After a long, busy day, cooking dinner is the last thing you want to think about. Prepared meal delivery services take the guesswork out of that daily chore with a range of low-effort, ready-to-eat meals that you can pop into your oven or microwave. Unlike meal kits, which come with individual ingredients you prepare and cook yourself, pre-made meal services can save a lot of time. They also come with unique and customizable food options to fit your personal preferences — including serving size and protein amount — while catering to dietary restrictions like gluten-free, vegetarian and low-carb.
I have tried and written about meal delivery services for the past two years. I connected with chefs and nutritionists about their favorite prepared meal delivery services and compiled a list of their recommendations below, along with services NBC Select editors use and love. Pricing, serving size and plan details are also included with each option.
SKIP AHEAD How I picked the best prepared meal delivery services | Best prepared meal delivery services | Why trust NBC Select?
How I picked the best prepared meal delivery services
I talked to our experts about what to consider when shopping for prepared meal delivery services. Here are the most important factors they say to keep in mind:
- Serving size: A single-serve prepared meal service is great for folks only feeding themselves. If you’re feeding a family or partner, consider a meal kit plan with multiple serving sizes (typically ranging from two to eight servings) instead.
- Dietary restrictions: If you’re gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan or follow any other specific type of diet, scan the service’s weekly menu to confirm that it has options to fit those dietary needs.
- Pricing: The price of meal kit delivery services are based on the quantity of meals you get per week and the quality of ingredients and recipes. More budget-friendly services might not cater to all dietary restrictions or needs, while diet- and lifestyle-specific options typically cost more.
- Delivery dates and times: Consider when you’re available to receive your meals to ensure they don’t go to waste. Most services will offer customizable delivery plans to choose what days you want to receive your weekly delivery.
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Best prepared meal delivery services of 2024
I talked to experts about their favorite prepared meal delivery services and highlighted their recommendations below across budgets and diets, including gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan. All the meal delivery services below offer single-serve, ready-to-eat meals. Some also offer additional meal kit options.
Best variety: CookUnity
- Great for many dietary needs
- Reusable packaging
- Varied plans
- May need extra prep work
Cookunity has multiple plans depending on how many meals you want to receive, with subscriptions ranging from four to 16 meals per week. You can make your selections from a rotating menu of ready-to-eat options each week or have them picked for you based on your preferences, including your choices of protein and any dietary restrictions like vegetarian, vegan, low-carb and gluten-free.
“The convenience is unbeatable — it also offers a ton of gluten-free and pescatarian options, so I didn’t feel limited by the menu at all,” says NBC Select associate updates editor Zoe Malin. However, Malin did have to take out a few components of meals before microwaving them, like a kale salad or coleslaw, which was tricky and caused her to do more dishes (normally, she would reheat and eat meals out of the same disposable containers they came in). “This didn’t take away from eating the meal, but it did make prep more involved — if I was in a rush or wanted to heat something up at the office, it would be frustrating,” says Malin.
Cookunity is also a favorite of NBC Select SEO editor Nikki Brown, who loves browsing and picking her meals each week. “It feels like grocery shopping, except I don’t have to push a cart or carry bags,” she says. There’s something for every type of diet, and the vegan and vegetarian options are hearty and filling, according to Brown. The meals are also easy to prepare: “All I have to do is remove the film and pop it into the oven for 15-30 minutes, depending on what it is,” says Brown.
You can flag any allergies or foods you don’t like, and the service will notify you if they appear in any meals on the menu. “I appreciate that they provide full ingredient lists, down to the individual ingredients in cheeses,” says Ariane Resnick, a special diet chef and certified nutritionist. The meals come in a reusable bag that you can send back to the company instead of having to break down boxes every week. The meals are fresh and have a refrigerated shelf life of about four to seven days, according to Cookunity.
Cost: Starting at $11 per meal with free shipping | Number of meals: 4 to 16 meals per week
Best for most dietary restrictions: BistroMD
- Meets most dietary needs
- Snacks available
- High shipping cost
- Only two plans
BistroMD is a single-serve, individualized plan, so this may not be a good option if you’re looking to feed a family or yourself and a partner. It lets you choose from over 150 chef-prepared meals based on your dietary needs. Lisa Moskovitz, a registered dietitian and CEO of NY Nutrition Group, recommends this service because it has various health-conscious plans — you can pick from five different programs: signature, gluten-free, heart healthy, diabetic and menopause. Each week, you’ll be able to customize which meals you receive.
