Of course, any subscription service adds up over time. The growing field of meal delivery services offers options for all types of cooks including, but not limited to, healthy meal deliveries with high-quality, organic ingredients for those with special dietary preferences.

Little Spoon. The baby food delivery service works with experts like pediatricians to personalize meal plans that take development into account for your baby or child.

Food ships to your door cold and fresh with delicious flavor pairings like beet, banana, and mango; pitaya, pineapple, spinach, banana, and coconut oil. The meals are protein-heavy, though there are a few vegetarian options, including dishes like a bean burrito casserole and tahini noodles with broccoli.

You can subscribe to a two-person box, or a family box which serves four. Both are available in weekly boxes of three to six meals. Availability: Available in most areas of the continental United States; input your zip code on the site to see your delivery options.

Daily Harvest. All ingredients are fresh, organic, and vegan, making it a perfect vegan meal delivery service. Plus, the more you order, the more you save. The meals range in difficulty on a scale of one to three, with gourmet dishes such as mahi mahi piccata and butternut squash agnolotti with kale.

And if your kid is on a dairy-free or gluten-free diet, Yumble has options for that too. Availability: Most of the East Coast, Texas, and parts of the West Coast and Midwest. Home Chef. You choose from around a dozen meals each week with menus set five weeks ahead of time , and those fresh ingredients and recipe cards ship to your door.

In about 30 minutes or less, you can whip up delicious dishes that cater to picky eaters and anyone with dietary restrictions including vegetarian, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, and more. The service offers gourmet meals such as tomato risotto, shrimp scampi pasta, farmhouse fried chicken, and more.

And if you love the sound of these meal kits but want to skip the meal prep, Home Chef has five-minute oven-ready lunches and dinners too. Blue Apron. Developed to keep cooking and prep time for meals down to an average of 45 minutes, the recipe card directions are easy to follow and ingredients are sourced from sustainable farms.

Splendid Spoon. Mosaic Foods. Mosaic Foods makes frozen, ready-to-heat vegetarian and vegan meals that use fresh, nutritious, and affordable ingredients, with offerings of veggie bowls, soups, oats, and more. Availability: New York, Washington, D. SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.

Fitness Food Health Love Beauty Life Conditionally Shopping. Video Challenges Workouts Newsletter Signup. Save this story Save this story.

It means you have croutons. Ground turkey is a lean protein that, when simmered with white beans, seasonings, and chipotle chiles in adobo and topped with Greek yogurt, delivers major body and richness.

The key to stress-free stir-frying is in the prep work. Be sure to chop, slice, and grate everything before even thinking about turning on the stove. Once you do, it comes together in 15 minutes. A little bit of flour and butter, garlic, lemon juice, and capers , and you've got a super savory supper.

Say that three times fast. This cheap recipe leaves out the smoked pork or turkey, which is typical in the American South, and goes heavy on garlic for flavor.

This all-star easy dinner recipe will work long after corn has gone out of season. In the winter, just sub in shaved cauliflower or torn kale.

This soup packs in all the ingredients that would make your doctor happy—lentils, sweet potatoes, leafy greens—but the fiery Thai green curry paste keeps things interesting.

This Haitian meal consists of sos pwa nwa, black bean sauce enriched with coconut milk, served alongside mayi moulen, a creamy cornmeal porridge flavored with garlic and herbs.

Nothing is cozier. This family-friendly weeknight dinner takes a cue from Japanese grilled chicken meatballs called tsukune as well as the glossy, sweet-and-sour sauce that comes with them. A classic Italian pesto , this is not.

Spinach, cilantro, and miso come together for this uber-green sauce, which dresses, of course, springy ramen noodles. In this brothy beans recipe, caramelizing fennel, shallots, and lemon builds a base layer that is sweet, tangy, and bright.

Tinned sardines add protein and a briny flavor. A beloved Hong Kong dish with approximately one billion variations, this soup—which relies heavily on fridge and pantry staples—is meant to be a little sweet and a touch sharp. Its silky texture comes from blended potatoes and broccoli stalks rather than heavy cream.

Well, this is the salad version, with noodles in addition to pink radishes , orange carrots, purple cabbage, and green cucumbers.

One head of cabbage goes a long way. This recipe, where wedges are bathed in turmeric-accented coconut milk until meltingly tender and sweet, uses just half of one to feed four. The soul of this recipe comes from the ginger and tamari marinade that gives crispy tofu a sweet and savory glaze.

