If you thought you had to shell out a bunch of coin to try a meal kit delivery service, I have good news. There are some seriously good, seriously cheap meal kit services with recipes starting at as little as $5 per serving. I have tried all the most popular meal delivery services, including the less expensive versions, and have been pleasantly surprised by many of them.
Takeout and delivery bills tend to rack up in my house. If you are trying to curb your habit, snagging a budget-friendly service that sends healthy, fresh ingredients to make interesting recipes for lunch and dinner can save you some serious dough. In addition, do not worry about being bogged down in complicated recipes. Most meal kit services — and especially the lower-priced operations — have meals that can be made from start to finish in 25 minutes or less.
Meal kits such as Blue Apron, Green Chef and Sunbasket aren’t new, but they are on the pricey side, with some as expensive as $12 or $13 per serving. I am here to spread the gospel of the cheap meal kit service, just in case those more costly operations do not seem worth it.
Meal kits — from the budget-friendly to the pricier outfits — also add some fun to dinner mostly by eliminating the not-so-fun parts: grocery shopping, prepping and, for some, deciding what to make. A meal kit delivery service is ultra-convenient too, especially during these days when having the essentials delivered just makes life simpler. However, there are also fully prepared meal delivery services to save you on those days and nights when cooking anything at all just is not in the stars.
Now that you have decided to skip the grocery store and take the meal delivery plunge, it is time to narrow down which subscription service is right for you. There are a lot out there, each with its own niche menu and recipes. For example, if you are an experienced home cook looking for meal kits to help diversify your monthly recipe rotation, you might want to opt for one of the more sophisticated operations such as Sun Basket or Martha & Marley Spoon. Alternatively, if you have dietary restrictions, you will want to hunt down a meal kit service that can cater specifically to those.
However, you are here because you want the cheapest meal delivery service. Look no further, because there are many cheap meal kits out there with easy recipes, starting at as little as five bucks a serving — even less if you snag a sign-up offer. Dinnerly and EveryPlate, both of which clock in at $5 a serving, are the most budget-friendly meal delivery outfits. However, there are also midrange options such as HelloFresh and Home Chef. The latter two may cost a few bucks more per serving, but they allow for more customization and have more recipes to choose from each week, so if you have specific dietary needs or are just a picky eater, they afford you more flexibility in your meal choice. Most of these services also offer vegetarian kits or customization for those who do not eat meat. We will also note that there are meal kits out there that cater to a specialized diet, such as keto, paleo, low calorie, gluten-free and more.
No matter your budget, there are affordable meal kit delivery services to make cooking for you or the family as easy as ever. We even tested all the cheapest meal kits operations and prepared meal services on this list, all to help you decide which one is best for your budget, tastes and schedule.
So, for the best cheap meal delivery services available in 2021, keep reading for our top meal plan picks.
EveryPlate is the cheapest meal kit service, with recipes starting at $5 a serving — sometimes less if you snag a sign-up offer. I tested EveryPlate recently and was pleasantly surprised. You will not find a lot of foofy, upscale cuisine or complicated recipes, but you will get many satisfying, rib-sticking meals such as hoisin meatloaf with mashed potatoes, cheeseburgers, umami pork chops and sweet potato quesadillas.
EveryPlate meal kits are easy to prepare and I loved everything I made, making it my pick for the best budget-friendly meal kit in 2021.
Clocking in at a comparable $5 a serving is Dinnerly, another great cheap meal kit. Much like EveryPlate, Dinnerly has many comfort foods such as ravioli with spinach and parmesan sauce, carne asada tacos and chicken pad thai.
I tested the affordable meal kits from Dinnerly and all were easy to prepare, although — on average — they involved more work than EveryPlate’s recipes. There were also a few big misses among the hits. However, Dinnerly is a bit more dynamic than its cheap counterpart is and allows you to add on protein packs of chicken breast, ground beef or shrimp for meal planning along with a small market of snacks and desserts, which you can tack on at an extra cost.
HelloFresh is a bit more per serving than EveryPlate or Dinnerly — $7.49 a serving if you order meals for four — but this budget-friendly meal delivery service affords you more recipe options and I would contend the recipes and ingredients are of a higher caliber too. HelloFresh has as many as 25 dinner meal kits per week, so it is nearly impossible not to find something you will like. HelloFresh also has five or six plant-based recipes a week making it the best cheap meal kit service for vegetarians.
When I tried HelloFresh’s meal kits recently, I made the meatloaf a la mom, barramundi with corn and potato hash and pork chops with honey butter. I liked all three.
Home Chef
At just a tick, more than HelloFresh is Home Chef. I tried Home Chef a few months back and loved the flexibility and customization the meal kit subscription allows for. For instance, you can swap the protein in just about any recipe or double the portion if you are expecting company or want leftovers to eat for lunches during the week. Home Chef also has affordable oven-ready meal kits which only need to be assembled in a tray and cooked — no chopping or prep required.
A few Home Chef recipes I tried and liked were the moo shu pork tacos and bruschetta shrimp risotto which had a ton of garlic but was far easier to make than I expected.
If you desire to do exactly no cooking at all but want tasty meals delivered at an affordable price, Freshly is where it is. Freshly sends precooked meals (fresh, not frozen) to your door in a one-time order or subscription. While this cheap meal delivery service has healthy recipe options aplenty, Freshly is one of the better options if you want the occasional cheat meal or serving of comfort food.
Penne bolognese, peppercorn steak with mashed potatoes and chicken casserole are just some of the heartier choices you can have delivered and at the ready. However, there are also healthier, low-cal Freshly meals to keep yourself honest.
Daily Harvest is not a traditional meal kit company but rather sends healthy, plant-based smoothies, soups and grain bowls to your door, starting at $7 a meal. While the other options on our list are geared towards dinnertime, Daily Harvest is best to have affordable (and easy) breakfast, lunch meals ready to heat, and eat.
When I tried Daily Harvest, I loved the interesting smoothie combos such as a chocolate blueberry smoothie with greens, banana and almond butter. The heartier meals are great too like the cauliflower rice and pesto harvest bowl with cashews and spinach. You will not need more than a saucepan, toaster or blender to prepare most of the meals and most can be made in as little as 5 minutes.
Cheap meal delivery services are able to offer the convenience of meal planning and preparation without compromising the quality of food. That said, different companies cut costs in different ways. Once you decide what is most important to you, whether it is nutritional considerations, taste, or convenience, you are bound to find a service you love at the price you need.
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