Best Meal Kits for Families Looking to Simplify Their Weekly Meal Planning

If you simply can’t wrap your head around the planning, prepping, and whipping up of a healthy meal on a weeknight, a kit-based meal service just might be the answer. Even if you have no problem doing your own menu planning, meal kits can offer a reprieve to for busy parents, even if only for a couple nights a week.

Our top picks

A meal kit for families with adventurous eaters: Hellofresh
A meal kit for bigger families: Home Chef
A meal kit for busy families: Hungryroot
A meal kit for nutrition-focused families: Green Chef
A meal kit for families cutting back on meat: Dinnerly
A meal kit for fancy families: Blue Apron
A meal kit just for the kids: Little Spoon

The appeal of meal kits for families is easily apparent. Planning only requires clicking on a few photos of food that looks good and then the pre-portioned ingredients get shipped directly to your door. The price per meal tends to be less or, at worst, on par with the cost of takeout for more than two or three people, so while not as economical as planning and shopping for your own menu, meal kits can offer some economic benefits, too. There’s also time saved, with no need for meal prep or grocery shopping, except maybe for Goldfish crackers and apple sauce pouches (and if you’re truly grocery store-averse, you could consider a delivery service for that, too). Plus, with the ability to skip weeks, customize favorites, and plan ahead, most meal kit company plans are less intense than some other subscription-based food services out there.

I’ve got two kids at home and have tested multiple meal kits, as have our other editors and writers, and from those reviews we’ve handpicked the family-friendly aspects of each major meal kit service, as well as some you might not have tried (hello first time customer promos!). For one, we’ve noted when some services provide what we’ll call “family style meals,” or dishes that feel more like you’re making a big batch of home-cooked food to share at mealtime, as opposed to a bunch of individual portions. We’ve also broken down each service to compare portions offered, extras and add-ons, dietary needs, and other key factors to help you find the best meal delivery service for your family.

A meal kit for families with adventurous eaters: HelloFresh

Even though there’s a good chance you already used up your new customer promo code years ago, it might be time to give HelloFresh another look. What it does offer is sheer variety, with as many as 100 weekly menu options. In other words, you won’t get tired of the same old items showing up. But another way to look at this diversity of dishes is that your family can try dozens of recipes throughout the year, offering you the chance to expand your palates with new flavors and formats.

For families: HelloFresh offers regular meal kits, as well as some family style options (Big Batch Dinners) and prepared heat-and-eat meals, too. As mentioned before, a big list of meal options each week means you can play around with ordering old standbys and favorites peppered in with some fresh new flavors and dishes. They also have a category labeled “Family Friendly” which boasts “kid-tested” recipes for pleasing picky eaters if that whole “let’s try something new” thing doesn’t work out.

A meal kit for bigger families: Home Chef

Home Chef Delivery Kit

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Home Chef

Home Chef is, to put it plainly, a basic meal kit service offering solid, reliable entrees and sides at affordable prices. In my testing, I found the recipes to be well seasoned and satisfying, if a bit scant on complexity and portion sizes. Most recipes were simple and easy to prepare in under 30 minutes, though the trade-off of such a quick turnaround is that recipes often rely on premade sauces and dressings to bring flavor to the table. Home Chef does pepper in some offerings that take a bit more finesse, like making candied nuts or a pan sauce, which were welcome additions that felt worth the time. There are also offers fully prepared entrees as well as Oven-Ready meal kits that simply require roasting in (provided) aluminum pans, usually veggies first, with proteins added part way through.

For families: Home Chef has food options that hit the sweet spot between interesting and safe and offers affordable pricing for four or more people. This is especially true of its Family Plan menu which is a meal plan that features recipes designed for 4-8 people and with portion prices as low as $7.99. The fact that you The relative simplicity of its meals means they don’t usually take too long (or require too many dishes) to prepare and also means younger — and perhaps pickier — eaters won’t be turned off by totally unfamiliar flavors or ingredients coming to the table. But that doesn’t mean you can’t explore and expand palates. Home Chef has recipes drawing inspiration from Mexican, Thai, French, Italian, amongst other cuisines in each of its weekly menus.

A Meal Kit for busy families: Hungryroot

Hungryroot Meal Kit

$59

Hungryroot (4 servings)

Hungryroot breaks out of the meal kit mold a bit by offering to feed your family all day, from breakfast all the way through dinner with snacks in between. When you sign up, in addition to dietary and cuisine preferences, they’ll also ask if you want these other non-dinner meals covered, too, and then create a weekly shopping haul on your behalf. If you’re truly in a crunch for time, not only for meal planning but for all food shopping, it can be your no-thought-necessary version of Instacart.

