6 Meal Delivery Services That Are Both Nutritious and Delicious
With the official start of summer just shy of a week away, it’s a great time to consider a nutrition reset. After all, summer means overindulging on vacations, plenty of barbecues and cooling off with so much ice cream. This is not about doing a crash diet but more about setting you up to get your body back on track so these new healthy habits can stay with you for the long term.
Imbalances in your diet can affect everything from sleep, digestion and energy levels. Paying attention to what you put in your body can also help manage bloating, impact skin clarity and improve overall health. The important thing to remember is eating nutritious, clean meals does not mean you need to sacrifice taste or your time cooking. Meal delivery services are a great way to take the thinking out of meal prep, but with so many out there, it’s hard to know which will also be delicious. Below are six companies that range from plant-based like Sakara Life and Daily Harvest to more traditional food delivery options that let you pick what you want to eat with any restrictions or requests.
Sakara Life
Based on the science of a whole-food, organic and plant-rich diet, Sakara believes food is medicine and is intended to nourish the body while healing the gut, improving digestion, reducing bloat, increasing energy, focus and skin clarity. Since launching in 2012, the company has continued to expand on its nutritionally designed meal programs and snacks. Their first product, the Signature Nutrition Program, is all about delivering clean eating made easy and delicious without meat, dairy, gluten, refined sugar, pesticides, harmful chemicals and GMOs. This signature program is available for up to three meals a day, five days a week and starts at $53 a week. One day could include an Avo-Cacao Probiotic Pudding or a Serenity Bowl with Macadamia Feta. The great thing is that every meal tastes as good as the last.
Daily Harvest
If anyone ever doubted veggies could taste so good, they have not tried Daily Harvest. Built on sustainably sourced fruits and vegetables, this meal delivery service is easy to prep and good for both you and the planet—the packaging is recyclable and can be home compostable. The flexible plans allow you to really fit your needs and budget. Items cost anywhere from $5.99 to $11.99 and discounts are offered based on the number of items ordered. The food will come frozen, but once removed from the freezer, it will take minutes to prepare. The smoothies are great in the morning and the Harvest Bowls are filling for dinner. The company even has vegan ice cream for the sweet-tooth obsessed.
Kroma Wellness
Kroma’s five-day reset is great for someone if they are looking to do exactly that – reset. The Signature 5-Day Reset includes 50 total food and beverages (10 servings per day) and costs $395. There is an added cost for a vegan option, but all meals do not use cane sugar, fillers, dairy, gluten, GMOs and lectins. The instructions are super easy to follow since everything is labeled by day and in numerical order. Much of the reset includes Superfoods (and Adaptogens) because these nutrient-rich foods and super herbs are the most powerful preventative “medicine” known to improve overall health and well-being as well as promote hormonal balance and fight inflammation. The founders spent three years testing food combinations to make sure taste isn’t sacrificed and worked with top nutritionists, herbalists, chefs and wellness gurus to ensure the products adapt to a person’s body chemistry. A morning starts with a Beauty Matcha followed by a Super Porridge for breakfast. Lunch could be one of the bone or veggie broths and dinner is similar but can be customized with protein and veggies as needed.
Prolon
Meant to mimic fasting, Prolon has gone through clinical trials at the University of Southern California and is patented for providing healthy aging. The five-day meal program delivers scientifically researched micro- and macro-nutrients in specific quantities and combinations that will leave you satisfied and nourished but will still have the body thinking you are in a fasting state. The benefit of this state is that it promotes cellular renewal, supports metabolic health, enhances clarity and performance and kickstarts removing fat while protecting lean body mass. The soups provided can be anything from butternut squash quinoa to black bean or minestrone. One thing to note, if you are not a fan of olives, this may not be the reset for you!
CookUnity
CookUnity is a food delivery service that brings ready-to-eat meals from the country’s top chefs like Marc Forgione, Michelle Bernstein, Fabio Viviani and Dan Kluger into your home. The healthy, balanced and delicious meals use fresh, seasonal produce. The company prioritizes partnerships with vendors and farmers that can locally supply the best quality of sustainable produce and seafood. The meals are made with you in mind so you can pick and choose what you do and don’t like, and you can select meals based on dietary restrictions and preferences. Meals cost on average $10 a plate–it goes up or down depending on how many are ordered weekly.
Fresh N Lean
Family-owned Fresh N Lean is a meal delivery company that started in 2010 with the intention to shift how people think about food by showing that changes, even slight ones, in eating habits can improve daily life. Delivered fresh, this service also helps eliminate one less thing to worry about daily–the nuance of what to make for dinner that is healthy and yummy. The company offers over 100 organically sourced meals that are ready to eat in three minutes. Their plan is the Mediterranean Diet, but other options are Keto, Paleo, Whole30, Vegan or Protein. Every meal made is free of preservatives, gluten and hormones. A weekly total for the Mediterranean option that has three meals per day is $159.50.