9 Best Meal Delivery Service Options for Hungry, Busy Families
We all want to feed our kids yummy, healthy meals. But when you’re busy chasing after a toddler, helping the kids with homework or dealing with fussy babies (trust us, the witching hour is totally a thing), carving out time to shop for, prep and cook a gourmet dinner is no easy task. Your saving grace? Meal kits. Below, find out how meal delivery services can help your family, then shop our favorites for every palate (even picky eaters!).
These days, there are tons of flexible meal kit delivery services for families to choose from, dishing out a culinary lifeline when you need it most. Sure, they may be a bit pricier than other meals-in-a-box (looking at you, mac-and-cheese!), but there are a bunch of advantages to using meal prep delivery:
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They include healthy ingredients. Most of the services we looked at provide locally sourced, high-quality, even organic ingredients whenever possible. Meal kits are a great way to incorporate fresh, whole foods and proteins into your family’s diet.
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They supply all the ingredients you need. When you sign up for a meal delivery service, you can rest assured that when your box arrives, it’ll contain all the ingredients you need to prepare a full meal for your family. And anyone who’s ever had to strap kids into the car and head to the grocery store to pick up that one forgotten item knows how much of a time- (and sanity-) saver that is.
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They provide step-by-step recipe cards. Dreaming up a tasty dish that everyone (including your picky eaters) will enjoy, and then figuring out how to perfectly execute it, can be exhausting. Thankfully, most of these services provide full-color recipe cards that walk you through how to prepare your chosen meal using the ingredients they’ve sent. Bonus: As you work your way through these, chances are you’ll also beef up your culinary chops!
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They let you choose your meals. The meal delivery services we’ve included below all give you the flexibility to choose which recipes you’d like to make in a given week; the number of choices ranged from about six to 20 or more! Most also let you skip a week or cancel at any point.
Here, we’re serving up a list of the nine best meal prep delivery services for families. From easy-to-prep and cost-effective options to plant-based and organic selections, there’s sure to be something that your family can get on board with. Bon appetit!
Best overall meal delivery service for families
- Convenient meal kits designed to easily fit into fridges
- Over 30+ recipes to choose from each week
- Customize your plan based on your family’s size and dietary preferences
- Skip, pause or cancel your subscription at any time
- Deliveries occur once a week
- Doesn’t deliver to Alaska or Hawaii
Founded in 2011, HelloFresh was the true pioneer of the meal delivery service industry—and through excellent customer service and wholesome, simple-to-make meals, it retained its spot as one of the best meal kits today. With the family-specific plan, you can pick up to six different recipes each week, like Thai ginger chicken curry, chicken and sweet potato quesadillas or spiced chickpea fritters. HelloFresh will then send you pre-measured ingredients and recipe cards to help you whip up fast, fresh weekday dinners.
Best meal delivery service for babies and toddlers
- Versatile food options, from organic baby purees to nutritious big-kid meals
- Affordable price point
- Skip, pause or cancel your subscription at any time
- Recipes intended for babies, toddlers and kids, rather than adults
- Doesn’t deliver to Alaska or Hawaii
Searching for a meal delivery service for your infant, tot, big kid or all of the above? Little Spoon is sure to check all of the boxes on your list. The company specializes in baby food, finger foods and smoothies, as well as meals for toddlers and older kids. Just pick the plan that best suits your needs, then customize your box with up to 12 plates, with choices like turkey kale meatballs, chicken potstickers and organic purees for every stage of infancy. This versatile meal delivery service can be there as baby transitions to solids and table foods, as well as throughout toddlerhood.
Best meal delivery service for kids
- Premade recipes require no prep or cooking; just heat and serve
- Choose up to 15 meals, finger foods, smoothies and snacks
- Picky eater-approved and allergy-friendly options
- Recipes intended for kids, rather than adults
- Doesn’t deliver to Alaska or Hawaii
Do you have your go-to meals covered, but totally draw a blank when it comes to feeding the kids? Don’t worry—Nurture Life has your back. This meal delivery service is committed to serving up yummy dishes that are packed with the nutrients your little one needs to grow big and strong. Each recipe is pre-cooked and packaged for your convenience, with full meals, finger foods, smoothies and snacks to select from. Standout recipes include chicken taco pockets, mac and cheese and penne bolognese, to name a few. Have a picky eater at home? Opt for dishes labeled “picky eater fav” to find the best fit for your kiddo.
Cheapest meal delivery service for families
- Choose from over 100 recipes each week
- “Kid-friendly” label to help guide your selection decisions
- Affordable price point
- Skip, pause or cancel your subscription at any time
- Digital recipe cards rather than printed designs
- Doesn’t deliver to Alaska or Hawaii
This affordable meal delivery service is a great option for families working with tight budgets. For $4.99 per adult-sized portion, you get a box of fresh, quality ingredients and step-by-step cooking instructions. Dinnerly’s lower price point is made possible by fewer ingredients in each dish, a digitally sent recipe instead of printed cards and simple packaging, but the results are still scrumptious! You get to choose up to six different meal options each week (like grilled caprese flatbread and baked popcorn chicken with smashed potatoes), labeled “kid-friendly” or “under 30 minutes” to help guide your selections.
