The meal delivery business experienced rapid growth during the pandemic, as many people chose to quarantine or avoid stores and restaurants. Today, companies like HelloFresh and Blue Apron face significant competition in the market. While having food delivered to your door might seem less essential now, these services offer various advantages beyond COVID safety. The decision of whether a meal delivery service is a smart way to spend your food budget hinges on individual lifestyles, eating habits, and savings goals.
Simplicity and Convenience
From sign-up to delivery to meal preparation, simplicity stands out as a major advantage. Registering online allows you to choose your menu preferences, such as vegan or carnivore, specify dietary restrictions like gluten-free or peanut allergies, and select the desired number of meals and servings. Excluding cooking oil, salt, and pepper, all necessary ingredients arrive boxed and labeled, accompanied by detailed recipes that vary in difficulty based on the chosen plan. For those seeking even greater convenience, many companies now provide ready-made meals that can be easily heated in the oven or microwave.
Meal kits save time on planning and grocery shopping, although you still have to cook. Fully prepared meals offer ultimate ease-just heat, eat, and go.
Variety and Dietary Options
Beyond vegetarian and family-friendly options, many services now cater to specific dietary needs, including keto or low-carb, diabetic-friendly, gluten-free, low-calorie, and Mediterranean diets. Some even offer low-calorie and low-sodium dishes. Meal delivery plans can be a useful option if you struggle to incorporate five servings of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet, as most delivered meals include 2-3 servings each.
One of the biggest selling points of meal delivery services is menu variety. Many offer seasonal, globally inspired dishes that go beyond your typical grocery store finds. However, subscription-based meal kits can feel limiting if you prefer more creativity in your meals.
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Freshness and Quality
Despite being shipped in a box, the ingredients provided by meal delivery companies are generally of good quality. While you might occasionally encounter a mealy tomato out of season, produce tends to be fresh and crisp, and meats are lean and tender.
Expanding Culinary Horizons
Meal plans can broaden your culinary horizons by introducing you to ingredients you may have never tried before. The detailed recipe cards included in all meal planning kits can help you learn new skills. A sneaky benefit of meal kits is that you’re continually introduced to new recipes that you might not have tried otherwise.
Reducing Food Waste
Because ingredients are pre-measured, there’s minimal waste. If you routinely buy more groceries than you need, a meal kit delivery service will help with that. You’ll receive everything you need; and nothing you don’t. A 2017 study estimated that meal kits reduce food waste by 27% as compared to meals constructed through ingredients you buy directly at the grocery store.
Cost Considerations
Depending on your grocery budget, the cost of having meals delivered may be higher than your typical spending. On average, expect to pay between $60-$80 per week for three meals feeding two people, which translates to around $10 per person per meal for meal-prep kits. Ready-made meals tend to cost more. While the cost of meal delivery services varies, they average out to around $10 a meal per person. That’s more than you’d pay buying groceries on your own but less than dining out or ordering in. Also many of these services offer significant introductory discounts.
When considering affordability, it's important to define what "cheap" means. For meal kits, an average price of $10 or less per serving can be considered affordable. Comparing meal kit costs to dining out reveals that meal kits and prepared meal delivery services are cheaper than takeout, even after the introductory offer has expired.
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Environmental Impact
Every meal kit comes in a box with individually wrapped ingredients, plus a cold pack to keep food fresh. The extra cardboard and plastic has raised concerns among some sustainability-minded consumers. However, one study found that meal kit delivery has less of an environmental impact than grocery shopping when you account for food waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Most delivery companies have made efforts to ensure that all packaging is recyclable.
Portion Control
Even meals designated for two people tend to go much further. If you’re watching your weight, be mindful of your portion sizes. They are well portioned and do not seem to encourage excessive eating habits.
Potential Drawbacks
Not all dishes will align with your tastes. Although most services allow you to specify certain ingredients you’d rather avoid, there’s still a chance you’ll run into a meal you don’t enjoy. The sodium content in many recipes can be on the high side, so it’s a good idea to review nutrition information before meal selection if possible.
Time Savings
The recipes, including the more complex ones, have never taken me longer than 30 minutes and come with hardly any clean-up involved. This means I’m not stuck in the kitchen for hours cooking and cleaning anymore. Nor do I have to waste a full day meal prepping for hours on end on Sunday as I used to do!
Meal Kits vs. Prepared Meals
To quickly touch on this, this would again depend on your overall goals. If you are someone that is always on the go and hardly has any time to whip up a 30 minute or less meal, and you don’t mind paying a little extra for the convenience, then perhaps prepared meals are for you. However, I’d say the downside of prepared meals is the nutritional drain of the pre-cooked vegetables and the substantially higher price point. I’d also say that pre-cooked meals just are never as tasty as a freshly whipped-up meal, so if you have 30 minutes to spare each day, I’d strongly recommend using a meal kit system over a prepared meal system.
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Specific Meal Kit Services
- EveryPlate: Known for its affordable pricing, with meals priced at just $5.99 a serving. It is the best cheap meal delivery service for busy, budget-minded home cooks and couples without too many dietary restrictions.
- Dinnerly: The affordable sister brand to Marley Spoon, Dinnerly's meals come in at just $7.99 per serving. It is the best cheap meal kit for intermediate home cooks who don’t mind chopping and prep, couples, and small households.
- Home Chef: Offers a Family Menu with meals prepared in servings of four, and come to $7.99 a serving. With a price of $6.99 per serving, this is a great cheap meal delivery service for families or households of 4 who want a kit a few nights a week, as well as for beginner home cooks.
- HelloFresh: Offers more than 100 menu options each week and standard meals cost $9.99 per serving. It is good for smaller households who want at least three kits a week.
- Hungryroot: A high-end grocery delivery service that comes with suggestions for how to easily combine its items into quick-and-easy meals. It's great for home cooks in small households, snackers, and grazers.