We Tested Over 20 Kids’ Meal Delivery Services — These 8 Satisfied Even Our Pickiest Eaters

Nurture Life aims to solve a familiar struggle many parents can relate to: how to get your kids to eat healthy, nutrient-dense foods, particularly if you’re a busy, on-the-go family. The brand serves up meals, snacks, and smoothies that are ready in just minutes and feature hidden vegetables your kids will actually enjoy eating. Featuring organic veggies, whole grains, and proteins free of added hormones, the meals in each delivery are crafted by registered dietitians and chefs exclusively for your kiddos. 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 (we even tried a few bites!) 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 dishes 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 families need. There were even a few no-cook meals, like crustless sunbutter and jelly sandwiches, that were perfect for post-daycare pickup or an after-school snack. 

Meals We Tried

• 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 | Products Arrive: Frozen

If your child is under the age of 2, you’re at a unique juncture in their life where you can still guide what type of eater they will be. Little Spoon was developed with that opportunity in mind, focusing on nutrient-dense and approachable meals for every stage of your baby’s development. Unlike many meal services, which are geared toward children who can already handle utensils and chew their food, Little Spoon comes in “stages,” starting with organic baby blends, moving to early finger foods, and finally dishes for older toddlers, as well as plenty of smoothie and snack options to satisfy a variety of tastes and hunger levels. Adults won’t be able to feed themselves using this subscription, but with your little ones taken care of, you can turn your attention to creating an adult-only menu filled with all the “icky” foods you want (hello, kale!). 

During testing, we were impressed not only by the quality and variety of the Little Spoon meals but their ethical standards, too. The brand abides by best-in-class food safety protocols and is the only baby food brand in the United States to set strict limits for over 500 toxins and contaminants — including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium — that commonly appear in other food for kids. The wide variety of foods available through Little Spoon means that the brand can follow you through several years of your child’s development, taking the stress of creating homemade baby food or toddler plates cut just so off your to-do list. Each meal is formulated with a balanced diet in mind and works to expose your little one to new flavors and cuisines, whether that’s an apple cinnamon buckwheat crumble Baby Blend for your 7-month-old or chicken pot stickers with edamame for your toddler. Even better, you can filter the selection by dietary need, making it easy to cater to a child with a nut, egg, dairy, or gluten allergy. 

Meals We Tried

• 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: $3.50 and up per serving | Shipping: $9 | Delivery Area: 48 | Products Arrive: Frozen

If you’re someone who needs a little bit of everything out of their kid-friendly meal delivery service, look no further than Hungry Root. While not specifically marketed for children, we found the service to be the ideal choice for families who need to satisfy a number of different bellies and tastebuds. Hungry Root is kind of like having a personal shopper and chef in your back pocket; not only can the service supply you with near endless meal options (over 6,000, in fact), but you can also check off much of your grocery shopping through the service too, making it easier than ever to plan out your family’s breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the week. 

What impressed us the most about Hungry Root was the app, which made planning, ordering, and cooking the meals exceedingly easy. The meals we tried typically took anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes and were designed for cooks who feel comfortable in the kitchen but don’t want to complicate things. As you continue to use the service, Hungry Root will take notice of meals you’ve liked and disliked, helping to better curate your selection of recipes to meals your family really seems to respond to. Got a picky eater? You can even shop the Hungry Root site and recipe cache by food restriction or ingredient, so it’s easy to eliminate options based on an all-too-common childhood dislike, like broccoli. 

Meals We Tried

• 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: $3.99 and up per serving | Shipping: $6.99 (free for orders over $70) | Delivery Area: 48 | Products Arrive: Fresh, frozen, shelf-stable

Whether you’re short on time or cooking skills, Home Chef has you covered. The affordable meal service puts an emphasis on fresh, easy-to-execute meals, making it a no-brainer for busy families looking to keep everyone satisfied and full. The service offers a variety of different types of meals, such as oven-ready prepared dishes, single-serve lunches, meal kits, and express dishes, all of which can be filtered by dietary restriction or ingredient preferences. If you’re looking for a DIY dinner that’ll get your child involved in the cooking process, or just an easy dish to pop in the microwave on busy nights between soccer practice and a scout meeting, Home Chef can help. 

While testing, we were especially impressed by the variety of meal options Home Chef offered. There were copious cuisines on the roster, as well as meals that would accommodate many different dietary restrictions, like gluten intolerance or a dairy allergy. Even better, each meal can be further customized to suit your family’s needs. Have a child who gets the ick from shrimp? You can swap in chicken instead. Prefer to skip pork? Customize the recipe to include beef, chicken, or shrimp. The entire Home Chef planning and ordering process is easy to navigate, with an integrated app that’ll walk you through the recipe instructions in real time while you cook. Most of the recipes are beginner-friendly and very few require specialty kitchen gear, such as a paella pan, so you can get by with just a basic cookware set.

Meals We Tried

• 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: $7.99 per serving | Shipping: $11 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh

Life as a family can be busy — so busy, in fact, that the mere thought of having to chop a bunch of veggies or mince herbs for dinner can send you straight to your favorite takeout app. With Gobble on your team, that can all change. Of all the kid-friendly meal delivery services we tested, Gobble was the best pick for busy parents who simply do not have time for much prep work but still want to score a healthy homemade meal for their family. The key? Gobble’s chefs do all the work for you by marinating, dicing, and even peeling the ingredients for meals that are the epitome of “set it and forget it.”   