The service also has an EATS (Essential And Tasty Snacks) program that provides healthy snacking options for either five or seven days for an additional charge, as well as a Men’s Snack Program that costs an additional $53 for three snacks a day for seven days, and a Women’s Snack Program that costs an additional $35 for two snacks daily for seven days.
Cost: Starting at $7 per meal for the 7-day plan and $8 per meal for the 5-day plan, with an additional $20 for shipping | Number of meals: 5 or 7 meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner per week
Best overall: Factor
- Quick and easy
- Choice of 5 plans
- Seamless delivery
- Options can get overwhelming
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Factor has a weekly rotating menu of over 30 prepared meals designed by dietitians. Lisa Young, an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University, recommends this service because it caters to a number of diets and dietary needs, including keto, paleo, low-carb, vegetarian, plant-based and high-protein. You can choose from five plans, ranging from four meals per week up to 18 meals per week.
I tried Factor after the brand sent me a few boxes, and I found the meals to be both delicious and convenient — after a long day at work, I simply popped them into the oven and they were ready to eat in less than 10 minutes. Though they don’t look the prettiest in their container , the meals are tasty and varied, which made me excited to eat dinner at the end of the day. I’m also someone who struggles with portion control, so these single-serve meals are satisfying and help me avoid that uncomfortably full feeling.
Our experts also like that the service has a great price point for the quality of meals: “Factor is incredibly reasonably priced for the quality of health-oriented food they offer,” says Resnick.
Cost: Starting at $13 per serving with free shipping | Number of meals: 6 to 18 per week
Best vegan: Purple Carrot
- Meal kits available
- Great for plant-based diets
- All plant-based
- Can’t choose delivery date
Purple Carrot has prepared meals (as well as meal kits), which are plant-based and include several gluten-free options. “Because it’s fully plant-based, Purple Carrot is an easy way for people to add more plant foods into their diets without having to fully convert to veganism,” says Resnick. She called the meals a perfect mix of “familiar and innovative,” with options like kimchi grilled cheese and Baklava overnight oats.
Malin tried Purple Carrot after the brand sent her a few pre-made options, and she loved the convenience and taste of the meals. “When it comes to prepared vegetarian and vegan meals, I often find that they’re either bland or overly seasoned to make up for the fact that they’re boring. But Purple Carrot’s were genuinely delicious,” says Malin, who took the microwavable meals to work. “The pre-filled tray fit in my lunch box and I looked forward to eating it halfway through the day.”
You can customize the number of meals you get per week, ranging from six to 10 frozen meals. Deliveries take place on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays depending on your shipping location, and you can choose to skip a delivery on any given week.
Cost: Starting at $13 per serving for pre-made meals with free shipping | Number of meals: 6 to 10 for prepared meals per week
Best for families: Home Chef
- Customizable
- Great for multi-servings
- Personalized menu
- Limited pre-made options
- Combined with meal kits
Home Chef’s weekly rotating menu has a Fast & Fresh section with multiple microwave-ready meals, as well as oven-ready meals that lets you throw pre-chopped ingredients in a pan and heat them up with minimal prep and clean up, according to the service. Keep in mind that Home Chef is first and foremost a meal kit delivery service, which means its prepared meal options — which the service calls its fast and fresh plan — are limited each week: Within its weekly menu of more than 30 meals to choose from, Home Chef will offer about 10 prepared options. However, it’s great for families who hope to rotate their meal kits with oven- and microwave-ready meals to cut down on cooking time each week, according to our experts. The service also has a family plan with 4-serving oven-ready meals.
Before ordering, you’ll be prompted to take a quiz that personalizes your menu based on your taste, serving size and delivery preferences. When looking at individual menu options, each meal shows the estimated time it takes to heat up. Home Chef also lets you customize the type and amount of protein you want in each meal (including low-calorie and vegetarian options), which makes it a great option for people who want variety or those with certain dietary restrictions, says Ben Leonard, chef and culinary manager for GreenPan. With that said, it may not be the best option for people who are indecisive or picky eaters, says Leonard.
Cost: Starting at $10 per meal, with a minimum weekly order value of $51 (Home Chef Plan) or $83 (Family Plan) | Number of meals: 2 to 6 meals per week
Best gluten-free: Sunbasket
- Meal kits available
- Great for multiple diets
- Customizable
- Not for larger families
Sunbasket has seasonal-ingredient focused meals made for those who follow specific diets like gluten-free, paleo and diabetes-friendly. On its weekly rotating menu, Sunbasket has around 10 single-serve meals, which the service calls its fresh and ready plan, that you can heat in the oven or microwave and add to your order each week. If you don’t feel like committing to prepared meals, you can mix and match with over a dozen meal kits from its menu, giving you options for days you want to cook, as well as those sporadically busy days when you just don’t have time. Each meal indicates whether it accommodates certain dietary restrictions, including gluten-free, soy-free, pescatarian and vegetarian.
