Best Meal Delivery Services of 2023

What’s the best meal delivery service?

A meal kit or prepared meal delivery service is a great way to add some convenience to your day-to-day life. And if you’re on the hunt for the very best services available right now, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve tested 30 of the most popular meal delivery services, ranging from budget-friendly meal kit subscriptions to premium fresh food cleanses, to help you find the best one for your needs, tastes and budget.

Blue Apron, one of the original meal kit services, remains our overall favorite. (Hey, I guess practice does make perfect.) But there are cheaper meal kit services, with ever-changing weekly menus; high-end meal operations to satisfy a gourmand; and meal kits and delivery services that are better for adhering to a plant-based, keto, paleo or low-calorie diet.

Purple Carrot, for instance, is the best vegan or vegetarian meal kit we tried, since none of its weekly recipes contain meat or animal byproducts. HelloFresh has over 80 meal kit recipes that are easily customizable, so if you’ve got kids or folks with finicky tastes to consider, this service is a smart pick.

With so much to choose from, you may be wondering what’s the best meal delivery service for you and your family in 2023. The answer depends on your eating habits, schedule and budget. To help you find a perfect fit, we’ve compared all the top meal subscriptions in several categories. And if you want to try before you buy, this sly hack lets you try them all for cheap, and these meal kit signup offers will bestow weeks of meals on you for as little as $2 or $3 a serving.

Below you’ll find the best meal delivery services of 2023, as tested and reviewed by CNET.

Best meal delivery services of 2023

Pricing Starting at $8/servingType Meal kitRecipes for per week 16Menu OptiGood for Vegetarian, pescatarian, diabetes-friendly, low-calorie, picky eaters, quick mealsons/ Diet Types: Vegetarian, diabetes-friendly, wellness, family-friendly, fast and easy

Blue Apron is largely accepted to be 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. The eight weekly menu choices available range from simple pasta dishes to inventive global cuisine, with seafood and vegetarian options available, too. It’s also the most environmentally friendly meal kit service of the major players.

Blue Apron’s website is easy to navigate and recipes are tagged with helpful keywords such as “customer favorite,” “quick and easy,” “great for grilling” and so on. Even a standard plan includes high-end recipes such as steak and seafood. Read my full review to see how the original meal kit service and how it holds up in 2023.

Plans and pricing: Blue Apron is in the middle of the pack when it comes to cost. Price per serving ranges from $8 to $12, with options to prepare two to five recipes per week and two or four servings per recipe. 

Pricing Starting at $10/servingType Prepared mealsRegional Availability United States nationwideMeal options per week 18Diets good for Keto, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free Mediterranean, vegan, vegetarian, high-protein

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. Save for one dry chicken breast, everything I had was at least good, and most better than good, with some meals even bordering on restaurant quality. My favorite was a tender braised beef with vegetables and coconut-cilantro sauce.

Plans and pricing: Price per meal varies greatly depending on the plan you select as well as the number of meals per week. It’s roughly $10 if you order 10 or more meals per week. If you select lunches or dinners only, it’ll be closer to $15 per meal. It’s not the cheapest, but not the most expensive either and totally worth the extra few bucks, in my opinion. Read our Fresh N Lean review.

Read our Fresh n’ Lean review.

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Pricing Starts at $11/servingType Meal kitsRecipes per week 8Good for Vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, low-calorie

Considering Purple Carrot’s meal kits are all 100% plant-based, it’s no surprise they took the top spot for vegans and vegetarians looking for easy meal kits. Purple Carrot takes its plant-based recipes seriously and the goal is to help you create tasty vegan dinners using fresh vegetables, grains, legumes and other whole foods. If you’re new to veganism and looking for only some plant-based or faux meat products like Impossible Beef that imitate the real thing, you might be better off with a service like HelloFresh. 

There are about eight recipes to choose from each week. I tested a full week’s worth of meals — which you can read about in my full Purple Carrot review here. I truly enjoyed everything I made. 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. 

