Planning out meals daily and spending excessive time and money grocery shopping can be tiring. And if you decide to go the meal delivery route, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with all the choices out there.
Don’t fret! With the help of our expert team of foodies, I’ve come up with the 9 best options, keeping into consideration price, diet type, variety, prep time, and more.
My favorite service among all was Home Chef. It's affordable, and has the best customization options compared to all other meal delivery services on this list.
Read on for more information about this and nine other meal delivery services.
Home Chef – Best meal delivery service in Stockton
Blue Apron – Best gourmet meal delivery service in Stockton
Green Chef – Best for organic ingredients
HelloFresh – Best for families and kids
Purple Carrot – Best vegan meal delivery service in Stockton
Customize your meal with your choice of protein
25+ unique recipes every week
Dietary options including low calorie and low carb options
Current deal: Get 18 Free Meals (50% off your first 4 boxes)!
Home Chef is different from the other meal delivery services on this list because it allows you to customize the proteins on most meals in its menu.
For example, you can choose from ground pork, ground beef, ground turkey, and Impossible Burger when ordering the Feta Burger with Creamy Spinach and Artichokes. You can learn more about the menu from our in-depth Home Chef review.
Its menu changes every week, so you'll never get bored. You can also choose from carb and calorie-conscious meals, in case you go overboard with your excitement to try out new food and you want to keep your weight in check.
Another feature that I like about Home Chef is that different meals vary in prep time – some meals take 30-50 minutes, whereas others can take 10-20 minutes. There’s also a category called Easy Prep, where the meals are easier to prepare, which is ideal for those new to cooking and who have a busy lifestyle.
International cuisines including Asian, Italian, and Middle Eastern
19+ unique recipes every week
Dietary options include vegetarian, diabetes-friendly, and low-calorie
Current deal: Enjoy $180 off across your first 6 orders
Blue Apron has an excellent gourmet menu, and its selection of exotic dishes (like the Yuzu-Orange Glazed Trout and Miso-Glazed Pork Belly) are made with high-quality ingredients.
You can also pair your meals with wine with its monthly wine subscription option, adding to the overall dining experience.
The best part about Blue Arpon is that even though the dishes are gourmet, the recipes aren’t difficult to prepare. Each recipe has incredibly detailed step-by-step instructions and videos that can be accessed from its app. You can check out my colleague’s review to know more about what she thought about the service.
Similar to Home Chef, you have meals that take 30+ minutes to prepare and meals that can be heated in a microwave or oven within a couple of minutes. But unlike Home Chef, Blue Apron’s meals come on the slightly pricier side – which is justifiable given the quantity and quality of meals.
Eco-friendly packaging that helps avoid waste
30 unique recipes per week
Dietary options include keto, paleo, and vegan
Current deal: Get $250 off + free shipping
If you've been looking for a meal delivery service that only uses organic ingredients, I’d highly recommend Green Chef. It’s also one of the few USDA-certified meal delivery services in the USA.
Ingredients like veggies often come sliced and prepared, making the cooking process much easier. Most meals can be prepared in 25-40 minutes. You can find out more about the service by checking out our Green Chef review.
If you subscribe to a keto or paleo diet, you’ll be glad to know that Green chef has meals from both diets on its menu. To make things better, some meals are certified gluten-free.
You might also like that Green Chef’s meals are wrapped in environmentally friendly packaging, with most ingredients wrapped in paper rather than plastic.
Ingredients come fresh from the farm
30+ unique recipes per week
Dietary options include calorie smart, pescatarian, and vegetarian
Current deal: 18 free meals + first box ships free + 3 surprise gifts with code DR18HF
HelloFresh is ideal for families, with its family-friendly meals and generous portions. You can order up to six meals for four people each week and choose from over 30 recipes (that refresh weekly).
Depending on your dietary preference, there are six plans to pick from: Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Family-Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, Quick and Easy, and Pescatarian. Read more about these in our Hello Fresh review.
It also has Premium gourmet meals like Dijon Onion Crunch Salmon, Beef Au Poivre and Cheesy Potato Gratin, and Marinated Shrimp and Couscous. These can be easily prepared as the recipes are straightforward and easy to follow.
100% vegan meal kits
20 choices across meal kits and prepared meals per week
Dietary options include gluten-free, and soy-free
Current Deal: Get $30 off with code carrot30
Purple Carrot is an exclusively vegan meal delivery service.
I like the fact that it doesn’t use processed meat substitutes – only plant-based proteins. And the best part is all the meals are unique and tasty (which is great, as vegan diets can often get boring quickly).
To learn more about how the service is fantastic for vegans, check out my colleague’s experience with the service in his in-depth review.
Some of my favorite dishes on the menu included the Falafel Bowl, the Charred Broccoli Tacos, and the Thai Tempeh Khao Soi (see what I mean by variety here?).
Many of the meal kits are also high in protein, having 20+ grams of protein in each serving. These are identifiable via the High-Protein tag under the meal image on the main menu. There are also tags for nut-free, soy-free, quick and easy, Chef’s Choice, and < 600 calories.
One of the most environmentally friendly meal delivery services
45+ weekly dishes to choose from weekly
Dietary options include gluten-free, vegan, and spicy
Current deal: Get $250 off your first 8 boxes!
Marley Spoon has meals specially designed and approved by celebrity chef Martha Stewart. So expect delicious and high-quality gourmet meals when ordering from this service!
