Fuel Meals Review 2023: Can It Beat the Competition?

Overview

Known as a meal delivery services for athletes and bodybuilders, Fuel Meals has recently changed its menu and now offers plans geared toward weight loss as well as muscle gain.

I review meal delivery services for a living and am familiar with both fitness-focused and weight-loss meal delivery service menus. I’ve pored over nutritional information, studied guidelines, and examined ingredient lists to see how Fuel Meals stacks up against its competition. 

So what were my conclusions?

Fuel Meals is great for athletes, bodybuilders, and dedicated fitness buffs. People looking for a more generalized menu, or dieters who just want to lose a few pounds without joining a gym, will do better with other services, like Blue Apron. But if you’re passionate about getting fit and staying fit, Fuel Meals can be a great part of a complete workout regimen.

What’s on the Fuel Meals Menu

All Fuel Meals meat is hormone and antibiotic-free and all fish is wild-caught. Vegetables are sourced locally and all seasonal vegetables are organic and free of pesticides.​​ Fuel Meals preps and cooks all meals in a state-of-the-art facility located in New Jersey with customized equipment designed for small-batch cooking.

Fuel Meals arrive fully prepared and fresh, never frozen. Meals are single-serving, while By The Pound packs and snacks contain between 2 and 6 servings.

Meal Options

Fuel Meals offers 2 plans, one geared toward Weight Loss and the other toward Muscle Gain. Because male and female bodies have different caloric and nutritional requirements, Fuel Meals offers different plans for males and females.

Fuel Meals assumes you’ll combine their meals with vigorous exercise. The Weight Loss plan provides 1,500 calories per day for women and 1,750 for men. This is considerably higher than the 1,200-1,400 calories per day you get on a BistroMD plan or the 1,200-1,500 calorie Nutrisystem plans.

The 2,500/2,750-calorie Muscle Gain plan is designed to provide the energy you need for intensive workouts, with abundant lean protein to help your body build greater muscle mass. Alas, this plan will only help you gain muscle in combination with lots of time at the gym.

Fuel’s weight loss meals are typically meat, vegetables, and starches like whole-wheat pasta or rice. Muscle gain meals consist of meat and vegetables. Some entrees make nods to Chinese, Mexican, or Italian cuisine but for the most part, Fuel Meals offers American Bodybuilder chow.

If you don’t want to be confined to either menu, Fuel offers an A La Carte option. With the A La Carte option, you can order any of the items on the menu. This is a good option if you know your dietary needs and can keep your meals geared toward your desired end goal rather than Fuel Meals making the choices for you.

If you have a snack craving, Fuel Meals also offers Protein Muffins (available in blueberry or dark chocolate chip) and Triple Chocolate Protein Brownies. You can also order By the Pound packs of proteins, vegetables, and carbs.

Customization

Fuel Meals gives A La Carte buyers a choice of 33 entries, 18 By the Pound bulk offerings, 6 breakfast meals, and 3 high-protein lower-carb snacks. You’ll have a more limited selection depending on your plan. The Muscle Gain menu offers 16 meals, while the Weight Loss menu gives you only 10 meal options.

Even if you’re signed up for a particular plan and number of meals, you can always add additional items. For example, many bodybuilders will add extra proteins when they’re trying to bulk up. And, unlike most meal delivery services, Fuel Meals also gives you the option for bi-weekly deliveries.

When you sign up for one of its plans, Fuel Meals chooses a selection of meals for you. If you dislike 1 or more of their selections, you can swap in or double up on another meal. Given the size of the menu, you’ll likely have one or more duplicates where you’ll be eating the same meal 2 or even 3 times a week.

The Fuel Meals FAQ claims that its menu page has a filter option that blocks out certain ingredients and allergens. But I couldn’t find any filter on my phone or desktop using several different browsers.

Fuel Meals is working on its website and may add filtering shortly. For now, you’ll have to check the ingredients lists if you have any allergies or sensitivities. You can also contact Fuel Meals through its web form or leave a voicemail message to see if their team can work something out.

