The average American consumes around 3,400mg of sodium per day, which is much higher than the USDA’s recommended maximum of 2,300mg. The CDC links excessive sodium intake to elevated blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.
A low-sodium diet can lower blood pressure, help manage fluid retention, and more. This diet typically calls for around 1,500-2,000mg of sodium per day. Yet, whether you’re on a doctor-prescribed ban or simply trying to reduce your salt intake, it can be surprisingly difficult to find low-sodium meals that are both convenient and healthy.
Several meal delivery services offer heart-healthy menus that make dieting easier. These include meals that are low in salt, saturated fat, and more. To find out which ones are best for a low-sodium diet in particular, I’ve studied menus and ingredients and drawn on personal experience to help you ditch the salt without losing out on flavor.
Blue Apron takes my top spot, thanks to its Mediterranean-inspired Wellness menu and the flexibility its meal kits offer. That said, each service on my list will help to keep you healthy, with low-sodium options for every taste, household, and budget.
Blue Apron – Best overall low-sodium meal delivery service
BistroMD – Best doctor-designed low-sodium meals
Green Chef – Best organic low-sodium meal kits
HelloFresh – Best Family-Friendly Lower-Sodium Meal Kits
Factor – Best prepared low-sodium meals
The colorful and varied menu suits a range of diets
16+ recipes each week, plus extras
Dietary options include vegetarian and low-calorie
Current deal: Enjoy $110 off across your first 5 orders
Blue Apron’s Wellness menu is filled with healthy and balanced dinners. While it doesn’t exclusively offer low-sodium meals, much of the menu is inspired by the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet and is packed with fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, seafood, beans, nuts, and high-quality olive oil. You’ll also find lower-calorie options.
I particularly love that Blue Apron’s recipes have suggestions to lower sodium. The recipe for the Tilapia and Orange-Jalapeño Salsa over Vegetable Quinoa, for example, includes instructions on how to reduce the sodium from 1,150mg to just 480mg per serving. This guidance makes it easy for anyone to cut down on their salt intake.
Since you prepare the meals yourself, you’ll have ultimate control over the salt levels. No matter which plan you order from, you can reduce or omit the added salt in any Blue Apron meal kit, just keep in mind that its prepared meal offerings have less flexibility but still come in at a reasonable 600mg per serving on average.
Blue Apron has tons of add-ons to complement your weekly order, too, including breakfast, brunch, and dessert dishes, plus extra proteins and colorful 10-minute salads. This is also where you can purchase its prepared meals for busy nights. In the Market section, you’ll find further options like meal kit bundles, kitchen tools, and Blue Apron’s signature spices and seasonings.
Blue Apron’s wine delivery service is another reason why it’s so popular. And since red wine, in moderation, has been linked to heart health, there’s no reason why you couldn’t take advantage of its dinnertime pairings, which include tasting notes and 500ml bottles perfectly sized for 2 to share. You can find out more about its offerings in my colleague’s detailed review.
Blue Apron’s meal kits start at $5.74 per serving, based on either 4 or 5 meals per week for 4 people. Choose from 2, 3, 4, or 5 recipes per week that serve households of either 2 or 4.
Calorie-controlled meals and dietitian support
150+ dishes on a rotating 6-week menu
Dietary options include keto, gluten-free, diabetes-friendly, and more
Current deal: 40% OFF + free shipping on your first week
BistroMD is a service that focuses on weight loss and is particularly suited to those managing health conditions such as diabetes and menopause. Alongside its Signature plan, you’ll find programs such as Gluten-Free, Diabetic, Heart Healthy, Keto Flex, and Vegan to help you meet your wellness goals.
The Heart Healthy plan is the best low-sodium option, with less than 600 mg of sodium and less than 3.5g of saturated fat per serving in every meal. The dishes promise to help lower blood pressure and kick-start weight loss with options such as Italian-Style Omelet for breakfast, Jamaican-Style Black Pepper Shrimp for lunch, and Chicken Spinach Meatloaf for dinner.
