Posted: 2024-08-05 14:40:00

Meal delivery isn't the expensive splurge it once was. In fact, we've done the math and some meal kits are about the same cost as buying groceries and cooking yourself. If you want an even better bargain, try one of the best meal delivery deals in August and you'll get healthy, filling meals or meal kits sent to you for as little as $2 a serving.

There are dozens of discounted meal services, especially if you're trying them for the first time. And nowhere does it say you can't try all of these first-timer meal deals and decide later which one is best before signing up for real.

To bump your meal routine out of that summer slump, we found deals from top meal kit companies such as EveryPlate and HelloFresh and some of our favorite premade meal services including, Factor, Mosaic Foods and Daily Harvest down as much as 50% for summer.

EveryPlate sign up offer

EveryPlate is an even better value when you take advantage of this sign-up offer.

EveryPlate/Screenshot by CNET

The overall cheapest meal kit deal we found is for EveryPlate. This budget-friendly service already offers some of the most affordable meal subscriptions. New customers will get their first box for just $1.99 per serving when you try its simple meal kits, most of which take less than 25 minutes to whip up. The best sale right now is over at Omaha Steaks. The old-school butcher by mail has a sale good for 50% off the entire site.

Read more: Here's How Much Meal Kits Cost Versus Buying the Groceries Yourself

If you need help deciding on which deal to pounce on, we've tested all the top options to curate this list of the best meal delivery services for 2024 along with seven tips and tricks to get the most out of your meal kit service. Here we've rounded up the best deals on meal kits and prepared meal services for Prime Day. We will continue to update this post as more deals go live.

Best Prime Day deals on meal delivery and meal kits

Omaha Steaks is one of the original meat delivery services. The sprawling site includes premium storage steaks, chops, chicken, fish and loads more. The service also has a bevy of premade sides, desserts including the famous apple tartlet and even breakfast foods to peruse.

The deal: save 50% sitewide plus an extra $30 off any order over $159 when you use code CELEBRATE at checkout.

Martha Stewart partnered to create this meal kit service so you can bet the recipes are thoughtful, interesting and tasty. It's one of the higher-end meal kits with a price tag to match, which is why we recommend trying it at a steep discount before committing to any of the others.

The deal: Try out Martha's meal kits and you'll get $235 off spread across your first five deliveries.

You won't see a ton of haute cuisine in EveryPlate's weekly menu, but there are plenty of satisfying dinners for the cold weather ahead. I tried its pork sloppy joes and the chicken and linguine in a tomato cream sauce. All the meals I made were great, easy to prepare and light on the wallet. Read our EveryPlate review.

The dealEveryPlate is already our pick as the best meal kit service for families on a budget, but it's bordering on ridiculously cheap when you sign up now. Depending on the meal plan you choose, you'll score up to 70% off of EveryPlate's already cheap meal kits when you try them for the first time. That's between $2 and $3 per serving depending on the plan you choose. 

Daily Harvest sells easy-prep vegan meals, including smoothies, grain bowls, flatbreads and soups. It's one of the healthier meal delivery services and it's affordable, with most meals clocking in under $10 and some, like the pasta and grain bowls, are just $5 a serving. There's also no subscription necessary if you want to give it a quick test run. 

The deal: Save a cool 10% on any order of $100. This deal is for anyone, not just new customers.

Hungryroot is somewhere between meal kit and grocery delivery services. The quirky food subscription sends healthy foods that can be eaten on their own or spun into recipes via the brand's gently suggested meal kits. I loved the service when we tested it recently

The deal: Sign up and get 30% off your first order and a free food gift in each box for life.

ButcherBox is a meat subscription service specializing in Australian grass-fed beef, although you can also have heritage pork, wild salmon and organic chicken sent in your delivery, depending on the subscription you pick. I did the math and ButcherBox's premium meat delivery is cheaper than if you were to buy similar high-end cuts at a grocery store.

The deal: Try the meat subscription in August and choose three pounds of organic chicken thighs, two pounds of ground beef or 1 pound of steak tips for free in every shipment for life.

Read our full ButcherBox review here.

Even if you try CookUnity at the discount price for only a week, you'll be glad you did. My guess is you'll keep the subscription rolling because this service has some of the best meals we've tried. There's also loads of variety and recipes developed by some big-name chefs.

The deal: Try CookUnity and get 50% off your first week of meals. Read our CookUnity review.

For those eating plant-based or looking to add more vegetarian recipes to the weekly menu, Purple Carrot is the one to try. I tried Purple Carrot's meat-free meal kits, and all the recipes I made were a huge hit, earning it a CNET Editors' Choice award.

The deal: Try Purple Carrot in July and get a full $100 off across your first 4 deliveries with code SUNNYGREENS25.

HelloFresh has the most options per week of any meal kit service; more than 50 on the standard plan, with lots of substitutions and swaps available. While they can be hit or miss in terms of taste, most are rather tasty and there's no better service for picky eaters or to accommodate niche diets such as gluten-free, dairy-free and diabetes-friendly. Read our full HelloFresh review here.

