Diet-to-Go vs. Factor 2023: Fully Prepared Diet-Based Meals

Finding the right food delivery service to support your desired diet can be challenging within the multitude of available services. I researched diet-based meal delivery services to find ones that best support various dieting journeys.

Factor and Diet-to-Go are similarly focused on making it super easy to follow your diet by providing fully prepared, heat-and-eat meals that are ready in 2 to 3 minutes. You can also order 21 meals per week from each service to cover seven full days of meals. The main difference in meals is that Diet-to-Go only offers calorie-restricted meals, while Factor doesn't restrict calories.

When I take ingredient quality, meal variety, and overall service into comparison, there's one clear winner in this comparison. Factor wins because it offers better meal variety, ingredient quality, and the gold standard of meal delivery customer support – an iOS- and Android-compatible app and 24/7 live chat with super available and friendly agents.

Read on to find out more about how these services compare.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: Factor

One important note before reading on is that Diet-to-Go is the same as Freshology. I confirmed with customer service that the menu, plans, and service are 100% the same as Freshology’s. The only difference is in the name! Marketing purposes, perhaps. On to the comparison.

Both services provide fully-prepared, individually packaged, microwave-ready meals, but 

Factor wins because it offers a wider cuisine variety, rotates most of its recipes each week, and has great add-ons with which you can customize whole meals.

On Factor’s menu, you’ll find around 34 recipes each week of Mediterranean, Asian-inspired, Indian-inspired, Mexican, Cajun, and some Classic American recipes.

Every meal includes lean protein, complex carbs, and fresh vegetables – think Blackened Salmon with Smoked Gouda Cauliflower “Grits” and Broccoli, or Chile-Roasted Chicken with Purple Cabbage and Roasted Zucchini.

While Factor isn’t a low-calorie focused meal delivery service like Diet-to-Go, it still offers a well-balanced Calorie Smart meal plan option as well as Keto, High Protein, and Vegan and Veggie plans. Meal plans are also super flexible since you can choose one, mix and match any combo of plans, or select them all.

You can also choose from 40 add-ons each week, including smoothies, fresh-pressed juices, juice shots, meal sides, extra proteins, and keto desserts. All sides and proteins come microwave-ready, and the remainder of the add-ons are grab-and-go.

One of Factor's priorities is ensuring high ingredient quality in each meal. The service only sources from local farms that sustainably and humanely raise animals. This means that beef is grass-fed, pork is pasture-raised, poultry is antibiotic-free, and eggs are all cage-free. Fish is also sourced from Canadian farms that follow the Global Aquaculture Alliance's Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), an international certifying agency.

Factor also only uses olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs, and spices to prepare meals. There are zero artificial flavors, preservatives, or fillers in any foods! All meals are made-to-order, then individually packed and vacuum-sealed to ensure freshness upon arrival.

Diet-to-Go's menu functions a little differently than Factor's and still offers decent variety. The menu is on a five-week rotation of recipes that includes about 15 breakfasts, 20 lunches, and 20 dinners. You can choose from five meal plans – Balance, Balance-Diabetes, Keto-Carb30, Mediterranean, and Vegetarian plans.

While Diet-to-Go offers more meals each week than Factor does, the cuisine variety is mostly Classic American with some Mediterranean and Mexican-inspired dishes across each diet plan. Plus, its menu rotates every five weeks instead of each week.

Most Diet-to-Go plans are meat-heavy, so having the vegetarian option is great for vegetarians who want to try a low-calorie meal plan. These plans aren’t suitable for vegans, as most meals include cheese and eggs.

Diet-to-Go meals are selected for you, but you can substitute each one if you wish. This means that if you want to eat Chicken Fontina for every dinner and have Cinnamon Walnut Cereal three times a week, you sure can. Diet-to-Go currently doesn’t offer any extras other than the prepared meals.

Diet-to-Go offers meals based on a daily calorie count of 1,200 to 1,400 calories per day, with the average per meal calorie count of around 250 to 500 per meal. You can double-check the calorie count for each meal on both sites and on each meal sleeve.

While Factor offers a Calorie-Conscious meal plan, calorie counts vary a bit throughout the menu. Most of Factor’s meals range from 350-900 calories and will average around 600 calories per meal. As with Diet-to-Go’s meals, you can check ingredient information on the site and on each meal sleeve.

There’s a lot of talk on Diet-to-Go’s website about meals being “science-backed” and “dietitian-designed,” but little information regarding the science and design. Customer service also doesn’t have information about this for either service.

