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The 15 best recipe box and meal delivery kits in the UK right now
For when you can't get to the supermarket, or be bothered to cook
If you're looking for the best recipe box and meal delivery services, you've come to the right place. When you simply don't fancy going to the supermarket or want a special at home dinner to look forward to, replace your weekend treats with luxe restaurant kits instead.
Whether you love a takeaway app or not, there's no denying that the rise in ordering food from your phone to your door has turned our trusty electronic devices into our own personal fridges. However, what happens when you have to wait up to an hour or more for your order, or you can't quite manage to eat it all, and it goes to waste? Not to mention that takeaways are often not ideal for healthy eating.
Hello recipe boxes, restaurant kits, and fresh food delivery. These takeaway alternatives can give you the same rush as hearing your doorbell ring for your pizza, and they're just as speedy (if not speedier) than the traditional couch Friday night dinner. They're also surprisingly more cost-effective than swiping individual orders on your screen.
But how do they work, exactly? Well, most of these companies offer recipe boxes packed with everything you need to make a YUMMY meal, including pre-weighed ingredients, spices, herbs and detailed instructions. Basically, they provide you with all the resources you need to make cooking from scratch refreshingly easy.
If you're already a don in the kitchen, though, you can still get deliveries of fresh produce like vegetables, milk, cheese, yoghurt, granola, bread and more brought straight to your door. Organic farms such as Abel & Cole and Riverford are offering pre-selected boxes, or you can design your own. How fun!
And don't worry about the extra miles you're clocking, loads of food delivery companies are actually more sustainable than supermarkets. By sending food straight from the source to your door, they cut out the middleman and nearly always use less plastic.
Intrigued? We thought as much. Check out our favourite food delivery services in the UK, including healthy and vegan options too.
Gousto
Going strong since 2012, Gousto was one of the first recipe box companies to really kick off. You know the drill: fresh ingredients are portioned out, then sent out with a handy method card, and you can have your food on the table within 10-35 minutes.
Because everything is selected specially, food waste is minimised. What's more, Gousto uses 50% less plastic than it used to, by swapping out punnets for cardboard alternatives and leaving veggies loose. The company has also been proven to produce 23% less carbon emissions than the equivalent supermarket shop.
There are now a whopping 75 recipes to choose from every week, catering to all dietary requirements.
Gousto is officially the UK's best value recipe box, starting from £2.99 per meal and you can choose recipes for two or four people.
Mindful Chef
Next up is Mindful Chef, because it makes delicious healthy food, obvs, but mostly because of what it does to help others. For every meal sold, the company donates a school meal to a child living in poverty. So if you purchase one of its care boxes (three meals for two people sent the very next day, from £34), you'll be helping more than just your loved ones.
Anyway, onto the food: it's yummy but nutritious, and responsibly sourced. Win, win. Mindful Chef doesn't do dairy, or refined carbs (if it's pasta you're looking for, keep scrolling), but it does send out free range meat and organic veg.
And their latest collab with Deliciously Ella is perfect if you want to give veganuary a go.
Prices start from around £4.75 per portion, per person and buying family bundles is best value for money.
Simply Cook
Simply Cook is another recipe box delivery service that sends pre-weighed ingredients along with 20 minute recipe cards. Each package is letterbox sized, so you don't need to worry about missing a delivery.
It's great value for money, with each £9.99 box containing four recipe kits and delivery thrown in for free. You can choose portion sizes of 2-3 or 4+people and don't have to commit to a membership; you can order as many or as few boxes as you like.
If you sign up for a £3 trial now you'll save £6.99 (you can always cancel after seven days if you're not impressed, but we reckon you will be).
Grubby
If you're looking to get more plant-based meals into your diet, then you need to give Grubby a go. Their plant-based meal recipe boxes are delivered to your door, and cook in under 30 minutes. From Mexican quesadillas to a lemony pesto orzo stew, their recipes are perfect for mid-week meals when you want to eat something quick and nutritious. And the best part? For every box you buy, one meal is donated to a child living in poverty. Meals start from £5.68 per person.
Hello Fresh
Hello Fresh is another great recipe box service to try. There are loads of different options, from weeknight meals that take under 20 minutes to premium three course options. You can even add extras like wine, sides and dessert for special occasions.