All of BistroMD’s menus fall within the USDA’s recommended daily sodium intake. This is around 2,000-2,300mg of sodium each day. The service advertises that its meals are nutritionally-balanced and emphasizes that sodium is part of a balanced diet.
If you have particular needs, you can contact customer service to limit the sodium in your plan. This will remove dishes with higher-sodium ingredients (like soy sauce) from your menu. It can lower your daily intake to about 1,500mg per day, but it will mean that your menu is less diverse.
The menu features more than 150 different meals, which rotate weekly. You can order up to 3 meals per day to ensure you’re covered from breakfast to dinner, with the option to add BistroMD EATS (Essential and Tasty Snacks) to your order. These could include anything from whey protein bars to granola and nut mixes and from protein shakes to keto cheesecakes, to help accelerate your weight loss.
The meals are delivered flash-frozen to preserve the nutrients, and every dish can be heated in the microwave and enjoyed in a matter of minutes. Admittedly, when my colleague gave BistroMD a go for themselves, they were more than satisfied with the vast choice, but less so with the taste.
BistroMD’s meals start at $8.24 per serving. You can order 2 or 3 meals per day, for either 5 or 7 days a week. You’ll get the best value by selecting the full program, which gives you a night free to make your own healthy food choices. If you only want 1 meal a day, Factor might be a better choice for you.
Easy-to-follow recipes and some prepared ingredients
30+ meals to choose from each week
Dietary options include gluten-free, keto, plant-based, and more
Current deal: Get $250 off + free shipping
Green Chef stands out as the first CCOF-certified organic meal delivery service. Organic ingredients don’t affect sodium levels, but they do contain fewer pesticides, are better for the environment, and the produce tends to be fresher since it doesn’t contain any preservatives or chemicals, so for many, they’re worth the investment.
Green Chef’s meal kits have an average sodium level of less than 675 mg per serving. This makes them suitable for low-sodium diets, even though the service doesn’t have a dedicated low-sodium plan. Of course, preparing your own meals also gives you more control, allowing you to omit ingredients with too much salt as you cook.
You’ll have access to menus for different dietary needs, too. Look out for plans that cater to keto, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and high-protein diets, while the Fast & Fit plan offers calorie-controlled meals that are ready in 25 minutes or less. You’ll always be able to access the full weekly menu of 30 dishes, no matter which plan you sign up for.
Green Chef also offers add-ons to round out your weekly shipment. There are quick-cook breakfasts like oatmeal and pancakes, 10-minute lunches, extra proteins, and more, all for an additional cost. Be mindful to check the sodium levels of these extras before ordering them.
The recipes are easy to follow, and you’ll get some pre-prepped ingredients to speed up the cooking process. Sauces, seasonings, and chopped vegetables – all perfectly portioned – make this one of the easiest meal kits to put together.
I ranked Green Chef third because of its high-quality ingredients and healthy meals. The organic ingredients do put it on the more expensive side, though our reviewer felt the quality was worth the price when they tested Green Chef for themselves.
This premium meal delivery service starts at $5.99 per serving. Choose from 2, 3, or 4 meals per week, feeding 2, 4, or 6 people. The fact that you can order for households of 6 also makes this great for larger families.
Tried-and-tested, kid-approved recipes
30+ meals on the menu every week
Dietary options include vegetarian, calorie-smart, pescatarian, and more
HelloFresh’s thoroughly-tested menu makes it ideal for children and picky eaters. The popular meal kit claims to trial each of its recipes 200 times to ensure they’re loved by everyone and are accessible to home cooks of every skill level. For customer favorites, just look for the Hall of Fame tag when browsing the menu.
HelloFresh doesn’t have a low-sodium plan, but almost its entire menu can be made low in salt since you have total control over the amount added when you cook. The ingredients are always fresh, seasonal, and sustainably sourced, and the recipes themselves are balanced. You can also check out this list of the Best HelloFresh Low-Sodium Recipes for a look at this service’s most heart-healthy options.
