Best Vegan Meal Delivery Services For Your Healthy Diet In 2023
Updated on
- Written by Ellie Busby, MS, RDN
Medically reviewed by
Melissa Mitri, MS, RD
All articles are produced independently. When you click our links for purchasing products, we earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about how we earn revenue by reading our advertise disclaimer.
Splendid Spoon
- Fully-prepared vegan meal delivery service.
- 65+ whole food recipes to choose from.
- 100% recyclable packaging.
- Free from gluten and dairy.
60% Off Coupon: WELCOME60
CookUnity
- A fully-prepared local meal delivery service.
- Supports local chefs.
- Returnable packaging program in Los Angeles and New York.
Purple Carrot
- 100% plant-based meal kit service.
- No meat substitutes, only whole foods.
- Best for learning how to cook plant-based.
30% Off Coupon: carrot30
A vegan diet can be great for burning fat, and many plant-based foods can aid sustainable weight loss – if you get it right.
But it can be hard to make nutritionally well-balanced, tasty plant-based meals – even if you’re a seasoned vegan. It takes more planning to ensure you get the right nutrients daily, especially protein, omega-3, iron, and calcium.
How can you make sure you’re getting everything you need? One way is with a good vegan meal delivery service.
Best Vegan Meal Delivery Services In (September. 2023)
- Splendid Spoon – Editor’s Choice
- CookUnity – Best For Premade Vegan Meals Delivered Toy Our Door
- Purple Carrot – Best Gluten-Free, Vegan Meal Delivery Service
- Veestro – Best Organic Vegan Meal Delivery Service
- Mosaic Foods – Cheapest Vegan Meal Delivery Service
What Is A Vegan Diet?
A vegan diet is rich in plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and pulses and avoids all animal-based foods, such as meat, fish, dairy, eggs, and honey.
You will need some basic nutrition knowledge, however. Following a vegan diet correctly is more complicated than cutting out meat and dairy.
A vegan diet can increase the risk of nutrient deficiencies[1] if not followed correctly, so you need to ensure you replace the protein, iron, calcium, and other nutrients from animal foods with the right combination of plant-based foods.
And that’s where a good plant-based meal delivery service can help.
So, which are the best healthy meal delivery kits available? We reviewed the top vegan delivery services for 2023.
5 Best Vegan Meal Delivery Services Of 2023
Splendid Spoon
60% Off Coupon: WELCOME60
If you want to try a whole food plant-based lifestyle but don’t have the time or know where to start, Splendid Spoon has got you covered.
- Fully-prepared vegan meal delivery service.
- 65+ whole food recipes to choose from.
- Free from gluten and dairy.
- Expensive for soups and smoothies.
- Uses lots of plastic.
Splendid Spoon is perfect for those wanting to follow a healthy plant-based lifestyle but lacking time to plan and prepare meals. We think Splendid Spoon is also the best vegan meal delivery for weight loss.
That’s because Splendid Spoon focuses on healthy whole-food plant-based meals, with a variety of dishes, grain bowls, soups, noodles, and smoothies. Unlike many standard soups and smoothies, Splendid Spoon ensures they are nutritionally balanced, with all the right proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates.
Splendid Spoon has a huge menu of over 65 plant-based dishes to choose from, and it’s a very simple process to order your meals. Just choose from their meal plans with seven, 14, or 21 meals, and then customize your plan to your needs.
Their system also learns what you like best to make the ordering process even easier.
The cost of Splendid Spoon meals starts at $9.99 per meal. You can skip a delivery or cancel anytime, and the meals last for 30 days in your freezer.
CookUnity
ChefUnity is a direct chef-to-consumer fully-prepared meal service offering a range of vegan and non-vegan meals, breakfasts, snacks, and dinners from local chefs.
- A fully-prepared local meal delivery service.
- Supports local chefs.
- Returnable packaging program in Los Angeles and New York.
- Not a fully-vegan service.
- Not available in every state.
CookUnity is a chef-to-consumer marketplace that ensures your chef is local to you. Your meals will even be chef-delivered to your door. CookUnity focuses on local, seasonal ingredients as well as global cuisine, bringing you flavors from around the world.
You can select the vegan menu, but they also offer meat-based dishes.
To get started, you will choose from four, six, eight, 12, or 16 meals per week. You then enter your zip code to see which chefs and meals are available to you.
With meals from hundreds of chefs to choose from, you can find the vegan chefs you like and order more of their meals. A few days before your next delivery, they will text you their meal recommendations. You can go with their selections or choose your own.
Starting in New York, ChefUnity has now spread across the country but is not yet available in every state. It’s easy to add, pause, skip deliveries, or change your plan anytime.
Purple Carrot
30% Off Coupon: carrot30
Purple Carrot offers 100% plant-based meals made with healthy, whole-food ingredients and with good gluten-free options. Choose from fully prepared meals, meal kits, or a combination of both.
