Meal delivery services are super popular (and for good reason). They make whipping up breakfast, lunch, and dinner so much more convenient—especially if you’re trying to lose weight. Food is delivered right to your door with pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step instructions or even in prepared, ready-to-eat containers.
Are delivered meal plans worth it?
Whether you’re looking for the best meal delivery service for singles (hear! hear!) or have a family to feed, meal kits get you in the habit of planning ahead and cooking your own food—a tried-and-true weight loss strategy, according to nutrition counselor Samantha Cassetty, RD. But, not all programs are created equal. So, before you start getting meals delivered to your doorstep, you need to figure out which program is best for your goals.
How do you pick the best meal delivery service for your lifestyle?
Below, you’ll find dietitian, nutritionist, and Women’s Health editor-tested and approved options for every type of home chef. Whether you’re looking for fully prepared heat-and-eat meals for your family or portioned-out ingredients with recipes, you can easily learn how to cook. Enjoy the convenience of easy meal delivery kits or channel your inner chef with options like Hello Fresh, Factor, and Green Chef, all while losing weight effortlessly.
Our team also narrowed down which ones cater to specific dietary restrictions and lifestyles (our previous senior commerce editor, Neha Tandon, has a bunch of allergies and therefore makes a good guinea pig), so there are tons of options for you whether you want a diabetes-friendly diet, menopause-friendly one, are trying to cut calories, or are allergic to soy.
See below for the best Women’s Health editor-, nutritionist-, and dietitian-approved meal delivery services.
Vegan Meal Delivery Services | Dairy-Free Meal Delivery Services | Paleo Meal Delivery Services | Healthy Meal Delivery Services | Low-Carb Meal Delivery Services
1.Hungryroot
There’s a reason why Hungryroot has become increasingly popular with meal planners: It’s so darn easy. All you need to do is take their quiz, and then the site will fill your cart with all kinds of healthy groceries. When the box arrives at your door, it’s not only filled with the food your quiz indicated you might like, but with chef-curated recipes using the groceries in your cart along with snacks and desserts.
Dietitian Anita Mirchandani, RD, is a fan of it, too. “I like that Hungryroot helps you plan out your total intake depending on your preferences,” she says. “It’s also priced well with high-quality ingredients that cater to a variety of dietary restrictions.”
Editor Review: “I love cooking, but living in NYC, trips to the grocery store often take up a lot of time and energy in having to walk there and then be conscious about how much I’m buying, because I don’t want to have to carry home tons of bags. Hungryroot is amazing because not only do they partner with all my favorite brands, they also cater to my specific dietary needs. I’m pescatarian, prefer to eat gluten-free, like to keep my carb intake low, and am dairy-free. They cater to all of that and even give me recipes to pair with all my meals. I’ll even cook the meals for friends when they come over if I want to throw a last-minute dinner party. All the dishes come together super fast, and they’re actually so delicious.” —Neha Tandon, Women’s Health previous senior commerce editor
2. Fresh N’ Lean
Attention, keto and paleo lovers: You’re gonna love Fresh N’ Lean. The company offers pre-made protein-packed, gluten-free, and fiber-rich meals that get delivered straight right to your door.
There are a bunch of different meal delivery plans at your disposal here (including keto, paleo, low-carb, vegan, etc.), and one option even allows you to order in bulk, if you so desire. Everything they deliver is approved by their dietitians and prepared from scratch in Moosic, Pennsylvania.
Rave Review: “The food options are great, as is the taste! The online experience is easy and fast. Love this service!”
3. BistroMD
Created by an actual MD as a weight loss service to help patients, BistroMD is the perfect middle ground between a meal delivery service and personalized health plan. Choose between four different weight loss programs: standard, gluten-free, diabetic, or menopause.
Your weekly box will either include five to seven full days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner—or, five to seven days worth of just lunch and dinner. Once your plan is picked, registered dietitians on the BistroMD team will create a custom diet plan based on your taste preferences and weight-loss goals. Plus, you can update your profile with likes, dislikes, and health changes at any time and your meal plan will be adjusted.
Rave Review: “When it comes to food, I love variety and trying new things, but had fell into a pattern of eating the same as my 63 [year-old] husband. After two weeks on the meals, which I really enjoyed from the start, I had lost about three pounds. Now, I no longer have to take blood pressure medication and with 40 pounds down, I’m determined to continue my weight loss journey!”
