Diet-to-Go vs. Freshology 2023: Is There Any Difference?

In this Diet-to-Go vs. Freshology comparison, you’ll find out that both competitors are identical. Why would there be 2 different brands if they’re one and the same? I haven’t quite figured that out yet – but I’ll go over all the fine details with you in this article. Read on to find out everything you need to know.

So, if I’m going to be comparing these competitors, the only possible result is obviously a tie. Both companies have a great selection. Each has the same menus for the same price, delivered according to the same schedule using the same carriers. Each competitor even has an identical customer service team with the exact same phone number and email.

With all that in mind, this isn’t going to be a typical comparison post. Rather, I’ll go through both companies and provide you with the details you’re interested in. I’ll cover pricing, menu variety, prep time for the meals, diet options, ease of use, customer service, and some more. Let’s dig in and see what we find.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: It’s a tie

Diet-to-Go/Freshology plans are split into 5 categories. Each menu is split up between breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

• Balance

• Balance-Diabetes

• Keto-Carb30

• Vegetarian

• Mediterranean

There are no extras or add-ons available for purchase. However, if a meal requires a condiment or such, like mayo or BBQ sauce, it comes automatically. There’s no need for you to order it or have it on hand.

The meal plan with the most options is the Balance menu. The Balance Menu offers 35+ options for dinner, another 35+ options for lunch, and even 25+ options for breakfast every week. For each plan, your weekly menu is preselected by the Diet-to-Go/Freshology team.

You can order 2 or 3 meals for 5 or 7 days a week. If you order 2 meals you won't get breakfast. Both services select meals for you, but you can make substitutions from the lunch and dinner substitution menu.

The number of options is defined by the menu. For example, the Balance menu offers 35+ substitution options for dinner, but the Balance-D menu offers 15+. You definitely won’t get bored with any menu, but equally, if you want to order the same meal several times, then you can. Every 5 weeks, the menus rotate to add even more variety.

Also, there’s a lot of crossover in terms of menu meals. The Veggie Rice Bowl, for example, appears on the Balance menu, the Vegetarian menu, and the Mediterranean menu at the same time.

Most of the Diet-to-Go/Freshology meals can simply be heated in a microwave in 5 minutes or less, or they can be heated in the oven for about 20 minutes or so. Additionally, as the meals are pre-prepped, they require virtually no skill on your part. You can also eat any of them cold – just like leftovers. Lastly, all meals are single-portion meals.

The types of cuisine offered range across a number of ethnic varieties. For example, 1 sampling of 25 meals consisted of 12 Italian, 6 American, 4 Asian, and 3 Mexican. That’s a pretty decent range of options, in my opinion.

Additionally, there are some kid-friendly meals, like Macaroni and Cheese. But since the whole service is dedicated to weight loss and specific health issues, it’s probably not a good option for kids on a regular basis.

Sample Meals

Searching each competitor’s menu is simple. Just click Menus at the top of the home page and select your preferred meal plan. From there, click on Sample Menu to get an idea of what’s available.

Usually, I’d include some information about each competitor, but in this case, they’re identical. For this reason, I’ll give you a brief overview of the menu(s).

• Best meal from the Balance menu: Penne Pasta with Turkey Meat Sauce

• Best Balance-Diabetes meal: Blackened Salmon on Spinach Cauliflower Puree with Brussels Sprouts

• Best Keto-Carb30 meal: Pork Chop Pomodoro with Asparagus, Peppers, and Italian Green Beans

• Best vegetarian meal: Asian Soy over Sesame Rice with Sugar Snap Peas

• Best Mediterranean meal: Sofrito Chicken Melt with Corn and Zucchini Salad

Meal Customization

Winner: It's a tie

Neither Diet-to-Go nor Freshology offers customization of individual meals (that is, swapping out ingredients). However, both offer customization of the respective menus using substitution options.

If a meal doesn’t interest you, you can swap it out with a different meal from the substitution list. You can also opt for “No Seafood” in your menu and select your gender, as this will determine the number of calories in your menu.

The menu options change from week to week. You might be able to tailor your menu to other types of diets, provided you’re willing to sift through all the nutrition facts for the meals you wish to select.

