For those looking to accomplish health or nutrition goals, we also tested to find the best meal delivery for keeping to a keto , paleo and low-calorie diet.

And if you're wondering if meal kits are worth it, we compared recipes from EveryPlate and Blue Apron to see how they compared with buying the groceries yourself.

Below you'll find the best meal delivery services of , as tested and reviewed by CNET. Why our testers picked Blue Apron : With tasty, premium entrees such as steak and seafood at some of the best prices in the meal kit category, Blue Apron represents the best overall value for any meal delivery service we tried.

Blue Apron is the granddad of meal kit programs in the US and the brand still manages to deliver excellent meals with easy-to-follow recipes all at a fair price. Weekly menu choices available range from simple pasta dishes to inventive global cuisine, with high-end recipes including those for steak and seafood at no extra cost.

Read our full review of Blue Apron here. Why our testers picked Fresh N Lean : With extremely high-quality meals, tons of healthy options and fair pricing, this service was an easy pick for best prepared meal delivery service.

Fresh N Lean ran away from the competition, ticking more boxes than any other with healthy food that is thoughtfully prepared, tastes great, looks appetizing and is fairly affordable depending on the plan you select.

Fresh N Lean has five meal plans to help keep folks on track with their specific nutrition goals including low-carb, vegan, paleo and protein-plus options. The food was all made exceptionally well using simple, whole ingredients.

Why our testers picked Pete's Real Food : While it's more expensive than other prepared meal services on our list, the quality of food doesn't get much higher than Pete's. The cuisine is designed to fuel those following the precise paleo diet, but even those not keeping to the plan should enjoy this grub.

Pete's Real Food formerly Pete's Paleo won me over in a week-long taste test of its healthy organic and paleo meals, earning a spot as one of the best healthy, organic meal delivery services. Pete's meals are all fully prepared and ready to heat and eat.

The dozen or so Pete's Real Food meals we've tested were all cooked well: meats were tender, vegetables mostly cooked to proper doneness and all the flavors worked.

If you're in training or keeping to a paleo plan and looking for lots of protein, healthy fats and nutrient-filled carbs such as sweet potatoes and beets, Pete's should hit the spot.

Pete's Real Food formerly Pete's Paleo is an excellent meal service if you're adhering to a paleo or whole foods eating plan. Read our full review of Pete's Real Food here. Why our testers picked CookUnity : This is a prepared meal service aimed at those with refined tastes and an adventurous palate.

The best thing about CookUnity is the sheer volume of meal options you can choose from, all originating from chefs -- some famous and some not -- of different backgrounds and culinary styles. I liked almost everything I tried, with recipes ranging from very healthy to more comfort-style food.

There are plenty of options for vegetarians, too, but note that the menu will vary depending on where you live since they pull from local chefs to create the weekly offerings. Read our full review of CookUnity here. Why our testers picked Mosaic Foods : This plant-based service was one of the best prepared meal services we tried, and not just among vegan options.

I sampled more than 10 of Mosaic Food's plant-based prepared meal offerings and the vegetarian prepared meal delivery service had an astoundingly high hit rate.

Mosaic uses global flavors and employs creative use of meat substitutes such as tofu, jackfruit, cauliflower and vegan sausages to create tasty and satisfying vegetarian meals. While everything I ate from Mosaic was at least good, some standouts included the bean and jackfruit chili, tomato olive and feta ragout and a tangy Thai noodle dish.

Why our testers picked HelloFresh : HelloFresh combines, convenience, selection and family-friendly options for an all-around excellent meal kit experience. HelloFresh has the most recipes per week of any meal kit service we tried making it a good pick for families and homes with picky eaters.

This meal kit service's portion sizes are generous and there are meals to fir eating plans and diets of all sorts. It's also affordable, especially if you order larger meals.

Ya know, for a family. HelloFresh recipes are mostly fast and easy to follow, even for beginner cooks. Plus, they'll allow you to make substitutions so you can always find a recipe that suits your taste.

Factor is a healthy prepared meal service and had some of the best meals I tried in all my testing of prepared meal services, including a zesty pesto salmon and a divine keto cheesecake. Among the hits, however, were the occasional misses, so you may have to learn the menu over time.

Factor puts a focus on healthy meals with plenty of low-carb options, and all the nutritional information is listed on the website before you choose your meals each week. With all the keto and paleo meal options, it's certainly a solid choice for people keeping to either of those plans.

Read our full review of Factor here. Why our testers picked Purple Carrot : For authentic, organic, plant-based cooking, Purple Carrot delivered big with a bounty of interesting recipes and fresh ingredients.

