24 of the best recipe boxes and food delivery services for 2023
Whether you've run out of recipes to spruce up your weeknight meals or you're looking to kickstart 2023 with a more healthy approach to your food habits, trying out recipe boxes or meal delivery services can be the way forward. Meal kits are an excellent way to elevate your home cooking minus all the unnecessary meal prep and food waste, saving you time and money.
There's an endless array of high quality food delivery services and subscription boxes online, all tailored to suit a huge range of dietary requirements. There are healthy recipe boxes with portioned controlled meals, pasta specialists that offer perfect results every time and low-carb, plant-based, veggie, vegan and gluten-free options too.
What's all the fuss about meal delivery services?
Recipe boxes take the stress away from weekly meal prep but can also add some wow factor to your next dinner party or event–especially if you book a pre cooked, restaurant quality meal in advance. With our handy guide to the best recipe box services, you can forget rifling fruitlessly through cookbooks, say goodbye to endless food waste and streamline your prep time. Even better, many of our meal delivery top picks also have offers on your first box or first month’s subscription.
Do meal delivery services make good presents?
Booking a meal delivery service is also a unique gift idea to show your family and friends that you’re thinking of them even from far away. Regardless if you’re showing your love in the wake of a bereavement or simply helping out new parents by taking away the stress of everyday meal prep–there’s plenty of reason to send a loved one a recipe box or meal kit at all times of year.
How do food delivery boxes and recipe meal subscriptions work?
The most important thing to know is that there are two different types of service in this department. The first is a recipe box service; these provide pre-prepared portions of ingredients alongside a recipe card so you can speed up the meal prep and remove the hassle of having to go to the shop for ingredients. The other is a meal delivery service, which offers pre-cooked ready meals that can be enjoyed after a quick stint in the oven or microwave. With both options you can select the meals and recipes you like either as a one-off or as a subscription and select delivery frequency and portion size.
Whichever you opt for, all food should be delivered to your doorstep with appropriate insulation to keep your quality ingredients or meals fresh and ready for freezing or cooking. Handily, this means you never need to worry about missing the delivery.
What is the cheapest and healthiest food delivery service?
If you opt for their ‘family boxes’, then HelloFresh offers the best value for money. You can adapt your plan based on prep-time and how many people you are cooking for, and choose meal plans based on your eating habits. There are recipes for mostly meat eaters, vegetarians, pescatarians, with vegan and low calorie options too. Plus, with over 44 new recipes added weekly, you’ll never run out of recipes to choose from.
Which meal delivery service is the best for vegetarians?
Nearly all services have vegetarian or gluten-free options as standard (right now we're loving Gousto's ‘Veg Table’ recipes, which provide all of your five-a-day. but there are also meal services that cater to specific dietary preferences. Riverford offer a flexible service that ranges from fruit and vegetable delivery, all the way to healthy plant-based recipe boxes made with a variety of fresh ingredients and delicious garnishes. You can easily filter their options by ‘plant based’ or ‘vegetarian’, discovering options such as ‘Black Garlic, Rosemary & Red Pepper Risotto with Cauliflower and ‘Chorizo, Chickpeas, Lentils & Greens’.
What’s the best delivery service for vegan meals?
For more restricted diets, such as paleo and vegan, The Green Chef would be our top pick. They offer diet-specific meal plans, meaning you can see all your options easily without scrolling through endless meat choices. As an alternative we’d head to The Mindful Chef or All Plants, which both have a big range of vegan recipes and ready meals across all types of cuisines.
Best meal delivery services and recipe boxes
1/25Gousto
- Price: From £24.99 for a 2-person box
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box
- Subscription available: Yes
- UVP: Reliable to recook time and time again
Gousto is our top pick for variety, convenience and healthy delicious meals across different cuisines. There’s an extraordinary amount of choice, with plenty of recipes to choose from a rotating weekly menu. Each recipe is labelled based on healthiness, prep time and ingredients, making it easy for you to meal plan. There’s everything from lean recipes by fitness superstar Joe Wicks, to indulgent pies for cosy winter nights in. There are also spicy Indian curries, Spanish paellas, rich Italian ragus and exotic Thai and other Asian dishes.
