When it comes to the best meal kits for families, Green Chef can’t be beat. As the first CCOF-certified organic meal kit company, Green Chef uses organic produce, house-made sauces, fresh proteins, and pre-measured ingredients to craft its dishes every week, while also supporting artisanal suppliers and local farms. The meal kits are delivered in color-coded bags and recycled or reusable packaging, some of which are compostable. The brand offers nutritionist-approved recipe options for nearly every type of diet, including keto, vegan, protein-rich, and gluten-free. You can easily craft a plan that suits every member of your family. Some prep work is involved, but many of the ingredients are already prepared, so even on the most hectic weeknights, plating up restaurant-quality dinners for your family is a breeze.
During our testing, we were quickly impressed by Green Chef’s huge range of menu options, which rarely repeated recipes. The diverse flavor and cuisine variety makes Green Chef a great option for families looking to break out of their rut. Even better, Green Chef allows you to swap proteins, add proteins, or make meals vegetarian or vegan. Green Chef’s recipes are easy to follow and presented in a logical manner that makes them enjoyable for expert home cooks and newbies alike.
Meals We Tested
- Spiced chicken with lemon yogurt sauce
- Roasted garlic and fennel flatbreads
- BBQ sweet potato tacos
- Chicken and mushroom ramen with fried egg
- Harissa chicken with apricot pan sauce
- Cumin-spiced shrimp
- Peruvian-style barramundi and chimichurri
- Cheesy pesto chicken bowls
- Tamari turkey and broccoli bowls
- Garlic-thyme pork chops
Starting Price: $13 per serving | Shipping: $11 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh
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For those especially busy nights, Home Chef offers “express” meal kits, which require only 15 minutes of prep work.
For busy families with little time or minimal kitchen skills, Home Chef has you covered. This service is flexible enough to accommodate the child who will never touch a mushroom as well as the spouse who regularly craves extra protein, and the menu includes a selection of meals that can be on the table in as few as 15 minutes. In particular, the meals in the Express, Oven-Ready, and Fast & Fresh categories are built for speed and can be popped right into the oven or microwave on nights when soccer practice, dance rehearsal, and the science fair all overlap.
Overall, we found the entire Home Chef process exceedingly easy to navigate. We tried the app and website during testing, and both made it easy to customize our picks to suit a variety of tastebuds and dietary needs. We were impressed by the wide range of cooking methods and cuisines represented, and there was little repetition between the main dishes. The recipes were easy to follow and didn’t require a lot of space to achieve — in fact, many were completed in a tiny NYC kitchen to rave reviews. None of the recipes called for specialty kitchen gear like a paella pan, and we feel confident you can cook nearly any Home Chef meal with a basic cookware set.
Meals We Tested
- Tomato feta trout with buttermilk-dill zucchini and peppers
- Buttermilk chicken schnitzel with cucumber-dill sauce and zucchini
- Philly-style cheesesteak enchiladas with peppers and onions
- Hot honey-maple chicken with roasted red pepper potatoes
- Corn and steak strip risotto with fresh tomatoes
- Creamy artichoke cacio e pepe with garlic bread
- One-sheet sausage meatball sandwich with potato wedges
- Baked Buffalo-style cheese-crusted chicken with sour cream mashed potatoes
Starting Price: $10 per serving | Shipping: $11 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh
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Diversity and creativity rule the day at CookUnity, where real-life chefs from around the world are behind the food you and your family will be tasting. With a CookUnity subscription, families can choose to receive anywhere from four to 16 meals each week. You can select from a rotating and globally inspired menu, or enter your family’s unique preferences and have the chefs choose your meals for you.
CookUnity can easily accommodate low-carb, low-calorie, dairy-free, plant-based, keto, and paleo meals. It offers dozens of choices for each type of diet, helping you take the guesswork out of satisfying the many different needs (and many different preferences) of each member of your family. Each meal arrives fresh and stays good in your fridge for four to seven days. On the exterior of each package, you’ll get a breakdown of the ingredients and nutrition information, as well as a little bit about the chef and two sets of instructions, one chef-recommended way to prepare on your stovetop or in the oven, and a way to prepare it quickly in the microwave. Translation: Whether you’re trusting the preteens to feed themselves or just trying to make life easier for your babysitter, getting dinner on the table is simple and painless.