You’ll find 6 plans to choose from, though you’ll always have access to the wider menu whichever plan you pick at sign-up. These include Veggie, Pescatarian, Fit & Wholesome, Quick & Easy, and Family Friendly. The plans don’t necessarily correlate with sodium levels, but the Fit & Wholesome plan has more low-calorie and low-carb dishes.
The meals are mostly American with a twist (hello, Meatloaf à la Mom), with options like craft burgers, buffalo-spiced chicken, tacos, pork chops, and po’boys. But you’ll also find some more international recipes there too, like pasta, stir-fries, and curries.
You can use the HelloCustom feature to change the proteins and sides on some dishes. The choice between potatoes or broccoli for a side dish may not make a huge impact on sodium levels, but it helps keep the menu interesting from week to week and allows you to make swaps that suit your diet.
The recipes are rated by difficulty, with most of them either “Easy” or “Medium”. This means even novice cooks will be able to whip up healthy home-cooked dishes, just like our reviewer did when they tested HelloFresh for themselves.
HelloFresh meals start at $3.32 per serving. You can order between 2 and 6 recipes per week for households of either 2 or 4 people. You’ll get the best value with the largest plan size of 6 meals per week.
High-quality ingredients in every dish
35+ prepared meals each week
Dietary options include keto, low-calorie, plant-based, and more
Factor’s microwavable meals are some of the tastiest and most convenient on my list. The service’s lunches and dinners are ready to eat in as little as 2 minutes. It’s a great choice if you’re on a low-sodium diet but don’t have time to cook your meals from scratch.
Factor’s meals are delivered fresh, and its strengths lie in the flavor as well as its ability to cater to different dietary needs. Compare these meals to many other prepared dishes that you might find in a supermarket, and you can taste the difference. Though Factor meals taste better, I ranked it lower than BistroMD because its low-sodium options are more limited.
There’s no specific low-sodium plan, but Factor’s meals aren’t salty. The service makes it easy for you to scan nutrition labels as you build your box, so you can bypass any that look a little heavy on the sodium for you.
Factor’s menu caters well to specialized diets, including keto, high-protein, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free. Look out for tasty-sounding dishes like the Monterey Spinach Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Alfredo and Cauliflower Gratin. Switching out meat dishes for a few veggie or vegan meals each week can also be great for your health and an easy way to cut back on salt.
Beyond the main menu, Factor has optional extras to add to your shipment. These include high-protein breakfasts, smoothies, cold-pressed juices, keto-friendly desserts, and snacks. Much like the main dishes, you’ll have to check the nutritional info of each item to learn the sodium content.
Factor also offers nutrition coaching sessions if you need more guidance. When you sign up, you’ll get a free 20-minute virtual consultation to help kickstart any health goals, as my colleague discovered when they reviewed the service.
Factor’s prepared meals start at $6.19 per serving, making this another premium service – largely for its convenience and high-quality ingredients. You can order between 6 and 18 meals per week, with the price-per-serving increasing the fewer meals you order.
Convenient portion-controlled meals
250+ dishes on a rotating weekly menu
Dietary options include diabetes-friendly, keto, vegetarian, and more
Diet-to-Go is an all-inclusive weight loss meal delivery service. Much like BistroMD, it provides all of your daily meals so you don’t have to worry about cooking or calorie counting. Its plans make it easy to choose meals that are suited to your specific dietary needs, with programs such as Balance, Balance-Diabetes, Keto-Carb30, Vegetarian, and Mediterranean.
This service doesn’t offer a specific low-sodium plan, but all of its meals are within the recommended daily limit. Its Balance and Vegetarian plans are the lowest in sodium, with less than 2,000mg per day. It also uses some organic ingredients where possible.
Diet-to-Go’s menu is made up of low-calorie takes on classic dishes. Breakfast options include things like French toast, muffins, blueberry pancakes, and scrambled eggs. Lunches and dinners include a variety of sandwiches, pasta dishes, and comfort foods like the Turkey Meatloaf or Pork-Chop Pomodoro. Note that you won’t find any snacks or extras.