We particularly love Gousto's new ‘Veg Table’ recipes, available to order from 13th June - 4th July, which provide your entire 5-a-day in one meal. If you have any trouble eating your greens, these recipes are a delicious and easy way to get it done. Recipes for the summer season include a heavenly goat's cheese and nectarine salad, butternut squash saag with cashew and mint pilaf, and a tasty avocado and sweet potato poke bowl.
We think the recipes are easy-to-make and consistently delicious with clear instructions. Plenty are worth repeating. Gousto are also great for introductory offers, so there are few reasons not to give it a try.
- Pros: Great variety of recipes, easy to make, clear instructions
- Cons: There really aren't any
2/25Cook
- Price: From £5.50 for a meal for one, £45 minimum for home delivery
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Frozen meals
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Like home cooking but you didn't have to cook it
If you like home cooking but you just don't have the time or inclination to do it, COOK is the shop to know. From spaghetti bolognese to chicken pie, COOK really reliably delivers the best version of something you might make yourself. There are many permutations of a COOK meal, from a quick, healthy, low-cal lunch for one (we love the kimchi rice) to meals like lasagne for the whole family, and even brilliant entertaining solutions such as quiches, whole hams and sides of salmon, canapés and cakes. Whatever kind of meal you have in mind, COOK is sure to be able to help. If you're lucky enough to have a store (or a franchise) near you, it's easy enough to pop in and get what you want, but if not, the home delivery option is a brilliant standby – you just need to order over £45 worth of meals. This won't be an issue, everything is super tempting.
- Pros: you could probably get away with telling your friends/family that you made this yourself, and they'll be super impressed.
- Cons: none that we can find!
3/25Hello Fresh
- Price: From £30.99 for three recipes for two people
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box
- Subscription available: Yes
- Type: Recipe box
- UVP: Uses lots of small scale producers across the UK
Along with Gousto and Mindful Chef, Hello Fresh is one of the big three recipe boxxc.companies in the UK and is well supplied with imaginative recipes. Its three major selling points are that the boxes are time-saving, offer excellent value for money, and cut down on food waste. You can choose whether you want your boxes to contain meat, be vegetarian, be family-friendly, or focus on quick recipes. Within those parameters, there's plenty of choice, and we particularly like the 'Premium' recipes like duck à l'orange (these come with a small surcharge) and the Street Food range, which replicates the kind of recipes you might expect in a takeaway.
- Pros: Good choice of recipes
4/25Mindful Chef
- Price: From £30.99 for three recipes for two people
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box
- Subscription available: Yes
- UVP: A strong focus on offering healthy recipes
With a focus on healthy recipes, Mindful Chef is a great choice if you tend to crave for carb-heavy meals at home. Mindful Chef recipes are designed by a nutritionist to be low-carb, gluten-free and dairy-free, with plenty of vegan options too. Ethical sourcing and sustainability are a big part of their remit, as they use 100% grass-fed beef, free-range chicken and UK-landed fresh fish. Mindful Chef also donates a school meal to a child in poverty for every meal bought on its site, and has recently launched a low-carbon range, with the aim of becoming entirely carbon-neutral by 2030. We love that there are meals for one offered here, although it is a bit more expensive than its main competitors. You can also buy ready made frozen meals and smoothies via the site.
- Pros: Healthy recipes without the need to diet, meals for one, donates to charity
- Cons: A little more expensive than its direct competitors
5/25Detox Kitchen
- Price: From £31.47
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Meal plan with pre-prepared food
- Subscription available: Yes
- UVP: Short plant-based detox
Let’s face it, we’ve all been a little bit overindulgent this Christmas. Not to worry, Detox Kitchen’s restaurant-quality food delivery service is here to save the day. Trained chefs will prepare all your healthy meals for a minimum of three days, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, pudding, plus juice blends, shots, teas, nuts and everything in between. Expect plenty of veggies on this plant-based diet, and mostly grain-free meals – all meals are wheat, refined sugar, and dairy-free. Packages vary from a 1000 calorie/day cleanse to 2000 calories' worth of healthy, nutritious food.
