The 12 Best Prepared Meals
Where is the Best Place to Purchase Prepared Meals?
There are so many reasons you might find a prepared meal delivery service a huge benefit to your life. Maybe you're facing an illness or had a major life event that has left you feeling like cooking is the last thing you want to do. Or maybe you're trying to eat healthier, but you love the convenience of eating out and want to bridge the gap.
Prepared meals are the perfect solution for busy parents who still want the benefit of home cooked meals around the table with their family or for those who just can't get the hang of cooking and have decided they're sick of burning all their food (we aren't judging!). No matter your situation or reasons, prepared meals are a modern convenience that should be taken advantage of.
Monday, December 2nd
2024 Prepared Meal Reviews
Sunbasket
No one can compete with Sunbasket when it comes to prepared meals. Their meals will be delicious for everyone regardless of whether or not they have strong dietary preferences, food aversions, or allergies. The ingredients are organic and high-quality in every meal, which isn't something that other prepared meal services promise. Despite Sunbasket's going the extra mile to provide the highest quality ingredients and flexibility for their customers, you won't spend an outrageous amount for prepared meals here. They've easily earned our highest rating, so we recommend viewing their menu and giving them a try.
HelloFresh
HelloFresh is a great company for people who want to try a variety of dishes and have plenty of weekly options to choose from. Their weekly menus always include dishes that will work for vegetarians, people avoiding dairy and gluten, and other dietary requirements. You can choose to order meals for 2, 4, or 6 people and servings start at $9.99 each. HelloFresh gives a lot of information about their processes and ingredient sourcing, which we like to see. They have an "A+” rating from the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of positive customer reviews, so this is one of our favorite services that provides prepared meal kits.
Factor
Factor is a fabulous solution for people who have hardly any time to prepare meals throughout the day. They have a selection of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners (portioned for one adult) with options for 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 16 meals delivered weekly. All dishes come ready to eat at refrigerated temperatures so no preparation is required. If you're ordering 18 meals per week, Factor's prices go as low as $11.49 per serving or as much as $13.99. They don't cater to specific dietary restrictions or allergies, so you'll have to carefully review each menu option to keep yourself safe in this regard. Factor has an "A+” rating from the Better Business Bureau and over 60,000 reviews from customers, most of which are very positive. If you're someone who wants to eat healthy on a tight schedule, Factor is a prepared meal company you should look into.
ModifyHealth
ModifyHealth uses dieticians and medical experts to craft ready-to-eat meals that are not only safe for people with extreme food restrictions and chronic health conditions, but will help with healing. Thinking of food as medicine, ModifyHealth has made all their meals gluten-free and flexible enough to omit major ingredients like dairy, eggs, shellfish, specific meats, soy, and more. You have to order at least 6 entrees per week, each costing $12.99/serving. ModifyHealth always offers free shipping, which is fantastic. If you need to stick to a strict eating regimen for a while and want to make it as simple as possible, ModifyHealth has you covered. We really like what this company has created, so they've earned one of our top ratings.
Dinnerly
Dinnerly is an affordable prepared meal service that has an impressive assortment of dinner choices for customers. You can specify major dietary preferences to see a curated menu for you to choose from too. Each meal comes in servings for either 2 or 4 people and you can get either 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 meals per week. The more you order, the cheaper each serving is. Dinnerly delivers meals that have fresh ingredients and require some preparation on your part. Some have complained that if shipping is delayed, then ingredients are spoiled by the time they arrive, so we'd expect Dinnerly's customer service to be accommodating to fixing this issue. They also have a "D-” rating from the Better Business Bureau, but their thousands of reviews mostly reflect positive experiences from people who have used this service. Because of this Dinnerly has earned a good place on our list.
Home Chef
Home Chef is a robust service that provides meal kits or heat-and-eat meals for customers to prepare at home. Their servings cater to 2, 4, or 6 people starting as low as $9.99 per serving. You'll get discounts between 20-40% off of your first six boxes to ease you into the process. Home Chef takes a lot of dietary preferences and restrictions into account when they give you your meal options. There is a lot going for this company, but their reviews are just average and they don't have a rating from the Better Business Bureau. They're a good option, but based on feedback from other subscribers, the quality and taste might be hit or miss some weeks.
EveryPlate
EveryPlate has set themselves apart from other prepared meal delivery services by offering inexpensive prices on each of their meals. At just $5.99 per meal, with $10.99 flat-rate shipping and some offers for free lunches, it will be hard to beat the cost of this service. These inexpensive prices may not come with the most nutritious or highest-quality ingredients, and you can't cater to dietary restrictions, so keep that in mind. However, for a family of 2-6 on a regular diet, EveryPlate is a great place to start for home cooked meals.
Territory
Territory is a prepared meal service that emphasizes nutrient-dense meals with fresh ingredients that are free of gluten, dairy, refined sugars, and inflammatory oils. Each meal is a single serving, so couples and families may find this service a bit more inconvenient if they want to do big orders. Some meals are as much as $15.99, so Territory is also a little bit more expensive than some of their competitors. Their meals are well-liked and they have a good range of dishes to choose from weekly. They don't have many customer reviews and are only available in 27 or so states, so this isn't a meal service that will be an option for everyone. Because of this, Territory's prepared meals have earned an average rating.