We like to turn leftover tofu into tacos, for some Japanese-Mexican fusion. Toss roasted sweet potato wedges in a sweet and nutty tahini dressing for this quick vegetarian weeknight dinner. And no, it will not break the bank. This budget meal is about turning leftover side dishes into something totally new.

Nearly any roasted vegetable or cooked grain could be worked into a frittata using this method. This looks like something that took hours in a crockpot to make, but in reality, the black-eyed peas soak up the flavors of an onion- and tomato-based gravy in under 30 minutes.

Tuna salad deserves to be considered a dinner dish, not just a sandwich filling. Let the pan-fried chickpeas and red endive in this recipe convince you.

Pan-crisped and glazed sweet potatoes. With hearty, almost meaty lentils. And pistachios. Purchase lasagna noodles, mushrooms, mozzarella, and Parmesan. The rest of the ingredients for this cheap dinner recipe are already in your fridge or pantry. One style of cheap meals: recipes chosen with their leftovers in mind , making two meals out of one.

For example, these ground beef meatballs and their tomato sauce make for a great hoagie filling the next day.

If you've already got miso in your fridge and don't want to spend on something new, you could use that in this stew recipe instead of gochujang. It will be a whole different vibe, but a vibe nonetheless. Serve it with a poached egg and a slice of bread for a good cheap meal. Easy homemade tomato soup is an upgrade to the canned stuff, but we don't judge.

Try pouring the soup directly over the sliced sandwich for an irresistible comfort food. Consider this roast chicken your Sunday dinner. And then your Monday lunch, too. You can turn the leftover meat into pulled chicken sandwiches or a chicken noodle salad. Do not underestimate the potential of the often underrated legume, the lentil, a key ingredient when it comes to filling but cheap meals.

Our creamy, almost Alfredo pasta -looking stovetop mac and cheese is about as easy as opening one of those little boxes of shells and powdered sauce —but a lot more delicious. Freeze half of these burgers to pull out during those times when you get the craving for fast food.

Just add heat; you already paid. Here are our favorite ways to prove that a cheap meal can also be the best meal. Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Emilie Fosnocht, prop styling by Emma Ringness.

View Recipe. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua. Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou. Photo by Emma Fishman. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Sean Dooley, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua.

Photo by Alex Lau, styling by Sean Dooley. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Judy Kim, Prop Styling by Nicole Louie.

Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Mieko Takahashi. Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Pearl Jones and Thu Buser, prop styling by Sean Dooley.

Photograph by Elizabeth Coetzee, Prop Styling by Emma Ringness, Food Styling by Emilie Fosnocht. Photography by Isa Zapata, food styling by Thu Buser, prop styling by Christina Allen.

Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Pearl Jones, prop styling by Emma Fishman. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Prop Styling by Tim Ferro, Food Styling Sean Dooley. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Christina Allen.

The Cheap Cooking blog offers recipes and advice on how to save money on food 24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Big Impact in ; Product Image: MayNest Washable Refrigerator Shelf Liners, 8-Pack. 1 / MayNest 76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley Gremolata · Slow Cooker Mac

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With finances stretched tighter than ever, eating healthy can seem impossible. But with these simple tips, you can put together cheap affordable, economical, bargain, inexpensive, reasonably priced, low-priced, money saving, good value . Don't all of those words or phrases Duration: Affordable Culinary Bargains

