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The best meal delivery services are convenient for families and households wanting to save time on grocery shopping or by having oven-ready meals with minimal preparation time. Also, these services can provide high-quality ingredients along with options for those with specific dietary needs or restrictions. 

Still, some of these services can be expensive. For those needing budget-friendly choices, we’re here to give you our picks for the cheapest meal delivery services. 

We’ve tested over 40 meal delivery services and counting to provide you with our expert opinions as certified personal trainers and nutrition coaches. Along with this, we’ve talked to registered dietitian, Perry Nix, RD, on her thoughts on these meal delivery services. Read on to see our favorite affordable meal delivery services.

Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. For health advice, contact a licensed healthcare provider.

The 9 Cheapest Meal Delivery Services

  • Best Overall Meal Delivery on a Budget: Dinnerly
  • Cheapest Meal Delivery for Groceries: Hungryroot
  • Best Meal Delivery on a Budget for Weight Loss: Trifecta
  • Best Meal Kits on a Budget: HelloFresh
  • Best Plant-Based Meal Delivery on a Budget: Purple Carrot
  • Cheapest Meal Delivery Service for Singles: Sunbasket
  • Cheapest Meal Delivery Service for Breakfast: Daily Harvest
  • Best Meal Delivery on a Budget for Families: Home Chef
  • Best Prepared Meals Meal Delivery on a Budget: Clean Eatz

Best Overall Meal Delivery on a Budget: Dinnerly

Good for: People looking for an inexpensive meal kit service with quality ingredients

Best Overall

Dinnerly

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GGR Score: 4

Product Highlights

  • Meal delivery kit with fresh ingredients
  • Over 100 recipes to choose from
  • Flexible subscription
  • Prices start around $11 per meal

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Fresh ingredients
  • Recipe cards for easy preparation
  • Edit, pause, or cancel subscription at any time
  • Ability to choose your delivery day of the week

Cons

  • Fresh ingredients need to be cooked within 4 days of delivery
  • Meal selection only after signing up and entering payment information

Bottom Line

Skip the food shopping and the chopping—Dinnerly is a meal kit service that sends you fresh ingredients right to your door with most of the food preparation already done. You’ll need to sign up and provide credit card information before browsing the menu and making your selection. Meals start around $11, but the more meals in your weekly subscription, you’ll receive a slight price break.

Our pick for best overall cheapest meal delivery service goes to Dinnerly. Depending on the number of meals you order, meal kits can cost as little as $4.99 per serving, but will only be $8.04 at most—not including shipping. Additionally, Dinnerly provides a market where you can purchase premade meals and food groceries, as well. 

There’s a good amount of variety according to our tester, GGR senior editor Nicole Davis, CPT, PN1-NC, who tried it for two weeks. Within that time frame, meals rotated to new selections already.

Woman making turkey taquitos from Dinnerly

The meal kits were a hit for Nicole, who tried the turkey taquitos and pastrami-crusted steak with an everything bagel potato; they were both delicious to her. Still, the premade meals weren’t her favorite, with her saying, “This tasted like a Lean Cuisine to be honest. It has better ingredient quality and definitely less sodium than a TV dinner, but with very similar taste vibes.”

Our expert dietitian Perry Nix, RD, likes that Dinnerly provides affordable meals to avoid going out to eat, which improves our diet as well as saving money. However, the ingredients aren’t organic, which may deter some people. 

She clarifies, “Most of the fruits and vegetables delivered by Dinnerly are conventional, which may be a dealbreaker for those who prefer eating organic foods. While organic farming may be better for the environment, organic food isn’t more nutrient-dense than conventionally grown food.” So if this isn’t a dealbreaker, many people will enjoy this affordable meal service.

Read our full Dinnerly review for more information.

Price per servingStarts at $4.99 per serving
Type (meal kit or prepared)Meal kits, prepared meals
Meals per weekUp to 6
Delivery area Most of the contiguous U.S.

