23 Meal Subscription Boxes That Make Cooking at Home Easier Than Ever

hellofresh.com

BEST OVERALL

realsimple - $9/serving Available at HelloFresh

BEST HEALTHY PREPARED MEALS

realsimple - $60 Available at Factor

BEST FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER

realsimple - $9/serving Available at Sunbasket

BEST FOR QUICK MEALS

realsimple - $8/serving Available at Blue Apron

MOST CUSTOMIZABLE

realsimple - $7/serving Available at Home Chef

BEST SIDES AND SMOOTHIES

realsimple - $6/item Available at Daily Harvest

BEST FOR BUSY SCHEDULES

realsimple - $12/serving Available at Gobble

BEST QUICK VEGAN MEALS

realsimple - $109/week Available at Sprinly

BEST FOR EASY MEALS

realsimple - $66/week Available at Martha & Marley Spoon

BEST FOR HEALTHY MEAL PLANS

realsimple - $12/meal Available at Green Chef

BEST VALUE MEAL KIT

realsimple - $5/serving Available at EveryPlate

BEST HIGH-PROTEIN MEALS

realsimple - $8/meal Available at Fresh N' Lean

BEST FOR SNACKS

realsimple - $27/box Available at Snack Nation

BEST VEGAN

realsimple - $12/serving Available at Purple Carrot

BEST FOR CLEAN EATING

realsimple - $24/day Available at Sakara

BEST MICROWAVABLE MEALS

realsimple - $8/meal Available at Freshly

MOST AFFORDABLE

realsimple - $5/serving Available at Dinnerly

BEST PLANT-BASED MEALS

realsimple - $15/meal Available at Boycemode

BEST MEALS FOR KIDS

realsimple - $6/meal Available at Yumble

BEST FAMILY MEALS

realsimple - $40/meal Available at Williams Sonoma

BEST MEAT DELIVERY

realsimple - $10/meal Available at Omaha Steaks

BEST HEALTHY SNACKS

realsimple - $34/box Available at NatureBox

BEST FOR PRODUCE

realsimple - $59/delivery Available at Hungryroot

Whether you're getting into a new cooking routine or looking for ways to avoid busy grocery stores right now, nothing sounds better than having pre-planned meals delivered straight to your door. There's no need to worry about braving the crowds or meal prepping weeknight dinners, and the possibilities for meal delivery services are practically endless.

But before you subscribe to a weekly meal subscription box, you must decide what type of meal plan is best for your needs. Each meal kit delivery service is a little bit different from the next, so we've laid out all the details to make the decision easy for all types of eaters.

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Prepping lunches and then needing to answer that common question, "What's for dinner?" each night can be hard work, and that's why our list of the best meal delivery services is here to help. Plus, most of these meal kit brands allow you to pause several weeks at a time when life gets busier or you'll be out of town. Good food is a click away—what are you waiting for?

• Best Overall: Hello Fresh

• Best Healthy Prepared Meals: Factor

• Best for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner: Sunbasket

• Best for Quick Meals: Blue Apron

• Most Customizable: Home Chef

• Best Sides and Smoothies: Daily Harvest

• Best for Busy Schedules: Gobble

• Best for Easy Meals: Martha & Marley Spoon

• Best for Healthy Meal Plans: Green Chef

• Best Quick Vegan Meals: Sprinly

• Best Value: EveryPlate

• Best High-Protein Meals: Fresh N' Lean

• Best for Snacks: Snack Nation

• Best Vegan: Purple Carrot

• Best for Clean Eating: Sakara

• Best Microwavable Meals: Freshly

• Most Affordable: Dinnerly

• Best Plant-Based Meals: Boycemode

• Best for Kids: Yumble

• Best Family Meals: Williams Sonoma

• Best Meat Delivery: Omaha Steaks

• Best Healthy Snacks: Naturebox

• Best for Produce: Hungryroot

Best Overall Meal Delivery Service: Hello Fresh

HelloFresh is America's most popular meal kit, and we have several guesses as to why that is. The company not only sends along easy-to-follow, well-designed recipe cards for each meal, but HelloFresh is committed to providing high-quality ingredients (sourced straight from the farm!) for each meal you receive. For about $60 per week, you can choose two or three recipes each week from the veggie, classic, pescetarian, calorie-smart, quick-and-easy, or family plans.

