When it comes to looking after our bodies – something we tend to be super-focused on in the New Year – the first thing to consider is always what we’re fuelling ourselves with.

Food is fundamental to our physical and mental wellbeing. It impacts everything from our energy levels to our skin, our mood to our weight. But eating right isn’t always straightforward – there’s a lot to think about. Portion sizes, cooking methods and the ingredients themselves all contribute to a dish’s benefits or drawbacks.

If you want to start eating more balanced, nutritious meals but find you lack the time, knowledge or inclination in the kitchen, healthy food subscription boxes might be right up your street. They come in all forms – from recipe kits to ready meals, smoothies to snacks – and have been designed to eliminate the fuss and uncertainty of eating well. Plus, these boxes won’t only make mealtimes stress free, but will likely slash your food waste too.

For those looking to cut down on spending as well as calories this New Year – because we’re not exactly rolling in it by the time January rears its head, let’s be honest – most of these subscriptions come with introductory offers so you can try them out for a cut price.

When you’re checking out subscription services, there are a few things to consider. How many people are you cooking for – do you need single portions or enough to feed a family? It’s also worth looking at how easy it is to tailor your subscription so you can pause, amend or cancel your deliveries if you go away or make other plans.

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Think about which meals you struggle the most with each day and how you want to enhance your diet – is it about adding more nutrients or are you keen to keep a check of calories or follow a specific diet, like keto?

As well as cost, we looked at each service’s variety of recipes, how easy the foods are to prepare, how tasty and satisfying the end results are and what health benefits the meals have – not to mention sustainability credentials. Here is our pick of the best healthy food subscriptions, delivered nationwide, straight to your door.

Best: Overall

Rating: 9/10

One of the very first recipe subscription services in the UK, Gousto – which recently became a B-corp – is also one of the best known, delivering 8 million meals every month. Each week there are around 60 different recipes on the go and you can search by type, depending on your priorities.

There are calorie controlled, vegan and free-from menus (as well as the usual family faves and quick-to-prep meals) and, as of 21 December 2021, a new range of healthy recipes launched in collaboration with Joe Wicks, who already has a Lean in 15 range with the brand. Dishes from the latter are super quick to make – whipping up our pan-fried salmon with creamy pesto veg was, indeed, a 15-minute affair – and are spot-on for those looking to get into a new healthy and sustainable routine for 2022.

Dishes are varied and the clear, easy-to-understand recipe cards come with handy nutritional info like how many portions of fruit and veg is in your meal, as well as fat, sugar and salt content, and calorie count. A lot of thought has gone into the packaging here, too – Gousto has a clear emphasis on being as kind as possible to Mother Earth.

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Best: For vegans

Rating: 7/10

These heat-and-eat dishes are all made by chefs under the watchful eye of nutritionists – so you know they’re going to be packing flavour as well as nutrients. You can expect at least two of your five a day in each portion, as well as protein, iron and vitamin C – all with low salt and sugar. Although they’re vegan, the meals are designed with all diets in mind. So if eating more plants is on your agenda but you struggle to find new and exciting ways to cook them, Allplants could have the answer.

As well as dinners, Allplants makes prepared breakfasts – hi there, mango and turmeric chia pots – and puds, like the decadent-feeling raspberry and chocolate lava cake with raspberry coulis.

Subscriptions are happily flexible and delivery is free.

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Best: For specific dietary requirements

Rating: 7.5/10

This new business was born in 2020, setting out to stir up the ready meal scene with frozen dishes that do good for your body. The pre-made plates are thought out by an in-house dietitian and have robust nutritional credentials that are backed up by cold hard science. Then, a team of cooks – headed up by the hugely respected Bristol-based chef Matt Williamson – bring them to life with local and seasonal ingredients, fine-tuning each portion for flavour and texture to make sure it hits the spot on every level.

As well as veggie and vegan dishes, there are gluten-free, low calorie, high protein and low fodmap creations. These dishes require zero fuss and – ranging from beef ragu penne to the Great Taste-awarded field green risotto – might be the fanciest to ever have emerged from your microwave.

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Best: For ethical healthy eating

Rating: 8.5/10

These recipe kits are mindful in more ways than one: the ingredients used are sustainable and always sourced with the planet in mind, while the meals are designed to be nutritionally balanced and always free from refined carbs and sugars. There’s also zero gluten or dairy in sight, making them good and inclusive.

Boxes are delivered with pre-measured ingredients and a recipe booklet that can see you having dinner on the table in as little as eight minutes. There are 20 recipes each week to choose from (including plenty of vegan options), which can cater for one or two people – or the whole family. Expect the likes of steak and apricot tagine with quinoa and kale, and Moroccan salmon fillet with a rice, chickpea and pomegranate salad.

As well as recipe subscriptions, there are also new frozen meals available for when time and energy is nowhere to be found come dinnertime. This carbon-neutral biz makes being kind to your health and to Mother Earth a doddle.

