Life feels increasingly unmanageable, and dinner shouldn't be another chore. The best meal delivery services and meal kits are the ones that make your home life easier - and can maybe make dinner something to look forward to, rather than dread. I've worked as a food critic on both coasts for more than a decade, and I like to cook. So I didn't expect to appreciate meal kits as much as I do.
But I've found that the best meal kits I've tested have helped me climb out of a cooking rut of turning to the same dishes, and the same flavors, over and over. Meal delivery services like HelloFresh and Blue Apron 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. But the best meal delivery services don't just ease the pain of planning new meals or buying groceries - they help you eat better and maybe even live a little better.
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 requested and tested more than two dozen meal kit delivery services since 2017. I've tested nearly all of them again over the past two years, often multiple times. Quite simply, 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 over the past couple of years, some have also made bold plays to 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.
During my testing, 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. I also tested the best new and innovative meal kits for those looking for alternatives to Blue Apron or HelloFresh's long-standing meal delivery services. And not for nothing, I sorted out some often maddeningly non-transparent pricing. Here are the best delivery meal subscriptions I'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 the Best Plant-Based Meal Kits, Best Food Gifts You Can Buy Online, Best Coffee Subscriptions, and Best Delivery Chocolate Boxes.
Updated July 2026: I retested top budget pick EveryPlate and top prepared meal service CookUnity. I tested a grill box from HelloFresh, and moved salad delivery service Gardencup out of WIRED's top picks pending new testing. I updated Marley Spoon's listing with information about the brand and leadership shake-up in 2026. I also updated pricing, plans, and descriptions throughout.