Two of the best meal delivery services according to Healthline, Blue Apron salmon dinner and greenchef pasta dish, tested and photographed by Kelli McGrane, a registered dietitian.Share on Pinterest
Photos by Kelli McGrane

Key takeaways

  • Our 11 testers tried 35 of the most popular meal delivery services. We evaluated their menus, ingredients, and health claims.
  • Our testing team includes everyone from a self-described ‘bad cook’ to registered dietitians.
  • We chose Blue Apron as the best overall meal delivery service for 2025. High quality ingredients, easy recipes, and the flavors keep her coming back. Other top picks includeSunbasket for healthy meals and Factor for prepared meals.

Sometimes, finding the time to shop for fresh ingredients, plan meals, and cook just isn’t possible for people leading busy lives working, caring for a family, or running a household.

Meal delivery services can help make meal prep easier. However, they differ in meal types, suitability for various diets, quality of ingredients, variety of flavors, and cost. There are so many to choose from that picking the best service can be a hard task in itself.

So, we have tested 35 of the most popular meal prep companies to find the best of the best for different budgets, diets, and lifestyles. Keep reading to see our dietitian-approved favorites, plus a few other services that narrowly missed the cut.

All the services tested below were tried by Healthline experts and editors who initially received the meals for free. All opinions are our own.

Narrowing down our favorite food delivery services wasn’t an easy feat. Here are additional services that scored well during testing but fell short of making our top five:

  • Green Chef (4.2 out of 5): Green Chef is a certified organic meal kit subscription service and one of the best options if sustainability is your top priority. It also scored highly for ease of sign-up, meal variety, nutrition quality, and taste. However, some testers said the meal prep wasn’t as easy as they’d like. Check out our full review of Green Chef here.
  • HelloFresh (4.2 out of 5): HelloFresh is a great option for families and beginners. It’s moderately priced and has a large rotating menu. However, our testers noted that the service can get repetitive after several months. Read our full review of HelloFresh here.
  • BistroMD (3.8 out of 5): BistroMD is another great option if you’re interested in weight loss. It delivers a week’s worth of low calorie, preportioned meals, including breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Check out our full review of BistroMD here.
  • EveryPlate (3.8 out of 5): EveryPlate is one of the cheapest meal delivery service options available, starting at $4.99 per serving. It’s a great choice for affordable meal delivery, although there’s also a $10.99 shipping fee on every order. Check out our full review of EveryPlate here.

Here’s a quick look at how our top picks compare:

Meal delivery servicePrice per serving (entree)ShippingHealthline
score
(out of 5)
Good forType of meals
Blue Apron$7.99 to $12.49$10.994.5simple meal kits for beginnersmeal kit
Sunbasket$9.99+$9.994.3healthy, organic mealsmeal kit,
prepared
Factorvaries$10.994.2prepared lunches and dinnersprepared
Trifecta$14.99 to $16$9.994.1weight loss and athletesprepared
Home Chef$9.99 to $13.95$10.994.2families, quick weeknight mealsmeal kit
Purple Carrot$11 to $13.25• free for orders of $99 and up
• $10 for smaller orders
4.3fully plant-based dinnersmeal kit,
prepared
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Images provided by Healthline testers

At Healthline, we know that meal delivery services aren’t a small investment, and that’s why we’re dedicated to testing the services we feature for our readers.

Testers select a week’s worth of meals from multiple menus to get a well-rounded view of the types of flavors and ingredients offered. We consider several factors during testing, including the ease of the sign-up and meal selection process, the variety and nutritional composition of the meals offered, ingredient quality and freshness, how easy the meals are to cook, and, of course, the taste.

Additionally, each service we feature is in compliance with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food safety and manufacturing regulations and uses a trusted shipper to handle its food products.

Why Trust Healthline
70+
meal delivery services evaluated
35+
meal delivery services personally tested
How we evaluate meal delivery services

Our Medical Standards and Insights team has carefully researched and vetted over 11,000 products and services. We fact-check health claims, evaluate menus and ingredients, and look into each brand’s reputation before sharing products and services on Healthline.

To choose the meal delivery services on this page, we considered all the services that passed our vetting process. Then, we personally tested some of them to narrow down our list even further. Read more about how we test meal delivery services.

Healthline Reviews: Best Meal Kit Subscriptions
Healthline Reviews: Best Meal Kit Subscriptions
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Blue Apron is our pick as the best overall meal delivery service thanks to its creative recipes and quality ingredients. Factor was our pick as the best for prepared meals, while Purple Carrot scored highly for fully plant-based meals.

Frozen prepared meals aren’t always healthy. That’s because they tend to use a lot of sauces or gravies that contain high amounts of sodium and saturated fats to help keep the meals moist and deliver on flavor.

But if it uses mostly nutritious ingredients, a frozen prepared meal can be healthy — even when compared with a fresh meal that might be high in saturated fats or sodium.

Healthy food delivery can be fresh or frozen, though fresh food is often considered healthier than frozen food.

But it depends on what foods you’re eating. Frozen meats or foods high in saturated fats and sodium definitely aren’t as healthy as frozen fruits and vegetables.

And eating frozen fruits and vegetables is better than not eating them at all. They can sometimes even be safer to eat because they’re less likely than raw produce to carry foodborne illness.

The short answer: Yes, prepared meals can help you lose weight.

Having diet meals delivered can help take out the guesswork of building a nutritionally complete meal pan. If you’re busy, it also saves making time for a grocery shop.

However, like all weight loss methods, you must stick to the plan to get the best results. Pairing lower calorie meals with exercise can help you lose weight and improve cardiovascular and muscular health.

We chose Sunbasket as our best healthy meal delivery service. Other top picks were Factor, Trifecta, and Purple Carrot.

Although many food delivery services are available, only some offer both nutritious and delicious options.

The meal delivery services listed above have been tested to make sure they provide satisfying, tasty meals. Many also offer dishes that are suitable for a variety of dietary needs, food preferences, and common food allergies.

You can use the list above to choose the best meal delivery service based on your lifestyle and nutritional needs.