Ever since I stumbled upon pre-made meal delivery services and realized you could have fresh (not frozen) meals delivered right to your home for the week, I was pretty amazed. There used to only be a handful of these types of meal delivery companies out there and they didn’t have a lot to offer.
Fast forward to today and there’s a ton of more variety than there ever has been in the past. From Freshly to Snap Kitchen, there’s a pre-made meal delivery service to fit nearly everyone. However, there wasn’t one that offered restaurant-quality, private chef made meals. That is until CookUnity hit the scene.
CookUnity is a prepared meal delivery company that sends people small batch meals (as well as add-ons) hand-crafted by private chefs.
When I first heard of them, I figured they were just another company trying to capitalize on the growing meal delivery trend. I was very wrong—these meals are something unique.
Keep reading to find out what CookUnity is all about, how their service works, our personal experience, and if it’s right for you…
How CookUnity Works & What Makes Them Unique
You can think of CookUnity as the Uber for private chefs. Except, instead of having a private chef come to your home and cook, they make everything in their kitchen and send it right to your door.
Everything is sent refrigerator-level cold, not frozen, in an insulated package. The meals themselves last for around 7 days, so you’ll have a week’s worth of food.
A lot people I talk to think that pre-made meals that are “heat and eat” style mean that they’re similar to those old school frozen TV dinners. CookUnity could not be farther from a frozen TV dinner. These meals are quite literally prepped and cooked by chefs (some of which are Michelin-starred).
Types of Food They Offer
I’ve found that CookUnity meals tend to be more high-end than many of the other pre-made meal delivery services I’ve tried in the past. These aren’t simple meat and veggie meals, they’re crafted to be something you’re likely to see at a nice restaurant.
Here are some examples of meals we’ve seen on the menu in the past to give you an idea of what you can expect…
- Roasted Salmon over Sautéed Spinach and Broccoli
- Delicata Squash Stuffed with Sprouted Black Lentils
- Lamb Kebab Turmeric Hummus Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Seared Steak with Brussels Sprouts and Horseradish Cream Sauce
As you can see, these are some pretty exquisite, yet balanced, meals. However, they don’t stop there. You can also add appetizers, snacks, breakfast, pantry items, and even drinks to your box. This basically covers all your food needs for the week, making grocery shopping and cooking obsolete!
Quality of Ingredients & Sourcing
The quality of the ingredients plays a major role in how any meal tastes. A top notch recipe crafted with high quality ingredients is going to lead to a delicious meal. On the flip side, poor quality ingredients can make even the best recipe taste no good.
CookUnity works with local farmers around the NYC area to source all of their ingredients which have zero GMOs, nothing artificial, organic (when possible), are from humanly raised animals. Here are some of the farms they work with: Satur Farms, Summer Wind Farms, Eckerton Hill Farm, and Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op.
Meal Plans & Diets Covered
CookUnity breaks their meal plans down by how many meals you’ll be able to receive each week. You can go with their 12, 8, 6, or 4 meals per week plan. Any add-ons (like the snacks or appetizers mentioned above) will be an additional fee.
Once you select a meal plan amount, you’ll be able to select meals on their menu based on specific dietary preferences. They cover a wide variety of diets, such as the following:
- Keto (we actually review their keto meals in this video here)
- Paleo
- Low-Carb
- Plant-Based
- Vegetarian
- High-Protein
- Low-Calorie
They are also very particular about listing any food allergens in the meal (e.g. nuts, dairy, gluten). However, if you do have a severe food allergy, be aware that there may be cross-contamination involved in the food prep and cooking process.
Delivery
As of writing this review, CookUnity can only deliver to New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, parts of Pennsylvania, and parts of Maryland. They are growing to serve more locations but to do so, they need to vet new professional chefs that are quality enough to join the team. I definitely recommend using their delivery map to see if they can ship to your location before you make a decision or decide to sign up.
Packaging
Being pre-made, it’s important the meals stay safe and cold in transit. In addition, it’s also important that the packaging doesn’t create unnecessary environmental waste, which is prevalent in the meal kit industry. Thankfully, the packaging CookUnity has created is both safe and environmentally friendly.
The box meals come in is made of recycled and virgin kraft paper, which can be recycled with other paper products.
The thermal liner insulation inside the box is dense enough to keep meals cold, yet soft enough to protect meals from any bumps along the way. It is also made from recycled materials (water/soda bottles).