- 100% plant-based meal kit service.
- No meat substitutes, only whole foods.
- Best for learning how to cook plant-based.
- Good gluten-free options.
- Long meal preparation times.
- Not very customizable.
Purple Carrot is a vegetarian service offering both fully-prepared meals and meal kits to prepare your own. You can choose either or a combination of both. Of course, prepared meals are more expensive than self-prep meal kits, but they can be perfect if you need a break from cooking now and again.
We especially like that Purple Carrot focuses on whole-food recipes rather than meat substitutes. If you want to learn how to cook healthy whole-food vegan recipes, Purple Carrot is a great way to learn.
Purple Carrot has an easy-to-use website, making ordering your meals quick and simple. You can see the full nutritional information for every recipe online, which makes choosing your meals a 100% transparent process—great if you’re vegan or vegetarian because you can ensure you’re getting all the nutrients you need.
The only real downside is there’s not much flexibility or customization. You can say whether you only want gluten-free meals, but allergies and taste preferences aren’t considered. So Purple Carrot isn’t for you if you have a severe allergy or are a fussy eater.
Veestro
Veestro is a fully-prepared, mostly organic vegan meal delivery service that strives to avoid unhealthy refined vegetable oils.
- Fully-prepared vegan meal delivery service.
- Large menu of meat-free meals.
- Avoids using unhealthy refined vegetable oils.
- Not available in every state.
Veestro is another fully-prepared vegan meal delivery service. They only use plant-based ingredients, meaning all their meals are guaranteed to be free from meat, fish, dairy, eggs, and honey.
Veestro uses organic ingredients whenever possible and avoids using refined vegetable oils, such as canola oil. It is believed that consuming too much omega-6-rich refined oils such as canola might promote inflammatory diseases.[2] However, this interaction isn’t yet fully understood.
What’s more, Veestro will make smart suggestions as you adjust your weekly menu, and it learns your tastes.
Meals are delivered fresh and need to be refrigerated upon delivery. You can choose from six up to 15 meals per weekly delivery, depending on your area. If you want more than 15 meals per week, you will have to place a second order and pay for delivery twice.
There’s no commitment to a subscription, and you can pause or skip an order at any time.
Mosaic Foods
Mosaic Foods is the cheapest vegan meal delivery we reviewed. They offer fully-prepared protein-rich vegan and vegetarian meals focusing on whole-food ingredients, including pizza and protein-packed oat bowls.
- Cheapest per serving.
- Simple to order.
- Family plans available.
- Limited menu options.
Mosaic Foods offers vegan and vegetarian fully-prepared meal deliveries, including veggie bowls, pizza, smoothies, soups, and oat bowls.
They focus on healthy whole-food sources of protein, such as tofu, beans, and pulses, and avoid using meat substitutes. Each veggie bowl provides between 10-20+ grams of protein. Even the oat bowls provide at least 10 grams of protein and are under $5 each.
You can order fresh or frozen meals, called “Mosaic +,” or you can also simply freeze the fresh meals if you want to eat them at a later date.
One of the highlights of Mosaic Foods is the company’s philosophy. They are a Public Benefit Corporation and work with the non-profit City Harvest to rescue food waste and donate it to those in need.
The main downside is the lack of choice. There’s a good choice of veggie bowls but a very limited menu for the oat bowls, soups, smoothies, and frozen meals.
Benefits Of Vegan Meal Delivery Services
Being vegan isn’t always easy, especially if you’re new to the lifestyle. Here are some of the main benefits of vegan meal delivery services.
Makes Eating A Vegetarian Or Vegan Diet Easy
If you’re new to veganism, it can be overwhelming to know how to start. How do you get enough protein? How do you cook tofu, so it actually tastes good? Can you eat vegan without expensive, unhealthy meat substitutes?
One easy way to ensure you’re eating a healthy vegan diet is to choose a vegan meal delivery service. You’ll receive fully prepared nutritionally balanced vegan meals that you just pop in the oven or microwave, and you don’t have to worry about a thing.
If you want to learn to cook vegan yourself, opting for a meal delivery service offering vegan meal kits is a perfect way.
You get to learn how to cook vegan and figure out your taste preferences without the stress of planning your own nutritionally-rich meals and shopping for all the ingredients. The meal kit box should come with a detailed recipe and all the ingredients, so you can just focus on following the instructions and putting it all together.
Reduces The Risk Of Chronic Diseases
Multiple scientific studies show that eating less meat and more plants as part of a healthy lifestyle is the best way to reduce your risk of chronic diseases[3] such as heart disease and cancer.
All the services we reviewed offer healthy meals to help you follow a healthy whole food plant-based diet without the refined ingredients of meat substitutes or the saturated fat of animal products.
