10 Best Meal Delivery Services in Austin 2021: Eat Healthy!

When you’re living in one of America’s fastest-growing cities, it's common to have a full daily schedule. Between the hustle and bustle of work and enjoying that great Texas sunshine, there’s hardly enough time in the day to rack your brain over what healthy meal to cook up next.

Whether you don’t have time to grocery shop and cook throughout the week, or are looking for a better way to stick to a specific meal plan, meal delivery services can help make life easier. We’ve even done the heavy lifting for you. Our experts have tried out the options available in your area and have rounded up the 10 best meal delivery services in Austin.

Short on Time? Here Are the Best Meal Delivery Services in Austin for 2021

• Home Chef – Best Overall Meal Delivery Service in Austin

• Sunbasket – Best Organic Meals in Austin

• HelloFresh – Best No-Fuss Fresh Meals in Austin

• Comparison table
  

• FAQ

What’s the Difference Between Meal Delivery and Food Delivery?

The main difference between meal delivery and food delivery services is that meal delivery services provide you with a solution for meals every day or even several times a day. Those meals and ingredients are prepped in the vendor’s own kitchens. 

Home Chef and Sunbasket, for example, come with each meal’s ingredients separated out and clearly labeled before being shipped to your home.

Food delivery acts as a middleman that hooks you up with food from your favorite restaurant, nearby health food stores, or the liquor store down the street. Either way, you don’t have to run out and grab it yourself or wait on the delivery guy that has five more stops before yours, leaving your food stone cold by the time it gets to your door.

Postmates is commitment-free food delivery services that you pay for on a per meal basis. They pick up your food and head straight to your door, with no stops in between.

1. Home Chef – Best Overall Home Meal Delivery Service in Austin

Home Chef Best Features 

• Customizable – personalize each meal to your liking

• Simple recipes – some meals ready in 15 minutes

• Meals for all lifestyles – calorie-conscious, carb-conscious, and vegetarian

• Fool-proof packaging – ingredients organized by meal

Home Chef in a Nutshell 

Despite offering one of the most customizable meal plan services out there, Home Chef is easy to use, allowing you to stay well-organized as you plan out your week. It’s also an excellent choice for busy families, with options for up to eight servings per meal.

Learn more about its meal plan options in our Home Chef review.

Home Chef has one of the most expansive menu offerings we’ve seen in meal delivery services, with calorie-conscious, carb-conscious, and vegetarian choices each week. Customize your meals even further by swapping, upgrading, or doubling proteins in nearly any recipe you choose.

2. Sunbasket – Best Organic Meals in Austin

Sunbasket Best Features 

• Minimal food waste – all ingredients pre-portioned for recipes

• Unique ingredients and seasonings – explore worldwide cultures through cuisine

• Environmentally friendly packaging – 100% compostable and recyclable materials

• Healthy eating made easy – 30-minute recipes for healthy lifestyles

Sunbasket in a Nutshell 

Sunbasket has something to offer everyone with both meal kits and ready-made meal options. If you enjoy the process of preparing and cooking your meal, choose recipes ranging from 15 to 40 minutes of prep time with Sunbasket’s meal kits. Alternatively, if you’re short on time, its Fresh & Ready meals can be ready in six minutes via microwave or oven.

To find out more, check out our Sunbasket review.

Each week you have 10 different menu styles to choose from. You can pick a plan based on your dietary needs or mix and match to customize each week’s meals. In case you have any issues with your delivery, all orders have a 100% money-back guarantee.

3. HelloFresh – Best No-Fuss Fresh Meals in Austin

HelloFresh Best Features 

• Easy-to-prepare meals – recipe cards walk you through each dish

• Budget-friendly – costs as little as $7.49 per meal

• Quality ingredients – enjoy farm-fresh produce

• Commitment-free – cancel any time quickly and easily, without fees

HelloFresh in a Nutshell 

HelloFresh is another excellent option for the whole family, with up to 20 recipes to choose from each week. Enjoy a blend of familiar, family-friendly recipes alongside exciting, trendy recipes, all with clearly marked recipe cards that are easy to follow.

Customize your box every week and even filter recipes by prep and cook time if that’s a high priority for you in the kitchen. Follow meal plans such as Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Family Friendly, and Calorie Smart, or mix and match between them. My colleague describes how to do that in this expert HelloFresh review.

HelloFresh offers high-quality, fresh ingredients and prioritizes sustainably sourced proteins. Part of utilizing the freshest ingredients means you’ll find seasonal recipes, adding variety to your diet.

