9 Cheapest Meal Delivery Services (2025): Budget-Friendly Meals Delivered to Your Door

Our pick for best overall cheapest meal delivery service goes to Dinnerly. Depending on the number of meals you order, meal kits can cost as little as $5.99 per serving, but will only be $8.99 at most—not including shipping. Additionally, Dinnerly provides a market where you can purchase premade meals and food groceries, as well. 

There’s a good amount of variety according to our tester, GGR director of content Nicole Davis, CPT, PN1-NC, who tried it for two weeks. Within that time frame, meals had rotated to new selections already. She rates the variety at 4 out of 5, adding, “There are options for many dietary restrictions and preferences, too. I had a hard time choosing what I wanted to try at times!”

The meal kits were a hit for Nicole, who tried the turkey taquitos and pastrami-crusted steak with an everything bagel potato; they were both delicious to her. Still, the premade meals weren’t her favorite, with her saying, “This tasted like a Lean Cuisine to be honest. It has better ingredient quality and definitely less sodium than a TV dinner, but with very similar taste vibes.” She rates the taste overall at 4 out of 5.

Our expert dietitian Perry Nix, RD, likes that Dinnerly provides affordable meals to avoid going out to eat, which improves our diet as well as saving money. However, the ingredients aren’t organic, which may deter some people; the ingredient quality gets a 4 out of 5 from our testers. 

She clarifies, “Most of the fruits and vegetables delivered by Dinnerly are conventional, which may be a dealbreaker for those who prefer eating organic foods. While organic farming may be better for the environment, organic food isn’t more nutrient-dense than conventionally grown food.” So if this isn’t a dealbreaker, many people will enjoy this affordable meal service.

Read our full Dinnerly review for more information.

If you’re wanting organic ingredients, try Green Chef, which uses certified-organic ingredients in their meal kit delivery service.

If you’re looking for variety and customization in your meal plans, look no further than Hungryroot. This feels less like a meal service and more like grocery shopping, according to GGR head of content and certified personal trainer Kate Meier, who tested out Hungryroot. After filling out a questionnaire, you’re able to completely customize your cart and meals, and it all ends up costing around $10 a meal, earning a 5 out of 5 for variety.

The ease of prep was fantastic for a meal kit service, according to Kate, who rates the prep time at 4 out of 5. “I set a timer for the meals I cooked…The first one only had me prepping for about 10 minutes, then was maybe 12 minutes to bake. But it was so easy—not a lot of chopping, because everything is prepackaged and ready to throw in a skillet.” 

There is an abundance of variety with Hungryroot, particularly for those with dietary restrictions. Perry Nix, RD, says, “They include groceries and recipes made without common food allergens like soy, nuts, shellfish, and eggs, which is hard to find in other meal service plans.” Along with this, they have quite a few vegetarian and vegan options available, too.

While Hungryroot tries to be your one stop for meals and groceries, Perry does note that you’ll have to grab some essentials from the store, like milk and eggs. Also, Kate was a bit overwhelmed by the initial quiz at the start. “It asks a lot of questions before you can even see the meal options,” she recalls, rating the ordering process a 3 out of 5. Nevertheless, this is a solid service that provides high-quality ingredients for a relatively inexpensive price.

Our Hungryroot review has more information.

If you’d rather have variety in the form of prepared meals, we suggest checking out Tempo Meals by Home Chef. These prepared meals also earned top marks in variety from our testers.

Spending about $15 per meal might not seem like a budget option, but the convenience that you get from Trifecta, especially on a weight loss journey, will be worth the money for some. 

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You can choose from five different meal plans on Trifecta, including Clean Meals, Keto Meals, and Paleo, and most of them are geared toward those on a weight loss journey. You’ll find the macros listed on the outside of the package, and many of the meals hover around 400 calories, offering a good balance of lean protein, complex carbs, and veggies. We rated portion size a 5 out of 5 for those looking for a calorie-controlled option.

Although Trifecta suggests heating the meals on your stovetop for optimal taste, our tester, GGR senior director of content and competitive weightlifter Kate Meier, found the microwave worked just fine as well, rating ease of preparation a 5 out of 5. “It’d probably be better coming out of a skillet than a microwave, but I didn’t want to dirty a pan and often was under a time crunch,” adds Kate.

“Meal prepping can help you achieve a more chiseled physique, but it’s tedious and time-consuming,” explains Perry Nix, R.D. “Using a service like Trifecta takes the struggle out of meal prepping for body composition goals.”

