Best Food Subscription Boxes to Make Healthy Eating Easier

We all enjoy a home-cooked meal. However, the time and effort needed to go out and buy groceries, chop everything up and then turn it into a delicious meal can sometimes be too much.

That’s where food subscription boxes or meal kits come in. These boxes have become quite popular in recent years, with more and more springing up everywhere in the world. 

Why are these boxes so great? 

Well for starters, less time spent grocery shopping means more time you can spend on something else. 

You also waste less food when all of the ingredients are already measured for you and you waste less money on ordering in or going out to restaurants. 

And the best part, for me, is that you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to eat for dinner for the rest of the week since it’s all already planned out for you.

Because there are so many available on the market right now, it’s not always easy to choose which meal kits to subscribe to.

I made a list of some of the best food subscription boxes I could find in Canada, the UK, Australia and the USA to help you find the one that fits you the most. :)

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Best Food Subscription Boxes in Canada

HelloFresh Canada

https://www.hellofresh.ca/?locale=en-CA

HelloFresh is one of the top meal kits in Canada. They deliver fresh, pre-measured ingredients each week along with recipe cards that give you step-by-step instructions on how to prep your meals.

They currently deliver to 95% of the Canadian population including Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland, and the Maritimes but they’re working on expanding their area of delivery.

With HelloFresh you can choose between four different plans: 

1. Meat and veggies – has the largest variety of meat, fish, and produce
2. Family friendly – great for kids and picky eaters with a selection of meat, fish, and seasonal produce
3. Smart meals – contains tasty-carb and calorie-smart options under 650kcal 
4. Vegetarian – meat-free, 100% vegetarian options with fresh, seasonal ingredients

All four options let you choose between 2 or 4 people as well as 3 or 4 recipes per week. Also, all four plans let you choose from 28 delicious recipes each week so the chances are great that you’re going to find something you like. 

The recipe cards that you get provide you with nutritional information and allergy advice which you should keep in mind when preparing dinner.  

Their packaging is paper-based and recyclable so the company is very environmentally conscious. 

They don’t have specific boxes for people with certain dietary restrictions other than the vegetarian box but have said they are looking into it, so you would need to try and work around that on your own for now.

The price range is from $9.69 to $11.49. 

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Chefs Plate

https://www.chefsplate.com/

Chefs Plate is actually a division of HelloFresh in Canada. This is a weekly food subscription delivery service which provides meals developed by their expert Culinary Team.

They currently deliver to Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia & Manitoba.

Chefs Plate offers three different meal plans:

1. Meat & Vegetables – offers the widest selection of recipes as well as 15-minute meals
2. Vegetarian – recipes include fresh produce, whole grains and plant-based protein
3. Family Friendly – includes kid-approved recipes for the whole family to enjoy

In these plans, you can pick between meals for 2 or 4 people, and you can choose between 2, 3 or 4 meals per week. 

Chefs Plate offers the option to skip weeks and it has a 15-minute meal prep option which not many other services have.

One great thing about Chefs Plate is that their recipes come with step-by-step photos, which is great for those who are new to cooking. Their packaging is also either recyclable or compostable. 

They have gluten and dairy-free options on the menu but no boxes specifically for it. And they don’t include any allergy information so you will have to be careful when picking your menus if you do have any allergies. 

The price goes from $8.99 per serving. This is one of the lowest-cost meal kits in Canada.

Cook it

https://www.chefcookit.com/en

Cook It, a meal kit delivery service which started back in 2014, aims to provide some simplicity in the kitchen when our everyday lives are busy. 

They currently deliver in Quebec, Ontario and Maritime provinces.

The plans offered by Cook it are a little different. For the first step you choose between the regular and the vegetarian menu. 

After you pick the menu, you choose a plan based on the number of servings you want, so you can choose between:

1. 2 servings per meal
2. 3 servings per meal
3. 4 servings per meal

Along with this, you can also choose how many meals you want per week, so you can get up to 7 meals a week. You can pick between 14 new recipes every week.

I like that you can even add portions if you find it necessary. 

One plus is that you can easily find vegetarian and gluten-free options on the menu, which is great for anyone with dietary restrictions. 

This subscription even offers ready-to-eat meals for when you don’t have the time to do longer prep.

Something that makes them very environmentally conscious is their Sustainability Kit. In this kit you get your ingredients in reusable dishes which you wash after eating and then return.

Another cool feature of CookIt is that they offer a Pantry selection of fresh fruits, breakfasts, lunches and snacks from local Quebec brands. 