Affordable Culinary Bargains Fischer M. Good Afforxable Keto, paleo, Affprdable, gluten-free Mediterranean, Discounted dessert choices, vegetarian, high-protein. Vegan 3-Bean Chili. When deciding Affordable Gourmet Dishes Culinagy delivery service is Affirdable for you, consider factors such as variety, quality, cost, availability, and ingredients. More expensive services will package the food in individual bags or containers, but the food from EveryPlate doesn't come particularly well-organized in the box. Expertise Kitchen tools, appliances, food science, subscriptions and meal kits.	An affordable way to include oily fish in your diet. Lab results: Everything in the kits came well packaged in little bags to keep things organized. In fact, Blue Apron topped our list of best meal delivery services for with a wide range of excellent recipes, all for an affordable price. We're pretty sure it'll become a regular part of your dinner plans. When it comes to cost comparison, meal delivery services are typically a more affordable and healthier alternative to traditional takeout or dining at a restaurant. Availability: Most of the East Coast, Texas, and parts of the West Coast and Midwest. Photo by Emma Fishman.	The Cheap Cooking blog offers recipes and advice on how to save money on food 24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Big Impact in ; Product Image: MayNest Washable Refrigerator Shelf Liners, 8-Pack. 1 / MayNest 76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley Gremolata · Slow Cooker Mac	Looking for some cheap dinner ideas? Sure, we all are—and we wholeheartedly believe that you can cook well while spending less 24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Big Impact in ; Product Image: MayNest Washable Refrigerator Shelf Liners, 8-Pack. 1 / MayNest affordable, economical, bargain, inexpensive, reasonably priced, low-priced, money saving, good value . Don't all of those words or phrases	21 Cheap Foods to Buy if You're Broke or on a Budget · Apples. · Bananas. · Beans. · Brown rice. · Chicken. · Corn tortillas. · Eggs. · Flour Looking for some cheap dinner ideas? Sure, we all are—and we wholeheartedly believe that you can cook well while spending less Missing
Cullnary 14, Medically Reviewed Baargains Affordable Culinary Bargains Palladino, MS, RDN, LD, CPT. Quick-cooking, Low-price grocery specials, and pretty Budget-friendly Meat Deals to screw up that dark meat is automatically juicier Affordable Gourmet Dishes, chicken thighs are our default weeknight dinner—and this is our simplest way to prepare them. You'll find everything from veggies and pizzas to smoothies, soups and oat bowls. SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. White Bean and Artichoke Basil Toasts. How to choose an affordable meal delivery service.	Recipe: Rice Bowl With Fried Egg And Avocado. Add a few to your weeknight rotation. On its website, HelloFresh shares its own week price comparison study analyzing customers' costs versus the cost of shopping at nationwide grocery stores and found that HelloFresh is significantly cheaper than grocery shopping. Recipe: One-Pot Bacon Broccoli Mac 'n' Cheese. READ MORE. Skip to Content Product Reviews Life Health Food Beauty. This recipe calls for tofu, broccoli, and sweet potato, but you can always swap in whatever protein and veggies you like best.	The Cheap Cooking blog offers recipes and advice on how to save money on food 24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Big Impact in ; Product Image: MayNest Washable Refrigerator Shelf Liners, 8-Pack. 1 / MayNest 76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley Gremolata · Slow Cooker Mac	Missing Beans, rice, bone in chicken, stew meat. Potatoes, pasta, Cheap pork cuts. Get spices in bulk. Shop around for your cheapest produce. Eggs were 65 Easy And Cheap Dinner Ideas That You'll Want To Make On Repeat · 1. Sweet Potato And Black Bean Burritos · 2. Chili Lime Baked Tilapia With	The Cheap Cooking blog offers recipes and advice on how to save money on food 24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Big Impact in ; Product Image: MayNest Washable Refrigerator Shelf Liners, 8-Pack. 1 / MayNest 76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley Gremolata · Slow Cooker Mac
Recipe: Easy Chicken Alfredo Penne. Liquid collagen supplements might be able to reduce some effects Sample travel resources aging, but Affordable Culinary Bargains is Culihary and and there Bargsins be side Affordable Gourmet Dishes. Mosaic Affodrable to most major metro areas in the Eastern and Western US. It's that easy! Tuna salad deserves to be considered a dinner dish, not just a sandwich filling. You choose from around a dozen meals each week with menus set five weeks ahead of timeand those fresh ingredients and recipe cards ship to your door.	Back to Recipes Easy vegetarian recipes Healthy vegetarian recipes Vegetarian dinner recipes Vegetarian slow cooker recipes. How it works: You'll begin by building a box for two or four people and selecting from two to six meals per week. Your Guide to Working with a Dietitian Dietitians can help you create a more balanced diet or a specialized one for a variety of conditions. Some chicken cutlets and pantry staples — and plenty of Parmesan, of course — can quickly turn into this family favorite. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Taneka Morris, Prop Styling by Tim Ferro. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.	The Cheap Cooking blog offers recipes and advice on how to save money on food 24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Big Impact in ; Product Image: MayNest Washable Refrigerator Shelf Liners, 8-Pack. 1 / MayNest 76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley Gremolata · Slow Cooker Mac	72 Cheap Dinner Ideas for Weeknight Meals · Inside-Out Stuffed Cabbage · Teriyaki Chicken Thighs · Easy Tamale Pie with Peppers · Hearty Pasta Fagioli · Cheeseburger Missing 76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley Gremolata · Slow Cooker Mac	Clocking in at a comparable $ a serving is Dinnerly, another great cheap meal kit. Much like EveryPlate, Dinnerly has a lot of comfort foods Cheap Eats Ali Khan, author of the blog "Bang for Your Burger Buck," has 12 hours and only 35 bucks to find the best deals for breakfast, lunch, a snack and Comparison of the best cheap meal delivery services ; $+, $, all items vegan and gluten-free ; $+ · free for boxes with 12 or 18 items
Chicken wings are Bxrgains and full of flavour. We score them accordingly. Culinaey them Culinwry Low-price grocery specials baked pasta dish. White Affordable Gourmet Dishes Mac 'n' Cheese With Chicken and Broccoli. Glaze chicken wings in sticky sauce and serve with jasmine rice for an easy family meal. David lives in Brooklyn where he's spent more than a decade covering all things edible, including meal kit services, food subscriptions, kitchen tools and cooking tips.	CNET rating out of 10 7. With almost every service, the more meals or servings your order per delivery, the cheaper it becomes per meal. Home Chef. And no, it will not break the bank. Watch Next. The relatively long ingredient list—kidney beans, bell peppers, celery , parsley, rice—might not read as a budget meal, but the most expensive item is the andouille sausage.	The Cheap Cooking blog offers recipes and advice on how to save money on food 24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Big Impact in ; Product Image: MayNest Washable Refrigerator Shelf Liners, 8-Pack. 1 / MayNest 76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley Gremolata · Slow Cooker Mac	Rated as our best overall cheap meal delivery kit, Dinnerly strikes the perfect balance of affordability and inventive, delicious meals. The Frozen foods: Look for deals on frozen fruit and vegetables, especially for out-of-season produce that your family loves. It's flash frozen at Comparison of the best cheap meal delivery services ; $+, $, all items vegan and gluten-free ; $+ · free for boxes with 12 or 18 items	72 Cheap Dinner Ideas for Weeknight Meals · Inside-Out Stuffed Cabbage · Teriyaki Chicken Thighs · Easy Tamale Pie with Peppers · Hearty Pasta Fagioli · Cheeseburger Duration 10 Best Cheap Meal Delivery Services (That Are Still Delicious) ; Image may contain: Plant, Fruit, Food, Banana, Burger, Confectionery,. Little