Kate thought the ingredients tasted fresh and appreciated the variety of options available. Her favorite meal was the breakfast egg scramble, but she also enjoyed the salmon and the chicken and broccoli casserole, rating taste a 4 out of 5. “Overall, I really like the convenience and macro-targeting that Trifecta offers,” Kate says. 

Read our full Trifecta Meal Delivery review for more thoughts. 

For a meal kit experience, try HelloFresh. This classic meal delivery service often has quality ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions to their meals and recipes.

If you’ve ever heard of a meal kit delivery service before, it was probably our pick for the best inexpensive meal kit, HelloFresh. Constantly promoted on social media by ads and influencers, this meal delivery service will deliver meals that are $8.99 per serving, but what’s really enticing is the promotional discount with your first box, dropping the price to as low as $3.99 a serving. 

Meal kits include ingredients and recipe cards, and you prep and cook your meals for two people or four.

Our product tester, Ashley Little, has used HelloFresh for several years, and enjoys the ease of ordering and customizing your weekly meals. “If you don’t select meals, HelloFresh will automatically pick some for you,” she says in our HelloFresh review. “It’s very easy to swap meals, add extra meals, swap proteins with meals, and add on additional products such as snacks, protein, and desserts.” She rates the ordering at 5 out of 5.

There is quite a bit of customization, an aspect that appealed to dietitian Perry Nix, RD, as well, particularly for family-friendly options. “As a mom of two young children it can be difficult to find nutritious meals that everyone will eat. Also, since you cook these meals at home, the kids can help prepare their meals, which inspires them to taste new foods.”

Ashley does note that sometimes the fresh ingredients aren’t as fresh as she’d like them to be, particularly with some of the veggies, rating the ingredient quality a 3.5 out of 5. “some of the vegetables arrive a little less fresh than I’d like,” she say. “I’ve had far fewer issues with the meat and dairy products, though.”

Also, while HelloFresh offers a pescatarian option, there aren’t any other meal plans that cater to specific dietary needs, earning just a 3.5 out of 5. Still, with its low price and discounts, this meal service is worth a shot.

Looking for a specific meal plan to cater to dietary needs? Try Sunbasket, which has many meals that cater to multiple dietary preferences or restrictions. You can also fully customize your order with meals.

From $11 to $13 per serving, Purple Carrot is a pretty good deal compared to other plant-based meal delivery options like Sakara Life or Sprinly, and it’s also delicious. 

For that per meal price, you’ll either get a meal kit prepped with everything you need to cook your own vegan meal at home, or a ready-made meal that you’ll just heat and eat. 

Our tester, GGR performance editor Anthony O’Reilly, went with all meal kits and was impressed. While he’s not vegan, he enjoys plant-based food, and thought the recipes were quite good. “The ingredients were fresh and I thought everything tasted really good! My favorite was the sloppy Joe (with tofu instead of meat).” Anthony rated taste a 5 out of 5. He also rated portion size a 4 out of 5, saying that he always felt full after a meal. 

Perry Nix, the R.D. who analyzed Purple Carrot for us, gives the service props for making plant-based eating accessible. “A plant-based diet can help reduce inflammation and decrease your risk of developing a chronic disease,” Perry explains. “The company uses seasonal ingredients so you can add new foods into your rotation without ever getting bored.”

Anthony’s one big note was about preparation. While most of the required little work, he thought the instructions might be too simplified for those who don’t know their way around the kitchen. “It was missing steps that I’d consider crucial to the cooking process—something as simple as dry-patting tofu before cooking it was omitted.” For that reason, ease of prep gets a 3 out of 5 score. 

Read our full Purple Carrot review for more information.

For another 100% plant-based option, consider Mosaic Foods, which delivers prepared plant-based meals instead of meal kits.

When GGR senior director of content and competitive weightlifter Kate Meier was cooking for one a few years ago, she tried Sunbasket and really enjoyed her experience. And starting at $10 per meal, the price is right. 

“Most of their portion sizes at the time were for at least two meals, but I love leftovers, so I would just make dinner for one night and eat the leftovers at lunch at work the next day,” Kate explains. “However, It did limit my choices a little while I looked through the menu because I had to figure out what would be great reheated the next day—things like salads dont always stay that fresh, you know?”

Despite that, we rated variety as a 4.5 out of 5, as our other tester, former GGR senior staff writer Amanda Capritto, said that the choices between the meal kits and fresh-and-ready meals was impressive. “You could easily use this subscription for several months without getting bored.”

Also, while Amanda thought some of the meals could use more spice and seasoning, Kate found them to be fine just the way they were, so we landed at a 3.75 out of 5 for taste. 