Cheapest Meal Delivery for Groceries: Hungryroot

Good for: Those who want groceries plus the occasional meal delivered

Cheapest for Groceries

Hungryroot

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GGR Score: 4.4

Product Highlights

  • Grocery delivery meets meal kit
  • Meal delivery service that sends you ingredients based on recipes you like
  • Many recipes only take 10 minutes to prepare
  • Starts at $70 per box

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Simple and quick
  • Caters to many styles of eating
  • Can add on groceries to your order

Cons

  • You do have to cook
  • Have to meet plan minimum each week (though you can adjust your minimum on a weekly basis)

Bottom Line

Hungryroot offers a unique take on meal delivery, in that you find a recipe you like, and the company will send you all of the ingredients to make it. There are many options for types of food to choose from, and you can even order extra groceries that you might need as well. You do have to cook though, so if that's not interesting to you, this won't be the right plan.

If you’re looking for variety and customization in your meal plans, look no further than Hungryroot. This feels less like a meal service and more like grocery shopping, according to GGR head of content and certified personal trainer Kate Meier, who tested out Hungryroot. After filling out a questionnaire, you’re able to completely customize your cart and meals, and it all ends up costing around $10 a meal.

The ease of prep was fantastic for a meal kit service, according to Kate. “I set a timer for the meals I cooked…The first one only had me prepping for about 10 minutes, then was maybe 12 minutes to bake. But it was so easy—not a lot of chopping, because everything is prepackaged and ready to throw in a skillet.” 

Hungryroot Food In One Delivery

There is an abundance of variety with Hungryroot, particularly for those with dietary restrictions. Perry Nix, RD, says, “They include groceries and recipes made without common food allergens like soy, nuts, shellfish, and eggs, which is hard to find in other meal service plans.” Along with this, they have quite a few vegetarian and vegan options available, too.

While Hungryroot tries to be your one stop for meals and groceries, Perry does note that you’ll have to grab some essentials from the store, like milk and eggs. Also, Kate was a bit overwhelmed by the initial quiz at the start—asking lots of questions before you even get to see the meal options. Nevertheless, this is a solid service that provides high-quality ingredients for a relatively inexpensive price.

Our Hungryroot review has more information.

Price per servingAbout $10
Type (meal kit or prepared)Meal kits
Meals per week16
Delivery area Contiguous U.S.

Best Meal Delivery on a Budget for Weight Loss: Trifecta

Good for: Those looking to hit calorie targets in an easy way

Best for Weight Loss

Trifecta

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GGR Score: 4.1

Product Highlights

  • Meal plans or bulk meal options available
  • All food is pre-made and arrives fresh (but you can freeze it)
  • Six different menu plans, including clean, Whole30, paleo, keto, high-protein vegan, and high-protein vegetarian
  • Meals are delivered weekly, but you can cancel anytime
  • High-quality ingredients, with a focus on organic, locally sourced, and sustainable ingredients whenever possible

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Several types of meal plans available
  • Can also choose a bulk meal prep option
  • Can get breakfasts as well as entrees
  • The company prioritizes high-quality ingredients
  • Some customization available

Cons

  • Expensive, but ingredients are high-quality
  • Limited personalization available

Bottom Line

Trifecta combines convenience with healthy eating. While all meals are pre-cooked and pre-portioned, the ingredients are high-quality and preservative-free.

Spending about $15 per meal might not seem like a budget option, but the convenience that you get from Trifecta, especially on a weight loss journey, will be worth the money for some. 

RELATED: Best Weight Loss Programs

You can choose from five different meal plans on Trifecta, including Clean Meals, Keto Meals, and Paleo, and most of them are geared toward those on a weight loss journey. You’ll find the macros listed on the outside of the package, and many of the meals hover around 400 calories, offering a good balance of lean protein, complex carbs, and veggies. We rated portion size a 5 out of 5 for those looking for a calorie-controlled option.

Trifecta Meals

Although Trifecta suggests heating the meals on your stovetop for optimal taste, our tester, GGR senior director of content and competitive weightlifter Kate Meier, found the microwave worked just fine as well, rating ease of preparation a 5 out of 5. “Meal prepping can help you achieve a more chiseled physique, but it’s tedious and time-consuming,” explains Perry Nix, R.D. “Using a service like Trifecta takes the struggle out of meal prepping for body composition goals.”

Trifecta Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Kate thought the ingredients tasted fresh and appreciated the variety of options available. Her favorite meal was the breakfast egg scramble, but she also enjoyed the salmon and the chicken and broccoli casserole, rating taste a 4 out of 5. “Overall, I really like the convenience and macro-targeting that Trifecta offers,” Kate says. 

Read our full Trifecta Meal Delivery review for more thoughts. 