For families: When it comes to meal kits, Hungryroot errs on the simpler side and relies on precooked or packaged ingredients. This means meals usually come together quickly. It’s also a good option for families with picky eaters. But it does mean you’ll trade convenience for truly fresh meals. (If you’re really short on time and need dinner in less than 20 minutes, you might want to consider a prepared meal delivery service offering pre-cooked meals.)

A meal kit for nutrition-focused families: Green Chef

Green Chef Meal Kit

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Green Chef

Green Chef is a meal kit service focused on organic food and accommodating various health-related dietary options like Mediterranean or keto. Typically the meals have just a couple components (a protein and a veggie on the side) but they’re big on flavor. When I tested it I thought they did a nice job of making well balanced meals desirable and delicious. However, the organic produce and other high-quality ingredients mean Green Chef, like shopping the organic section at the supermarket, is more expensive (you’ll also be upcharged for some certified organic proteins).

For families: Cooking Green Chef meals tend to be a little more complicated and require perhaps a little more knowhow, however the recipe cards are accompanied by plenty of pictures. That could make a fun opportunity for your grade school-aged kids that want to play sous chef for their grownup and dive deeper into their own food prep and explore interesting textures and flavors. Green Chef adds little flourishes like reducing a jam and sriracha pan sauce or baking fresh parmesan frico for a crunchy Salmon Caesar salad topping, but the techniques are approachable. The result could be you and your child feel like you’re making something pretty spectacular together, even on a Tuesday.

A Meal Kit for Families Avoiding Meat: Dinnerly

Dinnerly

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Dinnerly

Dinnerly aims to be a more affordable meal kit service than most of the competition and it certainly delivers on that, with portions starting as low as $5.99 (even less than the affordable options from Home Chef). But where our colleagues at Bon Appétit thought it shined the most was as a budget option for vegans and vegetarians, thanks to its broad weekly menu and lower prices than the more established (and exclusively vegan) Purple Carrot.

If your family is cutting back on meat, have a mixed vegan/vegetarian/omnivore household, or just want to fold in more plant-based cooking to your families diets, Dinnerly is an ideal option for having access to meaty meals in addition to those without. Or you can easily swap meat out of many recipes for a plant-based protein. Combine that with its dozens of recipe options each week and competitive pricing, and you’ve got a meal kit that can satisfy just about everyone.

A Meal Kit for fancy families: Blue Apron

Blue Apron Meal Kits

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Blue Apron

Blue Apron might be more suited for families with older kids who can exercise some level of patience when it comes to putting dinner on the table. Meals can take up to an hour to cook, though most sit within the 25-40 minute range. Produce and other fresh ingredients still require some level of preparation, seasoning, or slicing before they’re ready to use. Many of the meal kits include premium ingredients and, some premium prices along with them. Meat-free dishes, soups, and salads tend to be cheaper, however, so pricing really does vary depending on what you want to eat. That said, with 100+ options, Blue Apron, like HelloFresh, won’t get boring.

For families: If you’re into the joy of cooking for the family — and less so the joy of meal planning and grocery shopping — Blue Apron is best for making a weeknight feel special. And if you only have one or two nights you can dedicate to cooking something more complicated, Blue Apron has recently added “Dish” fully-prepared meals, as well as “Assemble & Bake” kits (think sheet pan dinners) to offer faster fridge-to-table options. Another plus? Blue Apron is one of the few services that offers a subscription-free model, meaning weekly deliveries won’t occur unless you want them to. If you do set up recurring deliveries, you’ll save an additional 5%. And $9.99/month Blue Apron+ members get unlimited free shipping, among other perks.

A Meal Kit Just for the Kids: Little Spoon

Little Spoon

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Little Spoon

For families: If your family is anything like mine, choosing what the adults will eat for dinner is way easier than choosing what the kids will tolerate for dinner. Many parents are familiar with the “we’re having/they’re having” version of weeknight meal planning, erring on the side of kid-friendly foods for young ones to avoid any “one more bite, please” struggles. But if balancing two menu plans is too much, Little Spoon exists to help feed your kids balanced, nutritious meals without having to put too much thought into it.

Little Spoon is actually designed to follow a child through every stage of its younger years, starting with baby food and graduating up to finger foods, small meals, and finally “Big Kid” food. After the available six stages of baby food, kids graduate to “Biteables” or precut finger foods, then “Plates” of more advanced meals. For lunch, there’s the no-heating-necessary line of “Lunchers” which will remind parents of a certain age of Lunchables, except with fewer processed ingredients. Perhaps the only drawback of Little Spoon is that, unless you want just a small serving of nuggets and veggies, grownups can’t participate.