The recipes are accompanied by step-by-step instructions, photos, and chef's tips. All of the items are color-coded. The company is flexible with their subscription plans and policies. You can skip a week or cancel the auto-shipping anytime you want. You can go for a bi-weekly or stick with the usual monthly plan.
Green Chef only sends you ingredients and recipes, so you will have to cook the meals yourself.
With Green Chef, you won't have to waste your time on meal planning, recipe hunting, or grocery shopping. You will be able to impress yourself, your family, and guests with the cooking skills that you never knew you had to begin with. Their services will allow you to enjoy restaurant-quality meals at a fair price in the comforts of your own home.
Nationwide
Vegetarian, Omnivore, Carnivore
No
$9
No
You can remove a dish from an order and replace it with a different one. You can ask the chef to exclude certain ingredients. You can order a gluten-free, nut-free, or soy-free version of a menu item. The company's menus are repeated only once every 8 weeks.
The website is bloated and clunky.
Vegin' Out is one of the better vegan meal delivery services on the market today. With their customization options, reasonable prices, and quality ingredients, you won't have to slave over a hot stove at home or tolerate that subpar cafeteria food at work. Instead, you'll receive regular deliveries of scrumptious meals with your favorite ingredients.
Nationwide (except for Hawaii and Alaska)
Vegetarian
Yes
$13
Yes
The company offers over 200 meal options to choose from. All of their ingredients come from Peru and every meal of theirs includes quinoa, vegetables, and cooked greens. Each dish has a shelf life of 12 months. All of their meals can be kept at room temperature.
Canceling your subscription takes some time and effort.
VegReady offers nothing short of a new take on vegan food delivery. Struggle to prepare proper meals during the week? Leave it to VegReady to plan your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With this platform, changing your eating habits and following a healthy diet have never been easier. You'll always have a proper dish at hand or a healthy snack by your side.
Nationwide (except for Hawaii and Alaska)
None
Yes
None
No
For every paid membership, Thrive Market donates a membership to someone for free through the Thrive Gives program. In addition to vegan and non-vegan food, they offer staples, pet supplies, personal care items, and all kinds of household goods. The prices are 25 to 50 percent cheaper than retail.
There's a $60 annual membership fee.
Thrive Market takes a page from Costco and Trader Joe's book. They won't prepare your meals for you. Instead, they will give you access to a huge variety of vegan products. Though the membership fee might seem a little steep, as long as you stick with Thrive Market, you'll definitely end up saving lots of money in the long run.
Nationwide (except for Hawaii and Alaska)
Just about everything
Yes
None for orders over $49
Yes
Aside from fruits, the company delivers desserts, cheese, meat, nuts, cookies, and candies. Their experts pick out the best complementary items, so you always end up with a great cocktail of food items that go particularly well together. They also deliver exotic gourmet fruits.
Their customization options are limited.
The Fruit Company won't feed you. But it does bridge the vegan and non-vegan community. Everybody loves fruits, so each and every one of their baskets makes for a great, thoughtful, and friendly gift. After all, what's not to love about the ripest, freshest fruit delivered right to your doorstep?
Nationwide (except for Hawaii and Alaska)
Fruits and complementary food items
Yes
Varies
No
Inclusive Services
It's nice when your food is cruelty-free. It is extra nice when it is healthy as well. But, first and foremost, we like our food somewhere between tasty and mouthwateringly delicious, preferably closer to the latter of that spectrum. With that philosophy in mind, adding Green Chef to the top of our list was a no-brainer. With their creative but always scrumptious vegan recipes, the company manages to effortlessly but effectively stand out from the evergrowing crowd of vegan meal delivery services.
But how do they do that? Well, for starters, their platform separates the meals into a bunch of different menus, including Keto, Paleo, Omnivore, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Pescatarian, and family options such as Family Omnivore and Family Carnivore. That's right, as some of those names suggest, Green Chef isn't strictly a vegan platform. The majority of their recipes and ingredients are, sure. But if you happen to be vegan, while your significant other or family members do not stick with that kind of diet, you can always order a vegan menu for yourself and a vegetarian/omnivore plan for your loved ones.
