Now, more than ever, it’s becoming clear that our health is of the highest importance in order to live a long and happy life. At the same time, it’s also becoming increasingly clear that the average American diet does not support a healthy lifestyle, and is a contributing factor to a number of diseases.
One of the best ways we can take care of ourselves is by eating healthy, nutritious meals. That’s why a number of meal delivery services, including the ones on this list, have made it their mission to provide healthy and delicious meals.
Eating healthy doesn’t have to mean skimping on taste and it certainly doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it can be a fun experience trying nutritious and tasty new foods. The tricky part is finding the right ingredients, pairing, and cooking them together.
If you live a busy lifestyle or are new to cooking, this can be daunting and tiresome. Unfortunately, this leads to many of us opting for a drive-through meal or snacks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner when we don’t have the time or energy to make something ourselves.
The good news is that we live in a day and age where you can have healthy meals delivered straight to your door. Not a fan of cooking? No problem. Many of the services on this list are pre-made, so you can be eating healthier meals in minutes.
Changing your diet to include more vegetables, and ultimately higher amounts of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients is just a subscription or order away.
Before we jump into which healthy meal delivery services we believe are worth considering, let’s first define what constitutes a healthy diet…
Food Box HQ Note: The information below is not meant to be a replacement for your personal doctor/physician, nurse, physician’s assistant, or any other medical professional. Before making any final decisions regarding switching your diet and using a healthy meal delivery service, it is recommended that you consult with a physician or dietician about your needs.
What Is A Healthy Diet?
Because of the prominent marketing in the diet industry, the phrase “healthy eating” usually has different meanings to different people. For the sake of this article, when we use the word “healthy” we are referring to the guidelines set forth by the World Health Organization. They state that a healthy adult diet is comprised of the following:
- Fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains.
- A minimum of 400 grams of fruits and vegetables each day.
- Less than 10% of total energy intake from added sugars.
- Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats. Unsaturated are preferred over saturated and trans fats.
- Less than 5 grams of salt intake each day (preferably iodonized).
We used the above as a guide in selecting the healthy meal delivery services you’ll find below and included a variety of different services to fit different lifestyles as well as budgets.
Best For Quick Healthy Meals
ModifyHealth
What It Is: ModifyHealth is pre-made meal delivery service that takes a different approach to healthy meals than many of the other options on this list. The way that they craft their meal plan is by looking at food as medicine. Rather than having one plan on their menu that is dedicated to healthy eating, ModifyHealth’s entire meal delivery service is dedicated to it. How they do this is by using the Mediterranean Diet as the basis in which they craft all of their recipes. From there, they branch out into different diet types, such as gluten-free, low-sodium, and even low FODMAP. In fact, they are one of the only meal delivery services that not only supports the low FODMAP diet but is also certified by the organization that created it (Monash University).
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast (only on the Low FODMAP plan), Lunch, and Dinner.
Lowest Price Per Meal: $11.75
Examples of ModifyHealth Meals:
- BBQ Pulled Chicken with Broccoli & Roasted Potatoes
- Beef Skillet with Cabbage & Sweet Potato
- Grilled Steak with Mashed Potatoes, Carrots & Broccoli
- Orange Braised Beef with Mashed Potatoes
- Ranchero Egg Scramble with Chicken
Why ModifyHealth Made The List:
- ModifyHealth is one of the only meal delivery services currently out there that bases their meals on the Mediterranean Diet. Not only is the Mediterranean Diet one of the most popular healthy diets out there, research has shown that those who follow it live longer and healthier lives.
- They are currently the only meal delivery service that is certified to offer low FODMAP meals.
- In addition to providing meals, ModifyHealth also allows you to schedule consultations with their staff dietician.
- From our reviews of their meals, we found them to offer larger single-serving portion sizes than many other pre-made meal delivery services we’ve reviewed in the past.
Best Certified Organic Meal Kit
Green Chef
What It Is: Green Chef is a traditional meal kit delivery service that is one of the few that is also USDA certified organic. They focus on providing healthy meals that are easy to make and cater to a variety of diets. The specific diets they follow are shown in their plan options: keto, paleo, vegetarian, and vegan. If you’re not looking to follow a specific diet, they have a balanced living plan that has a variety of different meal types. Green Chef recently expanded its menu to include more plan options, including Mediterranean (which follows the Mediterranean diet), Fast & Fit, and Gluten-Free. Their gluten-free plan offers meals that are certified gluten-free, making Green Chef a great choice if you have a severe gluten allergy or celiac disease.