Another more serious issue is the topic of allergens. The meals aren’t tailored for allergens, nor are there screens or filters on the site to sort through potential allergens. Again, you can visually inspect the nutrition labels for any of the meals.

However, the company prepares all meals in the same facility and can’t guarantee that there’s no cross-contamination. So, if your allergy is really serious, you may have to seek out some other company altogether.

Ingredient Quality and Nutrition

Winner: It’s a tie

Diet-to-Go and Freshology emphasize natural ingredients, incorporating heart-friendly choices like fish, whole-grain pasta, and low-fat Greek yogurt. The Balance, Balance-Diabetes, and Vegetarian menus have reduced sodium, fat, and cholesterol, aligning with guidelines from the American Cancer Society and the US Department of Agriculture.

Both companies state that each “uses organic ingredients whenever possible”. Both also state that it can’t be guaranteed that organic ingredients are always used. To me, that’s sort of meaningless, as you never know what you’re going to get.

You also won’t find any gluten-free meals or meals that cater to allergies. However, you’re welcome to replace certain meals with other ones from within your account dashboard if something doesn’t work for you.

That said, a full list of ingredients and a complete nutrition label are both available. This is true for Diet-to-Go and Freshology.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing

Winner: It's a tie

The Ordering, Delivery, and Unboxing procedure of both companies is pretty straightforward.

Ordering

To place your first order, you have to sign up and subscribe. This involves filling in a few consecutive screens.

The procedure is as follows:

• Select Order Now from the homepage
• Choose your plan and customizations, click Save & Continue
• Fill in your delivery details and select Continue to Payment 
• Fill in your payment details and select Place Order
• Choose your meals

As you can see, it’s not too complicated. From there, all your future orders are preset and will continue without any more input from you.

You can customize the details of your plan from your customer account. This includes meal substitutions and pausing and restarting the service, among other things. Your minimum initial order is a 5-day subscription (Mon to Fri) providing 2 meals per day (10 total meals per week).

If you wish for a smaller order, you’ll have to contact customer service and discuss the details with them.

Delivery

Diet-to-Go and Freshology both deliver to the entire contiguous United States (every state but Alaska and Hawaii). Both offer 2 different kinds of delivery services: nationwide and local. Local deliveries arrive on Tuesdays and Fridays. Nationwide deliveries are sent out on Mondays and normally arrive within 2 to 4 days.

If you must reschedule delivery for whatever reason, you can do so provided you haven’t missed the weekly cutoff deadline (available in your account info). You can either log into your customer account and reschedule the delivery yourself, or you can contact the company and ask for assistance.

Diet-to-Go and Freshology will also send you shipping information, including a tracking number if you’re using a national carrier. This info is sent out every week as your deliveries are shipped.

Unboxing

Diet-to-Go and Freshology both ship 2 kinds of delivery boxes. The first type is sent to nearby local locations (Tuesday and Friday) and they arrive with cold packs in insulated boxes. These typically arrive fresh.

Longer distance shipments are sent through nationwide carriers. The meals are flash-frozen to preserve freshness and sent in special coolers carrying dry ice. The amount of dry ice is determined by the time of year and the climate at the destination. Sometimes the meals arrive thawed, and that’s totally fine, provided the meals are still fresh.

All the meals are pre-prepped and cooked, so they require very little in the way of organization. As soon as they arrive, the meals should be placed in the refrigerator. Meals typically have a 7-day shelf life. If necessary, meals can be frozen to preserve them longer.

Side dishes such as fruit cups, sandwiches, or what-have-you need not be heated. In fact, you really don’t even have to heat the meals. Each 1 is fully cooked and perfectly good to eat cold. However, if you do heat your meals, you should drain off any excess fluid that might have occurred from defrosting before doing so.

Packaging for both Diet-to-Go and Freshology is recyclable. Meal trays are recycled with other plastic products. The styrofoam coolers go back to specific facilities located throughout the country. In those parts of the country that don’t recycle styrofoam, it should either be reused or thrown in the garbage.

