Best Vegan Meal Delivery Services for 2023 – CNET
The meal delivery newcomer churns out excellent, healthy lunches and dinners for as cheap as $6 a serving, earning it CNET’s Editors’ Choice award and my pick for the best vegan meal subscription for your money.
But Mosaic isn’t the only service killing the plant-based meal delivery game, and there are other options available that may be better suited for you, including vegan meal kits that require a bit of cooking.
The best vegetarian meal subscriptions I’ve tried are ones that keep the meat-free recipes interesting and the ingredients fresh without busting the budget. I’ve tasted the offerings of just about every plant-based meal subscription service available, and I’m happy to report that there are some exceptionally tasty vegan and vegetarian meal delivery options that send premade meals or premeasured ingredients for fast and tasty lunches and dinners.
Read more: Best Cheap Meal Delivery Services in 2023
But first…
What about plant-based prepared meal delivery?
The same goes for prepared meal-delivery services, which require no cooking at all. There are a few strictly vegan meal services like Veestro, Mosaic Foods, Splendid Spoon and Daily Harvest to peruse, but even services that provide meaty meals (such as Fresh N Lean and Freshly) offer vegan and vegetarian plans with as many as 12 plant-based options a week to keep you well-fed, even when there’s no time to cook. These vegan meal services often send frozen vegan meals, but some will send their meals fresh, wrapped up with eco-friendly ice packs and recyclable coolers.
You may be wondering, with all these plant-based players in the game, which is the best meal delivery service for vegans and vegetarians? The answer varies a bit depending on what you’re looking for, and each meal kit or delivery operation takes a slightly different approach. For example, some vegetarian meal-kit companies use plant-based foods like Impossible Burger that imitate meat, while others emphasize whole foods in lunch and dinner recipes. There are also vegetarian meal kits that specialize in organic ingredients and produce, in case that’s important to you, while others aren’t organic but are able to offer more budget-friendly meal plans. Some meal kits are also more complicated to execute, aimed at chefs with cooking experience looking to hone their skills, while others are quick to prepare and help you get a healthy, no-fuss dinner on the table sometimes in as little as 20 minutes.
Best vegan meal delivery services of 2023
Having personally tested as many of the plant-based meal kits and prepared meal services as I could get my hands on, I’ve settled on this list of the absolute best meal delivery for vegans and vegetarians. We’ll continue to update this list periodically as new players enter the arena.
<div data-id data-cy="shortcodeListicleSmallImage" data-location="LIST" data-filter-med="true" edition="us" superlative="Best vegetarian meal delivery" imagegroup="{"alt":"harissa-jackfruit","caption":"
Sample Menu: Mushroom and truffle risotto with fava beans; Yellow dal curry; Harissa jackfruit bowl
","credits":"David Watsky/CNET","imageData":{"id":"0d5963a6-fb44-4171-b9b9-ae0712e4f85d","title":"harissa-jackfruit","filename":"harissa-jackfruit.jpg","path":"https://www.cnet.com/a/img/hub/2021/07/01/0d5963a6-fb44-4171-b9b9-ae0712e4f85d/harissa-jackfruit.jpg","caption":"","size":2657686,"width":4032,"height":3024,"dateCreated":{"date":"2021-07-01 16:13:03","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2021-07-01 16:13:09","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":"Mosaic Foods","alt":"harissa-jackfruit","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"0d5963a6-fb44-4171-b9b9-ae0712e4f85d","imageAltText":"harissa-jackfruit","imageCaption":"
Sample Menu: Mushroom and truffle risotto with fava beans; Yellow dal curry; Harissa jackfruit bowl
","imageCredit":"David Watsky/CNET","imageDoNotCrop":false,"imageDoNotResize":false,"imageWatermark":false,"imageFilename":"harissa-jackfruit.jpg","imageDateCreated":"2021/07/01","imageWidth":4032,"imageHeight":3024,"imageParallax":"","imageCrop":"","imageEnlarge":false}” overridecaption=”
Sample Menu: Mushroom and truffle risotto with fava beans; Yellow dal curry; Harissa jackfruit bowl
” overridecredit=”David Watsky/CNET” offer=”{"id":"e44e897f-9429-402b-8833-bdd0304ca98a","slug":"mosaic-foods","label":"Mosaic Foods","edition":["US","ES"],"imageId":"","imgWidth":null,"imgHeight":null,"objectType":"content_product","typeLabel":"Tech Product","imgUrl":null,"icon":"type-icon ct-cmg-tech-product ct-small"}” techobjectinfo=”{"uuid":"e44e897f-9429-402b-8833-bdd0304ca98a","name":"Mosaic Foods","slug":"mosaic-foods","productType":"PRODUCT","updateType":"PRISM","mod":1684445961931,"displayDate":"Thu May 18 2023 17:39:21 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)"}” usepricing=”false” data-key=”cnetlisticle__40119dd1-63ee-4c20-bb09-a645cd963a2e” position=”NaN” contenttype=”Best List – Precap” pagelayout=”Default – Article Page” showdetails=”true” suppressautoplay=”true” class=”c-shortcodeListicle c-shortcodeListicle-smallImage g-outer-spacing-bottom-large g-border-thin-light-top g-border-thin-light-bottom g-border-thin-light-right g-border-thin-light-left” readability=”7.3072580645161″>
Pricing Starts at $6/servingType Prepared mealsMeal options per week 80Good for Vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, low-calorie
I tried about nine of Mosaic’s plant-based prepared meal offerings over the course of a few weeks and there wasn’t a true miss in the bunch. Not only is Mosaic Foods my favorite plant-based meal delivery, but it’s also one of the cheapest vegan meal subscriptions available with plans starting at $6 a serving. That makes it an easy pick for this top spot on the list.