Meals We Tested
- Pork al pastor tacos
- Udon noodle soup with shrimp, vegetables and puffed tofu
- Korean flank steak rice bowl (steak deop bap) with asparagus
- Chicken pad krapow with steamed jasmine rice
- Garlic-herb grilled chicken with carrot thyme puree and sautéed mushrooms
- Birria enchiladas with Jalisco red rice and refried beans
- Sweet and spicy pineapple salmon with coconut rice and bok choy
Starting Price: $11 per serving | Shipping: $10 | Delivery Area: 46 states | Products Arrive: Fresh, prepared
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Let’s face it: Little kids aren’t exactly fans of haute cuisine, and sometimes the meals that will please them the easiest are also the simplest. Dinnerly provides families with easy meals at affordable prices, with a selection of over 100 recipes, including vegetarian and vegan choices, low-carb meals, and dinners that can be made fast for when there isn’t even time to break out the cutting board. What sets Dinnerly apart from other meal delivery companies is that the service extends beyond just the meals. The Market allows families to stock up on grocery essentials too, and your entire purchase is shipped in insulated packages and will keep for a few days if your weeknight schedule goes haywire unexpectedly.
The value of Dinnerly was immediately apparent during testing, where a painless and straightforward ordering process allowed us to build out an entire week’s worth of meals in just minutes. There are a wide variety of cuisines to choose from, but the dishes maintain a simple, family-friendly ethos that keeps them feeling approachable. While some of the portion sizes were smaller than other delivery services (especially when it came to red meat), the cost savings and straightforward prep cannot be beaten.
Meals We Tested
- BBQ chicken, broccoli, and cheesy macaroni
- Salisbury steak with peas and mashed potatoes
- Pizza
- Lemongrass chicken
- Everything bagel steak and mashed potatoes
- Steak with potatoes
Starting Price: $5 per serving | Shipping: $12 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh
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Groceries, snacks, and other pantry staples are available through Hungryroot, so it is a one-stop shop.
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The initial intake, which includes a quiz that helps identify your taste preferences, can be a bit time-consuming.
For families looking to eat nutritious plant-based meals, Hungryroot is second to none. The company is focused on making healthy eating simpler and quicker, supporting a multitude of diets along the way. You’ll receive meals that are easy to cook and often ready in 10 minutes or less, allowing you to spend less time at the grocery store and more time enjoying meals together. The company provides a plethora of plant-based meal options across a number of different cuisine types, from Indian and Thai to Mexican and Mediterranean. In addition, everything is shipped in recyclable boxes with biodegradable ice packs, and each recipe is designed to minimize food waste.
Testing Hungryroot brought a little something different to the table. Because the brand acts primarily as a grocery service, it builds your meals around your grocery list, not the other way around. We found both the site and app easy to use, and while the recipes were good, they did require a bit of baseline cooking knowledge. Many needed an extra touch of seasoning or a bit more cooking time beyond what was mentioned in the provided recipes, so it’s helpful to know your way around the kitchen.
Meals We Tested
- Grass-fed burger with avocado and bean salad
- Roasted salmon and sweet potato with Brussels sprouts
- Korean BBQ seitan and spinach rice bowl
- Mama’s chicken and rice soup
- Bangers and mash with onion pan sauce
- Salmon avocado Caesar wrap
- Creamy chicken taquitos
- Lemony pasta with hot sausage and asparagus
- Spinach artichoke buffalo tempeh sandwich
- Pepperoni naan pizza
- French onion “tuna melt” stuffed mushrooms
- Seared halloumi citrus chopped salad
Starting Price: $11 per serving | Shipping: Free for orders over $70; For orders under $70, shipping is $7 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh
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One of the first meal kit delivery services to hit the market, HelloFresh is extremely customizable, making it a great option for families with picky eaters. When you select the “family-friendly” preference, you’ll be served up the ingredients to make three meals per day, plus snacks, that everyone in your house will look forward to eating. Their guarantee? Each meal option is fresh and easy, with minimal prep work, so you can spend more time hanging with your loved ones. Even better, there are plenty of quick-to-prepare recipes that accommodate pescatarians, meat eaters, and vegans alike, all with unfussy ingredients everyone will know and love.
