Best Keto Meal Delivery Services You Should Try - Sports Illustrated

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A ketogenic diet requires strict adherence to a macronutrient-balanced lifestyle. While the specific macro ratios can differ based on your goals, keto meals are high in fat, low in carbs and have a moderate amount of protein. While you can certainly craft your own balanced meals at home, it takes a lot of time to plan and prepare them. Fortunately, this is no longer your only option. Instead of spending hours in the kitchen, you can sign up for one of the best keto meal delivery services and have meals regularly delivered to your doorstep.

There are two types of keto meal delivery services: meal kits and pre-made meals. Meal kits include recipes with pre-portioned ingredients, so you can quickly throw everything together (often in less than 30 minutes). Pre-made meals are cooked, portioned out, vacuum-sealed and then delivered to your door ready to heat. You can have them on the table in four minutes if you microwave them, or around 20 if you prefer the oven.

In this article, we highlight the best keto meal delivery services in both categories. We also share some other factors you should consider—like cost, quantity of meals and ingredient quality—to help you choose the right one for you.

This content is meant to be informative, but should not be taken as medical advice. It is not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention or treatment of health problems. Always speak with your doctor before starting any new supplement or exercise regimen.

Our Picks for the Best Keto Meal Delivery Services:

Interested in managing your diet with an app instead of a food delivery service? We recommend you check out Noom.

Trifecta

Key features:

If you live a really active lifestyle, your macro needs may be higher than the average person's. Trifecta caters to these increased nutritional needs by offering plans with breakfast, lunch, dinner and a third entree. While many prepared meal delivery services cap out at 21 meals per week, you can get up to 28 with Trifecta's.

The keto meals average around 35 grams of fat, 41 grams of protein and 10 grams of net carbohydrates, and arrive fully cooked and ready-to-heat. When building your menu, you can exclude up to two ingredients, like red meat and salmon, from your plan. However, you can't choose your individual meals. Once you select the meal plan you want, a Trifecta chef will curate the actual meal plan for you. Alternatively, you can choose a meal prep option where you can mix and match from bulk-prepped ingredients like grilled salmon, pulled pork, green beans and asparagus.

Pros

Cons

nutrisystem for men_hero

Key features:

Although Nutrisystem isn't strictly a keto meal delivery service, it does offer keto-friendly meals designed to help you lose weight while still enjoying your favorite foods. If you're looking for high protein options, Nutrisystem offers several including bacon and cheddar stuffed chicken sticks, mushroom parmesan soup with chicken, artichoke and spinach stuffed chicken breast and meatballs in marinara sauce. If you're looking to start a keto diet and don't want the hassle of having to meal prep, cook and deal with kitchen cleanup, Nutrisystem may be a great fit for your needs.

Pros:

Cons:

Diet-to-Go

Key features:

A well-formulated keto diet can help you lose weight. However, some meal delivery services provide only a single meal per day, or a handful of meals per week, leaving it on you to come up with the remaining meals. If you find it difficult to stick to a keto diet without extra guidance, Diet-To-Go is an excellent option. This prepared meal service gives you the option to get all your meals—three meals per day, seven days a week—delivered. (Or you can choose a two-meal-per-day, five-days-per-week option).

All recipes are created by registered dietitians, so they're calorie- and portion-controlled while remaining nutritionally balanced. There are a handful of meal plans available, including a Mediterranean option and vegetarian plan, but the dedicated keto plan offers 30 grams of net carbohydrates per day. When checking out, you can let the chefs curate your meal plan for you or mix and match from your favorite options.

Pros

Cons

Factor Meals

Key features:

Variety is one of the best ways to prevent food boredom, and Factor's got it. Every week, you'll get a brand new menu of 34 chef-created meals, half of which are keto. If you have some wiggle room in your carb allowance—or you're feeding non-keto family members—you can also mix and match diet plans.

There are low-calorie, high-protein and vegan meals available, too, and Factor says many of them are low in carbohydrates, but not high enough in fat to be considered ketogenic. By adding some fat, you can turn them into keto-friendly meals for even more variety. You can choose up to 18 premade meals a week, and also opt for add-ons like keto cheesecake and cinnamon roll fat bombs.

Pros

Cons

Sunbasket

Key features:

Many meal delivery services offer organic ingredients, but Sunbasket is one of the only USDA-certified organic options. There are organic meat and poultry options (including grass-fed/grass-finished beef), and the brand's chefs aim to include at least 99 percent organic ingredients in each box. If, for some reason, a non-organic item needs to be included, they'll let you know prior to shipping out your box.

When signing up, you can choose a keto-friendly menu (there's a carb-conscious option, too, but the net carbs are slightly higher), as well as other dietary preferences like "avoid dairy" and/or "avoid beef." You can also customize your box for two or four people and two to five dinners per week and choose from meal kits or prepared meals that you can heat up.

Pros

Cons

Green Chef

Key features:

Another certified organic meal delivery service, Green Chef offers a hybrid Keto + Paleo meal kit option that's low in carbs, higher in protein and free of gluten, grains, soy and legumes. There are some conventional ingredients added to the boxes, but produce and eggs are certified organic and proteins are raised with high animal welfare standards.

Each week, you have access to the full menu to choose your meals, but each recipe is tagged with qualifiers, like "keto," "gluten-free" or "paleo" to make it easier to find what you want. You can also see the recipes for three upcoming weeks, so you can curate your monthly menu with enough variety to prevent food boredom.