Out of all the vegan meal kits I've tried, Purple Carrot's provided me with the best base for cooking vegan cuisine and its ingredient mainstays such as lentils and grains. There are about eight recipes to choose from each week. I tested a full week's worth of meals and enjoyed all of them.

Read our full Purple Carrot review here. Why our testers picked Green Chef : This meal kit service uses almost all organic meats and produce, and offers interesting and healthy recipes for the discerning home cook.

While it may be one of the pricier options, we like Green Chef for its versatility in the different specific diet plans available. The healthy meal kit service also boasts the most organic ingredients of any meal kit service including produce, meats and fish. Green Chef also offers paleo, keto, pescatarian, vegan and vegetarian meals as well as gluten-free meal kit recipes and meals.

Read our full review of Green Chef here. EveryPlate keeps overhead costs low by offering just eight easy meal kit recipes to choose from weekly, which mostly excludes vegetarians and those on special diets, but the eight available meals are full of variety and flavor otherwise.

You can expect a lot of comfort food from this meal kit service such as meatloaf, burgers and pasta dishes but everything I made was solid. Why our testers picked Home Chef : Home Chef is a meal kit service with a sprawling menu that includes tons of low-carb options.

Even if you're not going full keto, but just want to curb your carb intake, Home Chef offers 15 recipes per week with less than 15 grams of net carbs in each. On balance, Home Chef meal kits weren't the best we tried, but the bulk of meals we made took less than 25 minutes and the portions were more than satisfying.

That, coupled with its slew of easy, healthy low-carb options, makes Home Chef the best meal kit service for keto eaters. The first big decision you'll make is whether you want meal kits, which require some prep and cooking, or a prepared meal service that sends fully cooked meals that are ready to heat and eat.

After you've picked between meal kits or meal delivery, you'll want to find a service within your budget. Here we've outlined all the best cheap meal delivery services for Our list of the healthiest meal delivery services for is a good place to find all the most nutritious options. Lastly, you'll want to hone in on exactly how much food you'll want sent to you per week.

Most services allow you to change the number of meals or servings in your plan even after you've started.

With nearly every service, the more meals your order per delivery, the cheaper it is per meal. All the meal delivery services may look delicious in their website glamour shots, but that's certainly not enough to convince me. To settle on this list of the best meal delivery service I tried as many as we could get our hands on, noting everything about them from freshness and flavor to ordering, packaging and delivery.

Testing meal kits for CNET means rolling up our sleeves and cooking at least one week's worth of meals from each service, often more. How each meal kit tastes, how easy it was to prepare and the portion sizes are all considered. We also evaluate the website and how easy it is to navigate along with determining how easy it is to pause, cancel or change your order at any given time.

To learn more, we have an in-depth look at how we test meal kits here at CNET. To test each meal delivery service, we tried at least five and sometimes as many as 10 meals from any given service.

I choose a range of meals from the various menu and meal plan offerings and took note of the ordering process, recipe variety and information available. I reheated meals according to the instructions. If there were none, I heated them the way I would if left to my own devices.

Often that meant warming gently in a nonstick skillet or reheating in my air fryer. Many of the meal delivery services offer a microwave heating option, but I almost always found that produced worse results than my trusted methods, even if they typically take a few seconds longer.

Not all meal kits are created equally. Some services are much better depending on your dietary preferences, budget and culinary skill level. If you're looking to cut some of the legwork out of dinner, meal kits and prepared meal services are definitely worth it.

The most budget-friendly services cost about the same as buying all the groceries you'd need to make the same meal, with the convenience of having all the ingredients or a box of fully prepared meals sent to your home each week.

That's definitely cheaper than eating out or getting restaurant food delivered, and about the same cost as buying the groceries needed to make the same meals. In a previous story, we crunched the numbers to find out how much meal kits cost versus buying the same groceries.

In reviews and best lists, Blue Apron and HelloFresh are two of the most popular meal kit services for There are more benefits to an inexpensive meal service besides the money.

You can still have many of the benefits of meal services while staying on budget. Finding a meal delivery service that fits in your budget will help you save money. You buy just the meals you need at affordable prices, and can save on the cost of a grocery run in many cases.

Meal prep for the week can take up a lot of time, which is a huge perk of meal delivery services. Meal kits provide just the right amount of ingredients for your meals, with many ingredients prepared already, so it minimizes the time needed to prepare and cook meals. Additionally, prepared meals can just be put in an oven or microwave to heat up, virtually eliminating prep time completely.

Many meal services provide plans and options for people with specific dietary restrictions or needs. Also, anyone following keto, low-carb, paleo, vegan, or pescatarian diets will often find options through meal delivery services.

