What is the healthiest meal delivery service?
Staying healthy goes hand in hand with eating well, and eating better typically means less delivery and takeout and more healthy cooking at home. But if you’re constantly on the go, finding the time to plan meals, shop for ingredients and prepare lunch or dinner is a challenge. Healthy meal kits and prepared meal subscriptions are designed to help you eat better without having to do all that heavy lifting yourself. I’ve tested dozens of services out there and Green Chef lands in the top spot as the healthiest meal kit subscription for 2023.
Whether you prefer to do the cooking yourself (meal kits) and want the ingredients and recipe sent along, or you’re looking for delicious, fully prepared meals you can heat and eat (prepared meal delivery) and no matter your diet — vegan or vegetarian, low-calorie, low-carb (keto), organic or paleo — there’s a service to match.
I’ve cooked and eaten my way through every healthy meal service on this list (and many more) for at least a week before making my recommendations. Below you’ll find my picks for the absolute best healthy meal delivery services available in 2023.
Healthiest meal delivery services in 2023
Pricing Starting at $12/servingType Meal kitRegional Availability Continental United StatesNumber of Meal Options per Week 30Menu Options/ Diet Types Keto and paleo, gluten-free, fast and fit, mediterranean, vegan, and vegetarian
Green Chef is a healthy organic meal kit service that will tailor your plan to maintain a paleo, keto, vegetarian (plant-powered) or just a steady balanced diet. Roughly 90% of the fresh ingredients included in Green Chef’s meal kits are certified organic and its meats are sustainably fished, farmed and raised without hormones or antibiotics. In addition to organic meals, you’ll find lots of healthy grains, lean proteins and fresh greens making it the healthiest meal delivery service for 2023.
Green Chef is a meal kit (cooking required) and provides all the organic ingredients needed for cooking a fairly simple meal — generally in less than 30 minutes — and thoughtful recipe cards with photos make following instructions easy, like with the simple teriyaki pork meatballs or parmesan-crusted chicken. There are some meal kit services on this list with more total options each week, but Green Chef definitely scores major points for quality and healthiness. My favorite Green Chef meal was the artichoke crab cakes with quinoa and zucchini, but everything I made was light, fresh and delicious.
Why we love it: While it’s pricier than other some other services, Green Chef has a massive selection of meat- and plant-based recipes using mostly organic ingredients.
Read more: Are Meal Kits Worth the Money? We Did Some Math to Find Out
Pricing Starting at $8/servingType Meal kitRegional Availability 48 US statesNumber of Meal Options per Week 50+Menu Options/ Diet Types Vegetarian, diabetes-friendly, wellness, family-friendly, fast and easy
Probably the most recognizable of the meal kit services, Blue Apron has a lot of healthy, fresh options on the menu — and just a lot of options, in general. Blue Apron teamed up with Weight Watchers for easy-to-cook healthy recipes like sheet pan tandoori-style chicken and tilapia in lemon caper sauce. These recipes align with its point system, making it easy for those in the program to have a healthy diet meal plan and keep track. Blue Apron offers customers roughly eight to 12 delicious meals to choose from per week including more than one vegetarian recipe option as well as a few that were created for the Weight Watchers Freestyle program.
Separate from Weight Watchers meals, their vegetarian options get high marks in the reviews I read, but if you are full-on vegan or vegetarian, there are likely better vegetarian specialty meal kits and meal delivery services with more daily or weekly plant-based options and ingredients. Blue Apron also has one of the most user-friendly meal plan interfaces of all the meal kit services and optional wine pairings, too.
Why we love it: Blue Apron offers steak and healthy seafood recipes starting at $8 a serving. It’s also the most sustainable meal kit service when it comes to packaging.
Pricing Starting at $11/servingType Meal kit, pre-madeRegional Availability Continental United StatesNumber of Meal Options per Week Around 8 to 10Menu Options/ Diet Types 100% plant-based
Purple Carrot (full review here) is the original plant-based meal kit service and this healthy food delivery service has a loyal and growing customer base. The 100% vegan meal kit service scores points for its inventive and interesting fresh meat-free ingredients and meal prep options like cauliflower and quinoa kofta or sticky apricot seitan stir fry.
