The 5 best meal delivery services in 2024, tested and reviewed

side by side of a meal from Mosaic, one in the packaging and the other on a plate.
The best prepared meal delivery services bring restaurant-quality dishes to your table with minimal effort. Lily Alig/Insider

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After a long day of work, the last thing you want to deal with is figuring out dinner. The best meal delivery services offer delicious, nutritious meals in a matter of minutes with little or no preparation on your part. They are much more affordable than takeout and are faster and easier than even the best meal kits.

We taste-tested 84 meals and snacks from 12 brands to find the best meal delivery services. We both tested Factor and agree that it's the best overall. It had the best texture and flavor, stored easily, and had good portion sizes. For a budget option, consider Daily Harvest, with most meals costing less than $10, and you can pick from affordable à la carte options, including soups, smoothies, lattes, and more.

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The top picks for best meal delivery services

Best overall: Factor
Factor's meals were the most delicious that we tested, reheating with minimal loss of texture or flavor.

Best allergen-friendly: Sunbasket
If you have food allergies or stick to a specific diet, Sunbasket is your best bet with its selection of meals for a range of food restrictions. 

Best cheap: Daily Harvest
While a bit more expensive than some other services (and still not exactly budget-friendly), Daily Harvest offers the best value because it has the most flexible plans and customizable boxes, in addition to nutritious and filling meals.

Best vegetarian: Mosaic
Mosaic meals are so flavorful and filling that I forgot they were entirely plant-based.

Best for beginners: Tovala
Tovala meals are among the best we've tasted and are easy to make with minimal prep, as long as you have the proprietary toaster oven.

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Best overall: Factor

Two meals from Factor: blackened Mahi Mahi with pineapple salsa (left) artichoke and spinach grilled chicken (right).
Two meals from Factor: blackened Mahi Mahi with pineapple salsa (left) artichoke and spinach grilled chicken (right). Lily Alig/Insider

Pros: Good portion sizes, multiple protein options, meals are low carb (if that's your thing)

Cons: Limited allergy-friendly options, meals are low carb (if that's not your thing)

Even though Factor was one of the last services we tested, it quickly rose to the top of our list. Simply put, these meals tasted great and were reasonably priced.  

Factor doesn't have a huge vegetarian or vegan selection – they offer about three dishes per menu. The calorie smart and keto options are much more fleshed out. In general, the meals tend to be protein forward (with generously-sized protein portions) and lower in starches and carbs.

Factor meals don't come frozen and are meant to be eaten within seven days of arriving, but they are freezer-friendly. I froze half of the meals with reasonable success – the garlic pork tenderloin was not tough or flavorless after defrosting, but the accompanying asiago cauliflower mash was a little watery. 

One of the reasons Factor meals were so successful is because the chefs clearly recognize the limitations of reheated food. The prepared meals featured foods that do well when microwaved or frozen, like creamed spinach, polenta, and shrimp in a cream sauce. None of the meals featured crunchy elements, a texture almost impossible to maintain in a microwave. This resulted in an overall more successful menu, showing that microwaved food can be healthy and diverse.  

Factor has a rotating weekly menu, and they add two to three new meals every rotation. I liked that the packages were easy to store, all the same size and flat on the top and bottom. The heating instructions were the same for each meal. From frozen, I just added three to six more minutes to the microwave time.

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Best allergen-friendly: Sunbasket

Side by side of two meals from Sunbasket
Two meals from Sunbasket: Beef Stroganoff (left) and Sichuan dan dan noodles (right) James Brains/Business Insider

Pros: Allergy and dietary restriction friendly, good portion sizes, can choose a mix of prepared meals and kits, freezes well, easy storage

Cons: Could have a larger menu

Sunbasket is our pick for individuals on special diets in our guide to the best meal kits. Its focus on providing allergen-sensitive options carries over to its recently launched prepared meals. Most meals are gluten-free, but you can also pick from paleo, Mediterranean, vegetarian, carb-conscious, pescatarian, diabetes-friendly, and keto-friendly options.

You can choose a plan with 4 to 10 meals a week delivered fresh to your door. There's a rotating selection of meal options, and each meal comes with one serving that I found was plenty to fill me up. I liked that you can mix and match prepared meals and meal kits in the same box, giving you options when you feel like cooking.

For a fresh meal, the Sunbasket prepared meals took a little longer in the microwave than other brands, about five minutes. Yet, the results were simply delicious. My favorite was the vegan Sichuan dan dan noodles that I microwaved from frozen. I was blown away by how spot-on the texture was when it came out, though it was slightly under salted. 