4. Splendid Spoon
If your cooking abilities max out at boiling water, you’ll definitely take an interest in Splendid Spoon, the delivery service that focuses on shipping pre-made vegan and gluten-free meals straight to your door. The company’s hearty dishes include creamy korma, butternut squash noodles, and shepherd’s pie (are you drooling yet?). “If you are on a health journey and are overwhelmed by which nutrient-dense foods to eat, Splendid Spoon foods are for you,” says registered dietitian Johane Filemon. “The ingredients are wholesome, nutrient-dense, and include lots of beneficial properties that can help you maintain good gut health, support brain health, and provide energy.”
Besides being fully vegan and gluten-free, you can even opt out of certain ingredients preferences like cilantro, nuts, mushrooms, soy, or even spice. Their protein-packed smoothies are a fan favorite for people who are often on the go, too.
Editor Review: “Some say I’m a picky eater, but hey, what’s wrong with knowing what I like? I have a lot of dietary restrictions, and Splendid Spoon doesn’t make me feel like I’m being overly particular when I state my dairy-free, gluten-free preferences. I also love that with them, I know I’m getting food that has a short ingredients list with ingredients I can fully recognize and pronounces. No weird chemicals or funky things. Plus, it’s nice that they can be kept in the freezer for rainy days/weeks I don’t have time to meal prep. They never taste like they’ve been in the freezer after I’ve warmed them up. The only thing I’ll say is that I feel my best when I eat meals that are high in protein and veggies, and lower in carbs. Splendid Spoon tends to be more skewed towards being carb-heavy, with less of a focus on the protein and veggies.” —Neha Tandon, Women’s Health previous senior commerce editor
5. Sakara
Odds are that you’ve seen a celeb post about Sakara at least once in your life. The Kate Hudson- and Hillary Duff-approved meal delivery service focuses on super fresh ingredients in pre-made meals. Every plant-based meal box comes with a schedule that tells you what to eat every day with the goal of weight loss, digestive improvement, a boost in energy, and more.
Here’s how it works: Sakara meals come twice a week to make sure you’re getting the freshest ingredients possible. While the menu is typically set each week so you can’t pick and choose your meals (they offer up to three per day plus snack options), the delivery service actually switches up what they’re serving every seven days so you’ll almost never get the same meal more than twice.
The only caveat? Nutritionist Bridgette Becker notes that if you’re sensitive to sugar, you’ll want to pay attention to ingredient labels on each meal.
Editor Review: “I felt residual fatigue effects after having COVID and decided to try a week of Sakara meals leading up to my wedding to go into the festivities with better energy. The impact of eating so much fresh produce and whole foods blew my mind. I had not felt so alert, regular (if you know what I mean), and clear-headed in months. The week of meals also motivated me to continue cooking plant-heavy, anti-inflammatory dishes at home afterward. I will definitely order Sakara again when I need a mind and body reset.” —Jacqueline Andriakos, Women’s Health executive health and fitness director
Women’s Health previous senior commerce editor, Neha Tandon, also wrote a full review of Sakara here.
6. Daily Harvest
Big on organic fruits and veggies? Totally feel you there. That’s what makes Daily Harvest’s fully plant-based, gluten-free meal plan great for people who want to easily incorporate more whole, plant-based foods in to their diet.
Nutritionist and author of The Flexitarian Diet, Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, recommends that all her clients keep a few of Daily Harvest’s meals in their freezer at all times. “It’s perfect for days when my clients may need some help getting more nourishing fruits and vegetables in their diet in a delicious way,” she says.
The Daily Harvest plan is super customizable, so you can choose how many items you want to order and how often you want them delivered. Whether you’re looking for smoothies, soups, flatbreads, and more that you only have to blend or reheat, you can prob satisfy your cravings on Daily Harvest. A sweet bonus: They even have Daily Harvest Scoops, plant-based ice creams, in mouth-watering flavors like Cold Brew + Roasted Espresso Bean Chip and Pistachio + Toasty, Buttery Hazelnut Crunch.