- Pros: Helpful advice on healthy meal planning, plant-based
- Cons: Expensive to do beyond a few days
6/25Green Chef
- Price: Dishes from £5.94
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box
- Subscription available: Yes
- UVP: Diet specific boxes
Green Chef caters specifically to five different types of diets: keto, low carb, flexitarian (mostly plant-based eating, with a little meat and fish occasionally added in), vegan, and vegetarian, making it easier for you to plan a healthy diet that works for you. Every week, Green Chef launches a new menu of nutritionist-approved recipes, meal kits and delivery boxes that contain at least two of your five-a-day. You can modify your subscription for solo meals all the way up to selecting four meals for up to four people for a week. We think it’s a great option for families who want to adopt healthier eating habits in 2023, plus most dinners can be prepared in 30 minutes.
Delivery options start at £5.94 per serving for two to four people, available for four meals a week, plus £4.99 shipping.
- Pros: Caters to specific different diets, contains at least two of your five a day, includes meals for one person, most are speedy dinners prepared in under 30 minutes
- Cons: Delivery isn't included
7/25Simply Cook
- Price: From £9.99
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box, but doesn't include all ingredients needed
- Subscription available:
- UVP: Ingredients to help inspire new recipes
Simply Cook is great for seasoned home chefs who are in a recipe rut and want to expand their repertoires with new recipes. While not as full-service as other recipe box suppliers on our list, Simply Cook’s recipe pots and recipe cards can be posted through your letterbox and are a much more affordable option. Simply Cook provides the sauces and herb mixes in perfect portions so you get that new recipe right every single time. While you do have to supply the meat, veggies, rice, pasta and so on, it does give you some room to play around and amend some of the recipes. It’s especially great for people who don’t exactly follow recipes to a t. We especially like the Thai prawn Pad Thai, wild mushroom risotto, Italian Ragu and Spanish paella recipe boxes.
A trial box is free, with a £1 shipping fee and boxes are £9.99 thereafter.
- Pros: Helps expand recipe repertoire, letterbox friendly size, can often get good deals on trial boxes
- Cons: Doesn't include all the ingredients you need
8/25All Plants
- Price: Boxes start at £28 for two people
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Frozen meals
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Vegan frozen meals
Vegans rejoice - this one is especially for you. All Plants offers multiple meals in one delivery - choose from 30 options including protein power bowls, lasagnes, mezze, noodles, stews and curries. You can then add on smoothies, breakfast bowls, and dessert pots for an extra charge. The recipes are seriously tempting and come ready made, meaning all you have to do is pop them in the oven or microwave. If you're already vegan or just thinking of trying it for a week, there's no easier way to do it. Plus, a lot of All Plants delivery boxes are currently available at 20% off.
The First Taste currently available at £25 (at 20% off) and contains five meal boxes for one.
- Pros: Great tasting vegan meals frozen
- Cons: Only vegan options
9/25By Ruby
- Price: From £5.95 for one portion
- Delivery areas: UK wide (and also available in select Waitrose stores)
- Type: Frozen meals
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Homecooked, small batch frozen food
Similar to the concept of COOK, but on a smaller scale, ByRuby's mission is creating excellent frozen meals. It's headed up by two friends, Ruby and Milly, with all the food cooked by the former, a Leith's trained chef.
The meals are nourishing, and a world removed from supermarket frozen ready meals. The range mostly includes classic British dishes; think lasagne, fish pie, chicken coq au vin or – a favourite of ours – organic chicken and leek pie. Portion sizes are realistic and generous, but you won't be left feeling like your eyes are bigger than your belly.
Most of the ingredients are organic and sourced from ethical and small producers, plus the packaging is mostly recyclable. Overall, they're a top choice to whip out the freezer on busy evenings, or for new parents.
