Are you bored of serving the same meals over and over again? Do you hate going to the grocery store? Fed up with food waste? Then meal delivery services are perfect for you.
The Ranch Daily
Best for the health-conscious, restricted diets, and vegetarians
The Ranch Daily meals are all vegetarian, organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, and dairy free. They’re delivered to your door daily and require little to no preparation.
The menu is centered around organic, plant-based foods packed with protein, fiber, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, texture, and taste. Seeds, nuts, legumes, pulses, and vegetables high in absorbable protein that are included in the meals to help consumers feel full longer, build muscle, and aid the digestive system through detoxifying the body with fiber-rich meals.
Meals are created with locally-sourced ingredients that are in season and at the height of their nutrition.
The Ranch Daily’s chefs carefully consider how ingredients are prepared to support overall health. They incorporate a blend of the most advanced—sous-vide and slow cooking, for example—and the most ancient—dehydration and air cooking—preparation methods to ensure the greatest nutritional benefits and flavor from each ingredient.
The result? Delicious meals with maximum nutrient density and minimal impact to the quality of the ingredients used.
Sun Basket
Best for menu variety—they do breakfast!—use of locally-sourced organic produce, and restricted diets
Formerly the executive chef at a James Beard Award-winning restaurant, Sun Basket’s Executive Chef Justine Kelly has a talent for combining the best seasonal produce with globally inspired flavors to create nourishing meals that are balanced, healthy, and delicious.
Sun Basket is the only meal kit delivery service to offer breakfast. Snacks and occasion-based offerings that are weight loss-oriented are also offered in addition to full-sized meals.
There are no GMOs, preservatives, or artificial flavors used, and each ingredient is sourced with an emphasis on local farms that raise organic sustainable food. Sun Basket ensures the meat and seafood produce is responsibly raised. A 100 percent organic certified sourcing option is also available
Nutritional information is provided for all recipes and alternative dietary options for paleo, gluten-free, and vegetarian preferences are included, too.
Sun Basket’s personalized menu offers both solo and crowd-pleasing options with minimal guesswork. The flexible plans offer orders for two, four, or six. You can skip or cancel anytime; swap in snacks for weeks you’re too busy to cook, or double up on one meal for lunch-worthy leftovers.
Although some culinary preparation and cooking is required, most recipes have been created to make in 30 minutes or less, with pre-measured ingredients making the process easier. By acting as your sous chef, Sun Basket creates less waste and clutter from unused herbs, sauces, and spices, saving you ample time on meal planning and shopping.
Martha & Marley Spoon
Best for taste, minimal waste, the health-conscious, and calorie counters
Operating with minimal food waste is a passion for Martha & Marley Spoon’s Founder and CEO Fabian Siegel.
“When we buy our food, we already know what we’ve sold, so we have very little waste at our facilities,” commented Siegel. “Further, as customers receive the exact quantities of each ingredient to cook, they will not have to dispose of food that has spoiled in their fridge at the end of each week.”
Proud supporters of local producers and farmers, the company procures only enough fresh produce to fill the following week’s orders. This produce is shipped next day to ensure that the quality and freshness of ingredients in each box. They also partner with small artisanal suppliers so subscribers can try tasteful, quality products that may not be readily available in your local supermarket.
To ensure each meal is healthy, balanced, and nutritious, an in-house nutritionist creates balanced menus every week. The culinary team ensures the weekly average calorie count is at or below 700 calories per portion.
Chef’d
Best for plan flexibility, coordination with popular commercial diet programs, and restricted diets
Consumers order Chef’d only when they want to, and have it delivered when they choose. Chef’d does not require a minimum number of meals to be purchased per week, and is one of the only services that allows you to reorder your favorite meals. The service is not subscription based, giving consumers the ability to choose the meals they want when they want them.
More than 300 recipes in two-and-four-person serving sizes are created by well-known chefs, culinary experts, and leaders in nutrition, including Chef Fabio Viviani, The New York Times Cooking, and PF Chang’s. Chef’d adds approximately 30-40 new recipes per month.
All meal kits come with pre-measured ingredients, step-by-step photo directions, and estimated cooking times. The meals range from gourmet to family-friendly, indulgent to lighter fare, quick and easy to chef-in-the-making, meaning that consumers can choose meals that are quick and easy to prepare or options that require culinary experimentation. There is also a category for those on a budget.
A lighter options category is offered, providing healthy balanced meals from partners such as Men’s Health, Weight Watchers, Atkins, and the American Diabetes Association. Gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options are also offered.
HelloFresh
Best for families
With an easy-to-use app for both iOS and Android, meal delivery convenience is the order of the day for HelloFresh. Pausing, changing, and cancelling deliveries are also easy to do at any time.
Recipes are easy-to-follow with step-by-step instructions and photos that children can be encouraged to participate in their food preparation. The majority of meals can be made in around 30 minutes. Customers are also introduced to new ingredients, flavors, spices, and techniques every week.
It is believed that exposing children to a variety of foods, flavors, and textures reduces their chances of becoming a picky eater. The same is claimed when children are encouraged to participate in their food preparation.
HelloFresh has a team of dietitians on staff who review all recipes before they make it onto the menu to ensure meals are balanced, nutritious, and delicious.
There are 10 different meals to choose from every week between the Classic, Veggie, and Family Boxes. Every week you will find a chicken, seafood, beef, and pork recipe, plus there’s always one vegetarian recipe available on the Classic menu. The Veggie Box includes vegetarian recipes with plant-based sources of protein. The Family Box includes kid-friendly fare that parents will love too: think twists on classic comfort foods.
Hungryroot
Best for vegan and gluten-free diets, as well as those looking for easy and quick healthy meals
All Hungryroot products are ready-to-eat in less than seven minutes and some are just “ready to eat”.
You can order à la carte at any time or subscribe to receive a reoccurring bundle (weekly, every other week, every month). You can also customize each bundle to your personal tastes.
Meals use locally sourced ingredients whenever possible and are guaranteed fresh for at least eight days. The company uses proprietary NatureFresh™ packaging that optimizes the amount of oxygen in the packaging over time. This maximizes freshness and extends the shelf life of meals without the use of any preservatives.
There are currently 30 products offered including meals, snacks, sides, and sweets; they are indulgent, craveable, and nutritious at the same time.
Hungryroot provides the staple for each meal but customers are encouraged to experiment and make the service their own by adding ingredients. For example, incorporating avocado with carrot noodle pad Thai or turning almond chickpea cookie dough into a cookie sandwich.
Other meal delivery services we recommend trying:
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