10 Best Meal Delivery Services, Tested by an Ex-Restaurant Critic | WIRED

Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Featured in this article Best Meal Kit Overall Marley Spoon Meal Kit Read more Shop at Marley Spoon Meal Kit With the Best Selection HelloFresh Meal Kit Read more Shop at HelloFresh Best Family-Friendly Meal Kit Home Chef Meal Kit Read more Shop at Home Chef (Regular Plan) Most Flexible Meal Delivery Service (No Subscription) Blue Apron Meal Kit Read more Shop at Blue Apron (Subscription) I didn't Expect to appreciate meal kits as much as I do. I like to cook, and I like to eat out even more. But the best meal delivery services and kits don't just make your life easier, they help you eat better and maybe even live a little better. At heart, the best meal kits are marvels of logistics—a convergence of growers, butchers, purveyors, and sauce makers from all over the globe, kitted out into little individual portions and sent to your doorstep with one-sheet recipes. The promise of the internet has always been the world at your door ( maybe even economically, if you do it right ). This, in part, is why WIRED devotes so much coverage to the best meal prep kits, as well as all manner of other food delivery services . The WIRED Reviews team has tested and retested more than two dozen meal kit delivery services since 2017. For a lot longer, I've worked as a food critic on both coasts , and I bring a critic's gimlet eye to testing recipes and food. I've been surprised at how well the best delivery services fare. The best meals I've eaten from a meal kit have come from Marley Spoon , which offers a path to genuinely good home-cooked meals on nights when I might otherwise feel uninspired. But HelloFresh and Blue Apron have perhaps caught up after drastic updates that expand both convenience and options. Others among my favorite meal kits, like Green Chef or Purple Carrot , offer hassle-free solutions for organic, gluten-free, and plant-based home cooking. I assessed each meal plan's recipes, breadth of selection, sourcing, ease of preparation, convenience, organization, packaging, high-quality ingredients, and suitability for different eating restrictions and needs. We also tested out the best new meal kits for those looking for alternatives to Blue Apron or HelloFresh. And not for nothing, we sorted out some often maddeningly non-transparent pricing. Here are the best delivery meal subscriptions we've tried. Be sure to check out my investigation into whether sometimes Meal Kits Are Cheaper Than Groceries when trying out new recipes, and WIRED's related guides, including Best Plant-Based Meal Kits , Best Food Gifts You Can Buy Online , Best Coffee Subscriptions , and Best Delivery Chocolate Boxes . Updated March 2026: I retested our top pick, Marley Spoon, which has undergone an apparent rebrand and moved further toward convenient and international meals. I've also updated our write-ups for EveryPlate and Factor, after colleagues with eating restrictions tested gluten-free and vegan meals. I've updated pricing, plans, and descriptions throughout. Table of Contents AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron Frequently Asked Questions Are Meal Kits Worth It? Can I Pause Meal Kits When I Go on Vacation? How to Best Use Meal Kits How I Test Meal Kits Other Meal Kits We Liked Meal Kits We Didn’t Like Best Meal Kit Overall Courtesy of Marley Spoon Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Photograph: Matthew Korfhage Chevron Chevron Save to wishlist Save to wishlist Marley Spoon Meal Kit Shop at Marley Spoon What has long differentiated Marley Spoon from other meal kits in the United States was its devotion to classical cooking technique, the sort they teach in culinary school and on Martha Stewart's TV shows. This is no accident. When the German-founded meal kit arrived in the US, it did so with the cooking maven's endorsement and a lot of her recipes and techniques. The cost was always that Marley's recipes often took a little more time and care to get a hearty Hungarian-influenced creamy mushroom chicken, a boldly Cajun-spiced tilapia, or a delicate eggplant parm. For me, it's always been worth the trade. A kale and sausage soup, deeply savory, might be balanced with acid from a surprising splash of red wine vinegar. Recipes often call for light seasoning throughout the process, not all at once. Gradually over many months, Marley seems to have changed things up a bit. After a rebrand, Martha's less front and center than she used to be. But the “Martha's Best” recipes have stayed. These are mostly classic, European-influenced recipes with sterling technique. But I've noticed an increasing tendency toward convenience and global flavors. A third of the menu is prepared, ready-to-heat meals. I see more 15-minute dishes and tray oven bakes. Marley has varied its vibe without raising its prices, which is admirable. In the meantime, it seems t