Just choose how many people you want to cater for, and add dietary requirements like veggie or low calorie. Hello Fresh is keen to reduce food waste, so as well as preparing everything to minimise this, it has loads of recipes on how to utilise your leftovers on its blog.
As of November 2021, they started doing special breakfast recipes, so you can have a nice weekend (or, well, weekday) treat to look forward to. Think smoked salmon bagel with a black pepper and dill cream cheese or peanut butter and honey porridge with berry compote and pecans. Yum.
Meals start from £3.15 per portion and you can get 60% off your first box.
Planty
There are so many great vegan food companies out there, we're spoilt for choice (didn't think we'd ever say that!). New to the game is Planty, a delivery service that brings frozen meals to your door.
Each delicious dinner is completely plant sourced, with most meals making up three of that ever-important (immune systems, people!) five-a-day quota. Choose from creamy pasta dishes without the cream, burrito bowls, warm curries and luxe risottos.
Planty starts from £5.65 per meal, and you need to order a minimum of six meals, and you can opt for a subscription or just a one off box.
All of the packaging included is recyclable and the company offset the C02 emissions made with every delivery.
PSA: use the code GOPLANTS for 20% off your first box.
Graze Presents
OK, so it's technically not a meal delivery kit, but instead a snack delivery kit, newly launched by Graze.
Each month, the snack company will deliver a carefully curated selection of snacks to your door, with enough to see you through the weeks that follow. Whether you're after a convenient way to get your 3pm fix or fancy mixing up your current go-tos, each box promises to be stuffed full of a mixture of limited-edition Graze products, exclusive perks and new partner brands.
Each box has a theme and the s costs £14.99 per month incl. free and tracked delivery. Snack happy!
Pow Food
Healthy meals we don't need to actually cook ourselves? Yep, we're sold. At Pow Food, they've designed a range of healthy frozen ready meals that are delivered straight to your door, so all you need to do is heat them up. They deliver nationwide on a Wednesday or Friday, and include a variety of dishes, including a number of vegan options too. And perhaps most importantly they also have a number of sweet treats you can order too. We've got our eyes on the brownie box.
Just an FYI, a minimum spend of £40 is required on all orders.
All Plants
If you're vegan, or trying to cut down on meat, let us introduce you to Allplants. It delivers, you guessed it, food made from plants. No meat, no dairy, nada. Delicious? Hell, yes.
Meals include BBQ burrito bowls, roasted veggie lasagna, Thai green curry, mac and (faux) cheese, aubergine tagine, risotto and dahl. And every portion contains two or more of your five a day.
Just to clarify, this a meal delivery service NOT a recipe box. It's fuss-free food brought straight to your door, ready to cook from frozen in the microwave, on the hob or in the oven.
And as if being vegan wasn't already commendable, Allplants does more than their bit for the planet. The company is at 3% wastage (the average for a normal household is 13%, btw) because it portions up food to minimise waste and uses recyclable packaging. The team also offset their carbon footprint by planting trees for every new referral – they're on about 15,000 right now.
From £4.99 per person.
CHEFLY
Another great option for pre-prepared meals that are actually nutritious: Chefly. If you find the prospect of 'healthy eating' a little intimidating or you're short on time, this is the one for you.
Unlike other microwave meals, which are packed with salt and fat, Chefly's are dairy and refined sugar free – and each portion has a healthy dose of protein in it. Oh, and did we mention? They're all prepped by chefs. Bit different to your standard supermarket ready-made meals, eh.
Obviously, you'll need to pay a little more for 'em, but it's worth it in our opinion. Having your dinner prepared by a professional instead of your housemates is definitely something to brag about, right?
You can choose how many meals you would like to receive every week, or skip a week altogether depending on how busy/stressed/lazy you're feeling. Prices start from £7.49 per meal.
Chefs For Foodies
Chefs For Foodies is everything we want in a food delivery service, and more. They offer *incredibly* mouth-watering meals, like this Peking Duck (hand us the hoisin now!) and cater to an array of dietary requirements, including plant-based, halal, and gluten free.
All the recipe kits are created by chefs, such as Masterchef's Steven Wallace and Michelin Star chef Rohit Ghai. The boxes are definitely on the pricier end and so are more suited for creating a meal for a special occasion meal rather than a weekly purchase.
