Meal Delivery Kits: How Much Are You Overpaying for Convenience? [2024]

Meal delivery kits have boomed in the U.S. since 2012, with market revenue projected to hit nearly $7 billion by 2029. Their appeal is obvious: preportioned ingredients and simple recipes delivered to your door, making getting dinner on the table easier.

However,this convenience comes at a premium. Consumers pay not just for ingredients but also for shipping, portioning, packaging, and time saved. But what’s the cost difference between these kits and grocery shopping?

Our FinanceBuzz team analyzed six popular meal kits to quantify this markup, comparing their costs to purchasing identical ingredients at a grocery store. We aimed to determine which options offer the best value and how much consumers could save by shopping themselves.

Key findings

Meal delivery pricing:

• People who subscribe to a meal delivery service pay at least double the price of grocery store ingredients.
  

Popular services:

• Worst value: Purple Carrot, Home Chef, and Blue Apron have the highest ingredient markups. The same items cost anywhere from 55% to 64% less at the grocery store.
  
• Best value: While meal delivery services still charge a steep premium, we saw the lowest markups across EveryPlate, Dinnerly, and HelloFresh.
  

What we did

To understand meal delivery service markups, we looked at 10 recipes each from six popular meal kits for a total of 60 dishes. 

For each recipe, we compared the cost of buying the same amount of each ingredient from the grocery store (for this analysis, we used the largest grocery chain in the country, Walmart, to source ingredient prices) to the meal kit cost. Our findings show the average “convenience fee” for individual meal kits.

Meal kit markups explained

As an example, we evaluated a sample recipe from HelloFresh, the largest meal delivery company in the United States. Since the sample recipe uses ingredient sizes that produce two full servings, we cut those ingredient counts in half to find the “per serving” cost.

The total grocery cost per serving ($4.55) compared to the price per serving of the HelloFresh meal ($9.99) offered a savings of $5.44, which represents a 54% savings by shopping for ingredients yourself.

To get a more representative sample, we performed this same evaluation for 10 different recipes from each meal kit, including meals that feature several cuisines and ingredients.

Are you overpaying for meal delivery services?

So, which meal kits are upcharging their customers the most and least for the convenience of delivering to their doorsteps? As a note, per serving costs can change depending on how many meals customers order per week. For consistency sake, we used pricing for a “three meals per week for two people” plan for every company.

No matter the meal kit, expect to pay over 50% more for ingredients compared to grocery shopping.

Five of the six kits had similar markups, except for Purple Carrot, a 100% vegetable-based service, which had a 64% upcharge per meal.

Breaking down costs for each meal kit

Purple Carrot

• Cuisine type(s) offered: Vegan and vegetarian
• Sample recipes used in analysis:
  • Sesame Ramen With Sticky Chili Tofu & Cucumbers
  • Pulled BBQ Jackfruit Sandwiches With Creamy Coleslaw & Pickles
  • Crispy Black Bean Tacos With Chipotle-Mango Aioli & Blistered Tomato Salad
• Cost per serving (3 meals per week for 2 people): $13.25
• Average grocery store cost of meal ingredients: $4.77
• Average cost difference: $8.48 (64%)

Home Chef

• Cuisine type(s) offered: Family-style, traditional, vegetarian, oven-ready
• Sample recipes used in analysis:
  • Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Spaghetti With Garlic Bread
  • Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin With Brussels Sprouts
  • Teriyaki Ginger-Glazed Salmon With Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Carrots
• Cost per serving (3 meals per week for 2 people): $9.99
• Average grocery store cost of meal ingredients: $4.41
• Average cost difference: $5.58 (56%)

Blue Apron

• Cuisine type(s) offered: Family-style, traditional, vegetarian, oven-ready, fully prepared
• Sample recipes used in analysis:
  • Curry Ranch Chicken With Sesame Vegetable Rice & Peanuts
  • Steaks & Balsamic-Maple Pan Sauce With Mashed Potatoes & Roasted Carrots
  • Greek Feta & Orzo Salad With Cucumber, Tomatoes, & Mint
• Cost per serving (3 meals per week for 2 people): $10.99
• Average grocery store cost of meal ingredients: $4.97
• Average cost difference: $6.02 (55%)

HelloFresh

• Cuisine type(s) offered: Traditional, vegetarian, pescatarian
• Sample recipes used in analysis:
  • Jammy Fig and Brie Grilled Cheese With Arugula Mushroom Salad
  • Mozzarella-Crusted Chicken With Blistered Tomatoes and Potato Wedges
  • Pork Carnitas Tacos With Pickled Onion and Monterey Jack Cheese
• Cost per serving (3 meals per week for 2 people): $9.99
• Average grocery store cost of meal ingredients: $4.71
• Average cost difference: $5.28 (53%)

Dinnerly

• Cuisine type(s) offered: Traditional, vegetarian, pescatarian, budget-friendly
• Sample recipes used in analysis:
  • Veggie Supreme Zucchini Pizza Boats With Parm & Mozzarella
  • Tandoori Chicken & Turmeric Rice With Charred Onions
  • Beef Pot Pie With Drop Biscuits
• Cost per serving (3 meals per week for 2 people): $7.49
• Average grocery store cost of meal ingredients: $3.62
• Average cost difference: $3.87 (52%)

EveryPlate

• Cuisine type(s) offered: Traditional, vegetarian, pescatarian, budget-friendly
• Sample recipes used in analysis:
  • Spicy Black Bean & Pepper Quesadillas With Smoky Red Pepper Crema
  • Beef Banh Mi Bowls With Carrot, Pickled Cucumber, & Sriracha Mayo
  • Apricot Dijon Chicken With Pan Sauce & Roasted Veggies
• Cost per serving (3 meals per week for 2 people): $6.49
• Average grocery store cost of meal ingredients: $3.17
• Average cost difference: $3.32 (51%)

Common ingredients and costs

Many meals from these delivery services feature similar ingredients and often overlap with recipes from competitors.

Listed are 15 of the most common ingredients we found, which can serve as a handy shopping list to replicate your favorite meal kit recipes without the delivery premium.

Getting the most value from meal delivery services

• Stretch your dollar even further. Planning your dinners for the week can help you cut back on impulse purchases and food waste. Knowing some money-saving tips can also help you avoid overpaying for fresh or bulk ingredients.
• Avoid expensive restaurant bills when dining out. Taking a night off from cooking? Make your money go further by using credit cards that reward the most at restaurants. Some offer cashback options and extra points at qualifying restaurants.
• Cut your food costs in half. Grocery shopping might be cheaper than a meal delivery service, but it can still be pricey. Fortunately, apps can help you manage your money by tracking your spending and automating your savings.

Methodology

FinanceBuzz evaluated 10 recipes each from six meal kit services, noting the amount of each ingredient per serving. We then compared these costs to grocery store prices.

Recipes were chosen from each service’s website to ensure a variety of ingredients and cuisines, including chicken, beef, pork, and vegetarian meals (except Purple Carrot, which is 100% vegetarian).

The “per serving” cost for each meal kit was based on plans offering three meals per week for two people, using regular prices without promotions or discounts.

Grocery store prices were taken from the Walmart website, the largest grocery chain in the United States.

A 15% manual cost increase was added to all grocery store ingredients when comparing Purple Carrot meals. Many Purple Carrot meal kits use organic and vegan ingredients, typically costing 10% to 20% more than nonorganic ingredients.