It’s no surprise that BA editors love to cook; and considering you’re on our site right now, we’re willing to guess you do too. But life can get hectic, especially in the lead up to the end of the year. That’s where meal kits come in: Think of them as a dinnertime helping hand—everything you need to get a hot meal on the table is delivered in a single box. And during the Black Friday sales bonanza, many of these services are available at a discount.
We're thrilled to see that some of the best meal kits according to our years of extensive testing—including the best affordable meal kits and some of our favorite meal kits for families—have Cyber Week offers running. Each of these services offers a weekly menu (so you can take a break from meal-planning),and includes options for a range of dietary needs, whether you're following a low-carb, gluten free, dairy free, Paleo, or pescatarian eating style.
Shop the best deals
CookUnity: 50% off first order + 10% off the next three
CookUnity
Meal Delivery Subscription
Meal service details
- Plan options: 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16 meals per week
- Average meal price: $11–$14, depending on plan size
- Shipping fee: Yes (price varies per plan size and location)
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert, extra proteins, juices
Example meals
- Mission-Style Breakfast Chorizo & Egg Burrito with Salsa Verde & Crema
- Sesame-Ginger Tofu Poke Bowl with Pickled Cabbage and Yum Yum Sauce
- Shrimp Moilee Coconut Curry with Tomato Pepper Chutney & Curry Leaf Rice
- Almond Butter Energy Bites with Chocolate Chips & Coconut
Tested and reviewed by: Olivia Tarantino, senior commerce editor
Who is CookUnity best for? A convenience-first eater who still has exacting standards about their food, especially if they like a variety of cuisines.
About CookUnity: CookUnity is a prepared meal delivery service that partners with professional chefs to bring their recipes straight to your fridge. The focus isn’t so much on calorie counting or hitting macros—it’s about boosting flavor, exploring global cuisines, and making weeknight meals feel restaurant-quality.
The ordering process
The hardest part about ordering a week of meals from CookUnity is narrowing down what you want to eat. Everything looks good, and there are hundreds of options to choose from. As of writing, there were over 400 meals available for the week, covering everything from breakfast burritos to hearty dinners. If you forget to pick your own by the cutoff date, CookUnity will auto-fill your box based on your preferences or past orders.
With a chef-forward menu, CookUnity meals come from a variety of globe-spanning cuisines: Ghanaian, Indian, Mexican, Italian, the menu touches six continents. Most meals are regularly available, but there are new ones rotating in (and out), so you can branch out or stick with favorites you’ve already tried.
If you’re feeling fancy, some meals are marked “Premium” (such as Maryland-Style Crab Cakes and Lobster Tail & Steak Surf & Turf), which cost a few dollars more than the standard meals.
One thing I appreciated that seems unique to CookUnity: Each dish has a user rating out of five stars, along with comments from other customers. I found the reviews super helpful and ended up only choosing meals rated 4.3 and above.
What we love
As a food editor, I never thought I could like a prepared meal delivery service—until I tried CookUnity. If you properly plated some of my CookUnity meals they really could pass as something I’d order at a restaurant. The quality, cook, and flavor of each dish makes it clear that they’re developed by real chefs—people like José Garces and Esther Choi—and that’s the whole idea behind CookUnity.
The meals arrive fresh, not frozen, so you can either dig in straight from the fridge (like I did with a tofu “poke” bowl) or heat them up in the microwave for two minutes. You can choose anywhere from 4 to 16 meals a week, and the menu spans breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides, snacks, and even “protein-only” options like chicken Parmesan you can pair with your own pasta.
Thanks to their modified atmosphere packaging (it’s a thing), the meals stay fresh in the fridge for 4 to 7 days. That built-in flexibility is huge, especially if a last-minute dinner plan or spontaneous lunch out means you’re not eating every single meal you ordered right away.
Each dish also comes with a full nutritional breakdown. I found most meals to be pretty balanced in terms of protein and carbs, though a few clocked in around 1,000 calories—just something to note if you’re being extra mindful.
For my first week, I tried a range of cuisines, proteins, and chefs. I ordered two shrimp dishes to test whether seafood could survive a microwave. I was genuinely stunned when I peeled back the plastic film and was met with the hypnotizing scent of coconut curry smothering perfectly cooked shrimp. I’ve had overcooked seafood from other meal delivery services, but these shrimp were plump with just the right amount of snap. They tasted like I’d made them myself minutes earlier.