What's in the Box
Of course, it isn't just the variety. When you go with a name like Green Chef, you have to live up to that name. Fortunately, the company does that seemingly effortlessly. By working directly with farmers, the company makes sure that their efforts are properly reinvested back into the environment. This way, they're able to make sure that their ingredients are devoid of any synthetic pesticides and GMOs. They don't deal with artificial ingredients. On the contrary, all of the ingredients that they do send you are 95% certified organic. With Green Chef, you won't have to worry about your food containing traces of irradiation, antibiotics, steroids, growth hormones, or sewage sludge.
But it isn't just the ingredients either. As most people are aware at this point, half of the environmental damage caused by the delivery industry stems from packaging. Well, with this vegan meal delivery platform, that won't be an issue. By relying on recyclable boxes, reusable containers, as well as biodegradable, compostable jute to pad their boxes’ contents, the company is able to reduce their environmental footprint to the absolute minimum.
Tap into Your Inner Chef
Now, we've been talking about the company's USDA Certified Organic ingredients and eco-friendly packaging but what about their meals? Well, the thing is, Green Chef doesn't send you meals. Instead, they send you prepped ingredients, the company's signature sauces, and imaginative, rewarding recipes. Some may see it as a downside. But you might want to try not to judge so quickly. Sure, you'll have to prepare your meals yourself. But that will hardly require a lot of time and effort on your part. Every ingredient of theirs comes pre-measured and prepped. On top of that, as we've said earlier, you get pre-made sauces, spice blends, and marinades. This way, you get more flavor in less time.
Though creative and delicious, the recipes that they send you are quick and easy. They're accompanied by step-by-step instructions, photos, and chef's tips. All of the items are color-coded, making it ridiculously easy to follow the already simple and straightforward instructions. They seldom skimp on ingredients, so the portions that you'll prepare will be large enough for an extra serving.
Finally, the company is flexible with their subscription plans and policies. You can skip a week or cancel the auto-shipping anytime you want. You can go for a bi-weekly or stick with the usual monthly plan.
In conclusion, with Green Chef, you won't have to waste your time on meal planning, recipe hunting, or grocery shopping. You will be able to impress yourself, your family, and guests with the cooking skills that you never knew you had to begin with. Their services will allow you to enjoy restaurant-quality meals at a fair price in the comforts of your own home.
Be the One in Charge
Vegin' Out is one of the most popular vegan delivery services in Los Angeles. That said, their services aren't limited to the City of Angels or the Golden State. In fact, the company delivers nationwide, with the usual exceptions of Alaska and Hawaii. The reason for their popularity and success in a market as crowded and oversaturated as Los Angeles is that they offer ready-made, affordable vegetarian and vegan frozen meals, freshly prepared and delivered right to your door. The only thing you'll have to do is decide the number of meals that you'd like to receive (meaning a single or a double order).
If there is a dish on the menu that you're not particularly fond of, you can always remove that dish from your order and replace it with a different meal. As it is often the case, you can always state your wishes in the usual request box. Like the dish but don't like all of the ingredients? Simply ask the chef to exclude those ingredients. The company always heeds your dietary restrictions, so don't shy away from ordering a gluten-free, nut-free, or soy-free version of a menu item.
Huge Variety
A vegan meal delivery service is only as good as its ingredients. Of course, the folk at Vegin’ Out aren't new to this thing, so you always get the freshest ingredients available, about 85% organic on average. They don't use calcium caseinate, meat, honey, dairy, or eggs. All of their meals are always prepared by a professional chef, so you'll be able to enjoy that restaurant-grade meal without ever leaving your house.
Of course, no matter how delicious a meal, you'll get tired of it sooner rather than later. Vegin’ Out solve (or, at the very least, try to solve) this issue by providing their customers with a maximum possible variety of meals, so it will definitely take you some time before you'll even consider getting tired of their offers. The company's menus are repeated only once every 8 weeks. That means that, even if you order from them every single week, you'll be eating the same meals just 6 times per year.