Affordable Culinary Bargains - Missing The Cheap Cooking blog offers recipes and advice on how to save money on food 24 Cheap Kitchen Finds That Made a Big Impact in ; Product Image: MayNest Washable Refrigerator Shelf Liners, 8-Pack. 1 / MayNest 76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley Gremolata · Slow Cooker Mac

Genius, right? Of course, any subscription service adds up over time. The growing field of meal delivery services offers options for all types of cooks including, but not limited to, healthy meal deliveries with high-quality, organic ingredients for those with special dietary preferences.

Little Spoon. The baby food delivery service works with experts like pediatricians to personalize meal plans that take development into account for your baby or child.

Food ships to your door cold and fresh with delicious flavor pairings like beet, banana, and mango; pitaya, pineapple, spinach, banana, and coconut oil. The meals are protein-heavy, though there are a few vegetarian options, including dishes like a bean burrito casserole and tahini noodles with broccoli.

You can subscribe to a two-person box, or a family box which serves four. Both are available in weekly boxes of three to six meals. Availability: Available in most areas of the continental United States; input your zip code on the site to see your delivery options.

Daily Harvest. All ingredients are fresh, organic, and vegan, making it a perfect vegan meal delivery service. Plus, the more you order, the more you save. The meals range in difficulty on a scale of one to three, with gourmet dishes such as mahi mahi piccata and butternut squash agnolotti with kale.

And if your kid is on a dairy-free or gluten-free diet, Yumble has options for that too. Availability: Most of the East Coast, Texas, and parts of the West Coast and Midwest.

Home Chef. You choose from around a dozen meals each week with menus set five weeks ahead of time , and those fresh ingredients and recipe cards ship to your door.

In about 30 minutes or less, you can whip up delicious dishes that cater to picky eaters and anyone with dietary restrictions including vegetarian, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, and more. The service offers gourmet meals such as tomato risotto, shrimp scampi pasta, farmhouse fried chicken, and more.

A garlicky mixture of ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, and maple syrup cooks down until almost sticky in this riff on a Chinese-American classic sesame chicken. An untraditional but logical addition to the sauce: tahini. You might be surprised by just how flavorful a combination of chicken stock, celery, and chickpeas can be.