Family meal delivery service with the most variety
- Choose from more than 70 recipes each week
- Each meal features helpful labels to guide your decisions
- Add-on options include breakfast dishes, desserts, charcuterie boards, sides and premade meals
- Skip, pause or cancel your subscription at any time
- Offers fewer meals per week than some other services
Another meal kit delivery company that hit the scene early on is Blue Apron, and it’s definitely one to try! This meal delivery service offers kid-approved recipes and farm-fresh ingredients, that are pre-proportioned and dropped off at your door along with step-by-step cooking instructions. Decide between up to four weekly recipes, such as curried cauliflower and oven-baked pesto gnocchi with sausage. Meals are labeled “fast & easy” or “family-friendly” so you can zero in on delicious, nutritious recipes that require the least amount of effort.
Best healthy meal delivery service
- Offers breakfast, lunch and dinner options
- Choose from over 30 organic, nutritionist-approved recipes each week
- Skip, pause or cancel your subscription at any time
- No specific family plan available
- Doesn’t deliver to Alaska or Hawaii
We get it—it can be hard to whip up a dish that’s tasty and nutritious for your kiddos every day of the week. That’s where this healthy meal delivery service comes in handy. All of Green Chef’s recipes are nutritionist-approved and made from organic produce and premium proteins, so you can ensure your family is getting everything they need when they sit at the table. Some tantalizing options you can order include creamy paprika shrimp, Mediterranean turkey burgers and cajun-spiced chickpea bowls.
Best organic meal delivery service
- Prioritizes premium ingredients, including USDA organic-certified produce and responsibly sourced meats and seafood
- Offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack options
- Skip, pause or cancel your subscription at any time
- No specific family plan available
- Doesn’t deliver to Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota and parts of New Mexico
If your family adheres to a special diet, like vegan, vegetarian, clean eating or gluten-free, then Sunbasket is hands down the best meal delivery service for you. These meal kits include clean, organic ingredients and recipes perfect for busy parents who want to provide super-healthy food for their kids—better yet, they can all be made in 30 minutes or less. Pick a menu plan that aligns with your tastes, then choose up to five dinners per week, including recipes like Korean BBQ tostadas or sweet potato and black bean chili. Looking to save time in the kitchen for every meal? You’re in luck—this meal delivery service also offers tasty breakfast, lunch and snack options.
Best plant-based meal delivery service
- Offers plant-based breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack options
- Recipe kits or premade and frozen meals available
- Skip or cancel your subscription at any time
- No specific family plan available
- Deliveries only take place on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays
- Offers fewer meals per week than some other services
- Doesn’t deliver to Alaska or Hawaii
Whether your family is entirely plant-based, or you’re trying to incorporate more veggies into your kiddo’s meals, Purple Carrot has got you covered. The meal delivery service offers flexible weekly plans, allowing you to choose up to four delicious recipes a week, including sticky mango tofu and patatas bravas tacos (yum!). For your convenience, premade and frozen dishes are also available, so you can always have something tasty ready in minutes for days when you have less time to cook.
Best easy-to-prep meal delivery service
- Offers breakfast, lunch and dinner options, plus sides and desserts
- Each recipe includes helpful labels and allergen info
- Skip, pause or cancel your subscription at any time
- Only two plans are available to choose from
- Doesn’t deliver to Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and has limited service throughout 10 other states
Sure, meal kits save you from having to take a trip to the grocery store, but some admittedly still take a good amount of time to prepare. Enter Gobble, which boasts meal prep in just 15 minutes or less, thanks to the pre-peeled, chopped and marinated ingredients that come included—no prep necessary! The recipes are as delicious as they are easy to make. Mojito lime shrimp bowls and lemon pepper chicken pasta? Yes please! Bonus: Gobble’s website makes it simple to choose recipes that are tagged “quick and easy” and those without common allergen, like gluten, dairy and eggs.
We get it—parenting requires a lot of gear, and it can be hard to find the best fit for your family. To streamline your decision-making process, our goal is to do the bulk of the research for you, so you don’t have to spend hours scrolling through online retailers. We do this by considering a list of criteria when sourcing services, including ease of use, quality and durability, value, style and, last but definitely not least, safety. This way you can count on getting the best bang for your buck, while also having a dependable service that will meet your and your child’s needs.
To decide which services are the best options on the market, we leverage our familiarity with leading brands to make sure options are from reliable manufacturers. We read user reviews to get the low-down on how these products work for families, and typically don’t consider anything with less than an average four-star rating. And since many of us are also parents, we rely on our writers’ and editors’ experience using these services with their own families.
Interested in learning more about our editorial process? Read about how our team develops and reviews all articles here.
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