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For our Dinnerly Review, we had Nicole Davis, GGR director of content, CPT, and PN1-NC, order from the affordable meal delivery service herself and report back what she found with her honest assessment.
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Most people are reluctant to start a meal delivery service since they don’t see meal kits as affordable. However, Dinnerly may be more accessible than once thought. Read on for Nicole’s experience trying Dinnerly for two weeks.
Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. For health advice, contact a licensed healthcare provider. GGR also recommends choosing a product that has been third-party tested for quality.
Trust Us, We’re Fitness Buffs Who Love to Eat
Over 40 meal delivery services have been researched by our nutrition experts, including nutrition coaches and registered dietitians, on a mission to find the best meal kit out there.
What’s more, we sign up and test them to give you a first-hand account of our personal experience with the brands. We then assign a score based on our GGR testing methodology, ranked 1 to 5 stars based on:
- Price per meal
- Ordering
- Taste
- Ease of preparation
- Portion size
- Ingredient quality
- Variety
- Meal plans and customization
- Access to nutritional info
- Packaging and shipping
- Sustainability efforts
- Customer reviews
- Customer service
Skip the food shopping and the chopping—Dinnerly is a meal kit service that sends you fresh ingredients right to your door with most of the food preparation already done. You’ll need to sign up and provide credit card information before browsing the menu and making your selection. Meals start around $8, but the more meals in your weekly subscription, the greater the potential discount.
What our tester says:
“The introductory plan is three meals per week with two portions. I got my first week for 50% off as a new customer promotion, too. All in all, this is one of the more affordable meal kit services, by far.”
A Quick Look at Dinnerly
Dinnerly is a sister company of Marley Spoon, another meal kit delivery service associated with Martha Stewart. Want to feel like Martha Stewart in the kitchen while on a budget? Then Dinnerly is a great alternative to similar, more pricey services.
Before You Buy
- We didn’t have a super positive experience with the ready-made meals, but the meal kits were a hit
- Service is easy to pause or cancel
- Meals are cheaper the more you order at once, so even if you’re single, ordering multiple meals for meal prep could be a smart option
Is Dinnerly Worth It?
As far as meal kits go, Dinnerly is affordable, with a ton of options and flexibility. However, portions, ingredient quality, and shipping may leave you disappointed some weeks, and most of our experience with the ready-made meals was pretty bad.
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It’s a very low-cost option for what it is, though, especially if you can get a coupon on your first box.
Great for:
- Those who want to try home cooking on a budget
- People in a family of picky eaters
- Singles who want a meal kit option for meal prep
Not recommended for:
- Those looking for exclusively organic ingredients
- People who can’t be home to receive their box right away
- Individuals who need very large portions at meals
Dinnerly Meal Delivery Specs
| Price per meal | Starting at $7.99 per meal before discounts |
| Meals per week | 2 – 6 (choose from 2 servings or 4 servings per meal) |
| Meal kit or prepared | Meal Kit & Prepared |
| Diet options | Gluten-Free Friendly, Low Calorie, Low Carb, Picky Eater Approved, Quick & Easy, Vegetarian |
| Fresh or frozen | Fresh & Frozen |
| Delivery area | Most of the contiguous US |
Experience Using Dinnerly Meal Delivery Service
Nicole tried Dinnerly’s meal kit for a week and loved how affordable it was and how easy they were to prepare. However, her opinions on the flavor were mixed, especially regarding the prepared meals. Also, although she loved the variety given, she found some aspects of selecting the meals could have been more user-friendly.
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For example, for every recipe, they suggest additional ingredients that may go well with your meal, such as guacamole for tacos. Nicole’s issue, however, was that these suggestions come when your Dinnerly box is already in your kitchen. So, it would be nice if they made this option available when ordering unless you want to run to the grocery store to make the add-ons yourself, which defeats the purpose.
Price Per Meal
Dinnerly earns a rating of 3 out of 5 stars for price. Nicole signed up for two portions of five meals per week, totaling $64.50. As a first-time customer, she got to use a 50% off coupon, which makes it one heck of a low price. Without this discount, the meal service is about $6.45 per portion.
“All in all this is one of the more affordable meal kit services by far,” Nicole says.
Dinnerly Meal Preparation
Nicole gave Dinnerly a 3-out-of-5 rating here based on the ease of prep. She was a big fan of the ready-made meals since they require zero prep time.
“All you have to do is pop them in the microwave, chow down, and recycle the container when you’re done,” Nicole explains.
That should be welcomed news for those who value sustainability—and not doing dishes.
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With the Dinnerly meal kit, Nicole found that prep takes up to 10 minutes and cooking times are about 20 minutes. For a busy mom juggling job and family responsibilities, time is always of the essence.