Types of Meals Offered: Lunch and Dinner.
Lowest Price Per Meal: $12.99
Examples of Green Chef’s Meals:
- Mongolian BBQ-Style Ranch Steak with sauteed bell pepper & green beans, ginger-lime vinaigrette.
- Hoisin-Glazed Salmon with roasted broccoli, cashew slaw, sesame seeds.
- Creamy Broccoli & Potato Soup with carrots, sharp cheddar cheese, and ciabatta croutons.
- Chicken with Balsamic Tomato-Pepper Jam with pearl couscous, chard, figs, almonds, and parmesan.
Why Green Chef Made The List:
- Green chef is USDA-certified organic, so every meal is going to have organic, sustainably sourced ingredients.
- They focus on crafting healthy and tasty meals that are, from our experience, fairly simple to prepare and cook.
- They can save you some time sending pre-prepped veggies and sauces beforehand.
- Their recipe cards are clear and easy to follow with pictures of the step-by-step process.
- Green Chef’s menu changes every week so you’ll always have new recipes to select from.
Best For Healthy Meal Kit & Grocery Options
Sunbasket
What It Is: Sunbasket is a meal kit that offers healthy and adventurous meals. They help you spice up your dinner plans by providing adventurous meals to cook and prepare yourself. Not only does Sunbasket offer healthy and delicious meals, but they are also committed to strong, ethical values. This includes working closely with organic farmers, ranchers, and fishermen to send you the best quality, and best-cared-for, produce and meat. We found that Sunbasket is one of the most transparent meal kits when it comes to sourcing practices, going as far as highlighting and sharing the exact farms they source from. They provide a variety of meal plans to choose from that cater to specific diets, such as paleo, gluten-free, and vegetarian. Sunbasket also has one of the best marketplaces we’ve seen when it comes to meal kits, allowing you to add other options to your box each week such as healthy breakfast, drinks, snacks, and meats.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks, Drinks, Desserts, and additional Meats.
Lowest Price Per Meal: $11.49
Examples of Sunbasket’s Meals:
- Moroccan Salmon in Chraime Sauce with Cauliflower “Couscous”
- Chicken Breasts with Olive-leek Sauce and Sauteed Kale
- Mediterranean Quinoa and Roasted Vegetable Salad with Ras El Hanout
- Toasted Coconut and Cassia Cinnamon Oatmeal Cup
Why Sunbasket Made The List:
- Sunbasket prioritizes high-quality, organic, and sustainably sourced ingredients. Like Green Chef, they are certified organic.
- By offering non-traditional recipes, as outlined above, we found them to be one of the best meal kits for expanding your cooking and ingredient-pairing skills.
- Sunbasket has an extensive menu with a variety of breakfast, lunch, and snack options. You can expect upwards of 30 different meals to choose each week as well as dozens of cheeses, oatmeals, breads, juices, and more. This vast selection of foods makes Sunbasket part meal kit and part online grocery store.
- In addition to meal kit meals they also offer pre-made meals that you can take to eat on the go.
Best Organic Plant-Based Meals
Daily Harvest
What It Is: Daily Harvest is a plant-based pre-made meal delivery service with a focus on organic and healthy meals, smoothies, snacks, desserts, drinks, and more. They’re a great choice if you’re looking for a wide variety of healthy meals you can take with you on the go or simply just don’t want to spend time cooking. All of their meals come flash-frozen, so as soon as they’re received you can store them in the freezer for a fairly long time. Based on our tests, their meals last well over 3 months in the freezer. Daily Harvest only sources from organic farmers who practice regenerative agriculture. This means their fields hold a variety of non-GMO crops and they don’t use any pesticides or herbicides. What makes Daily Harvest stand out amongst the other healthy meal delivery services is their commitment to clean, easy-to-make meals. Their smoothies are what they’re most known for, due to being made with adventurous ingredients such as dragon fruit and lychee.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Desserts, Snacks, and Drinks
Lowest Price Per Meal: $5.99
Examples of Daily Harvest’s Meals:
- Quinoa + Makrut Lime Harvest Bowl
- Tomato + Basil Flatbread
- Butternut Squash + Rosemary Soup
- Blueberry + Lemon Oat Bowl
- Chocolate + Ooey, Gooey, Midnight Fudge “Scoops” Ice Cream
- Strawberry + Peach Smoothie
Why Daily Harvest Made The List:
- With their lowest price per meal being $5.99, Daily Harvest is incredibly affordable for the quality of their food.
