7 Best Bariatric Meal Delivery Services 2023: Expert Ranked 

Recovering from bariatric surgery is a delicate, often lengthy process. Eating normal foods again can take 4 to 6 months or more after surgery, with the first few months being the most strict. Meal prep may also be challenging and lonely as your body adjusts to its new post-surgery anatomy. Having a meal plan can help!

I’ve compiled a list of meal delivery services to help you optimize your recovery menu with high-quality meal ingredients and easy-prep recipes. The meals on this list are all low-calorie and are best for individuals who can eat some fibrous smoothies, soups, and regular foods. Most recipes on this list are individually portioned, but you may want to double-check meal portions or measure meals just in case.

My top recommendation for the best bariatric meal delivery service is Fresh N Lean. These meals are best for patients in their final stage of recovery when they can eat normal low-calorie meals. Calorie counts for each meal are super low, and meals arrive fully prepared in microwavable trays so you can eat the whole meal or easily save some of it for later.

Fresh N Lean meals are designed by dietitians who prioritize healthy macro counts according to 8 diet plans, only using whole ingredients that are thoughtfully prepared to ensure optimal nutrient density and absorption.

Plus, Fresh N Lean uses some of the highest quality ingredients I’ve seen in all the meal delivery services I’ve reviewed – and I’ve reviewed a lot. Read on to discover more of the best meal delivery services for post-weight loss surgery meals.

The Best Bariatric Meal Delivery Services Reviewed

1. Fresh N Lean – Great Variety of Fully Prepared Meals

Fresh N Lean uses super high-quality ingredients to create 8 meal plans with recipes that are less than 500 calories each, and about one-third are even less than 300 calories. Keeping track of macros, especially protein, during each stage of recovery is very important, and what’s great about this service is you can instantly view each meal's calorie and macro count when you click on the recipe card.

This is a great service if you’re in your final stages of recovery and want to ease back into your vegetarian, vegan, or keto diet after weight loss surgery. And what's convenient with this service is that each meal arrives in microwave-ready trays. If you only need half the meal to best support your recovery, you can leave the other half in the tray for later.

What I find impressive about this service is that it offers 7 different diet plans that you can mix and match to your liking. These plans include Keto, Paleo, High Protein Vegan, Mediterranean, Whole30, and Low Carb Vegan.

The bulk plan is an 8th option where you can buy bulk proteins and sides rather than full meals. You can also order from the a la carte menu of 10 to 12 weekly rotating meals and 11 proteins in 16 oz portions if you’d like to have more control over your portion sizes and ingredient prep. Whether you're getting back to your paleo, keto, or protein-conscious vegan diet, there's plenty to choose from on the menu every week.

Fresh N Lean offers 10-12 lunch and dinner recipes and 3-4 breakfast recipes for each plan, so you can cover 3 meals per day, or mix and match as you prefer. This is best for ultimate convenience post-recovery since all you have to do is open the fridge, heat, and eat.

You can even exclude 10+ ingredients like dairy or spice and receive accommodations for sesame, soy, and shellfish allergies. Plus – all Fresh N Lean meals are certified gluten-free. Check out my colleague's in-depth review of Fresh N Lean if you'd like to know more about its complete meal service.

I also like that Fresh N Lean ships your order fresh, so that foods arrive ready to eat within 2 to 3 minutes of heating in the microwave. Meals arrive in single-serving containers, which isn’t ideal for large families but is easy for your post-op meal planning.

What I like most about Fresh N Lean is the high quality of its ingredients. All meat is grass-fed and never received antibiotics or hormone treatments, all veggies are organic, and all food is non-GMO! Having minimally processed, whole ingredients that are so thoughtfully sourced are excellent for post-op recovery.

Fresh N Lean’s order minimum is 5 meals per week and up to 21 meals plus snacks. That means zero prep all week plus snacks. The meal price for 21 meals is $7.53 per portion.

2. Trifecta – Great Build-Your-Own Post-Op-Friendly Meals

Trifecta offers a build-your-own meal plan called Meal Prep with super clean and fully but minimally prepped ingredients that can fit your 4 to 6 month phase of recovery eating. Ingredients are fully prepped with minimal ingredients like olive oil, garlic, onion, thyme, and rosemary, that are gentle on your stomach. All you have to do is plate which ingredients you want, heat for a few minutes, and enjoy.

Meal Prep ingredients are clearly labeled on each of the website’s recipe cards, so you won’t have to worry about prep ingredients that might upset your digestive system. Plus, ingredients are seasonally rotated to maintain optimal freshness and quality.