The prices for the various plans go from $8.61 to $11.50 per serving.

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Goodfood

https://www.makegoodfood.ca/en/home

Goodfood is an online subscription service that offers meal kits, ready-to-cook meals and grocery products.

They currently deliver across Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Maritimes. Some regions even have same-day or next-day delivery.

There are five different “baskets” you can choose from:

1. Classic basket – a variety of recipes and ingredients
2. Easy prep basket – classic recipes plus easy prep recipes with fresh pre-cut ingredients
3. Clean15 – high protein, low carb basket 
4. Vegetarian basket – no meat, plant-based option
5. Family basket – for the whole family

You can skip a week with no problem as well as change your plan. 

When you’re selecting what’s included in the box, you can find all the nutritional information that you may need.

They also note all allergens that can be found in their ingredients in the recipes. And all of the ingredients are separately packaged so you can easily swap one for another.

Like the other options so far, all of their packaging is either recyclable or reusable. 

Goodfood also offers a breakfast option with a variety of smoothies for you to make every morning and they can be easily stored in the freezer. 

I like that they have both a Box Pick-up Program and Reusable Box Program which make your clean up easier. However, both programs are currently suspended due to restrictions. 

There are quite a few options so the prices will vary, but they tend to go from around $9.65 to $15.43 per serving. 

Best Food Subscription Boxes in the UK

Gousto

https://www.gousto.co.uk/

Gousto is a UK food box subscription service that offers 50+ recipes a week, some that can be cooked in as little as 10 minutes.

At the moment, they deliver to a large chunk of mainland UK, but some postcodes are still not available for delivery. However, they do plan on expanding their delivery area so keep an eye out for that if your address isn’t available. 

You can choose between two boxes:

• 2-Person box – delicious meals for two adults
• Family box – for 2 adults and 2-3 children

In both boxes you can choose to get 2, 3 or 4 recipes which can be meat, fish or vegetarian. You pick the recipes you want, how many and the day when you want them delivered.

With so many recipes to choose from, this box can cater to everyone’s needs and it even has vegan and gluten-free options. The variety is also great for people who love to try out something new.

One thing that I really like is that you can get a binder from them in which you can store all of your recipes for later use if you like them. 

You can pause your entire subscription and it will stay like that until you restart it again, or you can skip, but that only skips the next box that should be delivered.

If you’re not sure if you want to subscribe, you can also always order a one-off box and check them out. 

The prices of this meal kit service go from just £2.98 to £6.25 per serving.

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HelloFresh UK

https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/

HelloFresh is the UK division of the meal kit delivery service looking to provide all the fresh, seasonal ingredients along with easy-to-follow recipe cards that you might need for dinnertime.

UK’s HelloFresh currently delivers to mainland UK, The Isle of Wight, The Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey (Excluding Herm) and Northern Ireland. 

They don’t deliver to the Scottish Highlands or Islands. You can check the postcodes of places that they don’t deliver to right now, but keep in mind that they do plan on expanding. 

With HelloFresh you can choose between four different plans: 

1. Meat and veggies – has the largest variety of meat, fish, and produce
2. Family – pleasing for tastebuds of both grownups and kids
3. Veggies – meat-free, plant-based meals which include 6 vegetarian options each week
4. Quick Cook – for a quick meal with little effort

HelloFresh extras is a feature which you can use to order extras to your delivery such as side dishes, desserts, breads, soups and others. 

All of the recipe cards include nutritional information that you can also find on their website and app.

They don’t currently offer specific boxes for allergy restrictions, but all of their recipe cards also note any of the 8 major allergens that you can find in a recipe so that you can avoid them if needed.

They also don’t offer gluten-free or dairy-free preferences but they are however working on it and would like to offer this option.

If you need to, you can skip a delivery up to 4 times a week. 

The price goes from £3.25 to £4.50 per serving and the shipping fee is always £3.00.

MindfulChef

https://www.mindfulchef.com/

Mindful Chef is a meal kit delivery service which focuses on healthy and nutritionally balanced meals. All of their meals are free from gluten, dairy, refined carbs and refined sugars.

They deliver across the UK, but currently do not deliver to Northern Ireland, Isle of Wight, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, as well as certain parts of Scotland.

You can choose between:

1. Healthy recipe boxes – which have 20 healthy meals to choose from every week
2. Vegan recipe boxes – with 7 vegan recipes to choose from every week
3. Family recipe boxes – with 20 family recipes you can pick each week

One unique feature is that they actually have a one-person box. You can also get boxes for 2 people or for a family.