While testing, we came to appreciate HelloFresh’s straightforward approach to meal delivery. Every meal comes packaged clearly and logically, with easy-to-follow recipes that require little prep work. During the selection process, you can easily filter your search to accommodate a variety of different meal preferences, like vegetarian, or how light or heavy a meal feels. It was a bit of a pain to dispose of parts of this delivery kit (like the heavy ice packs), but otherwise, it made weeknight dinner planning a cinch.
Meals We Tested
- Fancy French onion beef tenderloin with rosemary fingerlings, lemony asparagus, and horseradish cream
- Falafel power bowls with spinach, creamy dressing, and garlicky pita
- One-pot cowboy turkey and bean chili with jalapeño and smoky red pepper crema
- Creamy dill chicken with potatoes and green beans
- Meatloaves with creamy thyme sauce
- Open-faced prosciutto and jam sandwich
- Chicken ramen in a shoyu-style broth
- Cinnamon Liège waffles
- Seared salmon and kale salad with mango
- Peppercorn-crusted beef tenderloin
- Greek goddess bulgur bowls
- Lemony chickpea and arugula grain salad
Starting Price: $9.99 | Shipping: $11 | Delivery Area: 48 states (and select ZIP codes in Honolulu, HI and Anchorage, AK | Products Arrive: Fresh
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Another OG in the meal delivery category, Blue Apron is a one-stop shop, with easy-to-cook meal kits, bottles of wine, groceries, and even kitchen tools like frying pans and bread knives delivered straight to your door. Got a few foodies at the table? With an ever-changing menu of meals to select from each week, adventurous eaters can tour the globe through cuisine that’s as fun to make as it is to try. From yuzu and soy-glazed tilapia to seared steaks with mushroom agrodolce, families have the opportunity to expand their horizons and widen their palate with every meal.
During testing, Blue Apron’s expertise in the meal delivery category was evident, with an easy-to-use website that made choosing weekly meals as fun as scoping out a restaurant menu. The ingredients are impeccably sourced and exceedingly fresh, enhancing the brand’s high-end feel. That said, we felt that many of Blue Apron’s meal options were heavier than other delivery services, with many including rich sauces or creamy elements that felt, at times, overly indulgent. A word of warning: Unless you have adventurous kiddos, many of Blue Apron’s meals may be a bit too intricate for their tastes.
Meals We Tested
- Baked meatballs and romesco mayo (meal kit)
- Togarashi shrimp and vegetable fried rice (meal kit)
- Space Ranger chicken enchiladas (meal kit)
- One-pan white bean and poblano shakshuka (meal kit)
- Salmon with caper mayo (meal kit)
- Chicken Alfredo pasta with peas (prepared meal)
- Sweet and spicy beef bowl with rice, peppers, and edamame (prepared meal)
Starting Price: $8 per serving | Shipping: $11 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh and frozen
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Caring for a new baby can be exhausting and all-consuming, but you can think of Little Spoon as a foodie Mary Poppins. The brand works closely with pediatricians and nutritionists to craft healthy food that’s made fresh, developmentally appropriate, and ready to serve to your baby in minutes. The company’s menu of Babyblends, Biteables, Plates, and Smoothies makes it a breeze to transition into solid foods when your child is ready. Ingredients are sustainably sourced and free of preservatives and unnecessary additives, and organic produce is used whenever possible. Additionally, Little Spoon has vetted all of its farm partners and ensures that its kitchens are allergy-friendly and minimize cross-contamination.
Little Spoon takes the pressure off new parents struggling to introduce new ingredients and/or allergens to their little ones. Their lineup of blends progresses through age-appropriate levels, introducing babies to new textures, flavors, and seasonings. During testing, we loved that each container of Babyblends comes with a resealable top and travel-ready spoon for on-the-go snacks. The meals you receive are perfectly portioned for little bellies, ensuring there’s not a lot of leftover waste to contend with, and high-risk foods like carrots are cooked to a soft texture and cut to the appropriate size to minimize the risk of choking. While the food from Little Spoon does have a shorter lifespan than other shelf-stable foods on the market, we bet your little one will like it so much that you’ll be ready for a refill in no time.