Recipes we tried include lemon-braised chickpeas with rosemary and cashew cheese, green curry lentils with brown rice and vegetables and broccoli and cheddar soup with miso garlic croutons. 

Plans and pricing: Purple Carrot offers recipes starting at $11 per serving. The fewer servings you order per week, the more expensive your meals will be.

Pricing Starts at $6/servingType Prepared mealsMeal options per week 80Good for Vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, low-calorie

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.

There are some vegan meals, but many of them use dairy products, so vegans must choose their Mosaic meals carefully. But cooking isn’t your thing, Mosaic Foods is the best plant-based meal delivery service money can buy. 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. All the food arrives frozen but still tastes surprisingly fresh upon defrosting and eating. 

Mosaic Foods plans and pricing: Mosaic meals are about $10 each and more like $6 per serving if you order the larger family-sized meals. The food is simple to order from with a clear, concise website and no overly complicated plans. Simply choose the dishes you want with a minimum order of six meals and then decide how often you want them delivered — weekly, biweekly or monthly. Read our Mosaic Review.

Read our Mosaic Foods review.

Pricing Starts at $9/servingType Meal kitsRecipes per week 50+Number of Meal Options per Week 30+Good for Vegan, vegetarian, keto, gluten-free, low-calorie, Whole30, families, picky eaters

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., many of which are family. All those options also makes sticking to a diet plan like keto or paleo a snap. This meal kit service’s portion sizes are generous, and it’s affordable, especially if you order meals 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. Some favorites of the recipes I cooked were the turkey halal cart-style bowls and hoisin meatloaf with mashed potatoes. Read more in this full review of HelloFresh.

HelloFresh plans and pricing: Options range from $9 to $12 per serving, with options for two to six recipes per week and two or four servings per recipe, customizable along with Classic, Veggie and Family plans.

Read our Hello Fresh review.

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Pricing Starts at $12/servingType Meal kitsRecipes per week 30Good for Organic, healthy, low-calorie, pescatarian, vegetarian, keto, gluten-free, Whole30, gourmet

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.  

Because it offers so many different diet plan choices, this also makes Green Chef one of the most versatile meal kits, since you get a bevy of tasty menu options per week. I tried a week’s worth of Green Chef meals and while some recipes were better than others, you could definitely taste the quality of Green Chef’s fresh and organic ingredients. My favorite was the ancho chili and sweet potato bowl over zesty lime-infused rice.

Plans and pricing: HelloFresh meals range from $12 to $13 per serving. You can choose three or four meals per week, with two, four or six servings per meal. 

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Pricing Starts at $11/servingType Prepared mealsMeal options per week 30+Good for Healthy, low-calorie, pescatarian, vegetarian, keto, paleo, diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, Whole30

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, was the occasional miss, 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.

Plans and pricing: With meals for around $11 to $13 per serving when you order in bulk, Factor proves one of the more affordable options among the prepared-meal delivery set. We say give it a shot if you’re looking for a meal delivery service to help lose weight. You can easily pause or cancel anytime. 

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Pricing Starting at $10/mealType Pre-madeRegional Availability Most of the continental United StatesNumber of Meal Options per Week 100+Menu Options/ Diet Types Gluten-free, dairy-free, keto, paleo, vegan, low calorie, low carb, plant-based

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.

Plans and pricing? Meals can be had for as cheap as $11 if you choose the large plan of 16 meals per week. The smaller plans will run you more like $12 or $13 per meal, which is not a bad deal considering the quality. The big downside is that CookUnity is still not currently available to all ZIP codes (check here). 

Use promo code CNET30 for a 30% discount on your first purchase.

Pricing Starts at $15/servingType Prepared mealsMeal options per week 25+Good for Healthy, paleo, keto, low-calorie, diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, Whole30, high protein

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 for 2023. 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. 