The rotating menu repeats itself every 5 weeks. This could be a good or a bad thing, depending on how many of the dishes you’re willing to try and how easily you get bored with eating the same things. You always have the option to customize your order by substituting in your favorite dishes, but the selection is finite.
Diet-to-Go’s meals are delivered frozen. They should be stored in the fridge on arrival, however, where they’ll last for 7 days. They can be heated up in the microwave or oven – just be sure to thaw before cooking. Certain dishes can even be enjoyed cold. Find out more about what my colleague thought of the menu in their in-depth review.
Ultimately, I recommend Diet-to-Go if its plans suit your individual needs. It can be great to kick-start fat loss but it’s not as sustainable as some of the other meal delivery services on my list. If you want to get to grips with learning how to cook healthy food that’s equally low in sodium for steady weight loss and maintenance, Blue Apron or Green Chef could be a better choice.
Diet-to-Go’s meals start at $4.60 per serving. You can choose from a 5- or 7-day plan that includes 2 or 3 meals per day. The 2 meals-per-day plan doesn’t include breakfast.
Plant-based smoothies, grain bowls, and other light bites
62+ meals and snacks on the menu each week
Dietary options include high-fiber, gluten-free, low-sugar, and more
Splendid Spoon is a plant-based service that offers grab-and-go meals and smoothies. Its menu includes several filters to accommodate dietary needs like high-protein, high-fiber, low-calorie, and low-sodium. The latter will display all the meals that contain less than 12% of your daily recommended intake.
The menu is divided into several categories, including Soup and Grain Bowls, Noodle Bowls, Smoothies, and Extras. There’s also a category called Dishes, which contains more substantial microwave meals like the Vegan Chick’N Parm or Roasted Tomato Risotto. Extras mostly comprise cold-pressed juices and shots.
The entire menu is also gluten-free and free of GMOs, while generally being low in sugar and sodium. The Lower Sodium filter takes things one step further, but it can limit your savory options. Of the 40 savory dishes available each week, less than 10 qualify as “low sodium”.
Splendid Spoon’s menu doesn’t change week to week, so extra-strict low-sodium dieters won’t have much to choose from unless they plan on sticking with the smoothies, which feature little-to-no salt. There are 21 flavors to choose from, including bestsellers like Raspberry Cacao and Power Greens. These blended drinks are packed with superfoods to round out your daily nutrition.
The lack of hearty meals makes this a fairly niche service, but it’s great for plant-based dieters who regularly eat at their desk or on the go. If you want to stock your fridge with healthy smoothies and light, clean lunch options, it’s a great source of nutrient-dense foods.
Nothing on the menu has more than 500 calories per serving, and half of the menu comes in at less than 200. While our reviewer felt like it was too extreme of a diet to enjoy daily, they appreciated the convenience Splendid Spoon offers. If you’re looking for more substantial plant-based meals that go easy on the salt, Purple Carrot could be a better choice.
Splendid Spoon prices start from $6.50 per serving. You can choose from a preset plan of 7, 14, or 21 meals per week, or make your own box. There’s also an online marketplace where you can pick up individual items priced separately.
Order meal kits, prepared meals, and pantry items
16+ dishes on the menu each week, plus extras
Dietary options include gluten-free, soy-free, high-protein, and more
Purple Carrot’s vegan meals are great for a holistically healthy diet. And though it’s not specifically targeted at low-sodium dieters, this service’s meal kits do allow you to make ingredient adjustments at home and the nutritional info is clear to spot on each recipe, so you can bypass any that you feel are too sodium-heavy.
Unlike some other services, Purple Carrot doesn’t rely on processed meat substitutes, which can often be high in salt. Instead, this is a service that celebrates veggies in their purest form and every ingredient promises to be farm-fresh and locally sourced. Many of Purple Carrot’s non-produce items are organic, too, including its beans, nut milks, tofu, and yogurts.
The menu is varied, colorful, and nourishing. As well as dinners like Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas with Romesco and Avocado-Caper Salad, and Stir-Fried Brassica Greens with Togarashi Tomatoes and Peanut Noodles, you can add speedy breakfasts and lunches to your order, such as Lemon-Poppy Overnight Oats or Mango Poke Bowls.
