Meal prep is very important, when you’re on a specific diet to lose weight. It may be exactly what you need if you struggle with keeping a consistent diet and these days you can just order up your entire meal prep online. There are dozens of online meal subscription services with a similar process as well as local meal prep and hybrid grocery options too. Here’s our extensive guide to all your meal prep options so you can find the best fit for your needs.

The Basics of Online Meal Prep Services

With online meal prep you choose a meal plan that is specific to your diet, then choose how many meals you want a day, for 5 or 7 days. The differences between services are typically price and preparation; do you prefer food that you can heat up in a few minutes or a food kit you can prepare in 20-45 minutes.

Once you decide on that you choose a delivery date and they will deliver the meals or foods to your door, freshly cooked or prepared for cooking. Most online services even offer discounts for your first order. Below are just a few of the many online food prep services out there as well as local meal prep and the main difference between the two.

An Abundance of Online Meal Prep Options!

BistroMD meals follow recommendations for people with diabetes to consume a consistent amount of carbohydrates at each meal. It is more pricey than the other options, but could be worth it if you’re finding it hard to meal prep and cook while sticking to a diabetic meal plan. All you need to do is choose how many meals you want, when you want it delivered, and choose all your meals.

Blue Apron is nice because it is fairly priced and they have a wide variety of meals to choose from. They offer the same ordering process as the rest of the online meal services. and costs between $7.49 and $9.99 per serving, plus shipping is free for all but the smallest orders.

Daily Harvest is a meal subscription service that is known for their great smoothies, soups, oat bowls and other meals with fresh healthy ingredients. These meals are frozen and can be ready in a few minutes. It can be a little pricey, considering a lot of the meals are only a few hundred calories. You get free shipping and it’s $7.99 for each cup. Very delicious but around 3x the price of a homemade smoothie or soup.

Fresh n Lean is very similar to Trifecta (featured below). You can choose the diet you are on and they will customize your meal plan to it. They are also very similar in price and food quality. Super easy, super fast and they also have free shipping.

Freshly only provides lunch and dinner meals. They also don’t have set meal plans to follow for your specific diet. Instead, you choose how many meals you want for the week and then choose your meals. You don’t have as many options to choose from, but the price is reasonable and usually depends on how many meals you order at a time. It’s usually between $9.99 and $12.99 per serving.

Mighty Macros is an online customizable meal subscription as well. The main difference is it’s a lot more affordable. You do have to pay a little for shipping and they only deliver to certain states. They also don’t use specific ingredients like dairy and sugars.

Purple Carrot is specifically for a plant based diet. You can build your own meals or choose ones that are already prepared. It price is slightly more than other online meal subscriptions, each meal being around $11.99, but for a plant based diet this seems reasonable.

Raw Generation is a little different because they offer juice cleanses instead of meals. You can choose a cleanse specific to your needs, for instance a protein cleanse if you want to continue working out, or a skinny cleanse if you are trying to lose weight. The juices are about $6-7 per bottle and you can choose if you want the 3, 5 or 7 day pack, or choose the juices individually.

Trifecta cook the food fresh and then send it right to you in vacuum sealed bags. The food is also ready to eat within minutes! With this service you can build your own meal, or just choose a couple meals they already have. Trifecta is a little pricey but if you want to build your own meals, you choose the protein, carbs and vegetables and it’s a little less. plus they offer free shipping.

Local Meal Prep & Grocery Options

Now that you are more familiar with buying your healthy meals online, let's compare some local services and grocery prep services to cook yourself. There are various local meal prep services that offer a la carte meals that you can pick up at various convenient locations throughout town and range between $9-$12.

AZ Fit Kitchen offers meals that are keto or low carb friendly. They offer both grab and go as well as subscription service at 3 locations. This is a local meal prep option and can be super nice for a somewhat quick delivery or pickup. The meals are good and range between $9 and $13.

WarFuel Kitchen located in downtown Tucson also offers health conscious meals with an emphasis on clean eating and veggie packed meals. They update their menu daily and offer ordering options and grab and go. Prices are not clear on their website.

HIdden Grill2Go located in Sabino Canyon area offers healthy meals including gluten free, dairy free, vegan and paleo options. They change their menu weekly and have to go as well as delivery. Prices range from $10-$15.

Dream Dinners is a healthy meal kit delivery that is specifically for dinner. You can pick up your order at a local assembly kitchen, or you can see if they will ship to your state. This service is not a subscription, you can just place an order for food whenever you need which is super nice and easy.

HungryRoot is also something you might want to look into if you decide to meal prep from home. With Hungryroot you take a quiz and they will put all the groceries in your cart and ship them to you, along with cooking inspo for what to cook with your groceries.

There are also many places such as Whole Foods or Sprouts where you can order a pick up for your groceries for the week as well as meals that are already prepared. If you are wanting something more affordable and have a little more time, this might be the better option for you.

It’s obviously always going to be more affordable to shop for your own groceries and make the meals yourself, but paying a little more could be worth it to you if it’s super hard to find time to cook and plan your meals out because in the end consistency with healthy eating is going to save you a lot of time and money in other areas of your life.

Got a meal prep option you love that we didn’t feature? Feel free to share it in the comments and be sure to check back soon for our Plant Based and Keto Meal Planner downloads. Two weeks of meals and grocery lists for two of the most utilized diets right now.