You’ll also find the Classic, Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian, Vegan, and Whole30 plans. Each plan offers fully prepared meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The maximum order of servings you can have with Trifecta is 21 per week (14 entrees plus 7 breakfasts).

Trifecta’s food features zero preservatives, artificial, processed, or refined ingredients so it’s super healthy. Ingredients arrive fully prepped and fresh – ready for consumption, refrigeration, or freezing. Read more about unboxing with Trifecta here.

Each meal is conveniently individually portioned in microwave-ready trays. I like when meals arrive in microwave-ready trays because you can easily save food for later and reuse the trays for storing other foods.

The biggest downside of Trifecta’s menu is that you can’t see what recipes are available for each plan except for the Classic plan. The Classic is Trifecta’s a la carte menu from which you can choose 9 recipes that include breakfasts. Some recipes rotate each week and include breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

Trifecta offers an app in which you can track calories by recording each Trifecta ingredient you consume. The app can also scan barcodes and record nutrition facts from that food, further increasing your food-tracking efforts.

This is one of the more expensive services on this list. For a full week of 7 breakfasts and 14 entrees, you’ll pay over $300 per week. The price per serving for the least expensive meal plan starts at $6.00.

3. Hungryroot – Best Customizable Post-Op Recipes

Hungryroot’s best features are its customizability and variety. Post-bariatric surgery recovery can be tough since you need to eat small amounts of food. With Hungryroot, you’ll have plenty of variety to choose from. Unlike most meal delivery services, you can swap ingredients in most of Hungryroot’s recipes to suit your optimal calorie count.

To start your subscription with Hungryroot, you take a detailed quiz about your eating needs and taste preferences – including whether you have weight loss goals – that helps Hungryroot recommend recipes to fill your cart. Read our full review for a step-by-step guide to the whole process.

Once your cart is full, you’re free to swap recipes or ingredients in recipes. This allows you to include more greens, proteins, or veggies in your recipes. Your recipe choices increase significantly and gives you more creative opportunity should you want to explore your culinary skills.

Hungryroot’s menu also has great filter options that help you easily view its extensive menu by your preferred categories. Since this is a grocery-based service, you can view the menu by Groceries or Recipes, and you can easily filter each menu by protein, spice level, dietary needs, prep time, serving size, and more.

One downside of Hungryroot’s service is that you’ll see a lot of repeat ingredients in its recipes. For example, while there are 20+ salads and salad groceries to choose from, you’ll see that salad recipes might be pretty similar.

Choose a minimum order of 4 meals, then add a la carte groceries and snacks. Groceries include tons of low-calorie proteins like 140 kcal per serving Seasoned Pulled Chicken or liquids like the 150 kcal Lime Coconut Chicken Bone Broth.

Hungryroot is a great service if customizability is your priority in planning your post-op meals. Prices start at $8.99 per serving, and you can order 6 to 16 servings per week.

4. BistroMD – Bariatric Specialist-Designed Low-Calorie Meal Plans

All BistroMD meals are fully prepared low-calorie recipes and designed by a bariatric specialist physician with over 20 years of experience helping patients lose weight, her foodie husband, and a team of registered dietitians. BistroMD Meal plans are a convenient way to eat healthy and tasty weight loss-encouraging foods.

BistroMD meals are best for months 4 to 6 after weight loss surgery when you can eat more normal foods while maintaining a low calorie count per day. All recipes include a balance of complex carbohydrates (brown rice, quinoa), proteins, and healthy fats, and average about 350 calories per meal. You can read calorie counts on each recipe’s meal card on the website.

You can order a full week’s worth of 21 meals from any plan. Each meal is individually packaged in single-serve portions and designed to be eaten in 1 sitting. You’ll have zero prep, zero cleanup, and zero moments standing in front of the fridge, deciding what to eat and how to make it. All you have to do is heat and eat your designated meal.

However, BistroMD doesn’t focus on ingredient sourcing, so you won’t find wild-caught, grass-fed, or organic options on the menu. You also can’t make any ingredient swaps within meals since they’re designed to be part of a strictly planned and portioned calorie-conscious diet. There’s also no allergy accommodations so this isn’t a great service for allergy sufferers.

Despite these limitations, you’ll always receive balanced low-calorie meals consisting of whole foods. Each meal contains proteins, complex carbs, and healthy fats with macro balances according to the meal plan you choose. Check out my colleague’s deep dive into BistroMD’s complete meal delivery service in her review!

For each plan you can choose 2 meals for 5 or 7 days, or 3 meals for 5 or 7 days. If you choose 3 meals for 7 days, that’s 21 meals per week, which removes any second thoughts about whether you’ll have a ready diet-friendly meal in your freezer or fridge. Pricing for the maximum plan of 21 meals comes out to $8.24 per serving.

