Which Meal Subscription Service Offers the Best Value? Our Comparison of 9 Options

Over the past decade, meal subscription services have blossomed into their full glory, able to deliver meal kits and ready-made meals to hungry diners nationwide who find themselves short on time. In addition to making dinner prep a breeze, compared to eating out, meal subscription services can help consumers save a few bucks with each meal. And while it is true that meal kit delivery companies experienced decreasing sales following the pandemic, this helped lead to the welcome addition of marketplace features to many services that allow consumers to take care of grocery shopping without ever having to battle long checkout lines.

But which service is the most affordable? With rising food prices in the United States, this is a question that is on many of our minds. The answer depends on several factors, including how many servings you order each week, whether you take advantage of entry sales or influencer coupon codes, and shipping costs. For the purposes of this review, we will assess each service based on how expensive it is to order three weekly meals for two people. More context on methodology can be referenced at the end of this article.

As one of the earliest meal subscription services to gain widespread popularity, Purple Carrot is generally quite reliable. Using entirely vegan ingredients, the brand offers both ready-to-eat meals and meal kits. Each week, you can choose from several dozen dishes spanning a broad range of cuisines. For instance, you might add tofu sloppy joes to your cart alongside crispy za’atar eggplant flatbreads. The price per serving ranges from $11 to $13.25, depending on whether you are ordering meal kits or ready-to-eat meals, as well as how many people each recipe needs to feed. For two people ordering three meals each week, the price amounts to $13 per serving for ready-to-eat meals and $13.25 per serving for meal kits.

Alternatively, the four-week-long Jumpstart program provides you with four breakfasts, four lunches, and four dinners each week. Your $130 investment ($10.83 per meal) will be returned with dishes like butternut bisque, baked ziti, enchiladas, and Thai green curry. It’s commitment-free, so if you are unsure about your desire to use Purple Carrot or eat plant-based meals in the future, this is a great way to test the waters.

Finally, you can add grocery items like Seven Sundays cereals, vegan cheeses, oat milk lattes, and crackers to your cart so that you have snacks readily accessible throughout the week. The prices for each are pretty standard and sometimes even better than what you would find elsewhere. For instance, a 7.5-oz carton of Treeline plain non-dairy cream cheese sells for $5.99 on Purple Carrot but costs $6.49 on the company’s website.

There’s no denying that the slow cooker can take much of the stress out of preparing dinner, which is why What a Crock has built an entire menu around the tool. Dishes like old-fashioned pot roast and beef burgundy can easily be added to the cooker in the morning, and they welcome you home at the end of each day with their savory aromas. But don’t think that you will only be getting soups, sauces, and stews out of your What a Crock subscription. For instance, popcorn chicken and jumbo wings are two versatile dishes on the menu that can be prepared in either the air fryer or the oven. Note that instead of releasing a weekly menu full of fresh picks, What a Crock operates on a more permanent, set menu with dozens of options. The amount of meat on the menu means you should be even more mindful of the potential food safety issues of shipping meat and produce.

You don’t need a subscription to enjoy What a Crock’s recipes, though having one can make your meals as much as 20% cheaper. If you do set up a recurring shipment, the cost will be $77.94 for six portions each week, or $12.99 per serving. Add in a variable shipping fee that depends on order total and the state in which you live, and What a Crock can fall toward the more expensive end of meal subscription services. To potentially save a few bucks, use the website’s portion calculator; if you are a light eater, you might be able to eek two meals out of one portion.

If you watched “Martha” last fall and found yourself filled with admiration for the entrepreneurial powerhouse that is Martha Stewart, check out Marley Spoon. Although this meal subscription service is neither owned nor spearheaded by Martha Stewart, it is designed with a heavy emphasis on her recipes. Each week, you get to select from over 100 recipes — you might find anything from chicken curry mee goreng to pimento cheese smash burgers. 

To make matters easier, Marley Spoon provides suggestions based on your meal preferences. Using categories like “picky eater approved” and “everyday variety,” the service identifies meals that will satisfy your desires and dietary requirements, but you can always change them before your weekly shipment is dropped in the mail. Each recipe is simple to follow, with helpful photos and only six steps. Aside from meals, you can also add on a variety of grocery products and special treats each week; think products like cheese, bread, and chocolate lava cake.