I also ordered crab cakes to see how a fried dish would hold up. The meal came with two cakes, so I microwaved one and popped the other in the air fryer to compare. Usually, microwaving anything fried turns it soggy and sad—not the case here. The air-fried cake was a bit crispier around the edges, but honestly? The microwaved one was just as good. Nearly identical.
Portion sizes also felt more generous than most other meal delivery services I’ve tried, especially when it came to the amount of protein in each dish. Nothing felt skimpy.
What we’d leave
While there’s a wide range of cuisines to choose from, it was surprisingly hard to avoid rice. Each of the six meals I ordered came with some kind of rice or pilaf. It didn’t bother me, because most of the flavor and focus is on the protein or veg anyway, but I noticed the repetition.
Honestly, I had such a good experience with CookUnity that I’ve already recommended it to friends, family, and coworkers after just a few meals. If I had to nitpick beyond the rice thing, I’d say there isn’t much I’d change. The food is genuinely delicious, the variety is impressive, and the convenience is hard to beat.
Want excellent, chef-designed prepared meals delivered to your door? One of our absolute favorite meal delivery services is CookUnity. It specializes in pre-cooked meals that you heat in the oven or microwave when you're ready to eat. But these aren't your average re-heatable dinners. All the dishes are unique and made by chefs across the country—think recipes like Desi Butter Chicken with Cauliflower Mash and Roasted Peri-Peri Chicken with Harissa Brussels Sprouts.
If you're already salivating, trust us—we're right there with you. You can satiate the craving at a discount this Black Friday with a whole 50% off your first order and 10% off the three after that.
Home Chef: $4.99/serving and free shipping on your first order
Home Chef
Meal Kits
About Home Chef: Home Chef is a traditional meal kit service that sends pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-follow, family-friendly recipes that make it easy to get a fresh meal on the table in 15 to 30 minutes. Meals are available in four categories: classic meal kits, Express kits that take 30 minutes or less, oven-ready Chopped & Ready options that you assemble in a provided tin and then pop in the oven, and Fast & Fresh microwavable recipes. You can pick a mix of all types for your weekly box. Home Chef also offers a selection of add-ons like extra protein, soups, salads, snacks, and desserts.
Why it's great for families: If you have a lot of mouths to feed, Home Chef is a great option, because the more meals you order, the more budget-friendly it becomes—especially if you order from the Family Menu. Home Chef’s standard meals are two servings each and, on average, cost $7.99 to $9.99 per serving; but when you order from the Family Menu, meals are just $6.99 per serving, no matter how many you get (customizations like swapping your protein may come with an upcharge).
What we love: The portion sizes are large, the meal plans are customizable, and you can select your meal kits based on dietary needs and preferences. We found the recipes simple and kid-friendly enough to please young critics. Meals weren’t too complex, but they were hearty and filling. Many of the recipes had a nostalgic feel (think meat wrapped in puff pastry) that reminded us of the dinners we ate as kids. We also liked the specific Family Plan option with categories like Express and Chopped & Ready which are designed to get food on the table in 30 minutes and under 20 minutes, respectively, along with traditional and oven-ready meal kits.
The flexibility of Home Chef can also come in clutch if your family has a busy schedule one week and a relaxing schedule the next. It’s easy to customize how many meals you want in each shipment; if you select three meals one week, you can still order five for the following.
What we’d leave: There’s quite a bit of plastic in each Home Chef kit. Contributor Alexis Berger acknowledged that this may be the norm for meal kits, but thinks there’s room for improvement. “Home Chef divides each meal into its own plastic bag and then within that bag, you’ll find individually bagged ingredients for each recipe. This organizational structure is great for knowing what items go with which meal, but the literal added layer is just more disposable packaging,” she says.