Meals We Tested
- Broccoli bites with sweet potato carrot poppers and green beans
- Chicken nuggets with veggie patties and sweet potato carrot poppers and broccoli
- Whole-wheat penne with veggie marinara and mini turkey kale meatballs
- Three cheese mac and cheese with invisible butternut squash and carrots
- Chicken pot stickers, brown rice, quinoa veggie stir-fry, and edamame
- Turkey rice ball with sweet potato mash
- Three cheese egg bites with sweet potato hash
- Turkey kale patty bites with veggie millet poppers and carrots
Starting Price: $3 per serving for Babyblends, $6 for meals | Shipping: $10 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh and frozen
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Born from a familiar struggle that many parents can relate to — the quest for healthy, tasty, and fresh food for kids — Nurture Life serves up meals, snacks, and smoothies that are ready in just minutes and feature hidden vegetables your kids will actually enjoy eating. The meals in each delivery are crafted by registered dietitians and chefs and feature organic veggies, whole grains, and proteins free of added hormones. Additionally, the Nurture Life production facility is nut-free and has been inspected by the FDA; if your toddler has allergies, your subscription plan can be customized to exclude certain foods from your deliveries.
Nurture Life’s food is good enough for discerning adults but is designed specifically with the needs and taste buds of growing children in mind. Getting toddlers to sit down and eat these meals was a surprisingly easy process — the meals were all relatively familiar to novice mini foodies, and the portions were perfect for a toddler’s ever-expanding energy levels. Another benefit? Each meal could be made in the microwave or oven, providing the flexibility that many on-the-go families need. There were even a few no-cook meals, like crustless sunbutter and jelly sandwiches that were perfect for post-daycare pickup.
Meals We Tested
- White mac and cheese
- Teriyaki salmon
- Cheese pizza pockets
- Swedish meatballs
- Banana pancake puffs
- Chocolate chip mighty bites
- Strawberry Smash
- Smoothie variety 3-pack
Starting Price: $6.50 per serving | Shipping: $12 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh, frozen
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Marley Spoon takes care of everything, so you won’t need anything more than salt, pepper, and oil to complete their recipes.
Sure, parenting babies and younger children has its share of complexities, but parents of older kids know that everyday life can be a dizzying roller coaster of emotions and activities. Luckily, Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon are here to lend a hand. With meals that feature fresh, never-frozen ingredients and Martha Stewart’s own spice blends to add unique flavors, you can skip a few trips to the grocery store and know that what’s going on the plate at mealtime is healthy, well balanced, and delicious. With vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, low-carb, dairy-free, one-pot, and protein-rich choices that are all family-friendly, finding meals to make with your older kids is going to be one of the easiest things on your to-do list each week.
We were immediately impressed when testing Marley Spoon, especially when it came to the easy-to-navigate app and bevy of delicious recipes. The ingredients always arrived fresh, with enough food to allow for seconds (especially with the sides). We loved that older kids can even take an active role in their meal planning and preparation — each recipe requires just six steps and includes detailed instructions and photographs as a visual guide, so this service can also be a launchpad into life lessons and self-sustainability.
Meals We Tested
- Seared steak with herb compound butter
- Shakshuka verde with tomatillos & poblanos
- Crispy chicken caesar salad
- Vegan jerk black beans & rice
- Curry butter barramundi
- Pork bhops & rhubarb sauce with braised radishes & peas over polenta
- Lamb lahmajun with garlic sauce & cucumber-tomato salad
- Teriyaki-glazed salmon & sushi rice
Starting Price: $9 per serving | Shipping: $12 | Delivery Area: Across the U.S. | Products Arrive: Fresh
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For such a narrow dietary category, Purple Carrot has a surprising number of cuisines, including Mexican, Indian, and Mediterranean.
Plant-based eaters know meal planning can be complicated, and often requires trips to multiple grocery stores to secure a range of unique ingredients. Luckily, Purple Carrot solves all that, with a wide selection of meals and cuisines that help maintain variety. Most of the meals require just basic cookware like a nonstick pan and a chef’s knife, and some call for no prep work at all. Whichever you choose, you’ll receive a chef-designed recipe that is nutritionally balanced, with a bevy of different protein options that include legumes, nuts, and seeds.