Go Vegan
As far as the actual services are concerned, Vegin' Out gets a solid B+ or a shaky A-, depending on how you look at it. For the most part, they're great to deal with. The subscription is 100% free. The only thing you're paying is weekly deliveries of the most delicious vegan meals. In order to cancel the order and receive a full refund, you will have to do that before 8 a.m. on Sunday, right before your Monday delivery. If you cancel after that time, you'll only receive a 50% refund. If you aren't satisfied with the meal, you can always contact the company 2 days after you've received that meal and they'll give you a full refund or replace the dish.
Now, as for what you actually get, a single weekly delivery from this vegan meal delivery service includes three 24-ounce vegetarian vegan entrées, four 16-ounce vegetarian vegan side dishes, one 32-ounce vegetarian vegan soup, as well as 5 complimentary vegan cookies. Like we've said earlier, you can always go with the double order or ask for extra entrées, sides, salad dressings, or even cookies. With that double order, you'll be able to save around 10% on every delivery, which isn't a bad deal as far as we're concerned.
All things considered, Vegin' Out is easily one of the better vegan meal delivery services on the market right now. With their customization options, reasonable prices, and quality ingredients, you won't have to slave over a hot stove at home or tolerate that subpar cafeteria food at work. Instead, you'll be able to enjoy quality meals with your favorite ingredients.
A Healthy Snack or a Proper Meal
Plant-based meals that feel good, the slogan, motto, and philosophy of the company, is really everything you need to know about them. But, of course, that cruelty-free, non-GMO devil is always in the details, so we will elaborate a little bit. VegReady, like almost every other platform in this review, is a vegan food delivery website. Their meals come ready-to-eat. You won't have to waste your time shopping, prepping the ingredients, cooking, or heating them up.
You won't even have to keep them in a refrigerator. In fact, you can keep their meals at your desk for that easy and healthy lunch break that you always crave for or leave every meal kit at home for the most effortless and thoroughly delicious dinner. Some of these meals are complex and layered. Some, on the other hand, are so simple and versatile that you'll even be able to mix and match them with your very own home-cooked dishes to create new, imaginative, and scrumptious meals.
A New Take on the Healthy Meal Kit
So, what is it exactly that they send you? Well, each month, you will receive 8 meals. Each of those 8 meals includes a tray with quinoa, lentils, and blond quinoa, one side, and one sauce with spinach, broccoli, eggplant ratatouille, mango, peppers, hearts of palm, extra lentils, piquillo peppers, tomato, zucchini, and onion. In a nutshell, your average meal, consisting of the main tray, a side dish, and a sauce dish, contains somewhere between 400 and 425 calories. Though a low-calorie meal, what we're dealing with here is whole foods, meaning that the meals aren't just satisfying but also suitable for people concerned with weight loss.
The best part about VegReady is that, unlike just about every other meal delivery kit supplier, the company allows you to customize your meals. That means you can make a meal plan including solely the ingredients that you like or the ones that contain those nutritional benefits that you are looking for.
Now, we haven't been able to test it but, since late 2018, their platform even allows you to match your DNA to their meals. They're still working on an algorithm that will be able to match your genetics to meals and ingredients that you are supposedly dispositioned to like. In theory, it could revolutionize the way we consume food but, again, we can attest to how well it works and whether it even works at all.
12 Months a Year of Healthy Food
Though it isn't like the company needs to rely on what some would describe as gimmicky marketing tactics. Because it's not like you'll ever get tired of their meal selection. With over 200 meal options to choose from, even the most demanding customers should be satisfied with the variety of foods. In addition to the aforementioned ingredients, the company uses jalapeno, artichokes, all kinds of different peppers, and so much more. All of their ingredients come from Peru and every meal of theirs includes quinoa, vegetables, and cooked greens.