Price per meal$15
Type (meal kit or prepared)Prepared
Meals per week7, 10, or 14
Delivery area Nationwide
Examples of meals we triedEgg Scramble and Potato, Salmon, Sweet Potato, Mixed Vegetables, and Beef Patty, Sweet Potato, Mixed Vegetables

Best Meal Kits on a Budget: HelloFresh

Good for: Consumers looking for meal kits with good variety

Best Meal Kits

HelloFresh

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GGR Score: 4.1

Product Highlights

  • Meal service that delivers ingredients and recipes
  • 6 different plans available, including vegan and pescatarian options
  • Can swap out different proteins and sides
  • Can purchase between 2 and 6 meals, in portions to feed 2 or 4 people
  • 40 weekly recipes to choose from
  • Sourced from U.S. farmers

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Saves on meal-prepping
  • Can swap out ingredients
  • Chef-curated recipes
  • Sourced from U.S. farmers
  • 6 meal plans to choose from

Cons

  • Customer reviews complain about ingredient inconsistencies
  • Some reviews claim meal portions are small

Bottom Line

HelloFresh is a subscription meal delivery service that provides ingredients and recipes for weekly meals. They provide six different plans, including plant-based, pescatarian, and quick and easy meals. Additionally, 40 different recipes are available each week, and proteins and sides can be swapped out as needed. The subscription is flexible, as you can skip a week, pause, or cancel your account at any time.

If you’ve ever heard of a meal kit delivery service before, it was probably our pick for the best inexpensive meal kit, HelloFresh. Constantly promoted on social media by ads and influencers, this meal delivery service will deliver meals that are $8.99 per serving, but what’s really enticing is the promotional discount with your first box, dropping the price to as low as $3.99 a serving. 

Meal kits include ingredients and recipe cards, and you prep and cook your meals for two people or four.

Our product tester, Ashley Little, has used HelloFresh for several years, and enjoys the ease of ordering and customizing your weekly meals. “If you don’t select meals, HelloFresh will automatically pick some for you,” she says in our HelloFresh review. “It’s very easy to swap meals, add extra meals, swap proteins with meals, and add on additional products such as snacks, protein, and desserts.”

Hello Fresh Spaghetti Meal

There is quite a bit of customization, an aspect that appealed to dietitian Perry Nix, RD, as well, particularly for family-friendly options. “As a mom of two young children it can be difficult to find nutritious meals that everyone will eat. Also, since you cook these meals at home, the kids can help prepare their meals, which inspires them to taste new foods.”

Ashley does note that sometimes the fresh ingredients aren’t as fresh as she’d like them to be, particularly with some of the veggies. Also, while HelloFresh offers a pescatarian option, there aren’t any other meal plans that cater to specific dietary needs. Still, with its low price and discounts, this meal service is worth a shot.

Price per servingStarts at $8.99
Type (meal kit or prepared)Meal kits
Meals per week4 to 24
Delivery area Contiguous U.S.

Best Plant-Based Meal Delivery on a Budget: Purple Carrot

Good for: Those looking for inexpensive plant-based meals to cook at home

Best Plant-Based

Purple Carrot

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GGR Score: 4

Product Highlights

  • Vegan meal kits and prepared meals
  • Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and pantry items available
  • Boxes ship weekly
  • Quick prep options (meals that take less than 25 minutes)
  • Most non-produce items are organic

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Has meal kits and prepared meals
  • Can choose from the whole menu
  • All meals and snacks are available
  • Menus change weekly

Cons

  • Can’t mix and match meal types
  • No option for add-on proteins
  • Maxes out at 4 meals per week
  • Limited meal choices

Bottom Line

Purple Carrot offers vegan meal kits and prepared meals. There are no specific meal plans, but you can choose from the full menu, which includes breakfasts, lunches, dinners and “plantry” items—add-on products like brownie bites and salad dressing. You can’t mix and match meal types, though.

From $11 to $13 per serving, Purple Carrot is a pretty good deal compared to other plant-based meal delivery options like Sakara Life or Sprinly, and it’s also delicious. 

For that per meal price, you’ll either get a meal kit prepped with everything you need to cook your own vegan meal at home, or a ready-made meal that you’ll just heat and eat. 

