Cheap Healthy Meal Delivery Services: Eat Well, Save Money, and Simplify Your Life

In today's fast-paced world, maintaining a healthy diet can be challenging, especially when time and budget constraints come into play. Dining out and ordering takeout are convenient but often expensive and not always the healthiest choices. If saving money on food is your goal, cutting down on delivery and dining out is a good place to start. A recent CNET survey found that the average adult spends more than $4,000 yearly on restaurant food. Fortunately, cheap meal delivery services offer a practical solution, providing nutritious, flavorful meals without the hassle of extensive grocery shopping and meal preparation.

The Appeal of Affordable Meal Delivery

There are plenty of reasons to delve into the world of meal kits and prepared meal services. Cooking at home is a natural foil for a bloated food budget, and a cheap meal delivery service makes it easy to enjoy healthy, flavorful dishes without the hassle. As a bonus, meal kits cut down on grocery waste since they only send you the ingredients you need. With plenty of budget-friendly choices -- some as cheap as $6 per serving -- you can save time, eat well and even cut costs. For one, groceries aren't as cheap as they used to be but meal kit prices have remained relatively stable, which in some cases make them a better bargain in 2025 than buying groceries to make the same meal. And for those worried about committing to a subscription, one of our top picks, Blue Apron, just did away with that requirement.

With all this to consider, you might be wondering what the best cheap meal delivery service actually is. After much testing, I've found that there are plenty of options with services as cheap as $6 a serving. If you're looking for the most affordable meal kits, you can't go wrong with EveryPlate or Mosaic Foods, which is a vegetarian favorite. At CNET, we've tested EveryPlate numerous times over the years, and the budget-friendly option is the best cheap meal kit delivery service for several years running.

Top Affordable Meal Delivery Services in 2025

There are great budget-friendly options available, including services that offer nutritious vegan meals and meal kits for $6 per serving. For those looking to elevate their meals, some meal kit services even include steak and seafood in their standard plans without extra charges. Here are some of the most affordable meal delivery services in 2025:

EveryPlate: The Cheapest Meal Kit

• Why we picked it: EveryPlate's affordable meal kits were all solid and our testers found them easy to execute. This is also the cheapest meal kit, with plans as low as $6 a serving. There are twenty-seven recipes per week, typically one featuring chicken or ground beef, a few pork chop recipes and a few plant-based meals. You won't get beef or seafood unless you shell out for premium meals, and there aren't many options for vegans.
• What it offers: EveryPlate stands out as the most budget-friendly option, with meals priced as low as $6 per serving. This service provides satisfying comfort food, such as hoisin meatloaf with mashed potatoes, cheeseburgers, umami pork chops, and sweet potato quesadillas.
• Who is it for: This meal kit is a great option for beginner cooks since the meal kits are easy to execute, and the service is also a great option for those new to meal kits since they're the most affordable option.
• Who should avoid it: Since there are only a handful of vegetarian options, this might not be the best choice for vegetarians or vegans.
• Additional perks: EveryPlate offers a student discount, which is 75% off of your first box and 15% off of every box thereafter for a year. The same pricing is available for the “hero discount” (verified medical professionals, first responders, active military, and veterans).

Blue Apron: Quality and Eco-Friendliness

• Why we picked it: Blue Apron is a classic example of a quality meal delivery service. One of the original providers, it also stands out for its eco-friendliness.
• What it offers: Blue Apron is one of the original meal kit services and one of the best. Blue Apron topped our list of best meal delivery services for 2025 with a wide range of excellent recipes, all affordable. Plans start at $8 a serving. With Blue Apron, you can order bistro steaks and roasted trout dinners even when you sign up for the standard plan. Most other 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.
• Who is it for: Blue Apron meal kits are great for families since the price per serving drops to $8 a portion if you choose four recipes for four. They're also great for novice cooks who want to elevate their weekly dinner routine.
• Who should avoid it: Vegans would be better off choosing a service like Mosaic Foods or Purple Carrot.

CookUnity: Diverse and Ready-to-Eat Meals

• Why we liked it: The CookUnity meals were tasty and diverse. Whether you're craving Haitian vegetable stew or red wine-braised short rib, you can order them for lunch or dinner. The more you buy, the cheaper they get, but you can incur an upcharge for some of the premium options.
• What it offers: CookUnity provides a diverse range of ready-to-eat meals, from Haitian vegetable stew to red wine-braised short rib. This service is excellent for diversifying your palate, with plenty of low-carb, vegan, and paleo options.
• Who is it for: This meal kit is ideal for those who don't have the time or desire to meal prep during the week. All you have to do is pop them in the microwave or heat the meal on the stove, and they're ready to eat -- no prep needed!
• Who should avoid it: Although some meal options have less sodium than others, many of them are unusually high. This service might not be the best choice for someone on a low-sodium diet.