- They are one of the few that offers a multitude of healthy breakfast options (whereas others on this list focus on lunch and dinner).
- They focus on using nourishing, whole food, and organic ingredients in every meal and beverage.
- They support local farmers who practice sustainable, regenerative agriculture. This is not only important for the health of humanity, but also for the health of the Earth.
Best Healthy Meal Delivery Service For Following A Specific Diet
Fresh N’ Lean
What It Is: Fresh N’ Lean is a pre-made meal delivery service that was specifically created to help people eat healthier. This company has an exceptionally inspiring backstory. It was created by a young woman (Laureen Asseo) in an effort to help her father, who was struggling with health, eat more nutritious meals. Through the plant-based and nutritionally balanced meals she created for him, he was able to heal, lose weight, and regain vital health. Now the same thought process that she used to create meals for her father are used to create Fresh N’ Lean meals for everyone across the United States, so they too can eat healthy, nutritious, whole-food meals. What we like most about Fresh N’ Lean (and why they made this list) is because every meal has organic, sustainably sourced produce, meat, and fish that are skillfully crafted so you can receive nutrition-rich food.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert, and Snacks.
Lowest Price Per Meal: Every meal plan has a different base price for meals, but the lowest price per meal they offer is $7.83 for the Standard Vegan plan. Both the Keto and Paleo plans are $10.63 per meal, the Protein + plan is $10.36 per meal, the Whole30 plan is $12.99 per meal, and the Low Carb Vegan plan is $10.09 per meal.
Examples of Fresh N’ Lean’s Meals:
- BBQ Chicken with Broccoli and Quinoa
- Cilantro Rice and Beans with Chipotle Salmon
- Spanish Kale and Edamame Bowl with Pumpkin Seeds
- Sesame Beef with Yellow Squash
- Blueberry Chia Breakfast Bowl
Why Fresh N’ Lean Made The List:
- Based on our experience and reviews, they’re one of the few meal delivery services that actually abides by the specifics of these diets. Many others simply use these diets in their marketing and their meals do not strictly adhere to the macros needed to follow them. Because of this, Fresh N’ Lean has consistently made many of our top picks for diet-friendly meal delivery services such as keto, paleo, and Whole30.
- Fresh N’ Lean is highly accommodating to dietary needs and food preferences. Upon signing up, they give you the ability to exclude specific ingredients from meals, making them one of the most customizable meal delivery services we’ve reviewed to date.
- They use organic, sustainably sourced ingredients. All of their meat is grass-fed and free from antibiotics or hormones.
- We found them to be perfect for those who live busy lives and want healthy meals they don’t have to prepare.
Best For Improving Healthy Cooking Skills
HelloFresh
What It Is: If you’re wanting to cook homemade healthy meals but don’t know where to start, check out HelloFresh. They provide you with meal kits that range from 2 to 6 meals per week (for 2 to 4 people). HelloFresh currently offers 6 different plans – meat and veggies, veggie, family friendly, fit and wholesome, quick and easy, and pescatarian. It’s important to note that not every plan exclusively offers healthy meals. In fact, in our video review above you’ll see that meal we cook (from the meat and veggies plan) is fairly rich and loaded with butter. So, if you’re looking for only healthy meals, you’ll want to go with their fit and wholesome plan. This meal plan has the best recipes to choose from if you’re looking for high-quality and fun-t0-make healthy meals. One thing to note though is that they aren’t as accommodating to dietary restrictions or allergies. That being said, HelloFresh still offers meals that cater to a variety of diets, it would just take some more work on your end to ensure each meal meets your specific dietary needs. What we enjoy most about HelloFresh is that since they’ve been in the meal kit industry for so long, they’ve had time to perfect their recipes and create them in a way that are easy to follow and understand. This is ideal for newer cooks, looking to learn how to make healthy meals.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert, Snacks, and Grocery Items
Lowest Price Per Meal: $7.99
Examples of HelloFresh’s Meals:
- Sesame Soy Chicken Bowls with Chili Mayo, Cilantro, & Crispy Onions
- Tilapia with Scallion Sriracha Pesto over Ginger Rice with Green Beans
- Spicy Coconut Curry Pork Noodle Soup
- Chicken au Poivre with Roasted Broccoli & Green Beans
- Mushroom Ravioli with Kale & Walnuts
Why HelloFresh Made The List:
- They offer a variety of healthy dishes that rotate every week, so there’s always new recipes to try.