Purple Carrot Meal Ingredients

Our tester, GGR performance editor Anthony O’Reilly, went with all meal kits and was impressed. While he’s not vegan, he enjoys plant-based food, and thought the recipes were quite good. “The ingredients were fresh and I thought everything tasted really good! My favorite was the sloppy Joe (with tofu instead of meat).” Anthony rated taste a 5 out of 5. He also rated portion size a 4 out of 5, saying that he always felt full after a meal. 

Perry Nix, the R.D. who analyzed Purple Carrot for us, gives the service props for making plant-based eating accessible. “A plant-based diet can help reduce inflammation and decrease your risk of developing a chronic disease,” Perry explains. “The company uses seasonal ingredients so you can add new foods into your rotation without ever getting bored.”

Anthony’s one big note was about preparation. While most of the required little work, he thought the instructions might be too simplified for those who don’t know their way around the kitchen. “It was missing steps that I’d consider crucial to the cooking process—something as simple as dry-patting tofu before cooking it was omitted.” For that reason, ease of prep gets a 3 out of 5 score. 

Read our full Purple Carrot review for more information.

Price per meal$11-$13.25
Type (meal kit or prepared)Both
Meals per week3 or 4
Delivery area Contiguous U.S. (excluding HI and AK)
Examples of meals we triedTofu sloppy Joe 

Cheapest Meal Delivery Service for Singles: Sunbasket

Good for: Those cooking for one who like leftovers

Best for Singles

Sunbasket

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GGR Score: 3.76

Product Highlights

  • Meal kits and prepared meals
  • Paleo, soy-free, dairy-free, diabetes-friendly, and vegan options available
  • Can add snacks and extra proteins to your box
  • Cooked breakfast options available
  • Meal kits serve two to four

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Caters to many allergens and preferences
  • Can order breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus snacks
  • A la carte proteins available
  • Offers both meal kits and prepared meals
  • Most produce is organic

Cons

  • Can’t mix and match meal types
  • Meal kit caps at five dinners per week

Bottom Line

Sunbasket is an organic meal delivery service that offers meal kits and prepared meals. There are many allergen-friendly meal options available, and options to add extra protein and cooked breakfasts a la carte. You can’t mix and match meal types, but you can switch off each week if you want.

When GGR senior director of content and competitive weightlifter Kate Meier was cooking for one a few years ago, she tried Sunbasket and really enjoyed her experience. And starting at $10 per meal, the price is right. 

“Most of their portion sizes at the time were for at least two meals, but I love leftovers, so I would just make dinner for one night and eat the leftovers at lunch at work the next day,” Kate explains. “However, It did limit my choices a little while I looked through the menu because I had to figure out what would be great reheated the next day—things like salads dont always stay that fresh, you know?”

Ingredients for a Sunbasket steak and veggies meal

Despite that, we rated variety as a 4.5 out of 5, as our other tester, former GGR senior staff writer Amanda Capritto, said that the choices between the meal kits and fresh-and-ready meals was impressive. “You could easily use this subscription for several months without getting bored.”

Also, while Amanda thought some of the meals could use more spice and seasoning, Kate found them to be fine just the way they were, so we landed at a 3.75 out of 5 for taste. 

We like the flexibility of the a la carte ordering for singles as well, which you don’t find with many other meal delivery services. You can choose between meal kits and prepared meals so you’re ready for whatever life affords you time for. 

Read our full Sunbasket review for more information.

Price per meal$10-$14
Type (meal kit or prepared)Both
Meals per week2 minimum
Delivery area Most of the United States, excluding AK, HI, MT, ND, and parts of New Mexico
Examples of meals we triedPulled pork sliders, linguica with vegetables, sirloin tips 

Cheapest Meal Delivery Service for Breakfast: Daily Harvest

Good for: A light breakfast jam-packed with nutritious ingredients

Best for Breakfast

Daily Harvest

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GGR Score: 3.8

Product Highlights

  • Frozen plant-based meal delivery service 
  • Smoothies, grain bowls, flatreads, and soups
  • Plant-based milk options available
  • Recyclable packaging

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Frozen, nutrient-dense food
  • High fiber content
  • Free shipping
  • Ability to skip a week and modify delivery schedule
  • Manage your account on the iOS app or website

Cons

  • Will not satisfy high-protein diets
  • Some meal are under 300 calories

Bottom Line

Daily Harvest is a plant-based frozen meal delivery service that will provide you wholesome, nutrient-dense meals and snacks. The menu is made up of low-calorie smoothies, grain bowls, flatbreads, and soups. If you’re looking for a meal delivery service that supports high-protein diets, this is not the subscription plan for you.