Unboxing

Fuel Meals boxes come sized for 7, 14, 21, or 28 meals. If you order more than 28 meals your order will come in 2 boxes. The boxes are insulated and cooled, and all meals are sealed in atmospheric packaging to ensure your food arrives tasty and fresh. All Fuel Meals packaging – including boxes, coolers, trays, and sleeves – is recyclable.

Fuel Meals will remain fresh in your refrigerator for 7 days following delivery, or frozen in your freezer for up to 1 month. Some dishes may not freeze as well as others, while egg dishes and fish dishes may not reheat well. Your best bet is to refrigerate your meals and then eat them within a 7-day period.

Cooking with Fuel Meals

Because meals arrive fully prepared, all you need to do is heat them up in a microwave for 2-3 minutes. You can also take your meal out of the microwave-safe container and place it in an oven-safe tray or dish, then heat it in a conventional at 275 degrees for approximately 10-15 minutes.

As with most prepared meals, cleanup is a breeze. You heat up your meal, eat it out of the tray, then put the empty tray aside for recycling.

Shortlist of My Favorite Meals

Rocky Balboa started his morning with raw eggs. I’d rather have Cinnamon Banana French Toast. Who doesn’t love whole grain bread coated with fresh ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, and egg whites with ripe bananas served with a side of turkey bacon? 37 g of carbs give you energy for a morning workout and 19 g of protein helps you turn that workout into muscle.

Fuel Meals’ BBQ Grilled Chicken brings you an 8-ounce chicken breast marinated in homemade barbecue sauce and served with roasted potatoes over brown rice. With 72 g of carbs to fuel your workout and 52 g of protein to help you build up muscle, this is a meal that gives you what you need to set new personal bests.

Fuel Meals’ By the Pound Bison Burgers give you 1.5 pounds of lean, protein-packed bison meat. If you’re looking to gain muscle mass and ripped definition, you need lots of lean protein so this is definitely for you. Each 8-ounce bison burger contains 58 g of protein with just 8 g of saturated fat and no carbs!

I’m at a disadvantage when reviewing a gym buff’s meal delivery service, as “round” is the only shape I’m in. But any service with chocolate brownies automatically wins points in my book. Sweetened with Splenda, each brownie contains 24 g of protein and 27 g of carbs with just 290 calories.

Pricing

Fuel Meals offers one-time orders, but you’ll pay 10% extra for your meals. The table below gives the subscription prices with breakfast included where this is an option. While female meal plans have fewer calories than male meal plans, Fuel Meals charges the same price for both.

You get free shipping with your Fuel Meals subscription. One-time orders pay between $9.95 and $39.95 depending on your location and the size of your order. If your subscription order includes more than 28 meals or packs Fuel Meals will ship in a second box, and you’ll be charged the actual shipping fee for that second box.

Fuel Meals snack packs cost $10.95. By the Pound bulk packs range from $9.95 for rice or broccoli to $26.95 for bison burgers. Additional meals can be purchased at prices ranging from $12.95 to $15.95 per serving. This isn’t cheap, but you can save money with our special Fuel Meals coupon: 20% off first order.

If your meals are damaged in shipping, you can email a photo of the damaged meals to info@fuelmeals.com and Fuel Meals will send you a coupon for the value of the meals to be used toward a future order. They will also issue a coupon or resend the order if your package is delayed in transit for longer than 48 hours.

Shipping & Delivery

Fuel Meals ships out boxes on Mondays and Wednesdays from its offices in Ridgefield, New Jersey. Orders placed Monday through Thursday will be shipped the following Monday, while orders placed Friday through Sunday will go out the following Wednesday.

Fuel Meals ships to all 50 states and Puerto Rico via Federal Express. Depending on your zip code, your box will arrive within 1-2 days after it is shipped. While Fuel Meals doesn’t yet have an app, it sends the FedEx tracking number as soon as your order is shipped so you can see how your meal is progressing through transit.

If you want to reschedule a delivery or change your shipping address, you can make the necessary changes by logging into your account. Be sure you make any necessary changes before your billing date.