The gel packs, which keep the meals cold, are made from 98% water and 2% non–GMO cotton. Since they’re non-toxic, you could technically drain them out in your sink but I advise against that since it could clog it. Rather, you should empty the gel in the garbage, wash out the plastic cover, and recycle it.
The meal trays themselves are made from a molded fiber pulp, which means that they are 100% compostable.
The tray sleeve has all of the information about your meal. You’ll not only see the name of the meal but also the specific chef who cooked it, the eat by date, nutritional information, how to best heat it, and even a QR code directing you to a web page where you can learn more about the meal (including what farm the ingredients came from).
What Meals We Received In Our Recent Box
Now let’s dig in to what we received in our most recent box!
- Grilled Chicken with Braised Kale, Roasted Sweet Potato, and Nuts
- Hanger Steak with 3 Cheese Cauliflower Gratin and Crispy Garlic
- Black Bean Chilli Topped with Shredded Cheddar and Corn Muffin
- Grilled Pork Chop with Bacon Gremolata, Red Cabbage, and Balsamic Mustard Glaze
- Beyond Meat Tacos with Chipotle Lime Cream Sauce and Pico de Gallo
- Spiced Lime Shrimp with Avocado Sauce and Roasted Brussels Sprouts
To be honest, when I first tasted these meals, I was very surprised. They look like any other pre-made meal delivery service. But when you actually dig in, you can taste the difference. I’m not sure if this is due to the level of the recipe, the quality of ingredients, the proficiency of the chef, or simply a mixture of everything. Whatever it is, these meals are some of the best tasting we’ve had from a pre-made meal delivery service.
My one tip is try to use an oven to heat the meals up if you can. I’ve heated up the meals in both the oven and microwave. While it takes longer, the oven is far superior. It heats the meal more thoroughly than the microwave. We use the Tovala steam oven, which does a perfect job of heating these meals up.
Is The CookUnity App Worth Downloading?
These days, every meal delivery service or meal kit seems to have their own mobile app. I usually hesitate downloading them as I don’t want to clutter my phone and many of them are simply copies of the website.
That being said, I find that CookUnity’s mobile app is worth downloading. In addition to being able to manage your account by selecting meals and viewing their nutritional information, you can also directly message with the chefs cooking your meals. This allows you to ask them questions directly and find answers to any questions you might need to find out regarding prep, ingredients, cooking, etc.
The app also allows you to connect with the CookUnity health coach and nutrition team. So, if you have any questions about how you should be eating based on your specific lifestyle, you can have a direct conversation with them. They can help walk you through what type of meals you should eat based on your specific lifestyle or even help design a specific plan for you.
CookUnity vs. Similar Pre-Made Meal Delivery Services
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, there are many pre-made delivery services currently on the market. However, there are none really like CookUnity.
Freshly, Snap Kitchen, and Factor Meals are the big players in the pre-made meal delivery service game but they are all marketed towards a different people. Factor Meals focuses on high-quality, fitness specific meals to help you replenish your body. Freshly focuses on tasty meals made with quality ingredients that anyone would love. Snap Kitchen is a mixture of both—delicious meals and fitness based meals.
CookUnity is less like regular prepared meal delivery services and more like actually having a private chef from a top restaurant cook for you. What’s more is CookUnity is one of the few out there (in addition to Snap Kitchen) that also allows you to add other foods to your box.
If you are interested in CookUnity but they don’t serve your area, I definitely recommend checking out Snap Kitchen. They’re very similar but slightly more “health” focused.
Pros and Cons of CookUnity
Now that we’ve gone over all of the specifics of CookUnity, including our personal experience, let’s highlight some of the things we love about them and some of the things we don’t…
CookUnity Pros
- The meals are delicious. These meals are definitely the best tasting meals I’ve ever had from a pre-made meal delivery service.
- You can speak directly with your chef. I’ve never seen a meal delivery service where you can speak directly with the person who is preparing your meal.
- Their health coach can help craft your meal plan. This is perfect for people who want to eat delicious meals but still want to be conscious of their health.
- They offer add-ons like appetizers, breakfast, snacks, juices, etc. The only other pre-made meal delivery services that offers the same variety of add-ons is Snap Kitchen.
- If you’re ordering for 2 people, you can specify dietary preferences for each individually. A small feature that I really like is that, if you order for more than one person, you can specify the dietary preferences for each.