Factor: Health-Focused Prepared Meals

• Why we liked it: Factor meals are delivered fresh instead of frozen, which was a high point for us. They target the health, fitness, and diet crowds. A generous amount of lean proteins, such as chicken and salmon, along with greens, cauliflower, grains, beans, and other high-protein, low-calorie foods, are available to choose from.
• What it offers: Factor focuses on health and fitness, offering meals with lean proteins, greens, and low-calorie foods. The service caters to specific dietary needs, with many meals being keto and paleo-friendly.
• Who is it for: This is a good option for someone on a specific diet since many meals are keto and paleo-friendly. You can also use filters to search for meals that fit your taste, nutrition, and diet preferences. Plus, there are about six or seven vegetarian meals per week.
• Who should avoid it: This is slightly more expensive than CookUnity, so if you're on a tight budget but still want a prepared meal kit, CookUnity may be the better option.

Mosaic Foods: Plant-Based Excellence

• Why we picked it: This plant-based meal delivery service had some of the best, healthy prepared meals of any service I tried. Meals are also affordable.
• What it offers: Mosaic Foods specializes in plant-based prepared meals with bold, global flavors and creative meat substitutes like tofu and jackfruit. Mosaic offers a quick breakfast with plant-based bowls, flatbreads, oat bowls, and smoothies. It's an affordable way for a family looking to cut meat out one or several nights per week to get dinner on the table. You can choose one of three plans, choose between six, 12, and 18 meals, and either select your food or let Mosaic pick for you. Meals are easy to freeze, and subscription is easy to pause or cancel if you want to take a break or if meals start piling up in the fridge and freezer.
• Who is it for: If you're a busy vegetarian or vegan or want to incorporate more plant-based meats into your diet, this is a great meal delivery pick. In addition to a nice selection of vegetarian meals, there are great vegan options, too.
• Who should avoid it: This might not be the best option for picky eaters because the menu doesn't include many basic meals.

Other Affordable Meal Delivery Services

Dinnerly

• What it offers: Dinnerly is the affordable sister brand to Marley Spoon (our favorite meal kit for people who like to cook). Where Marley Spoon meals average $10.99 per serving, Dinnerly’s come in at just $7.99-though selecting the “saver” recipes can reduce the price a bit more. Each meal can supposedly be prepared in five steps or less. Dinnerly allows you to filter recipes by cuisine or dietary preference, and you can also view the attributes of each (low-calorie, kid-friendly, keto-friendly, low-carb, under 30 minutes, vegetarian, dairy-free, etc.) before clicking through to the recipe.
• Pros: Easy recipe filtering, advance selection available, great add-on selection.
• Cons: Ingredients not divided by kit, some staples required/not included in box.
• Who is it for: It's the best cheap meal kit for intermediate home cooks who don’t mind chopping and prep, couples, and small households.

Home Chef

• What it offers: Cooking for a crowd and looking for a variety of meals including traditional meal kits and fully prepared meals? Then Home Chef’s Family Menu might be the best affordable meal delivery service for you. 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. The standard meal kits can often be prepared in 15 or 30 minutes and include preportioned ingredients. You can also choose from fully cooked meal options that are oven-ready and grill-ready, and add-ons include proteins, snacks, soups, salad kits, desserts, and more.
• Pros: Very affordable, depending on the number of meals you order each week, quick and easy prep.
• Cons: Smaller orders get pricey, standard meals are pretty basic, weekly minimums.
• Who is it for: 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

• What it offers: HelloFresh is one of the OG meal delivery services (despite any claims you might see to the contrary, it’s been around longer than Blue Apron), and though its price tag is on the higher end of what I consider “cheap,” it offers far more meal options than its comparably priced competitors. And in addition to the different meal kits, you can order a variety of add-ons like proteins, snacks, desserts, and smoothies from the HelloFresh Market.
• Pros: More than 100 menu options each week, pricing (mostly) not dependent on quantity.
• Cons: At $9.99 per serving, barely meets our “affordable” threshold, meals are heavy on carbs, light on fresh produce.
• Who is it for: It's good for smaller households who want at least three kits a week.

