Need something to make for dinner tonight? Sure, you could try the store, but if you don’t feel like waiting in a long line and/or bobbing and weaving your way around other people, getting food delivered seems like a pretty good option. With today’s growing demand making it tough to get your groceries when you want them (plus Amazon Fresh is, for the time being, not taking new customers), the good news is, we’re here to help! Whether you want farm-fresh veggies or do-it-yourself meal kits, here are some food delivery companies that will make feeding your family a bit easier.
*As of this publishing, all of the below services had availability and supply.
Home Chef
Looking to spice up your cooking skills without worrying about going to the store to get obscure spices or ingredients? Home Chef sends you everything you need to make various dishes—with a whopping eight meals to choose from each week. You pick the serving size, meal frequency and your family’s eating style (omnivore, meat eaters, pescatarian, etc.). Then a box filled with simple yet pro-quality suppers (including the spices!), like Beef and Poblano Tamale Pie, shows up at your doorstep.
Cost: Starts at $6.99/serving
Online: homechef.com
Farmbox
Farmbox offers various size boxes packed with seasonal, farm-fresh fresh fruits and vegetables to your door. You select the shipment size and customize your box, and check your doorstep for easy monthly deliveries.
Cost: starts at $43.95/box
Online: farmbox.com
Yumble
Yumble has kid-friendly cuisine down to a science. The New York-based company (which now ships nationwide) specializes in sending families adorable little microwavable dinners that kids will actually like. We're talking famously kiddified eats like pizza pockets, chicken nuggets, cheese ravioli, mac 'n cheese. Even better? All of the food is nutritionally balanced (there are veggies hidden in the sauces!), locally sourced, made with quality ingredients—and ready to eat in 90 seconds or less. Each box also comes with added goodies including stickers, coloring books or conversation cards for the dinner table.
Cost: 6 meals per week/ $7.99 per meal; 8 meals per week/ $6.99 per meal; 12 meals per week/ $5.99 per meal.
Online: Yumblekids.com
Purple Carrot
Vegetarian families rejoice! Here is a recipe delivery service just for you. Purple Carrot ships veggie-loving customers boxes filled with all the raw, pre-measured ingredients (plant-based, dairy-free, non-GMO) needed to cook healthy dinners and snacks. With dishes like Buffalo Tempeh Quinoa Bowls and Smoky Portabello Tacos, “Meatless Mondays” just went to another level.
Cost: $79.92/week for a family plan ($59.92 for the first week)
Online: thepurplecarrot.com
Misfits Market
If you don't mind your fruits and veggies having a few imperfections (a bent cucumber here; a "scarred" watermelon there), Misfits Market gets you tons of fresh produce at a cost that's almost half what you'd pay at a grocery store. Plus, ordering Misfits ensures that no good food goes wasted. It's a win for the environment—and for your wallet (not to mention your families' tummies).
Cost: starts at $22 a box (Note: As of publication, all boxes were sold out, but Misfits is offering waitlist opportunities.)
Online: misfitsmarket.com
The Fruit Guys
Want fresh fruit—or a huge box of nutritious snacks—delivered to your door every week? The Fruit guys will send you generous-sized boxes of fruit and/or healthy snacks to your door on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Fruit boxes contain a cornucopia of different seasonal fruits, and snack boxes have things like Chocolate Blonde Coconut Energy Bars or Spinach & Kale Fruit & Veggie Leather. There is also an immune-boosting box that contains things like ginger, honey, citrus and bananas—all nutrient-dense foods thought to help the immune system.
Cost: Fruit boxes start at $32; snack boxes start at $34; Immunity boxes start at $42
Online: fruitguys.com
Gobble
Want a meal that's quick and easy to cook? This weekly meal delivery service features DIY dinner kits that cook in three steps and under 15 minutes (many of them in one pan!). Gobble takes the prep-work out by providing pre-cooked sauces, grains, and pasta, pre-chopped ingredients, and/or pre-sliced vegetables and meat. Watching your weight? There are also 15-minute recipes that are 600 calories or less, low carb and feature lean proteins and no filler grains.
Currently available in all of the continental US except Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
Cost: $11.99+/meal
Online: gobble.com
Blue Apron
This weekly delivery service believes that a little apprentice chef is hiding inside of everyone … yes, even you. Most dishes clock in at 500-700 calories and take an average of 35 minutes to whip up thanks to simple step-by-step instructions and pre-measured, pre-chopped ingredients. Meal plans are customizable and leave room for various dietary needs/restrictions.
Pssst; Blue Apron also has its own monthly wine delivery service (!).
Cost: $8.99/per serving (for a family plan)
Online: blueapron.com
Fresh Direct
If you live in the Tri-State area, Pennsylvania or Delaware, this grocery delivery service offers much of what you'd find at a traditional grocery store, including seafood, dairy, deli & cheese, prepared foods, bakery items, frozen food, household essentials (like pet food and cleaning supplies), and beer and wine. There are also ready-to-eat meal kits for those days when cooking and cleaning just aren't on your to-do list.
Added perk: Some participating Fresh Direct vendors are currently donating a meal for every meal you purchase.
Cost: $5.99-$9.99/delivery fee; $30/minimum order
Online: freshdirect.com
Freshology
Long for the microwave dinners of the old days—without the "Guess That Meat" flavor of your high school cafeteria? Freshology—also called Diet To Go—delivers chef-prepared meals, ready to reheat and eat. Great for the new mom, the busy mom, the any-kind-of mom, Freshology drops tasty, calorie-controlled, already-prepared dishes (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks) onto your doorstep. There's a variety of menus, including Keto-friendly, vegetarian, and diabetes-friendly. This gives “heat and eat” a whole new meaning.