This takes out a lot of the hassle of having to find the right meals for your exact needs. Often at the grocery store, you may have to purchase more food than you want or need for the week, like purchasing a bag of onions when you only need one. Plus, many meal services source their ingredients sustainably through local organic farmers, which also impacts the environment in a positive way.

With trying to be frugal with your money, here are some things to look out for:. Many meal delivery services offer a first-time discount, which can vary depending on the company. These discounts can be substantial, although prices may jump back up after a bit of use.

Here are a few of our best picks for meal services that offer consistently inexpensive meal options:. Many meal delivery services have smaller minimums and meal plans to cater for just one person. The cost of HelloFresh varies depending on the number of meal portions you order each week.

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Learn more about our experts. GGR Score: 4. Check Price. Cons Fresh ingredients need to be cooked within 4 days of delivery Meal selection only after signing up and entering payment information. Bottom Line Skip the food shopping and the chopping—Dinnerly is a meal kit service that sends you fresh ingredients right to your door with most of the food preparation already done.

Low minimum of meals Over meals to choose from. Cons Very little customization when choosing meal plans Meals can be pricey. Bottom Line Fresh N Lean is a prepared meal delivery service that has a variety of meal plans to choose from.

Product Highlights Meal service that delivers ingredients and recipes 6 different plans available, including vegan and pescatarian options Can swap out different proteins and sides Can purchase between 2 and 6 meals, in portions to feed 2 or 4 people 40 weekly recipes to choose from Sourced from U.

farmers 6 meal plans to choose from. Cons Customer reviews complain about ingredient inconsistencies Some reviews claim meal portions are small.

Bottom Line HelloFresh is a subscription meal delivery service that provides ingredients and recipes for weekly meals. Cons You do have to cook Have to meet plan minimum each week though you can adjust your minimum on a weekly basis.

Bottom Line Hungryroot offers a unique take on meal delivery, in that you find a recipe you like, and the company will send you all of the ingredients to make it.

Product Highlights Plant-based meal service Frozen meals and smoothies Schedule deliveries every weeks. Cons Additional shipping fees for each delivery Subscription model Not all meals have a high-protein content. Bottom Line Mosaic is a frozen meal delivery service that offers plant-based options for vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores alike.

Product Highlights Meal kit delivery and online market Cook dinner in minutes Over 70 weekly staples to choose from New menus every week. Cons Subscription only delivery plans Not ideal for weight loss.

Bottom Line Blue Apron is a meal kit delivery service that sends you everything you need for a fun, tasty meal right to your door.

Community Score: 2. Product Highlights Budget-conscious frozen meals Healthy meals all under calories Variety of meal plans including high protein, keto, gluten free Order meals in increments of 6.

Cons No customizations to menu or meals Meals only last up to 6 months in freezer. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Miami University of Ohio and a master's degree in clinical nutrition from NYU. Prior to Good Housekeeping , she worked at one of the largest teaching hospitals in New York City as a cardiac transplant dietitian.

She has authored numerous chapters in clinical nutrition textbooks and has also worked in PR and marketing for food company start-ups.

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sign in. Best Flower Delivery V-Day Gifts For Kids V-Day Gifts For Women V-Day Gifts For Men Amazon Valentine's Gifts. Our top picks: 1. Best Overall Cheap Meal Delivery Service Dinnerly Shop at dinnerly. Shop at dinnerly.

Best Value Cheapest Meal Delivery Service EveryPlate Shop at everyplate. Shop at everyplate. Best Cheap Meal Delivery Service for Beginners Hello Fresh Hello Fresh Shop at HelloFresh. Shop at HelloFresh. Best Cheap Meal Delivery Service for Wellness Blue Apron Blue Apron Shop at blueapron. Shop at blueapron.

Best Cheap Meal Delivery Service for Families Home Chef Shop at Home Chef. Shop at Home Chef. Best Plant-Based Cheap Meal Delivery Service Mosaic Foods Mosaic Foods Shop at mosaicfoods.

Shop at mosaicfoods. Plans Two or four people and two to six meals per week. Packaging The box, separator and thermal liner are all curbside recyclable. The bottles and containers can be disposed in plastic recycling bins. Availability Delivery throughout the contiguous United States.

Pros Lowest cost meal kit per serving Lots of comfort food options Add-ons like sides and desserts also available Includes recipe cards with step-by-step pictures Kit includes everything you'll need to create the meal. Plans Two or four people and three to six meals per week.

