Best UK Meal Kits & Subscriptions Tried & Tested

The meal delivery service market - UK wise - has exploded in recent years. The pandemic further encouraged demand for these kits and as a result, it can be totally overwhelming trying to choose the best home meal delivery service for you. Below, we suggest 6 meal delivery service options for UK customers, which consistently rank in the top 10 meal kit delivery services by a whole host of bloggers, dieticians and food critics. 

But first, let’s go over why signing up to a meal delivery service in the UK is such a good idea. Firstly, it keeps things entertaining in the kitchen. The majority of us have a very small selection of meals that we can make and yet, we simply rotate them. That makes our diets boring - not to mention prone to missing out on some important nutritional requirements. 

Secondly, the best home meal delivery service firms will make your life a whole lot easier. By picking what you want to eat in advance, and the ingredients for those recipes being delivered to your door, you are going to save a lot of time. Plus, you can plan your meals so that you know you and your household are getting a varied and balanced diet. 

Finally, what helps companies consistently get into the top 10 meal kit delivery services according to food critics is their use of the best chefs and nutritionists. Together they come up with a wide range of exciting meals that will widen your skillset. As a result, on the rare times that you do not use a recipe box, you are far more confident in the kitchen. 

HelloFresh

HelloFresh has a large customer base - for good reason. It delivers on time, all the time. Plus, it has an excellent selection of cuisines from around the world. That’s why its customers keep coming back. It is reliable, yet the product itself never gets samey as the company’s chefs are always looking for new ways to cook with food. Customers can be confident that they will always receive a box full of meals that will be devoured by everyone in the household - even the fussiest of eaters. 

Mindful Chef

Mindful Chef has long had the reputation for using some of the best quality ingredients around. While that may be reflected a little in their prices which are slightly higher than competitors, the result is well worth that little extra spend. Plus the recipes it offers are adventurous, yet delicious. It uses a wide range of ingredients too so that you won’t find the same old salmon or chicken dishes on offer. Instead, it is perfectly possible to follow an exciting Vegan diet with this company or any other diet with common dietary restrictions.

Green Chef

Green Chef has developed with a focus on minimising the carbon footprint that food production is responsible for. Food production is one of the biggest producers of carbon on the planet, yet Green Chef’s boxes are produced in a net-zero way. The company achieves this by working alongside local farmers and producers and using environmentally friendly packaging to deliver their goods. And for the times that the company cannot produce something in a carbon-neutral way? It offsets it with a donation to a carbon reduction scheme. 

Gousto

Gousto is a great meal kit delivery service to try if you are new to these types of products. Not only does it offer the best discounts for new customers, but it also is a very slick operation with a straightforward website that means customers can pick and choose their meals with ease. That’s great as these products are meant to make life easier for people. With Gousto, that is definitely the case, especially when you consider how flexible the subscription plans are. Don’t want a delivery one week? You can pause your subscription or increase or lower the number of recipes you receive. Here you can check Gousto reviews.

Balance Box

Balance Box is slightly different to recipe meal boxes. Balance Box came about as a tailor-made meal delivery plan for individual customers. From there, it developed into a far bigger company which now delivers premade food to customers. It is aimed at those who are trying to diet to lose weight, or simply to maintain their current figure. Balance Box has seen a hole in the market for customers who are low on time, but keen to stay as healthy as possible while eating convenience food. And, while Balance Box is convenient, thanks to being developed alongside dieticians, customers can be sure they are only eating food that is good for them. 

YesChef

A relative newcomer to the meal delivery service market, YesChef is a great option for those that want to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible. All ingredients are pre-measured so that they are easy to add to a pot or roasting dish - according to the easy to follow recipe cards. And they are big on flavour too. There are over 40 recipes for customers to choose from each week that offer a lot of variety. There will be old family favourites alongside more experimental recipes too. That’s great for those of us that want to expand our knowledge in the kitchen, with minimal input. ‍

UK Meal Kit Subscriptions

Meal kit subscriptions have to work for you. That’s where you will derive value from paying a little bit more than your average weekly grocery shop. Meal kit subscriptions, therefore, need to be flexible while always capable of delivering delicious food and the highest quality ingredients. All of the above companies do that with ease, yet they are not eye-wateringly expensive either. 

Choosing one of these could be one of the best decisions you ever make thanks to freeing up your time that you would have otherwise spent trudging around the supermarket and meal planning. And, what’s great about them too, is that they are always nutritionally balanced meaning you never have to worry that you are eating meals laden in preservatives, salt or sugar - like typical convenience foods.