4. Blue Apron – Best Meal Plan for Beginners

Blue Apron Best Features 

• Learn how to cook – with how-to videos on the Blue Apron app

• Minimize food waste – includes perfectly portioned ingredients for your recipes 

• Pair your meals with wine – suggested wine pairings with each meal

• Eat quickly – most meals are ready to eat in 20-30 minutes

Blue Apron in a Nutshell 

Blue Apron is one of the original meal plan delivery services and has been around for nearly a decade, maintaining its position as one of the best options available. With cook times of 20-30 minutes, it’s perfect for busy Austinites who want to enjoy restaurant-quality meals from the comfort of home.

Develop your skills in the kitchen with the help of Blue Apron’s straightforward recipe cards. The app is particularly great for beginners, with demonstrations and how-to videos to fine-tune your culinary skills. If you’re interested in finding out more, check out our in-depth Blue Apron review.

You can also specify dietary restrictions or allergies with your orders without having to worry about limiting your recipe options each week. Our favorite part is pairing each meal with a suggested wine from home or taking advantage of Blue Apron’s wine delivery service.

5. Freshly – Best Nutritionist-Designed Premade Meals

Freshly Best Features 

• Wide variety of meal choices – up to 30 meals each week

• Fresh, never frozen – fully cooked meals are refrigerated

• Committed to customer feedback – responds to all surveys and addresses concerns

• Handy meal categories – high-protein, low-carb, and low-calorie options

Freshly in a Nutshell 

Freshly is a pre-made meal delivery service that’s an excellent option for singles, couples, or small families. Choose from up to 30 different meals each week and edit your preferences by ranking your feelings on common proteins and produce on a scale from “enjoy” to “avoid.”

Other filters include high-protein (with more than 25g of protein), low-carb (with less than 35g of carbs), low-sodium (with less than 600mg of salt), and low-calorie (under 500 calories).

Find out more details on how this service works in our Freshly review.

Freshly is always highly committed to customer feedback and sends a weekly survey to see how you felt about your choices from the week before. Every time you submit a survey, you’ll get a response.

6. Green Chef – Best Sustainably Sourced, Chef-Inspired Recipes

Green Chef Best Features 

• Match your lifestyle – keto, paleo, omnivore, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, and gluten-free meal plans

• Responsibly sourced ingredients – certified USDA organic and non-GMO

• Eco-friendly packaging – all ingredients packed in a way that avoids waste

• Generous portion sizes – averaging 700 calories per meal

Green Chef in a Nutshell 

Green Chef offers flexible menu options and allows you to choose the perfect plan and meal frequency for your busy lifestyle. You’ll find new recipes to choose from each week, offering the freshest, seasonal ingredients and proteins available.

Find out all there is to know in our Green Chef review.

The main focus of Green Chef is to provide high-quality, organic ingredients, which it works into different lifestyle diets, including keto, paleo, balanced, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, and gluten-free menus. Green Chef prioritizes its local relationships, sourcing ingredients that help support America’s farmers, while ensuring quality organic produce.

All meals are quick and easy, taking around 30 minutes to prepare and cook. Ingredients are measured and prepped for you and come packaged in an eco-friendly way that avoids excessive waste.

7. Snap Kitchen – Best Seasonal, Gluten-Free, Ready-to-Eat Meals

Snap Kitchen Best Features 

• Fresh ingredients – choose from a large selection of seasonal dishes

• Make it your own – ultimate customization with the Build Your Own plan

• High standards – no hormones, antibiotics, or artificial sweeteners

• Gluten-free – meals are entirely free from gluten

Snap Kitchen in a Nutshell 

Based in Texas, Snap Kitchen succeeds in providing healthy eating options if you don’t have the time to cook at home. It provides professionally cooked comfort foods that have been reimagined to make them more nutritious as well as to suit a range of dietary preferences.

Choose from one of the nine meal plans on offer, including Quick Start, Vegetarian, High Protein, Low Carb, Balance, Whole30, Paleo, and Keto-Friendly. You can also opt for the Build Your Own plan, which allows you to fully customize and adjust your meals as needed.

Snap Kitchen makes personalizing your meal delivery service easier than ever by providing you with a range of options at every stage. You can choose whether to subscribe, the frequency of your meal deliveries, desired daily caloric intake, and the number of meals per week.

