Sick of your usual weeknight dinners? The best meal prep services will save things from remaining stagnant. I’d know: I’ve been testing healthy meal delivery services for the past five years, learning that their benefits are plentiful. They made my life easier, increased the variety of meals I ate, reduced food waste and reduced the number of takeouts I was ordering. It’s not surprise the wellness crowd are getting in on the action.
Of course, meal subscription services will probably never be as popular as they were during lockdown again – but they still have a place in your 2025 life. All things considered, the meal prep services I’ve reviewed for this edit are better than they were back then, serving nutritious meals made from more varied ingredients – with better meal options for all dietary preferences. Pescatarian, flexitarian, vegan, paleo. You name it.
New player Field Doctor believes in the principle of food as medicine, serving home-cooked meals that target concerns like heart health, gut health, fatigue and weight loss. Mindful Chef focuses on organic ingredients, AllPlants specialises in home-cooked plant-based ready meals like Chickpea Curry, soups and Italian Rigatoni Bolognese, while Gousto and HelloFresh focus on healthy recipes made from fresh ingredients for all of the family.
I suppose it’s there we have the greatest conundrum: with so much choice, how do you know which meal delivery service is best for your dietary needs? In the name of healthy eating, I’ve spent the past half-decade reviewing meal prep services in a bid to bring you your most delicious dinners yet. It’s time unleash your inner home chef.
SKIP TO: How we test meal delivery services | Our full reviews | Are meal kits worth it? | What is the cheapest recipe box? | Is Gousto or HelloFresh cheaper? | How to get the most out of your delivery.
How we tested the best recipe boxes:
Our editors and freelance contributors have been testing meal prep kits for the past five years. When testing each, we ordered a weeks’ worth of food and scored based on delivery, sourcing and freshness of ingredients, nutritional information provided, how varied cuisine and meal plan options were, portion size, and how easy the recipe cards were to follow. There are a few services in this edit that haven’t been tested; for those, we’ve referred to customer reviews and expert knowledge.