If you’ve got kids, you know dinner isn’t just dinner, but also a race against the clock.
Everyone’s hungry, you’re tired, and somehow the fridge feels like it’s mocking you with half-used ingredients.
That’s honestly why I started leaning on meal delivery services. Not because I’m trying to “optimize my life,” but because I just want one part of the day that doesn’t feel like a negotiation. Something decent, something quick, something the kids won’t protest while I’m trying to finish some work and my wife is busy with something else.
The good news is that there are actually some great options for families now, whether you need fast, affordable, veggie-friendly, picky-eater-proof, or just something you can heat up with one hand while holding a toddler with the other.
I’ve tested all of the big players myself, and each one fills a different gap depending on what your evenings look like.
So let’s keep this simple and start with the one that consistently makes family life easier.
Best Meal Delivery Service For Families
Trifecta Nutrition
If your evenings look anything like mine, with kids running around, work still buzzing in your brain, and you’re somehow expected to get dinner on the table and feed yourself enough protein to recover from training, Trifecta is the service that actually makes life easier instead of adding another task to the list.
What separates Trifecta from the typical “family meal kit” is that there’s zero cooking involved. It’s fully prepared, vacuum-sealed meals you heat and serve in 2–3 minutes.
No chopping, no dishes, no scrambling for missing ingredients. When you’ve got kids, that alone feels like a gift.
But the real value here, especially for parents who train, is the macros. Most meals land in the 35–50+ grams of protein range, which is almost unheard of for ready-made meal delivery.
A lot of family-friendly services taste good but leave you starving an hour later. Trifecta doesn’t do that. The protein, portion size, and clean ingredient lists actually support an athletic lifestyle while still being realistic for family life.
And even though the meals are performance-oriented, they’re simple enough that kids can jump in too. My kids won’t touch Paleo orange chicken (fair), but they have no problem with the teriyaki bowls, salmon, or chicken-and-rice plates.
You can mix and match across plans, so feeding both adults and kids doesn’t require two separate subscriptions.
Pricing sits around $12–$16 per meal, which is higher than meal kits, but you’re trading prep time for instant fuel. For me, on busy weeks, that trade is absolutely worth it.
Trifecta isn’t the cozy, cook-together family meal service. It’s the service for families who want high-quality, high-protein food instantly, especially when at least one parent is juggling training, work, and kids and doesn’t have bandwidth for anything extra.
It fuels adults properly, keeps dinner easy, and reduces the friction at the end of the day, which, honestly, is priceless. My Trifecta review goes into detail about my experience.
Pros
- Fully prepared meals — 2–3 minutes from fridge to table
- High protein (35–50+ grams) ideal for active parents
- Big portions compared to most competitors
- Consistent quality and clean ingredient lists
- Multiple dietary plans (Paleo, Keto, Clean, Whole30, Plant-Based)
- Great option for households where parents train but still need fast family dinners
Cons
- More expensive than meal kits
- Some meals may be too “clean” or simple for kids with picky tastes
- Limited flexibility compared to kits (you can’t customize ingredients)
- Best suited for families who value speed over the cooking experience
Trifecta
Trifecta Nutrition
A clean, vegetarian meal delivery service that doesn’t skimp on quality or portions.
CHECK CURRENT DEALS
Best Meal Kits For Families
Home Chef
Home Chef is one of those services that just works for families. Not because it’s the cheapest or the fanciest, but because it hits that sweet spot between easy, customizable, and actually something everyone will eat without complaining.
If Trifecta is the “no-cooking-needed” family solution, Home Chef is the one you pick when you still want to cook.
Home Chef’s biggest strength for families is their Customize It feature. Most meals let you swap proteins or upgrade portions, which is a lifesaver when you’ve got different preferences under one roof. Chicken instead of pork? Easy.
Double the protein for the parents while the kids stick to the regular portion? Also easy. That level of flexibility alone puts Home Chef above most other kits in the “family-friendly” category.
The recipes themselves are simple enough. Most dishes take 20–35 minutes, and the flavors lean familiar enough that both adults and kids tend to get on board. Think tacos, pastas, chicken bowls, sheet-pan meals, and the occasional grill-friendly dinner.
From a performance standpoint, the Protein Pack and Meal Prep options are surprisingly solid when you need something that can support training without eating into family time.
I wouldn’t call Home Chef a “high-protein” service overall, but enough meals comfortably land in the 30–45g of protein range, which is a lot better than most mainstream meal kits.