5. Blue Apron – Weight Watchers-Aligned Meals

All proteins from Blue Apron are free from antibiotics and hormone treatments. A low-calorie post-op recovery diet doesn't have to be low flavor, and Blue Apron's got you covered with high-quality meal kits that contain signature seasoning mixes.

Blue Apron's unique low-calorie feature is its Wellness plan containing WW-approved recipes. There’s even a WW app in which you can track your WW Blue Apron meal nutrients to ensure you’re staying on the recovery track.

You’ll even see recommendations for calorie-conscious meal prep ingredients when you open WW-approved recipe cards on the Blue Apron website, Check out my colleague's full review of Blue Apron, for more about its gourmet weight loss-friendly recipes.

Every Blue Apron ingredient is measured, portioned, and packaged, and the step-by-step recipes are easy to follow. Though some recipes take longer than others, most novice to experienced chefs can follow these recipes.

You can find complete recipes within each recipe page on the website and read through each step-by-step page, or click the Cook Along button for a slideshow version of your recipe – with pictures.

Most recipes require about 25 to 30 minutes prep time, but you can also choose from 3 microwave-ready meals each week that only take 5 minutes to heat. Heat-and-eat meals include all the same high-quality ingredients as Blue Apron's meal kits, with recipes like Miso-Sesame Chicken with Brown Rice and Vegetables. These meals are best for individuals in the final stages of recovery and can eat small-portioned normal foods.

Blue Apron is a great option if you're happy with a Mediterranean-diet-inspired menu, have no food allergies, and don't mind spending about 30 minutes food-prepping for a gourmet dish. 

Blue Apron's minimum order is 2 meals equaling 2 servings each per week, but you're free to order as many as 4 meals of 4 servings each per week. Pricing starts at around $5.74 per serving for the maximum order.

6. Factor – Dietitian-Designed Low-Calorie Plan

Registered dietitians design and approve all of Factor's microwave-ready meals, ensuring each recipe has a healthy balance of protein, veggies, and complex carbs. So you can rest easy eating Factor's meals during those on-the-go days when you only want to spare a few minutes to prepare your recovery meals.

You can even schedule a complimentary session with a registered dietitian (RD). Most services only allow you to do this after you order, but with Factor, you can speak with an RD before. This free consultation is great for those of you who need to ensure that Factor's meals are right for your dietary needs during your stage of recovery.

Plus, Factor's recipes are integrated into the most popular food tracking apps: LoseIt, Carb Manager, and MyFitnessPal, so you can easily record your Factor macros to ensure you’re getting enough protein during recovery.

I like Factor’s meal plans because they cover a wide range of diets. The 5 plans include High Protein, Keto, and Vegetarian, which you can mix and match as you prefer. Meals are prepared by professional chefs and delivered fresh – never frozen. This is great for those in recovery who want to return to their pre-surgery diet.

The menu changes weekly and includes 35 recipes and 40+ add-ons each week, giving you plenty of variety. Cuisine is primarily American and Mediterranean throughout each plan.

While Factor has one of the best add-ons selections of prepared meal services, extras are mostly accommodating toward keto dieters. Vegans and vegetarians won’t find many options except for a few fruit smoothies. Check out our review for expert take on the menu, cost, and more.

Factor prioritizes sourcing high-quality, humane, and sustainably grown ingredients. Each recipe is made with non-GMO and mostly organic produce. All poultry and eggs are cage- and antibiotic-free, all meats are pasture-raised or grass-fed, and the salmon is sustainably sourced.

All foods arrive fully cooked and microwave-ready, which is super convenient. However, I find it refreshing to have a salad or fresh plant-based side here and there since you’ll be missing out on fresh veggies.

The minimum order is 6 meals per week with a maximum order of 18. Pricing starts at $6.19 per serving for the maximum order.

7. Splendid Spoon – Best Low-Calorie Liquids and Soft Foods

Splendid Spoon is an excellent option for the 2nd or 3rd month of weight loss surgery recovery when you’re eating soft foods. Some smoothies and soups may even be a great option for the 3rd or 4th week of recovery when you’re on a full-liquid diet, as approved by your physician.

Splendid Spoon made this list because meals are fully prepared and low calorie. These meals arrive packaged in about 2 portions per recipe, and in packages that allow for easy refrigeration so you can consume them at a later date.

I find that Splendid Spoon has one of the easiest menus to filter. You can easily filter smoothies and soups for recovery-friendly options like high protein, low calorie, carb-conscious, low fat, no caffeine, and no spicy ingredients. All meals are calorie-conscious, grab-and-go, or fully prepared recipes, around 220-300 calories each.