The meals stack easily in your fridge or freezer and reheat well in the microwave or oven. I didn't notice any degradation in quality after freezing.

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Best cheap: Daily Harvest

Two meals from Daily Harvest: a strawberry and peach smoothie (left) and a sweet potato and wild rice bowl (right).
Two meals from Daily Harvest: a strawberry and peach smoothie (left) and a sweet potato and wild rice bowl (right). Lily Alig/Insider

Pros: Allergy sensitive, large menu, snacks and meals available

Cons: Smaller portions

Daily Harvest has one of the most well-rounded menus for being entirely vegan. Though the menu doesn't rotate, getting through all 28 smoothies, 24 harvest bowls, and the other nine menu categories will take a while before you start repeating. The offerings range from plant-based "mylks" to flatbreads and soups. 

I sampled two smoothies, two harvest bowls, an oat bowl, a soup, and a pint of snack bites. Both of the smoothies had well-balanced flavors. The fruit was cut into small pieces that blended easily, and the texture was thick enough to make it a light breakfast or a satisfying snack instead of just a fruit drink. 

Overall, the Daily Harvest portions were smaller than those of other services. The oat, chia, and forager bowls are about the same size, more like hearty snacks than meals. The harvest bowls, flatbreads, and soups have larger portions. The meals contain nutritional powerhouses, like gigante beans, kale, and even nutritional yeast. However, after trying two harvest bowls, I'm not sure if someone with a big appetite would be satisfied after one. 

Each item has a set price, so the total price is based on what you put in your box. The smallest box is six, but there are discounts for larger orders. Daily Harvest is adaptable because there are minimum order quantities but not prices. You could fill a 14-item box with forager bowls, oat bowls, and chia bowls for less than $80. Not to mention, shipping is always free.

Editors note: Daily Harvest has recalled the French Lentil and Leek Crumble meals. If you received those meals, Daily Harvest will have emailed you about this issue. 

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Best vegetarian: Mosaic

Two meals from Mosaic: Italian "sausage" and pumpkin lasagna (left) and mac & greens (right).
Two meals from Mosaic: Italian "sausage" and pumpkin lasagna (left) and mac & greens (right). Lily Alig/Insider

Pros: Multiple portion size options, variety of flavors and cuisine styles 

Cons: Some texture issues, soup had a burnt flavor

I'm not vegan, but I would order a Mosaic box for myself anyway. The flavors were vibrant and the textures weren't majorly altered by the freezing process. Out of all the services I tested, one of the few meals that really wowed me was Mosaic's gouda and sausage oat bowl. I have always been wary of savory oatmeal, but the balance of the salty toppings with the sweeter oats was perfect.  

Many of Mosaic's meals reheat in the microwave, but some of the family meals, like the veggie pot pie, come in aluminum baking dishes that can't be microwaved and instead require an hour or more in the oven. It's not exactly ready to eat when you have to preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and cook something for an hour, though still basically no-prep. I put the veggie pot pie in the oven, did yoga and vacuumed, and then I had a delicious meal waiting for me and no clean-up. The pot pie was well-seasoned and filling.

Mosaic also has partnerships with gourmet chefs. The Mac and Greens dish was created by Chef Greg Baxtrom, of Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Olmstead, but this was actually the dish that fell flat for me. Reheated vegetables will always lose some crunch, so this dish turned out a bit mushy. 

I like the ordering interface a lot. It shows your cart on the side with the order minimum, adjusting as you add meals. This is especially useful because Mosaic has five meal options with unique prices. There are icons under each meal to show you basic allergy and ingredient information, and when you click for more info, you get a pop-up window instead of leaving the page.

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Best for beginners: Tovala

side by side of Tovala Buffalo Chicken Flatbread assembly and result
The Buffalo Chicken Flatbread from Tovala requires some light prep work. James Brains/Business Insider

Pros: Good portion sizes, several protein options, plenty of allergen-friendly choices, large menu

Cons: Meals don't freeze well, not microwavable, don't store easily, some meal prep

Tovala is a unique meal delivery service: its meals are designed for use in its proprietary toaster oven, which only costs $49 when you order meals six times. Of course, you can use the Tovala oven to cook anything you make in a regular oven. In fact, it does such a good job of cooking that it earned a spot in our best air fryer toaster oven guide.

The Tovala meals aren't completely prepared, but take five minutes or less to put together. You typically cook the main ingredients, mix them together, and then add sauces and garnishes before serving. When it's time to cook, you don't actually set the toaster oven settings yourself. Each meal's prep card has a QR code the toaster oven scans to start cooking automatically — eliminating extra work and possible human errors. 