Editor Review: “I have been a subscriber to DH for years, primarily for the smoothie blends. I am so lazy when it comes to making smoothies (too much chopping and blending and cleaning for me, womp). The smoothie cups make it so easy to throw one together quickly and do not have any unrecognizable ingredients—just delicious fruits and veggies. I add a scoop of protein and it’s the perfect way to get more protein in every day. I appreciate that you can customize how many items you want in your deliveries, and that you can easily skip as many weeks as you want to. I’m a firm believer in finding healthy shortcuts if you can, and Daily Harvest is just that for me.” —Jacqueline Andriakos, Women’s Health executive health and fitness director
Read more: Daily Harvest Review
7. Methodology
Another one of Becker’s favorites, Methodology is a totally keto meal service that also adheres to trendy lifestyles, like a vegan or paleo one. One of the best parts is that every meal comes in a single-serve jars and containers you can easily pop into your bag before you head to the office or keep in your car when you’ll be out for a day of errands. But, our fave part of this meal-delivery service is that all meals come in reusable, recyclable packaging and you can opt-in for packaging pickup so your glass jars, bags, and insulated liners get re-used in another order.
Expect a weekly-rotating menu of dishes like banana bread with cream cheese frosting, koji-mustard flank steak, and a maple dijon rosemary chicken salad. It’s a great option for single-servings.
Editor Review: “Methodology has to be the most veggie-packed meal delivery service I’ve ever tried. I tried it for a week, and it’s not like I was eating straight kale and leaves for that week. I tried a diverse array of dishes from kelp noodles to tacos and curries. Everything tasted totally different and had strong flavors. I was super impressed. And the single-serving packaging made it really easy to take a box to work for lunch or even the park for a little picnic!” —Neha Tandon, Women’s Health previous senior commerce editor
8. Blue Apron
Blue Apron is a meal delivery kit beloved by many for lots of good reasons. Its health-conscious meal plans are diabetes-friendly and they’re even WW (formerly Weight Watchers)-approved. This means the company now offers a set of recipes that partner with the WW program, and they even come with all the information you need to know about how many WW points are in each meal.
Vegetarians and vegans are big fans, too, because Blue Apron offers several Beyond Meat entrees and an entire vegetarian meal plan. The weekly boxes include pre-portioned ingredients for either two or four servings so you can cook healthy meals for yourself or the whole family.
Rave Review: “My entire family loves the dishes I make! This truly makes my life easier as a working mom! It allows my family to sit down together and enjoy our dinner together. I love that my kids love it.”
9. Nutrisystem
Nutrisystem’s meal delivery service focuses on eating smaller, more balanced meals throughout the day. Their personalized plans will give you breakfast, lunch, and dinner—some meals come frozen and some come fresh—options with healthy snacks in between, meaning you can eat six times in one day without wondering if you’re going overboard on your portions. You can also adjust your eating plan to focus on your specific health needs, whether you need to lower your sodium intake or have been advised to go vegetarian.
Rave Review: “Before Nutrisystem, I was so ashamed of my weight that I would wear my baggy ER scrubs at home. That’s not me anymore, and I’m a better nurse because of it. I lost 40 pounds to focus on the health of my patients.”
10. Factor
While, of course, it’s important to always listen to your body and what it needs, Factor’s delivery service works with dietitians to build a variety of portion-controlled plates as an expert-approved guide. But, what makes Factor truly unique is that when you sign up for the pre-portioned meals, you’re also getting free consultations with registered dietitians.
Nutritionist and registered dietitian Brenna Wallace, RDN, notes that one of the most common mistakes when using a meal delivery service can be that you may order meals that aren’t catered to your lifestyle. “That’s why I’d recommend Factor to my clients,” she says. “The regular consultations can seriously help cater to your lifestyle.”
Rave Review: “Delivery is always on time and customer service is helpful. The food is delicious. I’m always left wanting more, but that’s a good thing.”
11. Hello Fresh
Known as the straightforward, easy-to-follow meal-delivery service, Hello Fresh is also pretty helpful if weight loss is your goal. “Their staff dietitian evaluates the meals before they are put on the menu to ensure they’re both healthy and balanced,” says nutritionist Leah Kaufman, RD, CDN. All your ingredients come pre-portioned, so all you need to do is follow the simple recipe provided to get a fresh, home-cooked meal. It’s great for kitchen beginners or aspiring home chefs.