Cost: $121.99 for two meals a day, five days a week (other options are available)
Online: freshology.com
Safeway/ Vons/ Acme
Go to the traditional grocery store from the comfort of your computer. Basically: Anything you can get at your neighborhood grocery store is available online as well. When you enter your zip code, the site redirects you to whichever Albertsons Company grocery chain is in your area, including Safeway, Acme, Vons, Haggen, Albertsons, Star Market, Tom Thumb and more.
Cost: $9.95/delivery fee on orders over $150; $12.95/delivery fee on orders under $150. (Note: These fees can vary and/or be waived if you use certain coupons and/or purchase specific items).
Online: safeway.com
Hello Fresh
The recipes delivered to your doorstep may have been developed by Michelin-star restaurant Aquavit and an in-house team of world-star chefs, but they’ll take you an average of 30 minutes to complete (sans any fancy equipment). Each meal—think Teriyaki Chicken and One-Pot Mexican Quinoa—is reviewed by a dietician for the perfect balance of yumminess and healthiness. The kits come with step-by-step instructions and pre-measured ingredients. You can customize your deliveries by the size of your family and the number of days a week you want meals—plus, of course, the type of food you want (there's a family-friendly option!). Still hungry? There's also an add-on feature if you want to add pre-made salads or bread to your weekly delivery.
Cost: $97.87 per week for the family plan (three meals a week for a family of four)
Online: hellofresh.com
One Potato
Western U.S. families looking for a kid-friendly dinner kit (that's also yummy for grown-ups) will be all about One Potato. Founded by Catherine McCord, a mom of three and trained chef who founded the popular recipe website Weelicious, One Potato was designed to solve that perennial mealtime dilemma: How to make a dinner that's good enough for parents and their kids. There are no chicken nuggets to be found; on the contrary, meals include things like turkey bolognese, and chicken with Shanghai rice cakes (there's also the ever-present option of hamburgers, tacos or pan-roasted chicken). All ingredients are included except the salt, pepper and oil. Each box also comes with pre-made cookie dough—because you can't have dinner without dessert.
Looking for a breakfast option? The company has recently started offering smoothies as add-ons to its weekly delivery plans. With flavors including pina colada, PB&J, and blue chia, the smoothies (which all contain hidden veggies!) were concocted by One Potato/ Weelicious founder Catherine McCord, author of "Smoothie Project." "
Weelicious currently delivers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Utah.
Read our "Tried It" full review of One Potato here.
Cost: Family plans start at $104.70 per week and include three meals a week.
Online: onepotato.com
Shipt
If you don't mind paying an $8.95 membership fee, Shipt offers next-day and same-day (sometimes) delivery from local drug and grocery stores including CVS, Target, Smart & Final, Gelsons and Petco—which means you can get everything from household essentials and hair care to children's toys and pet food.
Cost: $8.95 monthly membership fee plus delivery fees (orders over $35 are delivered free, orders under $35 come with a charge of around $7)
Online: shipt.com
Nurture Life
If you're tired of yogurt drops and dinosaur nuggets, Nurture Life is the meal delivery services designed just for babies and toddlers (though the food's good enough for Mom and Dad, too). Just sign on and choose from baby, toddler, kid or family meals (all of which contain organic produce, antibiotic-free proteins & whole grains), then wait for that precious box to be delivered.
Meal choices are listed by age: Baby, Toddler, Kids ages 5-10, Kids 11-18 and family meals. Little ones will appreciate the simplicity of dishes such as turkey meatloaf and mashed potatoes, while older kids will dine on things such as lamb and beef meatballs and chicken parmesan. As for the baby food, dishes include soft, bite-sized eats like tofu cubes, steamed carrots, cooked peas and bite-sized meats.
The best part? All the meals are pre-cooked, so you don't even need to do the cooking. Voila! Dinner in two minutes or less.
Read Red Tricycle's review of Nurture Life here.
Cost: Meals are priced individually, starting at $6.88 (The minimum order amount for a box is $39.)
Online: nurturelife.com
Sun Basket
Sun Basket's modus operandi is that it is committed to healthy, nutritious and organic food. That means all meal kit recipes are approved by in-house dietitians to comply with USDA dietary guidelines, and meals are typically between 500 and 800 calories. It's a bit pricier than its competitors, but it offers a good variety for people on specific diets including those following paleo, vegetarian, and gluten-free meal plans. All you need is salt, pepper and oil—the kit provides the rest, plus step-by-step instructions (and most meals take less than 30 minutes to prepare and cook).
As for the selection, dishes are also robust and exotic, including things like Burmese Chicken Aloo Curry, Roasted Togarashi Salmon with Miso-Glazed Eggplant, and Hoisin Steak Strips Lettuce Cups with Pickled Daikon and Carrots. Kids with uber-simple palates may not be on board with the entrees, but you—and any aspiring foodies in your brood—will be all in.
If you're looking for a full day's worth of meal planning, it also offers add-ons for breakfast, lunch and snacks.
Cost: $143.88 for 3 meals per week/4 people.
Online: sunbasket.com
Instacart
If you can score a delivery slot and you don't mind the added fees, Instacart is the next best thing to going to the grocery store yourself. It sends a personal shopper to gather your groceries at stores including Whole Foods, Costco and Smart & Final. The good news is that Instacart is available all over the country; the bad news is that it's also one of the most popular grocery delivery services—which means getting a shopper to do your bidding takes patience. While you may place your order today, the next available delivery slot may not be until a few days from now (if any slots are available at all). Our tip? Try placing your order late at night; it seems to up your chances.
Cost: $7.99 for one-hour delivery slots/$5.99 for two-hour delivery slots. Tip strongly encouraged.
Online: instacart.com
—Melissa Heckscher & Ayren Jackson-Cannady
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Feature photo: Micheile Henderson via Unsplash