Plans and pricing: While it’s not the cheapest service out there, it’s actually cheaper than several other meal services that also use organic ingredients and quality meats, and Pete’s was better than most of them. You can nab a 10-pack of healthy meals for just $150 or subscribe for 10 meals per week for about $160. Either way you order, Pete’s meals break down to about $15 or $16 each. Read our Pete’s Real Food review.

Pricing Starts at $5/servingType Meal kitsRecipes per week 25+Good for Healthy, family-friendly, comfort food, picky eaters, quick and easy

At just $5 per serving — even cheaper with a sign-up offer — and an emphasis on delicious, hearty meal options and generous portion sizes, EveryPlate is the best cheap meal kit service we’ve tried. 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. Best of all, you can score meals for as low as $1.49, with free shipping on your first order. Check out this full review of EveryPlate to find out how much I liked the affordable meal kit service.

Plans and pricing: Prices range from just $5 to $7 per serving. Each weekly box includes between three and six recipes with either two or four servings apiece. Snag a sign-up offer and get meals starting at around $2 per serving.

Read our EveryPlate review.

How we test meal delivery

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.

How we tested meal kit services

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.

How we test prepared meals

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. 

Other meal delivery services we tested 

• Sunbasket: This service has high-end meal kits, but the bloated cost keeps it off our list.
• Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon: This is another meal kit service aimed at foodies. While the quality is high, the prices are too. 
• Home Chef: This meal kit service is good for families, but there’s too much waste and plastic packaging, and many of the recipes I tried were boring.
• BistroMD: These meals are intended to promote weight loss, but the cost is high, and the flavors weren’t good enough to justify the price.
• Daily Harvest: Daily Harvest’s semi-prepared smoothies, bowls and soups are good and fairly affordable, but the meals are inconsistent. 
• Splendid Spoon: If you want premade smoothies, this is a good service to try, but be prepared to pay about $9 for each one.
• Dinnerly: This meal kit service is one of the cheapest, but the recipes were inconsistent. 
• Territory Foods: The food was some of the best I tried, and I found the recipes diverse and interesting. Ultimately the cost — meals starting at $16 — kept it out of the top.
• Sakara Life: This fresh food service was tasty and good for a cleanse, but it’s also one of the most expensive meal subscriptions we tried. 
• Snap Kitchen: Snap Kitchen has solid prepared meals, mostly under 450 calories. The portions were a bit small, and some meals were underwhelming.
• FlexPro Meals: These frozen keto meals were some of the worst I tried.
• Nutrisystem: Though it’s affordable, I disliked most of the meals I tried from this frozen meal subscription.

Who are meal kits good for?

• Families seeking an easier way to make home-cooked meals. Meal kits help you avoid the nightly debate about what you’re going to make for dinner and save a trip to the grocery store if you’re missing breadcrumbs or flour. 
• Those trying to eat healthier. Meal kit services all offer in-depth nutritional information, including carbs, calories, sugar, sodium, and protein. Many meal kit services even offer specific diet plans that filter out foods that don’t fit a dietary preference or restriction, such as gluten-free, diabetes-friendly, keto or carb-conscious and paleo meals.
• Anyone who wants to learn to cook. With all the ingredients sent along and easy recipe instructions, meal kits are a low-pressure way to learn to cook.

Who is prepared meal delivery good for? 

• Those looking to save time. Meal delivery is great for anyone who wants easy meals and fewer evenings spent cooking but doesn’t want to pony up the dough for expensive takeout.
• Those looking to eat better. Many prepared meal delivery services cater to Whole30, keto, paleo, vegan, vegetarian and organic eaters and can help you regulate fat, sugar, carbs and calories on a weekly basis. 
• Families, in some cases. Certain meal kits with larger serving sizes are good for families. Mosaic Foods, for instance, has family meals that net out to just $6 a person. Meal kit services also have family plans that cost less per serving than buying meal kits for one or two people.

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