You can choose to have 4 to 16 meals delivered each week and skip a delivery at any time. There are up to 30 meal options to choose from per week, including breakfast options. The site makes filtering meals that fit your dietary and allergy needs easy.

The Tovala meals were among the best tasting in my tests. The Mie Goreng-inspired shrimp and noodles were perfect, with the texture and flavor on point. I was particularly impressed that it didn't skimp on the shrimp, a pricey protein. Two light eaters could share most of the meals: I was overstuffed when I ate the whole thing.

Tovala is not without its drawbacks. The meals aren't designed for freezing or microwaving. They're also a little annoying to store since the trays are bulky and the proteins are packaged separately. Still, this is an excellent option for people looking to dip their toe in home cooking, without much meal prep.

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How we tested prepared meal services

My fridge stacked with pre-made meals at the height of testing.
My fridge stacked with pre-made meals at the height of testing for this guide. Lily Alig/Insider

I tested 56 meals and snacks from eight different brands for this guide. We acknowledge that personal taste played a big role in our experience of these services. To counter that in our testing, we focused on less subjective measures of quality: texture, flavor and seasoning, ease of use, and price.

Texture: Reheating always has the risk of changing food's texture. Some services provide frozen or freezer-friendly meals, while others require you to eat them within a week. Either way, each service involved reheating already cooked food. We looked for unpleasantly altered textures: mushy pasta, dried-out meat, and limp vegetables.

Flavor and seasoning: Regardless of personal preference, we do not want our meals to be bland. If I felt like I needed to add salt or if I couldn't identify the main flavors, then I considered the dish under-seasoned.

Ease of use: One of the main things we considered was how much lead time a meal required. Could we heat it within minutes or did we need to preheat the oven and bake it? We also looked at how easy these meals were to store. Meals with flat bases and lids were easier to stack in a full freezer or tuck away in the fridge.

Price: We priced out each service by calculating the total cost of a box of 12 meals plus shipping to Brooklyn, NY. When services had different prices per meal, we calculated based on the same number of meals per category. For example, we priced out Daily Harvest by building a 12-item box with one item from each category and then two of the middle-priced items.

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Meal delivery service FAQs

Who should consider premade meal delivery?

If you have limited time or desire to cook or just need a quick dinner solution on busy weeks, premade meals are a great solution. Most services have flexible subscription and/or a la carte options, so you can experiment with a service and see if it suits your lifestyle. However, none of the services we tested are budget-friendly, so remember that they will be more expensive than cooking at home or meal prep.


How much does premade meal delivery cost?

Items start at $5.99 for snacks or smoothies and can go up to $20 for a full meal. This varies based on the service, but a general rule of thumb is that the more you order, the cheaper it will be per meal. Daily Harvest offers the best value of the services we tested because it has the most flexible plans and no order minimum.


What's the difference between premade and frozen meals?

Generally, both premade and frozen meals are fully cooked and then packaged with dry ice and other insulation to be safely transported. Frozen meals can be stored longer than fresh premade ones, though you can freeze some premade meals.


What are the benefits of meal delivery services?

The biggest benefit of meal delivery services is it saves time. Rather than grocery shopping and preparing a meal yourself, you just pop the meal in the microwave or oven, and it's ready within minutes. It's also a great way to get out of a rut and try new foods. You may even reduce food waste as fewer ingredients go unused in your refrigerator or pantry. Lastly, meal delivery services can be useful for portion control and nutritious eating.


Are prepared meals cheaper than going to the grocery store?

When you consider ingredients alone, prepared meals aren't really cheaper. However, a lot more goes into a meal than just the ingredients. Depending on how much you value your time, prepared meal services are worth it when you factor in the time it takes to find recipes, make a grocery list, go shopping, put the groceries away, and actually prepare the food. Another way to reduce meal prep time is to shop at one of the best online grocery stores.


How can I cancel my meal delivery service?

The process for canceling meal delivery services varies. If you're having trouble, visit the service's website and see if your question is answered in the FAQs section. If not, consider contacting customer service. Generally, you must log into your account, click on account or plan settings, and select pause or deactivate your account. 


Which company is best for people with allergies?

Sunbasket is our pick for people with allergies because you can easily find meals to suit your needs. However, Territory Foods is also great because its meals are free of gluten, dairy, and refined sugars. We didn't include Territory in our guide because it's expensive, and the texture and flavor of its meals were among the worst in our tests.

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