What’s the best cheap meal delivery service?
If you’re looking for the cheapest meal delivery service, we’ve put together a list that’ll satisfy both your appetite and budget in one fell swoop. With affordable meal kits at around $5 or $6 a serving, EveryPlate remains the best cheap meal service you’ll find. As a bonus, we loved just about every recipe we tried during several rounds of testing.
Read more: Are Some Meal Kits Cheaper Than Buying Groceries? I Did the Math
Budget-friendly certainly doesn’t have to mean bad, and that includes for meal kits and prepared meal delivery services. If you’re looking to eliminate a few weekly tasks — grocery shopping, meal planning, prep, cooking — without going broke we tested dozens of the top wallet-friendly services to find the very best cheap meal subscriptions in 2023.
Best cheap meal delivery services for 2023
ALL
Prepared Meals
Meal Kit
Pricing Starts at $5/servingType Meal kitsRecipes per week 25+Good for Healthy, family-friendly, comfort food, picky eaters, quick and easy
The bottom line: EveryPlate’s meal kits were all solid and easy to make. This is also the cheapest meal kit, with plans as low as $5 a serving. EveryPlate meal kits are easy to prepare and I loved everything I made in multiple rounds of testing.
Pricing Starting at $5/servingType Meal kitRegional Availability Continental United StatesNumber of Meal Options per Week 45+Menu Options/ Diet Types Vegetarian
The bottom line: Dinnerly has an enormous selection of easy recipes, more than 60 in a given week, and plans starting at under $6 a serving. This is the perfect service for families with picky eaters trying to eat well on a budget.
Pricing Starts at $6/servingType Prepared mealsMeal options per week 80Good for Vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, low-calorie
The bottom line: This plant-based meal delivery service had some of the best, healthy prepared meals of any service we tried. Meals are also affordable with some costing as little as $6 a serving..
Blue Apron is one of the original meal kit services and it’s also one of the best. In fact, Blue Apron topped our list of best meal delivery services for 2023 with a wide range of excellent recipes, all for an affordable price. It’s true, you can order bistro steaks and roasted trout dinners with Blue Apron’s standard plan, where many services charge extra for those premium proteins. In addition to solid meal kits, Blue Apron is the most eco-friendly service of the major players, according to a recent study.
Having tested all of the leading prepared meal delivery service options, Fresh N Lean ran away from the competition, ticking more boxes than any other. The food is healthy, thoughtfully prepared, tastes fantastic, looks appetizing and is fairly affordable, depending on the plan you select.
Pricing Starts at $9/servingType Meal kitsRecipes per week 50+Good for Vegan, vegetarian, keto, gluten-free, low-calorie, Whole30, families, picky eaters
The bottom line: It doesn’t get much easier than HelloFresh. This service has tons of cheap meal kit options, more than 50 per week, and allows you to add proteins or extra servings to keep the whole crew fed and happy.
Pricing Starting at $8/mealType Pre-madeRegional Availability 95% of continental United StatesNumber of Meal Options per Week 40+Menu Options/ Diet Types Organic, whole fruits and vegetables, dairy-free, gluten-free
The bottom line: For simple and healthy breakfasts and lunches with almost no fuss, Daily Harvest has loads of superfood-packed smoothies, soups, snacks and bowls to stock the fridge, many of them costing under $10.