Another plus: Each dish is low in sodium and oil and comes with a nutrition label that can be found on their website. Knowing that info can help you stay within the appropriate amount of calories per day if that’s something your nutritionist has recommended you monitor. Becker gives Hello Fresh her stamp of approval, too, noting that the brand is focused on a lot of sustainability efforts, too.
Editor Review: “I tried Hello Fresh for a couple of weeks and loved the concept of getting all the ingredients and whipping up a recipe for the whole fam. The recipes were easy to follow, so I’d recommend them to anyone who is just learning to cook. They were a little lower on veggies than I’d like, and I prefer to pick more high-quality proteins, but it’s great in a pinch.” —Jennifer Nied, Women’s Health fitness editor
12. Cook Unity
Big-name chefs like Einat Admony and Esther Choi joined forces with wellness experts to create recipes that are weight-loss friendly and amateur-proof for this meal-delivery service. Plus, the company also caters to specialty diets from keto to paleo, gluten-free, vegan, and even those looking for low-calorie options. So yeah, you could say that Cook Unity is a good choice for anyone who’s low on time but still wants chef-prepped meals from the comfort of their own couch.
Expect super artistically-crafted dishes like salmon with avocado sauce and cucumber salsa or a sesame ginger tofu poke bowl. Your work-from-home lunches are about to get a serious upgrade.
Rave Review: “Thanks for making our lives easier—we live in a small town with lots of fast food options, but very little as far as good, healthy food options good. You are just what we need.”
13. Purple Carrot
Vegans (or just veggie lovers!), step right up. Purple Carrot’s entirely vegan meal-delivery service delivers pre-portioned ingredients that’ll help you discover some seriously fun and unique recipes you’ll love showing off to your friends (though you’ll likely want to keep everything to yourself).
Each meal comes with nutritional information and serves at least two people. So, if you’re cooking for one, that leaves you with a balanced lunch for the next day—a great idea for a no-brainer healthy lunch, says Sharon Palmer, RDN, author of Plant-Powered for Life. It’s priced a bit higher than some of the other services out there, but it’s a great option if you can afford it.
Editor Review: “I’ve tried at least a dozen meal delivery services, and of the ones that didn’t come prepared (and instead came with ingredients I had to prep), Purple Carrot’s were the most delicious, by far. I had a vegan zucchini flatbread last year that I still can’t stop thinking about. It wasn’t as high in protein and veggies as I’d like, so I did end up supplementing a lot of dishes with my own ingredients, but there’s no doubting that these dishes were absolutely delicious and easy to whip up on a weeknight. I actually found myself looking forward to making them at the end of the night!” —Neha Tandon, Women’s Health previous senior commerce editor
14. Green Chef
Green Chef’s USDA-certified organic meal kit offers tons of options for a variety of different dietary needs and preferences, from vegetarian to gluten-free and paleo diets. Dishes and recipes offered all super unique. Many people say they feel like they’re getting fancy restaurant-level food straight at home.
A lot of the dishes come with pre-made sauces and dressings, which can be a serious timesaver. But, Kaufman suggests scanning the nutritional facts for the sugar content in your meals, as dressings can sometimes be packed with this weight-loss saboteur. And, if the sauce isn’t vital for you, just feel free to cut it out.
As a whole, Kaufman gives this service her nutritionist stamp of approval because it offers a variety of plans that suit most everyone’s dietary needs and restrictions, all while being relatively low in sodium, high in protein, and loaded with healthy, satiating fats such as olive oil.
Editor Review: “This delivery service reignited my excitement for cooking after having a baby. It was that good. The recipes are a bit more involved but so worth the extra effort. The ingredients were super fresh and the complete meal tasted delicious, much better than the takeout I’d been relying on. My favorite part of each meal by far was the sauce, which I proudly made myself and couldn’t stop talking about while eating every last bite.” —Jennifer Nied, Women’s Health fitness editor
15. Cumin Club
Traditional, authentic Indian food is hard to find in the Western world. That’s where Cumin Club comes in. They leverage a team of Indian chefs to craft meals like paneer butter masala, moong dal (lentils), and saag (a creamed spinach curry). Everything comes preservative-free in freeze-dried packets, and all it takes is five minutes of boiling water to get a hot meal on your table. For a maximum of $100 per week, you get a serious bang for your buck.