Pros

Cons

The Good Kitchen

Key features:

Most keto meals are gluten-free by nature, but cross-contamination can be a concern. The Good Kitchen offers only 100 percent gluten-free meals and takes extra care to make sure they stay that way. While the company's production facility does prepare other gluten-containing meals, all equipment is cleaned, sanitized and inspected and tested by the USDA to prevent cross-contamination.

The keto options are a bit limited—there are about three to five to choose from each week—but all meals are made with high-quality ingredients, like grass-fed/grass-finished beef, pastured pork and free-range chicken. Not all ingredients are organic, but they're sourced from local family farms whenever possible. Meals arrive ready to prepare—just heat them up in the microwave or oven, and you're ready to eat.

Pros

Cons

Fresh n_ Lean

Key features:

You often have to pay a premium for specialized meal delivery, but Fresh N' Lean's meals start at around $10.50, depending on the meal quantity you choose. There's a dedicated keto plan with breakfast, lunch and dinner meals, each of which has an average of 10 grams of net carbs. You can choose one meal type or a mix of all three, and enough for five or seven days' worth of meals. All meals are made in a gluten-free kitchen, and you can also exclude up to three ingredients (like soy, cilantro or bell peppers).

The company aims to include at least 95 percent locally sourced, organic ingredients in its meals, with no artificial or processed ingredients. Proteins are humanely raised, and the meals include grass-fed meat, free-range poultry and sustainable fish. All menu options are gluten- and GMO-free, and most meals are also dairy- and soy-free.

Pros

Cons

Snap Kitchen

Key features:

Snap Kitchen offers two pre-made meal options: full, ready-to-eat keto meals (like Buffalo Ranch Burger with Loaded Roasted Cauliflower) and pre-cooked bulk items that arrive separately (like Cajun Chicken and Loaded Cauliflower). When signing up for the meal delivery service, you can choose from six or 12 meals per week, and mix and match from each type depending on your needs that week.

All of Snap Kitchen's keto meals have 10 grams of net carbs or less, and include healthy fats, high-quality proteins, vegetables and natural, no-calorie sweeteners like monk fruit and stevia. They're also gluten-free and don't contain any preservatives. The delivery area is a bit limited right now—the service is available in freestanding stores in Texas or at certain Whole Foods locations—but the company is working on expanding to additional areas.

Pros

Cons

How to Choose the Best Keto Meal Delivery Service for You

All keto meal delivery services have one thing in common: They deliver high-fat, keto-friendly meals to your door. But beyond that, they can be quite different. The first step in choosing a keto meal delivery service is to decide whether you want a meal kit (individual ingredients with keto recipes that you can follow) or prepared meals (ready-to-heat meals that you can reheat in the microwave or oven).

Once you've determined the type of meal option you want, you'll want to consider the types and number of meals. Some services offer breakfast, lunch and dinner meals, while others are dinner-only. There are also limits to how many meals you can order each week. Some prepared meal services will deliver 21 meals (enough for three meals a day, seven days a week), while meal kit delivery usually caps out at six recipes per week. Those recipes may serve two to four people, though, so you'll also want to consider if you're feeding others or just yourself.

While all keto meal delivery services offer low-carb meals, you'll also want to think about any additional dietary restrictions or preferences. Do you need dairy-free or gluten-free meals, or need to avoid specific allergens? Some services allow you to customize your diet plan, while others let a chef or nutritionist curate your menu without a lot of input from you. Neither is necessarily better than the other, but if you need more control over your meals, you'll want to make sure the service you choose can accommodate your needs.

Of course, you'll also need to think about your budget. While meal delivery services are less expensive than getting takeout, the per-cost meal can be slightly more than if you were to shop for and make the meals yourself. However, if you stick to the recipes and meal plans, you'll have minimal food waste, which can save you money over time.

How We Chose the Best Keto Meal Delivery Services

While HelloFresh really put meal delivery services on the map, so many options have popped up since. They're all convenient, but quality, variety and customer service can run the gamut. When choosing the best keto meal delivery services, we considered price, quality of ingredients, quantity of meals offered, nutritional value, customizability for different dietary needs, sustainability, customer service, delivery range and customer reviews. We narrowed it down to eight options that have high marks in all of the above, plus dedicated keto menus that offer nutrient-balanced meals.

Keto Meal Delivery Services FAQs

Are keto meal delivery services expensive?

Keto meal delivery services start at around $10.50 per meal and can go up to $15 or more. While this can be more expensive than other, non-specialized meal delivery services, it's still much less expensive than takeout (but just as convenient). Because ingredients and meals are portioned out, you'll also likely waste less food, which can save you money over time.

What are the benefits of a keto diet?

There are many health benefits of a keto diet. It can help you manage your appetite, promote weight loss, regulate your blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity. The ketones created when you enter ketosis also serve as a source of energy for your brain, and some studies show that a keto diet can lower LDL cholesterol, which may improve your heart health.

Are keto meal delivery services as healthy as making your own meals?

If you choose the right keto meal delivery service, it can be as healthy as making your own meals. All of our top picks use high-quality ingredients, like organic veggies, high-quality meats and healthy fats, without artificial sweeteners or preservatives (though Diet-to-Go occasionally uses artificial sweeteners). The meals are also macronutrient-balanced, so you can stick to your ketogenic diet without a lot of extra effort.

Final Thoughts

Sticking to a high-fat, low-carb diet can be challenging, especially when you have to plan and prepare all your meals yourself. But keto meal delivery services simplify the process. And because all of our top picks use high-quality produce and meat and veggies without any preservatives or artificial ingredients, it's just as healthy as making your own meals at home. Whether you're looking for keto meal kits or premade meals, there's a delivery option for you.

Prices are accurate and items in stock as of publish time.

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