- Based on our experience, we believe they are the ideal meal delivery service to choose if you’re wanting to learn new cooking skills (specifically when it comes to healthy cooking).
- We love the fact that they give back by donating meals and working with charities to give back to communities across the United States.
- From our reviews over the years, we found their meal kit to provide some of the most delicious recipes out of any other box we’ve tried.
Best Healthy Option For Athletes
Trifecta Nutrition
What It Is: Trifecta Nutrition is a pre-made meal delivery service that focuses on creating healthy, nutritious meals specifically for athletes. In fact, they cater to CrossFit athletes. Their meal plans include options that cover diets such as Paleo, Keto, Vegan, and Vegetarian. From our experience, their Clean Meal plan is the best to choose if you’re wanting to eat healthy with lots of veggies, whole grains, and meats. They use organic, fresh produce and grass-fed meat that is free from antibiotics and hormones. One downside is that some of their plans are chefs choice, meaning you’ll have no ability to select the meals each week. If selecting your own meals is a must, be sure to check out the plans under their “control” section. One of the things we found in our tests that Trifecta does exceptionally well is treating health from all angles. Not only does their service include meal delivery, they also give you access to an app that we used to track meals, macros, workouts, and more.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and additional meat.
Lowest Price Per Meal: $13.79
Examples of Trifecta’s Meals:
- Chicken Pesto Pasta
- Salmon and Wild Rice
- Pineapple Coconut Loaf
Why Trifecta Made The List:
- Out of all the healthy meal delivery services we’ve tested on this list, Trifecta Nutrition offers some of the cleanest meals available. They put a heavy focus on lean meats, whole grains, and veggies. So, you can expect many meals with grilled chicken or salmon and complex carbs.
- They offer a substantial a la carte plan (which they call their “Meal Prep” plan) that allows you to truly customize your meals to fit your needs. This include individual meats (such as cooked chicken breast, beef, and venison), carbohydrates (such as brown rice and sweet potatoes), vegetables (such as broccoli and green beans) and more.
- All of their ingredients are sustainably sourced, non-GMO, and support regenerative agriculture.
- From our reviews, it’s apparent that Trifecta Nutrition is much more than just a healthy meal delivery service for athletes. Their app is very handy for not only tracking nutrition and workouts but also learning new fitness routines and getting access to their nutrition coaching.
Best For Healthy Breakfast & Lunch
Splendid Spoon
What It Is: Splendid Spoon is a pre-made meal delivery service that focuses on crafting nutritionally balanced, plant-based meals. From our tests, we found them to be one of the best grab-and-go plant-based meal delivery services out there. They offer a wide selection of pre-blended smoothies, soups, grain bowls, noodle bowls, juices, and snacks. If you’re interested in having more of a plant-based diet but feel unsure how to get started, we think Splendid Spoon is a great choice to consider. This is because they frame their meal delivery service as more of an overall program than the others on this list do. One of the main ways they do this is by integrating “reset” days in their plans. These reset days involve only eating light soups. We found it to be the same as fasting, which has many health benefits associated with it. However, these reset days will leave you a bit hungry – since that’s the point.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Smoothies, Juices, and Snacks
Lowest Price Per Meal: $7.50
Examples of Splendid Spoon’s Meals:
- Kimchi Fried Quinoa Grain Bowl with Tumeric and Edamame
- Carrot Lentil Curry Soup with Coconut Milk and Celery
- Kale Pesto Noodles with Roasted Tomatoes and Plant-Based Parmesan
- Blackberry Basil Smoothie
- Wellness Juice Shot with Ginger & Lemon
- Superfood Chaga Protein Bar
Why Splendid Spoon Made The List:
- Their entire menu is gluten-free, dairy-free, and low sodium.
- We found their smoothies to be surprisingly filling. This may be due to the fact that they use added protein in them. Just be aware that this added protein also gives the smoothies a bit of a chalky aftertaste.
- They’re a great plan to choose if you’re going vegan or want to add more plant-based foods into your diet. Since they structure their meal delivery service as more of a program, we found that it’s simple to follow.
- They offer a plan that provides you with breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week, with one reset day. This makes them one of the few meal delivery services that offers meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- We found them to be the ideal meal delivery service if you’re on the go. Their meals don’t even need to be heated up if you don’t mind a cold meal.