8. Veestro – Best Prepared Organic & Vegan Meals

Veestro Best Features 

• 100% plant-based – all meals are vegan

• Diet-friendly – meals as low as 210 calories per serving

• Ready in five – heat and eat in just a few minutes

• Huge selection of meals – more than fifty options to choose from

Veestro in a Nutshell 

If you’re considering switching to a vegan diet, Veestro’s meal delivery service can be an effective way to help you stick with it. You can still enjoy your favorite recipes like baked mac & cheez or tortilla chili, while benefiting from a healthy plant-powered diet.

Find out more in our expert Veestro review.

Veestro chefs use nothing but the healthiest, freshest, and most delicious ingredients to prepare their vegan meals, including the best plant-based proteins. You can choose 10, 20, or 30 meals per week and decide if you want to add on breakfast or lunch. For the ultimate flexibility, look into its a la carte options.

9. Grubhub – Contact-Free Food Delivery in Austin

Grubhub Best Features 

• Well-established company – 15 years in the industry

• Monthly membership offer – avoid delivery fees by signing up for membership

• Frequent deals – promotions like $10 off your $30 order

• Free two-week trial – try out Grubhub+ for free

Grubhub in a Nutshell 

Grubhub lets you order from your favorite participating restaurants from the convenience of your phone. Serving over 300,000 restaurants in more than 3,200 cities across the United States, including Austin, it’s safe to say you can find endless possibilities close to home. Check out its website or user-friendly app to see which restaurants in Austin currently take advantage of Grubhub’s services.

Known for offering frequent deals, Grubhub has a standard delivery fee, typically under $7, or opt-out of delivery fees altogether with a monthly subscription to Grubhub+ for $9.99 per month. You can try Grubhub+ for free with a two-week trial.

Grubhub delivery is based on the restaurant network it serves in your area. For Austin, you can easily find food delivery 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

10. Postmates – For Any Food Delivery in Austin

Postmates Best Features 

• Anything from anywhere – get a Kale to the Chief from Juice Austin in 20 minutes

• User-friendly interfacing – choose from delivery, pickup, or party

• Reliable service – with 10 years in business and thousands of customers, you can count on it

• Free seven-day trial – try out Postmates Unlimited for free

Postmates in a Nutshell 

Postmates is another well-established delivery service that’s best known for food delivery. It claims to deliver “anything from anywhere” and currently serves 4,200 cities across the United States, featuring more than 600,000 businesses.

Delivery fees on Postmates fluctuate depending on the time of day but range anywhere from $1 to $10. You can avoid delivery fees on orders over $12 by signing up for Postmates Unlimited for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. If you prefer to try something out before committing, no problem. Use Postmates Unlimited for free during a seven-day trial period.

You can access Postmates through its website or via its user-friendly mobile app. Choose from delivery, pickup, or party, which is a feature that offers free delivery from trending restaurants.

For Postmates deliveries in Austin, you can easily find food delivery 24/7.

Best Meal Delivery Services for Austin: Comparison Table

Bottom Line: Are Meal Delivery Services in Austin Worth It?

In addition to saving time and money, meal delivery services can help you stick with a specific diet plan and manage your dietary requirements. Prepared meals offer the ultimate in convenience, while meal kits can save the hassle of sourcing ingredients and meal planning – and still help build your confidence in the kitchen.

FAQ

What is the best prepared meal delivery service in Austin? 

Home Chef is our top pick as the best meal delivery service in Austin, offering both prepared meals and meal kits. It’s an incredibly easy process, allowing you to plan your meals and order them in a few clicks. 

Offering the most expansive menu choices each week, Home Chef allows ultimate customization by allowing you to swap, upgrade, or double your proteins in every recipe.

What is the best meal delivery service for weight loss in Austin? 

Home Chef and Sunbasket offer the best weight loss options. Home Chef has meal kits and prepared meals that include calorie and carb-conscious options, with meals under 600 calories. Like Home Chef, Sunbasket offers both meal kits and prepared meals that are great for weight loss, including Lean & Clean and carb-conscious plans and a menu filter for identifying meals under 600 calories.

What is the cheapest prepared meal delivery service in Austin?

Home Chef offers the cheapest prepared meals in Austin. With dishes starting at $6.99, it’s hard to beat. Runner up, Freshly, is another excellent option for a prepared meal delivery service, with meals as low as $8.49 per serving.

What is the healthiest food delivery service in Austin?

In terms of food delivery, both Grubhub and Postmates are great options for providing healthy food choices on demand. Grubhub works with local healthy restaurants in Austin to deliver their meals directly to your door. Postmates works with all businesses, grocery and health food stores included.