Prices are based on a combination of the number of people being served and the number of meals being delivered. For two people to receive three meals each week, it comes out to $11.99 per serving. However, if you are feeding a larger family, it can be as cheap as $8.99 per serving (the price for four people receiving six meals each week). To save a bit of pocket change ($1 or less), you can opt for “saver” recipes, or, if you want to impress, you can pay a bit more for “premium” recipes.

Hungryroot delivers both meal kits and ready-to-eat meals, but in addition to lunches and dinners, you can receive breakfasts, kids’ meals, snacks, beverages, and sweet treats. Think of it as a meal subscription service combined with an online grocery store.

Plus, Hungryroot offers an impressively large number of meal categories, ranging from anti-inflammatory to high protein to dairy-free. Before you can set up your subscription, you are required to take a quiz that helps align meal suggestions with factors like allergies and nutritional goals. Whether you want to avoid seed oils, eat more organic produce, or reduce your sugar intake, Hungryroot has you covered. Hate Thai food, but love Mediterranean cuisine? The quiz covers flavor preferences, too. The vegan community will be happy to hear that out of the more than 15,000 recipes in Hungryroot’s repertoire, over 1,000 are plant-based.

So how expensive is this wonderful meal subscription service? After taking the quiz, you can refine your meal plan to include the exact number of meals, snacks, and groceries you would like each week. It costs roughly $70 for two people to receive three meals each week, translating to about $11-12 per serving. As long as you spend at least $70, you don’t have to worry about paying for shipping. While Hungryroot is certainly not the cheapest meal subscription service, its flexibility and variety make it worth the added cost.

As far as meal subscription services go, HelloFresh is one of the most recognizable players on the market. One of the features that makes this service stand out is its emphasis on protein. In fact, you can add one “free” protein item to each box from the HelloFresh Market. That’s in addition to other add-ons like oatmeal and cinnamon rolls. As you might expect from the brand’s name, HelloFresh also markets itself as a leader in offering fresh produce and sustainably sourced ingredients. For instance, HelloFresh sources sustainable fish from The Better Fish, a pioneer in producing Fair Trade-certified, ocean-farmed barramundi.

Over 60 meals are available each week, including tantalizing options like Alfredo truffle cavatappi and bánh mì pork burgers. For the sake of convenience, dishes can be filtered into categories like pescatarian, family friendly, and fit and wholesome, though you have access to all the recipes available each week. You even have the option to pay more and upgrade to premium recipes. These recipes are not necessarily more challenging or time-consuming to prepare, but they do include special ingredients that are perfectly suited for elegant occasions.

HelloFresh is middle-of-the-range when it comes to pricing. For two people to receive three meals each week, it comes out to $9.99 per serving, plus $10.99 for shipping. This price is pretty standard across other configurations, though it does increase to $11.49 per serving for two people receiving two meals each week.

Home Chef features a somewhat smaller array of weekly meal choices, with the website stating that a minimum of 35 meals and 18 add-on products are available each week. These meals are assigned categories like express meal kits, which require 15 minutes or less to prepare, and oven-ready meals, which require no preparation at all. 

Home Chef features a relatively laid-back vibe compared to some of the more elegant brands on this list. For example, the brand recently offered SpongeBob SquarePants-themed dishes, such as pineapple under the sea burgers and “kuddly krab” chicken sa-lad. That’s not to say that Home Chef can’t cater to those with refined taste, however. Dishes like walnut-glazed petite scallops are natural crowd pleasers, while premium recipes like black garlic salmon and beurre blanc sauce can really bring the “wow” factor to a special dinner.

Meals fall into one of two menu categories: the Home Chef plan or the family plan. Recipes in the latter category always serve four people and typically feature more family-friendly ingredients. You can’t mix and match recipes from the two categories, but you do have the ability to change from one plan to another each week. Which plan you choose, how much you order, and whether you choose any premium recipes all affect the final price. That said, the minimum cost per serving for two people receiving three meals each week is $9.99 (before shipping, which is an additional $10.99).

Since its debut in 2012, Blue Apron has delivered pre-portioned ingredients along with eye-catching recipe cards to home cooks looking to save time. Indeed, the company wrote much of the meal kit playbook. Recipes can be filtered by categories like “family friendly” and “chef favorites,” and you can order both ready-made meals and meal kits. It’s also easy to add on products like smoothies, side salads, and desserts. While the recipes are usually simple and straightforward, you can always practice your freewheeling creativity, like Alton Brown did in his hilarious Blue Apron meal kit review.