Cheapest meal kits compared
| Service | Recipes per week | Diets good for | Average price per serving | Shipping per box | CNET rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EveryPlate | 21 | Vegetarian, gluten-free | $5 | $10 | 8.8 |
| Dinnerly | 50+ | Vegetarian, keto, paleo, gluten-free, diabetic, pescetarian | $6 | $10 | 7.8 |
| Home Chef | 28 | Keto, low-calorie, gluten-free, pescetarian | $10 | Free on boxes over $40 | 8 |
| HelloFresh | 50+ | Vegetarian, keto, paleo, gluten-free, diabetic, pescetarian | $9 | $9 | 8 |
| Blue Apron | 16 | Vegetarian, low-calorie, gluten-free, pescetarian | $10 | $10 | 8.2 |
Cheapest prepared meal services compared
| Service | Subscription only | Meals offered | Meals options per week | Diets good for | Price per serving | Shipping per box | CNET rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mosaic Foods | Yes | Lunch, dinner | 80 | Vegan, vegetarian | $6-$12 | $8 | 9.2 |
| Daily Harvest | No | Breakfast, lunch, dinner | 100+ | Vegan, vegetarian, low-calorie, Whle30, paleo | $7-$10 | Free | 8.8 |
| Fresh N Lean | Yes | Breakfast, lunch, dinner | 18 | Keto, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free Mediterannean, vegan, vegetarian, high-protein | $11-$15 | Free over $40 | 9.2 |
| Home Chef Oven Ready | Yes | Lunch, dinner | 7 | None | $9 | Free on boxes over $40 | 8 |
How we test meal kits and meal delivery services
We cooked our way through dozens of meal kits from all of the most popular services.
Over the past few years, we’ve tested nearly every meal kit delivery and prepared meal delivery service we could get our oven mitts on, and that includes the best budget meal delivery services. Many of the menu options for the meal delivery services we’ve listed include nutritious plant-based food or high-protein recipes with lots of veggies and lean meats.
To test each cheap meal delivery service, I tried at least four and sometimes as many as 10 meals from any given service. I always choose a range of meals from the various menu and meal plan offerings. For instance, if a meal subscription service offers vegan or vegetarian meals I was sure to try at least one. I also mixed up the cuisine types to include pasta, meat dishes, bowls and other various styles offered by the brand.
To test the best cheap meal kits, there was another set of standards and protocols to adhere to. Here’s more on how we test meal kits at CNET.
Factors to consider when choosing a meal delivery service
Cost
After you’ve picked between meal kits or meal delivery, you’ll want to find a service within your budget. There are meal kits with recipes for as cheap as $5 a serving with basic menus and no-frills recipes. More expensive services include recipes with more exotic ingredients, high-end cuts of meat and organic produce but can cost as much as $15 or $20 a serving.
Meal kit or prepared meal delivery
The first big decision you’ll make is whether you want meal kits, which require some prep and cooking, or a prepared meal service that sends fully cooked meals that are ready to heat and eat. Meal kits will demand more of your time and energy but they’ll also cost a little less per serving. Prepared meals require almost no time and energy, other than what it takes to actually eat the food, but typically run a few bucks more per serving.
Healthiness
While most meal delivery services have healthy options, some are much healthier than others. If you’re keen on eating low-calorie, low-carb, plant-based or pescatarian food, certain meal kits and meal delivery services will be better than others. Our list of the healthiest meal delivery services for 2023 is a good place to find all the most nutritious options.
Number of meals per week
With almost every service, the more meals or servings your order per delivery, the cheaper it becomes per meal. But you’ll want to hone in on exactly how much food makes sent for your household. If you can’t imagine yourself cooking more than twice per week, don’t order more than two meal kits because they typically won’t last more than a week in the fridge.
Most prepared meals either arrive frozen or can be frozen after unboxing. That means it’s less of an issue if you order too many meals on your first go around. Most services allow you to change the number of meals or servings in your plan even after you’ve started.
Why you should trust us
Our meal delivery experts have logged more than 5 years of cooking more than 75 meal kits and tasting more than 100 prepared meals from various services to help land on our list of the best healthy meal subscriptions in 2023.
Cheap meal delivery FAQs
What is the cheapest meal delivery service?
EveryPlate and Dinnerly are the cheapest meal kits with most plans clocking in at under $6 per serving. HelloFresh and Home Chef are in the next tier with portions for $7 or $8 per serving.
What is the best meal delivery service for weight loss?
When it comes to meal kits, your options are many, and most services provide weekly recipes that are low on calories but still filling. HelloFresh has the most recipes per week of any meal kit service, so that might be your best bet for finding consistent meals that keep your diet goals on track. But all services list the calorie content for each recipe, along with carbs, protein, sugar and sodium.
What’s the difference between meal kits and premade 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.