Purple Carrot makes it easy to sort its offerings into high-protein or gluten-free meals that satisfy even nonvegetarians. Do be aware that some of the Purple Carrot meals take a bit of time and some skill to prepare but if quality, homemade vegan meal kits are a priority for you (and extra trips to the store are not), this is probably the best meal kit for you. In addition to the tasty vegan meals, you can add extras like banana chia pudding or overnight oats with apricot, goji berries and cashew butter to your weekly delivery.
Why we love it: Purple Carrot is easily the best meal kit service for eating plant-based. The recipes, though limited per week, are interesting, unique and use high-quality ingredients.
Pricing Starting at $8/servingType Meal kit, grocery providerRegional Availability Continental United StatesNumber of Meal Options per Week 100+Menu Options/ Diet Types Vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, egg-free, shellfish-free, nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, omnivore
Hungryroot is part meal kit company and part healthy grocery delivery service. Unlike traditional meal kits, Hungryroot tailors a delivery of groceries with simple recipe suggestions that can be created from them. While services like Blue Apron and Sunbasket lock you into recipes with rather specific ingredients portioned for that particular meal.
Plans start at $8.49 a serving or $65 a week. Hungryroot gives you the option to add more servings in increments of two to four, with a flat increase of $10. The cost per serving decreases the more you order. Shipping is free for any plan over $70 a week.
Why we love it: Hungryroot is for anyone who seeks online grocery delivery and healthy recipe suggestions with all the ingredients to make them but doesn’t want to commit to the rigor of a meal kit subscription.
Read our Hungryroot review.
The best healthy prepared meal delivery
Pricing Starting at $9/mealType Pre-madeRegional Availability United States nationwideNumber of Meal Options per Week 13Menu Options/ Diet Types Keto, vegan, paleo, protein, whole 30, mediterranean
This isn’t just one of the best healthy meal delivery services, it’s one of the best meal delivery services, period. I personally tested all of the leading prepared meal companies, and Fresh N Lean ran away from the pack, ticking more boxes than any other. The meals are healthy and cooked well, they taste fantastic and look appetizing, too. Plus, the service is pretty 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 high-protein options. The prepared meals I tried were all made from simple, whole ingredients and tasted like quality home-cooked food. While I liked pretty much everything from Fresh N Lean from the tofu on down, my favorite was a tender braised beef with vegetables in coconut-cilantro sauce.
Why we love it: Fresh N Lean has the best prepared meals of any service we tested and caters to tons of diets including keto, plant-based, Whole30 and more.
Read our Fresh n’ Lean review.
Pricing Starting at $8/mealType Pre-madeRegional Availability Continental United StatesNumber of Meal Options per Week 40+Menu Options/ Diet Types Plant-based, gluten-free non-GMO
This is definitely the best meal delivery for ready-to-go, healthy breakfast and lunches. Splendid Spoon is hoping to entice folks who want to keep it simple, easy and nutritious for breakfast and lunch with its ready-made smoothies, soups and grain bowls delivered to your door weekly.
Soup options include cauliflower tikka and Mexican tomato, while smoothies come in tasty combos like almond butter and jelly, blueberry acai and a green matcha smoothie with spirulina, ginger and turmeric. Soups and smoothies are loosely categorized by their overall intended effect, like “heal,” “energize” and “refresh.” Splendid Spoon also offers a full-day soup cleanse add-on to “reset” your system.
As much as I loved all of Splendid Spoon’s soups and smoothies, do be aware that many can be high in sugar, so if cutting back on the white stuff is a goal in 2023, you may want to look elsewhere. Here’s my full review of Splendid Spoon.
Why we loved it: While some of the meals are overpriced for what they are, this service offers an enormous selection of smoothies, soups and bowls with interesting options and superfoods galore.
Pricing Starting at $14/mealType Pre-madeRegional Availability United States nationwideNumber of Meal Options per Week 32Menu Options/ Diet Types Vegan, paleo, keto, AIP
Pete’s won me over in a week-long taste test, notching its place as one of the best healthy, organic meal delivery services I’ve yet to try. While it’s not particularly budget-friendly at around $15 a meal, it is actually cheaper than other meal services that use organic ingredients and quality meat and the food was better than most of them.
