Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon Review

Wednesday, September 11th

2024 Meal Delivery Company Reviews

Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon

• Meal kit service
• $8.69 to $12.49 per portion
• Choose from 45+ 6-step recipes every week
• Meal categories include Health & Diet, Vegetarian & Vegan, Meat & Fish, Under 30 Minutes, and Family-Friendly
• $9.99 for shipping
• Skip any week

Marley Spoon brings seasonal ingredients and six-step recipes designed by Martha Stewart right to your doorstep. Every week, you can choose from over 45 recipes in categories like Health & Diet, Vegetarian & Vegan, Meat & Fish, Under 30 Minutes, and Family-Friendly, and you can skip weeks any time you wish.

Start by setting your servings and number of weekly meals

To start a subscription, click on the green "Choose a meal kit" button. You'll be asked to choose either two or four people (servings), the number of meals you'd like to have delivered each week (2-6), and there's even a box to check if you want all of your selections to be vegetarian. Your per-portion cost will range from $8.69 (for six meals serving four people, or 24 portions in all) to $12.49 (two meals serving two people). No matter which plan you choose, delivery is just $9.99 per shipment.

Pick a delivery day and a first shipment date

On the next page, you'll enter your zip code - to make sure Marley Spoon deliveries are available in your area - and your email address. Then you'll be asked to specify a delivery day; in our area, we could choose Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday (which was a new addition since our last review), but we didn't have any option for the delivery time slot other than the generic 8a-9p for weekdays and 10a-8p on Saturday. Finally, you'll choose when you want your first delivery - usually no sooner than a week in the future, but up to 3+ weeks out.

Preview the menus before setting up your account

You'll have to pay for your meals before you get to choose the specifics, so we encourage you to spend some time browsing the Marley Spoon site before placing your order. Fortunately, you can see four weeks' menus right on the site, so there's no mystery as to what you might be able to choose after you pay. Some of the options we spotted include:

• Seared Ranch Steak and Herb Salsa with Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
• Pecan-Crusted Salmon with Sweet Potato Fries
• Korean Rice Cake
• Veggie Stir Fry

There were also some fun breakfast and dessert choices like Chocolate-Chip Coffee Cake with Cinnamon-Oat Streusel, Japanese Lemon Souffle Pancakes with Peaches and Whipped Mascarpone, and a Fruity Probiotic Smoothie Bowl with Apples and Honey-Glazed Walnuts.

Big savings might be available

Be on the lookout for special offers. At the time of our evaluation, we were able to take advantage of a promotion that included a 60% discount on our first order and 20% off the next three. That was a savings of $125.14.

Everything but the basic pantry staples

When your box comes, you'll want to get refrigerated items put away quickly. Marley Spoon guarantees that your ingredients will be fresh for at least four days after delivery - though any recipes with fish should be prepared within 48 hours. The box will have everything you need for each meal, with the exception of some pantry staples like sugar, oil, salt and pepper, and sometimes eggs.

Still some issues with customer satisfaction

Marley Spoon still comes up a little lacking in the reputation department. The company has an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau because of nearly 100 complaints filed there, three of which were unresolved and one that had received no response at the time of this review. Customers said they were frustrated with Marley Spoon's support for only offering partial refunds when shipments arrived with spoiled ingredients - one person was told they should have "just washed off the sauce" from a packet that exploded all over the produce in the kit. And, in fact, product packaging woes seem to be the foundation of most negative feedback for this company; at the time of this review, Marley Spoon had stopped grouping the ingredients by recipe, and many customers said that it was resulting in damaged produce. Marley Spoon still doesn't have a clear-cut refund policy or satisfaction guarantee.

Some people love these meal kits

On a positive note, we found nearly 2,000 five-star reviews for this meal delivery service. It was rare to find anyone that complained about the recipes, the time it took to prepare them, or the finished product. It was encouraging to see comments from some subscribers who had tried most of the other services on the market (most of the ones in our review, even) and felt that Marley Spoon offered the best overall value.

Still some room to grow

We've given Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon's meal delivery service a half-star bump in our rating since the last time. Their overall customer feedback, despite the "F" from the BBB, has improved, their meals are affordable and flavorful, and many subscribers will appreciate being able to choose specific meals their family will like instead of getting a random assortment that matches a profile. The packaging is still a work in progress, though, so we encourage you to check out the higher-ranked meal delivery providers before you commit to Marley Spoon.