If you like a light, nutritious breakfast filled with fruits, veggies, and lots of oats, considering Daily Harvest. At between $6.79 and $8.49 for breakfast, you can enjoy breakfast bowls that have a base of oatmeal and are filled with fruits and seeds, like the Pineapple + Passion Fruit bowl or the Apple + Cinnamon bowl, or smoothies like Mint + Cacao, Cherry + Almond, or Mango + Greens. 

Daily Harvest Smoothies

If you’re pressed for time in the morning, Daily Harvest breakfast would be a good option—while you’ll have to use a blender to prepare the smoothies, the oat bowls just go right in the microwave, so we gave preparation a 4 out of 5. 

RELATED: Daily Harvest vs Sakara Life

In terms of taste, our tester Amanda Capritto, former GGR senior staff writer and triathlete, really enjoys the smoothies, saying that they seemed like the freshest and highest-quality of all the options. The oat bowls were just OK in her opinion, but she would order just the smoothies again for sure. We gave Daily Harvest breakfast options a 3.75 out of 5.

Lastly, in terms of portion size, we rate Daily Harvest a 3 out of 5—Amanda did not feel these meals were enough for her in and of themselves and preferred to eat them as snacks. However, if you prefer a lighter breakfast, Daily Harvest is a viable option. 

Price per meal$6.79-$8.49 for breakfast
Type (meal kit or prepared)Prepared
Meals per week9, 14, or 24
Delivery area Most of the continental U.S.
Examples of meals we tried

Best Meal Delivery on a Budget for Families: Home Chef

Good for: Cooking for a big group without breaking the bank

Best for Families

Home Chef

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GGR Score: 4.1

Product Highlights

  • Can choose from meal kits, pre-made meals, or grill-ready ingredients
  • Recipes can accommodate two, four or six people, and you can get up to six meals per week
  • No specific meal plans, but you can narrow down your choices
  • Menu changes weekly, with up to 30 meals to choose from
  • Requires a subscription, but you can cancel or skip a week anytime

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Menu changes weekly to prevent food boredom
  • Options for meal kits or pre-made meals
  • Can skip a week if you don’t need a delivery
  • Can accommodate larger groups and families (many meal delivery services cap out at four servings per recipe)
  • Reasonably priced

Cons

  • Doesn’t accommodate a lot of dietary restrictions
  • Options can be limited if you’re on a specific diet
  • Requires a subscription (that you can skip or cancel, but you have to remember)

Bottom Line

Home Chef is a meal delivery service that gives you options between meal kits, heat-and-eat meals, and grill-ready selections. It does require a subscription, but you can cancel any time or skip a week if you don’t want a shipment.

Ranging from as low as $6.99 per serving up to about $12, Home Chef is a great budget option for families. Not only does each family meal have 4 servings, but it’s also easy to double up to 8 servings per meal if you’re cooking for a big bunch.

Both of our testers had basically only good things to say about Home Chef, rating taste as a 5 out of 5. 

“I’m obsessed with Home Chef,” says GGR senior director of content Kate Meier. “I’ve been using Home Chef for about six months, getting two to three meals a week almost every week. In that time, there’s only been one or two meals that I wasn’t crazy about. I started a binder where I keep recipes of the meals I love, because it’s not that hard to recreate them if you go shopping on your own.”

Honey butter pork chops from the Home Chef meal delivery service.

Our testers also thought the portion sizes were perfect, rating them a perfect 5 out of 5, plus variety also gets a perfect score. “When I look every week, there are always at least five meals that are super appealing to me,” Kate says.

Although it’s easy to filter meals based on preparation when you’re ordering, you should know that most Home Chef meals require decent prep—think dicing and seasoning—as well as cook time and clean-up time. There are under-30 minute options available if you’re on more of a time crunch, though.   

Read our Home Chef review for more information.