Availability Delivery to the vast majority of the continental USA. Pros Large weekly menu selection Easy-to-follow recipe cards with clear pictures Full recipes and nutrition information available on their website Solid and well-organized packaging.

Packaging Fold and discard the box with other household recyclables. Availability Delivery to all states across the continental US. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below.

Pros Inventive and flavorful recipes Over 70 weekly menu options Variety of WW-recommended selections High-quality, fresh ingredients Ready-to-cook and heat-and-eat options also available. Plans Two or four people and two to four meals per week. Availability Delivery to the contiguous United States.

Pros Can feed up to six people Multiple meal kit options, including quick minute meals Over 30 weekly meal options Also available for purchase in Kroger grocery stores.

Plans Two, four or six people and two to six recipes. Packaging Boxes and dividers are made from partially recycled cardboard and are curbside recyclable. The meal bags 5 and ingredient bags 4 can be recycled at all locations that accept plastic bags. Availability Delivery available nationwide to the vast majority of the United States.

Pros Large selection of all vegetarian meals Prepared options that require no prep or cleanup Selections for breakfast, lunch and dinner Free shipping for and item boxes. Cons Requires ample freezer space Limited availability compared to other services. Free shipping for and item boxes. Plans 6-, and item boxes available.

Packaging Everything that comes in the box is fully curbside recyclable. Availability Mosaic delivers to most major metro areas in the Eastern and Western US. How we test meal delivery services. Stefani Sassos. What to look for when selecting the best cheap meal delivery service. Are meal delivery subscription plans worth it?

Comprehensive meal delivery service buying guides. Best Overall Meal Delivery Services Best Prepared Meal Delivery Services Best Affordable Meal Delivery Services Best Healthy Meal Delivery Services Best Organic Meal Delivery Services Best Vegetarian Meal Delivery Services Best Vegan Meal Delivery Services Best Weight Loss Meal Delivery Services Best Low-Carb Meal Delivery Services Best Keto Meal Delivery Services Best Paleo Meal Delivery Services Best Gluten-Free Meal Delivery Services Best Kids Meal Delivery Services.

Why trust Good Housekeeping? Stefani Sassos, M. Amy Fischer M.

I would suggest you can try Blue Apron because this is one of the best meal delivery services at an affordable price in the market amigar.info › Roundup Blue Apron is our favorite budget-friendly meal delivery service for families. With wellness and veggie (plant-based) options available in

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Budget-friendly meal packages - 6 Best Cheap Meal Delivery Services, Tested and Reviewed · Our top picks: · Dinnerly · Dinnerly · EveryPlate · EveryPlate · Blue Apron Blue Apron I would suggest you can try Blue Apron because this is one of the best meal delivery services at an affordable price in the market amigar.info › Roundup Blue Apron is our favorite budget-friendly meal delivery service for families. With wellness and veggie (plant-based) options available in

Learn more about how it works playBtn Created with Sketch. Watch Video. Shop Yourself Our shopping list will condense all the meals you choose into a single list for easy shopping. Schedule for Pick-up Skip the grocery line by sending your ingredients to Walmart Grocery or Kroger for easy pick-up.

Skip the Grocery Store Get your ingredients delivered to your door through Shipt, Amazon Fresh or Instacart. powered by. Try This Plan. Slow Cooker For those times when hands-off cooking is a must. Does eMeals require that I have my groceries delivered or gathered for pickup?

No, you can use the app to shop yourself at the grocery store of your choice. But eMeals also offers integrated pickup and delivery of the meal ingredients through Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, Instacart and Shipt.

Try it once, and you may never go to the grocery store again! Dinnerly and EveryPlate offer the least expensive meals for home delivery. We independently evaluate all recommended products and services.

If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. There are many companies offering to plan, shop, and prep your meals, and some of them set themselves apart with competitive pricing. Meal delivery services may choose to cut costs by reducing their packaging, the number of ingredients, or even their marketing budgets in order to pass those savings on to you.

We spent months testing and researching dozens of meal delivery services and assembled this list based on the starting price of each company. Why You Should Try It Dinnerly is the most affordable meal kit service on the market with unfussy recipes that make dinner a snap. Pros Wide variety of new meals weekly Prep is easy and approachable Brunch and dessert items available for holidays.

Dinnerly uses the same quality ingredients as other meal kits but is able to charge less for a few reasons—digital recipes instead of printed ones, fewer ingredients per dish, simple packaging, and no fancy marketing campaigns.

Meals We Tried BBQ cheeseburger with sautéed onions and smashed potatoes Low-cal veggie drunken noodles with broccoli, peppers, and cilantro Grass-fed ground beef and cheddar quesadillas with corn Caramel chicken stir-fry with snow peas and jasmine rice.