What we really like about their meals, however, is the shelf life. Again, these meals are never frozen, meaning they maintain optimal texture and robust flavor. You don't have to keep them in the fridge or a freezer. Nevertheless, each of their dishes has a shelf life of 12 months. So you can go ahead and skip a month or cancel your subscription altogether and you'll still be able to enjoy delicious, ready-to-eat meals for months on end.
Taking all of that into account, VegReady offers nothing short of a new take on vegan food delivery. Struggle to prepare proper meals during the week? Leave it to VegReady to plan your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With this platform, changing your eating habits and following a healthy diet has never been easier. You'll always have a proper dish at hand or a healthy snack by your side.
Pick Your Own Stuff
Thrive Market is a very different beast compared to every other website in this review. As some of you may already know, it isn't really a vegan meal delivery in a sense that they do not prepare your food for you. In fact, unlike Green Chef, they don't even prep your ingredients or send you recipes.
As you'd infer from the name, Thrive Market is an online grocery store. We felt like adding it to our list because it offers by far the largest selection of natural and organic foods. Their website's tools will allow you to easily divide and separate products based on your diet. You can go strictly with vegan products. You can mix them with vegetarian options or choose the latter separately. Again, you can stick solely with gluten-free, organic, paleo, ketogenic, AIP diet, or raw foods or you can mix things up according to your needs and preferences.
Having said that, Thrive Market doesn't limit itself to vegan products. In fact, it doesn't even limit itself to food. On their website, you will find household items, make-up supplies, hygiene products, as well as a bunch of similar items that you'd find at local groceries.
Saves You Money in the Long Run
Alright, now that we have laid out the facts, you may start wondering what is even the point to a website like that, considering that you can find most of that stuff at that local grocery store of yours? And that's not even including the fact that their annual membership fee will cost you 60 bucks. So, what's the catch? Well, don't let that membership fee and the seemingly pointless business strategy discourage you just yet.
The best way to think about Thrive Market would be an online co-op with eco-friendly and organic products. Sure, 60 bucks is a little steep. But the prices there are 25 to 50 percent cheaper than retail because Thrive Market's members get to share the savings of the store's buying power without the usual retail markups. Thanks to that price difference, you'll be able to make back the cost of the membership fee in savings within the first couple of orders. And, as you'd imagine, the more you order the more money you will save in the long run compared to retail shopping.
A Membership for Someone in Need
Most people stick with a vegan diet not because of their preferences but because they believe it to be the right thing to do. Thrive Market recognizes that in many ways. For one, for every paid membership, the company donates a membership to someone for free through the Thrive Gives program. The donated memberships are distributed through nonprofit partners, so there is no funny business involved.
Part of the company's appeal to the vegan crowd is also the fact that they cover more of the middle of the grocery store instead of the perimeter. That means no produce and no dairy. Instead, in addition to all of the awesome vegan products, they offer staples, pet supplies, personal care items, and all kinds of household goods. This way, they're able to eliminate the costs of cold storage and shipping.
Nevertheless, they do have a huge frozen meat and seafood selection. Sure, it won't help people on a vegan diet but you could treat your loved ones to a succulent steak, yummy shrimp, or scrumptious salmon.
Don't care for any of that? That's fine either. On their website, you'll find lots of packaged fruits and vegetables. There's a great selection of spices and seasonings. The company offers lots of nuts and trail mixes to choose from. There's nut butter, condiments, fruit spreads, sauces, superfoods like chia seeds, and plenty of other vegan items.
Long story short, Thrive Market takes a page from Costco and Trader Joe's book. They won't prepare your meals for you. Instead, they will give you access to a huge variety of vegan products. Though the membership fee might seem a little steep, as long as you stick with Thrive Market, you'll definitely end up saving lots of money in the long run.
