Did you know, the average American consumes around 3,400mg of sodium daily, even though the USDA recommends a maximum of 2,300mg? The CDC links sodium intake to elevated blood pressure, but notes that BP levels begin to drop within just a few weeks of reduced salt levels.
Whether you’re on a doctor-prescribed diet or simply trying to reduce your salt intake, several meal delivery services offer low-sodium menus but it can be overwhelming to sift through them all, so I’ve done the work for you.
I’ve studied menus, scanned ingredients, consulted colleagues, and drawn on personal experience to help you lose the salt without losing the flavor.
And while I gave BistroMD the top spot, every service on this list will make mealtimes easy and keep you healthy. Cutting back on sodium has never been easier – or tastier!
Blue Apron – Super-satisfying, sodium-balanced meal kits
Sunbasket – Best for organic, sustainably sourced ingredients
HelloFresh – Lower sodium meal kits for the whole family
BistroMD – Best doctor-designed, low-sodium meals
Splendid Spoon – Great plant-based meals & smoothies
Wellness plan offers heart-healthy choices
More than 16 recipes to choose from each week
Vegetarian and WW-Approved options
Current deal: $110 off across your first 5 boxes!
Many of Blue Apron’s recipes come with suggestions on how to prepare your meals with lower sodium. The Tilapia & Orange-Jalapeño Salsa recipe, for example, explains how you can reduce levels from 1,150mg to 480mg per serving.
And of course, you can also just reduce the amount of salt you add when cooking, which is what makes meal kits such a great option.
Prepared meals are often notoriously salt-heavy, but Blue Apron’s line of ready meals includes some tasty lower-sodium choices – the Cheesy Grilled Chicken & Pasta is a filling choice for busy nights that comes in at only 650mg sodium per serving.
Each recipe comes with clear nutritional information, so you can make the best choice for you. Blue Apron is also one of the cheaper options on the market, as our reviewer noted.
With the addition of WW-approved and diabetes-friendly meals, Blue Apron is a popular choice for dieters, and great for those who want to cut back on their salt intake.
Choose from meal kits as well as its Fresh & Ready dishes
35 or more options each week
Plans include Pescatarian, Mediterranean, Diabetes-Friendly, and more
Current deal: $90 off Plus a Free Gift!
Sunbasket caters to a wide variety of dietary needs, including paleo, vegan, and gluten-free. And, rather unsurprisingly, thanks to its high-quality ingredients and healthy recipes, Sunbasket’s meals are lower in sodium compared to other meal delivery services.
Meals from Sunbasket’s Lean & Clean plan, for example, will never exceed 800mg of sodium per serving, and the Heart-Check certified recipes contain less than 600mg.
Most Sunbasket entrees come in at between 500 and 800 calories, so the company is also an excellent choice for anyone wanting to lose weight or maintain a healthy diet. Find out more in our Sunbasket review.
The other options on the menu, including breakfasts and protein packs, feature low-sodium options. (Sorry, the ham isn’t among them!) And since Sunbasket offers both meal kits and prepared meals, even those with limited time can enjoy tasty low-sodium meals.
Easy-to-follow, family-friendly recipes
Around 35 new dishes every week
Plans include Veggie, Family Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, and more
Current deal: 16 Free Meals + 3 Gifts + Free Shipping
As one of the country’s most popular meal delivery services, HelloFresh has the art of meal kits down to a science.
Its menu offers a number of crowd-pleasing, family favorites alongside more adventurous recipes, and our reviewer even described the HelloFresh customer service as “hands-down outstanding.”
HelloFresh’s meal kits come with almost everything you need, but the company expects you to provide the salt. So without added salt, or by limiting the amount you add, most HelloFresh recipes come in at very reasonable sodium levels.
If you’ve never tried meal delivery services, HelloFresh is a superb introduction. Its easy-to-follow recipes and wide variety means you’re sure to find salt-sensible meals you like without getting bored.
Dedicated Heart Healthy plan limits sodium and saturated fat
More than 150 breakfast, lunch, and dinner options every week
Choose from Women’s, Men’s, Gluten-Free programs, and more
Current deal: Get 25% Off + Free Shipping
BistroMD’s model is centered around menus that have been designed by doctors and prepared by chefs. The result is prepared meals that encourage healthy weight loss, while also being quite tasty.
My colleague wrote more about how BistroMD works in this review.
