Our reviewers evaluate products and services based on unbiased research. Top Consumer Reviews may earn money when you click on a link. Learn more about our process.
Thursday, January 23rd
Marley Spoon is about elegant simplicity. Meals focused on seasonal simplicity designed by Martha Stewart bring a down-to-earth luxury to busy weeknights. This time-saving meal kit can help you take a moment to breathe before diving into your next activity or winding down for the night. Every week, you can choose from over 45 recipes in categories like Health & Diet, Vegetarian & Vegan, Meat & Fish, Under 30 Minutes, and Family-Friendly, all without a huge commitment since you can skip, pause, or cancel your subscription anytime.
Start by setting your servings and number of weekly meals
If you've subscribed to any competitor's meal delivery service before, you'll be familiar with the process to sign up at Marley Spoon. You just need to choose what number of people you are cooking for (2 or 4) and how many times a week you want to use Marley Spoon for meals (2-6). At this point, you can choose to remove meat from your meals to make it vegetarian. Your cost will range from $8.69 per serving (for six meals serving four people, or 24 portions in all) to $12.49 (two meals serving two people). Delivery is just $9.99 per shipment, regardless of plan.
Preview the menus before setting up your account
Before signing up, you can browse the menu here to see if the dishes look appealing to you. You have to actually pay for the subscription to get a specific meal setup, so being able to preview the menu is an important feature. Marley Spoon shows you a month's worth of menus, so there will be no surprises once you've signed up. And, you can enjoy just your first box and if it's not right for you at the time, you can pause your subscription or easily cancel it altogether. You probably won't want to do that, considering these delicious recipes we saw when we were previewing the menu:
And whether it's our favorite - breakfast for dinner - or just eating it for breakfast, Marley Spoon has you covered with chocolate-chip coffee cake, Japanese lemon souffle pancakes with peaches and whipped mascarpone, or the quintessential breakfast smoothie (complete with probiotics), you'll be drooling over this menu before you know it.
Great introductory offers for first time subscribers
Be on the lookout for special offers. At the time of our review, we found a deal that offered up to 46% off our first Marley Spoon box with free shipping and additional savings on the next five boxes, resulting in a savings of up to $235.
So many add-ons
Marley Spoon has a market with pantry add-ons, so you may not even have to head out to the grocery store at all. Just add things from the online market to your weekly subscription. The market carries many seasonal selections of produce, heat-and-eat meal options, meal shortcuts, extra proteins, and maybe most importantly, snacks.
Unresolved issues with customer satisfaction
Marley Spoon has improved since our last review, going from an "F” rating to a "D-” grade from the Better Business Bureau - but still plagued by unresolved issues with customers. Subscribers just weren't satisfied with attempts to resolve issues with regard to spoiled ingredients and messy boxes. Product packaging seems to be a real issue with Marley Spoon, and customers complained of damaged produce because of packing problems. Marley Spoon still doesn't have a satisfaction guarantee and doesn't make it clear how they handle refunds or credits, so that is a definite cause for concern.
Marley Spoon has a block of loyal customers
On the opposite end of the spectrum, nearly 2,000 five-star reviews say that the taste is there and this meal delivery service is full of fantastic recipes. Many people who'd tried other meal delivery services (including some that we've reviewed here) believed that Marley Spoon won out over all the others for overall value.
Still some room to improve with shipping and packaging
While Marley Spoon has indeed improved with customer response and raised their BBB rating from an "F” to a "D-," it wasn't enough to bump it up in our rankings. We love to see this improvement and hope next time to give Marley Spoon a little more love. We were really impressed with the calming vibe of the website and app, the delicious and simply elegant meals, and the effort made to focus on in season ingredients. We really want to see the packaging issues go away, because no matter how flavorful and delicious the meal could be, if your box arrives with missing or messy ingredients with no clear return or credit policy, it puts the stress that we are paying to avoid right back into the dinner mix. We encourage you to check out the higher-ranked meal delivery providers before you sign up for Marley Spoon.
Like us, our food choices are distinctive and individual. The booming prepared meal delivery services industry is a reflection of that. Choosing a meal kit from all the choices available depends on a lot of factors - the most important of which is the reason why you are looking for an easier way to nourish yourself in the first place.
Perhaps you are dealing with a chronic illness that can be helped by altering your diet. Maybe you need to take a break from cooking because you are going through significant changes in your life. It is possible that your young family is too busy with extracurricular activities, playdates, and obligations to find time for menu planning and grocery shopping.
Perhaps you are a senior who needs a fully prepared meal solution. Maybe you are just tired of takeout and food waste and only want the food you know you will cook. Or you're a rotten cook who wants to learn how to prepare a meal that isn't too dry or undercooked. Meal delivery services can help you and your family's mental and physical health, regardless of your circumstances or motivations.
A meal delivery service can alleviate the burden of preparing entirely different menus for you and your loved ones in cases where families have multiple dietary restrictions. So if you need a diet to deal with the effects of menopause but your partner is weightlifting and needs a high protein diet, a meal delivery service can cover that. You only receive the food you actually eat with these services because everything is pre-portioned. Some kits even do the prep work of chopping, slicing, and cooking grains for you.
Meal delivery services typically keep things simple while still ensuring that your food is tasty and satisfying. Some are kits that take just five or six steps to prepare. There are others who promise 30-minute meal prep time. If you are interested in learning how to cook but are short on time, a meal kit subscription could be a good option. You can even learn new cooking techniques from the gourmet meals that some services provide (sometimes for an upgraded price, but it is worth it). In no time at all, you will be able to confidently claim the title of "home chef." And, for individuals who are mindful of their budget, there are companies that specialize in delivering affordable home-cooked meals.
If you are concerned about the environment, you can find a number of meal delivery options that adhere strictly to regulations regarding responsible fishing and provide only the healthiest ingredients in their prepared meals. Although not certified organic, many businesses are now buying from local farms that follow rigorous standards for the humane treatment of animals and for healthy, delicious produce.
There are meal delivery services that will teach you new skills but will also require you to do some prep work, and there are other services that will deliver meals that only require 15 minutes to make. Incredibly detailed recipe cards and easy-to-follow instructions are provided by most brands, making meal preparation accessible to even the youngest family members. Some people find the recipes on these cards to be so useful that they opt to keep them for when they want to make the same dish on their own.
Our mouths watered while researching today's most popular meal delivery options. Before you choose your ideal service, there are a few things we think are important:
To give you the most worry-free experience with choosing a meal delivery service, the experts at Top Consumer Reviews have spent hours looking at every aspect and facet of the most popular companies on the market today. We hope this helps you find a solution to creating healthy, delicious mealtimes - where you can create loving memories around the common, everyday act of providing a hot, home cooked meal with joy.
Select any 2 Meal Delivery Companies to compare them head to head