Pete’s Real Food meals were all well-prepared too. The meats were tender, the vegetables (mostly) cooked to proper doneness and all the flavors worked. The food wasn’t overly seasoned and the recipes were mild and maybe even on the safe side — but that’s nothing a few shakes of hot sauce can’t fix. If you’re in training, avoiding gluten 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 Real Food should hit the spot. Pete’s has lots of ordering options and the meals are made to freeze so if you don’t want to subscribe, you can keep an inventory on hand for those moments you need a quick fix.
Why we love it: Pete’s may be pricey but you’ll taste the difference. The tasty premade meals are perfect for athletes and those seeking high-protein and gluten-free meals for extra energy.
I tested a week’s worth of Mosaic inventive meatless meals (full review here) and for plant-based meal delivery, it doesn’t get any better than this. Mosaic is new on the scene and, to date, is the best 100% plant-based meal delivery service I’ve tried. Of the nine Mosaic meals I tried, none were bad and I really loved nearly all of them.
Personal favorites included the tender jackfruit chili and the olive, pepper and feta ragout, but there were plenty more that hit the spot. There were also no mushy vegetables — a plague in meal delivery — and the meat stand-ins like jackfruit, tofu and vegan sausage were used in creative ways and cooked extremely well.
Why we love it: This is simply the best prepared plant-based meal service we’ve tried and it’s one of the most affordable, too.
How I tested healthy meal delivery services
To test each meal delivery service, I tried at least five and sometimes as many as 10 meals from any given service. I tried to choose a range of meals from the various menu and meal plan offerings. For instance, if a service offers plant-based meals I was sure to try at least one. I also mixed up the meal types to include rice bowls, meat dishes, plant-based offerings and other various styles offered by the brand. Further, I made sure to test a variety of cuisines — Italian, Indian, Thai, Mexican — if they were offered.
Because healthy food is subjective and people have varying nutrition needs and goals, I tried to approach this list from all angles and determine which meal services were healthiest for different types of eaters. Folks keeping to the keto diet, for instance, may consider low-carb meal delivery “healthiest.” And others who deem vegan and plant-based food healthier than meals with meat will be looking for a service that provides more meatless options.
I also took careful note of each meal delivery service’s website, including what information was provided (ingredients, nutritional info), how clearly the menu was organized and how simple it was to pick a healthy meal plan and order meals. When they arrived, I noted how well they were packaged and checked whether each meal was still chilled or frozen.
I took careful note of how food arrived and whether it was still chilled or frozen, as it was intended.
To reheat meals, I took a twofold approach. For some, I meticulously followed the heating instructions on the label. But since these are suggestions, I reheated other meals the way I would if left to my own devices. Often that meant warming gently in a nonstick skillet or reheating in an air fryer. Many of the meal delivery services offer a microwave heating option, but I almost always found that produced worse results.
Testing meal kits requires cooking and thus a different stand of practices and procedures for evaluation. Here’s more on how we test meal kits at CNET.
Healthy meal delivery compared
| Service | Diets good for | Meal options per week | Subscription only | Price per serving (entree) | Shipping | CNET rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunbasket | Vegetarian, organic, keto, paleo, gluten-free, diabetic, pescetarian, Mediterranean | 21 | Yes | $11.49 | $8 | 9 |
| Home Chef | Keto, low-calorie, gluten-free, pescetarian, high-protein | 28 | Yes | $10 | Free on boxes over $40 | 8 |
| Green Chef | Vegan, vegetarian, organic, keto, paleo, gluten-free, diabetic, pescetarian, Mediterranean | 30 | Yes | $12 | $10 | 7.6 |
| Blue Apron | Vegan, vegetarian, low-calorie, keto, paleo, gluten-free, diabetic, pescetarian, Mediterranean | 16 | Yes | $8-$12 | $10 | 8.2 |
| Purple Carrot | Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free | 8 | Yes | $11-$13 | Free | 8.6 |
| Fresh N Lean (prepared) | Keto, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, Mediterranean, vegan, vegetarian, high-protein | 18 | Yes | $10-$14 | Free | 9.2 |
| Pete’s Fresh Food | Keto, paleo, vegan, autoimmune, gluten-free, dairy-free, high-protein | 28 | No | $15 | 9 | |
| Mosaic Foods (prepared) | Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo | 50+ | Yes | $9 | $8 | 9.2 |
| Splendid Spoon (prepared) | Vegan, vegetarian, low-calorie, Whole30, paleo | 50+ | Yes | $11 | Free | 7.8 |
| Sakara Life (prepared) | Vegan, vegetarian, low-calorie, low-carb, diabetes-friendly, paleo | 15 | No | N/A | Free | 7.6 |
| Veestro (prepared) | Vegan, vegetarian, low-calorie, diabetes-friendly | 20 | No | $14 | Free for subscribers | N/A |
| Hungryroot | Vegan, vegetarian, organic, keto, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, diabetic, Mediterranean | 50+ | Yes | $8-$10 | $7 | 9 |
What to consider when buying healthy meal delivery
- Your nutrition goals: The first thing you’ll want to consider is what your nutrition goals are, ideally with the help of a health professional, since some services are better suited to specific diets or health conditions. If it’s eliminating some or all meat from your diet, there are vegan meal plans that will make it easy. If you’re trying to cut carbs or calories from your weekly intake, there are other services that specialize in keto, paleo and low-calorie foods. Others have meal plans specifically for diabetics in case you are carefully managing your blood sugar.