Best Healthy Online Grocery Store & Meal Kit
Hungryroot
What It Is: Hungryroot is one of the most unique healthy meal delivery services we’ve tested. This is because they offer both meal kits as well as an online grocery store focusing on health-oriented foods. This makes them a one-stop-shop for organic and non-GMO meals, fresh produce, meats, snacks, drinks, and desserts. In our reviews, we found that they offer one of the widest varieties of meals and grocery options. This includes pre-made meals, ready-to-eat breakfast and lunch meals, and more. What sets Hungryroot apart from other meal delivery services is how customizable their plans are. You can have full control of how many meals you would like, what add-ons you would like to include, and what dietary preferences you may have. They also allow you to substitute different ingredients in your weekly recipes. This is a great meal delivery service to consider if you’re looking for a variety of meal options that you can personalize, as well as an expansive online grocery store.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks, Desserts, Fresh Produces, and other grocery items.
Lowest Price Per Meal: Hungryroot meals can vary in price because the cost is based on each ingredient in the recipe. Their lowest cost per meal is around $5.50, but the price will differ depending on the meal you choose.
Examples of Hungryroot’s Meals:
- Bruschetta Chicken with Crispy Potatoes
- Roasted Salmon and Asparagus over Rice
- Saucy Miso Tofu Rice Bowl
- Sausage + Cheddar Breakfast Bar
- Cocao Bean Protein Shake
- Ginger Spice Pound Cake
Why Hungryroot Made The List:
- Hungryroot not only offers healthy meal kits but also provides fresh, organic, and non-GMO grocery items.
- We found Hungryroot one of the most allergy-friendly meal delivery services, with an easy-to-use website allowing you to filter out your preferences. They accommodate those who are dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and more.
- The meal kit section of their website works differently than any other meal kit we’ve reviewed. Rather than a rotating menu of recipes to choose from, Hungryroot gives you hundreds of different recipes you can select and add to your box each week. This gives you the ability to use them as a meal kit, grocery delivery, or both.
Best For Those On Weight Watchers (WW)
Blue Apron
What It Is: Blue Apron is one of the original meal kit services to gain popularity. Like HelloFresh, they have a variety of different meals to choose from. However, unlike HelloFresh, Blue Apron offers a wine subscription along with your box and tips on what meals pair better with certain wines. Though, we can’t classify this part of their meal delivery service as “healthy”. Blue Apron has a few plans to choose from, including Signature, Vegetarian, Wellness, and Signature for Four. Their Wellness plan offers healthy, nutritionally balanced meals that have been approved by nutritionists. What’s more, Blue Apron has a partnership with Weight Watchers (WW) and certain plans include WW-approved meals. Based on our tests, we found Blue Apron meals to be a little more reserved and “traditional” than many of the other meal kits on this list (such as Sunbasket and HelloFresh). That being said, if you follow WW, Blue Apron is one of the only meal delivery services that easily integrates with their program.
Types of Meals Offered: Lunch, Dinner, Wine, Kitchen Essentials.
Lowest Price Per Meal: $7.49 (for their signature plan, with 4 people and 4 recipes selected). The average price per meal is $8.99.
Examples of Blue Apron’s Meals:
- Chimichurri Shrimp with Barley, Pepper, and Tomatoes
- Sheet Pan Pork & Sour Cherry Sauce with Potatoes and Green Beans
- Turkey and Mushroom Lettuce Cups with Peanut Soy Sauce
- Spicy Chicken Stir Fry (pre-made meal)
Why Blue Apron Made The List:
- They use fresh, organic, and non-GMO produce, meats, and dairy products. By using organic and non-GMO ingredients they support regenerative and sustainable agriculture.
- Blue Apron has a variety of meals to choose from that will satisfy picky eaters and adventurous foodies.
- They’re a great plan to choose if you want to hone your cooking skills.
- From our tests, we found that their Wellness plan offers meals that are healthy, balanced, and nutrient-rich. This plan also integrates with Weight Watchers for WW-approved meals.
