The 10 Best Meal Delivery Plans for Families
Are your weeks full of work, school, errands, homework, sports, birthday parties, company events, fundraisers, and more? How often do you have time to pick recipes, buy the ingredients, do the prep work, cook a family meal, and clean it all up afterwards? If your answer is “never,” you are not alone. Most families today do not have time to do every step required to plan, buy, prep, and cook dinner every night. OR they would rather spend that time at the gym, on a family walk, catching up with a friend, reading a book . . . really, anything else!
There is a reason why meal delivery companies are booming. You can have a look at the website of meal delivery companies to know the food options they have. People want to have healthy meals to sit down and eat together without all the money, time, and mess that goes into making that possible on their own. Since new meal delivery companies keep popping up, we wanted to help you find the one that is the best for your family.
We know your time is limited, so without further ado, here are the ten best meal delivery plans for families (listed in alphabetical order) with honest video reviews, direct links to their sites, pricing, and other key details about each one to help you decide.
#1 – Blue Apron
Per Serving Price: $8.99-$9.99
Like most meal delivery plans available today, with Blue Apron, you will need to cook each meal from scratch. The box will include all of the ingredients and clear instructions that will involve about 30 to 45 minutes of prep work. This is a great subscription service for people who enjoy cooking healthy meals from start to impressive finish and who have at least one evening a week they are home to unbox and cook. Blue Apron offers two or four serving box sizes with options that are great for meat-eaters, vegetarians, and even those trying to cut calories.
#2 – EveryPlate
Per Serving Price: $3.33-$4.16
The meals from EveryPlate will also take 30-45 minutes to cook. The thing that sets this subscription service apart from the rest is the price. You cannot find a cheaper meal delivery service in America. The non-sale, average per meal price is only $4.99, but at the time we did our research for this article the prices were even lower than that—starting at just $3.33. However, this meal delivery service will not work for vegetarians or families with allergies or dietary restrictions.
#3 – Freshly
Per Serving Price: $7.50-$12.50
Never have the time (or desire) to measure, chop, whisk, shuck, dice, mince, etc.? Then Freshly might be exactly what you’re looking for. This meal delivery service still provides you with a pro-chef meal, but – unlike all the other subscription services on this list – you don’t have to be the chef. No prep, mess, or dishes, just the utensils you use to eat it. The meals are healthy, affordable, and delicious. There are over 30 tasty meals to choose from that even include breakfast options.
#4 – Green Chef
Per Serving Price: $9.99-$14.99
Green Chef is the only 100 percent organic meal kit service available in the country. Offering two to four-person meal plans in vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten-free, paleo, keto, carnivore, and omnivore options. The estimated time each meal takes to prep is 30-45 minutes, but reviewers warn they can take closer to an hour. This meal kit is one of the more expensive ones, but you will get organic, high quality foods that match the price.
#5 – HelloFresh
Per Serving Price: $5.66-$6.49
HelloFresh is one of the most popular meal delivery companies. Each week, customers can choose from 15 new recipes that include gluten-free, egg-free, and nut-free options. It also has a complete vegetarian meal plan. While most meals are estimated to take 30 minutes, there are 20-minute meal options as well. Each week they bring back customer favorite “Hall of Fame” recipes, and they also offer decadent “premium” meals that are perfect for a special occasion.
#6 – Home Chef
Per Serving Price: $7.99-$9.95
The first thing you will see when you visit the Home Chef website is that they are voted #1 for Customer Satisfaction among the leading meal kit companies. Our research did find the online reviews to all be very positive. With Home Chef you get very high quality, fresh ingredients that will take you anywhere from five to 45 minutes to turn into a yummy meal. There are 26 weekly meal choices that you can plan out five weeks in advance, and they come with a 100 percent money-back satisfaction guarantee.
#7 – PeachDish
Per Serving Price: $10.50-$19.00
Each week, PeachDish customers have at least eight southern-inspired, seasonal meals to choose from with meat, seafood, vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available. Meals can take anywhere from 10 to 70 minutes to prepare, but if time is limited, you can choose meals from their “Quick Fix” category. PeachDish has a dedicated team of foodies passionate about what they do. Meet their chefs, cooking instructors, recipe contributors, and nutrition consultants here.
#8 – Plated
Per Serving Price: $9.95-$11.95
Plated has 20 new recipes to choose from each week with meal options for omnivores, seafood lovers, and vegetarians. There are gluten-free, low-calorie, and low-carb options in addition to customer favorite recipes that are brought back from previous weeks and even delicious meal-ending desserts. There are quick-prep 20-minute meals up to more time-consuming (and rewarding) culinary works of art that take an hour or longer to prepare. Plated uses antibiotic-free meats with no added hormones, seasonal, hand-picked produce, and locally-sourced foods as often as possible.
#9 – Purple Carrot
Per Serving Price: $7.99-$12.99
While some of the other meal delivery companies offer vegan options, Purple Carrot is the master vegan chef. It’s their passion and speciality. This company sends their customers 100 percent vegan, mostly organic ingredients so they can create colorful, healthy plant-based meals. Purple Carrot offers two or six-serving options in the following choices: quick and easy (ready in 30 minutes or less), high protein, and gluten free. They also have extras you can add for breakfast or lunch that take under five minutes to prepare. In addition, Purple Carrot has TB12 Performance Meals, which are designed to help you, “achieve and sustain your peak performance.” These entrees are all gluten free, high in protein, and of course, vegan.
#10 – Sun Basket
Per Serving Price: $8.66-$11.99
Sun Basket promises to send customers only antibiotic and hormone-free meats, sustainably sourced seafood, and organic produce—over 99 percent of the produce they send is organic. They create recipes based on what is the best of the season, so if something isn’t organic due to unavailability, they will let you know in your fully recyclable box. You can get two, three, or four recipes per week that make enough to serve two or four people (your choice) in one of their extensive meal categories: carb-conscious, paleo, mediterranean, lean & clean, gluten free, soy free, dairy free, vegan, quick & easy, vegetarian, diabetes-friendly, pescatarian, or chef’s choice. The meals will take about 30 minutes for you to prepare. Sun Basket now offers things you can add to your weekly meals including five-minute salads, sauces, soups, snacks, and even all-natural wines.
What’s for dinner?
You should be excited to answer that question. Hopefully one of these services can help make dinner a joy for you and your family. Beware: shopping through the many meal delivery plans out there can be just as dangerous as grocery shopping hungry. Have a snack and an open mind. The prices above came directly from their official websites as of June 2019. However, the prices listed are subject to change and could have been temporary sale prices. It can be really fun to pick out a month of meals from delicious, drool-worthy pictures online. Enjoy!
Sara Routhier is a Research Specialist and Staff Writer for Exercise.com. In addition to obtaining a degree in Elementary Education, being a public school teacher, family nanny, and tutor, she has over four years experience in content marketing. As a working mom with two boys under three, she has lots of advice on how to feed your family healthy, fresh meals with little to no time.