CookUnity Cons
- Only available in certain locations. The one big down side is that CookUnity is currently only available to a small number of people on the east coast.
- Meals are slightly smaller portions than I normally eat. I noticed that the portion sizes are slightly smaller than other pre-made meal delivery services.
CookUnity Coupon
If you’re certain CookUnity is the right meal delivery service for you, we’re here to help save you money on your order! You can use this coupon code link to save 50% on your first order. If the link does not work, please let us know in the comments and we’ll have it updated as soon as possible!
Final Thoughts: Is CookUnity Right For You?
CookUnity is a refreshing new take on prepared meal delivery and they really surprised me with how good their service is.
If you’re someone who is looking for quick, delicious, restaurant-quality meals with the ability to customize your meal plan as you see fit, CookUnity is a no-brainer. My one wish is that they expand to more states so others can experience their meal delivery service.
Have you tried CookUnity before? Have a question we didn’t answer? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks for this review. I tried freshly but excited to try cook unity especially after reading this.
For the past few months I’ve purchased 10 meals weekly from cook unity. What a game changer! I cancelled Freshly and Revive meal and smoothie memberships after a month of side by side, trying out Cook unity. The food from each chef has a unique palette so it doesn’t steer into boring. I don’t have a specific diet so anything goes. They integrate new chefs now and again later on so it’s often novel and interesting. I CANNOT cook these meals at home. I skipped a week at Christmas time and I was eager to see the next box to greet me in the New Year. It’s a marriage of convenience. 😉
Appreciate your analysis of Cookunity. You mentioned that you use your Tovala oven to reheat. I also have a Tovala. Are you able to heat the meals in the provided meal containers or do you have to transfer them to an oven safe dish. And if you can reheat in the provided containers, can two fit in the Tovala at the same time? Thanks.
Hey Daniel,
For the Tovala, I always transfer the food over to an oven safe dish just to be extra safe. I use a little pyrex glass dish and 2 of those would fit in the Tovala pretty easily.
Thanks for this response. I also have. Tovala oven( Im considering switching from their meal service). Do you use the Cook unity reheating for oven instructions or the Tovala reheating instructions.
Thanks.
I’ve followed the CookUnity instructions when using my Tovala. Hope that helps!
Hello thank you for your review. I am trying to find a meal service to send to my family while I am away. I do not know if this cook unity service is the best since it may be too expensive for just dinner meals. I would appreciate your thought on if there is a meal service like this that is less money and has breakfast, lunch, dinner options.
Hey Ramesh, you may want to check out our article on the best prepared meal delivery services here. It sounds like RealEats might be exactly what you’re looking for. It’s premade, plus they offer breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. It’s also not as expensive as many other premade meal delivery services out there.
Cook Unity is good, for the most part. I like fish, but found their fish dishes strong fishy. The delivery to Central East Jersey?? Good luck. FEDEX is not in any hurry and arrives days late, sometimes and the freezer bags have melted. Cannot east the food. Cook Unity needs more basic dishes. Meat, potatoes and veggie. No fancy stuff.
Again..they use FedEx and they suck
Thanks for your review! Unfortunately I tried the coupon link and instead of 50% off my first order it was a flat $30 off :/
Sorry about that! It looks like they changed the promotion :(.
Kudos to you who have had a wonderful experience with Cookunity. My experience was significantly less so. After ordering my menu for week 1, there was no delivery. None, nothing, nada. Then, they had the audacity to request my 2nd week’s order. After contacting them about this lapse, I submitted a 2nd order, if for nothing else but to give them a chance at redemption, but to no avail. That order was promised on a Saturday. One of their reps made this assertion to me via email. When did my order come? On a Monday evening, having sat all night, ice melted. Then when I opened the box, it looked like FedEx had used the box for kicking practice. Half of the food was falling out of its containers. Needless to say, I have nothing good to say about this so-called food delivery service company and I encourage all who read this to take a look at other options.
I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ve recently heard others having a similar experience — I wonder what’s changed? I’ve also had a hard time reaching them within the past week. We’ll be ordering another box soon to update our review in the near future. In the meantime, there are some other great premade meal delivery services out there you may want to check out — RealEats, Freshly, Fresh n Lean, and Factor Meals. We have reviews of all of them on our site :-).
How does Cookunity compare to Territory Foods? I feel like they are like the same service..
