Cooking for one can be a lot of work. But just because you’re making one serving of dinner instead of four doesn’t mean you should skimp on quality. That’s why we took a deep dive into meal delivery services, to understand which choices are best for people looking for single serving meals.
Our team reviews and rates meal delivery services based on nutritional value, cost benefit, quality and safety of packaging, and customer service. Here’s what we narrowed down as the best meal delivery services for singles.
Best meal delivery service for singles overall: CookUnity
CookUnity earns our pick the best overall meal delivery service for singles thanks to its high-quality meals that we compare to what you might find at a restaurant. You can read our full CookUnity review below.
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.
Our picks for the best meal delivery service for singles
- Best overall: CookUnity
- Best for weight loss: Trifecta
- Best organic: Hungryroot
- Best plant-based: Thistle
- Best vegan: Purple Carrot
- Best keto: Green Chef
Compare meal delivery services for singles
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| CookUnity | Trifecta | Hungryroot | Thistle | Purple Carrot | Green Chef | |
| Rating | ||||||
| Price | $11–$13 per serving | $11–$16 per serving | $70 per box | $12.99–$16.49 | $11-$13.25/serving | $11.99- $13.49/meal |
| Number of meals per week | Four, six, eight, 12, or 16 | 7–21 | 2-8 meals | 3–6 | 2-3 | 3-4 |
| Diet types | Mediterranean, vegetarian, vegan, keto, paleo, gluten-free, low-carb, low-calorie, dairy-free, and pescatarian | Clean, keto, paleo, Whole 30, plant-based, vegetarian, and GLP-1-friendly | Vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free, low calorie, high-protein, pescatarian | Plant-based, vegan, egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free | Less prep, gluten-free, high-protein | Keto, Mediterranean, low-calorie, plant-based, protein-packed, gluten-free |
Best meal delivery service for singles overall: CookUnity
Key product features
What you should know
CookUnity offers fully cooked meals you can heat in the microwave or oven.
- Our tester was impressed with CookUnity’s diversity of cuisines made with fresh ingredients, as well as the quality and taste of the meals they tested.
- At $11 to $13.59 per meal, we think CookUnity is reasonably priced compared to other meal delivery services available.
- CookUnity is great for busy singles who don’t have time to cook but still prioritize nutritious, high-quality meals.
Why we like CookUnity as best overall
Our team has tasted a lot of prepared meals over the years, and one thing is for sure: not all services provide the same quality and diversity of food. That’s why CookUnity stands out above the rest. The service allows you to choose from tasty, diverse options that should please most foodies.
The sweet and spicy miso-glazed shrimp, fiesta jerk hanger steak, and chipotle-maple glazed salmon garnered the highest praise from our tester. One thing that sets CookUnity apart from other prepared meal services is that it offers oven-heating instructions as well as microwave-heating instructions. Time and time again, our testers found that the oven-heating method beats the microwave method, which left vegetables soggy and proteins chewy.
Before you sign up for a subscription, know that CookUnit doesn’t deliver everywhere in the United States. The exceptions include Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota, parts of Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, West Virginia, and a small portion of upstate New York.
You can browse the menus before you decide to subscribe, which we think is a great business model, not to pressure you to give your email address or payment information up front. To get started, you’ll enter your zip code to see if CookUnity delivers to your area. The questionnaire asks your preferences: vegetarian, pescatarian, paleo, and Mediterranean. It also asks about allergens like tree nuts, milk, wheat, and soybeans, to eliminate those from the meal selections. Next, you determine how many meals you want per week—between four and 16. Then, if you are ready, you enter your email address to set up the subscription. You can pause or cancel at any time.
Meals arrive in a recyclable cardboard box kept cool with a large freezer bag and cushioned by ClimaCell paper insert. Meals are individually packaged and ready for storage in the refrigerator or freezer.
CookUnity meals start at $11 and go up to $13.59, which is a little more expensive than some of the other ready-made meals on the market. But, it may be worth subscribing if the service fits in your budget when you’re short on time.
Visit our full CookUnity review for more information.
What customers are saying
CookUnity has earned 11,446 ratings on Trustpilot.