“This is about the max I like to spend in the kitchen making dinner during the week,” Nicole explains.
One item distinguishing Dinnerly from the likes of Blue Apron and Home Chef is that it uses digital recipe cards (rather than paper ones). You must go to the website for recipe instructions.
However, Nicole discovered that the Dinnerly app is designed to help make this part of the prep process a little easier.
“The “Start Cooking” mode keeps your phone illuminated while you work your way through each step, so it wasn’t as annoying as I thought it would be,” she says.
Editor’s note: Dinnerly’s meal kit options now include a paper copy of the recipe/instructions.
Taste, Ingredient Quality, and Portion Size
Dinnerly receives a score of 4 out of 5 for taste, as Nicole’s experience varied depending on what she ordered. For example, she selected the Beef Stir-Fry in Garlic Sauce as her ready-made meal and said it tasted “straight-up like Lean Cuisine,” so she wouldn’t get it again. Although she thought the ingredient quality was better than Lean Cuisine, she was bummed that there were only 11 grams of protein for a 330-calorie meal, which isn’t ideal for an active individual.
The meal kit options were much better as she would order the meals she tried a second time. She thought the Turkey Taquitos were yummy, with the highlight being the green enchilada sauce. She also enjoyed the pastrami-crusted steak with an everything bagel baked potato.
“This one was delicious! Would definitely order again,” Nicole says.
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For portion size, she rates Dinnerly 4 out of 5. The ready-made meal was slightly more substantial than a TV dinner but was still only appropriate for a light lunch.
“I added more protein on the side via turkey breast since the meal itself was light on protein. It would definitely be too small for my husband, who is 6’2″, 220 pounds and exercises regularly,” Nicole explains.
The meal kits were a mixed bag. Even though Nicole gave her husband the larger piece of steak, he was still hungry. Nicole, however, found her portions were perfect, so it likely depends on your body size, appetite, and activity level.
For ingredient quality, Dinnerly receives a 4-out-of-5 rating. Nicole thought everything looked and tasted fresh and liked that the label told you where they sourced the meat. She was also pretty sure the sauces used no preservatives, as the expiration dates were about a week out. This means if you leave your meals sitting in your fridge too long, they’ll likely spoil before you get a chance to enjoy them.
As for the ready-made meals, we knocked off an entire star since Nicole thought the meat tasted frozen.
Meal Plans and Customization
For variety, Dinnerly gets a score of 4 out of 5. Nicole was shocked that the recipes changed even within the two weeks of her subscription, so much so that she had difficulty deciding what she wanted to select given all the choices!
“I’m not sure how often they repeat, but there are options for vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, light, fast, and more,” Nicole says. “I had a hard time choosing what I wanted to try!”
As far as access to the nutrition info, we gave a 4.5-out-of-5 rating as the digital recipe cards made the information super simple to find. However, specific ingredients may be missing from ready-made food items, such as the label failing to mention what’s in the green enchilada sauce.
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Nicole gave 3.5 out of 5 for meal plans and customization. Unlike other services like HelloFresh and EveryPlate, which provide a weekly menu selection based on your preferred meal plan, Dinnerly offers no set meal plans. Instead, you’ll choose how often you want your meals delivered and then select your recipes each week.
Nicole also noticed that if you filter for dietary restrictions like vegetarian meals, gluten-free, dairy-free, low-calorie, etc., you’ll end up with fewer Dinnerly recipes to choose from.
“You cannot swap any proteins or sides. Also, the ready-made meals are already prepared and you cannot customize,” Nicole says.
Ordering, Packaging, and Shipping
For ordering, we gave a perfect 5 out of 5, as Nicole found it to be super easy. You take a short quiz about your food preferences after choosing your delivery frequency and Dinnerly presents you with meal options that you may like based on the quiz results.
Each of the Dinnerly recipes also lets you view them based on categories (vegetarian options, quick, etc.), and the recipe cards list if the meal fits certain dietary restrictions (gluten-free, dairy-free, family-friendly, for picky eaters, etc).
“You can easily pause or cancel as well—for cancellation they just need 6 days notice,” Nicole explains.
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For packaging and shipping, we gave this meal service 4 out of 5. Dinnerly’s packaging is composed of disposable ice packs and cardboard padding. However, the way the ingredients were organized in the box was as if they had just been thrown in hastily.
Nicole was also disappointed that, although the ingredients were still cold, the ice packs did not prevent them from sweating despite them only being outside for about 10 minutes. So, if you are getting deliveries in the summertime, best to set your delivery day for a time you’ll be home to put the meal kit away ASAP.