Regarding Diet-to-Go’s ingredient quality, the service doesn’t prioritize sourcing as much as Factor does. According to my chats with various customer service agents, Diet-to-Go’s ingredients are “normal grocery store foods”. Some foods in Diet-to-Go’s meals are highly processed like sausage paddies, premade sauces, and canned tuna.

Both services are great if you want the most hassle-free way to follow your desired diet plan. All meals are single-portioned, so these plans are best for individuals with extra cash who are willing to invest in their diet journey. Big families would find subscribing to this meal plan inconvenient and pricey. More on pricing later.

Nutritious tip 1: Keep in mind that both services design their meal plans to be low-calorie. Low-calorie diets don’t work for long-term weight loss. All calories aren’t created equal, and the type of calories you eat makes a huge difference in sustaining your weight loss goals and doing so in a nutritious way.

Eating a low-calorie diet may be harmful to some people with serious health conditions. Consulting a physician or healthcare professional about your specific needs is the best route to determining whether following the meal plans of either service will work for you.

Nutrition tip 2: Diet-to-Go offers a Keto-Carb30 menu that’s more Carb30 than it is Keto. Instead of offering low-carb meals as required on the keto diet, it offers moderate carbs and fats and won’t achieve the goal of a keto diet – to get your body into ketosis. The Keto-Carb30 menu doesn’t follow the original keto requirement of 20 g net carbs per day. Instead, meals range from 13 g to 43 g of net carbs per meal.

I recommend choosing Factor’s Keto plan instead since it follows the keto meal requirement of containing at least 60% of calories from fat, around 20% of calories from protein, and 10% or less of calories from carbohydrates. However, each people enter ketosis differently in response to different foods, so you’ll have to experiment and set up that free consult with one of Factor’s registered dietitians! More on that service later.

Meal Customization

Winner: Factor

Factor wins meal customization because it offers enough add-ons for you to build your own meals. Otherwise, meal plan offerings and customization options are similar for both services. Both emphasize offering convenient meal prep for specific diets and carefully design meals according to those diets. Thus, neither service offers ingredient substitutions or allergen accommodations.

Plan Options

Both services offer five meal plans and have different flexibility within those plans. Factor offers Chef’s Choice, Keto, Calorie Smart, Vegan & Veggie, and High Protein plans. Factor plans are super flexible, and you can choose one, a combo of, or all meal plans, then choose your meals once you’ve confirmed your payment details.

Once you’ve confirmed the payment details you have to then select at least the minimum meal amount of four meals per week. You can then select your extras. Each add-on can be added up to 10 times, so there’s plenty of room to mix and match proteins with complex veggies, desserts, smoothies, and breakfasts to customize your entire weekly menu.

With Factor’s sides, you can even construct your own meals! This significantly expands your meal variety and gives you total creative culinary control. You’ll find lean proteins, complex carbs, veggies, and keto desserts on the list. Think Pan-Seared Salmon with White Cheddar Broccoli and Cauliflower Mash, and Chocolate-Raspberry Keto Cheesecake for dessert.

The only downside of Factor's add-on menu is that breakfasts, meal sides, and desserts are mostly keto-friendly and unsuitable for vegetarian and vegan diets. However, those following a more plant-based diet can still choose smoothies, fresh-pressed juices, and juice power shots!

Diet-to-Go's plans are less flexible and customizable than Factor's because you can't combine plans. You can swap meals within each plan very easily, but the menu only changes every five weeks instead of each week. Plus, there aren't extra ingredients with which you can customize meals or supplement recipes.

However, you’ll see a lot of substitutions for each meal, so you can switch up your meals or continue eating your favorites. You can swap breakfasts for breakfasts, lunches for lunches, and dinners for dinners.

Ingredient Swapping

Neither service allows ingredient swapping, upgrading proteins, or portion changes of ingredients in specific recipes. However, you can order extra proteins, sides, and more with Factor's extras to increase meal portions.

Diet-to-Go's only exclusion option is excluding seafood in its Balance and Keto-Carb30 plans. Otherwise, it doesn't cater to any allergies.

If you have zero food allergies and are happy with these service's menus – great! If you have any serious food allergies or dietary concerns and want to exclude certain ingredients, you'll have to read through ingredient lists on each service's website carefully.

Both services list ingredients on website recipe cards and on each meal sleeve. However, Diet-to-Go doesn't include complete ingredient lists on its website, recipe cards, or meal sleeves. Since there are also more processed foods in Diet-to-Go's meals, like cream cheese and grape jelly, this may be problematic for ingredient-conscious people.