Price per meal$6.99-$12 
Type (meal kit or prepared)Both
Meals per week2-6
Delivery area Nationwide
Examples of meals we triedEverything Bagel Crusted Chicken, One-Pan Turkey Burrito Skillet, Crispy Pepper Shrimp, One-Pan Greek-Style Sirloin Steak Salad, Vietnamese-Style Caramelized Turkey Lettuce Wraps, Mushroom and Steak Risotto, and One-Pan Steakhouse Sirloin

Best Prepared Meal Delivery on a Budget: Clean Eatz

Good for: Inexpensive prepared meal delivery with quality ingredients

Best Prepared Meals

Clean Eatz

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GGR Score: 4

Product Highlights

  • Budget-conscious frozen meals
  • Healthy meals all under 600 calories
  • Variety of meal plans including high protein, keto, gluten free
  • Order meals in increments of 6

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Budget-friendly price point
  • Flash frozen to preserve freshness
  • Order as little as 6 meals at a time
  • No subscriptions

Cons

  • No customizations to menu or meals
  • Meals only last up to 6 months in freezer

Bottom Line

Clean Eatz is a meal delivery service that won’t break the bank or over-complicate your health and wellness goals—including weight loss and adding muscle size. There are no subscriptions, you can order at the frequency to like. Meals are reasonably priced at $7.99 and you can order in increments of six meals at a time. There is a $5 shipping charge for orders under $85.

Our favorite prepared meal delivery on a budget is Clean Eatz. With a few exceptions, meals are $7.99 apiece, and ordering off the website is pretty easy, although Chloe Ekberg, our tester and GGR’s senior strategist, noted that the customizations were limited after you picked your meal plan.

Clean Eatz allows you to pick six meals from their meal plans—including keto, high-protein, and gluten-free plans—and then a quantity of these six-meal packs. Chloe remarks, “Lots of options for the type of plan you want to choose but less options for customization once you choose the plan.” With that said, Chloe found the meals provided to be delicious and made with high-quality, fresh ingredients.

Clean Eatz packaging

Expert dietitian Perry Nix believes this may be a good meal service to go with for people looking to build muscle, saying, “Most Clean Eatz meals contain between 20 and 40 grams of protein, which is the recommended amount per meal to maximize muscle protein synthesis.” If you’re looking for an affordable way to meet your protein needs, this may be one way to get some more high-protein foods into your diet.

Only being able to choose six meals at a time with limited variety might not be what some are looking for; still, with a decent amount of protein in each meal and delicious ingredients, Clean Eatz provides good value at a pretty low price.

Price per serving$7.99
Type (meal kit or prepared)Prepared meals
Meals per week6 at a time
Delivery area Nationwide

Other Cheap Meal Delivery Services We Researched

There are many options when it comes to meal delivery services, and still quite a few if you’re trying to find one to fit your budget. Not every meal service we tried made our top picks; here are a few honorable mentions we tested:

  • EveryPlate: With meals as low as $4.99 per serving, we have to mention EveryPlate. GGR editor and certified nutrition coach Erin Chancer enjoyed EveryPlate in her experience, although occasionally produce arrived past its prime, and packaged chicken went bad if left for the end of the week.
  • Marley Spoon: With a good initial discount and discounts for bulk orders, Marley Spoon can be an inexpensive option for meal delivery services. Still, GGR performance editor, certified nutrition coach, and personal trainer Anthony O’Reilly was unimpressed with the service, as he had multiple issues with the quality of ingredients, as well as portion sizes.
  • Nurture Life: This service for kids meals is rather inexpensive, ranging from $6.49 to $7.49, depending on how many meals you want. However, GGR social media manager Brittany Combs found the quality of ingredients and meals a little inconsistent.
  • Blue Apron: We think Blue Apron and Home Chef are fairly comparable, but Home Chef wins out on price and taste.
  • Diet-to-Go: Although these meals are very budget-friendly, they were very hit or miss on taste.
  • Fresh N’ Lean: We really enjoyed Fresh N’ Lean meals, but this company no longer exists as of August 2024.

How We Picked and Tested the Cheapest Meal Delivery Services

Obviously, one of the biggest factors we accounted for on these meal delivery services was the price that these meal services brought to the table (pun intended). Because you’re buying multiple meals for the week, we accounted for the price per serving, which will vary depending on the number of meals you order. 

For the most part, we tried to keep this cost low, and didn’t account for specials for first-time buyers. Most meals we picked had options under $10 a meal, although prices also tend to be a little higher for prepared meals over meal kits.