Hungryroot

• What it offers: If you don’t like grocery shopping and don’t want to do much in the way of meal prep, Hungryroot may be the meal delivery service for you. Well, except for the fact that it isn’t technically a meal delivery service; it’s more of a high-end grocery delivery service that comes with suggestions for how to easily combine its items into quick-and-easy meals. Because it’s an online grocery store, Hungryroot has plenty of options for your dietary restrictions (dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, tree-nut-free, peanut-free, egg-free, shellfish-free, vegan meals, vegetarian meals, pescatarian meals, high-protein and paleo options, diabetes-friendly meals, etc.) and dietary preferences (sweets or no sweets? That is the question! Or at least one of them).
• Pros: Large selection of high-quality grocery items, organic ingredients, throw-together meal options, prepared options, lots of snack options.
• Cons: Not really a meal kit service, credit system can be confusing at first.
• Who is it for: It's great for home cooks in small households, snackers, and grazers.

Key Considerations When Choosing a Meal Delivery Service

Finding the cheapest meal delivery service isn’t always as straightforward as it should be. Or they might be based on a minimum weekly order that’s far more food than your household would actually consume, and most tack on an additional shipping cost. Also, how do they determine what counts as a portion size? Your six-foot-tall, athletic husband and a company’s consulting dietitian might have very different opinions on that subject. And let us not forget that time is money; if an entrée requires too much prep time, this particular home-cooked meal model might not be worth it for you in the end.

Read also: Healthy food access with Highmark Wholecare explained.

Meal Kit vs. Prepared Meal Delivery

The first big decision you'll make is whether you want meal kits, which require some prep work and cooking, or a prepared meal service that sends fully cooked meals 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 dollars more per serving.

Cost

After you've picked between meal kits or meal delivery, you'll want to find a service within your budget. Meal kits with recipes can cost as little as $6 a serving, and they include basic menus and no-frills recipes. More expensive services include recipes with more exotic ingredients, high-end cuts of meat, and organic produce, but they can cost as much as $15 or $20 a serving.

Healthiness

While most meal delivery services have healthy options, some are healthier. Specific meal kits and delivery services are better than others if you want to eat low-calorie, low-carb, plant-based, or pescatarian food.

Number of Meals Per Week

With almost every service, the more meals or servings you order per delivery, the cheaper it becomes per meal. Ideally, you'll want to determine precisely how much food makes sense 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.

How Meal Delivery Services Work

EveryPlate

1. Pick your Meals: Scroll, swipe, and snag your favorites from our weekly menu. Scrumptious dinners (and tasty add-ons) are just a tap away.
2. Get Them Delivered: Fresh, pre-portioned ingredients show up at your door-chilled and ready to roll.
3. Cook. Eat. Relax.: Follow our foolproof, 6-step recipe cards and get dinner on the table in 30 mins or less.

Hungryroot

1. Personalized meal plans + groceries: Fill your cart with delicious, whole foods packed with inflammation-fighting benefits-think fruits, veggies, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats.
2. Easy meals ready in minutes: Hitting your protein goals is easy with premium meats, fresh seafood, and plant-based options that keep your body energized and your taste buds happy.
3. No food boredom here! Built for your budget: Buy more, save more with prices as low as breakfast ($3.99), lunch ($5.99), dinner ($8.99), snacks ($1.99), sweets ($1.99), drinks ($3.99), and supplements ($0.49).

Testing Methodology

Over the past few years, editors at CNET have tested nearly every meal kit delivery and prepared meal delivery service we could get our hands on, including the best budget meal delivery services. Many of the menu options for the meal delivery services I've listed include nutritious plant-based food or high-protein recipes with lots of veggies and lean meats.

Read also: Healthy Eating on the Run

To test each cheap meal delivery service, I tried at least four and sometimes as many as 10 meals from any given service. In 2025, my fellow editors retested the services to ensure they stood the test of time. We always choose a range of meals from the various menus and meal plan offerings. For instance, if a meal subscription service offers vegan or vegetarian meals, our wellness editor Anna Gragert, who's been a vegetarian for over 20 years, tested it this year. We 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.

Benefits of Using Meal Delivery Services

• Time-saving: Meal delivery services eliminate the need for grocery shopping and meal planning, freeing up valuable time.
• Cost-effective: By reducing food waste and encouraging home cooking, these services can help you save money compared to dining out or ordering takeout.
• Healthy eating: Many meal delivery services offer nutritious, balanced meals with options for various dietary needs and preferences.
• Convenience: With pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes, meal kits make cooking simple and stress-free.
• Variety: Explore new cuisines and recipes without the commitment of buying full-sized ingredients.

Read also: Mobile Dining Revolution

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