For when you can’t get to the supermarket, or be bothered to cook
Government restrictions may be easing, but people are still looking for the best recipe box and meal delivery services. If you’re reluctant to head out to newly-opened restaurants and bars right now, shielding or living with a vulnerable person, this could be your best option for staying safe.
Mindful Chef saw a 452% uptick in orders when the country entered a lockdown, as well as 387% spike in frozen meal sales. We can see why, tbh. When the novelty of cooking banana bread wore off or work suddenly got busy AF, an easy-to-prepare meal that tastes chef-made must have sounded pretty appealing.
So, how does it 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. It’s a great way to improve your culinary skills over this period – because, let’s face it, there isn’t much else to do.
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. These are perfect if you’re struggling to get to the supermarket, or your grandparents/neighbours/relatives are in need of a care package.
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. Some of them will even match your purchase with charity donations, or plant a tree to offset the carbon footprint (looking at you, AllPlants and Mindful Chef).
Intrigued? We thought as much. Check out our top 14 food delivery services in the UK, including healthy and vegan options too.
1 Best recipe boxes: Mindful Chef
First up is Mindful Chef, because it makes delicious healthy food, obvs, but mostly because of what it’s 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.
All recipes take 30 minutes or less to make and are broken down into eight easy steps. Or, if you don’t feel like cooking, you can also purchase ready-made frozen meals (less salt than the supermarket stuff) or smoothies.
Prices start from around £4.50 per person and buying bundles is best value for money.
2 Best recipe boxes: 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 (not that you’re going anywhere ATM).
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).
As a thanks to key workers, Simply Cook is offering 50% off the first five boxes to NHS staff.
3 Best recipe boxes: 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 is vowing to makes all of its packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by the end of 2022.
There are 40 recipes to choose from each week. Our faves includes the chicken tinga tacos, turkey koftas, halloumi and cashew curry and a three cheese pasta bake.
Gousto starts from £2.98 per serving and you can choose recipes for two or four people.
4 Best recipe boxes: DIY Shoryu Kit
That’s it, life is now complete: we can have ramen sent to our doors. Ok, so there is a little cooking involved – but since all the chefs at Shoryu have prepped everything to a tee, you can don’t have to be profesh to make it taste delicious.
So if you can’t make it into London to visit for fave Japanese restaurant or know from experience that ramen doesn’t exactly travel well (sloppy AF for delivery drivers), you’re going to be veeeerrrry happy this little DIY kit came along.
So, how does it work exactly? The whizzes at Shoryu have created a delicious pork stock that arrives solid and gelatinous in a plastic packet (dw, there’s also a vegan option without all the bone boiling and that), then dissolves into a flavoursome broth once you add water.
Everything is pre-chopped to restaurant-standard levels (how do they do it!?), so then all you do is fry up your meat and arrange your veg on top. Voilà, the real deal ready in about five minutes. Perfect for date nights, gals dinners or treating yourself on a rainy day.
This kit is available from The Japan Centre’s (an absolute gem of a shop/foodhall, we suggest you visit once this is all over) online shop. Kits for two people start from £20 and there are vegan and gluten free versions available.
5 Best recipe boxes: 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 (this sounds ideal for a lockdown birthday).
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 (more important than ever right now), so as well as preparing everything to minimise this, it has loads of recipes on how to utilise your leftovers on its blog.
Meals start from £3.44 per person and you get 50% off your first box.
6 Best recipe boxes: FeastBox
If you’re missing eating in your local Indian/Mexican/Japanese/Turkish/Thai restaurant, Feast Box is gonna change your life RN. The company’s founder (who also owns Red Rickshaw, the largest online Asian grocery store in the UK), sources ingredients from all over the world to create authentic food. Basically, it’s gonna taste like the real deal, and hella better than a ready-made supermarket curry.
You can order a recipe box with pre-weighed ingredients and step-by-step instructions for 2-4 people, from as little as £5 per portion. Every week, depending on what’s on the menu, you can add on extras to your order like a sushi mat or fun dips and chutneys.
Subscribe for regular boxes – you can cancel at any time – or order one-off for a special lockdown occasion.
7 Best food delivery service: 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. Meals start at around £4.98 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 (cuz the wonky ones need love too). Plus, once you’re done with your box, they’ll pick it up and re-use it.
FYI: Riverford is now fully back up and running, accepting new customers! The company had to slow down sign-ups due to the increase in demand during lockdown, so timings were delayed before.
8 Best food delivery service: 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.
9 Best vegan meal delivery kit: 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!_ 5-a-day quota. Choose from creamy pasta dishes without the cream, burrito bowls, warm curries and luxe risottos.
Planty starts from £4.95 per meal 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.
10 Best recipe boxes: Pasta Evangelists
Ok, so wait for it: a pasta delivery service exists. Yup, each recipe box opens to reveal everything you need to make gourmet pasta – including fresh ingredients, sauces and spices. Choose from crab and prawn ravioli, fettuccine with nduja, carbonara, gnocchi with beef ragu and much more. Since you can’t make it to your fave Italian restaurant atm, this is def a good and fairly cheap option for a Friday night in.
Pasta Evanglists is also doing care packages during this time, which includes three 10-minute recipes for £25. Plus, £5 of that will be donated to the charity AgeUK.
Prices start from around £7.20 for one LUXE AFportion.
11 Best meal delivery kits: Love Yourself
Rather than delivering ingredients, Love Yourself is all about fresh meals straight to your door. No cooking is required; simply place in the oven or microwave to heat up and then eat delicious and nutritious meals.
They offer plenty of choice and menu options for dietary requirements, such as vegetarian, gluten free, keto or pescatarian, and promise “an exciting array of seasonal ingredients containing no processed meats, additives or preservatives.”
Love Yourself deliver to the Greater London region, and offer a subscription service which means you can have meals to your door time and time again.
From £21.99 daily.
12 Best healthy food delivery service: 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 during this time (we personally prefer eating our feelings), 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.
Alternatively, if you need to send a care package to an elderly relative or someone vulnerable in London, the company is also offering ‘veg & essentials’ boxes for £40 with fast delivery.
13 Best healthy food delivery service: 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 will definitely ease the pain of every restaurant in the country being closed (sob).
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 £6.99 per meal and you can get 20% off your first order using the code ‘REALFOOD’.
14 Best meal delivery kits: 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. Every portion contains two or more of your five a day – you’ve got to balance that lockdown chocolate consumption, are we right?
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 its 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.
