10 Best Meal Delivery Services in San Diego 2023: Updated

San Diego is a great place to live, but between working, commuting, and enjoying San Diego’s many activities and social events, finding time to plan, prepare, and cook healthy meals can be challenging. If only there were a faster and easier way to put dinner on the table…

I’m a meal delivery service specialist with years of experience in the field. I’ve gathered information, scanned menus, studied delivery options, and consulted my colleagues to bring you an authoritative list of the 10 best meal delivery services in San Diego.

While Home Chef wins my top spot for its flexibility and wide range of options, every meal delivery service on this list has something to offer. San Diego is a diverse city, and so I’ve included meals that suit every palate and specialized dietary need.

Curious? Read on and learn how you can save time and eat better.

The Best Meal Delivery Services in San Diego Reviewed

1. Home Chef – Best All-Around Meal Kit Service in San Diego

Key Features

• Customize-It feature lets you swap or double up on proteins

• Over 25 meals and 18 extras to choose from each week

• Dietary options include carb- and calorie-conscious

• Current deal: 75% Off Your 1st Box + 60% Off Your 2nd and 3rd Boxes!

One of the best things about Home Chef has to be how flexible it is. You can double up or swap proteins on many meals with Home Chef’s Customize-It feature. For example, the Honey Bacon-Crusted Chicken pictured above can be ordered with New York Strip Steak, Sirloin Steaks, or Salmon Fillets.

Home Chef’s 15-Minute, Easy Prep, and Oven Ready meals are great for busy nights, while the Culinary Collection offers sophisticated recipes like Crusted Ahi Tuna and Lemon Pepper Aioli. After cooking several Home Chef meals at home, our reviewer declared it “one of the most versatile meal delivery services out there.”

While Home Chef has a lot for couples and families looking for healthy and tasty meals, it’s not well suited for vegans or those on other specialized diets. But if you’re an omnivore looking to add variety to your diet, you’ll never get bored with Home Chef’s many options.

2. Blue Apron – Best Gourmet Meal Kits in San Diego

Key Features

• Fun add-ons include wine pairings, kitchen tools, and pantry items

• 19+ recipes to choose from each week plus Add-Ons and Market items

• Dietary options include WW-approved, diabetes-friendly, and vegetarian

• Current deal: Enjoy $130 off across your first 6 orders

With a great balance of comfort food dishes and healthy recipes – many of which are inspired by cuisines around the world – Blue Apron is great for those who want to keep things interesting.

Blue Apron’s meal kits are packed with fresh, colorful ingredients. But there are also a few prepared meals on the menu for those busy nights. Our reviewer said that Blue Apron is  “great for families and anyone looking to put weeknight meals on autopilot.”.

Blue Apron offers a two-person and four-person Signature Plan along with a Vegetarian menu and a Wellness Plan featuring Mediterranean-inspired meals like the Provençal-Style Baked Tilapia pictured above.

Diabetes-friendly entrees are good for people watching their blood sugar, while Blue Apron WW entrees let you track SmartPoints on your WW Plan. You can purchase kitchen tools and pantry items while choosing your weekly menu. And Blue Apron even offers wine delivery!

3. Green Chef – Best For Organic Ingredients

Key Features

• The first USDA-certified organic meal delivery service

• 30 recipes available each week

• Dietary options include keto, paleo, and plant-based

• Current deal: Get $250 Off + Free Shipping

Green Chef was the very first meal kit delivery service to be certified organic. Thanks to its healthy recipes and clean ingredients, it's a top choice for vegans, vegetarians, and keto and paleo dieters.

Our expert reviewer, who tried Green Chef for themselves at home, was particularly impressed by the service’s keto offerings, declaring it “one of the best Keto + Paleo menus in the game”. Meanwhile, Green Chef’s plant-forward menu is great for both vegetarians and vegans. But whatever meal plan you choose, you can order any entree on the menu.

Green Chef’s prepared ingredients – including ready-to-use sauces and seasonings  – make cooking healthy, sophisticated meals easier than you might expect. For example, you can prepare the Pineapple Teriyaki Meatloaves pictured above in just 30 minutes.

4. HelloFresh – Best Family-Friendly Meal Kits

Key Features

• Quick and easy meals available, including one-pot, and more

• 50+ recipes each week

• Dietary options include vegetarian, pescatarian, and low-calorie

• Current deal: Get 25 free meals + free shipping + 3 surprise gifts

HelloFresh offers six plans, including Family Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, and Quick & Easy one-pot wonders and traybake meals. Each week, you  choose between two and six recipes from its menu of more than 35 meals, with plenty of options for vegetarians, pescatarians, and calorie-counters.

