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For those who have been following along, you know that I’ve been doing individual reviews of some of the top meal delivery companies, specifically prepared meal delivery services. These are much different than meal kits. Prepared meals arrive at your door fully cooked and only need to be heated up, so you’re ready to eat with virtually no work involved. They’re incredibly convenient.

I tried Factor, CookUnity, Fuel Meals, and Trifecta, as these were the services I found to be the most popular and appealing. While I liked all of them, how do they stack up against each other, and which one is the best fit for you? Read below to find out!

How I Ranked the Best Prepared Meal Delivery Services?

While there are a lot of factors you could use to rank meal delivery services, I found many aspects of these brands to be fairly similar. Because of that, I focused on the areas where they differed the most and what I believe matters most to the average customer.

Average Taste Score:
This is the average score of all the meals I personally tried from each brand. I rated every meal individually and then calculated the mean average to determine each service’s overall taste score.

Average Price Per Meal:
This metric is a little tricky because meal prices typically decrease as you order more meals, and each company frequently runs different promotions and discounts. To make the comparison as fair as possible, I based my calculations on an order of eight meals and used the best publicly available promotion at the time of testing.

Ingredients & Quality:
This category is based on my assessment of the ingredients used in each service’s meals. I looked at factors such as ingredient quality, the use of preservatives or fillers, cooking oils, sourcing, and the overall nutritional profile of the meals. While I’m not a nutritionist, I paid close attention to whether the ingredients felt premium and aligned with a healthier lifestyle.

Best Overall: Fuel Meals

For me, Fuel Meals takes the top spot because they check almost every box. They have the cleanest ingredient lists of all the services I tried, with meals that are simple and straightforward. If you’re looking for clean eating with minimally processed ingredients and very few preservatives or additives, Fuel Meals is the best option.

On top of that, the taste was consistently strong across the board, and the pricing is very competitive. Overall, it’s just a really solid choice.

The biggest downside is that they offer less variety than some of the other meal delivery services.

Runner Up: Factor

To me, Factor and CookUnity were very close, but I think Factor had a slight edge in taste. That said, this is highly subjective. My taste buds tend to prefer simpler, more basic meals, while CookUnity offers more chef-inspired, gourmet-style dishes.

Cook Unity

I think a lot of people will love CookUnity, and I could easily see many people ranking it as their #1 meal delivery service. The food is excellent, and the quality was consistently on point. The only downsides are that it’s a bit more expensive than some competitors, and I didn’t like that certain meals came with additional fees.

Their shipping experience and packaging were excellent, and I think people with a more adventurous or refined palate will appreciate CookUnity the most because of its chef-inspired meals.

Best for Hitting Goals: Trifecta Meals

Trifecta wasn’t bad by any means, it just didn’t beat the services above it when it came to taste. I also think it got hurt in my rankings because I ordered a couple of meals that I simply didn’t enjoy, and in hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have picked them in the first place. That’s on me, and I’ll own that.

Where Trifecta really stands out is for people who are looking to transform their health, not just find a convenient meal prep service. Personally, I already have a solid nutrition routine, so I was mainly looking for healthy, convenient meals that tasted great.

Prepared Meal Delivery Services FAQs

Are prepared meal delivery services delivered fresh or frozen?

The best part about prepared meal delivery services is that they come fresh and ready to go. Most of them come in a box with large ice blocks in them, and the meals are not frozen but not warm either; they are perfectly ready to heat and eat right away or stick in the fridge.

How long do meals from a prepared meal delivery service last in the fridge?

Most meals will last 5-7 days in the fridge. I typically take about half of the meals and freeze them so they last longer, and then leave the other half in the fridge so they are ready right away. I then take one to two meals out each night for the next day, depending on my schedule.

What’s the most affordable prepared meal delivery service?

I found Fuel Meals to be the most affordable. With our Fuel Meals discount code, you can get 40% off, which brings the total cost of the meals down to $7.45 per meal.

Conclusion

To summarize, everything in this guide is based on 100% real, honest reviews and months of testing and research. That said, choosing the best meal delivery service is still subjective.

If I had to pick just one, I’d go with Fuel Meals because of its simple, clean ingredients, great taste, and competitive price. If you want more variety, Factor or CookUnity may be the better choice. And if you’re focused on tracking macros or working toward a specific fitness goal, Trifecta is definitely worth considering.

At the end of the day, the best meal delivery service is the one that fits your lifestyle and goals. Hopefully, this guide helps make your decision a little easier. And don’t forget to use our discount codes to save some money on your first order!