Meal Delivery Service Review Methodology

The marketplace for meal kit delivery services and ready-to-eat meals seems to be expanding every day with new options for nearly every style of cooking, eating, and health concern. There are meals for folks living an active lifestyle, meal kits for those who want a gourmet cooking experience, and plenty of ready-to-eat plant-based options. In order to help our readers sift through the choices, we set a team of experts to the task of testing and reviewing 40 of the most popular meal kit delivery services on the market.

Our team of project managers, writers, SEO managers, nutrition experts, data analysts, and food photographers spent four months on this project. The effort involved meticulously planning, testing, photographing, and analyzing the data we gathered to give our readers vetted, expert reviews of the services and how they work.

Data Collection

In an effort to give the most data-driven results on which meal kits are the best in the game, we recruited a team of food and nutrition experts and created an intricate scoring system based on the top areas of customer concern. Our end goal was to be able to put each meal kit to the test and evaluate them, without bias, against criteria that center the needs of our audience.

In collaboration with a registered dietitian and food industry consultant, our team designed a scoring rubric based on 50 data points across two surveys. Both surveys included questions related to the same categories including sustainability, customer experience, cookability, nutrition transparency, nutrition values, and of course, the eating experience. One survey was used by our expert testers, all registered dietitians, as they navigated the experience of trying out each meal kit, including researching menus and plans, placing orders, receiving and cooking meals, and engaging with customer service.

We gave the second survey to each company to fill out. Some of the information they provided is so in-depth that’s it’s not readily available on their websites.

We used information from the surveys both for scoring and the full reviews where it made sense. Once the surveys were completed, our data analysis team combed through the information on each service, crunched the numbers, and we arrived at the final scores assigned to each company.

Sustainability

The connection between the planet and our food supply is undeniable, and food companies are being tasked with taking a hard look at how they directly impact the environment. At this point, most of the major meal delivery companies have some form of sustainability program or platform, but each takes its own approach. Some companies have solutions centered around sourcing ingredients that promote animal welfare and biodiversity, while others opt to take more care with the packaging they use and try to reduce the amount of plastics. To calculate a sustainability score, we captured detailed packaging data about each company using a form to document which types of plastic and paper products were in each shipment. Information about whether the companies offer sustainably sourced or humane ingredients was also collected.

Customer Experience 

Nothing can make a meal feel more special than the element of hospitality, and that’s true whether you’re eating in a restaurant or ordering a meal kit. Those with the best experience factor have great customer service, flexibility, and perhaps even some customization. These are some of the elements around customer experience that helped the services we reviewed receive higher scores.

Cookability 

We love that the meal kit industry has options for all levels of cooking abilities—including those who want a true culinary experience and people who simply want to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible. All levels of cooking have something in common though: they need a recipe and support for the process. We scored companies in this area not based on how difficult meals are to make, but rather how possible they are with the materials customers are given. We gave points for well-written, clear recipes that are easy to find and effective for use, whether cooking the meal takes 2 minutes in the microwave or an hour on the stovetop.

Eating Experience 

A meal kit can have all the bells and whistles, but what purpose does it serve if you’re not excited to eat? This is likely the most subjective area of our research, but it simply could not be left out. In an effort to mitigate the bias of our testers’ varied taste buds, we structured this section around whether or not the food was fresh, met expectations for flavor and texture as advertised, and whether someone would order it again. Scores were higher in this category if the food was fresh, of high quality, and tasted as expected.

Nutrition Transparency

Each individual’s food and nutrition needs are highly individualized, whether you’re someone with a specific food allergy or just want to try out a new style of eating. As the range of needs grows, so does the necessity of information transparency around ingredients, nutrients, and more. High standards of accuracy and detail are required when it comes to providing the public with information that can directly impact health, so we dedicated a section of our scoresheet to it. Companies that offered high levels of nutrition information and ingredient and allergen information that was easy to access and simple to understand scored higher than those that provided less complete information that was harder to find and use in real-time.

Nutrition Values 

Our mission is to help others live happier, healthier lives free from diet culture and weight-phobic trends. As we’ve taken steps to define our set of core values around evidence-based health and wellness, we wanted to include this perspective in how we evaluate meal kits looking to meet your food needs. We dedicated an entire section of our survey to evaluating companies based on marketing language, transparency around nutrition recommendations, and the overall restrictiveness of eating plans. Higher scores were given to companies that offer more flexibility, provide evidence-based dietary recommendations, and don’t rely on the language of diet culture and weight stigma to sell their products.

Meet the Team