HelloFresh does have some brilliant menu filters such as Easy Prep and Easy Cleanup, which make sure you only get the meals that suit your lifestyle. HelloFresh also offers generous portion sizes, even in the case of meat, fish, and plant protein. My colleague praised HelloFresh’s “balanced yet crowd-pleasing comfort food dishes.”.

HelloFresh’s latest feature, HelloCustom, lets you swap proteins on some entrees. And HelloFresh’s new HelloFresh Market offers grocery items like fresh proteins, spices, produce, and desserts. If you’re brand-new to meal delivery services, HelloFresh is a great place to start.

5. Marley Spoon – Best Martha Stewart-Approved Meal Kits

Key Features

• Easy-to-follow recipes and quality ingredients

• 45+ dishes on the menu, plus seasonal extras

• Dietary options include vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and more

• Current deal: Get $190 off Your First 4 Boxes!

Marley Spoon may be a big name thanks to its partnership with Martha Stewart, but believe the hype, people – the home-style meal kits are balanced, varied, and packed with high-quality ingredients. While you might expect to pay extra, Marley Spoon is reasonably priced with meals starting at $2.99 per serving.

Some Marley Spoon meal kits require pantry items like sherry vinegar and utensils like microplane graters, so check your recipes first. But after trying Marley Spoon at home, our reviewer said “the step-by-step methods made it easy to create Martha Stewart-level dishes in my own kitchen.”.

Each week you’ll find plenty of options for vegetarians and vegans, as well as meals that are dairy-free, gluten-free, lower-calorie, kid-friendly, and more. There’s also a category for dishes that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes – because dinner waits for no hungry child!

6. Purple Carrot – Best Plant-Based Meals in San Diego

Key Features

• Strong focus on making veggies exciting

• 20 entrees each week, plus breakfast and lunch items

• Dietary options include soy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, and more

• Current deal: Get $30 Off with code carrot30

For a high-quality meal delivery experience, Purple Carrot is up there with some of the best. Even better, it focuses solely on plant-based meals, with an ever-changing selection of vegan meal kits, prepared meals, and even breakfast, lunch, and pantry items.

Even if you’re not vegan, you may want to get more veggies in your diet. Our reviewer tried Purple Carrot at home and declared it “guaranteed to please even the fussiest of omnivores.”.

Purple Carrot’s inspired dishes make the veggies the star of the show with a focus on healthy plant-based proteins, such as beans and organic tofu, as opposed to the processed meat substitutes that some services offer as vegan alternatives.

7. Factor – Best Prepared Keto Meals

Key Features

• High-quality ingredients in every dish

• 30+ prepared meals each week

• Dietary options include keto, low-calorie, plant-based, and more

• Current deal: Up to $276 Off!

If you want to eat better but are short on time, Factor’s prepared meals aren’t just healthy, they’re delicious too! Factor is on the pricier end of the prepared meal scale, but you get antibiotic and hormone-free proteins and meals prepared by chefs and designed by dietitians.

Our expert reviewer declared that if you’re looking for prepared meals,”Factor is up there with some of the best.” And every subscription includes a free 20-minute consultation with an in-house dietitian who can help you achieve your fitness goals.

Choose from a wide selection of keto, low-carb, vegetarian, vegan, and dairy-free meals on the Factor menu. Keto choices include tasty entrees like the Creamed Corn Chicken pictured above, and you can also order add-ons like protein packs, smoothies, soups, and wellness shots.

8. EveryPlate – San Diego’s Cheapest Meal Delivery Service

Key Features

• From $1.49 per serving

• 25 meals per week, plus extras like desserts and salads

• Dietary options include VeggiePlate, Family Friendly and Quick & Easy

• Current deal: $1.39/meal On Your 1st Box

San Diego is an expensive place to live, and that includes the cost of groceries. At $1.49 per serving, EveryPlate is the cheapest meal delivery service on our list. So how do they keep their prices so low?

EveryPlate meals tend toward tasty, filling comfort food like Crispy Caesar Chicken with Roasted Carrots and Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Our EveryPlate reviewer found that “people without dietary restrictions will find a lot to love on EveryPlate’s menu.”