Factor prioritizes ingredient quality and ensures that you know what’s in your food. There are far fewer processed ingredients in Factor’s meals, and each recipe includes more detailed recipe lists on the website and each meal sleeve.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing

Winner: Factor

Ordering with both services is pretty straightforward, but Factor wins because you can choose your delivery day, and it has an app and excellent 24/7 live chat customer support. Having excellent customer support makes the whole ordering and delivery process much more seamless.

Plus, if any issues arise with your order or delivery, having super-accessible customer support agents makes the biggest difference. More on Factor’s customer support in the next section.

Ordering

Ordering with both services is easy. All you have to do is choose your meal plan and the number of meals you want each week.

Factor’s minimum order is four meals per week, and the maximum order is 24 meals. So, you can order enough for three meals per day, seven days per week. The website initially offers a maximum order of 18 meals, but once you confirm your payment details and start choosing your meals, you can double up on some meals until you reach 24 meals for your order.

Diet-to-Go’s minimum order is ten meals per week, and the maximum order is 21 meals. Similar to Factor, you can fill your entire menu with hassle-free, heat-and-eat meals, making menu planning super easy.

It’s important to note that both services automate a weekly subscription once you’ve confirmed your order. To make any order changes, track your delivery, skip weeks, or manage other delivery details, please ensure you do so before each service’s weekly change request deadline.

Factor’s change request cutoff is Wednesday at 11:59 pm CT, one week before delivery. Changing or canceling an order is super easy with Factor’s 24/7 live chat and via the app, as long as you make changes before the deadline.

To cancel your entire subscription, you’ll have to log in to your account and cancel there. You can log in via the app or the website. If you have any cancellation questions – just reach out to customer support via the 24/7 chat!

Diet-to-Go change requests must be completed by 12 pm ET on the cutoff day indicated on your account. Cutoff days are different for each zip code since delivery days are different. To see your cutoff day, you’ll have to log in to your account where you’ll see your change request cutoff date for each week’s order.

Delivery

Both services deliver to the contiguous 48 states, but unfortunately, neither service allows you to choose your delivery day. Once you confirm your order for either service, your first order will arrive within about one week.

Delivery days are decided based on your zip code for both services. Diet-to-Go delivers later in the week (I couldn’t find exact days on the website), while Factor delivers Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, depending on your zip code.

Diet-to-Go offers two delivery options – Home Delivery and Fresh Home Delivery. Home Delivery is Diet-to-Go’s standard delivery and is available in all zip codes to which it delivers. 

The Fresh option is only available in certain zipcodes in and near Washington DC (including Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland), Baltimore, New Jersey, and Los Angeles.

For Home Delivery, all orders are shipped in styrofoam boxes with dry ice in an amount according to length of shipping time and estimated temperature in your zip code.

The unfortunate feature of styrofoam is that it’s only recyclable in certain zip codes. You’ll have to research your zip code to see if styrofoam recycling locations are available in your area.

The Fresh Home Delivery option is basically the same thing as Factor’s regular delivery since all meals arrive fresh and never frozen. Your food arrives cool and not frozen on Tuesdays and Fridays.

However, while your food arrives fresh and not frozen, some of it still may have been previously frozen – like sausage patties, a variety of proteins, and even some veggies.

Unboxing

Unboxing is simple for both services since meals arrive individually packaged in microwave-ready trays. Each meal is labeled with a sleeve that also provides ingredient and nutrition information, use-by dates, and heating instructions.

Since Factor meals and Diet-to-Go’s Fresh Home Delivery meals arrive fresh, you should place them in the fridge as soon as possible. You can heat and eat within the week or according to the use-by date on the meal sleeve. You can freeze Factor meals for up to six months, but the service recommends consuming meals weekly for optimal freshness and flavor.

Factor’s add-ons all have different storage instructions and will be clearly labeled on each item container. Some items are shelf-stable, some require refrigeration, and some can be frozen, like smoothies and juices if not consumed within a week.

Diet-to-Go’s Home Delivery meals arrive frozen or partially frozen. Place meals in the fridge that you plan on consuming within the week, and the rest of your meals in the freezer.

All you have to do for both services is ensure you have enough freezer and fridge storage for your order – especially if you choose to receive a full week’s worth of meals.

Both services offer reusable ice packs and microwavable trays, plastics that are recyclable according to your city’s guidelines, and cardboard that’s curbside recyclable. Insulation for both services is post-consumer recycled but not recyclable. Plus, you’ll have to take a few extra steps to recycle the styrofoam box if you choose Diet-to-Go’s standard Home Delivery option.