- Pros: Excellent quality frozen meals, available in more cost effective bundles
- Cons: There aren't really any
10/25Sole of Discretion
- Price: Individual pieces from £3.85, boxes from £55
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Fish box
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Truly sustainable and ethical fish
Founder Caroline Bennett is well known for starting one of the UK's first sushi restaurants in the early nineties. After becoming passionate about sourcing, she set up Sole of Discretion with one aim – to provide a truly sustainable fishing supply chain.
Since its inception in 2016, the company has been helping to support small scale fishing boats (under 10 metres long) in the south west, while following low impact environmental methods. The fish is fresh, ethical and can be traced directly back to the boat it was caught on, which is surprisingly rare in the industry.
Choose from two pre-made boxes, the family fish box or the catch of the day. Both come with 10 pieces, including classic white fish, flat fish, Alaskan salmon and fish pie mix. Alternatively, you can choose the contents of your own box. We love that fish are split by categories, and listings include the weight and price of the fish, so it's easy to see what's a cheaper alternative fish to try. You also won't find any fish that are in danger available here.
- Pros: Highly ethical and sustainable, supports small fishing boats, truly traceable fish, helps you learn about alternative fish
- Cons: There aren't many, but at push we'd say there's only two pre-made boxes
11/25&Dine
- Price: From £7.50
- Delivery areas: London only
- Type: Homemade food to heat up at home
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Connecting local home cooks with hungry customers
One of the new kids on the meal delivery service scene is &Dine–and we're big fans. The name comes from the simplicity of the idea. All you need to do is pick the meal you want, choose when it arrives, then follow the simple heating up guidelines… and dine. The concept is essentially an online marketplace, which links up a community of great home cooks who run their own independent businesses with hungry customers. The offering is across a wide variety of cuisines too, from Brazilian to Italian, and it's a much healthier option than fast food. We tried Kanela's Cypriot Cuisine, who is an ex-MasterChef contestant, and chose moussaka, salad and keftedes (Cypriot meatballs) which was all excellent and far more generously portioned than the two the main should serve.
- Pros: Connecting with great local home cooks, a variety of cuisines, healthier
- Cons: Your favourite cuisine might not always be available, Currently only available in London
12/25Harr at Home
- Price: From £49.95
- Delivery areas: UK-wide, bar some rural postcodes stated on its website
- Type: Restaurant food box
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Surf and turf
Set up by chef Dean Banks, who runs Haar Restaurant in St Andrews, Haar at Home is the food delivery arm of the restaurant offering, and is all about steaks and seafood. It's restaurant quality food, using some of the best seasonal and local produce from Scotland and is so good that it's dinner party worthy, or great for a special date night at home. Expect boxes with everything from tomahawk steaks, to crab linguine, or a seasonal tasting menu box.
You can add on extras too, such as sourdough, chocolate ganache with salted caramel pots (we highly recommend you at least add these), a well chosen wine such as Gašper, chardonnay or a bottle of Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve Champagne. To save on waste, the cooking instructions are on the website. It also makes a great gift for the surf and turf lover in your life.
- Pros: Great for dinner parties or date nights
- Cons: Limited choice aside from steak and crab or lobster
13/25Stein's At Home
- Price: From £49.99
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Restaurant finish at home box; fish box
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Rick Stein's restaurant food at home
Rick Stein's simple yet tasty food needs no introduction. His restaurant food is available in 'finish at home' boxes, and one of our favourite dishes from the chef is his prawn Indonesian curry. One of his sons, Charlie, is a sommelier and helpfully picks an optional wine to go with each box, which you can add on to your order. Most boxes offer three courses and serve two, and are pretty suitably priced for what you get.
As well as the recipe boxes, there's also fresh fish boxes, which come straight from the Cornish shores. Filled with beautiful cuts of fish and fresh-as-it-comes seafood, they make for really great gifts. Inside are usually six scallops, two portions of hake, sea bass fillets, dressed crab and some fish pie mix (or similar), which are beautifully fresh and tasty. There's also a couple of dressings and pairings designed to go with specific fish, such as hazelnut and garlic butter to grill the scallops in and a hot sweet and sour sauce for the sea bass, plus some mayonnaise and a lemon and lime. QR codes are provided with suggestions of how best to use your fish and some recipe ideas too.
