10 Best Meal Delivery Services, Tested by an Ex-Restaurant Critic

Primary Journalistic Dispatch & Direct Reporting

Best Meal Kit Overall Marley Spoon Meal Kit Read more Shop at

Best Family-Friendly Meal Kit Home Chef Meal Kit Read more Shop at

Best Prepared-Meal Delivery Service CookUnity Prepared Meals Read more Shop at

In-Depth Developments & Factual Context

Meal Kit With the Best Selection HelloFresh Meal Kit Read more Shop at

The best meal delivery services and meal kits are the ones that make your home life easier - and maybe make dinner something to look forward to rather than to dread. I didn't actually expect to appreciate meal kits as much as I do, as someone who likes to cook and worked as a food critic on both coasts for more than a decade.

I've found that the best meal kits helped me climb out of a cooking rut of turning to the same dishes - and the same flavors - over and over. After testing every major meal delivery service over the past two years, I've narrowed the field to just a few of the best options for each family and diet. Quite simply, the best meals I've eaten from a meal kit have come from Marley Spoon , which offers a path to genuinely good home-cooked meals on nights when I might otherwise feel uninspired.

Industry Impact & Strategic Analysis

But depending on your priorities, other meal delivery services might be the best for you. I've found that Home Chef offers the greatest flexibility for busy families while keeping prices affordable. EveryPlate is the best meal kit for people on a tight budget. For a healthful, tailored diet (including an option on true gluten-free meals), I recommend Green Chef . If you'd rather not cook at all, CookUnity is the best prepared-meal delivery service I've ever had the pleasure to warm up.

I assessed each meal plan's recipes, breadth of selection, sourcing, ease of preparation, convenience, organization, packaging, high-quality ingredients, and suitability for different eating restrictions and needs. I also tested the best new and innovative meal kits for those looking for alternatives to Blue Apron or HelloFresh's long-standing meal delivery services. And not for nothing, I sorted out some often maddeningly nontransparent pricing. Here are the best delivery meal subscriptions I've tried.

Be sure to check out my investigation into whether sometimes Meal Kits Are Cheaper Than Groceries when trying out new recipes, and WIRED's related guides, including the Best Plant-Based Meal Kits , Best Food Gifts You Can Buy Online , Best Coffee Subscriptions , and Best Delivery Chocolate Boxes .

Forward Outlook & Market Perspective

Updated September 2026: After a new round of testing, I've listed Green Chef as my favorite meal kit for clean ingredients and dietary restrictions. I also retested CookUnity and confirmed its place as the best prepared meal delivery service. I likewise retested and updated my descriptions of Factor prepared meals and GardenCup's salad kit, and added information about HelloFresh's new recipe app and Blue Apron's new packaging and partnership with Misfits Market.

Courtesy of Marley Spoon Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Save to wishlist Marley Spoon

In the decade since it was introduced on American shores, the strength of the Martha Stewart - endorsed Marley Spoon meal delivery service has remained steadfast: It's the cooking.

The best individual meals I've cooked among the 20 or so kits I've tested in the past two years have come from Marley Spoon . A hearty Hungarian-influenced creamy mushroom chicken , a boldly Cajun-spiced whitefish, or a delicate eggplant parm. Those meals are still on the menu.

But Marley Spoon has also been evolving of late. Over the past year or two, the German-founded meal kit has added more menu items, more cosmopolitan meals with global flavors, and a greater variety of preparation times that now include a lot of 15-minute meals. It's done this without raising the price of the meal kit this year - no mean feat amid rising food and shipping costs.

The classic "Martha's Best" recipes are now augmented by meals that emphasize convenience and global flavors. A third of the menu is now prepared, ready-to-heat meals. I see more 15-minute dishes and tray oven bakes. Marley Spoon also seems to have broadened its international fare, with takes on a Moroccan-spiced apricot and beef tagine and Indian-influenced keema matar that's as easy to make as garam masala sloppy Joe.

Reporting synthesized and verified under Nexvoro.tech editorial guidelines. Full primary records referenced via Wired.