Read the full Mindful Chef review

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Best: For one-off meals

Rating: 7.5/10

The Cookaway is actually subscription-free, with its recipe boxes more suited to those looking for a special but fuss-free dinner every now and again, as opposed to a handful of dishes each week. This also makes it a good option if you reckon you’d be likely to forget to pause or cancel your regular boxes when you don’t need them.

The recipe kits each include a main dish and accompaniment, and you can add sides, sweets and even wine (fancy) if you want to go all out. The recipes for our baked chickpea falafels, roasted cauli buckwheat salad and tahini dip looked more involved than they were in reality – we easily threw this multifaceted meal together for a filling veggie dinner.

The Cookaway’s dishes are developed by big-name chefs – like MasterChef stars Ping Coombes and Jack Lucas – who host regular live cookalongs online, too. The healthy menu is created by nutritionist May Simpkin.

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Best: Goal-oriented recipe kit

Rating: 8/10

Muscle Food’s goal getter subscription boxes come in two varieties, specifically designed to help those looking to either tone up or shed some excess weight. You can tailor your plan depending on the meals you want (breakfast, lunch and dinner are available), and there are heat-and-eat options as well as recipe kits.

These meal deliveries are great if you cook for one – they come in single portions and are neatly packaged into ziplock bags with easy-to-follow recipe cards. Despite being designed to help you boost your health and get the right stuff onboard, the meals we tried – including breaded cod and chips, burger bowl and pad Thai noodles – were properly filling and didn’t feel virtuous in the least.

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Best: For generous portions

Rating: 8.5/10

There’s always fresh fruit or veg on each HelloFresh plate – often equating to two portions of your five-a-day. A new collab with Weight Watchers has also resulted in calorie-smart meals that benefit from lean protein sources and complex carbohydrates to help those energy levels.

We were never disappointed at dinnertime with these recipe kits – no matter how hungry we were. Portions were generous and satisfying and the variety of dishes was great. Recipes rotate each week – we counted 35 options on one week’s menu – and are inspired by foods from across the world.

The recipe methods are easy to follow – each step has an image alongside to illustrate – and don’t create much washing up either.

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Best: For complete meal plans

Rating: 7/10

The clue is in the name with this food subscription company. Balance Box is designed to get your diet as harmoniously balanced as possible – it’s about as close as you can get to having a personal nutritionist, without having to fork out for it.

These subscriptions take care of breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks. You can choose how many days worth of food you’d like in each delivery, as well as what calorie bracket you’re aiming for. The food all comes ready made in tupperware boxes labelled with the meal and day, so you know exactly which to reach for when you open the fridge.

Our first day kicked off with mango and chia seed yoghurt with granola muesli, then lunch came in the form of chilled Asian-style beef salad with edamame beans and soy dressing, and there was a Caribbean-style casserole for dinner, which we just popped in the microwave to heat up.

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Best: For snacks

Rating: 8/10

When lunch is but a memory and dinner is yet to arrive in our immediate future, a fistful of something delicious and filling is well and truly called for. There’s no need to wreak havoc on the day’s food plan though: make Healthy Nibbles your kit on the side and your nutritionally focused intentions will still be intact, post 3pm hunger pang.

The world of snacks is a minefield – bars and packets labelled sugar-free or low-fat, for instance, are often covertly packed with various nasties. Which is why Healthy Nibbles vet each offering in their snacking boxes, making sure there’s no hydrogenated fats, artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or sweeteners in sight.

Filled with sweet and savoury bites like nuts, bars, chews and pretzels, these boxes are available as one-offs but are cheapest on a seven-, 14- or 30-day subscription. Delivery is free, too.

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Best: For upping your five-a-day

Rating: 8.5/10

Healthy not just for you but also for the planet, Grubby’s MO is creating balanced, plant-based recipe kits with the smallest carbon footprint possible. Everything is delivered in packaging that can be composted or recycled, while loads of the ingredients are grown by family-run farms with organic principles. If you order in London, your delivery will even come by bike.

The recipes are packed with vegetables – there’s an average of six different varieties in each meal – so you know you’re getting plenty of good stuff onboard. Our smoky butter bean stew with toasted walnut pesto and cavolo nero crisps on a heap of giant couscous was hearty, satisfying and had us smashing our five-a-day goal. Recipe methods are clear and easy to understand while the resulting meals are imaginative and full of flavour.

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Having more than nine years under its belt as a recipe subscription service, Gousto seems to have really honed its service and ticks a lot of our healthy mealtime boxes. The variety of meals, clear nutritional info, price and packaging make it a convenient, affordable and sustainable option that doesn’t steal the joy from dinnertime when you’re trying to be healthy.

If breakfast is often your downfall when it comes to eating healthily, Honestly Good’s smoothie pouches will sort you right out and have you starting the day as you mean to go on.

For great deals on food and drink, try the links below:

For more healthy eating inspiration, try the best healthy cookbooks that are filled with easy recipes for 2022