Best Healthy Prepared Meals: Factor

Designed by dietitians and fully prepared when they arrive on your doorstep, the single-serving meals from Factor are a great way to incorporate more wholesome ingredients into your diet without sacrificing on taste. The meal delivery service sends you between four and 18 meals to enjoy throughout the week, including craveable proteins and fresh veggies. Even though the dishes are easy to heat in the microwave, they're a far cry from the rubbery frozen dinners at the grocery store. Instead, every dish is packed with flavor and nutrition while also being free of gluten, artificial ingredients, hormones, and antibiotics.

Real Simple readers can receive $90 off their first three weeks by using this link to sign up for Factor.

Best Meal Delivery for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner: Sunbasket

If you've committed to a certain healthy-eating lifestyle, or if you're vegetarian or pescatarian, Sunbasket can help. The company is not only committed to sending the cleanest ingredients in each meal kit, but it offers 10 different plans so that you can find one that fits your lifestyle. It even offers microwave- and oven-ready meals that are ready in minutes. Start by selecting your meal plan, and each week you'll choose two, three, or four meals for either two or four people.

Best Meal Kit for Quick Meals: Blue Apron

Each week, choose two to four recipes from Blue Apron's selection of easy, 20-minute meals, which are split into four different types of plans: Signature, Vegetarian, Wellness, and Signature for 4. Your weekly box will include recipe instructions and the exact amount of pre-portioned ingredients you'll need for each meal. Plus, plenty of meals are Weight Watchers-approved if you're looking for healthy options.

Most Customizable Meal Kit: Home Chef

Before ordering, be sure to set up your Home Chef taste profile so you can easily be matched with recommended 30-minute meals, including steak, chicken, pork, fish, and vegetarian recipes each week. Choose from two, four, or six serving options and with your first order, you'll receive a handy binder to keep all your recipes in one place.

Best Sides and Smoothies: Daily Harvest

Get your daily dose of fruits and vegetables with a weekly selection of chia parfaits, overnight oats, soups, smoothies, lattes, or grain harvest bowls from Daily Harvest. Each pre-portioned cup or bowl is packed with the best organic ingredients, requires barely any preparation, and can be stored in your freezer until you're ready to eat.

Best Meal Kit for Busy Schedules: Gobble

Ideal for those with busy schedules, Gobble differentiates itself from other services by providing fully prepped meal kits. That's right, when your box of food arrives, all of the ingredients are already chopped and measured to perfection, cutting down on your time spent in the kitchen as well as how many dishes you'll need to use. In fact, most meals should be ready to eat in just 15 minutes.

Best Quick Vegan Meals: Sprinly

Whether you just made the switch to plant-based meals or you've been vegan for a long time, Sprinly makes it easy to eat flavorful, nutritious food that fits into your busy schedule. This vegan meal service sends you between six and 18 chef-prepared meals per week, all made with nutrient-dense organic ingredients. Try vegetable tikka masala, zucchini noodle pesto, or a vegan mac and "cheese," which can all be heated up and ready to eat in less than three minutes. Plus, receive $50 off a five-week subscription with the code VIP50OFF5 when you sign up.

Best Meal Kit for Easy Meals: Martha & Marley Spoon

For your Martha & Marley Spoon meal kits, select one of 22 available plans from five categories every week. You'll be making high-quality recipes in half the time thanks to the plan's pre-portioned ingredients and cooking tips from Martha.

Best for Healthy Meal Plans: Green Chef

Choose the Green Chef meal plan of your dreams—including keto, paleo, plant-powered, or balanced living options—then start enjoying how easy it is to cook with organic ingredients. You can pick from the two-person plan or family plan to receive three dinners or two dinners each week, respectively.

Best Value Meal Kit: EveryPlate

Whether you're making dinner for two or dinner for four, EveryPlate has meal plans for any size household at a price anyone can get behind. With 13 recipes to choose from each week, you'll always have amazingly healthy meal ingredients in your fridge to whip up for an easy dinner.

Best High-Protein Meals: Fresh N' Lean

There's no reason you should have to sacrifice taste for nutrition, and Fresh N' Lean is committed to providing both. First, choose from five different meal plans, including Protein+, Keto, Paleo, Vegan, and Vegan Low-Carb. Each fully prepped and portioned meal is made with whole organic ingredients and designed to fuel your activity throughout the day. You can also add breakfasts to your order each week and skip whenever you like.

Best Snack Box: SnackNation

SnackNation will come in handy for all those in-between meal times when you get the munchies. It delivers a monthly box full of snacks from brands like Bare, Kind, and Sun-Maid to your workplace or home. You can order one month of snacks at a time or subscribe to three-, six-, or 12-month plans. For every box delivered, SnackNation will donate meals to families in need through Feeding America.

Best Vegan Meal Kit: Purple Carrot

If you're looking to step up your vegan cooking game, Purple Carrot is for you. The plant-based meal subscription service delivers everything you need to prepare delicious meals like kimchi tofu stew and beet burgers right to your door. You can order breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks from the service.

Best Meals for Clean Eating: Sakara

With Sakara's meal subscription service, you'll get recurring deliveries each week with the option to skip a week or cancel your program at any time. You'll save 15 percent on your program for subscribing (instead of making one-time purchases), and you can choose from four programs that each come with clean, organic meals that are ready to eat—no cooking necessary. Bonus: You'll also get occasional treats with your meals.

Best Microwavable Meals: Freshly

Each Freshly meal is perfectly sized for one person and ready to eat in just three minutes (yes, really). The food is cooked by chefs and delivered while it's still fresh; all you have to do is heat it up in the microwave and you'll have meals like cauliflower-shell bolognese, homestyle chicken with macaroni and cheese, and Mexican-style shredded beef ready at the press of a button. You can choose from four, six, ten, or 12 meals a week, and it's easy to change up how many you need depending on your schedule.

Most Affordable Meal Kit: Dinnerly

One of the most budget-friendly meal subscription box options, Dinnerly offers simple meal kits that start at the low price of just $4.69 per adult-sized serving. It uses the same quality ingredients as other brands, but is able to keep costs low by using digital recipe cards instead of printing instructions on paper and featuring meals that call for fewer ingredients—think one-pot tomato ravioli with pesto sauce and Thai coconut beef curry with rice. You can even filter your meal choices through categories like whether or not it's kid-friendly, low-calorie, vegetarian, or gluten-free.

Best Plant-Based Meal Delivery: Boycemode

After discovering that the secret to fighting his own health battles was through nutrition, Boycemode founder Sam Boyce created a meal subscription company that delivers vegan, plant-based dishes right to your doorstep. The New Jersey-based service crafts craveable dishes—like Summer Corn Chowder and Garlic Parmesan Eggplant Burgers—from whole fruits and vegetables, then ships the meals to customers in 100 percent compostable packaging. Add on smoothies, immune-boosting garlixirs (a drink that aids in digestive cleansing), and wellness tonics to your weekly order. Boycemode currently delivers to 21 states—see if yours is on the list.

Best Meals for Kids: Yumble

Yumble was made for parents with picky eaters. With meals like cheesy fusilli pasta with broccoli and chicken nuggets with vegetables and rice designed just for kids, Yumble takes the guesswork out of deciding what to serve your little ones for dinner. Each balanced meal is nutritionist-approved and ready to serve as is or heat up in two minutes or less. Plus, the boxes come with fun activities for your kids that make eating even more fun.

Best Family Meals: Williams Sonoma

Along with kitchen appliances and gadgets, Williams Sonoma offers a variety of meals you can order for delivery designed to feed as many as eight people. Think vegetable tamales with salsa, mini pizzas, barbeque beef brisket, and more traditional entrées. They're a great way to feed a crowd or plan easy dinners for the family.

Best Meat Delivery: Omaha Steaks

If you love a hearty, meat-filled dish, Omaha Steaks' meals are for you. Choose from options like chicken pot pie, Asian-style beef and broccoli, and Italian chicken piccata. Meals are broken up by categories, from one-step meals to slow cooker dishes to meal kits. Or you can opt to build your own meal featuring Omaha Steaks, beef, pork, or chicken.

Best Healthy Snacks: Naturebox

Stock your pantry with healthy snacks free of artificial flavors, colors, and sweeteners, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and MSG by subscribing to Naturebox. You can build your own custom box by filtering snack options by categories, like vegan, keto-friendly, and low fat, or choose from one of the pre-packed boxes. Delivery is free on all U.S. orders over $25, and when you subscribe to regularly scheduled shipments, you'll save five percent on each snack.

Best Delivery for Produce: Hungryroot

Hungryroot isn't technically a meal kit. Instead, it offers personalized grocery deliveries with simple recipes for meals like grain bowls and hearty salads. You can choose from a fresh selection of healthy food every week to restock your pantry. All of the items are free of artificial sweeteners, colors, and preservatives.

Use code MEREDITH30 to get 30% off your first two orders and a free gift in every delivery through December 2021.