The recipes are ideal for families, and you get to choose from over 45 of them weekly. And given that you can order up to six meals for two or four people (12 or 24 portions per week, respectively), you can have your dinner plans sorted for most of the week. Learn more about the different plans from our Marley Spoon review.
Dishes can range from standard American ones like Meatloaf and Gravy or Black Bean Cheeseburger with Bacon to more exotic ones like Chicken Tikka Masala and Italian Wedding soup. So be prepared to have your taste buds delighted!
Customizable proteins and add-ons such as bread and desserts
20+ weekly recipes to choose from
Dietary options include Carb-conscious and Calorie-conscious
Current deal: Get 18 Free Meals (50% off your first 4 boxes)!
Fresh and Easy is owned by Home Chef, which means that you also get all the protein-customization perks from the latter! But the key area that differentiates the two is in terms of ease of preparation.
All of Fresh and Easy’s meals take less than 15 minutes to prepare. The ingredients are pre-prepped and ready to assemble. This means no washing, peeling, or slicing. And once that’s done, you can pop them into an oven and microwave to heat them.
To learn more, check out our Fresh and Easy review.
If you ever get bored of the meals, you have the option to order regular Home Chef meals instead. This way, you can scratch your cooking itch on some days and cut down on cooking time on others.
Meals start at $1.49 per serving
20+ meals in every menu plus extras
Dietary options include vegetarian and family-friendly
Current deal: $1.49/meal on your 1st box + 20% off next 2 boxes!
EveryPlate’s signature feature is that its meals are extremely affordable, making it the most budget-friendly meal delivery service starting at a price of $1.49 per serving.
Each week, you get to choose from 20+ recipes and a selection of add-ons including desserts and salads to enhance your meals. Recipes include tasty treats like Firehouse Mac ‘n’ Cheese and Balsamic Steak with Tomato Bruschetta and Brussels Sprouts. Read my colleague's review to learn more about her opinion of the menu.
The only problem with the service is that you can’t filter out meals according to your dietary requirements or customize your meals. However, if you find the meals on the menu enticing and are on a budget, I definitely recommend you try the service!
Huge variety of meals to choose from
User-friendly app to filter out dishes based on various criteria
Frequent promotions and discounts
It’s good to have a service that allows you to order food from the best local restaurants in your area. This is where GrubHub comes in.
Using its app, you get your favorite dishes from the best restaurants near you. You can filter according to cuisine, delivery time, and price.
To get completely free delivery, you can opt for GrubHub +, which costs $9.99 per month. Otherwise, delivery costs anywhere between $1-$10.
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Our Rating | |||||||||
Our Rating | 9.4 | 9.7 | 9.6 | 9.5 | 9.1 | 8.8 | 9.6 | 9.3 | 7.7 |
Starting Price | |||||||||
Starting Price | $7.99 Per Serving | $5.74 Per Serving | $5.99 Per Serving | $3.32 Per Serving | $8.50 Per Serving | $2.99 Per Serving | $6.19 Per Serving | $7.99 Per Serving | $1.49 Per Serving |
Minimum Order | |||||||||
Minimum Order | 2 meals for 2 people | 2 meals for 2 people | 3 meals for 2 people | 2 meals for 2 people | 3 meal kits for 2 people/6 prepared meals | 2 meals for 2 people | 6 prepared meals | 2 meals for 2 people | 3 meals for 2 people |
Meal Types | |||||||||
Meal Types | Kits, speedy kits, oven-ready, prepared | 20 - 60 min. meal kits | 30-minute meal kits | 20 - 30 min. meal kits | Meal kits, prepared meals | 30 min. meal kits | Prepared meals | Oven- & grill-ready, kits, prepared | 30-minute meal kits |
Prep Time | |||||||||
Prep Time | 5-50 min | 5-45 min | 25-40 min | 15-40 min | 3-40 min | 20-40 min | 2-3 min | 15-30 min | 20-45 min |
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While I highly recommend you choose your meal service from one of the above, if you want to do your independent research, here are three main tips to keep in mind.
Dietary requirements: If you have certain dietary requirements like paleo or keto, or if you want a service that caters to any allergies you might have, you need to check the menu thoroughly to see if the menu is suitable for you.
Cooking skills: You don’t really need sophisticated cooking skills for most meal delivery services. Just following along with the recipe instructions should suffice. Some meal delivery services (like Marley Spoon) challenge your cooking skills just a bit more whereas others send you prepared meals ready to pop in the microwave. Choose a service that fits your skill level and time.
Affordability: Some services – like EveryPlate – are extremely low-cost, whereas others – like Purple Carrot – can be quite expensive. And even if you order from a low-cost service, shipping costs can jack up the prices, so keep an eye out for this. As a general rule, the more expensive services use organic ingredients or cater to niche dietary requirements (like vegan or paleo).
No need to spend hours in the kitchen or at your local grocery store hunting for ingredients. With the help of a meal delivery service, you can save time, keep healthy, and save money at the same time.
My favorite meal delivery service is Home Chef because of its menu variety, customizability, and range of prep styles. Not to mention that it's quite affordable.
EveryPlate is the most affordable meal delivery service in Stockton. Meals start at $1.49 per serving, and you get to choose from 20+ new meals each week.
Another affordable service to try out is Home Chef. Its meals start at $7.99 per serving, which is more expensive than EveryPlate but is compensated by the fact that the menu is more customizable and varied.
The best diet meal delivery service in Stockton is Blue Apron. Its WW-approved meals are great for weight loss as they take into consideration factors like calories, saturated fats, proteins, and sugars.