Why You Should Try It EveryPlate offers satisfying comfort foods at about half the price of other meal delivery services. These crowd-pleasing meals usually take 35 or 40 minutes to prepare with some taking less and some taking a bit more. In order to keep prices low, EveryPlate does not cater to special diets and there are no personalized meal plans.

Weekly menus lean into crowd-pleasing comfort food classics like barbecue chicken, mac and cheese, burgers, pastas, and tacos. Products Arrive: Frozen Why You Should Try It Daily Harvest boasts a wide selection of plant-based, gluten-free offerings with volume-based discounts for large orders.

Pros Entire menu is plant-based and gluten-free Focus on organic ingredients Volume-based discounts. Cons Single servings only Must order a minimum of nine items.

Overview Daily Harvest specializes in plant-based heat-and-eat meals, smoothies, soups, and snacks made with sustainably-sourced ingredients and no fillers, gluten, GMOs, or artificial additives.

To order, you'll build a box of either nine, 14, or 24 items, with volume-based discounts that increase the more items you purchase. While all items arrive frozen instead of fresh, that just means they'll last a while in the freezer until you're ready to enjoy them. and Canada Products Arrive: Frozen Why You Should Try It Revive Superfoods specializes in pre-portioned plant-based smoothies, soups, snacks, and supermeals that can be ready to enjoy in minutes.

Pros Nutritious foods with minimal prep Zero-waste philosophy Can order up to 24 items at a time Cons Limited variety of non-smoothie items Shipping costs extra Overview If you're looking to incorporate more superfoods into your meal rotation, Revive Superfoods is a great option.

Simply add your choice of liquid and blend the ingredients until smooth. You can also choose from soups, oat bowls, frozen desserts, "supermeal" grain bowls, and "bites" made of chewy oatmeal filled with jam. Pricing and Plans Pricing depends on what you order.

Begin by selecting a box size of either nine, 12, or 24 items, then simply fill it with your choice of menu selections. Why You Should Try It Despite its low cost, HelloFresh offers a huge selection of delicious meals that are easy to prepare.

Pros Dozens of weekly menu and market items Great-tasting creative and classic recipes Responsible ingredient sourcing and packaging. Recipes are made of high-quality ingredients shipped in sustainable packaging, and they're each tested 45 times to ensure deliciousness and simplicity.

They can add some much-needed variety if your dinners have been feeling stale. There are two different types of meal delivery services: prepared meal delivery and meal kit delivery.

Prepared meal delivery services send single-serving meals that are completely cooked. They only require reheating and they may be sent fresh or frozen. Meal kits, on the other hand, consist of weekly shipments of recipe cards and all the corresponding ingredients to cook those recipes.

There are five main factors to consider when choosing the best affordable meal delivery service for your household. For individuals, prepared meals may be more convenient, but meal kits are often a better choice for families.

Families who follow specific diets like gluten-free, vegan or keto will need to choose meal delivery services like Purple Carrot or Green Chef, which are more expensive than some others. Additionally, if you eat organic that will limit your options as well.

Only Green Chef offers exclusively organic meal kits. Finally, you should review the menu before you sign up and make sure that there are plenty of options that you and the other members of your household will enjoy. When choosing a meal delivery service, what to avoid really comes down to your personal preferences and budget.

Fortunately, you can view the menu for all of these services on their websites before signing up. In fact, I have tested all of the services on this list for myself, in addition to several others.

We were able to use my first-hand experiences to help guide our decisions for the best cheap meal delivery. Additionally, we considered price per serving, specialty diets and customer reviews to ensure that we included highly-rated meal kits that offered affordable options for people with many different dietary needs and preferences.

Meal delivery services are weekly subscriptions that send pre-prepared meals or meal kits with recipes and ingredients to your door each week.

Some, like Nutrisystem, send monthly shipments. Meal delivery services are available at a wide range of prices. Many of them cost around eight to ten dollars per serving, but they can range from five to fifteen dollars per serving. Meal delivery services can be a good fit for athletes, depending on their unique nutrition needs.

Typically, athletes need to prioritize protein intake and may need to time their carbohydrate intake around athletic events.

Most meal delivery services feature protein-rich meal options and you can adjust the size of your carbohydrate serving if needed. Cheap meal delivery services can save your family hours each week. Although they are typically more expensive than grocery store prices, there are several affordable options that can save money compared to regular dining out.

Be sure to choose a meal kit that fits within your budget, is a good fit for your dietary needs and contains plenty of options that your household enjoys.

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