- Meal kits or prepared meals: You’ll also want to decide if a meal kit service or prepared meal subscription is best. If you like the idea of cooking, but don’t want to do the shopping and prep, a service such as Blue Apron or Sunbasket will take the legwork out of dinner a few nights each week. If you’d rather not cook at all, prepared meal delivery is the obvious choice. They’ll send ready-to-eat meals to be stored in the fridge or freezer for whoever you need them.
- Cost and value: The price you’re willing to pay is another important consideration. Meal delivery can make life much easier but not if it adds financial stress. Some meal services such as Mosaic Foods have plans that start at $5 a serving while others are closer to $14. Use our comparison chart to help determine which meal services best fit your budget and go from there.
How diet and nutrition impact your overall health
Most health experts will tell you that eating a healthy, balanced diet is just about the best thing you can do to improve your health. While strict diets aren’t necessary at the top of the list for doctors and dieticians, consuming more whole foods, protein and vitamin-rich vegetables as well as eating less sodium, unhealthy fats and sugar will drastically improve health outcomes over time. Heart health, bone health, cardiovascular health and even mental health are all tied directly to diet, and choosing a healthy meal service or subscription is one way to kick a healthy new nutritional regimen into gear.
Healthy meal delivery service FAQs
Is healthy meal delivery a good way to diet?
Healthy meal kits and meal delivery services offer delicious, curated meals catered to your personal tastes and nutritional needs. One reason folks — like me, for instance — tend to prefer meal kits and meal delivery over classic fad diets is they take away some of the risk for those weak moments of dietary self-sabotage.
You should check with your doctor or a health professional before making any drastic changes to your diet. That said, there are meal delivery services that cater to nutrition plans of all types including keto, paleo, Mediterranean diet, low-calorie, vegan, vegetarian and diabetes-friendly.
What’s the cheapest healthy meal delivery service?
Mosaic Foods is one of the best prepared meal delivery services and has lots of healthy, plant-based meals that can be had for $9 a serving or as cheap as $5 a serving if you order family meals.
For meal kits, HelloFresh and Home Chef both have loads of healthy options and meal plans that start around $7 a serving if you choose multiple meals per week. The most budget-friendly meal kits are EveryPlate and Dinnerly. Both have meals for about $5 or $6 per serving but you won’t find quite as many healthy options and you can’t make many changes to the meals, either.
What’s the healthiest meal delivery service?
This really depends on your nutrition goals. And know that just about every meal delivery service claims to be healthy. The options that made this list excelled among the competition, with fresher ingredients, a better selection of truly balanced and nutrition-packed meals as well as detailed guidance and information to make tracking nutrition, carbs, calories, fat and protein easier.
Even among this list, there are meal services that are geared towards particular health and nutrition goals including plant-based meal delivery, meal delivery for paleo eaters and those for folks trying to eat a low-carb diet.
What is the difference between meal kits and prepared meal delivery?
Some of the services listed here are healthy prepared meal delivery services, sending fully cooked meals — often frozen or partially frozen — and ready to eat when you receive them. Others include health-focused meal kits with premeasured ingredients all boxed up and ready for easy weeknight cooking. There’s a stark difference between meal kits and meal delivery, but both make dinnertime easier and can translate into healthier eating choices for you in 2023. Plus, we sussed out the best healthy meal services for those on special diets like keto or paleo or for those who wish to eat organic prepared meals and meal kits.