Specs:
| Type of meal delivery service: | Meal kit delivery service, prepared meal delivery service |
|---|---|
| Typical prep and cooking time: | 15–30 minutes |
| Gluten-free options: | Yes |
| Plant-based options: | Yes |
| Add-ons available: | Yes |
| Average meal price: | $6.99 to $9.99 depending on the number of meals per order |
| Additional shipping fee: | $10.99 per box |
Home Chef has consistently come out on top of our meal kit testing because of its wide array of options and high-quality ingredients. You can help narrow down the menu by selecting how you typically eat (with options like high protein, keto-friendly, vegetarian, or “I'll eat anything”), and then choose between oven-ready meals and make-it-yourself kits that range in complexity. And right now, new subscribers get $4.99/serving—honestly a steal—and free shipping on their first meal kit order with code HCBFCMAFF.
Hello Fresh: Get a free Misen AUCTO440™ Chef's Knife with your third box + 10 free meals
HelloFresh offers great portion sizes, easy-to-cook meals, and over 100 weekly menu and market items to choose from. It's great for single or dual-person households, and people who can't commit to using a whole bulb of garlic with pre-proportioned ingredients and super clear steps. Through 12/7 you can get 10 free meals and a free Misen chef's knife (which will come with your third box) to help make dinner prep even easier.
Forkful: 60% off your first box and 10% off your next three
Save yourself the trouble of cooking while still guaranteeing feel-good meals with Forkful. This fully prepared meal service can easily be tailored to your specific dietary needs, whether you're keto, Paleo, gluten-free, or just looking for a simple way to stock your fridge with nutritious heat-and-eat food. From now until 12/31, BA readers can save 60% on their first box and 10% on the next three using this link.
Blue Apron: Save 25% on your first two orders
You can’t go wrong with a meal kit like Blue Apron, one of the OGs in the space. The promise is similar to HelloFresh: pre-proportioned ingredients and straightforward instructions that'll have you making healthy and delicious meals at home with ease.
We love that the service offers dozens of weekly meal options that range from traditional kits to heat-and-eat or assemble-and-bake. New subscribers can save 25% on their first two boxes with code WELCOME25.
Purple Carrot: Get $100 off 4 boxes + free shipping
Purple Carrot is a fully plant-based meal kit delivery service that offers both premade meals and meal kits for you to prep. Multiple BA staffers and contributors have tried it many times throughout the years and it's consistently fared well in our product tests. Proof? This review from contributor Carina Finn: “I never missed the meat in a Purple Carrot meal. I even found myself getting legitimately excited about my “healthy dinner at home” nights—especially since I didn’t have to grocery shop.”
For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they’re offering $100 off (applied as $25 off across 4 orders) plus free shipping. Use code CYBER100 to redeem the discount.
EveryPlate: 50% or $3.49/meal off your first box + 10% off 1 month
EveryPlate is one of our favorite affordable meal kits, and we appreciate the fact that the rotating menu offers 26 recipes every week. This Black Friday, new subscribers can score 50% of $3.49 per meal off their first box and 10% off a whole month of boxes for any order placed by 12/7. Less expensive than a Big Mac? We'll call that a happy meal.
Green Chef: Get 50% off your first box, and 20% off your next 2 months
Green Chef
Meal Kits
About Green Chef: Eating “clean” might mean something different depending on who you ask, but according to its website, Green Chef is the first CCOF (California Certified Organic) meal kit company and, as of 2026, is also the first to offer select recipes that are “Certified Clean” by Clean Label Project. That means that, in addition to organic produce and locally and sustainably sourced ingredients, certain Green Chef recipes are free of many toxins and contaminants as well as an overall ban on things like artificial colors and flavors. Green Chef also caters to a variety of special diets—including keto, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean, low-calorie, and high-protein—and when you sign up, you can set your preference to “healthy meal kits for families.”
Why it's great for families: Green Chef is a high-end meal kit service that prioritizes sustainability and quality ingredients. So if your goal is to feed your family organic home-cooked meals—but you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen every weeknight—this is a great option. Another plus is that you’ll likely also save money by subscribing to Green Chef over shopping the grocery store for organic ingredients. When contributor Lizzy Briskin tested Green Chef, she found that the cost per serving for a Green Chef meal was up to half the cost of shopping for the same organic ingredients.
What we love: The selection is impressive, and the recipes are reliable and flavorful. Briskin enjoyed the shrimp in her Southwestern Shrimp Tacos With Corn Slaw recipe, noting that, “often, frozen shrimp can be rubbery and flavorless, but these were juicy and sweet. There was plenty of fajita seasoning to coat every crustacean, and the tacos were fully loaded.” We also appreciated that the ingredients were organized by recipe and that the instructions were easy to follow, thanks in part to pictures on the recipe cards.
