nourish your body on a variety of healthy eating plans. If you want to create your own dishes, choose from a selection of precooked food that’s packaged by the pound. The seared salmon, brussels sprouts, and sweet potato mash are a few favorites. Menu prices range between $10.99-$13.99
Eat Clean Chicago isn’t able to accommodate special requests due to allergies or food intolerances. You may be able to omit portions of your meal, like rice, if you want it to be low carb, but they can’t guarantee that your food won’t come in contact with common allergens.
Meal Delivery Services Buying Guide
Meal Kits or Heat & Eat
The first choice that needs to be made when choosing a meal delivery company is whether you’re looking for a meal kit that requires a bit of cooking or if you’re short on time and energy and just want food that you can come home to and stick in the oven.
Kitchfix specializes in premade choices that can be on your table in a matter of minutes. Other services, like Madison & Rayne, will deliver a meal kit to your door, with everything prepped and ready to go so that you can have a homecooked meal on the table in under 30 minutes.
Delivery to Your Home or Pickup
Every meal delivery service on our list delivers to customers in Chicago and most of the surrounding areas and suburbs, like Lincoln Park. It’s always a good idea to check the availability of deliveries to your area before committing to a service.
Some companies also offer the choice to pick up your meals. This may be a nice convenience perk for customers, especially if they’re worried about being home for their delivery times or they live/work close to the pickup location.
Special Dietary Accommodations
Anyone who is following a special diet, has food allergies, or has very particular tastes will want to spend some time looking over plans and learning whether each company is willing to accommodate special requests.
Some companies, like Fresh Plan, work off of a very fixed menu, with little to no opportunity to modify the meals to your tastes or needs. If you like most foods and aren’t concerned about following a high protein, paleo, or diabetic-friendly menu, this might be a good choice for you.
Others, like Madison & Rayne, go above and beyond when it comes to accommodating special dietary requests, although you might end up paying a bit more for this convenience.
Bottom Line
Meal delivery is a great alternative to shopping, cooking, and eating out in Chicago. We love the local meal delivery companies like Kitchfix and Meez Meals, but there are many delicious options in the city. The next time you crave a healthy, delicious meal at home, give one of these meal services in Chicago a try.