All of BistroMD’s plans are balanced and nourishing, but if you’re in search of a specifically low-sodium diet, the Heart Healthy plan is your best option – all the meals are guaranteed to contain less than 600mg of sodium and 3.5g of saturated fat per serving.
The diverse menu makes it easy to stick to your diet, too. Enjoy up to three meals per day, including dishes such as Steak & Egg Scramble, Jamaican Style Black Pepper Shrimp, and Chicken Mole. All you have to do is reheat and enjoy.
Naturally heart-healthy plant-based meals
More than 60 smoothies and bowls to choose from
Includes high-protein, low-calorie, low-sugar, and low-sodium options
Current deal: Get $25 Off + Free Shipping
Splendid Spoon is a plant-based meal delivery service known for its tasty, low-sugar breakfast smoothies, including the ever-popular Green Matcha Smoothie, which contains a mere 32.5mg of sodium.
The company also has a number of plant-based, low-sodium dishes that are perfect for lunch or dinner. The Vegetable Bolognese Bowl, for example, comes in at just 230mg of sodium per serving. In fact, Splendid Spoon has the lowest average sodium levels of any company on this list.
Everything is flash-frozen to preserve nutrients, shipped frozen, and best consumed within one to two weeks of refrigeration. You can find out more in this dedicated review.
Splendid Spoon works with dietitians and argues that magnesium and potassium deficiencies cause many ailments commonly blamed on high sodium levels. That’s why its products are packed with magnesium- and potassium-rich foods, such as spinach and sweet potatoes.
Tasty, healthy meals and sustainable ethos
Between nine and 12 recipes to choose from per week
Plans include Keto + Paleo, Plant-Powered, and more
Current deal: Get $130 Off + Free Shipping
If eating organic is important to you, Green Chef is the first USDA-certified organic meal delivery service. And if you’re looking for heart-healthy meals, it’s great for that too – a study found that Green Chef’s meals have an average sodium level of less than 675mg per serving.
Green Chef only offers meal kits, but you’ll find that all the ingredients arrive measured, prepped, and even chopped for you, ensuring you have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.
In fact, our reviewer said Green Chef offered some of the “healthiest and easiest kits to cook.”
There’s no easy way to filter the recipes by sodium level – you just have to check the ingredients list yourself to make sure you’re not going over your recommended intake. That said, with fewer but high-quality meals on the menu each week, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Certainly if you’re looking to eat better in general, Green Chef could be the perfect option for you.
Follows the FDA’s voluntary sodium reduction guidelines
More than 55 dishes on the menu
Categories include Purely Plant, FreshlyFit, and Signature Collection
Current deal: Save $125, Promo Code: SAVE125AFF
Over the next several years, the FDA wants to see America’s average sodium consumption drop from 3,400mg a day to 3,000mg – Freshly is one company following those recommended guidelines.
While Freshly doesn’t have a dedicated low-sodium plan, its meals range between 550mg and 900mg of sodium per serving, and all the nutritional info is clearly stated on the packaging. When they tried it for themselves, our reviewer said that Freshly offered “a good balance between health and convenience.”
Most of the meals are gluten-free, and all are prepared without artificial preservatives or sweeteners – a rare find when it comes to ready meals.
Easy-to-stick-to diet meals
Enjoy up to three meals per day, five or seven days per week
Plans include Balance, Balance-Diabetes, Keto-Carb30, and Vegetarian
Current deal: Save 50% Off
Diet-to-Go has established itself as one of the leading choices for anyone in search of healthy, prepared meals aimed at weight loss. Its plans include Balance, Balance-Diabetes, Keto-Carb30, and Vegetarian, all of which feature balanced sodium levels.
You can learn more about how Diet-to-Go works, and its individual plans, in our expert review.
You can feel free to choose from any of the menus and customize a five- or seven-day plan that suits your needs, since all of them clock in below the USDA’s recommended levels.
In particular, the Balance and Vegetarian plans average less than 2,000mg of sodium per day, making them ideal for a sodium-restricted diet.
Fresh food for paleo dieters and fitness-minded folk
35 options on the menu per week
Order gluten-free, low-carb, Whole30 meals, and more
Current deal: Save $60 with code HABIT60
I must offer a disclaimer here: I reviewed Snap Kitchen and had a great experience. If you want quick, prepared meals that taste great as well as being nutrient-packed, you really need to try this company.
Many prepared meals go heavy on the salt, but Snap Kitchen’s secret weapon is clean proteins, fresh vegetables, and perfectly balanced flavors. The Almond-Crusted Salmon not only tastes divine, but has just 510mg of sodium per serving.