During testing, it quickly became evident that Purple Carrot was a great meal delivery service for families, whether or not every member of the household is vegan. The veggie-heavy dishes help you up your nutritional intake, and almost every meal can be paired with a meat or fish protein if someone at your table prefers that. The recipes were easy to follow and catered easily to our schedule — we liked that Purple Carrot lets you narrow down your menu options based on how much time you want to spend cooking.
Meals We Tested
- Banh mi bowls with broccoli and pickled veggies
- Lemony grain bowls with swiss chard & za’atar carrots
- Chipotle sweet potatoes & lentils with citrus-pecan salad
- Elote bowls with lime chickpeas and quinoa
Starting Price: $11 per serving | Shipping: Free shipping on orders over $100; For orders under $100, shipping is $15 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh
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If you’re a family who appreciates the opportunity to go back for seconds (or thirds!) of your favorite sides or proteins, you’ll love Sunbasket. The meal delivery kit offers generous portions, with plenty of variety when it comes to the type of cuisine and dietary restrictions. Paleo, pescatarian, Mediterranean, keto, gluten-free, vegetarian, and diabetes-friendly are all viable options with Sunbasket. Snack lovers aren’t left out either. You can complete your weekly delivery with a selection of grab-and-go goodies, like premade lunches, specialty meats, and breakfasts.
While testing Sunbasket, we appreciated the diversity the brand offered. The menu never felt redundant, and even on the week when we forgot to select personalized suggestions, dishes were not repeated. The dishes were simple enough to please picky eaters but still had plenty of flavor and interest to keep foodies satisfied. The packaging your meal kits arrive in is almost entirely recycled — the insulation is made of reclaimed denim, and the ice packs can be recycled.
Meals We Tested
- Salmon panzanella salad with crisp lettuce, salsa verde, and Parmesan
- Harissa sweet potatoes and your choice of protein with chimichurri
- Blueberry BBQ chicken with warm Dijon-horseradish potato salad
- Salmon with balsamic strawberries and farro–sweet pea salad
- Baharat chicken over wilted kale with tzatziki salad
- Fajita lettuce wraps with New Mexican chile salsa and guacamole
- Fettuccine Bolognese with garlic-sautéed baby broccoli
- Seared steaks with green goddess mashed potatoes and porcini pan sauce
Starting Price: $11 per serving | Shipping: $10 (First box is free) | Delivery Area: 46 states | Products Arrive: Fresh
How We Tested Meal Delivery Services for Families
We ordered, cooked, and tasted meals from 40 different meal delivery services before settling on the best choices for this list. While testing each meal kit, we considered the following criteria:
- Price: We examined the starting price, portion size, and overall value of each kit to determine whether the price was fair for the quality and amount of food included in the kit.
- Menu: We considered flexibility, availability, and customization options to determine whether the service was easy to use and family-friendly. For each meal service, we ordered traditional and vegetarian options and tried a variety of cuisines to test the range of offerings. We made note of the number of meals per delivery and whether an additional grocery run was necessary.
- Flavor: Of course, we considered the flavors and overall quality of the food to determine whether we’d proudly serve it to our own families.
- Customer service: We considered the quality of customer service: how easy was it to change, cancel, or skip deliveries at any time, and could we choose our delivery day and time? We also looked at the number of dietary needs accommodated.
- Sustainability: This includes the sustainability and sourcing of the ingredients and packaging involved with each delivery.
- Level of expertise or gear required: We noted the amount of gear required to cook the recipes and whether the instructions were easy to follow and accurate.
Our Expertise
Alyssa Longobucco is a freelance writer, editor, and stylist with a background in food, interior, and lifestyle content. She has over a decade of experience in the digital and magazine industry creating unique and innovative content for storied brands such as Food & Wine, House Beautiful, HGTV, The Knot, Domino, Apartment Therapy, Real Simple, Food52, Good Housekeeping, and more. She has tested numerous food delivery services for Food and Wine, including Gobble, Little Spoon, and Nuture Life, all of which were a big hit with her two toddlers.
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