Abel & Cole
Abel & Cole is one of the OG food delivery services: the farm used to send out seasonal vegetable and fruit in cute paper bags via individual sellers (you know, a bit like the Avon ladies from back in the day).
It's grown a bit since then, and you can now get literally ANYTHING from the company – recipe boxes, meat, fish, weekly essentials like milk, bread and eggs, as well as store cupboard items and, ofc, veg boxes.
We know what you're thinking, why not just buy from the supermarket? Well, turns out this stuff is A LOT fresher, as it comes straight from the farm to your door. Plus, Abel & Cole use 92% less plastic on average.
The minimum order is £12, so you can make a one-off purchase or sign up to the weekly deliveries.
Field Doctor
If you struggled with IBS in your life, you'll no doubt have heard of the FODMAP diet, which is said to reduce bloating and ease digestive issues (if followed for a select period of time – always consult your GP before making any drastic changes to your diet).
New brand on the block Field Doctor makes following a restrictive eating plan a) easier b) tastier and c) healthier. Each meal is designed by the team's in-house nutritionist to be Low FODMAP, Dairy- and Gluten-free, and include eight of your recommended plant types for a more diverse gut microbiome.
Meals start from £6.99 per person and arrive at your door ready to heat/eat.
Riverford
Riverford is another OG farm delivery service, which has expanded from seasonal fruit and veg to full-on recipe boxes, as well as meat, milk, bread and egg deliveries, too.
Choose your dietary requirements – meat eater, vegan, veggie or dairy free – and whether you're cooking for one, two or a whole family. Recipe boxes start at around £7.00 per person.
Everything is organic, with the produce being delivered from farms in the UK (and sometimes France, when items are out of season here) to your door within 48 hours.
Don't worry, though, this is still a sustainable choice: Riverford's boxes contain 82% less plastic than supermarket equivalents and it uses allll the veggies (the wonky ones need love too). Plus, once you're done with your box, they'll pick it up and re-use it.
Dishpatch
Got a special occasion to celebrate?
Dishpatch is the genius new business bringing you meals straight from London's best independent restaurants. Each box, which serves two, is prepped by chefs then boxed up and brought to your door on a Friday morning – just in time for the weekend.
There is some re-heating involved but, frankly, the result is 1000% better than when you attempt to make something fancy at home. They are professionals, after all.
Boxes start from £42, which is around what you'd pay when out – but once you've added some bargain Aldi wine into the mix, you'll have saved a fortune.
The Detox Kitchen
This one is a London-only service, but it's too good to leave off our list. You might have seen The Detox Kitchen's delis in town or spotted its 'bible' (buy it here) on the shelves at Waterstones. The company is all about healthy eating, and prepares everything free from refined sugar, dairy and gluten – but, rest assured, it's all still tasty as hell.
We've tried out the vegan cleanse course, which is freshly prepared and sent to your door every morning. It includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, a ginger shot, a juice and two snacks. Basically, considering it's a low-calorie option, you get a lot of grub – turns out trained chefs know how to make healthy food really satisfying. So, if you're trying to embark on a health kick, this is an excellent option. There are higher calorie options, with meat, you can go for too.
Starting from £31.45 per day, it doesn't come cheap. But if you can't afford to sign up for a plan, then why not sign up for one day a week? To give yourself a health start on a Monday.
Abigail Southan is our Senior Fashion Ecommerce Editor and has five years' experience as a writer and editor in the industry. Abigail has a BA in History from the University of Bristol and an MA in Fashion Journalism from Central Saint Martins. Abigail currently covers all things style and shopping across titles including Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Esquire and Red. On a daily basis, she helps readers buy better with how-to-wear guides, first-person product reviews and deep dives into the latest trends. Previously, Abigail has worked for The Sunday Times’ Style and Fabulous magazine as their first ecommerce writer and was a founding editor of Sun Selects. She has also written for Net-a-Porter, I-D, Man About Town, Wonderland and 1 Granary, and has interviewed the likes of Paris Hilton, Dua Lipa and Christopher Bailey. You can follow Abigail on Instagram at @abigailsouthan.
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