Food & Drink, Tips & Tricks
Premade Meal Delivery Kits: Comparing 6 Services to Find the Best Option For You
When it comes to meal kit delivery services, do you have a favorite one? It seems like a plethora of them have appeared over the last few years, making deciding on one for you and your family pretty difficult. We decided to do find the best meal kit delivery service and do a meal kit comparison in terms of menu selections, pricing and plans. Read until the end for some big money-saving tips! One thing we do love about all of them is that they are essentially premade meal delivery services, and we are here for the convenience!
Note: All of these meal kits expect that you will have the basic cooking utensils and olive oil, salt and pepper.
Blue Apron vs. HelloFresh vs. Home Chef vs. Purple Carrot vs. EveryPlate vs. Sakara Life
Menus
 | Menu options update weekly and you can see up to four weeks’ worth of menus at a time. Cook times range from 20 to 50 minutes. Prep and cook time, calories and dietary components are listed. Dishes focus on dinner and range from classics like Roasted Red Pepper Pasta to more fusion like Indian-Style Chicken Tacos. Mix and match your recipes with meat, vegetarian and more options, and preview ingredients and instructions before choosing. Healthy options: Blue Apron also offers more health-conscious meals labeled with Beyond Meat, WW Approved and Diabetes Friendly badges. On relevant recipe cards, you can find additional notes like “Vegetarian,” “Carb Conscious,” “600 Calories Or Less” and “Mediterranean Diet.” |
 | Menu options update weekly on Saturdays and you can see up to six weeks’ worth of menus at a time. Cook times range from 15 to 50 minutes. Prep and cook time and some dietary components are listed. Dishes focus on dinner and range from BBBQ Pineapple Flatbreads to Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry. No preview of ingredients or instructions. Healthy options: Plans include Veggie and Calorie Smart options. When choosing meals, you can find additional notes like “Calorie Smart” and “Carb Smart.” |
 | Menu options update weekly on Mondays and you can see up to five weeks’ worth of menus at a time. Choose from 20+ meal options weekly. Build your own box of Meal Kits, 15 Minute Meal Kits, Easy Prep Meal Kits, Oven-Ready, Grill-Ready, Culinary Collection and Entrée Salads. Cook times range from 10 to 60 minutes. Dishes focus on dinner and include Scallop and Mushroom Risotto to Cajun Fish & Chips. Customize It feature allows for upgrades, swaps or double up of proteins on select meals, including Impossible meat customizations. Recipe listings include prep and cook time, dietary restrictions, cook within time, spice level and difficulty level. You can add protein packs to your order. Preview ingredients, instructions and nutritional facts before choosing meals. Healthy options: Badges on recipes indicate Carb-Conscious, Calorie-Conscious and Vegetarian recipes. |
 | Exclusively plant-based meals with the option of meal kits or prepared meals that are ready in less than five minutes. Menu options update weekly on Sundays and you can only see a week ahead with breakfast, lunch and dinner meal kits. You can also buy packaged snacks. Cook times range from 5 to 40 minutes. Recipe listings include prep and cook time, calories per serving, ingredients, instructions and nutritional facts. Meal Kit recipes include Spicy Thai Coconut Corn Chowder and Tropical Chia Pudding. Prepared Meals include Artichoke & White Bean Paella and Butternut Stuffed Peppers. Healthy options: Recipe listings are labeled with health-conscious notes and dietary restrictions like Gluten-Free, <600 Calories, Soy-Free, Nut-Free, High-Protein and more. |
 | Menu options update weekly on Saturdays and you can see up to three weeks’ worth of menus at a time. Choose from 12 recipes every week. Cook times range from 25 to 40 minutes. Prep and cook time, nutritional information and allergens are listed. Dishes include Apricot Pork Chops with a Kick and Cheesy Bean & Pepper Flautas. Preview ingredients and instructions before choosing. Healthy options: Some recipe listings are labeled with Veggie. |
 | A pre-made meal delivery program serving organic meals based on a whole-food, plant-rich diet. Menu options update weekly on Mondays and you can only see next week’s menu in your area by entering your zip code. You can choose to include breakfast, lunch and dinner meals every day. Only ingredients are listed. Meals include Sakara Superfood Mac + ‘Cheeze’ and Goji Rose Donut. Badges indicate Heating Optional, Spicy, Contains Nuts and Contains Soy. Wellness supplement are included in program – one week supply of a Daily Probiotic, Beauty Chocolates or Water Drops. Healthy options: Meals are based on a whole-food, plant-rich diet and all vegan. |
How It Works
| Select a plan to match your lifestyle. Recipes are delivered weekly with pre-measured, responsibly sourced, quality ingredients needed to cook the meal and step-by-step recipe instructions. Skip or cancel meals easily. |
| Choose a plan to match your lifestyle. Meal kits are delivered each week with pre-measured ingredients, step-by-step recipe instructions and nutritional information. Skip or cancel meals easily. Skip or cancel meals easily. |