Our reviewer loved Purple Carrot’s meals when they tested this service at home. Though I should add that they weren’t judging it on its merits as a low-sodium option. While Purple Carrot does offer prepared meals and a line of Less Prep options, these aren’t necessarily low in sodium. For anyone on a strict diet, meal kits are your best option.
You can also add extras to your box, including vegan cookies and brownie bites, bean burgers, and plant-based cheese. Just be sure to check the sodium levels on these before purchasing as they can be high.
Purple Carrot’s prices start at $8.50 per serving. You can sign up for 3 or 4 meals per week for either 2 or 4 people. When you sign up, you’ll be asked to choose between a meal kit or prepared meal plan, but you’ll have the option to mix and match when you edit your order.
Certified organic and gluten-free prepared meals
100+ dishes across 7 meal plans
Dietary options include keto, paleo, plant-based, and more
Fresh N Lean’s line-up of prepared meals are perfect for those with active lifestyles. With meal plans such as Keto, Paleo, and Protein+, high-quality meats are the main draw of this service. There’s even a Bulk menu where you can order organic steak, chicken, and other proteins a la carte.
The service has meat-free plans, too, including Standard Vegan and Low-Carb Vegan menus. Unfortunately, Fresh N Lean doesn’t let you mix and match between plans, though you will get to choose your own meals each week and you can eliminate up to 3 ingredients from a basic list on some programs.
There’s no low-sodium filter, but since all the meals are relatively low in salt, you can easily consume breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Fresh N Lean while hitting less than the RDA of 2,300mg of sodium per day.
Expect to find organic whole foods in every dish, with sustainably sourced seafood and meat that’s free of GMOs, antibiotics, and hormones. If you still feel the need to check sodium content for a specifically low-sodium diet, be sure to check the nutritional info on each dish before ordering.
Our reviewer enjoyed Fresh N Lean’s high-quality ingredients, but they didn’t like having to commit to a single diet. If you like the idea of having a few plant-based meals each week, for example, Green Chef is another organic service that lets you mix and match between its keto and vegan plans.
Overall, this service is great for athletes and those with specific health goals. Fresh N Lean’s strengths lie in its clean, high-quality ingredients, niche menus, and comprehensive meal plans.
Prices start at $7.53 per serving, depending on the plan and number of meals you choose. The cheapest plans are the plant-based options, so expect to pay more for those that feature animal proteins. You can order up to 3 meals per day, 5 or 7 days a week.
Bulk shipments for monthly plans
130+ meals and snacks to choose from
Dietary options include diabetes-friendly and senior-friendly
Nutrisystem is a unique service thanks to its emphasis on snacks, bars, and shakes. It does offer some more conventional frozen meals, but only on its more expensive subscription tiers. At the cheapest level, you’ll only receive shelf-stable meals and snacks.
This service emphasizes weight loss above all else, so I mainly recommend it to people who are looking to kick-start fat loss, as well as reduce sodium intake. Unlike Diet-to-Go, Nutrisystem does give you the option to filter your menu for low-sodium meals.
For me, Nutrisystem ranks lower than other services because of its quality. Despite the useful filters that help you find low-sodium options, the pre-packaged meals can be expensive, restrictive, and unsustainable in the long term.
Many “meals” are simply protein bars, while others are dehydrated soups, muffins, and shakes. Some, like the Classic Tuna Salad (pictured), are shelf-stable meals containing processed meat. The frozen meals are somewhat more appealing, with options like Cheesesteak Pizza and Chicken Pot Pie.
Nutrisystem’s largest plans are designed to replace almost all your food for a month. Most give you enough food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks 5 days a week. The most expensive plan, the Uniquely Yours Max+, is the only one that allows you the option of 7 days’ worth of meals.
This service makes it easy to exclude allergens and unwanted ingredients, like milk, nuts, or spicy food, though the service isn’t suitable for vegans. The helpful filters were something my colleague appreciated when they put Nutrisystem through its paces.