Other than the healthy boxes, you can also get frozen ready meals, smoothie pouches, broths and soups as well as next-day care boxes.

I particularly love their partnership with the charity One Feeds Two. This means that for every meal kit you buy, they donate one school meal to a child in poverty. 

An interesting thing is that, even if you can’t order their boxes, you can still use their recipes. All of their recipes are posted online and they even have a cookbook out with 70 of their favourites. 

The prices start at £4.50 per meal for a family, at £5.50 per meal for two people and at £8 per meal for a single person.

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Riverford

https://www.riverford.co.uk/

Riverfood is a delivery service which provides fresh, seasonal and organic ingredients straight from their farm. And they are pretty unique with everything they offer.

Riverfood provides you with a LOT of options. They offer seasonal boxes and organic recipe boxes, but they also provide ingredients on their own such as various fruits, veggies, meat and even essentials like eggs and oil. 

They deliver to most of England and south Wales but you can always contact them and check if they can deliver to your area

What interests us the most are their organic recipe boxes which provide fresh, measured and prepared organic ingredients which you use to make tasty meals.

You can choose between these options: 

1. Vegetarian recipe boxes
2. Vegan recipe boxes
3. Meat recipe boxes
4. Prime cuts recipe boxes
5. Family recipe boxes

All of the boxes serve 2 except for the family box which serves 4. There are 12 recipes across all boxes which you can choose from, and these recipes also change weekly.

While there are vegan and vegetarian boxes, there aren’t any for dietary preferences such as gluten or dairy-free boxes, so you’d have to go through the ingredients list and see for yourself. 

When it comes to prices, you can get recipes from £13.25 to  £23.15, with the more expensive ones being the recipes in the family box which serve 4 people. It isn’t the cheapest box available, but you should consider that all of the ingredients are organic. 

Best Food Subscription Boxes in Australia

HelloFresh Australia

https://www.hellofresh.com.au/

HelloFresh is one of the top meal kit delivery services in Australia (the Australian division of the same company in UK and Canada) which provides you with fresh ingredients and seasonal produce along with easy-to-follow instructions for a quick and tasty dinner.

HelloFresh in Australia delivers to a number of areas, but you can always check if they can deliver to you by entering your postcode when you select a box and proceed to check out.

There are several boxes which they offer:

1. Meat and Veggies – which provide the widest range of quality proteins and seasonal produce
2. Veggie – 5 vegetarian and plant based options which you can choose from each week
3. Family-friendly – perfect for everyone’s enjoyment, kids and picky eaters alike. 
4. Calorie Smart – a healthier option with under 650kcal per serving and it even includes low carb options

You can choose between boxes for 2 or 4 people and then you choose between 3, 4 or 5 recipes per week. 

They include a wide range of recipes you can choose from each week which means you will most certainly find something that fits your tastes. 

It doesn’t have many boxes for specific dietary restrictions except for vegetarian and natural gluten-free, so you’d have to watch out when choosing recipes. 

They also provide allergens information on their site but cannot guarantee that all of their products won’t include allergens such as milk, nuts, eggs, etc.

There are also several limited edition upgrades, Grill Kit, Gourmet Kit and Taste Tours. I especially like Taste Tours since it lets you try international culinary recipes in your own home. 

The prices go from $7.99 per serving to $10.99 per serving. 

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Marley Spoon

https://marleyspoon.com.au/

Marley Spoon provides 27+ recipes every week, with options such as vegan, low-calorie and family friendly. 

They currently deliver to the metro and surrounding areas of Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart, Launceston, Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Wollongong, Newcastle and Darwin, and they plan on expanding soon. 

To check if they deliver to your area, you just need to enter your passcode.

You can choose between two plans:

1. 2-person box
2. 4-person box

Both options let you pick between 2, 3, 4 or 5 meals per week. You also get to choose from over 27 different recipes which is great because it means there should be something for everyone.

They have a grading system that shows you the percentage of ingredients that come from Australia. 

They don’t have separate boxes for dietary preferences, but with so many options it should be easy to pick and choose which recipes work best for you like vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, etc. 

One cool thing that Marley Spoon offers is a Fruit Box which provides you with up to 8 varieties of fresh fruit for just $24.90 a week.

Like most other meal kit delivery services, they are environmentally conscious which is why their packaging is recyclable.

Their site also contains an Ingredient Hub where you can check out all ingredients that you get in your box in a week and you can even sort these ingredients by specific recipes. 

For the boxes, the prices go from $12.50 per portion to $8.50 per portion.