What we’d leave: In repeat testing, many Bon Appétit staff and contributors find that these meals do take a little more work and time—and produce more dirty dishes—than other kits on this list.
Specs:
| Type of meal delivery service: | Organic meal kit service |
| Typical prep and cooking time: | 30 minutes |
| Gluten-free options: | Yes |
| Plant-based options: | Yes |
| Add-ons available: | Yes |
| Average meal price: | $11.99 |
| Additional shipping fee: | $10.99 per box |
Green Chef sets itself apart by offering organic ingredients and sticking to a sustainability pledge that has the brand offsetting its delivery emissions and plastic use. For Black Friday/Cyber Monday, they’re offering 50% off your first box and 20% off your next two months of orders.
Marley Spoon: New members get 45% off their first box and discounts on the next 5 boxes after that
If you love cooking but don't have time for all of the planning, prep, and shopping required to put together satisfying home-cooked meals, try Marley Spoon. The service uses recipes from Martha Stewart herself and still requires you to do at least some of the chopping and dicing to making your meal. The recipes even recommend a few cooking tricks to use in your everyday life.
If you're interested in giving it a try, right now new subscribers can save on their first six boxes, with 45% off the first box, 38% off the second box, 21% off the third box, and 9% off boxes four, five, and six.
Factor: 50% off your first box + free MyFitnessPal Premium+ (on your third box)
Factor
Meal Delivery
Meal service details
- Plan options: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 18 meals per week
- Average meal price: $12.49–$14.99, depending on plan size
- Shipping fee: Yes; $10.99 after first order
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, smoothies, extra proteins, juices
Example meals
- Blackened Barramundi with Smoked Gouda Grits, Tomato-Andouille Gravy & Lemon Butter Green Beans
- Smoky Garlic Filet Mignon & Broccolini with Cheese Tortellini, Summer Squash & Garlic Basil Butter
- Miso Butter Shrimp with Cauli Rice Blend & Sesame-Ginger Veggie Medley
- Shredded Chicken Taco Bowl with Roasted Corn Salsa & Cilantro Lime Sour Cream
Tested and reviewed by: Alaina Chou, commerce writer
Who is Factor best for? People looking to meet specific wellness goals, or busy people who want relatively healthy and balanced meals—no meal prep required.
About Factor: Factor positions itself as a nutritious, dietitian-approved meal delivery service with meals “designed to support your wellness goals.” The experience is pretty standard for a prepared meal delivery service: Each meal is packaged in a segmented plastic tray with a plastic film that you’ll peel back or pierce before microwaving until heated through. Recently, Factor partnered with plant-based meal delivery service Sakara to introduce veggie-packed salads.
The ordering process
After entering zip code, you’ll select up to three wellness goals (think “improve my health” or “eat a better variety of foods”), choose the types of meals you prefer from a list of dietary preferences (like Calorie Smart, Fiber Filled, or I Eat Everything), select whether or not you eat spicy food, and then choose how many meals you want per week (6, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 18).
Factor will prompt you to register for an account and enter your address and payment information before presenting you with that week’s menu (an annoying feature of many meal kit delivery services) that will have options clearly labeled with tags like “Protein Plus,” “Carb Conscious,” or “Vegetarian.”
What we love
According to its marketing language, Factor designs its meals for people with specific wellness goals in mind. The clear nutritional labeling makes this a particularly good option for anyone looking to track their macros, follow low-carb, low-calorie, high-protein, or keto diets, etc. None of that screams “this food will taste good,” though, so I was skeptical as to whether these meals would actually be enjoyable to eat.
Despite looking a bit, well, sad in their plastic trays, I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor of each meal. Microwaves are known to zap every bit of moisture out of a piece of protein, but the chicken breast in the Green Chile Chicken was shockingly juicy even after the suggested two minutes of heating. Everything was also well seasoned—and I say that as someone who can’t help but sprinkle flaky salt on pretty much everything I eat.