Price-wise, Home Chef sits in the midrange: usually $9.99–$13.95 per serving, depending on the recipe and protein choices. For families, especially those feeding 3–5 people, the 4-serving plans make the cost far more reasonable than ordering takeout.
My Home Chef review goes into detail about my experience.
Pros
- Highly customizable (swap or upgrade proteins on most meals)
- Family-friendly flavors — nothing too exotic or intimidating
- Straightforward recipes, generally 20–35 minutes
- Good protein options (especially in Protein Pack and Meal Prep kits)
- Oven-ready and Express kits for extra-fast nights
- Solid value for families compared to restaurant meals
Cons
- Not ideal for niche diets (keto, vegan, etc.)
- Some meals can feel repetitive over time
- Shipping costs add up
Best Budget-Friendly Meal Delivery Service For Families
EveryPlate
EveryPlate is the meal service you choose when you want dinner to be simple, fast, and affordable, without feeling like you sacrificed quality just to save a few bucks.
If you’ve got a family to feed, this matters. Kids don’t care about your grocery budget. But EveryPlate actually does.
With meals starting around $4.99–$7.49 per serving, it’s easily one of the cheapest ways to get dinner on the table without resorting to frozen pizza or takeout.
And surprisingly, the food is good. Really good for the price. EveryPlate offers mostly comfort classics: meatloaf, tacos, pasta bakes, stir-fries, roasted chicken — the kind of meals families naturally gravitate toward.
This isn’t a nutrition-forward service the way Trifecta is, but it can work for active parents as long as you choose the meat-heavy meals.
A lot of the dishes land in the 20–40g protein range, and some recipes even let you upgrade the protein or add extras through the marketplace. Still, this is not where you go for macros; you come here for value.
EveryPlate keeps costs low by skipping some of the “premium” touches most services add. Ingredients aren’t sorted by meal, the packaging is basic, and there are no keto, vegan, or paleo filters.
But honestly, for the price, none of that feels like a dealbreaker, especially when you’re feeding 3–5 people and need predictable weekly costs.
Prep times hover around 30–40 minutes, and the recipes are straightforward enough for beginner cooks. If you’re teaching a teenager how to cook, EveryPlate is actually one of the best kits to start with because the steps are simple and the flavors are crowd-pleasers.
EveryPlate won’t wow you with organic produce or fancy sauces, but that’s not its job. Its job is to make family dinners affordable, tasty, and dependable, and it nails that lane better than any competitor.
For parents who want to save money without dropping their standards, it’s the best value play by a mile. My EveryPlate review goes into detail about my experience.
Pros
- Extremely affordable — one of the cheapest meal kits available
- Comfort-food recipes that most families enjoy
- Beginner-friendly prep, usually 30–40 minutes
- Portions on 4-serving plans easily feed a family
- Add-ons and occasional protein swaps available
- Great for families trying to cut food costs
Cons
- No diet filters (keto, gluten-free, vegan, etc.)
- Vegetarian meals tend to be very carb-heavy
- Limited variety — flavors can get repetitive
- Basic packaging; ingredients aren’t sorted by meal
Best Vegetarian Meal Delivery Service For Families
Purple Carrot
Purple Carrot is the service I recommend when a family wants to eat more plant-based meals without getting stuck in the “pasta and salads” trap. It’s fully vegan, but the food is creative, flavorful, and surprisingly kid-friendly if your household is open to trying new things.
The value Purple Carrot brings to families isn’t just the vegetables. It’s the variety. The menu leans heavily into global flavors, and the recipes actually teach kids (and adults) how to season veggies in ways that taste good. Even the prepared meals have personality, which is rare in the vegan category.
Meal kits run 30–45 minutes, and the instructions are straightforward. If you want faster, their prepared meals heat up in 2–5 minutes and taste better than most store-bought vegan options.
However, Purple Carrot is awesome if you’re committed to plant-based eating, and less ideal if someone in the house feels emotionally attached to chicken.
It doesn’t try to mimic meat-heavy dishes — the protein comes from tofu, beans, tempeh, lentils, and grains.
Most meals land in the 15–25g protein range, which is fine for casual eaters but not ideal for athletes or parents who train hard and need 35–40+ grams per meal.
But if the goal is to help the entire family eat more plants without the stress of reinventing your grocery list, this is one of the easiest ways to do it.
Purple Carrot is the best choice for families who want plant-forward eating to feel exciting instead of restrictive. And while it won’t replace a high-protein service like Trifecta for performance-focused parents, it’s a fantastic way to stretch your kids’ palates and bring more color and freshness to the table.
