Either food box or prepared meal service.

We recommend meal delivery services with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 80% or more.

We rate each meal ordered for presentation and taste.

The CHOICE Expert Rating consists of performance score (50%), meal ratings (30%) and ease of ordering/delivery score (20%).

A combination of presentation on arrival (10%), ease of following the recipe (40%), freshness of ingredients (30%) and recipe time accuracy (20%).

Whether all the correct meals/specified ingredients were delivered.

A combination of ease of subscribing/unsubscribing (20%), ease of ordering (20%), on time delivery (20%), order accuracy (20%) and safe temperature on delivery (20%).

Whether the delivered ingredients were fresh.

Whether the recipes were easy to follow, and whether they were digital only, recipe card or both.

Whether the food was adequately chilled on delivery.

General comments from our expert testers.

This is the minimum you need to spend each time you order on the meal/kit (not including delivery).

This is the price we paid for the plan purchased for the test. For food boxes we purchased a family box which included three meals for four people. For prepared meals prices we bought 7 single-serve meals, except for Providoor and The Dinner Ladies, where we bought 7 meals that each served two people (rather than single-serve). Delivery is included in the price, but discounts applied at checkout are not.

This is based on the price paid including delivery (but not including discounts). The price per person per meal can change depending on the size of your box and/or how many meals (and what type of meals) you order.

Whether allergen information is provided on the company website and/or recipe cards.

Claimed average meal preparation time (minutes).

How many different meals/recipes you can choose from each week. Where different options are available we've shown the options available for the 'classic' box. The number of meals available is subject to change.

How often the menu changes.

Whether a recipe card is delivered with the box, or you need to view it online and/or print it off yourself.

Is there an app available to manage your subscription/plan?

In some cases the service may only deliver to the capital city in a state, so check the details on the company website.