You’ll love hosting friends over for a meal (and nobody needs to know you didn’t make it yourself). Because all you need is hot water, these make a great gift to the college student in your life.
Editor Review: “Any Indian person reading this will sympathize with how seriously difficult it is to find traditional Indian food that actually tastes homemade (and I live in NYC where I should have all the options in the world). After six years of living here and trying to no avail, I’m so grateful to have found Cumin Club. I have no clue how, but their freeze-dried meals come together in like fifteen minutes max and actually taste exactly like the food I’ve had come out of my mom, aunt, or grandmother’s kitchen. I get homesick often but this helps (at least a bit). The best part? I thought that the ingredients list would be scary, but everything actually looks like the exact ingredients I’d use to cook myself. I seriously don’t know how they do it! I even pretended I cooked the meals myself for a guy I was dating. He was so impressed. It worked, and he’ll never know my secret!” —Neha Tandon, Women’s Health previous senior commerce editor
How our team chose the best meal delivery services
For the past two and a half years, Women’s Health editors, including our previous senior commerce editor, Neha Tandon, executive health and fitness director, Jacqueline Andriakos, fitness editor, Jennifer Nied, and associate e-commerce editor Lily Wohlner, tested the bestselling, most popular, and top-rated meal delivery services. Our team consulted eight nutritionists and dietitians, and then evaluated thousands of customer reviews and ratings to narrow down the best meal delivery services for a wide range of dietary preferences, budgets, and family sizes.
Are meal delivery services healthy?
Meal delivery services can be healthy if you want them to be. Most services allow you to customize your meals online, so if you want your doorstep deliveries to align with your health goals, go right ahead and start tailoring your plan. According to Mirchandani, meal delivery services that offer gluten-free, vegan, hormone-safe, and diabetic-friendly options are what to look for if you want to stay on the healthy side.
Do you really save money on meal delivery services?
The short answer? It depends on which one you choose. Long answer: The cheapest meal delivery services include (but are not limited to) Hello Fresh, Daily Harvest, and Cumin Club. If you typically eat out a lot, you’ll save a ton of money on a meal delivery service. But if you already cook at home, you may end up spending about the same amount of money. That said, a meal delivery service has the added value of helping you achieve any health goals you may have, like controlling your portions, losing weight, cutting out certain foods, or eating more organic produce. They also help you skip a trip to the grocery store, so you spend more time focusing on daily activities that you actually want to do.
Is it easy to cancel a meal delivery service?
Meal delivery services typically offer easy subscription management through online profiles or mobile apps. While some require you to answer questions or contact customer service for cancellation, you can find assistance in the FAQ section or by reaching out to their support team if you have any concerns.
Compare the best meal delivery services
- If you want to save money: Fresh N’ Lean, Splendid Spoon, Daily Harvest, Blue Apron, Factor, Hello Fresh, Cook Unity, Cumin Club
- If you want to prioritize health: BistroMD, Sakara, Daily Harvest, Methodology, Nutrisystem, Factor, Purple Carrot, Green Chef,
- If you have specific dietary restrictions: Hungryroot, BistroMD, Splendid Spoon, Daily Harvest, Nutrisystem, Factor, Purple Carrot
- If you like to cook your own meals: Hungryroot, Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, Green Chef,
- If you’re on-the-go: Fresh N’ Lean, BistroMD, Sakara, Methodology, Nutrisystem, Factor, Cook Unity, Purple Carrot, Cumin Club
- If you want to try new foods: Cook Unity, Cumin Club, Pete’s Real Food
- If you’re vegan: Splendid Spoon, Sakara, Daily Harvest, Purple Carrot
Meet the experts
- Leah Kaufman, RD, CDN, nutritionist
- Sharon Palmer, RDN, author of Plant-Powered for Life
- Brenna Wallace, RDN, nutritionist and registered dietitian
- Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, nutritionist and author of The Flexitarian Diet
- Johane Filemon, registered dietitian
Shop other meal delivery services
Best Vegan Meal Delivery Services | Paleo Meal Delivery Services | Healthy Meal Delivery Services | Sakara Review