Notably, Blue Apron prides itself on intentionally sourcing its ingredients. For instance, the company works with Seafood Watch, an organization that assesses the sustainability of fisheries around the world. Meat and poultry are held to similarly high standards that forbid growth promoters and unnecessary hormones. While the brand’s competitors have certainly caught up, Blue Apron became a subsidiary of Wonder in 2023, meaning more improvements might still be on the horizon.

Blue Apron meal plans can be set up to deliver between two and five meals per week, each with either two or four servings. However, you can always add more meals to your box. For two people to receive three meals each week, the price comes out to $8.32 per serving (this goes for both ready-made meals and meal kits). However, you shouldn’t forget to factor in the $9.99 shipping fee. Alternatively, the Blue Apron Market offers meals to consumers without subscriptions, but they can be quite pricey; the date night bundle, for example, amounts to $16.98 per serving.

Owned by the same company as Marley Spoon (MMM Consumer Brands, Inc.), Dinnerly is a slightly more affordable option that also features a different vibe: Its recipes are even simpler, laying out five steps for you to follow instead of six. Don’t think that their elevated simplicity means they lack flavor or refinement, however. You can still chow down on dishes like pork piccata with lemon and parsley, or, if you are on the hunt for a mouthwatering breakfast, lemon-poppy ricotta pancakes. Over 100 such recipes are available each week, and because they are so readily available on Dinnerly’s website, you can ensure that you have the proper cooking tools and that you like all the ingredients before adding a meal to your cart.

Dinnerly shares a lot in common with Marley Spoon. To begin with, Dinnerly’s preference categories are nearly identical to its upscale counterpart, albeit with the occasional name change; for instance, instead of “everyday variety,” Dinnerly’s setup features a more casual title of “I like everything.” Another similarity is that you can upgrade to premium meals or pinch a few pennies with saver meals, as well as add grocery items, kitchen staples, and ready-to-eat desserts to your cart. Finally, Dinnerly’s pricing is likewise based on how many people are eating and how many meals are being delivered. For two people to receive three weekly meals, the price is $7.99 per serving. It can be as cheap as $5.99 per serving, though, if you are feeding four people six weekly meals. Expect to pay $10.99 for shipping.

EveryPlate offers less variety than many of the other meal subscription services on this list; fewer than 30 meals are available each week. However, the menu does encompass a variety of dietary needs and preferences, including vegetarian and family-friendly recipes. For example, you might dive into a plate of Southern-style pork chops and gravy one night and a stack of spicy bean and pepper quesadillas the next. Plus, you can always order add-on ingredients like salmon and asparagus. Pay a bit more, and you’ll be able to add premium recipes, like creamy mushroom steak with roasted potato rounds and green beans, to your cart.

The menu’s small size is just one reason why EveryPlate is such a remarkably affordable service. No matter which plan you choose, you can expect to pay $5.99 per serving. This holds true whether you are feeding two people or six, and if you are ordering three meals each week or five. In explaining why the service is so budget-friendly, EveryPlate’s website states that, “We use less packaging and simple ingredients for delicious, filling meals that are easily doable. Our aim is to bring tasty value and convenience, not make you a chef.” 

Even so, don’t overlook the fact that you will need to pay for shipping, which is a standard $10.99. Additionally, while you will likely be satisfied with your food, don’t expect to be blown away by gourmet meals every night; the simplicity of EveryPlate’s recipes is why we ranked the service among our top 25 meal delivery kits for people who aren’t great cooks.

The meal subscription services on this list were ranked according to the typical price per serving for two people to receive three meals each week. Though we did frequently note standard shipping prices, for some services, shipping can vary according to region and order amount. Shipping prices were therefore not key in this assessment. Nor were first-box deals, promotions, or coupon codes taken into account. 

Each meal subscription service has its own unique features. For instance, some host marketplaces for grocery items and allow consumers to add extra side items to their boxes. These features are not standard across all platforms and therefore were not considered when determining relative affordability; however, particularly in the case of groceries, they can occasionally help consumers save money.