A few of the other variables we looked at were:

  • Ordering: When ordering online, how easy is the process? We accounted for how our options were laid out, and the ease of customization for our meal order.
  • Taste: This is subjective, but we looked at our own experience with the flavor of these meals, along with customer reviews online to determine a score here.
  • Ease of preparation: Depending on the service, there can be a variety of times needed to prepare these meals. Some are fully prepared and just need to be microwaved, while others require you to prepare and cook these meals.
  • Portion size and ingredients: We made sure meals felt filling enough and that the ingredients were high-quality and nutritious.
  • Variety and customization: We looked at the variety of options available each week, as well as the ability to customize meal plans and orders. The best meal delivery services tend to have a good variety and allow some customization to your order.
  • Sustainability: What sustainable efforts are being made by the company? We accounted for recyclable packaging, as well as sustainable farming practices and sourcing foods locally.

Benefits of Cheap Meal Delivery Services

There are more benefits to an inexpensive meal service besides the money. You can still have many of the benefits of meal services while staying on budget.

Saves Money

Finding a meal delivery service that fits in your budget will help you save money. You buy just the meals you need at affordable prices, and can save on the cost of a grocery run in many cases.

Saves Time

Meal prep for the week can take up a lot of time, which is a huge perk of meal delivery services. Meal kits provide just the right amount of ingredients for your meals, with many ingredients prepared already, so it minimizes the time needed to prepare and cook meals. Additionally, prepared meals can just be put in an oven or microwave to heat up, virtually eliminating prep time completely.

Great for Special Diets

Many meal services provide plans and options for people with specific dietary restrictions or needs. If you’re looking for dairy-free or gluten-free options, many services provide options, or specify which meals adhere to those needs. Also, anyone following keto, low-carb, paleo, vegan, or pescatarian diets will often find options through meal delivery services. This takes out a lot of the hassle of having to find the right meals for your exact needs.

Reduces Food Waste

Often at the grocery store, you may have to purchase more food than you want or need for the week, like purchasing a bag of onions when you only need one. Many meal delivery companies provide only the needed amount of produce, meat, and ingredients for recipes, so you won’t waste any ingredients. Plus, many meal services source their ingredients sustainably through local organic farmers, which also impacts the environment in a positive way.

Buying Guide for Cheap Meal Delivery Services

We’ve already discussed many things to look for in meal delivery services, especially if you’re looking to save money. With trying to be frugal with your money, here are some things to look out for:

  • Decide between meal kits or prepared meals. While prepared meals can be more convenient with less preparation, meal kits will often be a little cheaper per serving.
  • Be on the lookout for any meal plans you may want to consider, whether it be low-calorie, carb-conscious meals, or something else.
  • Remember that many meal services become cheaper per serving the more meals you purchase. If it makes sense for your budget and your household, try to take advantage of those bulk discounts.
  • Many affordable meal kits and prepared meal delivery services have additional discounts for your first order. If you’re new to the meal service, use these sales and promo codes.
  • Although meal services are convenient, the wrong one can get monotonous. Try to find a meal service that provides a bit of variety in their weekly menu.

Cheapest Meal Delivery Services: FAQs

What is the most economical home meal delivery service?

Many meal delivery services offer a first-time discount, which can vary depending on the company. These discounts can be substantial, although prices may jump back up after a bit of use. Here are a few of our best picks for meal services that offer consistently inexpensive meal options:

Best Overall Meal Delivery on a Budget: Dinnerly
Cheapest Meal Delivery for Groceries: Hungryroot
Best Meal Delivery on a Budget for Weight Loss: Trifecta
Best Meal Kits on a Budget: HelloFresh
Best Plant-Based Meal Delivery on a Budget: Purple Carrot
Cheapest Meal Delivery Service for Singles: Sunbasket
Cheapest Meal Delivery Service for Breakfast: Daily Harvest
Best Meal Delivery on a Budget for Families: Home Chef
Best Prepared Meals Meal Delivery on a Budget: Clean Eatz

Are meal delivery services worth it for one person?

Many meal delivery services have smaller minimums and meal plans to cater for just one person. Even with a smaller meal plan, there are inexpensive options, and the time saved from grocery shopping or preparing meals might be worth it, even if you’re cooking for one.

How much is HelloFresh per week?

The cost of HelloFresh varies depending on the number of meal portions you order each week. Regular prices range from $8.99 to $12.49 per serving, although they offer a discount for first-time buyers that can reduce the cost to under $4 per serving.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.

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