My Purple Carrot review goes into detail about my experience.
Pros
- 100% vegan — great for families reducing meat
- Creative, globally inspired flavors kids often enjoy
- Prepared meals for ultra-fast nights (2–5 minutes)
- High-quality ingredients and eco-friendly packaging
- Strong variety each week (kits + ready-made options)
- Teaches families to cook plant-based without guesswork
Cons
- Lower protein (15–25g per meal) — not ideal for athletes
- Zero meat options (this is a hard line, not flexible)
- Pricier than budget kits ($11–$13.25 per serving)
- Limited customization — you can’t modify recipes
- Some picky eaters may struggle with tofu-based dishes
Best Meal Service for Picky Eaters
Gobble
Gobble is the service I point families to when they’re dealing with the kid who rejects anything green, anything “mixed together,” anything that looks like it belongs in a restaurant instead of on their plate. Gobble solves that in two ways: simple flavors and fast prep.
Most meal kits require a full 30–45 minutes of chopping and cooking before you even know if your kid is going to eat it. Gobble cuts that down to 15–20 minutes because most of the work is already done for you — veggies pre-chopped, sauces pre-made, proteins trimmed.
You open the bag, cook, and dinner appears quickly enough that kids don’t lose patience waiting (which, let’s be honest, is half the battle).
But the real win with Gobble is the familiarity of its recipes. Even when they add global flavors, the meals still feel grounded: chicken bowls, pasta, tacos, lemon-garlic salmon, teriyaki beef, sheet-pan dinners. Nothing feels experimental or intimidating, which makes Gobble a safe middle ground.
From a performance standpoint, Gobble’s Lean & Clean menu carries plenty of meals in the 30–40g protein range, making it one of the few family-friendly meal kits that can actually support an active parent’s training routine.
Portions can be a bit small for high-calorie diets, but the option to swap or upgrade proteins helps solve that.
Pricing is on the higher side, hovering between $11.99 and $16.99 per serving, but what you’re buying is time. When you’ve had a long day at work or a tough training session and still need to feed kids with short attention spans, that time savings is everything.
Gobble is one of the easiest transitions for kids who resist change. You still get variety, but nothing too bold, too spicy, or too complicated. For families who need meals that “just work,” Gobble is one of the most dependable options out there.
My Gobble review goes into detail about my experience.
Pros
- Incredibly fast — most meals ready in 15–20 minutes
- Familiar flavors that picky eaters accept
- High-protein options (30–40g) for active parents
- Pre-chopped ingredients save a ton of effort
- Protein swaps available on many recipes
- Prepared meals also available for even faster nights
Cons
- More expensive than most meal kits
- Smaller menu (10–15 dishes per week)
- Portions can feel light for bigger appetites
- Not ideal for strict diet plans (keto/paleo etc.)
Best A La Carte Meal Delivery for Families
Sunbasket
Sunbasket is the service I recommend for families that want flexibility, where Mom wants something gluten-free, Dad wants high-protein, and the kids want something simple, and everyone still ends up eating dinner at the same table.
Most meal kits lock you into one type of plan. Sunbasket doesn’t. You can mix meal kits and prepared meals in the same weekly order, jump between Paleo, Mediterranean, Vegan, or Gluten-Free recipes, and build your week exactly how your household eats.
On busy nights, the Fresh & Ready meals (4–6 minutes) save you the mental bandwidth of cooking. On slower nights, the meal kits (20–40 minutes) give you the satisfaction of actually preparing something, with ingredients that are noticeably high-quality. Nearly all the produce is organic, and the proteins are hormone-free and responsibly sourced. It’s food you feel good about serving your kids.
From a performance standpoint, Sunbasket is one of the few mainstream family-friendly meal services that consistently offers 30–40g protein meals, especially in their Paleo and Carb-Conscious categories. If you’re juggling training alongside parenting, that’s a huge win. The only real downside is that some meals feel a bit small if you’re a bigger eater.
Price-wise, Sunbasket isn’t cheap. Meal kits range from $11.49–$17.99 per serving, and prepared meals run $9.99–$15. But the quality matches the price, and the flexibility is unmatched.
Sunbasket is ideal for families who want variety without commitment. If you’ve got a household with mixed diets or preferences, or you just want the option to choose between cooking and reheating on any given night — Sunbasket makes it easy to build a weekly menu that works for everyone.
My Sunbasket review goes into detail about my experience.