| Pick and customize your meals or accept Home Chef’s suggestions based on your preferences and dietary restrictions. Pre-portioned ingredients are delivered to your door weekly with step-by-step recipe cards. Skip or cancel meals anytime. |
| Select Meal Kits or Prepared Meals. If Meal Kits, choose your number of servings and meals per week. Pre-portioned ingredients are delivered to your door weekly with step-by-step recipe cards. Prepared Meals only have the option of one serving and six to ten dinners per week. |
| Select your plan preferences. Pre-portioned ingredients are delivered to your door weekly with step-by-step recipe cards. Skip or cancel meals anytime. |
| Enter your zip code to view options in your area to create your program. Choose a weekly subscription or participate in a one-time program. Meals are delivered ready to eat with some that can be heated up if you prefer. Cancel anytime after your first week or skip a meal easily. |
Pricing & Plans
| Prices start at $7.49 per serving. Premium options are offered at a higher rate than listed below. Three package options: Signature – Serves two. Choose two or three recipes per week. $9.99 per serving. Free shipping with 3 recipes per week; otherwise shipping is $7.99. Signature for 4 – Serves four. Choose two to four recipes per week. $7.49 to $8.99 per serving with free shipping. Vegetarian – Serves two. Choose two or three recipes per week. Free shipping with 3 recipes per week; otherwise shipping is $7.99. |
| Prices start at $7.49 per serving, and shipping is $8.99 per delivery. Gourmet and Gourmet Plus recipes offered at a higher rate. Personalize your plan based on: Preferences (choose only one): Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Family Friendly or Calorie Smart. Plan Size: Number of people (two or four only), recipes per week (three to five). |
| Prices start at $6.99 per serving. $6.99 shipping per delivery. Choose Your Plan: Home Chef (Omnivore, Carnivore, Pescatarian, Vegetarian) or Fresh and Easy (Calorie-Conscious, Carb-Conscious). Select foods you want to avoid and dietary preferences (optional) Build Your Box: Number of People (two, four or six), Number of Recipes (two to six) |
| Prices start at $9.99 per serving plus free shipping for Meal Kits and $12.99 per serving plus free shipping for Prepared Meals. Choose Meal Kit or Prepared Meals Select Number of Servings: Two or four for Meal Kit, one for Prepared Meals Select Dinners per Week: Two or three for Meal Kit, six, eight or ten for Prepared Meals |
| Prices start at $4.99 per serving. Premium and Premium Plus options offered at a higher rate. $8.99 shipping per delivery. Select Number of People: Two or four Select Number of Meals per Week: Three to five |
| Prices start at $24 per meal, per day. Free shipping on every delivery. Choose your Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and/or Dinner Choose your Program Length: Two days (Thu-Fri), three days (Mon-Wed) or five days (Mon-Fri) Choose your Frequency: Weekly Subscription or One-time Program Choose your Start Date |
Other Notes (Promotions, Cash Back, etc.)
| Offers monthly wine delivery of six 500ml bottles (serving size of two) at $65.99 monthly and free shipping. Wines are specially chosen to complement Blue Apron recipes. Shop the Market for wines, kitchen tools, pantry essentials and more. Wait on the site for a bit and see a popup with $60 off next three orders. At the time of writing, you can get up to $30 Cash Back with Rakuten. |
| Students can get 15% off every subscription box through UNiDAYS. At the time of writing, you can save $80 off your first five deliveries plus free shipping on your first box. Additionally, you can get $10 Cash Back with Rakuten. |
| At the time of writing, you can unlock a $10 Bonus Credit towards a future order (not first order) as a new member. Students get 55% off their first box via StudentBeans. Refer your friends and you’ll get $35 off once their first order ships. Get $10 Cash Back with Rakuten. You can find Home Chef products in a Kroger family grocery store near you. |
| At the time of writing, you can get $25 off your first box when you sign up. Get $5 Cash Back with Rakuten. |
| Students can get EveryPlate for just $3.99 per serving with UNiDAYS. At the time of writing, you can get 37.5% Cash Back with Rakuten. |
| Also offers meal programs that are designed for specific results from detoxing and clean eating. Sign up for emails to get $25 off your first organic meal program and refer your friends to get a $50 credit per friend. At the time of writing, you can get 5% Cash Back with Rakuten. |
Final Thoughts
Blue Apron, HelloFresh, Home Chef and EveryPlate are similar in terms of recipes save the price differences. EveryPlate is the most economical option if you’re okay with a simple menu with simple ingredients and less packaging. Purple Carrot is the way to go if you have the most dietary restrictions and/or want to try a plant-based diet, and Sakara Life is a good option if you want a similar diet with pre-made meals (Warning: The latter is more expensive). Regardless, Rakuten offers Cash Back on every meal delivery kit subscription service, so no matter what you choose, you’ll be saving!
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