Territory Foods operates very similar to Cookunity. Both are pre-made meal delivery services that do not use a central kitchen to cook their meals. Rather, they have a network of partner chefs throughout the country that they work with who cook and ship customer meals. From my experience, this leads to fresher meals. Though, Cookunity does seem to have a larger network of chefs compared to Territory. As of writing this comment, Cookunity has over 50 different meals to choose from on their Eastcoast menu alone.
Got my first box a few days ago and while the food was good it was all jumbled up on the meal tray. My delivery guy turned the box upside down when he delivered it!
That’s happened with some of our deliveries in the past. It’s not a huge deal but it does mess up the look of the meals. If it continues to happen, you should reach out to your delivery service and make sure they know the box is perishable food that needs to stay upwards.
Is it possible to order these meals in bulk? We’re looking for a service similar to this to stock our new office but I cannot find any pre-made meal services that have bulk ordering or business plans.
You may want to check out Freshly’s Business plan. It’s made specifically for what you’re asking for—bulk business orders.
Does cook unity have extra foods you can add to your box like hello fresh has? Like snacks and stuff?
Currently, Cookunity only offers meals. They do not have any add on offerings such as snacks or desserts.
I just want to say that I am happy with cook unity. I had an issue with my box where it was delivered to my house a day later than I thought and when I opened the box the meals were at room temp. I called the customer support line and they immediately refunded my money and told me not to eat the meals and that they will send another. No questions asked! That is good service.
Happy to hear!
How are these cooked in a restaurant if the restaurant has to operate regularly and does takeout too? Just seems like lot to actually do.
That’s a good question. The chefs may work on off hours, when the restaurant is closed to the public.
Actually just finished our first box. The meals I got were definitely good but a little on the smaller side compared to some of the other fresh meal delivery services I’ve seen in the past. It’s hard to tell what the portion sizes are going to be before ordering because all the meal delivery site pictures look professional. I’m glad I found your site to see what the meals actually look like!
honestly skeptical between this and freshly. both seem the same but I want to go with cook unity it just seems like its more expensive right?
Both Cookunity and Freshly are pre-made meal delivery services but they are definitely different. With Cookunity you’re getting meals made by chefs. They make them in small batches, in their restaurants, and send them out using Cookunity as a “middleman” to connect you to them. Freshly has commercial kitchens across the US where they cook up the meals. Having used both (for years at this point) I believe Cookunity’s meals have much more flavor and taste restaurant quality. Freshly’s meals, for the most part, are still good but not the quality of Cookunity’s.
Having tried CookUnity for 2 weeks and I must say I love it! Meals taste good and not having to do much dishwashing felt great.
I live in Atlanta and the meals were delivered by a private driver (like Uber, not fedex) who might be contractors of CookUnity. The past two deliveries were on time (within a 7-hour frame) and did not mess up the food inside. I am in law school and this service suits up my lifestyle very well – busy but still want to eat good.
Happy to hear you’re enjoying Cookunity! 🙂
Meals are ok but they use UPS and they are the worst and everyone knows it . I am canceling because they just throw my meals or don’t arrive on time
My son orders Cook Unity meals for two adults. I find the meals to be very tasty and different from any I have had. My only concern, is that I am on a very low sodium restriction, and have no way of knowing what each meal’s sodium level is. The food never tastes salty, but my blood pressure is elevated more so when I have had a meal. Do you have a sodium content information sheet available for your customers? If so I would appreciate seeing it on line so I can make the best selections for my concern. Thanking you in advance, Elizabeth Anne Renzetti
Hi Elizabeth,
On each meal tray you should see a QR code. If you can that with your phone camera, it will open up a page with the meals information (including nutritional info and sodium levels).
If you’re looking for another low sodium meal delivery service, feel free to view our favorites here.
Hi Dan,
Thanks very much for this very useful article. My Cookunity meals arrived today and the first one I tried was great. My Tovala oven arrives Thursday – do you use the Tovala preheat mode, and then the bake mode for the Cookunity meals? Thank you.
Hey Tony! Great to hear! I usually just use the “reheat” option on Tovala. Around 9 minutes (sometimes less, sometimes more) tends to be the best.
As a heads-up, I’ve spoken to a CookUnity chef, and they do use central kitchens to a certain degree. Each region has a set of commercial kitchens where the chefs go in order to cook the meals before they are shipped out.
For example, this chef was going to a commercial kitchen in LA with other CookUnity chefs to cook and package his meals before they were shipped out to customers on the west coast.
Thank you for the info, Brian!