We like the flexibility of the a la carte ordering for singles as well, which you don’t find with many other meal delivery services. You can choose between meal kits and prepared meals so you’re ready for whatever life affords you time for, earning the brand a 5 out of 5 for the ordering process. 

Read our full Sunbasket review for more information.

If you’re wanting prepared meals with plenty of variety, we recommend Factor Meals, which has many options to choose from each week. Portion sizes were also plentiful according to our tester.

If you like a light, nutritious breakfast filled with fruits, veggies, and lots of oats, considering Daily Harvest. At between $6.79 and $8.49 for breakfast, you can enjoy breakfast bowls that have a base of oatmeal and are filled with fruits and seeds, like the Pineapple + Passion Fruit bowl or the Apple + Cinnamon bowl, or smoothies like Mint + Cacao, Cherry + Almond, or Mango + Greens. 

If you’re pressed for time in the morning, Daily Harvest breakfast would be a good option—while you’ll have to use a blender to prepare the smoothies, the oat bowls just go right in the microwave, so we gave preparation a 4 out of 5. “There’s more clean-up than I’d like with some of the meals, but altogether, it’s definitely easier than cooking from scratch,” adds our tester Amanda Capritto, former GGR senior staff writer and triathlete.

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In terms of taste, Amanda really enjoys the smoothies, saying that “they seemed like the freshest and highest-quality of all the meal options.” The oat bowls were just OK in her opinion, but she would order just the smoothies again for sure. We gave Daily Harvest breakfast options a 3.75 out of 5.

Lastly, in terms of portion size, we rate Daily Harvest a 3 out of 5—Amanda did not feel these meals were enough for her in and of themselves and preferred to eat them as snacks. However, if you prefer a lighter breakfast, Daily Harvest is a viable option. 

Another great breakfast option is Fuel Meals, which provides meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Ranging from as low as $6.99 per serving up to about $12, Home Chef is a great budget option for families. Not only does each family meal have 4 servings, but it’s also easy to double up to 8 servings per meal if you’re cooking for a big bunch.

Both of our testers had basically only good things to say about Home Chef, rating taste as a 5 out of 5. 

“I’m obsessed with Home Chef,” says GGR senior director of content Kate Meier. “I’ve been using Home Chef for about six months, getting two to three meals a week almost every week. In that time, there’s only been one or two meals that I wasn’t crazy about. I started a binder where I keep recipes of the meals I love, because it’s not that hard to recreate them if you go shopping on your own.”

Our testers also thought the portion sizes were perfect, rating them a perfect 5 out of 5, plus variety also gets a perfect score. “When I look every week, there are always at least five meals that are super appealing to me,” Kate says.

Although it’s easy to filter meals based on preparation when you’re ordering, you should know that most Home Chef meals require decent prep—think dicing and seasoning—as well as cook time and clean-up time. Kate rated her prep experience a 2 out of 5, but there are under-30 minute options available if you’re on more of a time crunch, though.   

Read our Home Chef review for more information.

For a prepared meal service fit for a family, try Clean Eatz. You can order meals in batches of six for under $9 a meal, but they also have 30-meal bulk options to help you save more.

Our favorite prepared meal delivery on a budget is Clean Eatz. With a few exceptions, meals are $8.99 apiece, and ordering off the website is pretty easy, although Chloe Ekberg, our tester and former GGR team member, noted that the customizations were limited after you picked your meal plan. You can still build your own meal plan, so we rate the customizations a 4 out of 5.

Clean Eatz allows you to pick six meals from their meal plans—including keto, high-protein, and gluten-free plans—and then a quantity of these six-meal packs. Chloe remarks, “Lots of options for the type of plan you want to choose but less options for customization once you choose the plan.” With that said, Chloe found the meals provided to be delicious and made with high-quality, fresh ingredients, rating the quality at 5 out of 5.

Chloe simply states about the taste that everything was “so delicious. It was nice to have low-calorie and high-protein options without lacking any flavor.” She was shocked by how good everything turned out, rating the taste a perfect 5 out of 5.

Expert dietitian Perry Nix believes this may be a good meal service to go with for people looking to build muscle, saying, “Most Clean Eatz meals contain between 20 and 40 grams of protein, which is the recommended amount per meal to maximize muscle protein synthesis.” If you’re looking for an affordable way to meet your protein needs, this may be one way to get some more high-protein foods into your diet.

Only being able to choose six meals at a time with limited variety might not be what some are looking for; still, with a decent amount of protein in each meal and delicious ingredients, Clean Eatz provides good value at a pretty low price.

If you’d prefer meal kits, we recommend Dinnerly, which is inexpensive and has decent variety of meals as well.