Our kitchen expert and test officer Chantelle Dart orders and cooks meals from HelloFresh, Marley Spoon, Pepper Leaf, Dinnerly and Everyplate. She also orders prepared meals from YouFoodz, The Dinner Ladies, Soulara, THR1VE, Nourish'd and Chefgood to find out which meal delivery service comes out on top.
When reviewing these services, we rate them on ease of ordering, presentation and temperature on delivery, ingredient freshness, recipe accuracy and more.
Each meal delivery service receives a CHOICE Expert Rating made up of:
- performance (70%)
- ease of ordering and delivery (30%).
Performance
Chantelle reviews each food box delivery service by assessing:
- the presentation of the box on arrival, including how the prepared meals are packed, and for food boxes, whether the ingredients are grouped together by recipe or if you need to sort them out yourself
- whether the recipes are easy to follow (are recipe cards provided in the box? Is the method in easy-to-follow steps? What kind of cooking skills are required? Is there adequate allergen and ingredient information provided? Are adequate heating instructions provided for prepared meal services?)
- whether the ingredients provided are fresh and if there are any leftover items or portions
- whether the recipe times provided are accurate, and for prepared meal services, whether the heating times provided are accurate.
Ease of ordering and delivery
Chantelle also looks at:
- how easy it is to subscribe to the service and importantly, how easy it is to deactivate or pause the subscription
- how easy it is to select meals and place an order
- whether the box is delivered in the specified timeframe
- the order accuracy (once arrived) to make sure all meals and ingredients are accounted for
- food temperatures by checking if protein and dairy products are adequately cooled, taking the temperature inside the box, inside the cooler bag and of the protein and dairy ingredients themselves.
We care about accuracy. See something that's not quite right in this article? Let us know or read more about fact-checking at CHOICE.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