Meal Prep

Winner: It's a tie

Factor offers a wider variety of meal prep options, but the meal prep time of meals on its main menu is the same as Diet-to-Go's. Factor's and Diet-to-Go's fully prepared meals arrive in microwave-safe trays and take only take two to three minutes to heat – zero hassle, zero cleanup. Heating in the oven is also an option once you place your meals in an oven-safe tray.

Factor's add-ons arrive fully prepped, so the only "cooking" you'll have to do is choose which ingredients you want to heat for your meal. If you choose smoothies for your meals, all you'll have to do is grab and go.

If you're receiving Diet-to-Go's meals via Home Delivery, some of your meals will still be frozen upon arrival. Diet-to-Go recommends thawing meals completely before heating them.

You can do this by placing your meal in a bowl of lukewarm water for about an hour or leaving it in the fridge overnight. Once thawed, you should eat the meal within one week or by the use-by date labeled on each meal's package.

When my colleague ordered from Diet-to-Go, she found that her meals were somewhat bland. Veggies were watery, and she couldn't taste much difference between each veg. She also found that the chicken and salmon were somewhat dry. Overall, Diet-to-Go meal flavors were lacking in flavor.

Aside from the Balance-Diabetes plan, this meal service primarily focuses on weight loss and calorie counting. The blandness is likely due to the lack of fatty flavors to avoid calories and the lack of added preservatives and salt.

If sodium and healthy fats aren't a concern – feel free to add salt or herbs, spices, and olive oil to enhance flavors and heat your meal in a pan! It's not a major step in meal prep and won't take up too much time. You can do the same with your factor meals if you’d like a little more flavor or kick.

Enjoying your meals by flavoring them to suit your palate is an excellent way to stay on track with your healthcare professional's diet recommendations.

Customer Support

Winner: Factor

Factor knocks customer service out of the park with live customer support chat 24/7 with friendly, responsive agents. Factor also offers a super easy-to-use app, chatbot, phone line, and email support. There’s an updated FAQ page, but I found asking the chatbot questions much more informative.

When using the Factor live chat, you’ll first be connected with a chatbot called Basil. If your questions are related to an existing account, the bot will take you through several question-and-answer exchanges to determine whether it can fulfill your requests before it sends you to a live agent.

I was always connected in about one minute, and agents answered my questions in 30 seconds to a few minutes. I was connected to an agent on the phone in one to two minutes as well. The phone line is available from 6 am to 11 pm ET Monday to Friday and 7 am to 7 pm ET on Saturday and Sunday.

Pro tip: If you already know you want to chat with a human instead of a bot – just type in “human”, “agent”, or “human agent” and hit enter, and the bot will immediately start connecting you to a live customer service agent. You’ll have to provide your first and last name and email, but you can make up this information if you don’t already have an associated account and want to protect your personal information.

Factor’s app is compatible with iOS and Android devices, and will install on your device in under one minute (depending on your internet speed). You can manage every detail of your subscription through the app – including skipping weeks, changing what meals you receive, and canceling your entire subscription.

Diet-to-Go is a bit behind the times and only offers a phone line and email. I called several times to confirm plan information and was connected with a friendly agent in under one minute each time. Each agent was able to answer most questions I had about Diet-to-Go’s meal plans.

Customer service’s phone line is strictly available from Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm Eastern Time.

I don’t recommend contacting Diet-to-Go’s customer service via the email form, and I don’t recommend using the FAQ for diet-specific and ingredient questions. You’re much better off calling and asking directly since the FAQ isn’t completely updated.

Information became limited with each customer service agent and within the FAQ regarding ingredient sourcing and quality, the time between meal prep and delivery, and what ingredients chefs use during meal prep.

All Diet-to-Go meal plans are calorie-restricted and primarily focused on weight loss, so the most readily available information in the FAQs and customer service agents is also about calorie-restricted weight loss.

Customer service agents aren’t healthcare professionals, dietitians, or nutritionists. However, they’re well-versed in the calorie-restricted diet ADA guidelines for the Balance-D menu, macro counts for the Keto-Carb30 plan, and are happy to help you manage your subscription.

Registered Dietitian Consultation

Both services offer a free consultation with a Registered Dietitian (RD).

Factor offers a free 20-minute consult with one of its eight Registered Dietitians to determine which Factor meals are right for you. You can speak with the RD even before you order. This is an excellent service because you can discuss whatever concerns or needs you have in your diet and whether you can find Factor meals that are good for you.