Best Paleo Meal Delivery Service
Pete’s Paleo
What It Is: Pete’s Paleo is a pre-made meal delivery service that specializes in crafting paleo meals. They also offer AIP-friendly meals that are dairy, soy, and gluten-free. What we found most unique about Pete’s Paleo is that their meals change with the season. This is because they work with local organic farmers who provide fresh, in-season produce. Their goal is to provide you with healthy, restaurant-quality meals that are ready in minutes. They offer a few different plans, including Pete’s Paleo Meals, Eat What You Love, Pete’s Paleo Breakfast Bundle, Pete’s Paleo Bacon, and more. Under “Eat What You Love” you’ll find a few different menus to look at, including an AIP menu.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Bacon
Lowest Price Per Meal: $15.04
Examples of Pete’s Paleo’s Meals:
- Dill Roasted Chicken with Sauteed Broccoli and Roasted Yams
- Ginger Chicken Stir Fry
- Grilled Steak with Roasted Broccoli and Spring Onion + Rhubarb Chutney
- Turkey Meatballs over Cauliflower Rice with Green Goddess Dressing
Why Pete’s Paleo Made The List:
- Pete’s Paleo offers organic, high-quality meals that only use local, fresh, in-season produce and meats.
- All meat is grass-fed and free from hormones and antibiotics.
- Their menu rotates every week so you’ll always have new menu options to choose from.
- They are accommodating to dietary preferences, including AIP and low FODMAP.
Best For Healthy Vegan Meals
Mosaic
What It Is: Mosaic is a frozen, pre-made, plant-based meal delivery service. They offer “bowl” style breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals that are loaded with vegetables. From our testing here at Food Box HQ, we found that Mosaic does a great job of keeping their meals tasting fresh (even though they’re flash-frozen). That means no soggy veggies after microwaving. What’s unique about Mosiac, compared to nearly every other pre-made meal delivery service we’ve reviewed, is that they have large family oven-ready meals. While this works for families of 4 or more, it’s also ideal for big eaters since many other pre-made meal delivery services are notorious for small portion sizes. What’s more is Mosaic only uses fresh ingredients from local farmers, and none of their meals have any added sugars or artificial ingredients.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Lowest Price Per Meal: $4.99
Examples of Mosiac’s Meals:
- Brussels & Squash Harvest Bowl
- Creamy Pesto Cavatappi
- Tomato, Rosemary, & White Bean Soup
- Italian ‘Sausage’ & Pumpkin Lasagna (4-person family meal)
- Peanut Butter, Banana, & Cacao Oats
Why Mosiac Made The List:
- Mosaic’s menu has a wide selection of healthy, delicious, plant-based meals.
- They’re one of the more affordable options listed in this article. For example, a 4-person family meal comes out to $4.99 per serving.
- Mosaic gives back to its community by working with a non-profit called City Harvest to provide food to New Yorkers in need.
- With their family meal option, you can have a healthy, home-cooked meal fresh out of the oven and ready on the table in minutes.
Best Healthy Meal Kit For Vegans
Purple Carrot
What It Is: If you’re looking to craft delicious plant-based meals on your own, we recommend checking out Purple Carrot. They offer a meal kit plan as well as a pre-made plan so you can choose which works best with your lifestyle. Purple Carrot specializes in meals that are adventurous and tasteful; perfect for someone who isn’t quite convinced that vegan meals can be fulfilling. In my personal experience, vegan meals always seem to have the feeling of missing something. In other words, I can notice the absence of meat (and flavor). Purple Carrot’s meals do not have this feeling, rather they are wonderfully satisfying, both in taste and fullness. They focus on crafting nutritionally balanced meals with fresh, organic ingredients. They are not 100% organic, as they try to include A LOT of different vegetables. This makes organic sourcing somewhat difficult. That being said, they are striving to be as organic as possible. One thing to note from our tests is that their recipes are not all simple. For example, as you can see in the video walkthrough above, we spent a lot of time hand making plant-based dumplings. That’s not to say they weren’t delicious (they were) but just be prepared to work a bit more on the prepping and cooking than other meal kits.
Types of Meals Offered: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Pantry Items
Lowest Price Per Meal: $4.49 per serving for breakfast meals, $9.99 per serving for dinner meals.
Examples of Purple Carrot’s Meals:
- Eggplant Parmesan with Garlicky Tomato Sauce & Lemon Basil Couscous
- Maple Chile Soba Noodles with Crispy Sheet Pan Tempeh & Bok Choy
- Pan Seared Broccolini with Smoky Marinated Beans & Toasted Almonds
- Pesto White Bean Melts with Lemon Arugula (lunch option)
- Loaded Avocado Toasts with Fresh Dill & Super Seeds (breakfast option)
- Italian Garlic & Fennel Plant-Based Sausage (pantry option)
Why Purple Carrot Made The List:
- We found them to be very accommodating to those who have allergies or specific dietary preferences.
