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Healthline only shows you brands and products that we stand behind.
Our team thoroughly researches and evaluates the recommendations we make on our site. To establish that the product manufacturers addressed safety and efficacy standards, we:- Evaluate ingredients and composition: Do they have the potential to cause harm?
- Fact-check all health claims: Do they align with the current body of scientific evidence?
- Assess the brand: Does it operate with integrity and adhere to industry best practices?
With menus balancing nutrition, portion size, and loads of flavor, these services take the guesswork out of weight loss meal planning. Our experts have tested and scored these meal deliveries to help you find the right plan for you and your household.
One of the challenges of losing weight can be the amount of meal planning required to support your goals. Consuming more vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins sounds easy enough — until you need to think up and prepare flavorful, interesting meals again, again … and again.
Enter weight loss meal delivery. In addition to convenience, these services can add variety to mealtime while taking the guesswork out of following a balanced diet and managing portion sizes.
Our list includes services with prepared meals designed to help you lose weight and some that are naturally lower in calories yet pack a nutritional punch. Read on to learn more about our favorites.
Disclaimer: Many of the services tested below were tried by Healthline writers or editors, who received the meals for free. All opinions are our own. Read more about how we test meal kits.
• keto
• Whole30
• vegan
• vegetarian
• gluten-free
• keto
• low carb
• paleo
• dairy-free
• heart-healthy
• diabetes-friendly
• vegan
• paleo
• low carb
• low calorie
• gluten-free
• dairy-free
• low sodium
• vegetarian
• vegan
• Mediterranean
• prepared
• Prepared: $13+
• $10 otherwise
• $12.99 otherwise
• vegetarian
• gluten-free
• dairy-free
• higher protein
• higher fiber
• low calorie
• low carb
• low fat
• low sodium
• low sugar
• prepared
• Prepared: $9.99
• vegetarian
• pescatarian
• paleo
• keto
• low carb
• Mediterranean
• diabetes-friendly
• keto
• plant-based
• <500 calories
• Performance Nutrition
• Whole30
• low carb
• Mediterranean
• $9.99 to $19.99 otherwise
• vegetarian
• wheat-free
• nut-free
• high protein
At Healthline, we know that meal delivery services are a significant investment, which is why we’ve taken the time to test more than 30 of the most popular meal delivery services on the market.
Testers select a week’s worth of meals from multiple menus to get a well-rounded view of the types of flavors and ingredients offered.
During testing, we consider several factors, including the ease of signing up and choosing meals, the variety and nutritional composition of the meals offered, ingredient quality and freshness, ease of cooking, and, of course, the taste.
You can learn more about our testing process.
Why you can trust us
Our experts have carefully researched and vetted over 70 meal delivery services, evaluated products from more than 65 different meal delivery brands, and tested35+ meal delivery services.
In addition to the nine services that made our list of favorites, we also considered and tried Green Chef, Blue Apron, Daily Harvest, Diet-to-Go, and Epicured. However, we thought our nine favorites offered the best value for money, most variety, and most complete nutritional profile for weight loss.
We’ve made sure everything we feature meets our standards. We fact-checked health claims, evaluated ingredients, and looked into each brand’s reputation before sharing products on Healthline.
If you’re looking to lose weight, meal delivery services can be strategic allies for several reasons, including:
- Set portion sizes: Meal delivery services offer pre-portioned meals with a fixed and known total calorie and macronutrient content. Portion sizes are
directly linked to energy intake, so reducing themcan be helpful for creating a calorie deficit to support weight loss. - Adherence: Whether you lack the time or resources, following a diet can be difficult because it requires careful meal planning. Meal delivery services can make adhering to diets like the Mediterranean diet or keto easier by delivering diet-compliant meals or meal kits directly to your door.
- Improved diet quality: Depending on the recipe, meal delivery services can provide meals that are more nutritious than what you might typically eat. In particular, these meals can provide lean proteins and good sources of fiber, like vegetables, to
help keep you full. Protein is also important for preserving muscle mass.
What’s more, research shows that exposure to greater healthy food variety — which is the case with most meal delivery services — can increase the intake of low calorie, energy-dense foods like fruits and vegetables,
- Price: Make sure to choose the meal delivery service that best fits your weekly or monthly food or grocery budget. Don’t forget to consider shipping costs and whether you’ll have to shop for additional meals or foods.
- High quality ingredients: Look for services that prioritize fresh ingredients and use little or no artificial additives or heavily processed ingredients. Some people may also prefer a service that offers organic produce, sustainable seafood, or grass-fed beef.
- Nutritional information: Look for services that offer nutritionally balanced meals or disclose each meal’s nutritional information. That way, you’ll better understand your calorie and macro intake.
- App compatibility: If you use an app to keep track of your calories or macros, it can be helpful to choose a service with meals already entered into your app.
- Variety: Look for alternatives that offer a varied menu, which can help prevent you from getting bored with their dishes. It’s also important that they accommodate your specific diet, be it omnivorous, vegan, gluten-free, low carb, etc.
- Convenience: Whether you have time to do a little cooking or just have a few minutes to warm up and eat, choose an option that meets your convenience needs. This can help you avoid wasting food and time.
Trifecta Nutrition is our choice as the best overall meal delivery service for weight loss because of its portion-controlled, nutritionally balanced meals. We also like that each meal contains at least 20 grams of protein and that there are menus to suit a variety of dietary needs, including paleo, vegetarian, and keto.
If you prefer a meal kit to cook yourself, Sunbasket is our best overall meal kit pick because it offers menus to suit a variety of dietary patterns that may be helpful for weight loss, including Mediterranean, diabetes-friendly, vegetarian, and carb-conscious.
They can be! One of the biggest benefits to meal kits is that they provide all the proportioned ingredients you need to make flavorful, nutritionally balanced meals at home. You just have to follow the recipe.
For people who like to cook, they can help add variety to mealtime with no planning or shopping required.
If you want to learn to prepare healthy, flavorful meals that support weight loss, they can be a worthwhile jumping-off point and a source of inspiration.
You are more likely to reach and stay at your weight goal if you lose the pounds steadily. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommends you lose no more than 1 to 2 pounds per week for sustainable weight loss.
The short answer is: yes, prepared meals can help you lose weight.
Having diet meals delivered can help take out the guesswork of building a nutritionally complete meal pan. If you’re busy, it also saves making time for a grocery shop.
However, like all weight loss methods, you must stick to the plan to get the best results. Pairing lower calorie meals with exercise can help you lose weight and improve cardiovascular and muscular health.
If you’re looking to lose weight but the idea of planning and preparing all your meals feels overwhelming, you might consider a meal delivery service. There are plenty of good options available, including all the services on our list.
Depending on your preferences, you can choose from meal delivery for weight loss that:
- meet a variety of price points
- support different dietary preferences
- offer easy heat-and-eat prepared meals or meal kits that provide everything you need to make nutritious meals at home