Pros
- A la carte ordering: mix meal kits + prepared meals
- High-quality ingredients (organic produce, clean proteins)
- Tons of dietary flexibility (Paleo, Gluten-Free, Vegan, etc.)
- Strong high-protein options for active parents
- Prepared meals heat up fast (4–6 minutes)
- Eco-friendly packaging
Cons
- More expensive than most kits
- Portions can be light for big eaters
- Shipping adds to the total cost
- Kids who prefer very simple flavors may need gentler picks
How To Pick The Best Meal Delivery Service For Vegetarians
Meal Kits vs. Meal Delivery
This is usually the biggest decision families make without even realizing it.
Meal kits give you the feeling of cooking without the planning. You still get your hands on a knife, you still sauté something, and your kids can even help if they’re old enough.
The payoff is fresher textures and meals that feel homemade. The downside is that you need 20–40 minutes to cook.
Fully prepared meals remove all of that. If your evenings feel like a sprint between homework, baths, training, and bedtime, heating up a clean, well-portioned meal in two minutes might be the difference between eating well and giving up on the day.
Parents who train late usually prefer these because there’s no trade-off between feeding yourself and getting the kids settled.
A lot of families end up using both without ever consciously deciding to. Kits on calmer evenings, prepared meals on the busy nights. If you’re torn, start by looking at your worst evenings, and choose based on what would make those nights easier.
Customization
Families rarely eat the same way, and the bigger the household, the faster this becomes obvious. Customization is the feature that saves you from ordering two separate dinners just to keep everyone sane.
Some services let you swap proteins, bump up the portion size, or choose milder versions of recipes, which is a lifesaver when one kid won’t touch seafood, and another refuses anything green.
Services like Home Chef and Gobble shine here, letting you adjust the meals without blowing up the whole recipe.
Others are rigid. Prepared-meal companies usually fall into this category because once it’s cooked, it’s cooked. And some meal kits simply don’t allow changes at all.
Think about your household:
Do you have one picky eater? A vegetarian in the mix? A parent who needs high protein for training?
If yes, flexibility matters more than you think. If no, almost any service can work.
Meal Variety
Families tend to fall into two camps: those who love repetition because it keeps the peace, and those who need variety or they’ll go insane eating the same three dinners every week.
Most meal kits try to thread the needle with familiar meals that still feel different, rotating tacos, pasta, bowls, and sheet-pan meals.
Others get more adventurous with global flavors or plant-based creativity. Variety helps keep you from burning out, especially if you plan to use the service long-term.
But the type of variety matters more than how many choices you get. Variety within a category your kids already like (like “different pasta dishes”) works way better than bouncing between wildly different cuisines.
Pick a service that repeats categories your family enjoys, not one that constantly tries to reinvent dinner.
And if you’re the one training hard, variety helps you avoid the “I’m sick of chicken” phase athletes hit all the time.
Taste & Quality
Taste matters more in family settings than in any other context, because if even one kid hates the meal, suddenly you’re making two dinners. Quality matters too, of course.
Higher-quality services tend to use better proteins, fresher produce, and cleaner sauces. This has two big benefits:
- The meals taste less processed.
- Kids are more likely to eat them without making a face.
If you, as the parent, train regularly, quality plays a third role: better protein, better recovery, fewer weird ingredients. A well-cooked piece of chicken from a meal kit tastes nothing like the rubbery stuff in cheaper pre-made meals.
But remember, kids usually care more about predictability than ingredient sourcing. Adults care about both. So choose based on who needs the meal to be perfect and who just needs it to disappear from their plate.
Packaging
Nobody talks about packaging until they’re drowning in it. Some services send you pristine, perfectly sorted little bags for each recipe, which is great when you’re juggling kids and time.
Others dump all the ingredients into one big box, which is fine for adults but annoying when you’re cooking with a five-year-old who wants to “help.”
Eco-friendly packaging matters if you’re trying to reduce waste, but the truth is that most families care more about convenience. If you have limited recycling options or you hate clutter, simpler packaging becomes worth its weight in gold.
Prepared meals are easiest here — stack them in the fridge, toss the outer sleeve, done. Meal kits vary a lot more.
Price
Price becomes real fast when you’re feeding more than two people. Some meal services fit comfortably into a weekly budget, while others feel like you’ve adopted a third child who only eats organic salmon.
The trick is matching the price to the problem you actually want to solve.
If your biggest pain point is time, prepared meals are worth the premium.
If it’s variety or freshness, meal kits usually win.
If it’s strictly budget, you already know you won’t be browsing the premium tier.