- If you’re looking to expand your vegan cooking skills with new fun and interesting recipes, we think they’re a great meal delivery service to try.
- They are a two-in-one meal delivery service with both meal kits and pre-made meals.
- Their packaging is 100% recyclable and made from recycled materials.
- Their vegan meals are not carb-heavy, as some other plant-based meals may be. This, in addition to loading meals with vegetables, makes their meals more health-oriented than other similar meal delivery services we’ve tested.
- Purple Carrot uses fresh, local, and organic produce as much as possible.
Best Online Organic Marketplace
Thrive Market
What It Is: Thrive Market is an online grocery store that is geared towards specialty foods. When you start out, they have you select your dietary preferences, such as dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and more. Then you can select what’s important to you in a product, such as organic, non-GMO, animal welfare, and fair trade certification. With these selections, they customize the shopping experience to fit your exact needs. They also make shopping by specific dietary needs very simple. Rather than having to jump around from section to section based on the type of food they offer, Thrive Market gives you the ability to shop by categories such as paleo, keto, certified kosher, ethically sourced, and much more. From our experience using Thrive Market, it’s safe to say that they offer the widest selection of healthy grocery options. However, we do want to note that they do not currently offer fresh produce.
Types of Meals Offered: Condiments, Snacks, Meats, Full Meals, Desserts, Vitamins, and Home & Beauty Products.
Lowest Price Per Meal: Depends on what you purchase, but the monthly membership fee is currently $9.95 per month.
Examples of Products Thrive Market Offers:
- Wild Planet Sardines
- Mixed Nuts
- Organic Coffee
- Chicken Breasts
- Wild-Caught Salmon
- Grass-Fed Beef
Why Thrive Market Made The List:
- Thrive Market has a pretty interesting money back guarantee. They say, they “guarantee that you will make back your annual membership fee in savings each year. If you don’t, we’ll pay you the difference in Thrive Cash when you renew.”
- They are one of the most allergy and diet-friendly online grocery stores we’ve tested. They have many options for those who are following a specific diet, such as Paleo, or even if you have a food allergy, such as tree nuts.
- Thrive Market supports the ecosystem by offering products that support regenerative and sustainable agriculture, animal welfare, non-GMO practices, and more.
- With each membership purchased, they give a free membership to a family in need.
Why Is A Healthy Diet Important?
Having a healthy diet full of whole foods and vegetables gives our body the nutrients it needs to thrive and develop. The average American diet is full of highly processed foods that contain trans fats, added sugars, preservatives, high levels of sodium and artificial ingredients. Processed foods not only contain the harmful ingredients listed above, but they are also lacking in vital nutrients we need to stay healthy.
As stated by NCBI’s Overview of Health and Diet in America:
“The three main causes of death in the United States are heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Together with diabetes, the sixth leading cause of death, they are the major contributors to the morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs in this country.”
According to this study, these factors are a result of a poor quality diet and inactivity.
More often than not, the negative effects of a poor quality diet are not noticed until they have developed into a disease, such as the ones listed above. That’s why it’s important to start eating healthy now, no matter where you’re at in life, so you may fully support your body and give it what it needs to thrive.
Not only does healthy eating prevent these diseases, but it also helps us have better physical and mental health. When we are filling our bodies with food that supports and strengthens us, we have more motivation to be active and pursue our goals. Our digestive system doesn’t have to work as hard to process so much “junk,” which leads to mental fatigue (e.g. brain fog) and lower energy. Rather, you have the fuel you need to master your day and a clear mind to navigate your tasks.
You can study and read about all the benefits of eating healthier, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you take the steps to incorporate healthy eating into your everyday life. Once you do, if you haven’t already, then you’ll understand why eating healthy is so important for a vibrant life. If you want to notice that difference, then these healthy meal delivery services are a great place to start.
Which Healthy Meal Delivery Service Is Best?
With so many healthy meal delivery services out there, it can be difficult to determine which one is best for you. We’ll share with you which one is our top pick, but keep in mind it might not be the best choice for you. To determine which is best, you have to evaluate different factors, such as convenience, value, and variety.
After considering each of these, our top pick is Sunbasket. Here’s why:
- Sunbasket has strong ethical values and they are fully transparent with their sourcing practices. This is somewhat rare in a meal delivery service, as many services don’t share where exactly they source their ingredients from.