Dinnerly vs HelloFresh
HelloFresh is a subscription meal delivery service that provides ingredients and recipes for weekly meals. They provide six different plans, including plant-based, pescatarian, and quick and easy meals. Additionally, 40 different recipes are available each week, and proteins and sides can be swapped out as needed. The subscription is flexible, as you can skip a week, pause, or cancel your account at any time.
What our tester says:
“There are around 5 to 8 meals that I consider my favorites that I like to choose when they are in the rotation, but I’m regularly able to expand my palate and try something new, especially with the seasonal options they include.”
Given that Hello Fresh is America’s most popular meal kit, we wanted to see how it stacks up against Dinnerly. Luckily for us, we’re well familiar with the brand as we’ve done a Hello Fresh review recently. Both have the same quantity of meals per week along with similar meal plans, although Dinnerly offers options for picky eaters, those that are gluten-free, and people on low-carb or keto diets while Hello Fresh does not.
Dinnerly also offers ready-made meals while Hello Fresh only has meal kit options. Dinnerly meal options are also much cheaper (by almost half!) than Hello Fresh when you buy more meals, though the quality of ingredients and taste may be slightly lower.
| Dinnerly | HelloFresh | |
| Price per meal | $4.99 (4 people, 6 meals per week) to $8.49 (2 people, 2 meals per week) | $8.99 (4 people, 6 meals per week) to $12.49 (2 people, 2 meals per week) |
| Meals per week | 2 to 6 (choose from 2 servings or 4 servings per meal) | 2 to 6 (choose from 2 servings or 4 servings per meal) |
| Meal kit or prepared | Meal Kit & Prepared | Meal Kit |
| Diet options | Gluten-Free Friendly, Low Calorie, Low Carb, Picky Eater Approved, Quick & Easy, Vegetarian | Veggie, Family Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, Quick & Easy, Pork Free, Pescatarian |
| Fresh or frozen | Fresh & Frozen | Fresh |
Customer Experience
We gave Dinnerly a rating of 4 out of 5 for customer service, as Nicole didn’t have any issues. If you do have issues or questions, the Help Center on their website allows you to submit complaints. Though Nicole didn’t experience any problems on delivery day, that was the most common gripe other customers had.
“I never experienced it and it doesn’t seem like a widespread problem. They did have a company rep respond to some of the shipping complaints and offer to help,” Nicole says.
For sustainability, we also gave a 4-out-of-5 rating as both the Dinnerly box and ice packs can be recycled. It was hard for Nicole to find much information about the source of all the ingredients, but she was fairly confident the meat comes from small farms.
Dinnerly also makes it really easy to pause or cancel your subscription on the website.
Customer Reviews
On Google reviews, Dinnerly has a rating of 4.5 stars out of 2,378 reviews. Most reviews praise the convenience and the low cost, with many saying they’ve been using the service for years. However, critical reviews are mainly about poor ingredient quality and shipping issues.
On TrustPilot, Dinnerly has a rating of 3.8 stars out of 5,100 reviews. The positive reviews praise its budget-friendly price for quality ingredients. However, more critical reviews note the meat quality was poor, some veggies arrived rotten, and the refunds they give back on your credit card are low relative to the complaints lodged.
Final Verdict of Our Dinnerly Review
What an era we live in where getting an affordable meal kit delivered straight to your door can be just like ordering from Amazon. A meal kit delivery service can be great for those who want to warm themselves up to home cooking and cut down on food waste—not to mention trips to the grocery store—and the first box usually comes with a discount.
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From our experience, be prepared for potential shipping or ingredient quality issues and steer clear of their ready-made meals. That said, Dinnerly is a very budget-friendly option for what many believe to be a convenient service.
Full Rating
Dinnerly
Skip the food shopping and the chopping—Dinnerly is a meal kit service that sends you fresh ingredients right to your door with most of the food preparation already done. You’ll need to sign up and provide credit card information before browsing the menu and making your selection. Meals start around $11, but the more meals in your weekly subscription, you’ll receive a slight price break.
Product Brand: Dinnerly
Product Currency: $
Product Price: 4.99
Product In-Stock: InStock
3.9
Dinnerly Review: FAQs
Is Dinnerly cost effective?
Depending on the number of meals you order, Dinnerly can be quite budget-friendly, especially since meal kit delivery services can help cut down on food waste.
Is Dinnerly good for losing weight?
If you’re too busy on a weeknight for home cooking, a service like Dinnerly would be great for losing weight as it may help prevent you from picking up fast food instead.
Is it hard to cancel Dinnerly?
Customer service and the Dinnerly app make it simple to cancel your Dinnerly meal kit whenever you want as long as you submit your request six days in advance.
Are meal kits cheaper than takeout?
Home cooking using meal kits can certainly be cheaper than takeout, especially if you order in bulk for meal prep or if you’re ordering for a family.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.
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