Malin tried Sunbasket for a week and became a huge fan of the service. “There were almost too many delicious dishes to choose from, and each one I tried came with an easy to follow recipe — I loved that some of them also prompted me to cook with ingredients I don’t normally buy,” she says. "And don’t sleep on the fresh and ready meals: They taste like homemade meals, but all you do is warm them up in the microwave.”
These pre-made meals don’t come frozen, but you can freeze most of them to cook later (the ones that can be frozen have specific cooking instructions on them).
Cost: Starting at $10 per meal with $6 shipping | Number of meals: 2 to 5 per week
Best prepared and meal kit combo: Blue Apron
- Great variety of meals
- Meal kits available
- Not for large families
- Lacks some variety
- Not for certain dietary needs
Blue Apron joined the prepared meal delivery scene earlier this year with its Prepared & Ready plan and now has over 30 single-serve meals on its rotating weekly menu. These meals heat up in the microwave in under five minutes, and they come in one tray that you can recycle afterward. You can also combine prepared and meal kit plans by adding the pre-made meals to your meal kit orders as add-ons each week.
I tried Blue Apron’s prepared meals for two weeks and was impressed by how tasty they were, in addition to being super quick and easy to heat up when I’m feeling too lazy to cook. The options are also fairly varied each week (though you will find a lot of pastas on the menu, which can be a con for some), and I found the portions to be just right for myself. However, the meals do not come with sides, so it may be lacking in variety. Any foods that can be considered as sides, like veggies, are mixed into the meals rather than portioned off (like you would find in most other prepared meal services).
Cost: Starting at $10 per meal | Number of meals: 4 to 10 per week
Best for healthy eaters: Splendid Spoon
- Snacks available
- Choose delivery frequency
- Healthier options
- Can’t choose number of meals
Splendid Spoon has over 50 healthy ready-made and gluten-free meals and snacks, including smoothies, soups, noodle bowls and dishes. You can choose one of three plans, including a seven-, 14- or 21-meal plan per week (and you can add more meals at an additional cost). The service recommends freezing the food upon unpacking, which it says makes the meals last one to three months. “They taste as healthy as they are, which is a downside for some and a bonus for others,” says Resnick, who was sent a few boxes by the brand to try out.
While you can’t customize the number of meals you get per plan, Splendid Spoon does let you choose how often you want to receive your meals: weekly, every other week or once a month.
Cost: Starting at $10 per meal and $85 for the plan, with an additional $13 for shipping (free if you order 10 or more meals) | Number of meals: 7, 14 or 21 per order
Best for sensitive stomachs: Epicured
- Good for digestion issues
- Breakfast and dessert options
- Snacks available
- Higher price point
Epicured’s meals are all gluten-free and low-FODMAP, which means they don’t have certain carbohydrates and food additives that can be hard for some people to digest, according to the service. This makes Epicured a great option for those with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or a generally sensitive stomach, says Moskovitz. It has a rotating menu of over 50 prepared foods spanning breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts. You can filter the menu by diet, including gluten-free, pescatarian, vegetarian and vegan — each diet has a “menu cycle,” which means it rotates every few weeks. Once you choose your meals and register, each weekly order is automatically renewed (if you don’t manually pick your meals, last week’s meals will be sent again).
Cost: Starting at around $15 per meal with free shipping for orders over $100 (the shipping cost for orders under $100 depends on the delivery location) | Number of meals: As many as you want
Meet our experts
At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure that all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and with no undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
- Lisa Young is an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University and a private practice nutritionist.
- Ariane Resnick is a special diet chef and certified nutritionist. She’s also a recipe developer and has written about nutrition, health, wellness and identity for a variety of platforms, including The Kitchn, Livestrong and Simply Recipes.
- Lisa Moskovitz is a registered dietitian and the CEO of NY Nutrition Group. She is the author of “The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan,” a program that focuses on simple and sustainable ways to lose weight.
- Ben Leonard is a chef and educator for companies and brands nationwide, including Sur La Table, Greenpan and more.
- Abby K. Cannon is a dietitian and founder of food blog Abby’s Food Court.
Why trust NBC Select?
I am an updates editor at NBC Select who has extensive experience covering meal delivery services, including gluten-free and vegetarian options. For this article, I spoke to six experts about what to consider when shopping for a meal delivery service and how to determine the best one for you. They also shared their favorite meal delivery services to try out.
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