- They offer healthy, organic, farm-fresh meals that are delicious.
- They offer a wide selection of meals that cater to a variety of diets, such as vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free, and more.
- Sunbasket provides high-quality meals at a fairly reasonable price (all things considered).
- They have a multitude of breakfast, lunch, snack, and dessert options which is also somewhat rare to see in a meal kit.
- In addition to meal kit meals, Sunbasket also has pre-made meals so you can stock up on ready-to-eat meals with each box.
What To Consider When Choosing A Healthy Meal Delivery Service
When it comes to picking which healthy meal delivery service is best for you, it’s important to consider some things. That way, when you decide to go with a particular service, you know it best fits your unique needs. It is a commitment (for some of them), after all.
Where Do They Source Ingredients?
Personally, sourcing is a very important factor for me because I believe the quality of the ingredient starts with where it was grown/raised. Looking into how ingredients are sourced also lets you know whether or not ingredients are organic, or if meat is grass-fed/humanely raised.
If sourcing is important for you, then don’t hesitate to do some digging on each meal delivery service’s website. Some, such as Sunbasket, are fully transparent with where they get their produce and meat from. If they’re not transparent and are a bit vague, they may not be the best option to consider.
Do You Have Any Food Allergies?
Many meal delivery services are highly accommodating to food allergies and dietary restrictions. In general, pre-made meal delivery services seem to be a bit better at catering to specific dietary needs than meal kits. That being said, there are meal kits that do a good job at making diet-specific meals, such as Sunbasket and Purple Carrot.
If you have any allergies or dietary restrictions, you’ll want to consider services that have filters on their menus. When you select a filter, such as dairy or gluten-free, then the menu will show you options that fall into those categories. This saves you time having to read each meal’s ingredient list and saves you the worry that they might send you something with an unwanted ingredient.
How Many & What Type Of Meals Do You Need To Eat Per Day?
Another important thing to consider is how many meals you need each week. Are you looking for a few meals to supplement your week or a service that will deliver enough meals for the whole week?
Going off of this, you’ll also want to consider what types of meals you need each week. Are you looking to have more grab-and-go style breakfasts to make mornings easier? Are you just looking for dinner recipes to learn to make healthier meals? Every meal delivery service is different in what they offer so you’ll want to consider what your daily routine looks like before making a final decision.
Do You Prefer To Make The Meals Or Would You Like Them To Be Pre-Made?
Deciding this will greatly help you in your search. If you’re wanting to cook meals yourself, then you’ll want to consider a meal kit. If you’re wanting meals that are already made, then you’ll want to go with a pre-made meal delivery service such as ModifyHealth, Daily Harvest, Fresh N’ Lean, Trifecta Nutrition, Splendid Spoon, or Mosaic.
If you’re wanting a bit of both, such as pre-made lunches and dinner meal kits, there are a few you can choose from. At this point, the services that offer both are Sunbasket, Purple Carrot, Hungryroot, and Blue Apron.
What Is Your Budget?
Thankfully, these days there are a number of meal delivery services that are reasonably priced, depending on your budget. However, with the variety of different options out there, prices can range quite a bit.
One thing to keep in mind when it comes to healthy meal delivery services is those that have high-quality sourcing practices are going to be a bit more expensive. If you’re looking for a service that is organic with the highest quality produce and meat, you’ll want to have a higher budget.
That being said, there is an exception to this, which is Daily Harvest. This service is affordable even for those with a tight budget as its lowest price per meal is $5.99. From our tests, we were impressed at the quality of their meals – they use fresh and organic produce that is flash frozen at peak ripeness to lock in nutrients.
Our Methodology For Selecting The Healthy Meal Delivery Services On This List
All of the healthy meal delivery services listed in this article have been vetted by me and my team here at Food Box HQ. This includes, but is not limited to, purchasing the product, reviewing the service in its entirety, taste tests, and more. You can read more about our review process here.
We use these specific guidelines to evaluate every healthy meal delivery service we researched:
- The meal delivery service has to offer a variety of healthy meals to choose from.
- They have to offer high-quality ingredients that meet the WHO guidelines for a healthy adult diet.
- The meal delivery service has to be able to ship to every state and town within the United States.
Have a question about any of the healthy meal delivery services we mentioned in this article? Have you tried one of them? Let us know in the comments below!
