Best Meal Delivery Services of 2024
We tested all the top players from heat-and-eat prepared meal subscriptions to meal kits that'll help you hone your kitchen skills. Here you'll find the best meal delivery for saving money, families with picky eaters, vegan eats and more.
Our Experts
What to consider
Meal kit versus prepared meal delivery
Cost
Healthiness
Number of meals per week
Our Picks
What's the best meal delivery service?
Blue Apron includes steak and seafood in its standard menu, making it the best value in meal kits today.
Meal kits hit the scene more than 12 years ago and they've only gotten better -- and cheaper. The best meal kits and meal delivery services make dinnertime easy, but pick the right service and you'll also save money on meal kits versus shopping at the grocery store. As CNET's resident meal delivery guy, I've spent more than 50 hours testing every service, many of them two or three times, to find what each meal delivery does best, where they stuggle and who each one might be good for.
After eating more than 100 prepared meals and cooking more than 75 meal kits, Blue Apron tops my list as the best meal delivery service overall. Blue Apron meal kits are easy to execute, taste great and the weekly menus include bistro steak dishes and seafood, without any premium cost. I also found the website incredibly easy to navigate and loved Blue Apron's wine pairings and special menus that make eating healthy a snap.
If cooking isn't in the cards, there are prepared meal services that send their meals already made. These are designed to be eaten on the spot or frozen for later. Having tested the service three times, Fresh N Lean is the best overall prepared meal service, with the most consistently tasty food all made with lean meats and vegetables to ace your nutrition goals and fuel your busy week.
But I have other picks, including thebest cheap meal kits. That'd be EveryPlate, with its menu of excellent recipes that cost as little as $5 per serving. I also found exceptional vegan meal delivery services to satisfy plant-based eaters. For folks looking to accomplish health or nutrition goals, there are options for keeping to a keto, paleo and low-calorie diet.
Below you'll find the 11 best meal delivery services of 2024, all tested and reviewed by CNET.
Best meal delivery services of 2024
- Steak and seafood options are included in a standard meal plan
- Affordable if you choose more than two recipes per week
- Fewer recipe options than other services
- Doesn't allow for much customization
This oven-ready recipe of chicken in Thai coconut curry over rice with green beans could not have been easier to prepare. The perfect foil for a busy weeknight.
Why I picked Blue Apron: With tasty, premium entrees such as steak and seafood at some of the best prices in the meal kit category, Blue Apron represents the best overall value for any meal delivery service I tried. I also loved the oven-ready family-style meals which take about 5 minutes to prepare and make four or five servings.
Blue Apron is 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. Weekly menu choices available range from simple pasta dishes to inventive global cuisine, with high-end recipes including those for steak and seafood at no extra cost. The value in Blue Apron is obvious, but the quality and ease of execution also makes Blue Apron a perfect choice for the meal kit-curious.
Read our full review of Blue Apron here.
This oven-ready recipe of chicken in Thai coconut curry over rice with green beans could not have been easier to prepare. The perfect foil for a busy weeknight.
- Most of the food we tried was good or great
- Healthy options to service many eating plans
- On the pricey side of average
- No family-sized meals making it expensive to feed a crew
Best prepared meal delivery service
Fresh N Lean
Why I picked Fresh N Lean: With extremely high-quality meals, tons of healthy options and fair pricing, this service was an easy pick for best prepared meal delivery service. In several rounds of testing, I've tried well over 20 Fresh N Lean meals and nearly all of them were good or better.
Fresh N Lean ran away from the competition, ticking more boxes than any other with healthy food that is thoughtfully prepared, tastes great, 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 was all cooked exceptionally well using simple, whole ingredients.
- Quality ingredients including mostly organic meats and produce
- Great for those avoiding gluten or empty carbs
- No subscription required
- No real discount for ordering a larger volume of meals
- The website isn't the best
Pete's Real Food (formerly Pete's Paleo) is an excellent meal service if you're adhering to a paleo or whole foods eating plan.
Best gluten-free meal delivery service
Pete's Real Food
Why I picked Pete's Real Food: While it's more expensive than other prepared meal services on our list, the quality of food doesn't get much higher than Pete's. The cuisine is designed to fuel those following the precise paleo diet, but even those not keeping to the plan should enjoy this grub.
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. Pete's meals are all fully prepared and ready to heat and eat. The dozen or so Pete's Real Food meals I'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. Read our full review of Pete's Real Food here.
Pete's Real Food (formerly Pete's Paleo) is an excellent meal service if you're adhering to a paleo or whole foods eating plan.
- Tons of healthy menu options per week
- Healthy food to service most diets and nutrition plans
- Expensive if you only choose a few meals per week
- Quality was somewhat inconsistent
Best meal delivery for singles
CookUnity
Why I picked CookUnity: 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 less so -- 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. Use promo code CNET30 for a 30% discount on your first purchase. Read our full review of CookUnity here.
- Nearly all the meals I tried were good or better
- Interesting use of global recipes and flavors
- Affordable, especially for the family plan
- The pizzas were just OK
- Extra $10 for shipping on orders of less than 12 items
Best vegetarian meal delivery
Mosaic Foods
Why I picked Mosaic Foods: This plant-based service was one of the best prepared meal services I tried, and not just among vegan options. Every recipe was at least good, often better, and family meals start at just $6 a serving when you choose a family plan.
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. 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.
- More than 50 weekly recipes
- Good for keeping to specific diets or eating plans
- Some recipes are a little boring and uninspired
- Extra $10 for shipping
The spicy beef soup (aka chili) was super fast, simple and satisfying.
Best meal kit service for families
HelloFresh
Why I picked HelloFresh: HelloFresh combines, convenience, selection and family-friendly options for an all-around excellent meal kit experience.
HelloFresh has the most recipes per week of any meal kit service I tried making it a good pick for families and homes with picky eaters. This meal kit service's portion sizes are generous and there are meals to fir eating plans and diets of all sorts. It's also affordable, especially if you order larger meals. Ya know, 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. Reaf our full HelloFresh review here.
The spicy beef soup (aka chili) was super fast, simple and satisfying.
- Tons of healthy menu options per week
- Healthy food to service most diets and nutrition plans
- Expensive if you only choose a few meals per week
- Quality was somewhat inconsistent
Factor has plenty of keto options including this bunless burger.
Best meal delivery service for weight loss
Factor
Why I picked Factor: With plans that cost as little as $11 a meal and options for a variety of diets and eating plans, Factor is a solid option for those looking to eliminate cooking from the to-do list.
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, were the occasional misses, 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. Read our full review of Factor here.
Factor has plenty of keto options including this bunless burger.
- Interesting and filling vegan recipes
- Extremely fresh and high-quality ingredients
- Limited to eight recipes per week
- Expensive
Purple Carrot recipes are slightly more involved than your average meal kit.
Best vegan meal kits
Purple Carrot
Why our testers picked Purple Carrot: For authentic, organic, plant-based cooking, Purple Carrot delivered big with a bounty of interesting recipes and fresh ingredients.
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. There are about eight recipes to choose from each week. I tested a full week's worth of meals and enjoyed all of them. Read our full Purple Carrot review here.
Purple Carrot recipes are slightly more involved than your average meal kit.