Meal Kits
A meal kit is a box of pre-portioned ingredients plus a recipe card, and you still do the cooking. That is the trade: you skip the planning and the shopping list, but you chop, sear and plate the food yourself, usually in 20 to 45 minutes. The services here ship kits on a general menu that changes every week, and they differ most in how much prep is already done, how many servings a box holds and what a serving really costs once the discounted first box is over. Check whether a kit brand also lets you add ready-made meals, since several now sell both from the same account.
- 1
Cook-at-home meal kit with 100+ weekly recipes and market items, plans for 2 to 6 people, and weekly delivery everywhere in the US except Alaska and Hawaii.
- 2
Online grocery store and meal kit in one, filling a weekly cart with groceries, quick recipes and prepared meals, dinners from $8.99 per serving and free shipping over $70.
- 3
Budget cook-at-home meal kit with 35+ weekly recipes, plans from $5.99 per serving plus a flat $10.99 shipping fee, delivered across most of the continental US.
- 4
Cook-at-home meal kit built on organic produce and eggs, with keto, plant-based, gluten-free and Mediterranean plans and pre-prepped ingredients for dinners in about 30 minutes.
- 5
Bellingham meal kit built from 80+ Pacific Northwest farms, packed and hand-delivered the same day across the Seattle, Portland and Bellingham areas.
- 6
Billings seafood retailer selling frozen seafood boil kits, ready-to-bake dinners and wild-caught fish, shipped by UPS and FedEx to the lower 48 states.
- 7
Monthly sets of 10 hand-prepped raw freezer meals for the slow cooker or flat top, from $199 a set, shipped frozen on dry ice anywhere in the US.
- 8
Budget cook-at-home meal kit with 100+ recipes a week, 2-person or 4-person plans of 3 to 6 meals, and meals from $5.99 per serving.
- 9
Meal kits with the prep already done, so sauces and slow-roasted meats arrive ready and dinner takes about 15 minutes, delivered across the contiguous US except Montana.
- 10
Independent Minneapolis meal kit at $13.75 per serving, with scratch-made sauces and a seasonal weekly menu, delivered free in the Twin Cities and across the Upper Midwest.
- 11
Weekly meal kit with 100+ menu items, prepared meals and a Market, launched in 2016, with up to $329 off the first 5 boxes and skip, pause or cancel anytime.
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Dietitian-built freezer meals, assembled raw and frozen for your slow cooker or pressure cooker, delivered across the Intermountain West from about $3.48 per serving.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a standard meal kit and a freezer meal service?
Standard meal kits provide pre-portioned ingredients for you to cook fresh in 20 to 45 minutes. Freezer meal services deliver hand-prepped raw meals that you store in the freezer for later use in a slow cooker or pressure cooker.
Are there any budget-friendly meal kit options available?
Yes, several services offer low-cost plans starting as low as $5.99 per serving. Some of these options also provide a wide variety of weekly recipes for different household sizes.
Can I find meal kits that cater to specific dietary needs like keto or gluten-free?
Some services specialize in specific dietary plans including keto, plant-based, gluten-free, and Mediterranean. Other providers offer dietitian-built meals designed specifically for slow cooker or pressure cooker use.
Do any meal kit services offer faster cooking times by doing some of the prep work?
Some kits arrive with sauces and slow-roasted meats already prepared so you can finish dinner in about 15 minutes. Other services offer pre-prepped ingredients to help you get dinner on the table in roughly 30 minutes.
Which services deliver to my local area if I live in a specific region?
Delivery areas vary widely. Some services ship nationwide, while others focus on specific regions like the Pacific Northwest, the Twin Cities, the Intermountain West, or the lower 48 states.