Bistro MD
The creation of bistroMD was based on a desire to help people who were trying to lose weight, but didn't like cooking at home. The meal plans here focus on calories, all being between 1,200 and 1,400 per serving. You can choose between a 5 and 7 day delivery plan and 8 different programs that focus on specific types of diets. You'll get your meals delivered the same day each week, but you can skip, adjust your meals, or cancel at any time. Unfortunately, bistroMD hasn't had the greatest ratings lately, with some people complaining that their meal quality and taste has gone downhill. They also have a "B” rating from the Better Business Bureau, which is less than ideal. If you aren't focused on losing weight, there are better, fresher prepared meals out there for you to explore.
Gobble
Gobble offers 2 or 4-person meal plans delivered straight to your door. Meals are mostly fully prepared and only take 15 minutes from kit to completion. Everything comes refrigerated, so you won't be thawing frozen food when you are ready to eat. Gobble is a bit more expensive than some other meal preparation sites with the lowest possible serving cost being $11.99 with $9.99 shipping. They have an "F” rating from the Better Business Bureau, but mostly good reviews from customers. In the end we just didn't feel like Gobble offered more than anyone else or stood out in any unique way, especially since they don't offer specific plans that cater to dietary needs. Gobble's prepared meals earn a below-average rating from us.
Top Chef Meals
Top Chef Meals offers frozen, ready-to-heat meals on a one-time basis. Whenever you want to order from here, you can jump on and get as many meals as you want, but you aren't signing up for any type of subscription. All meals are single-servings, so you'd need to order a lot for a family. If you order a certain minimum depending on where you live in the United States, you'll get free shipping. Top Chef Meals focuses on providing dishes that don't include trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, or artificial ingredients. However, if you have strict dietary restrictions, they don't cater to this. Pricing here can be quite a bit higher than we've seen from other companies, so we couldn't get on board with Top Chef Meals as one of our favorite options.
Diet To Go
Diet-to-Go was created as a solution for people who needed help sticking to a calorie-restricted diet to lose weight. With 2-3 fully prepared meals delivered for either 5 or 7 days a week, customers can choose from 5 meal plans to help meet their weight-focused nutrition goals. You'll get 20% off your first week, but afterwards, you'll pay at least $138.99 for the minimal amount of single-serve meals. You can't specify allergens or food restrictions when choosing meals from Diet-to-Go, which may make this a non-option for many people. There are also few reviews about Diet-to-Go, so it isn't the most appealing option for us.
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If you're concerned about a prepared meal delivery service because you're a picky eater, have allergies or serious food intolerances, fear not. One reason prepared meals have become so popular is because they can cater to anyone's preferences and needs. If you need to avoid gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, or any other specific ingredient, many companies will let you specify this and will adjust your meal options accordingly. You can choose vegetarian meals, paleo meals, calorie-conscious meals, or mostly order meals from your favorite cuisine.
Depending on the prepared meal service, some meal selections may cost more than others. If you want gourmet meals that give you a high-end restaurant experience for your taste buds at home, you might pay a bit more (worth it!) but if you're on a budget, there are still mouth-watering, nutritious options that shouldn't stretch the amount of money you've allotted yourself for meals. Whether or not the ingredients in your prepared meal are organic, locally sourced, or come with other specialty labels may affect the overall cost, so pay attention to this as well.
Some companies will deliver meals to your door that are practically ready to open up and eat on the spot, while others require a little prep on your part. Even the meals you have to assemble yourself are made to be as simple as can be. Ingredients come perfectly measured out with step-by-step instructions that can give confidence to even the most inept home chef. Useful tip: you could save the instructions and ingredient information if you want to make the meal again in the future and give it a go on your own!
We've made ourselves very hungry with all the research we've done about the top prepared meal services available to customers. In the end, we've narrowed down a few things that are important to look at when you're considering signing up with one of these companies:
- Menu options. Everyone has specific food preferences and needs. Identify what yours are and quickly identify whether or not the prepared meals offered by the company will cater to them. Ideally you'll want as many menu options as possible so that if you continue using the service long-term, you won't have to keep repeating the same type of meals over and over. You may also want to see if there is a variety as far as preparation complexity. Some nights you may have 5 minutes to prepare a meal and other nights you might have hours. Are you able to order a mix of meals that will work when you're in a pinch or if you want something more fancy and closer to homemade?
- Cost. You'll usually get the most bang for your buck if you sign up for a subscription with a prepared meal service. Sometimes this includes free delivery, other times it means you may save 10-15% on repeat orders rather than one-offs. Are you able to set your delivery schedule however you want? Is it easy to cancel or reschedule if you need to?
- Ingredient quality. Have you ever ordered a meal with meat that turns out to be rubbery? Or gotten a salad with wilted lettuce? Real, quality ingredients are important and make all the difference. Some people prioritize eating organic or buying fresh food from local farms. Services that offer non-GMO, organic food with sustainable sourcing practices are usually going to provide some of the highest-quality meals.
- Reputation. What do other customers say about their experience with the prepared meals from a company? Are deliveries fresh, on time, and tasty? If you have to work with customer service, hopefully they're accommodating and swift in their communication. Listening to what others have to say will give you key insights into this before you have to deal with it yourself.
To give you the best, most convenient experience with ordering prepared meals, the experts at Top Consumer Reviews have pored over all the details of popular companies available to you. We hope this information helps you find simple, enjoyable meals that you'll look forward to eating every day.
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