“This is only my first week on CookUnity, but so far all of the dishes have been very high quality. I like how customizable they allow the preferences to be and the ability to sort through the menu. My only complaint is using three heavy ice bricks when they could probably make it two, if only the boxes were wider versus higher. It makes the boxes considerably heavier than necessary, even when emptied of food. I look forward to subsequent weeks!”
WillowChi, Trustpilot
“Great food/product,” adds verified reviewer JEC. “Good selection and just something ordinary cooks cannot accomplish much less have the variety of items needed on-hand to do.”
However some customers had trouble with reaching a live person to work through an issue.
“The food was amazing but when I went to do my second order, I was having problems with the website,” notes verified reviewer, Dee. “Tried using live chat for help but it’s not live or chat. It’s a bot with auto responses that had nothing to do with my problem. There is no phone number for customer service and an email response didn’t come before the order was due. Account is on pause while I decide whether to try again or just cancel.”
Specs
| Starting price | $11–$13.59 per meal |
| Shipping cost | $10 flat rate; may have additional service charges |
| Shipping area | United States except Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota, parts of Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, West Virginia, and parts of upstate New York. |
| Cuisines | Mexican, Jamaican, Indian, Japanese, French, Thai, Italian , and American |
| Fresh or frozen | Fresh |
| Subscription | Required |
Best meal delivery service for weight loss for singles: Trifecta
Key product features
What you should know
If you track your macros, Trifecta may be the meal delivery service for you. Macros influence energy, body composition, and health outcomes, so having a balanced diet is important not only for overall health but for weight loss. (1)
- If you’re looking for a delivery service that offers low-calorie, pre-portioned meals you can heat in minutes, we like Trifecta.
- At $14 to $16 per serving, Trifecta is a little more expensive than other premade meals on the market.
- Trifecta is great for busy singles who are focused on sustainably losing weight by tracking their macros.
Why we like Trifecta as best for weight loss
Trifecta is our selection for best meal delivery service for singles for weight loss because it offers low-calorie meals loaded with whole grains, whole foods, and lots of vegetables.
Eating pre-measured, portion-controlled meals can play a helpful role in weight loss. This is because it takes the guesswork out of how much you should be eating, and helps lessen someone’s chances of overindulging on meals.
Trifecta meals are between 350 and 550 calories. So, it might be a way to kickstart a weight loss journey by helping you moderate portions. (2) For sustainable, successful weight loss, it’s recommended that you aim for about a 500-calorie deficit per day. This will help you lose about one to two pounds per week. (3) This is a more expensive prepared meal service but not as pricey when compared to other meal delivery services for weight loss.
Trifecta does require you to sign up for a subscription in order to make a purchase. The service will take you through a questionnaire that asks about your nutrition goals so it can best select meals for you. You can choose meals yourself through the My Choice meal option.
You can order seven, 10, or 14 meals per week, with optional breakfast meals. Consider this when making a purchase: because the meals are fresh, you’ll want to eat them before they go bad, or you can freeze them for later. While Trifecta requires you to order seven meals per week at a minimum, you can also buy protein in bulk ala carte.
The meals arrive in recyclable cardboard boxes and are vacuum-sealed. You can refrigerate your meals or put a few in the freezer for later in the week.
Meals from Trifecta range from $14 to $16 per single portion, which is a little on the higher end of the price spectrum of meal delivery services.
Read our full Trifecta review to learn more.
What customers are saying
Trifecta has earned 62 reviews on Trustpilot.
Verified reviewer, Curtis K., said he “started supplementing my own home-cooked meals with Trifecta, to keep me on track and avoiding fast food cheat meals. Tasty healthy meals, and conveniently delivered to my house every few days, so they’re always fresh. Great option if you’re trying to be healthy and don’t want to meal prep all the time.”
“Amazing food service. I tried several before I found Trifecta. As an athlete I need high protein meals with the correct amount and type of carbs. I want clean meals. Trifecta delivers. Been using them well over a year and my results are amazing.”
Richard S., Trustpilot
Some customers, like verified reviewer, David B., had a difficult time canceling the service.