Cheap doesn’t mean bad. Expensive doesn’t mean magical. And honestly, the best value comes from the service you’ll actually use.
A cheaper box that sits in the fridge untouched isn’t really cheaper. A premium box that keeps you out of the drive-thru twice a week might pay for itself.
Families with athletes or active parents have another layer to consider: protein. Higher-protein meals almost always cost more, but they keep you full longer and reduce the “I’m starving again” snacking cycle that drains both energy and money.
Here’s a simple breakdown to give you a realistic sense of where each service sits:
Median Price Comparison for Families
| EveryPlate | Meal kits | $4.99 – $7.49 | ~$11.99 | Cheapest mainstream option; price depends on serving count |
| Home Chef | Meal kits | $9.99 – $13.95 | ~$10.99 | Protein upgrades can raise cost; wide weekly variety |
| Gobble | Meal kits | $11.99 – $16.99 | ~$9.99 | Faster prep (15–20 min); pre-prepped ingredients raise price |
| Purple Carrot | Vegan kits + prepared | $11.00 – $13.25 | Free over $100 / ~$10 otherwise | Fully plant-based; premium vegan ingredients |
| Sunbasket (Meal Kits) | Meal kits | $11.49 – $17.99 | ~$9.99 | Organic produce and responsibly sourced proteins |
| Sunbasket (Fresh & Ready) | Prepared meals | $9.99 – $15.00 | ~$9.99 | One of the fastest options after Trifecta |
| Trifecta Nutrition | Fully prepared meals | $12.99 – $16.50 | Included | High protein (35–50g); performance-focused |
Frequently Asked Meal Delivery For Families Questions
Do meal delivery services actually save money for families?
Sometimes, but not always. It depends on how your household normally eats.
If you’re already cooking most nights and shopping efficiently, meal kits won’t lower your grocery bill. But if you’re constantly throwing away unused produce, scrambling for last-minute takeout, or buying random odds and ends to “make something work,” then yes, meal delivery can save money simply by cutting waste and decision fatigue.
For a lot of families, the real savings show up in time, not money. That’s harder to measure but incredibly important when you’ve got kids.
A meal kit that gets dinner done in 25 minutes without a grocery trip can sometimes be worth more than the $2–$3 difference per serving.
Are meal kits or fully prepared meals better for families?
It depends on your evenings.
If your household has the time to cook a few nights a week, meal kits are great, and they taste fresher. Kids can get involved, and the whole thing feels a little more like family dinner.
Prepared meals, on the other hand, are lifesavers when evenings feel like a sprint. Heating something in 2–3 minutes is hard to beat when someone’s hungry, someone’s crying, and someone else needs help with homework. Many families end up doing a mix: kits for the calmer days, prepared meals for the chaos days.
Which meal delivery service works best for picky eaters?
The safest bet is the service that stays close to familiar flavors. From everything I’ve tested, Gobble and Home Chef tend to win that battle. They keep seasoning and sauces straightforward, and the meals look like the food kids already know.
If your picky eater is particularly stubborn, avoid anything too experimental, too spicy, or too plant-based until you know they’re on board. Consistency matters more than creativity for many kids.
Can meal delivery help families with different dietary needs?
Definitely, but some services make this much easier than others.
Sunbasket is the strongest option if you need different diets under one roof. You can mix Paleo, gluten-free, vegetarian, Mediterranean, and “regular” meals all in the same week.
Home Chef also works well because you can swap proteins or choose milder versions of recipes. If you need full customization like doubling protein for yourself while the kids stick to normal portions, meal kits with flexible options are your best friend.
Prepared meals are more rigid, so they work best when parents want performance-focused meals (like Trifecta) and the kids are eating something simpler or separate.
Summary
Finding the right meal delivery service for a family isn’t about choosing the “best” one on paper — it’s about matching real life. The messy, loud, busy real life where dinner needs to be good, fast, and doable… even when the day hasn’t gone according to plan.
If you want dinners that are ready before the kids even ask “what’s for tonight?” Trifecta is the simplest, most reliable option. No cooking, no stress, and enough protein that parents who train don’t have to make a second meal just to hit their numbers.
In the end, the best service is the one that reduces friction in your evenings. The one that gives you back a little time or sanity. The one your kids actually eat. And the one that lets you, as a parent trying to stay healthy and fit, hit your own goals without sacrificing the rest of your day to the kitchen.
Trifecta
Trifecta Nutrition
A clean, vegetarian meal delivery service that doesn’t skimp on quality or portions.
CHECK CURRENT DEALS