How Fuel Meals Works

When you sign up for Fuel Meals, your original order becomes the template for all future orders. You can choose between weekly and bi-weekly orders. You can change or update the meals for any week but must do so by the order cutoff date (Fuel Meals sends you an email on the day before cutoff).

After you’re billed, Fuel Meals takes 5-6 days before your delivery to plan and prepare your meals. Once your billing date passes you can’t cancel or make any changes to your order.

Fuel Meals lets you place a one-time order so you can try their meals at home before making a commitment. This is very convenient for those who are interested in a Fuel Meals plan but unsure about a subscription.

How to Sign Up

1. Choose your plan

2. Determine the number of meals you want

3. Decide if you want weekly or bi-weekly delivery

4. Make any desired changes to the suggested meals

5. Enter your shipping address

6. Enter your payment information

7. Check out

Managing Your Subscription

You can change your subscription by logging into your account and visiting the Manage Subscription page. From there you can view your meals and change your address and meal quantities.

To add new items to your subscription, view the individual item from the menu and click the Add to Subscription button. The changes will take place on your next billing date.

Customer Service

You can reach Fuel Meals customer service at 1-844-EAT-FUEL (1-844-328-3835), at its info@fuelmeals.com email address, or on its webform. Customer service hours are given as 10 am to 6 pm Monday through Thursday and 10 am to 3 pm on Friday.

Unfortunately, my efforts at reaching Fuel’s customer service team were unsuccessful.

When I started this review, Fuel Meals was making some changes to its website and menu. I left them a message asking for more information via their web form and noted that I was writing a time-sensitive review.

I called Fuel Meals and left a message on its voicemail. I called the listed number several times, all within stated business hours, but never got through to an employee. And when I checked reviews from the Better Business Bureau and Pissed Consumer, I saw several unhappy customers stating that Fuel Meals was unresponsive to their complaints.

Just a note, Fuel Meals has been operating since 2015. Over eight years, a company is likely to have some unhappy customers. From my experience, I think Fuel Meals needs to strengthen its customer service department.

How Fuel Meals Compares to Other Meal Delivery Services

Fuel Meals vs Fresh N Lean: Fresh N Lean has a broader focus than Fuel Meals, offering choices like vegan, Whole30, and keto plans, as well as great allergen filters and ingredient exclusions. Fresh N Lean is also a considerably less expensive choice for fitness-conscious eaters seeking prepared meals.

Fuel Meals vs BistroMD: Both services offer complete breakfast/lunch/dinner meal plans for weight loss, but BistroMD offers more culinary choices and better filtering options for allergies. If you’re just looking to lose weight and are not spending hours in the gym, you’ll probably be happier with a BistroMD subscription.

Fuel Meals vs Factor: If you’re just looking for healthier suppers, Factor provides a greater variety of prepared meals. Factor also offers a selection of vegetarian and vegan meals that you won’t find at Fuel Meals.

The Bottom Line: Is Fuel Meals Worth It?

For a small but dedicated subset of athletes and bodybuilders, Fuel Meals is absolutely worth it. Serious fitness buffs who want to achieve maximum gains will appreciate these carefully engineered muscle-building meals.

Those who just want to lose a few pounds for an upcoming event will find better choices on our list of the 10 Best Weight Loss Meal Delivery Services. Fuel Meals is a niche service, and those of us who have traded our gym bods for dad bods aren’t part of that niche.

FAQ

Does Fuel Meals have a diet plan?

Fuel Meals has a weight-loss menu geared toward fitness buffs looking to lose pounds and gain definition. If your weight loss plan includes regular trips to the gym, Fuel Meals will help you replace that flab with muscle.

Is Fuel Meals a subscription service?

Fuel Meals is a subscription service, but it also offers one-time orders for those who want to try the meals first. You’ll pay a 10% premium on the price for a one-time order and you’ll pay for shipping (this is free with a subscription).

Does Fuel Meals have a paleo menu?

While Fuel Meals doesn’t have a dedicated paleo menu, many of its offerings are paleo-compliant. The meals on its Muscle Gain menu are vegetables with a side of meat or fish, and most of the By The Pound packs other than the rice or pasta sides are either meat or vegetables.