Unlike most meal delivery services, Snap Kitchen allows you to filter by sodium content. All the dishes are free of gluten, soy, artificial preservatives, and refined sugars. And while they looked like small portions at first glance, I found they kept me full for hours.
Shop a la carte or sign up to the dedicated Weight Loss plan
More than 50 prepared meals on the menu
Kosher, high-protein, low-calorie options, and more
Current deal: Save 35% Off! Code: EAT35
Veestro is great for anyone wanting to eat more plant-based foods – and it really couldn’t be easier, since all the meals are prepared and flash frozen.
Many of the dishes are naturally low in sodium, but the nutritional information on the website makes it easy to curate a menu to your desired levels. The Crab Cakes, for example, are made with garbanzo beans and brown rice, and have just 250mg of sodium per serving.
Finding low-sodium kosher food can also sometimes be challenging, but Veestro’s kosher meals are well balanced, as is the company’s dedicated Weight Loss plan. You can find out more about that in our full-length review.
You don’t have to give up animal products forever when you sign up to Veestro, but the meals can be an easy way to simultaneously cut down on salt while cramming in more veggies.
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Our Rating | ||||||||||
Our Rating | 9.8 | 9.5 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 9.1 | 8.9 | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8 |
Starting Price | ||||||||||
Starting Price | $3.24 Per Serving | $5.99 Per Serving | $3.79 Per Serving | $7.50 Per Serving | $9.00 Per Serving | $6.00 Per Serving | $7.74 Per Serving | $8.23 Per Serving | $9.25 Per Serving | $7.16 Per Serving |
Minimum Order | ||||||||||
Minimum Order | 2 meals for 2 people | 2 meal kits for 2 people/4 prepared meals | 2 meals for 2 people | 10 prepared meals | 5 lunches | 3 meals for 2 people | 4 prepared meals | 10 prepared meals | 6 prepared meals | 10 prepared meals |
Meal Types | ||||||||||
Meal Types | 20 - 60 min. meal kits | Fresh & Ready meals, 30-Min Meal Kits | 20 - 30 min. meal kits | Prepared meals | Prepared Meals, Juices & Smoothies | 30-minute meal kits | Prepared meals | Prepared meals | Prepared meals | Prepared meals |
Prep Time | ||||||||||
Prep Time | 5-45 min | 3-40 min | 15-40 min | 2-3 min | 0-3 min | 25-40 min | 3 mins | 2-3 min | 1-2 min | 2-5 min |
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It can be difficult to narrow down the best meal delivery services at the best of times, let alone 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 that offers all three 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 can help you make lower-sodium suppers. If you’re short on time, prepared meals can be a quick way to ensure you stay within the recommended guidelines. Not sure? Several services offer both!
Check the ingredients. That relatively healthy entree on this week’s menu may be a stealth sodium bomb. The nutritional labels can warn you of high salt content and give you a chance to select a lower-sodium alternative.
Don’t be afraid to switch it up. All the meal delivery services on our list have easy cancellation policies. Many people try several services before finding the one that meets their needs.
Avoiding excess salt can be hard, but meal delivery services can make it a lot easier when you don’t have time to plan.
They allow you to replace processed ready meals that you might pick up in a grocery store with fresh, tasty ingredients that you can cook yourself or dietitian-approved prepared meals you can just reheat to enjoy.
If your doctor or dietitian has prescribed a low-sodium diet, many meal delivery services offer complete plans to help take all the guesswork out of your sodium intake.
Thanks to its plant-based meals and smoothies, Splendid Spoon offers incredibly low sodium levels of around 300mg per serving. Meanwhile, BistroMD offers comprehensive menus with sodium levels never exceeding 600mg per serving.
HelloFresh provides meal kits which allow you to prepare and cook the dishes yourself. As a result, the sodium content varies depending on how much salt you add during cooking. You can skip or reduce added salt to lower sodium levels.
Freshly offers prepared, single-serving meals for a variety of dietary needs. While Freshly doesn’t offer a specific low-sodium plan, its meals fall well within the FDA’s guidelines for voluntary sodium reduction in prepared meals.
Store-bought frozen dinners, fast food, and other processed meals can be incredibly high in sodium. Cooking meals with fresh ingredients without adding salt is a good way to limit your sodium intake. If you’re short on time or resources, companies like Diet-to-Go, and BistroMD provide ready-to-heat, low-sodium dishes.