Nutrisystem prices start at $8.54 per day. Unlike most other meal delivery services, Nutrisystem ships monthly rather than weekly. You can get shelf-stable meals and snacks for 5 days a week on the Basic plan, while more expensive plans give you access to frozen dishes and enough food for every day of the week.
Top Plans | ||||||||||
Top Plans | ||||||||||
Our Rating | ||||||||||
Our Rating | 9.7 | 9.2 | 9.6 | 9.5 | 9.6 | 9.0 | 7.1 | 9.1 | 8.1 | 9.1 |
Starting Price | ||||||||||
Starting Price | $5.74 Per Serving | $8.24 Per Serving | $5.99 Per Serving | $3.32 Per Serving | $6.19 Per Serving | $4.60 Per Serving | $6.50 Per Serving | $8.50 Per Serving | $7.53 Per Serving | $8.54 Per Serving |
Minimum Order | ||||||||||
Minimum Order | 2 meals for 2 people | 10 prepared meals | 3 meals for 2 people | 2 meals for 2 people | 6 prepared meals | 10 prepared meals | 5 lunches | 3 meal kits for 2 people/6 prepared meals | 5 prepared meals | 6 meals for 4 days |
Meal Types | ||||||||||
Meal Types | 20 - 60 min. meal kits | Prepared meals | 30-minute meal kits | 20 - 30 min. meal kits | Prepared meals | Prepared meals | Prepared Meals, Juices & Smoothies | Meal kits, prepared meals | Prepared meals | Prepared meals, shelf-stable, and frozen food |
Prep Time | ||||||||||
Prep Time | 5-45 min | 2-3 min | 25-40 min | 15-40 min | 2-3 min | 2-3 min | 0-3 min | 3-40 min | 3 mins | 0-3 min |
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Active Deals |
Narrowing down the best meal delivery services can be challenging at the best of times, and it’s even harder if you’re trying to stick to a sodium-restricted diet. Here are some things to keep in mind:
What are your sodium limits? If your doctor has you on a strict, low-sodium diet, you may do better with a service like BistroMD that offers all 3 meals a day and which controls your complete salt intake. If you just want to cut back a bit, you may prefer a service offering some lower-sodium options.
Prepared meals or meal kits? If you enjoy cooking, meal kits – like those from Blue Apron – give you total control over what goes into each dish. If you’re short on time, prepared meals can be a quick way to ensure you stay within the recommended guidelines. Be sure to choose one of the prepared services from my list, like Factor, as many store-bought ready meals contain high levels of sodium.
Inspect the ingredients. Unless you go for a specific low-sodium plan, it’s worth delving into the details of each recipe – that relatively healthy entree on this week’s menu may be a stealth sodium bomb. Nutritional labels can alert you to excessive salt content, giving you the opportunity to opt for a lower-sodium alternative.
Don't hesitate to change things up. All the meal delivery services on my list have straightforward cancellation policies. Many individuals try several services before finding the one that suits their requirements.
Blue Apron came top of my list as the best low-sodium meal delivery service. Blue Apron offers many low-sodium entrees, and its recipe cards often provide instructions on how to reduce sodium levels when preparing its meal kits.
Green Chef’s meals are considerably lower in sodium than most meal delivery services, with an average sodium level of less than 675 mg per serving. The menu is also packed with vibrant, organic ingredients – great for anyone wanting to enjoy healthier meals at home.
BistroMD offers lower per-serving sodium levels than most services. The meals on its Heart Healthy plan have less than 600 mg of sodium and 3.5g of saturated fat per serving.
HelloFresh’s menu doesn’t let you filter for low-sodium recipes. However, it still made it into my top 10 as, since it’s a meal kit, you can control the sodium level by adding less salt to your dishes.
Factor is one of the all-around healthiest prepared meal delivery services out there. Its microwavable meals are suitable for many diets, including keto and plant-based meals. Factor also offers a free nutrition coaching session when you sign up to help you develop healthier eating habits.