Dinnerly 

https://dinnerly.com.au/

Dinnerly is a meal kit delivery service actually owned by Marley Spoon. However, this is the more affordable version which offers simple 5-step recipes with fewer ingredients.

They currently deliver to most of NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, NT, ACT, WA and TAS but they do plan to include the rest of Australia soon. They even mention that you could send them a note if you want your area to be included. 

You have the option to choose between two plans:

1. 2-person box
2. 4-person box

A bit different from Marley Spoon, Dinnerly gives you an option to choose between 3, 4, 5 or 6 meals per week. 

Dinnerly provides 20+ various recipes every week which is less than Marley Spoon but still enough to satisfy many customers.

The reason why Dinnerly is more affordable is because they send digital recipes instead of printed out cards. They also focus on fewer ingredients per dish and simpler packaging. 

That doesn’t mean their ingredients are of lesser quality. They cut corners elsewhere so that the food quality can remain as good as in other kits.

Since there are fewer ingredients, that means less time you need for chopping (since the ingredients are premeasured but not chopped) and less clean-up time for you after dinner. 

Another great thing is that since these meals are more simple, they are very kid-friendly and perfect for picky eaters. 

As this is Australia’s most affordable kit, you can get it for as low as $4.85 per serving.

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Pepperleaf

https://www.pepperleaf.com.au/

Pepperleaf is a food subscription delivery service which works with locally-sourced, family-run businesses. 

They deliver to areas in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and ACT.

There are three boxes which you can order from Pepperleaf:

1. Classic box – for 1 or 2 people
2. Family box – for 3, 4 or 6 people
3. Vegetarian box – for 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 people

I really like that they offer meals for 1 person, since that isn’t available with most subscription services.

You can pick your meals from 8 recipes for the first two boxes, and from 3 recipes for the Vegetarian box. 

There’s free seasonal fruit included in your first box, no matter which one you choose.

If you’re not sure whether you want to subscribe to Pepperleaf, you can download a free guide which includes 12 fresh recipes for you to test out first. 

When you check out the recipes on their site, I like that they offer a selection of cuisines such as Italian, French, Thai, Indian, etc. Vegan and vegetarian are also on this list.

They do cater to some dietary preferences, so if you say that you don’t like fish, they won’t send it to you.

As for dietary restrictions, like with gluten, dairy or allergies, they can’t guarantee that their meals won’t include any of these.

So you’d have to watch out which recipes you choose and this might be more difficult since there aren’t that many recipes per week, unlike in the other meal kits.

The Classic and Vegetarian box start at $61.90 per week while the Family box starts at $85.90 per week.

Best Food Subscription Boxes in the USA

HelloFresh USA

https://www.hellofresh.com/

HelloFresh is one of the biggest names in the meal kit service (and has divisions in Canada, Australia, UK and USA). It’s budget-friendly, has big portions and provides simple instructions.

They deliver to all states across the continental US. However, there is no delivery to Hawaii and Alaska, but they are planning on it.

HelloFresh in the US has a few more options you can choose from:

1. Meat and Veggies – the widest range of meat, fish and seasonal products
2. Veggies – meals with only fresh, seasonal veggies
3. Family Friendly – easy-to-cook meals with children will like
4. Calorie Smart – these nutritionist prepared plans are all under 650kcal
5. Quick and Easy – meals which require no fuss and which will shorten your time in the kitchen
6. Pescatarian – this is a combination of veggie and seafood meals

Every week you can choose between 27+ various recipes. In all of the boxes you can choose between 2 to 5 recipes a week, for either 2 or 4 people.

Their recipes contain nutrition information as well as information on if the recipe has any of the 8 major allergens. However, it’s up to you to be careful if you’re allergic to an ingredient, since you can’t customize your plan to exclude those items

They also don’t offer dairy-free, gluten-free or nut-free plans, so again it’s up to you to check.  

One thing I love is their Beyond the Box social program which ensures that all those who experience food insecurity are provided with fresh food. Their Meals with Meaning also strives to provide free meal kits to those in need.

The prices for these boxes go from $7.49 to $12.49 per serving. 

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Sunbasket

https://sunbasket.com/

Sunbasket is a food subscription box service which offers both fresh and ready meals as well as meal kits made from organic ingredients. 

They are currently shipping to 47 states, excluding Arkansas, Hawaii, Montana, and New Mexico. You can check if they deliver to your area by typing in your ZIP code. 