All of the boxes are part of the One Feeds Two scheme – when one box is bought on Rick Stein's website, a school meal is also provided for a child living in poverty too.
- Pros: Restaurant quality food and fish delivered to you, pretty good value, part of charity scheme
- Cons: Not the biggest selection of dishes unlike the recipe box schemes, but they do change seasonally
14/25Rockfish
- Price: From £2.95 for individually priced fillets, or £35 for a pre-made box
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Fish box
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Excellent turbot
Restaurateur Mitch Tonks runs Rockfish restaurants in the southwest, as well as The Seahorse in Devon's picturesque Dartmouth, and previously ran a fishmongers from 1996. As well as his fish boxes, which came directly from Brixham's fish market, he's also paving the way for making tinned fish not only acceptable, but cool again.
Similarly to Sole of Discretion, he pushes for sustainability within fishing, and also followed in Caroline's footsteps, by making fish traceable and labelling fish with the name of the boat it was caught on. It's also prepared and packaged directly opposite Brixham's fish market, reducing travel and preventing it having any sort of 'fish smell' when it gets to you, something Mitch is highly passionate about.
Create your own fish box, depending on what's available – keep an eye out for the turbot fillets, a supremely meaty fish. Or go for the family favourites box which includes six diver-caught scallops, fish pie mix and two gurnard fillets. We also love that the boxes can be sent back (free of charge) to Rockfish to be reused.
- Pros: Great sustainability credentials, supporting local fishing
- Cons: Only one pre-made box available
15/25The Cookaway
- Price: Boxes start at £28 for two people
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Specialises in authentic cuisines from around the world
The Cookaway offers a range of recipes from exotic cuisines all over the world. Great for adventurous cooks who want to expand their weekly menus, The Cookaway offers 180 recipes to choose from with dishes from Thailand, Malaysia, Indian, Greek, Japanese and so much more. Each of The Cookaway’s worl cuisines is led by a seasoned Cookaway Chef, who specialises in that specific cuisines – so you know that what you’re preparing is authentic. Plus, The Cookaway has a no subscription delivery service so you can order anytime with no commitments. It offers free delivery too.
- Pros: No need to sign up to a subscription, dishes created by experts in that cuisine, join virtual cook-alongs
- Cons: Works out to be reasonably expensive
16/25Balance Box
- Price: From £26.99
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box
- Subscription available: Yes, but not essential
- UVP: Balanced meals
New start-up Balance Box is the perfect option if you're looking to press the reset button and kickstart new healthy eating habits. They will deliver a substantial box to your door with all your cooked meals prepared for three or four days, including healthy snacks. You simply have to put them in the fridge and take them back out again. There are four different menu plans to cater to different dietary requirements: Classic, Vegetarian, Pescatarian and Free-From, and a choice of portion sizes - the Lighter Plan gives you about 1200 calories a day, and the Market Plan about 1800 calories. We particularly liked the breakfast options, which feel generous and set you up properly for the day.
From £26.99 per day for the Lighter Plan, or £32.99 a day for the Market Plan with a £4.95 fee for delivery.
- Pros: Choice of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks
- Cons: Expensive to do beyond a few days
17/25The Pure Package
- Price: From £46.95
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Meal plan with pre-prepared food
- Subscription available: Yes
- UVP: Gourmet tailored meal plans
The Pure Package is a gourmet meal delivery service with tailored programmes for weight loss, healthy eating, and many more different types of goals. Usually offering 10, 30, and 90-day meal programmes, it has recently launched the 3-Day Reset, which offers three days of calorie controlled meals to kickstart a better approach to eating. Everything you want for the day, including snacks, arrives in an elegant little cooler overnight, meaning you're ready to go in the morning. The food is genuinely delicious, inventive, and can be tailored to your likes and dislikes. We particularly enjoyed a Malaysian-inspired wild rice pudding for breakfast, and a dish of juicy prawns with risotto for dinner. We tried a 1300 calorie per day plan, and definitely didn't feel deprived. There are even pre & post natal recipe boxes as well as paleo-inspired ones. From £46.95 per person per day.