Fruits for the Win
We get it. A vegan diet is not for everybody. There are definitely benefits to it. But it isn't like it doesn't have its fair share of downsides either. Nobody is forcing you to stick with a diet like that. That said, if there's one thing that vegans and non-vegans agree upon, it is that fruits are delicious. Which is exactly why we didn't feel at all conflicted adding The Fruit Company to our list. Sure, it isn't necessarily a vegan meal delivery service. Even calling it a food delivery company would be a bit of a stretch because, as their name would have you believe, The Fruit Company, for the most part, only delivers fruits. Technically, fruits are food items, of course, but more in a broad sense of the word.
But does that make the website inferior to any other platform in this review? We don't think so. Fruits are healthy and delicious, full of necessary vitamins and minerals. They make for great snacks, you can add them to a variety of different dishes, you can eat most of these fruits separately, or mix them together for a nice fruit salad.
Fruits' Best Friends
Now, to make things clear, The Fruit Company doesn't deal exclusively with fruits. Sure, that is their main product, shockingly enough. But, in addition to fruits, the company also delivers meat, nuts, cookies, cheese, candy, and chocolate. Their business plan is simple: you go to their website, choose a basket, and they will send it to you. You can choose one for yourself or send them as a gift to somebody. In their gift category section, you will find dried fruits, organic gifts, kosher gifts, gluten-free options, desserts, and other things that we have listed earlier. You can also subscribe to a monthly fruit club and receive a different fruit basket of your choice every single month.
As far as shipping is concerned, they don't really have a particular policy that the company always sticks with. Some baskets include free shipping, while others require an extra shipping fee. As per usual, that fee depends on the type of shipping you select. Standard delivery will cost you somewhere around 12 bucks, a three-day delivery goes up to 18 bucks. To cut the latter from 3 days to 2, you will have to shell out extra 5 bucks. Finally, for overnight delivery, the fee is $33. A little pricey but that doesn't really depend on the company as much as it does on the postal services.
A Basket for Everyone
There is a solid selection of fruit baskets. The prices begin at $34 and go all the way to $299. Their most popular option is the Harvest Classic Fruit Basket. It costs 64 bucks and includes chocolate covered cherries, honey wheat crackers, smoked gouda, mint truffle creams, and, of course, apples, pears, and a kiwi. The company's experts pick out the best complementary items, so you always end up with a great cocktail of fruits, candies, and food items that go particularly well together.
Unfortunately, in terms of customization, everything isn't quite as bright. To remove or swap a particular item for something else, you will have to call over their 1-800 number. You won't be able to make that substitution online, which we find highly inconvenient. The company doesn't allow you to design your own baskets either. It's not that big of a downside since theirs are excellent and they offer a great variety of different mixes but it would be nice to have that option nonetheless.
Summing it all up, The Fruit Company won't feed you. But it does bridge the vegan and non-vegan community. Everybody loves fruits, so each and every one of their baskets makes for a great, thoughtful, and friendly gift. After all, what's not to love about the ripest, freshest fruit delivered right to your doorstep?
Infographics
What Is Vegan Meal Delivery?
We aren't going you to bore with all of the health benefits that come with a vegan diet. And we aren't going to ramble about the moral side of the equation either. At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide how you are going to live your life and what you are going to be putting in your body. But, if you do go with a vegan diet, you will definitely find these vegan meal delivery services useful. Though we did dub it a meal delivery review, not every website on this list dabbles in that.
Some of these companies will prepare your meals for you. Some will prep the ingredients and send you recipes so that you're able to showcase your culinary skills and improve as a chef. Some of these websites don't limit themselves to vegan food. Sure, they'll all send you organic, non-GMO, toxic-free, delicious vegan products. But, on top of that, certain websites also deliver vegetarian food and cater to the omnivore, carnivore, and other diets that aren't limited to vegan products. One thing is certain - each and every one of these platforms will allow you to lead a healthier lifestyle in exchange for a reasonable sum of money, so we would recommend checking them out regardless of your stance on the vegan diet.
Don't care for that vegan lifestyle? Don't want to limit yourself to a single diet? Find these websites underwhelming? That's fine too. You can always check our reviews of meal delivery and healthy food delivery services instead.