Pricing Starts at $11/servingType Meal kitsRecipes per week 8Good for Vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, low-calorie
Purple Carrot is the first, and to my knowledge, the only 100% plant-based meal kit service and this vegan food service option takes its recipes seriously too. Purple Carrot’s underlying vegan philosophy is not to imitate other foods using plant-based alternatives, but simply to create tasty and nourishing vegan dinners the old-fashioned way, using fresh vegetables, grains, legumes and other whole foods.
<div data-id data-cy="shortcodeListicleSmallImage" data-location="LIST" data-filter-low="true" edition="us" superlative="Best vegetarian meal kits for families" imagegroup="{"alt":"hellofresh","caption":"
Sample Menu: Thai coconut chicken curry; Cheesy bean enchiladas, Hot honey Brussels sprouts and ricotta flatbread
","credits":"HelloFresh","imageData":{"id":"c30156d0-fa5b-44a3-9ba7-110efd313ff8","title":"hellofresh","filename":"hellofresh.jpg","path":"https://www.cnet.com/a/img/hub/2021/02/05/c30156d0-fa5b-44a3-9ba7-110efd313ff8/hellofresh.jpg","caption":"","size":267523,"width":1200,"height":800,"dateCreated":{"date":"2021-02-05 19:45:22","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2021-02-05 19:45:27","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":"HelloFresh","alt":"hellofresh","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"c30156d0-fa5b-44a3-9ba7-110efd313ff8","imageAltText":"hellofresh","imageCaption":"
Sample Menu: Thai coconut chicken curry; Cheesy bean enchiladas, Hot honey Brussels sprouts and ricotta flatbread
","imageCredit":"HelloFresh","imageDoNotCrop":false,"imageDoNotResize":false,"imageWatermark":false,"imageFilename":"hellofresh.jpg","imageDateCreated":"2021/02/05","imageWidth":1200,"imageHeight":800,"imageParallax":"","imageCrop":"","imageEnlarge":false}” overridecaption=”
Sample Menu: Thai coconut chicken curry; Cheesy bean enchiladas, Hot honey Brussels sprouts and ricotta flatbread
” overridecredit=”HelloFresh” offer=”{"id":"805800ce-5063-487c-9a76-d37bdc480e9a","slug":"hello-fresh","label":"Hello Fresh","edition":["US","ES"],"imageId":"","imgWidth":null,"imgHeight":null,"objectType":"content_product_series","typeLabel":"Series","imgUrl":null,"icon":"type-icon ct-cmg-tech-product-series ct-small"}” techobjectinfo=”{"uuid":"805800ce-5063-487c-9a76-d37bdc480e9a","name":"Hello Fresh","slug":"hello-fresh","productType":"SERIES","updateType":"PRISM","mod":1684446779282,"displayDate":"Thu May 18 2023 17:52:59 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)"}” usepricing=”true” data-key=”cnetlisticle__c1ddfec0-25af-4148-8652-91e2d88199a8″ position=”NaN” contenttype=”Best List – Precap” pagelayout=”Default – Article Page” showdetails=”true” suppressautoplay=”true” class=”c-shortcodeListicle c-shortcodeListicle-smallImage g-outer-spacing-bottom-large g-border-thin-light-top g-border-thin-light-bottom g-border-thin-light-right g-border-thin-light-left” readability=”8.8948787061995″>
18 free meals across 8 boxes, first box ships free + 3 surprise gifts with code:
$20 off first box with code:
Pricing Starting at $8/mealType Pre-madeRegional Availability Continental United StatesNumber of Meal Options per Week 40+Menu Options/ Diet Types Plant-based, gluten-free non-GMO
This is definitely the best meal delivery for ready-to-go, healthy breakfast and lunches. Splendid Spoon is hoping to entice folks who want to keep it simple, easy and nutritious for breakfast and lunch with its ready-made smoothies, soups and grain bowls delivered to your door weekly.
