WhichMealKitWhat counts as a fit
A box fits when the service sells it in the size your household needs, with the format (cook or heat), preparation, ordering and menu choices you set. A meal kit cooks one recipe per dinner, so its portions are recipes × servings; a prepared meal is one portion. When spare portions are welcome, a larger serving size counts as a fit and the spare portions are shown. When nothing fits exactly, the tools show the nearest box on either side instead of an empty page.
Unknown is never treated as a yes: a service that does not publish fixed box sizes (Blue Apron, Sunbasket, Gobble, Daily Harvest) is listed on its own page but never shown as a fit.
How a price line works
Every price on the site comes from one rule, so the home page, the matcher, the profiles, the pairs and the calculator always agree.
- Exact: the service publishes the price of the box. Dinnerly and Marley Spoon publish a food price for every kit size plus a fixed shipping charge, so the line is food + shipping, before tax.
- From: the service states a rate per serving or per meal. The line multiplies that rate by the portions in your box and says what it leaves out (usually shipping and tax). A range is shown where the service gives one.
- In the cart: the service shows its price only after a ZIP code or in its cart. We say so and show nothing in its place.
First-box deals are never mixed into these amounts: the line is the full price you pay once the deal ends. A charge we do not hold is named as missing and never counted as zero. Each amount shows the date we read it on the service’s own site.
How results are ordered
Boxes that fit exactly come first, then the price per portion, lowest first. A “from” rate takes its place in that order and is labelled; prices shown only in the cart come last. You can switch to fewest spare portions, or to the services that are easiest to pause or stop. Nothing is called cheapest on an incomplete amount. Nobody pays for a place in any list here, and no link on this site is paid.
What a portion means
Meal-kit portions are recipes × servings per recipe. Prepared single-serving meals count one portion each. Daily Harvest sells components such as smoothies and bowls, so its items count as meals only when you say so in the calculator. Splendid Spoon matches assume meals, not drinks. Menu labels never establish allergen safety or medical suitability.
The cost calculation
Ongoing delivery = food + shipping + other fees + the tax you enter.
Cost per delivered portion = ongoing delivery ÷ portions in the box.
Four deliveries = ongoing delivery × 4 (four deliveries, not a calendar month).
First-box and later discounts come off their own delivery only.
A blank tax field gives an amount before tax. A blank shipping or fee field holds back the total until you enter it: use 0 only when your cart shows no charge. Use the calculator.
Cutoffs, time zones and wording
A cutoff is the last moment to change, skip or pause the next box. The planner works out a date only where the service publishes a rule that gives one, and labels it “usually”: your account shows the exact time.
- HelloFresh publishes 11:59 PM PST five days before delivery. It writes “PST” all year, so during daylight saving the planner uses Pacific time as it is on that date and says so.
- EveryPlate lists a skip deadline for each delivery day, all at 11:59 PM Central: five days before for Monday to Saturday deliveries, which the planner calculates. For Sunday it says “the previous Friday”, which does not match five days, so for a Sunday delivery the planner asks for the time on your order.
- Factor’s pages give Pacific time in one place and Central time in another, so the planner asks for the time on your order.
- Home Chef closes edits at noon Central on Friday for the upcoming menu, and Sunbasket at noon Pacific on Wednesday; neither maps every delivery date to a cutoff, so the planner asks for your order’s time.
- Dinnerly and Marley Spoon close six to seven days before delivery and CookUnity four to six days before, depending on location.
- Splendid Spoon’s terms close changes at 4 PM Eastern on the Thursday before a Wednesday delivery, or the Sunday before a Friday delivery, while its help page says the “edit by” date depends on your location, delivery day and first order, until 11:59 PM Eastern; the two do not agree, so the planner asks for the date your account shows.
- Trifecta delivers on Fridays or Saturdays and closes changes and skips at 11:59 PM Pacific on the Friday a week before, which the planner calculates. Its cancel page gives the same Friday for a cancellation, but its terms ask for a call or email seven full business days before delivery, which is the Tuesday ten days before a Friday delivery or the Wednesday ten days before a Saturday one, so for a cancellation the planner gives that date, by 5 PM Pacific, when its phone and chat close. For a skip or a cancellation alike, it opens on the first delivery day that can still be changed in time.
- Tovala publishes 6 p.m. CT on the Wednesday the week before delivery, for deliveries Monday to Friday, and says the deadline can move around holidays; the planner works out that Wednesday.
- BistroMD gives each order its own cutoff, 11:59 PM Eastern on the day your account shows under Next Order, typically a few days before delivery, so the planner asks for that date rather than working one out.
What we do not do
We have not taste-tested these meals and do not score flavor, fullness, freshness or health. Delivery areas, weekly menus and final cart charges depend on your location and the service. We link to each service’s own location check and never ask for your address.
How the facts stay current
Every price is re-read from the service’s own site each Friday. A changed price replaces the old one with the date it was read; a price we cannot re-read keeps its last date rather than disappearing. Plan, ordering and cutoff facts carry the date they were checked.
Change notes
- 8 Oct 2026: EveryPlate’s skip deadlines by delivery day and its web, app and cancel steps added from its own help page.
- 8 Oct 2026: Home Chef re-read. Its homepage says meal kits start at $7.99 a serving and the Family minimum is $82.91; its help page says $9.99 and $90.81. Both figures are shown with their source.
- 8 Oct 2026: prices now appear on the home page, the matcher, the service list and every profile, as one price line with its date.
- 5 Oct 2026: weekly price re-check started for all published prices.