- Pros: Flexible offering across a range of needs, tailored programs to help reach a specific goal
- Cons: Quite expensive
18/25A Cook's Tour with Rocket
- Price: From £75
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box
- Subscription available:
- UVP: Fortnightly tour of a different cuisine around the world
Sometimes, we all need something to break the monotony of cooking, no matter how much we love it. Enter a genius delivery box aptly named 'A Cook's Tour'. The recipe kits and ingredients inside change to reflect the flavours, dishes and cooking of a different region twice a month, meaning you can order it once every two weeks to transport your taste buds around the world. Packaged in entirely sustainable and recyclable boxes, once you have your ingredients, simply head to the live stream on YouTube where chef Ryan cooks along with you for an hour until your table is laden with a bountiful feast. From £75 for two including £10 start of the tour discount + £5.50 delivery.
- Pros: Join in on cook-alongs with well-known chefs, a great gift idea
- Cons: It's a big event, rather than just cooking a quick evening meal
19/25Dishpatch
- Price: From £28
- Delivery areas: UK-wide on Fridays via DPD
- Type: Restaurant meals to heat at home
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Platform for some of UK's top restaurants
Dishpatch stands out as one of the most stylish restaurant kit platforms out there with the likes of 10 Greek Street, Parsons and Hoppers on their books. They describe themselves as a finish-at-home meal kit service with food that’s prepared by the UK’s best chefs, and finished by you at home. Browse what’s on offer by your available delivery dates, dietary requirements, cuisines, restaurants, price, or cooking time to find a meal that suits you. Their Comfort Food Collection is particularly appealing for grey days, as well as dishes from Angela Hartnett's glorious Italian restaurant, Cafe Murano. We tried out the latter, a Slow Braised Pork & Polenta feast for two, and can vouch for its decadence. The antipasti set the scene delightfully – the crispy arancini were standouts - for an intensely savoury main of pork shoulder, slowly braised with winter vegetables, with a bowlful of soft polenta. If you want a fuss-free one-off treat for yourself and your partner, we can't recommend this enough.
One course meals for two start at £28. Delivery is free! There is no extra charge for delivery unless ordering for Saturday when there will be a supplement fee of £5. Nationwide delivery across the UK is available on Fridays via DPD.
- Pros: You can get restaurant dishes at home, from some of the UK's best restaurants
- Cons: There aren't many, except you'll likely want to keep ordering and trying lots of different options!
20/25Pasta Evangelists
- Price: From £11.70 for a double portion
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Fresh pasta and sauces to cook at home
- Subscription available: Yes, or one off purchases
- UVP: Fresh pasta that takes minutes to cook
Making fresh pasta sauces can be a lengthy process, so we're glad that Pasta Evangelists have stepped in to offer a convenient delivery option. The process couldn't be easier - you get fresh pasta and pre-portioned sauces delivered from a choice of ten recipes each week, and all you have to do is cook the pasta and heat the sauce.The ordering system is designed so that you get weekly deliveries for three weeks, and you can freeze the portions if you don't have time to eat them immediately. It's not the cheapest option, so it might not be a regular order, but it has the advantage of providing portions for one person, and it's rather delicious to boot.
Starters and sides start at £3.75 while sauces start at £8.95.
- Pros: It could not be quicker, dinner will be reading in mere minutes
- Cons: There's not that many new dishes added very often
21/25Côte at Home
- Price: From £29.95 for two
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Restaurant food to finish at home
- Subscription available:
- UVP: Restaurant quality French food
French bistro chain Côte launched a pre-prepared meal delivery service in the summer of 2021 to great reviews. What makes Côte at Home so special is the restaurant quality of the food, all made from fresh ingredients and packaged carefully so as to last a minimum of three days (including the day of delivery) in your fridge without preservatives (some items are freezable, too). They offer a wide range of options to choose from, including wines, cheeses, and charcuteries, with generous portion sizes – all in all, a rather different experience from your typical frozen supermarket ready meal situation. The Steak Date Night option is particularly appealing (from £54.95-£85.95) and features three classic French courses complete with wine pairing.