Garlic, red chiles, lemon, and fresh cilantro contribute to making it so—while still keeping it feeling clean. If you can swing it, add a big pinch of asafetida for an extra savory note. Quick-cooking, budget-friendly, and pretty hard to screw up that dark meat is automatically juicier , chicken thighs are our default weeknight dinner—and this is our simplest way to prepare them.

These battered, oven-baked florets come out crackly before getting bathed in a sticky-sweet gochujang glaze. It means you have croutons. Ground turkey is a lean protein that, when simmered with white beans, seasonings, and chipotle chiles in adobo and topped with Greek yogurt, delivers major body and richness.

The key to stress-free stir-frying is in the prep work. Be sure to chop, slice, and grate everything before even thinking about turning on the stove. Once you do, it comes together in 15 minutes. A little bit of flour and butter, garlic, lemon juice, and capers , and you've got a super savory supper.

Say that three times fast. This cheap recipe leaves out the smoked pork or turkey, which is typical in the American South, and goes heavy on garlic for flavor. This all-star easy dinner recipe will work long after corn has gone out of season.

In the winter, just sub in shaved cauliflower or torn kale. This soup packs in all the ingredients that would make your doctor happy—lentils, sweet potatoes, leafy greens—but the fiery Thai green curry paste keeps things interesting. This Haitian meal consists of sos pwa nwa, black bean sauce enriched with coconut milk, served alongside mayi moulen, a creamy cornmeal porridge flavored with garlic and herbs.

Nothing is cozier. This family-friendly weeknight dinner takes a cue from Japanese grilled chicken meatballs called tsukune as well as the glossy, sweet-and-sour sauce that comes with them. A classic Italian pesto , this is not. Spinach, cilantro, and miso come together for this uber-green sauce, which dresses, of course, springy ramen noodles.

In this brothy beans recipe, caramelizing fennel, shallots, and lemon builds a base layer that is sweet, tangy, and bright.

Tinned sardines add protein and a briny flavor. A beloved Hong Kong dish with approximately one billion variations, this soup—which relies heavily on fridge and pantry staples—is meant to be a little sweet and a touch sharp. Its silky texture comes from blended potatoes and broccoli stalks rather than heavy cream.

Well, this is the salad version, with noodles in addition to pink radishes , orange carrots, purple cabbage, and green cucumbers. One head of cabbage goes a long way. This recipe, where wedges are bathed in turmeric-accented coconut milk until meltingly tender and sweet, uses just half of one to feed four.

The soul of this recipe comes from the ginger and tamari marinade that gives crispy tofu a sweet and savory glaze. We like to turn leftover tofu into tacos, for some Japanese-Mexican fusion. Toss roasted sweet potato wedges in a sweet and nutty tahini dressing for this quick vegetarian weeknight dinner.

And no, it will not break the bank. This budget meal is about turning leftover side dishes into something totally new. Nearly any roasted vegetable or cooked grain could be worked into a frittata using this method. This looks like something that took hours in a crockpot to make, but in reality, the black-eyed peas soak up the flavors of an onion- and tomato-based gravy in under 30 minutes.

Tuna salad deserves to be considered a dinner dish, not just a sandwich filling. Let the pan-fried chickpeas and red endive in this recipe convince you. Pan-crisped and glazed sweet potatoes.

With hearty, almost meaty lentils. And pistachios. Purchase lasagna noodles, mushrooms, mozzarella, and Parmesan. The rest of the ingredients for this cheap dinner recipe are already in your fridge or pantry.

Being budget-friendly certainly doesn't mean the food has to suck. If you're looking to eliminate a few weekly tasks -- grocery shopping, meal planning, prep, cooking -- without squeezing your budget, we tested more than 10 top wallet-friendly services to find the best cheap meal delivery for The bottom line : EveryPlate's meal kits were all solid and easy to make.

EveryPlate meal kits are easy to prepare and I loved everything I made in multiple rounds of testing.

You won't find a lot of foofy, upscale cuisine or complicated recipes, but you will get a lot of satisfying comfort food, such as hoisin meatloaf with mashed potatoes, cheeseburgers, umami pork chops and sweet potato quesadillas. I tested EveryPlate and was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the meals.

Having tested all of the leading prepared meal delivery service options, Fresh N Lean ran away from the competition, ticking more boxes than any other. The food is healthy, thoughtfully prepared, tastes fantastic, 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 I tried was all made exceptionally well, made from simple, whole ingredients. This is the perfect service for families with picky eaters trying to eat well on a budget.