EveryPlate offers four plans: Meat & Veggie (meat, seafood, and veggie options); Veggie (plant-forward meals); Family-Friendly (kid-approved dinners); and Quick & Easy, for no-fuss meals that take 30 minutes or less.

EveryPlate won’t be a good fit if you have specialized dietary needs or allergies. But if you’re looking for hearty home-cooked meals at a great price, EveryPlate may be perfect for you.

9. Fresh N Lean – Best for Prepared, Fitness-Focused Food

Key Features

• Locally grown, non-GMO, gluten-free, and certified organic ingredients

• 13-16 prepared meals each week

• Dietary options include keto, paleo, vegan, and more

• Current deal: 25% Off + Free Shipping With Money Back Guarantee

Fresh N Lean is perfect for anyone who doesn’t have time to cook but still wants healthy, organic, low-calorie, certified gluten-free meals. Our reviewer recommended Fresh N Lean for those on specialized diets, saying it was one of my favorite services in its particular niche.”

With an emphasis on athletes and active lifestyles, Fresh N Lean gives you a massive selection of healthy prepared meals. Its plans include Protein+, Keto, Paleo, and Whole30. There are also standard and low-carb Vegan plans and a Bulk menu that lets you stock up on pre-cooked meat.

Unless you're ordering from the a la carte menu, your meals will be decided for you. Fresh N Lean does a great job choosing these, with crowd-pleasing breakfast, lunch, and dinner options.

10. Grubhub – Best For Restaurant Food Delivery in San Diego

Key Features

• Enjoy frequent promotions

• Monthly membership option for anyone looking to avoid delivery fees

• Try out Grubhub+ commitment-free for two weeks

Differing from the others on our list, Grubhub is a food delivery service. It’s also one of America’s better-established food delivery services. Through Grubhub you can order meals from your favorite participating local restaurants with the convenience of never having to step foot outside your door.

A great benefit of Grubhub is that it regularly offers promotions. The standard delivery fees are typically under $7, or you can get free delivery with a monthly subscription to Grubhub+ for $9.99 per month.

Grubhub currently serves more than 300,000 restaurants in more than 3,200 cities across the United States, including San Diego. Check out its website or user-friendly app to see what local restaurants are currently available.

Quick Comparison Table

Tips for Choosing the Best Meal Delivery Service in San Diego 

From healthy frozen meals to recipe card subscription services, it can be hard to know which meal delivery service might suit your lifestyle the best. Here’s everything you need to consider:  

• Meal type: If lunchtimes and weeknights are often hectic for you, perhaps prepared meals would be best. If you love cooking and want to add to your repertoire then meal kits could be fun. Even better, choose a service that offers both so you can switch it up.

• Your dietary needs: If you have allergies or restrictions, it’s vital to find a service that can cater to your needs, whether that’s vegan, veggie, low-sodium, soy-free, or others.

• Menu variety: Eating the same meals week after week can get repetitive, so choose a service that offers plenty of variety and cuisine types. Also, look out for services that offer seasonal items or weekly offers.

• Portion sizes: Check out the plans and make sure they work for you. For example, Home Chef allows you to order for up to six people, while most prepared meals are single-serving portions only.

Bottom Line: Are Meal Delivery Services Worth It?

Meal delivery services are absolutely worth it. Whether you don't know what to cook, how to cook, or simply don't have time, meal delivery services can make your life easier and your suppers more interesting.

Home Chef’s flexibility and variety make it a great choice for most San Diego residents.. But the services on our list have something to offer just about any dietary need or preference. Whatever you’re looking for in a meal delivery service, you’ll find it here.

Every week, meal delivery services send you nutritious meal kits or prepared meals, which means that you and your family eat more healthy, tasty dinners and less junk food. Eating better has never been easier, so what are you waiting for?

FAQ

What is the best meal delivery service in San Diego?

I gave Home Chef the award for San Diego’s best meal delivery service. Home Chef’s wide menu variety, customization features, and selection of low-prep meal kits for busy nights make it the best choice for most couples and families.

What is the most affordable meal delivery service in San Diego?

EveryPlate is the most affordable meal delivery service in San Diego. With prices starting at just $1.49 per serving, EveryPlate sends you tasty and filling meals without breaking your budget.

Which meal delivery service is best for vegetarians in San Diego?

Purple Carrot’s 100% vegan menu makes it a great choice for San Diego vegetarians. While most meal delivery services offer a few vegetarian entrees, with Purple Carrot you get delicious plant-forward meal kits and prepared meals that offer exciting new ways to eat your veggies.