Côte recommends ordering your food to be delivered a day before you need it, if it’s for a special occasion, to make sure it gets to you in time. Meals start at £29.95 for two.
- Pros: Restaurant quality French food delivered at home, generous portion sizes, wide range of extras can be added on
- Cons: Need to order arrives a day before you plan to use it
22/25Riverford
- Price: From £13.45 per meal for two
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe box
- Subscription available: Yes
- UVP: The organic OG
This option is a great one for advocates of the farm-to-table approach to eating. Sustainable veg pioneers Riverford recently branched out into providing recipe kits which are available to order online if you want more guidance on what to do with your organic veg than their general produce boxes provide. The result is exactly what you’d expect from the industry experts on sustainable farming and makers of multiple popular seasonal eating recipe books: hearty, sustainable, seasonal, vegetable-focused meals. Choose from plant based, vegetarian, or meat options, with a regular guest chef providing an exciting new recipe for the more adventurous cooks.
Starting at £13.45 for two portions, with free delivery.
- Pros: Organic seasonal food, delivered to your door, innovative and easy to follow recipes that will earn a place in your repertoire
- Cons: Some dishes can take longer than the cooking times
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23/25Cook
- Price: Main meals from £4.25; meal boxes from £29.50
- Delivery areas: UK-wide and click and collect available for nearby stores
- Type: Frozen meals
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Huge selection of frozen meals and puddings
Ideal for gifting to a loved one during a time of need or stocking up your own freezer for ready-to-go pre-cooked meals to grab during a busy season, COOK is one of the best-established meal delivery services around. They pride themselves on their wide range of home cooked frozen meals which includes a wide range of portion sizes and types, from kids meals to party food, sides, snacks, and desserts. COOK also meets various dietary needs, including veggie, vegan, dairy free, and gluten free options. All of their meals arrive frozen, but can be cooked from frozen without needing to defrost, and they even offer a new parents meal bundle which can be gifted or bought for yourself. We especially love the Indian food which is as good, if not better, than our local curry house, as well as being cheaper. A wide range of pre-cooked frozen meals available nationwide via COOK’s network of stockists for in-store click-and-collect and purchases, or online orders for home delivery.
- Pros: Excellent home cooked food, which always turns out well, perfect for easy dinner parties
- Cons: There aren't really any, apart from you'll want to exclusively stuff your freezer with these meals
24/25Wild and Game
- Price: £49.99 for about seven meals for two people
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Frozen meals
- Subscription available: Yes
- UVP: Selection of game cuts
Best for meat eaters, Wild and Game offers delicious frozen wild game meat straight to your door. You can choose from venison, pheasant and wild boar – all caught in the wild in the UK countryside. Opting for wild game meat means that you are helping the under consumption of game in the UK and helping reduce our planet’s reliance on over farmed meat. Wild and Game’s ready-to-cook meats and restaurant-quality ready meals are designed to woo and has already inspired 35,000 people to try wild game themselves. Portions start at £1.78
- Pros: Game meat is under represented and is a really sustainable alternative to more intensively farmed meats
- Cons: Boxes only come with the meat, and no other ingredients, but there are plenty of recipe cards included for ideas of what to cook
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25/25Phomo
- Price: From £9.99 for main meals
- Delivery areas: UK-wide
- Type: Recipe kit
- Subscription available: No
- UVP: Great pho and Vietnamese food
It’s almost impossible to achieve that perfectly fragrant Pho broth at home without years of training and practice. Enter Phomo, which brings those authentic Vietnamese flavours straight to your door with its easy-to-make meal boxes and recipe kits. Phomo’s pho broths are cooked for a long time, allowing for incredible depth of flavour. Each kit is a complete meal for one and can be ready in 10 minutes, perfect if you’re looking for a quick and easy meal. Portions start at £9.95.
- Pros: Easy to recreate restaurant quality pho at home, includes starters and other optional extras
- Cons: Only has one type of cuisine, but does it very well!