“Do not sign up for recurring meal delivery until you have tried the food,” he writes. “In my experience, I did not care for the food, and was forced to take/pay for the 2nd shipment (received a $75 refund on my card two months after writing a review online). There is not enough time between the initial delivery and the automatic two week shipping schedule to cancel the service.”
Specs
| Starting price | $104.93 per week |
| Shipping cost | $9.99 |
| Shipping area | All 50 states |
| Cuisines | American, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, African, Japanese, |
| Fresh or frozen | Fresh |
| Subscription | Required |
Best organic meal delivery service for singles: Hungryroot
Key product features
What you should know
Hungryroot is an organic meal delivery service and online grocery store to help you cook nutritious meals at home. You can choose between high-protein, gluten-free, vegetarian, peanut-free, and dairy-free meals.
- Our tester was pleased by the variety of pasture-raised meat and organic veggies that Hungryroot offers.
- A subscription starts at $70 per box, which is on par with other meal delivery services on the market.
- Hungryroot is best for people who want a mix of organic grocery staples mixed with meal kits and preprepared meals.
Why we like Hungryroot as best organic
If you’re a home chef who likes to cook, Hungryroot is a great option. You can choose meal kits with recipe cards or individual ingredients like organic avocado, zucchini, broccoli florets, or cauliflower bites. The veggies you’ll receive from Hungryroot are washed and pre-cut, so that takes some of the prep work out of cooking a meal for one. The meal kits are also great for having leftovers or multiple meals.
For instance, the seven veggie stir fry comes with easy-to-follow instructions. All you need is a little oil, salt, pepper, and whatever else you’d like to add to it. Your protein options include raw meats or pre-cooked and already seasoned meats that you can add.
Our tester enjoyed the taste of the meals she cooked, including chicken quesadillas, turkey meatloaf with a sweet kale salad, and a chicken burrito bowl. She credited the delicious taste to the freshness and quality of the ingredients. She also liked that the meat was humanely raised and thought the veggies, grains, and fruits were fresh and crisp.
Hungryroot food is packed in a recyclable cardboard box, with vacuum-sealed meat and frozen items kept cool with ice packs. Another one of our testers was excited about the pasture-farmed lamb she ordered but she noticed that upon arrival it wasn’t as cold as she thought it should be. The temperature at which food gets into the danger zone and risks spoiling and giving you food poisoning is 40 degrees, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). (4) That said, it’s a good idea to keep a kitchen thermometer on hand to make sure your meat is still in the safe zone. (5)
Portion size requirements can differ from person to person but each of our testers personally found the Hungryroot meal kits to be filling; the meals range from 440 to 600 calories. If that doesn’t sound like enough for you, the meal kits are customizable so you can add another serving to your dish.
A subscription starts at $70 per box, which is only $2 different from our Misfits Market delivery. Hungryroot offers discounts to new subscribers and puts a free gift, like a premium protein or free veggies in each box.
Check out our full Hungryroot review for more information.
What customers are saying
Hungryroot has garnered 4,120 reviews on Trustpilot.
“I’m a new customer, very impressed with top quality groceries, easy for me to get which is important because I’m physically unable to shop in a store and do not trust local stores deliveries. The website and company are very user friendly. Flexibility of scheduling. Good eco awareness. Best naan ever.”
Eva B., Trustpilot
“Hungryroot is the way to go,” says verified reviewer Diana. “HungryRoot is by far my favorite food delivery service I’ve tried! It is tailored to exactly what I want for my family and I can change it anytime. Food is full of flavor, well packaged, and easy to prepare. Definitely recommend!”
That said, not everyone has had a great experience. Several of the complaints are about the delivery.
“My deliveries are always a day late,” says verified reviewer Eileen M. “This week all ice melted which meant food couldn’t be used. Love the concept but if the execution doesn’t improve with my next order, I’m canceling. Hungryroot has made me more frustrated instead of bringing simplicity to my life.”
Specs
| Starting price | $70 |
| Shipping cost | $6.99 for orders under $70, otherwise free |
| Shipping area | Continental United States |
| Cuisines | American, Tex-Mex, German, Italian, Greek, Mediterranean |
| Fresh or frozen | Both |
| Subscription | Yes |
Best plant-based meal delivery service for singles: Thistle
Key product features
What you should know
Thistle is a plant-based meal delivery service that is ideal for flexitarians.