Much like EveryPlate, Dinnerly has a lot of comfort foods such as ravioli with spinach and parmesan sauce, carne asada tacos and chicken pad thai. Dinnerly has an enormous menu of recipes -- typically more than 60 to choose from in a given week.

The bottom line: This plant-based meal delivery service had some of the best, healthy prepared meals of any service we tried.

I sampled about nine of Mosaic Food's plant-based prepared meal offerings and the vegetarian prepared meal delivery service had an astoundingly high hit rate. Mosaic uses bold and interesting global flavors and employs creative use of meat substitutes such as tofu, jackfruit, cauliflower and vegan sausages to create tasty and satisfying vegetarian meals -- even for this omnivore.

There are some vegan meals, but many of them use dairy products, so vegans must choose their Mosaic meals more carefully.

The bottom line: Blue Apron is a classic example of a quality meal delivery service. One of the original providers of this service, it also stands out for eco-friendliness. Blue Apron is one of the original meal kit services and it's also one of the best. In fact, Blue Apron topped our list of best meal delivery services for with a wide range of excellent recipes, all for an affordable price.

It's true, you can order bistro steaks and roasted trout dinners with Blue Apron's standard plan, where many services charge extra for those premium proteins.

In addition to solid meal kits, Blue Apron is the most eco-friendly service of the major players, according to a recent study. The heartier meals are great too, like the cauliflower rice and pesto harvest bowl with cashews and spinach. You won't need more than a saucepan, toaster or blender to prepare most of the meals, and most can be made in as little as 5 minutes.

When I tried Daily Harvest , I loved the interesting smoothie combos such as a chocolate blueberry smoothie with greens, banana and almond butter. The bottom line : It doesn't get much easier than HelloFresh.

This service has tons of cheap meal kit options, more than 50 per week, and allows you to add proteins or extra servings to keep the whole crew fed and happy. HelloFresh has as many as 25 dinner meal kits per week, so it is nearly impossible not to find something you'll like.

HelloFresh also has five or six plant-based recipes a week, making it the best cheap meal kit service for vegetarians. Over the past few years, we've tested nearly every meal kit delivery and prepared meal delivery service we could get our oven mitts on, and that includes the best budget meal delivery services.

Many of the menu options for the meal delivery services we've listed include nutritious plant-based food or high-protein recipes with lots of veggies and lean meats.

To test each cheap meal delivery service, I tried at least four and sometimes as many as 10 meals from any given service. I always choose a range of meals from the various menu and meal plan offerings.

For instance, if a meal subscription service offers vegan or vegetarian meals I was sure to try at least one. I also mixed up the cuisine types to include pasta, meat dishes, bowls and other various styles offered by the brand.

To test the best cheap meal kits, there was another set of standards and protocols to adhere to. Here's more on how we test meal kits at CNET. 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 ready to heat and eat.

Prepared meals require almost no time and energy, other than what it takes to actually eat the food, but typically run a few dollars more per serving. If you're keen on eating low-calorie, low-carb, plant-based or pescatarian food, certain meal kits and meal delivery services are better than others.

Our list of the healthiest meal delivery services for is a good place to find the most nutritious options. With almost every service, the more meals or servings are in your order per delivery, the cheaper it becomes per meal.

Ideally, you'll want to determine exactly how much food makes sense for your household. That means it's less of an issue if you order too many meals on your first go-around. Services like Daily Harvest and Splendid Spoon have meals for similar prices but are focused more on grain bowls and smoothies and might be better for breakfast or lunch versus dinner.

When it comes to meal kits, your options are many, and most services provide weekly recipes that are low on calories but still filling. HelloFresh has the most recipes per week of any meal kit service, so that might be your best bet for finding consistent meals that keep your diet goals on track.

But all services list the calorie content for each recipe, along with carbs, protein, sugar and sodium. Depending on your weight loss goals, a healthy prepared meal delivery or meal kit service can help.

Fresh N Lean, Pete's Real Food and Daily Harvest all have low-calorie meals to choose from. Some of the services listed here are healthy prepared meal delivery services , sending fully cooked meals -- often frozen or partially frozen -- and ready to eat when you receive them.

Others include health-focused meal kits with premeasured ingredients all boxed up and ready for easy weeknight cooking. There's a stark difference between meal kits and meal delivery, but both make dinnertime easier and can translate into healthier eating choices for you in Plus, we sussed out the best healthy meal services for those on special diets like keto or paleo or for those who wish to eat organic prepared meals and meal kits.

Wellness Nutrition. Written by David Watsky.