Few food delivery services offer a consultation with an RD before ordering. In fact, Diet-to-Go only offers a consult with an RD after you’ve placed your order. Plus, there’s only one RD on-call instead of eight.

The purpose of Diet-to-Go’s RD consultation is more to discuss whether you’ve had a bad reaction to the food you’ve ordered. For example, if you ordered the Balance-Diabetes plan and are having blood sugar spikes, you can schedule a call with the RD to determine which meals you might need to replace.

Pricing

Winner: Diet-to-Go

While per-meal prices decrease as you order more meals for both services, Diet-to-Go’s per-meal price range is slightly lower than Factor’s.

Diet-to-Go meal plans all have slightly different prices depending on which meal type and amount of meals you choose. You can order 10, 14, 15, or 21 meals per week, with shipping applied to each delivery. Per-meal prices for 21 meals start at $9.71 and rise to $13.89 for 10 meals. You can see prices update as you toggle between meal plans at checkout. 

If you use our discount code, per-meal prices are even lower and start at $4.60.

Factor offers five meal plans of 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, or 24 per week, with shipping applied to each delivery. The minimum meal order of four meals per week is $15 per meal, and per meal prices are $11 when you choose 18 or more meals per week. Factor’s shipping is standard at about $10 or $11 per order depending on your zip code. When you use our discount code, you can knock down the starting price further to $6.19 per serving.

What’s important to consider when ordering from Diet-to-Go is that it charges $19.98 per week for delivery. For Fresh Home Delivery and for some zip codes using standard Home Delivery, Diet-to-Go will ship to you twice per week.

If you receive two deliveries per week, you’ll be charged $9.99 per delivery, as pictured above. If you receive one delivery per week, you’ll be charged the full $19.98. This is a significant shipping fee to consider since it adds up to almost $80 per month!

Features Comparison: Diet-to-Go vs. Factor

And The Winner Is: Factor

Though Factor is slightly more expensive than Diet-to-Go, it’s well worth the price increase. Factor wins because it offers higher ingredient quality, better meal variety, and the gold standard of meal delivery customer support.

You can manage almost every delivery detail via Factor’s app, including subscription cancellation. If you have questions about your order at any time, you can reach out to Factor’s 24/7 friendly live chat agents.

Factor also sources higher quality ingredients with grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs, and minimally processed whole, healthy foods. Meals always arrive fresh and ready for you to eat within the week or freeze for later.

Following any diet that Factor accommodates is super easy when you fill your fridge with its fresh, chef-prepared, microwave-ready meals. You won’t have to think twice about what to choose, whether your food is healthy, and how you’re going to prep it.

FAQ

How are Factor meals delivered?

Factor delivers fresh, fully prepared meals in microwave-ready trays. Your meals will arrive in a cardboard box with a gel pack and post-consumer recycled insulation. The service strongly recommends placing your meals immediately in the fridge and consuming them within one week to optimize meal freshness.

Factor delivers to the contiguous 48 states, and meals are delivered via different carriers depending on your zip code.

Are Factor meals worth it?

Factor is worth it if you can afford $11 to $15 per meal, want fully prepared meals with fresh, thoughtfully sourced, whole ingredients and minimally processed food! Plus, Factor’s customer service is excellent and you can manage every detail of your orders through Factor’s 5-star-rated app. If you think Factor is a good fit for you, don’t hesitate to use our discount code – Save 50% Off – to reduce per-meal prices on your first order!

What is a low-calorie prepared meal delivery service?

A low-calorie prepared meal delivery service creates fully prepared meals that are delivered directly to your home. Low-calorie services typically plan each meal to equal 1,200 to 1,400 calories per day. Diet-to-Go is a low-calorie meal delivery service that does just this. If you plan on following a low-calorie diet, Diet-to-Go is great since it offers a plan that includes three meals per day for seven days a week.

Will I lose weight from a low-calorie meal delivery service?

Following a calorie-restricted diet typically leads to initial rapid weight loss. If you want to follow a low-calorie diet by using a meal delivery service, you may experience rapid weight loss. Having fully prepared meals to complete your entire weekly menu, like you’ll find in Diet-to-Go’s plans, makes following a low-calorie plan super easy.

However, low-calorie diets are difficult to sustain and aren’t recommended for long-term weight loss maintenance. Speaking to a healthcare professional, registered dietitian, and nutritionist is the best option to determine what weight loss plan best fits your unique needs.