- Our tester liked the variety of international cuisines, dips, and energy balls she was able to choose from when placing a Thistle order.
- A Thistle subscription starts at $12.99–$16.49 per meal, which is more expensive than other services.
- Thistle is great for people who prioritize an eco-friendly, plant-based diet that aims to protect natural resources by using less of them.
Why we like Thistle as best plant-based
We like Thistle as a high-quality, plant-based subscription meal delivery service that offers locally sourced and organic ingredients for lunch and dinner. It’s important to clarify that Thistle is plant-based but not vegan; this just means they offer chicken, turkey, and pork in some of their meals. They do not offer beef. Plant-based options include dishes loaded with legumes, beans, and veggies.
Based on your answers in the sign-up questionnaire, Thistle will select weekly meals for you. You are able to swap out those meals for different options if you’d prefer. You can also choose dairy-free or gluten-free meals. That said, Thistle does not have a gluten-free certification, so it’s not recommended for people with celiac disease due to the risk of cross-contamination during processing. (6)
Thistle delivers to select areas in the United States and the east coast and west coast facilities offer different mentions for those areas. Delivery is limited to once or twice per week, depending on the plan you choose.
When choosing a subscription, you select the number of meals you want per week, select a protein, and indicate any allergies you may have. You can choose to skip and week or pause the service at any time.
Our tester liked the minimal packaging and the easy instructions for the meals she ordered to cook at home. But, she would have liked a few more customization options. Most of the sides are soups, and a lot of the breakfasts are oatmeal. That said, the meals she had were very tasty. If you’re looking for other options, read our review of the best vegetarian meal delivery service.
Thistle meals start at $12.99–$16.49, which is more expensive than some other services like Everyplate. But some customers may find the convenience of having fresh, not frozen, plant-forward meals delivered to their home worth it.
What customers are saying
Thistle has earned 1,076 reviews on Trustpilot.
“I’ve been ordering with Thistle for four to five years! I have never had an issue. My order is always delivered on time and I can trust that my food is of high quality and mostly organic. I know that I’m getting a lot more veggies in my diet eating their meals.”
Michelle, Trustpilot
“I had a weekly meal service five years ago and Thistle has been a much better experience,” adds verified reviewer Cami C. “The food is fresh, the salads are great and the desserts are very good. You can customize your delivery and the continuing variety is also a plus.”
But some customers report issues with deliveries.
“The meals that I receive are tasty and easy to prepare but I’m not receiving the meals that I order,“ says verified reviewer Patrisha R. “The problem is that for FIVE weeks straight I have ordered 4 meals for the week and only ONE came packaged in the bag. Each week that passed with an error was corrected with a credit to my account for the missing meals; however, the errors kept happening and I would not have any food for the week. I understand that this type of mistake may happen but not FIVE CONSECUTIVE WEEKS!“
Specs
| Starting price | $12.99–$16.49 |
| Shipping cost | $4.95 local delivery |
| Shipping area | East Coast: New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Arlington VA, and parts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts + the greater Boston area, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Atlanta. West Coast: San Francisco Bay Area, Napa & Sonoma, Sacramento, Davis, Reno, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Orange County, Inland Empire, Ventura County, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Portland, and Seattle-Tacoma. |
| Cuisines | American, Cuban, Mediterranean,Italian, Middle Eastern, Japanese |
| Fresh or frozen | Fresh |
| Subscription | Required |
Best vegan meal delivery service for singles: Purple Carrot
Key product features
What you should know
Purple Carrot is a mission-focused company that reaches out to communities living in food deserts to provide vegan ingredients for meal kits.
- If you’re looking for vegan meal kits with a lot of variety, Purple Carrot is our top pick.
- We find the price per serving, $11–$13.25, to be reasonable and on par with similar services.
- Purple Carrot is a great service for people who want to explore cooking more while maintaining a vegan diet.