Meal Prep

Winner: It's a tie

Diet-to-Go and Freshology both flash freeze meals that’ll be delivered via nationwide carriers. Such meals may, or may not, require thawing out. In all likelihood, leaving the meal in the refrigerator overnight will probably do the trick. Failing that, defrosting in a microwave should work.

Once the meal is defrosted, any leftover fluid should be drained off before the meal is reheated. Regardless, unless stored in a freezer, the meals should be consumed within 7 days. Of course, the meals come in plastic containers that are fully microwavable. The meals can be heated in under 5 minutes in the microwave or around 20 minutes in the oven.

You should have virtually no prep to do yourself since the meals are microwave-ready upon delivery. All ingredients are incorporated into the meal with the occasional exception of sides and extras like slaw or peanut butter.

Customer Support

Winner: It's a tie

You can only contact Diet-to-Go and Freshology via phone or email. Phone lines are available at 1 (800) 743-7546 from Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm EST.

Diet-to-Go and Freshology have the exact same customer support team. When I used each competitor’s contact form on the website(s), I got an email confirmation from support@diettogo.com. This tells me that Diet-to-Go is the “main” company, so to speak.

At any rate, I gave the email support a shot to see what would happen. I just asked a basic question about the differences between these 2 companies. The answer couldn’t have been more cut-and-dry! The agent confirmed that, in fact, both companies are one and the same.

That said, I was very surprised to see an email response within just a few minutes. The agent clearly answered my question and gave some additional information, which I appreciated.

There’s also a very helpful FAQ section. It covers many questions you may have like shipping fees, ingredient quality, and so much more. You can find this by clicking Help in the top right corner of any screen.

Pricing

Winner: It's a tie

Pricing is a bit complicated since there are so many options, but I’ll provide an idea of what to expect. There are plans for men and women, and each specific plan (Balance, Mediterranean, etc…) will have slightly different prices.

Again, like everything else, pricing is identical between these 2 companies. Pricing starts at $4.60 per serving for Diet-to-Go and $4.60 per serving for Freshology. As you can see, identical. However, this is for the “Original” Balance plan for women (for 5 days per week, 2 meals per day).

Prices vary widely, depending on which plan you choose. For example, the exact same plan for men (Original Balance, 5 days per week, 2 meals), costs a couple of dollars more per week.

The more meals you order, the higher the cost per day. Again, there are so many combinations that it would be impossible to list them all here without making it super confusing.

Just know that meals average anywhere from $10 to $14+ per portion (before applying any discounts). The price per portion also depends on the plan and whether it’s for men or women. The reason is that men require more calories, making the plans for men more expensive.

Diet-to-Go vs. Freshology – Quick Overview

And The Winner Is: Diet-to-Go and Freshology

You can’t go wrong with either competitor, especially since they’re identical. This is going to sound ridiculous – but ultimately, just choose whichever one looks better! Honestly, choosing between the 2 is like trying to decide whether you’ll wear your left shoe or right shoe today.

Diet-to-Go and Freshology offer an extensive menu and excellent substitution options for dieters. This makes both companies great meal delivery services for weight loss and health. As the only difference is branding (not substance), there’s no meaningful or discernable difference between them.

Either one may serve people who are just looking for healthy meals or someone looking for a meal delivery service that caters to specific dietary needs like diabetes or vegetarianism.

If neither service seems right for you, why not check out our Best Weight Loss Services of 2023 for more options.

FAQ

Is Freshology the same as Diet-to-Go?

Yes. When I contacted Diet-to-Go’s customer support team, the agent confirmed that these 2 competitors are one and the same. All of the offerings are identical, from menu variety and offerings to pricing, shipping, delivery, ordering, unboxing, and everything else. It’s all basically a carbon copy of itself – as strange as this may seem.

How does Freshology work?

Freshology works by sending you health- or diet-specific weight-loss meals. There are plans for men and women that help you with various health goals like diabetes. You can choose from 5 plans: Balance, Balance-Diabetes, Keto-Carb30, Mediterranean, or Vegetarian.

Are meal prep services worth it for weight loss?

Fortunately, services like Diet-to-Go or Freshology (which, by the way, are identical) make weight loss much easier. Meals are pre-prepped and ready to heat and eat with the right number of calories for simple and easy weight loss.