The deal: Score 10 free servings spread out across seven deliveries. You'll also get a free dessert in every box for life if you sign up in May.

It doesn't get any easier than Factor's prepared meals: Just heat and eat. Most of Factor's weekly menu options are healthy and low-carb or low-calorie so you can kick this month off on the right foot. Read our full Factor review here.

The deal: Save a total of $135 spread out across your first five boxes of meals when you try the healthy meal service.

Green Chef has some of the best healthy meal kits we've tried, using largely organic produce and ethically raised meats. Green Chef is a little more per serving than other meal kits, but you'll taste it in the final dish. Full review of Green Chef here.

The deal: Save 50% off your first box and around 20% off the subsequent five deliveries. For an average-sized plan, you'll save about $250 across your first nine boxes.

Good Chop has the chops -- pork, specifically -- along with excellent cuts of beef, organic chicken and a range of seafood options. Good Chop is a subscription meat delivery service with shipments starting at $149 per month for 36 portions of quality meat. You can try it for much cheaper than that. 

The deal: If you're new to Good Chop and want to give the service a trial run, we've got an exclusive offer for CNET readers worth $120 off across your first four deliveries. You can pause or cancel your Good Chop subscription at any time.

Another of our favorite healthy delivery services is ModifyHealth. The company is a great option for those with digestive issues and offers dozens of healthy meals for those keeping to a low-FODMAP, gluten-free, low-carb or heart-friendly diet. The meals are ready to go so you can just heat them and eat them right away, prep-free. Options start at just $10 per serving. Read our full review here.

The deal: Readers who sign up now can get 25% off their first order when they use promo code Thrive25 at checkout.

Gobble is quite similar to the other services, except that many items come already chopped, peeled, marinated and so on -- which can save you some prep time. The two meals I received, Yankee pot roast and cacio e pepe, were terrific. Dinner prices are normally a flat $12 per serving, so you do pay a bit extra for that convenience.

The deal: Gobble will send your first six meal kits for $36 total. That's about as cheap as you'll find high-end meal kits anywhere. For more, read our Gobble review.

Dinnerly is one of the cheapest meal delivery services even without a discount code. The quick and easy Meal kit company sends all the fixings for hearty and healthy meals, and the price comes to about $6 a serving for the cheapest plan. Read our full Dinnerly review.

The deal: If you take advantage of Dinnerly's most popular discount voucher, it'll slash the cost of your first five boxes, starting with 37% off your first delivery with free shipping, 39% off your second and 28% off the third. 

Blue Apron is more than a decade old and it's still the best meal kit service for most people, according to our rankings. The meal kits on each weekly menu include tender steaks and fresh seafood recipes and can be had for under $10 per serving, which is often cheaper than if you bought the groceries yourself. Read our full Blue Apron review here.

The deal: Blue Apron has a deal good for 50% off for heroes including doctors, nurses, hospital employees, first responders, military, seniors (55 and up), students, teachers, alumni and government workers. Complete verification through ID.me below to receive your discount for new customers. your first four weeks of meal kits and free shipping on the first.

Wild Alaskan Company has a lot of what you'd guess they have: quality Alaskan salmon of the wild variety. You can score bundles of fresh fish delivered to your door at a frequency of your choosing and never be without high-quality seafood. The service starts at $145 a month for 12 6-ounce portions, and there is a rotating menu of add-on specials that includes prawns, red king crab, cold-smoked sockeye salmon and more.

The deal: Save $25 on your first box when you try the seafood subscription. Pause or cancel anytime.

What are the best meal delivery deals?

green chef ingredients

Make dinner in under 20 minutes with speedy meal kits.

David Watsky/CNET

If it's the lowest possible cost, EveryPlate, HelloFresh, Purple Carrot and Gobble will send meal kits that are ready to cook, with some clocking in at under $2 a serving. Other popular prepared-meal services such as CookUnity are ready to send premade, ready-to-eat dinners to your doorstep, at per-serving prices that are far cheaper than takeout.

What's the best meal delivery service? 

meatloaf and sweet potato meal on plate

Cook Unity has some of the best prepared meals of any service we tried.

David Watsky/CNET

I've tried most of them and they're all solid, with differences to consider depending on your budget, diet, taste and kitchen skill level. You can check out CNET's roundups of the best meal kit delivery services and thebest healthy food delivery services for a more detailed taste. Remember, nearly all of these meal kit companies let you pause or cancel anytime, so the risk and commitment when signing up for a meal kit service is minimal.

Whether you're looking for ways to eat healthily, learn to cook new recipes or just make fewer trips to the grocery store this summer, a healthyversatile and budget-friendly meal delivery deal can help you do it on the cheap.

fish meal on table

Fresh seafood is an option with most meal kit services.

David Watsky/CNET

These offers were valid at the time of publication, but they can end at any time and may be restricted by geography and other cookie-based conditions in your browser. If you don't see a deal populate, try in a new window or private browser. In the meantime, if you've already tried one or more of these, tell me which ones and what you liked or didn't like.

My advice: Take advantage of one of these offers (making sure to pause or cancel after, unless you w

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