Why we like Thistle as best plant-based
We like Thistle as a high-quality, plant-based subscription meal delivery service that offers locally sourced and organic ingredients for lunch and dinner. It’s important to clarify that Thistle is plant-based but not vegan; this just means they offer chicken, turkey, and pork in some of their meals. They do not offer beef. Plant-based options include dishes loaded with legumes, beans, and veggies.
Based on your answers in the sign-up questionnaire, Thistle will select weekly meals for you. You are able to swap out those meals for different options if you’d prefer. You can also choose dairy-free or gluten-free meals. That said, Thistle does not have a gluten-free certification, so it’s not recommended for people with celiac disease due to the risk of cross-contamination during processing. (6)
Thistle delivers to select areas in the United States and the east coast and west coast facilities offer different mentions for those areas. Delivery is limited to once or twice per week, depending on the plan you choose.
When choosing a subscription, you select the number of meals you want per week, select a protein, and indicate any allergies you may have. You can choose to skip and week or pause the service at any time.
Our tester liked the minimal packaging and the easy instructions for the meals she ordered to cook at home. But, she would have liked a few more customization options. Most of the sides are soups, and a lot of the breakfasts are oatmeal. That said, the meals she had were very tasty. If you’re looking for other options, read our review of the best vegetarian meal delivery service.
Thistle meals start at $12.99–$16.49, which is more expensive than some other services like Everyplate. But some customers may find the convenience of having fresh, not frozen, plant-forward meals delivered to their home worth it.
Check out our in-depth Purple Carrot review for more information.
What customers are saying
Thistle has earned 1,076 reviews on Trustpilot.
“I’ve been ordering with Thistle for four to five years! I have never had an issue. My order is always delivered on time and I can trust that my food is of high quality and mostly organic. I know that I’m getting a lot more veggies in my diet eating their meals.”
Michelle, Trustpilot
“I had a weekly meal service five years ago and Thistle has been a much better experience,” adds verified reviewer Cami C. “The food is fresh, the salads are great and the desserts are very good. You can customize your delivery and the continuing variety is also a plus.”
But some customers report issues with deliveries.
“The meals that I receive are tasty and easy to prepare but I’m not receiving the meals that I order,“ says verified reviewer Patrisha R. “The problem is that for FIVE weeks straight I have ordered 4 meals for the week and only ONE came packaged in the bag. Each week that passed with an error was corrected with a credit to my account for the missing meals; however, the errors kept happening and I would not have any food for the week. I understand that this type of mistake may happen but not FIVE CONSECUTIVE WEEKS!“
Specs
| Starting price | $12.99–$16.49 |
| Shipping cost | $4.95 local delivery |
| Shipping area | East Coast: New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Arlington VA, and parts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts + the greater Boston area, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Atlanta. West Coast: San Francisco Bay Area, Napa & Sonoma, Sacramento, Davis, Reno, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Orange County, Inland Empire, Ventura County, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Portland, and Seattle-Tacoma. |
| Cuisines | American, Cuban, Mediterranean,Italian, Middle Eastern, Japanese |
| Fresh or frozen | Fresh |
| Subscription | Required |
Best keto meal delivery service for singles: Green Chef
Key product features
What you should know
Green Chef is a delivery service that offers keto meal kits you can prepare in less than 25 minutes.
- If you’re looking for keto meal kits with lots of variety, Green Chef is our top choice.
- We find the price of $11.99 to $13.49 similar to other services on the market.
- Green Chef is a great service for people who eat a keto diet and like to cook.
Why we like Green Chef as best keto
The keto diet, once recommended by doctors to offset the symptoms of epilepsy, has grown in popularity for other health issues. People who are at risk for certain conditions, like obesity, diabetes, and cancer, are starting to adopt this diet. (8) Studies show that the keto diet plays a role in improving diabetes and other metabolic conditions by decreasing waist circumference, lowering weight, and lowering glucose levels by putting the body in a state of ketosis where the body starts to use fat, instead of carbohydrates, to fuel the body. (9)
If you are following a keto diet—high-protein, low-carb—Green Chef may be able to help. Looking at a recent Green Chef menu, you could hypothetically choose from options like smoky pork patties, chicken with a creamy pistou salad, pork filet with chimichurri sauce, and Middle Eastern style beef bowls. All of these are labeled as “keto” in the Green Chef menu.
Our tester liked that Green Chef meal kits come with detailed recipe cards with instructions and pictures of how the meal should look when cooked. She’s a regular home chef and had no problem following the steps, which only required a few things in the kitchen: a cutting board and sharp knife for chopping veggies, salt, pepper, and some type of oil like olive or avocado, a saute pan, and a sauce pan. The meals took her about 30 minutes to prep and cook, which is on par with the amount of time she wants to spend cooking dinner. Although the portion size was enough for her, she can see how it might fall short for active people and athletes.
If you’re concerned about allergies, Green Chef lists food allergens on each recipe card. However, meal kits are produced in a facility that processes eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, shellfish, and soy, so there is the risk of cross-contamination.
Green Chef meals cost between $11.99 to $13.49, which is similar to other services on the market, and in many cases, less than dining out or ordering takeout.
Read our full Green Chef review for more information.
What customers are saying
Green Chef has earned 3,506 reviews on Trustpilot.
“The meals have arrived as promised and are easy to make, even the ones that are described as medium / easy,” says verified reviewer Anne W. “We have enjoyed having options for GF, keto & vegetarian & mixing up our weekly choices. The 30 minute time indicated to make the meals hasn’t always been accurate but it probably is our issue. We like that it has us cooking together (adult kids out of the house) and provides fewer discussions about what to eat. Having the option to skip a week & change the number of meals sent in a week is also a plus.”
“I’ve been eating Green Chef meals for a couple of months now and I’m loving the flavors. Every recipe is chock full of flavor! You get to choose your recipes so I stay away from the ones that have things I don’t like. They are also easy to cook and I love that you get all you need to make the recipe all in one bag! I highly recommend it!”
Barb, F., Trustpilot
Some customers feel they are not getting full on the portions, however.
“The recipe selection is great,” says verified reviewer Willy. “Very flavorful and creative meals. We wanted to stay but for the money paid no way. The portion sizes are ridiculously small. My wife and I are active, thin people. It’s not like we’re gluttons expecting to gorge ourselves. We actually weighed the provided meats and vegetables before and after cooking several times. More often than not they didn’t even constitute the USDA suggested serving. Soups were the exception.”
Specs
| Starting price | $11.99- $13.49 |
| Shipping cost | $9.99- $11.99 |
| Shipping area | Continental United States |
| Cuisines | American, Argentina, Indian, Japanese, Indonesian, Middle Eastern, Italian |
| Fresh or frozen | Fresh |
| Subscription | Required |
How we test meal delivery services
Signing up for a meal delivery service can be transformative for your health and fitness goals and make it easier to eat nutritious meals when you’re busy. Letting someone else handle the hard work of meal prep takes a lot off of your plate (literally), so you can focus your energy on other things. But delivery services can also provide meals that meet your exact dietary, caloric, and macronutrient needs, no matter your goal or situation.
Not every meal delivery service is a great fit for every person or scenario. That’s why Fortune Recommends™ aims to personally test every meal delivery service we review. Our goal is to provide unbiased, honest feedback to help you pick the right service for you.
Here’s why you can trust our meal delivery reviews.
Every Fortune meal delivery review features:
- In-depth analysis by testers and/or authors who are certified nutritionists and/or registered dietitians
- Testing for portion/ingredient accuracy, taste, and freshness
- Fact-checking and reviewing by qualified experts
At times, we may feature meal delivery services we haven’t yet tested. Until we can try them, we examine each service’s cost, meal variety, nutrition breakdown, and customization options. We then update our reviews once we’ve tested them to highlight everything we liked and didn’t like.
Learn how we test our meal delivery services here.
Testing criteria
Meal choices—30%
A meal delivery service should provide numerous healthy, nutritious options for every meal of the day. It should also give you as much authority as you want over what you order. Here’s what we take into account in our meal choices rating:
- Multiple options
- Substitutions
- Guidance
- Label transparency
Food quality—30%
If you’re not looking forward to the meals from your delivery service, that’s a problem. We aim to match you with companies that use delicious chef-designed recipes and have the dietary firepower of nutritionists and/or registered dietitians behind them. Here’s what goes into our quality rating:
- Flavor
- Healthiness
- Freshness
Value—20%
Meal delivery services run the gamut in price, but what you receive should feel reasonable for what you’re paying. Here’s what we factor into a program’s value rating:
- Fair price
- Multiple quantity options
- Customization
Customer experience—20%
Sometimes customers get incorrect meals and ingredients or are charged for a product they didn’t purchase. These things happen. How customer service responds can influence whether people continue with the meal delivery service. Having tested many of these plans, we interact with customer service when something goes amiss with the delivery or quality of the ingredients.
- Packaging
- Ease of preparation
- Reviews
- Customer service
Benefits of meal delivery services for singles
Meal delivery services are great for busy singles who may not have time to shop for groceries or are not into cooking. These services take some of the guesswork out of meal planning by taking potential subscribers through a questionnaire to help match their preferences with the meals and meal kits that they are most likely to enjoy. If you’re someone who likes to cook, meal kits are the way to go. If you’re not into cooking or don’t have time, ready-made pre-portioned single meals can be purchased for a quick lunch or dinner.
If you’re curious about trying new cuisines and flavors, meal delivery services are a low-risk option because the services select the recipe and all the ingredients, including measured-out spices, which when purchased individually, can be expensive. For home chefs who know their way around the kitchen, meal kits are a fun way to try new recipes and use their skills to prep veggies, and if they want, add more or less spice to a particular dish.
What to consider when looking for a meal delivery service for singles
When you’re thinking about subscribing to a meal delivery service there are factors that might affect your decision to buy. First, find out if the service is delivered to your area. Cost is important, you don’t want to break the bank. Are you someone who prioritizes eating organic? Some meal services offer organic ingredients. If you are eco-conscious and want to support a company that has a mission to reduce food waste, that might make an impact on your decision.
If you have a food sensitivity or food allergy, be aware that while the meals you choose might leave out the allergens, they are likely produced in a facility that also has allergens, so you want to see if the company has any specific certifications to keep you safe from cross-contamination.
Having friends over? Meal delivery services vary in portions and meals per week, so you can vary how much food you’re ordering on a given week.
FAQs
Are meal delivery services worth it for single people?
Meal delivery services are great for single people because you can get single-serving meals and meal kits with pre-portioned proteins, spices, and sauces without having a lot of leftovers.
What comes in a meal kit for one person?
A meal kit for one person is likely to have a mix of proteins, vegetables, sauces, spices, ready to prep or cook if they are ready-made to pop in the microwave.
How are meal delivery kits for singles packaged?
Meal kits for singles are packaged with smaller amounts of food than what you would normally cook for a duo or family of four.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.
Our experts
Chris Mohr, Ph.D., RD
Dr. Chris Mohr is an internationally recognized subject matter expert and speaker and performance coach. Through his facilitation and online resources, he works closely with some of the largest corporations in the world including Deloitte, Delta Airlines, Johnson & Johnson and more to help busy executives all over the world, develop the energy to thrive personally and professionally.
Lily Moe, Editor
Lily is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor with over seven years of experience in health media. As a former Fitness Coach, Lily’s editorial prowess has largely focused on fitness, nutrition, and weight management. She has also spent a fair share of time in testing labs, analyzing everything from protein powders to yoga mats. Her work has appeared in Verywell Fit, Verywell Mind, Health, and more.
Kelly Uhler
Kelly has a multifaceted background in elder care, health care, and copywriting. She has worked for organizations such as A Place For Mom and Homecare.com, which gave her the opportunity to work closely with families, providing reliable information to help them make informed decisions about their loved one’s health, safety, and quality of life.
Lauren Evoy Davis
Fortune Recommends Staff Writer
About Author
Lauren Evoy Davis is a health journalist with expertise in cancer and other chronic conditions. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from American University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Elon University. Her work has been published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, National Council on Aging, HelpGuide WebMD, Everyday Health and Verizon. She tests meal kits, meal delivery services, and fitness apps. When not writing or reading, Lauren enjoys paddle boarding on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, weightlifting, and gardening.