There are dozens of criteria you may be looking for when choosing a meal delivery service that suits your family’s needs – taste, meal size, allergin control, etc. – but the most common differentiating factor is the price.
I have personally tested each product and keep them updated in terms of price and number of recipes available. This list ranks the top 8 meal delivery services in terms of cost – both pre-packaged and cook yourself.
1. Dinnerly
Most Affordable
8.5/10Our Score
- Cost: 10/10 - $5.49 per serving
- Choice: 8/10 - 50+ recipes per week
- Quality: 6/10 - There is a noticeable drop in quality compared to Marley Spoon
- Taste: 7/10 - The recipes are noticeably plainer and smaller than the more expensive alternatives
- Flexibility: Skip, pause, or cancel any time
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: No
2. Every Plate
7.8/10Our Score
- Cost: 9/10 - $6.50 for 20 meals
- Choice: 5/10 - Only 22 recipes to pick from each week
- Quality: 7/10 - The quality of the ingredients is still high, but they offer less per meal
- Taste: 6/10 - The reduced number of ingredients does sometimes make the meal feel less complex and flavourful
- Flexibility: Skip or cancel any time
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: No
3. Core Powerfoods
6.5/10Our Score
- Cost: 9/10 - Less than $7.00 per meal
- Choice: 7/10
- Quality: 5/10
- Taste: 5/10
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: No
4. Marley Spoon
Close 2nd
9/10Our Score
- Cost: 7/10 - $8.49 per serving based on 4 people and 5 recipes per week
- Choice: 10/10 - 50+ recipes to pick from each week.
- Quality: 8/10 - The ingredient quality is on par with Hello Fresh
- Taste: 8/10 - I found the taste of the Marley Spoon recipes to be great along with the serving size
- Flexibility: Skip, pause, or cancel any time.
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: Only some meals
5. Youfoodz
7.6/10Our Score
- Cost: 7/10 - $8.49/serve based on 18 meals.
- Choice: 8/10 - Over 60 recipes to pick from each week, but over 50% of meals are chicken-based.
- Quality: 7/10 - Prepared meals means less preparation but not as fresh ingredients. Certainly less variety or number of ingredients as alternatives.
- Taste: 7/10 - Tastes nice but relatively basic. Cheaper than My Muscle Chef but I would prefer their meals from a taste perspective.
- Flexibility: Skip a week or cancel anytime.
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: No
6. Lite n Easy
6.5/10Our Score
- Cost: 7/10 - $8.50 for 21 meals
- Choice: 10/10 - By far the most variety with over 200 meals to choose from
- Quality: 6/10 - Compared to the more athletic packaged meals, and the cook yourself options, they are lower quality
- Taste: 6/10 - The meals are relatively plain, but their serving sizes are soooo small!
- Flexibility: No subscriptions, just one-off orders
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: Do not guarantee 100% allergen free
7. Hello Fresh
Our Top Pick
9.5/10Our Score
- Cost: 7/10 - $8.75/serve based on 4 people and 5 recipes per week.
- Choice: 9/10 - Over 37 recipes to pick from each week.
- Quality: 9/10 - The best quality vegetables and meat from all we tested, but still not as good as selecting yourself in the grocery store.
- Taste: 8/10 - There are certainly some meals that didn't suit my tastes, but overall I was impressed and I still replicate my favourites.
- Flexibility: Skip a week or cancel anytime.
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: No
8. Macros
7.5/10Our Score
- Cost: 5/10 - $9.99 per meal based on 21 meals per week
- Choice: 8/10 - 50 recipes to pick from each week
- Quality: 8/10 - Very high quality in terms of nutrition, no processed ingredients, and no added sugars
- Taste: 6/10 - This is designed as a pre-packaged meal for nutrition first, so taste is a secondary consideration
- Flexibility: Skip, cancel, or pause any time
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: They have one of the better allergin filters
9. My Muscle Chef
Most Convenient
8/10Our Score
- Cost: 5/10 - $10.40 for 20 meals
- Choice: 10/10 - Over 70 different pre-packaged meals to choose from
- Quality: 7/10 - I prefer the quality of cooking fresh ingredients myself, but the convenience of pre-packaged meals is significant
- Taste: 8/10 - The taste is good but they appear to use lemon as a preservative so they are all lemon flavoured.
- Flexibility: Skip, pause, or cancel any time, as well as one-off orders
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: Allergy safe options
10. ChefGood
6.5/10Our Score
- Cost: 4/10 - $10.45 per meal for 20 servings
- Choice: 7/10 - 40 meals per week to choose from
- Quality: 10/10 - High quality, locally sourced ingredients - you cannot beat that
- Taste: 9/10 - Much higher focus on taste than the alternatives
- Flexibility: Pause or cancel your subscription whenever you want
- Organic: No
- Allergy Safe: Do not guarantee meals are free from allergens
I am still testing, tasting, and ranking food delivery services. If you have any suggestions for meals to try, and you have a difference of opinion with my rankings, send me an email at info@easymeals.net.au.