Sustainable Weight Management
Opting for a vegan meal delivery service is also one of the best ways to achieve sustainable weight loss – especially if you don’t know how to cook well-balanced vegan meals yourself.
Studies show that even a short-term plant-based diet promotes weight loss[4] in healthy people. In those with type 2 diabetes, plant-based diets trigger significantly greater weight loss[5] than meat-based diets.
Many of the services we reviewed focus on ensuring their meals are high in protein, which builds satisfying meals that’ll fill you up and won’t leave you hungry an hour later.
Increases Your Vegetable Intake
Unfortunately, only 10% of the American population[6] eats enough vegetables. Eating a fully plant-based diet is, of course, one of the best ways to increase your vegetable intake.
What Do Vegan Meal Delivery Services Offer?
Whatever your lifestyle, you can choose a vegan meal service that suits you: ready-to-eat meals, frozen vegan meals, or vegan meal kits.
Whichever you choose, most vegan meal delivery services strive to help you meet your dietary needs by delivering healthy recipes with a variety of fresh and whole ingredients, such as brown rice in grain bowls, oat bowls, noodle bowls, and vegetable dishes.
How To Choose The Best Vegan Meal Delivery Services?
Choosing the best service for you depends on your lifestyle, how much time you have available, and your goals.
If you enjoy cooking, a vegan meal kit service is probably best for you. If you want to eat a balanced vegan diet but have no time to cook, ready-to-eat meals are your best option. If you want to cook but sometimes need a quick break, you could stock up on frozen meals.
When it comes to taste preferences, you’ll have to check out a few services to see which suits your taste buds best. For example, some services focus on 100% whole foods, whereas others offer dishes with meat substitutes.
Finally, if you’re feeding a family with mixed dietary preferences, you’ll want to go for a delivery service that offers more than just vegan meals. However, this will likely reduce your vegan menu options.
Final Thought
Following a fully-vegan diet isn’t always as easy as it first seems. That’s where a vegan meal delivery service can help you reach your goals, whether that’s sustainable weight loss, better heart health, or simply being 100% vegan.
However, some meal delivery services that don’t focus on veganism might not offer nutritionally-balanced plant-based meals. That’s why it’s important to go for a vegan-focused service that makes nutrition-packed, satisfying vegan meals.
Frequently Asked Questions
The cost of the service depends on many factors, such as whether the meals are fully prepared or not and whether they use organic ingredients. The cheapest services we reviewed offer oat bowls from $5 each and meals from $9.99 each.
Yes; many vegan meal services use a variety of whole food ingredients, including whole grains and vegetables, and avoid refined ingredients.
Yes, if done right. For example, a vegan diet rich in healthy whole foods and protein can promote healthy weight loss, but a vegan diet high in refined foods, such as sugar or vegetable oils, will not necessarily help you lose weight.
A vegan diet can increase the risk of certain nutrient deficiencies, especially vitamin B12, iron, calcium, iodine, and vitamin D. Make sure to supplement the important nutrients and have a blood test to check your levels every six months.
+ 6 sources
Health Canal avoids using tertiary references. We have strict sourcing guidelines and rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic researches from medical associations and institutions. To ensure the accuracy of articles in Health Canal, you can read more about the editorial process here
- Bakaloudi, D.R., Halloran, A., Rippin, H.L., Oikonomidou, A.C., Dardavesis, T.I., Williams, J., Wickramasinghe, K., Breda, J. and Chourdakis, M. (2021). Intake and adequacy of the vegan diet. A systematic review of the evidence. Clinical Nutrition, [online] 40(5), pp.3503–3521. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2020.11.035.
- Innes, J.K. and Calder, P.C. (2018). Omega-6 fatty acids and inflammation. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids, [online] 132, pp.41–48. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2018.03.004.
- Dinu, M., Abbate, R., Gensini, G.F., Casini, A. and Sofi, F. (2017). Vegetarian, vegan diets and multiple health outcomes: A systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, [online] 57(17), pp.3640–3649. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2016.1138447.
- Medawar, E., Huhn, S., Villringer, A. and Veronica Witte, A. (2019). The effects of plant-based diets on the body and the brain: a systematic review. Translational Psychiatry, [online] 9(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-019-0552-0.
- Austin, G., Ferguson, J.J.A. and Garg, M.L. (2021). Effects of Plant-Based Diets on Weight Status in Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials. Nutrients, [online] 13(11), p.4099. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13114099.
- Lee, S.H., Moore, L.V., Park, S., Harris, D.M. and Blanck, H.M. (2022). Adults Meeting Fruit and Vegetable Intake Recommendations — United States, 2019. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, [online] 71(1), pp.1–9. doi:https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7101a1.
Written by:
Ellie Busby, MS, RDN
Medically reviewed by:
Medically reviewed by:
