WhichMealKitMeal kit guides: plan your week
How to choose between cooking and heating, plan portions for your household, read menu labels and keep the bill and the cutoff in view.
Choose the preparation
Is a meal kit worth it? Work it out for your weekA meal kit can be worth it when it replaces takeout or groceries you throw away, rarely when it replaces cheap home cooking. Put in your own numbers to see.Meal kits vs. prepared mealsChoose the amount of cooking you want first. Then choose the number of portions that will arrive.Prepared meal delivery: single meals to heat, comparedFactor, Tempo, Trifecta, BistroMD and CookUnity sell boxes of single meals to heat, CookUnity and Tempo from four a week, Factor from six, Trifecta from seven and BistroMD, frozen, from ten; Splendid Spoon starts at six, all plant-based. Purple Carrot and Marley Spoon sell prepared lines beside their kits, and Tovala sells single meals from four a week that cook, rather than heat, in its own Smart Oven.What comes in a meal kit, and what you need at homeA traditional meal kit supplies ingredients and a recipe. You supply the cooking equipment, pantry basics and preparation. Faster formats move some of that work into the box.Meal kits without a subscription: who sells a one-time boxClean Eatz Kitchen has no subscription at all, and Blue Apron, CookUnity, Daily Harvest and Mom’s Meals sell a one-time order with nothing to cancel. What the other eighteen offer instead, and how to stop after one box.Quick and easy meal kits: the fastest recipes and oven-ready kitsGobble’s 15-minute kits, HelloFresh’s 20-minute plan, 30-minute choices at Home Chef and EveryPlate, and oven-ready kits from Home Chef, HelloFresh and Blue Apron.Breakfast and lunch delivery: which services sell more than dinnerSplendid Spoon sells its meals for any time of day; Factor, Sunbasket, HelloFresh, Green Chef, Purple Carrot, Marley Spoon, Home Chef, Gobble, Dinnerly, CookUnity, Tempo and Mom’s Meals sell breakfasts or lunches beside their dinners.
Fit your household and menu
Meal kits for one personA two-serving kit can work for one person if you want the second portion. A prepared meal avoids that automatic extra serving.Meal kits for two: which box fits, and what it costsAlmost every meal kit is sized for two, so the real choice is how many dinners you want, how much cooking you will do and what the box costs after the first one.How to choose meal kits for families and larger householdsStart with servings per recipe and dinners per delivery. A family label can describe a separate menu, while a larger standard box may provide the same number of portions.Meal kits for college students: what works in a dormWhat works with a microwave and a mini fridge, the smallest box at full price, how long the meals keep, and what campus mail centers do with a perishable box.Meal delivery for seniors: meals to heat, and ordering for a parentSingle meals to heat from Factor, Tempo, CookUnity and Mom’s Meals, the smallest orders, how to order for a parent, and the public meal programs for people 60 and over.
Menus and labels
How to choose meal-kit menu preferencesUse vegetarian, plant-based or pescatarian labels to find a menu to explore. Then choose the actual recipes that meet your preferences; a menu label does not establish allergy or medical suitability.Plant-based and vegan meal delivery: kits and meals to heatPurple Carrot and Splendid Spoon sell only plant-based dinners; HelloFresh, Green Chef, CookUnity and Factor mark vegan or plant-based dishes on mixed menus.Vegetarian meal kits: which services label vegetarian dinnersWhich meal kits label vegetarian dinners, from HelloFresh and Green Chef to Blue Apron and Sunbasket, which prepared meals do, and which services are meat-free throughout.Gluten-free meal delivery: what each service’s label meansWhich meal kits and prepared meals are gluten-free throughout, which label some dishes, which have no plan, and what each says about cross-contact.Keto meal delivery: kits and prepared meals with a keto labelGreen Chef’s Keto plan, Home Chef’s and Sunbasket’s Keto-Friendly recipes, Factor’s, CookUnity’s and Trifecta’s keto meals to heat, BistroMD’s Keto Flex program, and what each label promises.High-protein meal delivery: the protein behind each service’s labelWhat “high protein” means at 20 meal services, in grams a serving from their own pages: from 10 g on Daily Harvest’s smoothies to 45 g at Marley Spoon.Low-calorie meal delivery: each service’s calorie line, per servingEach service’s low-calorie label in its own words: 650 calories at most kits, 600 at Blue Apron, Sunbasket, Purple Carrot and Tovala, about 550 at Factor and CookUnity, 500 at Tempo and Clean Eatz Kitchen, 350 to 550 by plan at Trifecta, 1,200 to 1,400 a day at BistroMD.Low-carb meal delivery: each service’s carb limit per servingSeventeen meal services label low-carb meals, with limits from under 20 g of carbs a serving at Clean Eatz Kitchen to 65 g at Purple Carrot; most others sit between 25 and 40 g.Mediterranean diet meal delivery: which services have itGreen Chef’s Mediterranean plan, Home Chef’s two weekly Mediterranean kits, Factor’s and CookUnity’s meals to heat, and the other services that label the diet.Pescatarian meal delivery: seafood plans and menus comparedHelloFresh’s and Sunbasket’s pescatarian plans, Home Chef’s fish-icon meals, Factor’s 15+ weekly pescatarian meals, Tempo’s and CookUnity’s, side by side with what each costs.Paleo meal delivery: the four services that label itSunbasket’s paleo meal kits, CookUnity’s and Trifecta’s paleo meals to heat and Daily Harvest’s paleo collection, in each one’s own words, with what each costs.Organic meal delivery: how much of each box is organicGreen Chef is certified organic and Sunbasket a certified organic handler; Daily Harvest and Splendid Spoon are mostly organic, HelloFresh only partly.Dairy-free meal delivery: whole menus and labelled dishesPurple Carrot, Splendid Spoon and Daily Harvest are dairy-free throughout, and eleven more mark dairy-free dishes or items: each in its own words, with its allergen note.Low-sodium meal delivery: what each service’s label meansBistroMD holds its Heart Healthy meals to 600 mg of sodium, CookUnity and Factor their lower-sodium meals to 700 mg a serving; Splendid Spoon sells a low-sodium box and HelloFresh tags recipes Sodium Smart.Diabetes-friendly meal delivery: what each service’s label promisesSunbasket sells a Diabetes-Friendly plan and publishes its carb, fiber and sodium limits; Mom’s Meals has a Diabetes Friendly menu, BistroMD a Diabetic program, and CookUnity’s go through healthcare providers.Meal delivery with a food allergy: filters and cross-contactTwenty-two of the 23 services say the major allergens are handled where they pack food. Which ones let you filter out nuts or soy, and what each says about cross-contact.
Understand the bill and the cutoff
How meal-kit billing worksSeparate your first-box discount, normal delivery cost and last chance to change the next order.How long you can pause each meal kitSunbasket pauses for up to 12 weeks, Purple Carrot for 6, 8 or 10, CookUnity for up to 8 and Tovala for 4 to 8. Most other services call a break skipping weeks, and three treat a pause as cancelling with a way back.Who owns which meal kit: the companies behind each serviceHelloFresh Group owns HelloFresh, EveryPlate, Green Chef and Factor. Who owns Dinnerly, Home Chef, Tempo, Blue Apron, Sunbasket, Gobble, Purple Carrot and Daily Harvest.
Gifts and paying
Meal kit gift cards: which ones start a subscriptionWhich meal kit gift cards never expire, which let the recipient order without a plan, and which enroll them in one: each service’s own gift terms, side by side.Do meal kits accept EBT? What each service says about SNAPNone of the 23 meal kits and prepared-meal services here lists EBT or SNAP among its payment methods, and nine say so outright. What each one takes, from its own pages.
When the box arrives
Frozen or fresh meal delivery: how long each one keepsSplendid Spoon, Daily Harvest, Clean Eatz Kitchen and BistroMD ship frozen on dry ice; the other nineteen arrive chilled. How long each keeps in the fridge and freezer, in its own words.How to recycle meal kit packaging, service by serviceWhat each meal kit says to do with its box, liners, gel packs and dry ice, from twenty-two services’ own pages, and the one that collects its packaging.
Switching services
HelloFresh alternatives: the closest boxes, by what you want to changeSix services sell three recipes for two like HelloFresh, and five show a price before you enter a ZIP code. The closest switch for the price, household, cooking or plan.EveryPlate alternatives: more choice, a smaller box or less cookingWhere to go from EveryPlate for a bigger weekly menu, a box of two recipes, organic food or a diet plan, or meals to heat, with the same box priced at full price.Home Chef alternatives: a lower rate, a real pause or a box for threeWhere to go from Home Chef for a lower stated price, a pause that keeps your plan, a box for three, a box price before checkout or no subscription.Blue Apron alternatives: a weekly box with a price you can add upBlue Apron sells dishes one at a time. Where to go for a weekly box with a published price, a lower rate per serving, no shipping fee or no subscription.Sunbasket alternatives: a price before checkout, a box for sixWhere to go from Sunbasket for a box price before checkout, a box for six, delivery where it does not go, or organic and paleo food elsewhere.What happened to Freshly, and what to order insteadFreshly closed in January 2023, a little over two years after Nestlé bought it. It sold single prepared meals to heat, and the closest services today are Factor and CookUnity, with Splendid Spoon for plant-based meals.
Put it into numbers
Meal kit vs groceriesThe same dinner from the store and from a kit, with your prices.What meal kits costFull price for your household, every service.Meal plan matcherEvery box that fits your household.Cost calculatorYour cart after the first-box deal.Skip, pause or cancelThe cutoff for your next delivery.