While calories are low, portions are relatively large for those in recovery. Each 16 oz bowl or smoothie is meant for 1 meal or 2 snacks for 1 person, so listen to how you feel rather than aiming to finish the whole meal. Each portion should easily satisfy you, and may be enough for 2 or more meals depending on your stage of recovery.

The cuisine variety is primarily Mediterranean recipes for the soups and bowls, with hints of Mexican, Indian, Thai, and Asian-inspired flavors. You can choose from 20 to 25 smoothies, 20 to 25 soup or grain bowls, 9 noodle bowls, 4 fresh-squeezed juices, and 5 power shots.

Each smoothie contains 100% plant-based ingredients, zero artificial sweeteners, and 100% non-GMO produce. For more on Splendid Spoon's complete service and its clean, vegan, prepared meals, check out our in-depth review.

Ordering with Splendid Spoon is super easy since you can order once or subscribe, and meal plans are super flexible. I like that all you have to do is choose the number of items you want in your box, from any category on the menu. This allows you to have a nice variety of recovery foods including hot and cold, soft and solid foods.

Splendid Spoon is one of the pricier services per serving, since prices start at $6.50 per serving when you order 21 meals. You can order box sizes of 7, 14, or 21 meals, with free shipping for the latter 2.

Quick Comparison Table

Tips for Choosing the Best Bariatric Meal Delivery Service

Whether you’re a seasoned meal delivery service subscriber or are trying a meal delivery service for the first time, I’ve compiled several tips for you to choose the best one for your post-bariatric surgery diet.

• Consider what phase of recovery you’re in: Recovering from bariatric surgery is a delicate process and requires different foods for each phase of recovery. You’ll first consume liquids in small portions and graduate to soft, chewy foods by 4 to 6 months after recovery. When you choose a delivery service, you’ll need to ensure that food content and texture are what you need to keep your recovery on track.

• Consider how much food prep you can do: Each delivery service offers meals with different levels of prep. Some services only offer meal kits that can take up to 60 minutes of prep, while others offer fully prepared microwavable meals that are ready in 2 to 3 minutes of heating. Recovering after bariatric surgery means you’ll be engaging in minimal physical activity, so choosing easy prep meals might be best – especially in the early months of recovery.

• Consider your budget: Each meal delivery service offers meals at different prices. You can find meals on this list ranging from $6.99 to $14.99 plus shipping. If you choose to subscribe, don’t forget to consider shipping for each delivery you’ll receive.

• Consider different services: If you find several services that’ll work for your bariatric post-op diet – try a few! You can use our discount codes to make trying multiple services more affordable.

FAQ

What can a bariatric patient eat after surgery?

Bariatric patients can eat different types of foods in different phases of recovery, depending on the type of bariatric surgery they receive. The diet should be determined by physicians and registered dietitians. Good foods for bariatric patients after about 2 to 3 months of recovery include soft foods in small portions with a low-calorie count like:

• Tenderized and ground lean meats

• Tenderized or ground fish

• Scrambled eggs

• Thin oatmeal

• Protein smoothies

• Peeled, cooked veggies

• Low-carb fruits like berries

You can find a selection of these on Splendid Spoon’s menu.

Where can I buy the best bariatric foods?

You can buy bariatric foods from your local grocery store, but ordering from a meal delivery service is best for optimally convenient foods for post-op bariatric patients. You can find soft, low-calorie, liquid foods from Splendid Spoon, customize your meals with Hungryroot, or have your meals selected for you by Trifecta.

What foods cannot be eaten after bariatric surgery?

Bariatric patients shouldn’t eat foods that will upset their stomach or digestive tract. Foods to avoid after bariatric surgery include:

• Processed foods

• Tough meats that are hard to chew

• Greasy, high fat foods

• Sugar

• Alcohol

• Caffeine

• Spicy foods

• Artificial sweeteners like erythritol, glycerol, mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol

Fresh N Lean’s meals are free from sugar and other preservatives that will be upsetting to your stomach and recovery process.

What are the best proteins for bariatric patients?

The best proteins for bariatric patients are best derived from: 

• Tenderized meats

• Low-fat Greek yogurt

• Eggs

• Silk tofu

• Beans

• Quinoa

You should be eating about 60 to 80 g of protein per day from these sources and monitor your body’s response to sources like beans, tofu, soy, and dairy products. You’ll find the widest variety of protein options on Hungyroot’s menu and in its a la carte groceries.

Best Bariatric Meal Delivery Service in 2023 — Final Score