Factor meals often follow a formula of main protein plus carb and vegetable sides, which meant that each meal felt balanced and multifaceted, with a good mix of protein, carbs, and fats that helped keep me satiated.
It’s not a unique attribute on this list, but Factor meals couldn’t be easier to prepare: just two to three minutes in the microwave and you’re golden. This made them especially convenient to pack as office lunches, as opposed to prepared meal delivery services that require heating in a pan or oven.
What we’d leave
Some meals were definitely less successful than others. The Honey-Mustard Pork Chop, for instance, was incredibly tough and by far the worst dish I tried. I also didn’t love how repetitive the side dishes were, and how some of the vegetables became a bit waterlogged after heating.
While portion sizes were perfect for me, they may feel a touch small depending on what kind of eater you are.
I’d deem Factor meals above average for microwave fare, and totally satisfying to eat for a quick dinner—but they simply can’t compare to anything you’d make yourself, and after two weeks of eating them I was about ready for a break. That said, this is a good option for occasional use on particularly busy weeks, or for people who are looking to meet specific wellness goals
If you’re really strapped for time this holiday season or are looking specifically for low-calorie or other special-diet options, Factor offers over 100 fully-prepared heat-and-eat meals each week. They're all dietitian-designed and full of nutrients to help you power through the end-of-year stretch. Now through 12/7, you'll get 50% off your first box, plus a free subscription to MyFitnessPal Premium+ if you're the macro-tracking type.
Little Spoon: 60% off up to $40 with code OMG60
Little Spoon
Meal Kits
About Little Spoon: Little Spoon offers snacks and nutritious meals for kids of all ages, starting with organic purées, baby cereal, and puffs for the earliest solids stage. Meals are selected with guidance from registered dietitians, pediatric nutritionists, and other feeding experts. As your littles get bigger, you can introduce new flavors and textures through healthy meals like kid-friendly smoothies (in a pouch, of course) and three-course finger-food dinners made with whole, organic ingredients. There are even premade meals for bigger kids; think Lunchables, but made with more premium organic ingredients. And yes: There are noodles, too.
Why it's great for families: Like meal kits for adults, you can personalize your kids-only subscription to fit your family’s dietary preferences, and you can filter different meal options based on common kid allergens like tree nuts, shellfish, and gluten. Little Spoon also makes it easy to pause or skip your subscription and to adjust the quantity and frequency as needed.
What we love: If you’re tired of the constant requests for the same sandwich or processed snacks over and over again, Little Spoon is a great way to introduce new flavors and cuisines into your home in a decidedly kid-friendly way. Contributor Emily Farris tested the service, saying that “everyone in my home (including me) really loved every element of the Sunny-Butter Chicken, a limited-time collaboration with Brooklyn Delhi—especially after I put the veggie turmeric poppers in the air fryer to crisp them up.”
What we’d leave: Packaged snacks aside, this meal service is really best for babies and toddlers, because the simpler preparations are what Little Spoon does best. We felt that some of the big-kid entrées are trying to do too much, and there’s a chance older, pickier kids will find at least one thing on the plate to hate.
Specs:
| Type of meal delivery service: | Fully premade meals and snacks for babies and toddlers |
| Typical prep and cooking time: | N/A |
| Gluten-free options: | Yes |
| Plant-based options: | Yes |
| Add-ons available: | Yes |
| Average meal price: | $8.99 per plate (snacks and other products vary by item) |
| Additional shipping fee: | $9.99 per order |
Parents and caregivers who want to skimp on shopping and prep without skimping on nutrition will love Little Spoon—a meal kit specifically for feeding babies, toddlers, and little kids. The service will ship ready-to-heat-and-eat meals (and snacks!) that are chef- and dietician-approved. For Black Friday, save 60% on your first order with the code OMG60.
Tempo by Home Chef: 60% off your first box + up to 30% off your next month of orders
Tempo is Home Chef's line of ready-to-eat meals, and is a great option if you're looking for a way to fill your week with balanced, fresh-tasting meals without so much as turning on a burner. In testing, commerce writer Alaina Chou found the Tempo meals to be well-seasoned, packed with veggies, and actually tasty—a real feat for a plastic tray meal you heat in the microwave. For Black Friday, Tempo is offering 60% off your first box and up to 30% off your next month of orders with code BFCM60OFF.
