There's still plenty of summer left, but just a little less than there was yesterday, so you might want to start making the most of it. That means cramming every last minute in at the beach, pool, park or wherever your summer happy place is. One way to spend more time there is to spend less time cooking and a convenient meal kit or prepared meal delivery service can help with that. The best part is you won't have to spend a lot of dough to try one (or a few, for that matter) since some of our favorite meal kits have deliciously cheap sign-up offers.
There are a whole lot of meal kit and premade meal subscription options to sort through, but if you've been wanting to try a subscription, these companies are always looking to entice in new subscribers with enormous meal delivery discounts for new customers -- some as cheap as $2 a serving. Most of them let you cancel any time just in case you don't love it, so there's not much to lose. To make things even easier, we've tested all the top meal kits and meal delivery services so you'll know exactly what to expect and pick the best meal subscription deal for you and your tastes.
Pssst, over here. Because all these meal-kit companies let you cancel for free after the trial, you can try multiple services, all at hugely discounted sign-up prices and see which one you like the best.
Popular meal delivery services such as EveryPlate, Blue Apron, HelloFresh, Factor, Freshly and Home Chef are ready to send perfectly portioned, ready-to-cook dinners to your doorstep, at per-serving prices that often beat what you'd pay dining out or getting takeout. Whether you're looking for ways to eat healthily, learn to cook new recipes or just make fewer trips to the grocery store this summer, a healthy, versatile and budget-friendly meal kit can help with all of that.
Read more: The healthiest meal kits and meal delivery to try in 2021
A few meal-kit companies have particularly click-worthy deals that are live right now, including Gobble, HelloFresh and Blue Apron. EveryPlate -- which is my pick for the best budget meal-kit company -- has recipes as low as $2 per serving when you try the service. Daily Harvest, a healthy prepared meal delivery service (not just a meal kit), is also offering a sweet sign-up offer that's good for $90 off the first three boxes of vegan meals.
So which meal kit is best? I've tried most of them and they're all pretty solid, with differences to consider depending on your budget, diet, taste and kitchen skill level. You can check out CNET's roundup of the best meal-kit delivery services and best healthy food delivery services for a more detailed, er, taste. And remember, nearly all of these meal-kit companies let you pause or cancel anytime, so the risk and commitment when signing up for a meal-kit service is minimal.
These offers were valid at the time of publication, but they can end at any time and may be restricted by geography and other cookie-based conditions in your browser. If you don't see a deal populate, try in a new window or private browser. In the meantime, if you've already tried one or more of these, tell me which ones and what you liked or didn't like.
Read more: The 6 cheapest meal delivery services
Factor (sometimes called Factor75) had some of the best prepared meals I tried in my many rounds of testing all the leading services in this growing category. I enjoyed a lot of its low-carb and keto-friendly offerings such as pesto salmon over creamy spinach with green beans -- and the keto cheesecake was nothing short of transcendent. Among the hits were some misses too and you can read all about the service in my full review of Factor here.
Or just try it for yourself, since Factor has a tasty new customer deal happening. Sign up for the meal delivery service and save $90 off your first three weeks. The breakdown is $40 off your first week's order, $30 off the second and $20 off the third. This deal applies to any of the meal plans, from four per week all the way up to Factor's 18-meal plan, and you're welcome to cancel as soon as the offer expires. And make sure to scroll down on the landing page to find the offer.
HelloFresh has more total meal-kit selections than any other service and most of them are pretty easy to prepare. You can check out my deep-dive review of HelloFresh to learn more about the easy meal delivery service. HelloFresh is offering an enticing sign-up deal that amounts to 14 free meal kits over the course of your first four deliveries. Plus, free shipping on the first box.
One catch in securing the sign-up deal is you have to provide a phone number, which it admits will be used for marketing purposes, but you'd have to provide that either way if you planned to sign up for HelloFresh. You can pause or cancel your subscription anytime after those four weeks.
Daily Harvest is quite possibly the easiest way to eat healthily without ever having to learn to cook. Sign up and you'll get steady (or one-time) shipments of vegan soups, smoothies, bowls, flatbreads and snacks. Daily Harvest meals are chock-full of healthy, organic ingredients and trendy superfoods like kabocha squash, kale, berries and avocado. All you have to do is blend or heat and eat.
If you're new to Daily Harvest you can score $20 off your first box of nine meals, $25 off 14 items or $34 off a box of 24 with special code WELCOME2021.
EveryPlate is already our pick as the best meal-kit service for families on a budget, but it's about to get even cheaper. You won't see a lot of haute cuisine, but I've tried its pork sloppy joes and its chicken and linguine in a tomato cream sauce. All the meals I tried were delicious, easy to prepare and light on the wallet.
You can score EveryPlate's already cheap meal kits for just $2.49 per serving for your first delivery plus 20% off the next two deliveries. Once you click this exclusive link you'll have 30 minutes to claim the offer, so you might want to think it over first, or check out a sample menu here before the clock starts ticking. Note: the deal is hiding in a sneaky and small banner at the bottom of the screen when you click on the link we provided.
Gobble is quite similar to the other services, except that many items come already chopped, peeled, marinated and so on -- which can definitely save you some prep time. The two meals I received, Yankee pot roast and cacio e pepe, were terrific. Dinner prices are normally a flat $12 per serving, however, so you do pay a bit extra for that convenience.
Right now when you sign up for the two-person plan with three meals per week, you'll get your first six meals for just $36 plus free shipping.
While it's not a traditional meal kit or meal delivery service, Hungryroot melds artificial intelligence and healthy groceries to send a curated heap (based on your preferences) of high-quality groceries, snacks and proteins for quick meals -- or more intricate meal-making. This is a good option if you like cooking and are looking for some healthy kitchen inspiration, but find meal kits too restrictive. Like, maybe you just don't want tilapia tacos with lime crema tonight.
When you sign-up for a monthly grocery delivery of $99 or more, Hungryroot will give you 40% off your first order and a free gift in each delivery for life including your choice of a rotating fresh veggie or rotating premium protein. If you're hoping to try it out, know that you can pause or cancel the service anytime. Even if you pause and reactivate, your free gift remains intact.
Blue Apron offers two- and four-serving boxes with two to three or two to four recipes per week, respectively. Prices range from $7.49 to $10 a serving, depending on how much you order, with shipping included free with all orders except the two-person, two-recipe option.
There's no promo code for this offer; just click the "redeem offer" button when it pops up and you'll save $20 per box over the course of your first four Blue Apron meal kit deliveries.
This deal is no longer live, but it's likely to return. We'll update the post when it does.
I tested Home Chef recently and loved its highly customizable meal kits and comfort-food recipes with a healthy bend, all of which were easy to prepare. Home Chef is also one of the more affordable meal-kit companies -- starting at $7 per serving -- and is even more so if you sign up using this offer.
For new subscribers, Home Chef is offering $90 off when you sign up for four weeks of meals. The savings are spread out over four weeks' worth of meals -- $30 off the first two boxes and $15 off the second two -- but if you've been wanting to try a meal-kit subscription, this is a fantastic time to give Home Chef a shot. You can pause or cancel anytime, so the risk is low.
My advice: Take advantage of each and every one of these offers (making sure to pause or cancel after, unless you want to continue). You can see which service you like best and get super cheap takeout-style meals for weeks at a time.
Your thoughts?
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