Picking meal kits with Sunbasket works a little differently. For starters, they will ask you if you are on any of these specific diets:

1. Paleo
2. Gluten free
3. Vegetarian
4. Pescatarian
5. Mediterranean
6. Diabetes friendly

They say that they will never give you a meal that doesn’t meat your diet. Of course, there’s also an option to say that you don’t follow any of these diets. 

Sunbasket lets you pick even more preferences in your diet, such as if you prefer to eat high protein, low carb, low calorie, or avoid dairy, fish, grains, etc. They provide quite a few dietary preferences which I really like.

You can choose meal kits for 2 or 4 people, and you can choose 2, 3 and 4 dinners per week.

What I like about Sunbasket is that their market also offers quite a bit more than just the meal kits. 

They provide a variety of options for breakfast and lunch, and they also give you various options for pasta and sauces, proteins and snacks which you can add to your meal kit delivery. 

Prices for Sunbasket go from $10.99 to $13.99. 

Home Chef

https://www.homechef.com/

Home Chef is a subscription service which provides fresh weekly meal kits that are very budget-friendly.  

They currently deliver to 98% of the United States but you can check if they deliver to your area by putting in your ZIP code during sign-up or by contacting their customer support team. 

You can even find Home Chef products in some stores since they are a part of the Kroger family.

When signing up for Home Chef, they ask you a few preferences so that they can customize your menu for you.

For starters you choose between two plans:

1. Home Chef – fresh ingredient meals for those who love to cook
2. Fresh and Easy – low or no prep meals for those with a busy schedule

You can pick if you’re calorie-conscious or carb-conscious, but this is optional. And you can also pick any food you’d like to avoid, such as beef, mushrooms, peanuts, etc. 

When building the box, you can choose between ordering:

1. Meal kits – easy recipes prepared in about 30 min
2. 15-minute meal kits – meals that can be prepared in 15 min
3. Oven-ready – no prep required
4. Grill-ready – ingredients in a grill-safe bag for grilling
5. Culinary collection – for special occasions or on a whim
6. Entree salad – if you want some fresh greens

They provide 30+ recipes weekly and I like that you can customize them by swapping or doubling the protein in a meal. 

Another great thing is that their menus are set 5 weeks ahead, so you have plenty of time to look into them and see what would fit you best.

Home Chef prices start at $6.99 per serving. 

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Green Chef

https://chef.greenchef.com/

Green Chef is a USDA certified organic company which works with farmers to provide you with fresh, organic ingredients. 

Green Chef was actually acquired by HelloFresh, another very popular meal kit delivery service in America, and the rest of the world.

They deliver to almost everywhere in the continental United States. They are currently unable to deliver to Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Louisiana.

Green Chef gives you the option to choose from several meal types:

1. Keto + Paleo – Keto and Paleo dishes
2. Balanced living – a balanced meal plan
3. Plant-powered – vegetarian and vegan meals

You can order for 2, 4 or 6 people and, depending on the number of people, you can order from 2 to 4 meals per week.

All recipes come with easy to follow instructions and chef’s tips and all meals can be prepared in about 30 minutes, so it’s a great time saver. 

While you can’t choose options from different plans, you can switch plans as often as you like to try it all, but you need to do it 7 days before your delivery. 

Green Chef was the first meal kit company to receive an official Gluten-Free Certification. They are trying to cater to everybody’s dietary needs with plans like Keto+Paleo, and even this gluten-free delivery. 

They also allow you to opt out of certain proteins like beef, poultry, fish, etc. You can modify your preferences additionally, but if you opt out of any of the proteins, that will be the default.  

The prices go from $11.49 to $12.99.

How to Choose the Best Food Subscription Box

I selected the subscription boxes above, but if these options don’t work for you, no worries! 

As I’ve mentioned, there are MANY meal kit delivery services currently available.

If you aren’t from any of these four places or you don’t like the options I selected, here are some tips you can keep in mind when looking for subscription boxes in your own country:

1. Check the reviews – it is very important that you inform yourself about all of the options first and the best way to do that is through reviews and other people’s blog posts. See what issues other people had as well as what they liked to help you choose your meal kit
2. Check the menus – do extensive research so that you can find a meal kit which works best for your tastes
3. Check options for dietary restrictions – keep in mind all of your dietary restrictions when searching for a good food subscription box 
4. Check delivery areas – Make sure that the subscription service actually delivers to your area. 
5. Check the pricing – some meal kits are more expensive than others. Do thorough research to find which kits work best for you in your budget

I hope this was helpful, and if you have any questions or suggestions, let me know in the comments.

Love Rachael xx