While testing Gobble, we were shocked by how accurate its 15-minute meal prep promise was. Each of the dinners tasted elaborate and flavorful but required none of the heavy lifting that many restaurant-worthy dishes often do. Except for one package of string beans, every ingredient we received was fresh and vibrant, including perfectly portioned meats and seafood. Each dinner came in its own bag so as not to confuse the ingredients, and the recipe cards were so clear and concise that even a preteen could follow them. The meals we tried were maybe a bit foodie-forward for the average toddler or elementary-age child, but with so many recipes to choose from — and plenty of ways to filter through your options — finding a weekly meal plan that the whole family will love is a cinch. 

Meals We Tried 

• Dukkah-crusted salmon with quinoa and arugula salad
• Seared steak with yakisoba noodle stir-fry
• Home-style chicken with mashed potatoes, green beans, and fried shallots
• Crispy fish tacos with guacamole, cabbage slaw, and chimichurri
• Broccoli and cheddar quiche

Starting Price: $12.99 per serving | Shipping: $9.99 (first box free) | Delivery Area: 47 states, with limited service in Nebraska, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Louisiana | Products Arrive: Fresh

Many parents suffer from decision fatigue after managing the schedules of multiple family members throughout the week and fielding a wide range of questions, especially with young children in the family. The point being: Sometimes the last thing you want to do is weed through a database of hundreds of meals to decide what to have for dinner that week. That’s where Every Plate comes in. Its curated collection of meal kits drops in batches of 27, so choosing what you want your weekly menu to look like is a personalized but manageable undertaking. Even better, Every Plate meals start at just $1.99 per serving, making it a great option for any family on a firm grocery budget or with many mouths to feed. 

Testing Every Plate was an easy and enjoyable process, and we were impressed by both the variety of the meals as well as the straightforward prep work involved. The dishes are standard enough to appeal to a wide variety of palates and age groups, but not so boring that you’ll get fatigued with them after a few weeks. In addition to the meal kits, Every Plate also offers add-ons, like extra servings of protein, that you can use to supplement your meal in case you have a kiddo going through a growth spurt or you find yourself feeding an entire lacrosse team on a given night. 

Another note: Many of the meal kits from Every Plate are centered around starches like pasta, rice, or potatoes, so it might not be the best pick for a family that prefers to eat veggie-heavy. That said, it is great for those families with young kids who tend to look at starchy, white foods as “safe” for consumption (toddlers, we’re looking at you).

Meals We Tried

• Creamy Dijon chicken
• Moroccan chickpea and apricot tagine
• Loaded beef potato wedges
• Mediterranean steak and hummus bowls
• Zesty herb-rubbed salmon
• Quick and easy smoky cumin pork tacos
• Herby Parmesan-crusted chicken
• Kung pao beef bowls
• Creamy coconut chicken curry bowls
• Mediterranean meatball bowls
• Apricot Dijon chicken
• Creamy Tuscan-spiced chicken and rice

Starting Price: $1.99 per serving | Shipping: $9.99 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh

If the sourcing for the food you feed your children is a top priority, Green Chef is the ideal meal delivery service for you. As a CCOF-certified organic meal kit company, Green Chef prioritizes organic meats, fish, and produce as the cornerstone of its meals, while also working to support small-batch suppliers and local farmers. Meal kits from Green Chef come in color-coded bags, and many of them are already prepped, helping you check off pesky tasks like slicing, dicing, and measuring, so you can get dinner on the table faster. The brand also takes nutrition seriously (a must for growing kids!), offering nutritionist-approved recipe options for nearly every type of diet, including keto, vegan, protein-rich, and gluten-free. 

While testing, we were pleased to discover the wide range of menu options available, with few meals that repeated or felt redundant. Each meal was packed with flavor, and the ingredients arrived fresh and vibrant, so it was easy to tell that everything was top-tier quality. In addition to allowing you to cater your weekly menu to your family’s preferences (no pigeonholing you into pre-chosen meal selections here), Green Chef allows families to swap out proteins or make meals vegetarian or vegan, so you can easily cater to a picky child or a spouse who is looking to increase their protein intake for their forthcoming marathon.

Meals We Tried

• 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

Starting Price: $12.99 per serving | Shipping: $11 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh

Calling all foodie families! If you and your kids are down to try just about anything and are always interested in expanding your palates, Cook Unity is bound to be a big hit in your household. The brand focuses on food as a means of adventure and cultural exploration, employing a roster of real-life chefs from around the world to ideate and create the meals for you and your family. Subscriptions to Cook Unity will deliver anywhere from four to 16 meals to your door each week. It allows you to select from a diverse, globally inspired menu that changes weekly, but you can also input your family’s unique preferences so that the chefs can choose your meals for you. 

With almost every dietary need accounted for (including low-carb, low-calorie, dairy-free, plant-based, keto, and paleo meals), Cook Unity can easily accommodate a growing family and its ever-changing preferences, effortlessly removing the burden from your shoulders to make sure everyone leaves the table satisfied. During testing, we had the most enjoyable culinary experience using Cook Unity, hands down. It was a fun experience to browse through the meals each week, as was learning more about the chef who developed each dish and their unique culinary background. Each meal arrived fresh and stayed good in our fridge for four to seven days, with the expiration date clearly marked. 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 that’s so easy, even your middle schooler could do it. 

Meals We Tried

• 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: $11.09 per serving | Shipping: $10 | Delivery Area: 48 states | Products Arrive: Fresh