Food delivery services can be a convenient way to plan your weekly meals, eat healthier, or aid your weight loss journey. If you follow a vegan diet, which is absent of animal proteins and byproducts, or want to stay on an eating plan with vegetables as the star of the show, a vegan meal delivery service may be a good option for you. Plus, a vegan diet can have lots of health benefits.
“A well-planned vegan diet is often rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, which provide essential nutrients and antioxidants,” says Melissa Snover, a registered nutritionist and CEO of Nourished, a company that makes custom vitamins for adults and kids. “This type of diet can help lower the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and more.”
To help you with weekly meal planning, our Handbook Team tests numerous meal delivery services to assess which best supports people who maintain a vegan diet. These are our top picks.
Best vegan meal delivery service overall: Purple Carrot
Our Handbook Team likes Purple Carrot for its variety of vegan-prepared meals and meal kits. Purple Carrot offers fresh vegan breakfasts, lunches, and dinners inspired by cuisines from all over the world. Most ingredients are organic, and our testers are pleased by the generous portion sizes.
Which vegan meal delivery service is right for you?
- Purple Carrot: Best vegan meal delivery service overall
- Sunbasket: Best meal delivery service for flexitarians
- Mosaic Foods: Best affordable vegan meal delivery service
Compare the best vegan meal delivery services
| Price per serving | $11–$13.25 | $9.99–$11.49 | $5.99–$10.99 |
| Meal kit or prepared? | Both | Both | Prepared meal |
| Meals per week | Three to 10 | Five | Six to 18 items* |
| Delivery Area | Continental United States | United States, excluding AK, HI, MT, ND, and parts of NM | Most metropolitan areas in Eastern and Western United States |
*Items include smoothies and soups in addition to meals
Our testing experience
Our Handbook Team tests the top meal delivery programs by signing up as mystery shoppers to try the service and meals for one week each. So far, we have tested 26 of the top meal delivery services. During that time, we do the following:
Sign up for the service as a new member.
Select one week’s worth of meals.
Evaluate the program for dietary and food allergy options.
Place an order for the meals and set a delivery date.
Track and evaluate the delivery.
Unbox package when it arrives and document the condition and quality of all items.
Prepare meals throughout the week following instructions and recipes.
Evaluate each meal for taste, convenience, portion size, and freshness.
Contact customer support with questions.
Cancel subscription.
We familiarize ourselves with each meal delivery service to learn how it works, the types of meals it offers, and how much effort it takes to prepare each meal. We specifically ask each tester to evaluate each meal delivery for ingredient freshness, convenience, taste, portion sizing, and whether it offers meals with enough food to feed a family of four.
Testers also note the types of meals the brands offer, whether they deliver the ingredients and recipes to prepare your own meal or premade meals that you heat. If the service gives you the ingredients to prepare, we look to see if they offer meals for different cooking skill levels.
We also surveyed 600 meal delivery service users to learn more about their experiences. We use these survey results, our testing data, and insights from nutrition experts to develop a thorough perspective on each meal delivery service we review.
How we test meal delivery services
Ingredient freshness
Food freshness is paramount in assessing meal delivery services. Upon opening the box, we see if the food looks and smells fresh and if the frozen meals have freezer burn. Vacuum-seal bags and airtight containers can help preserve food freshness by minimizing exposure to air and moisture, so we examine the packaging for damage. We also check for expiration dates on everything packaged, including produce, proteins, snacks, and drinks.
Convenience
We check what days and times the meal service can be delivered. We also check whether you can skip a week, pause, or easily cancel the service.
Taste
We know that taste preferences can vary from person to person, but our testers rate the flavors and textures of each meal to give you an idea of how it tastes. If our testers don’t like a meal, they specifically note why.
Portion size
Our Handbook Team testers gauge whether the meals are enough for a single person or multiple people and whether the portion size indicated on the packaging is accurate. We also ask testers if they feel full after eating the meals or if they’re still hungry.
Family-friendliness
The family-friendly factors include how long the meal takes to prepare and whether it provides enough food for a family of four. We also consider whether these meals require a few or a lot of kitchen tools and if they appeal to kids or picky eaters.
Best vegan meal delivery service reviews
Best vegan meal delivery overall: Purple Carrot
- Price per serving: $11–$13.25.
- Plans: Three to 10 meals per week.
- Types of meals offered: Vegan, high protein, chef’s choice, gluten-free, soy-free, less than 600 calories, fiber-rich.
- Type: Prepared or meal kit.
- Delivery area: Continental United States.
- Shipping cost: $10–$20 for orders under $100; free for orders over $100.
- Serving sizes: One, two, or four servings.
Purple Carrot is our top pick of all vegan meal delivery services we tested because of its wide variety of high-quality dishes and its high-protein, low-calorie, and low-sodium meal options. Purple Carrot offers breakfast, light and easy lunches, dinner meal kit options, and healthy prepared frozen meals in a variety of global cuisines, and the portion sizes are generous.
We like that this service aims to be sustainable and community-focused. Through the Farmlink Project, Purple Carrot supports people in need by connecting farms with a surplus of nutritious produce to communities in need, cutting down on food waste while feeding people who may not normally have access to fresh produce.
Our tester enjoyed the Chipotle Tofu Tacos.
Depending on your location, you’ll receive your weekly delivery on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday. If you order $100 worth of meals or pantry items, you can qualify for free shipping; otherwise, according to customer service, you will be charged $10–$20 in shipping, depending on your zip code. You can skip weeks or pause the service at any time.
Our tester made four meal kits and two prepared meals. They rated their first meal kit, chipotle tofu tacos, a 5 out of 5 in taste. Although our tester liked the tofu tacos very much, it was not the recipe they ordered, which was General Tso’s tofu. However, they are happy with the taco recipe they ended up with. They think their second meal, a cauliflower dish, needed more flavor, and they added some of their own enhancements. The prepared meals they tried included a falafel bowl and a tahini caesar broccoli bow. Our tester likes that the premade meals are fresh instead of frozen, and rated them a 4 out of 5 in freshness. Both meals were easy to prepare and were ready in under two minutes in the microwave. While our tester enjoyed the convenience of the prepared meals, they found that the meal kits were tastier overall.
From our tester
“The taste of the tofu tacos was good, not super spicy. The marinated radishes were delicious and were the standout part of the meal.”
Purple Carrot meal kit ingredients and prepared meals are kept cool with ice packs in the delivery box, and our tester thought it looked well-packaged and tightly sealed. A majority of the ingredients for a specific meal were packed together, but a few items were loose in our tester’s box. The items mostly arrived in good condition, except for green beans, which had started to brown, and our tester left them out of the recipe.
Best vegan meal delivery service for flexitarians: Sunbasket
- Price per serving: $9.99–$11.49.
- Plans: Two to five meals per week.
- Types of meals offered: Paleo, carb-conscious, gluten-free friendly, diabetes-friendly, vegetarian, pescatarian, Mediterranean, keto-friendly, and fresh and ready.
- Type: Prepared or meal kit.
- Delivery area: United States, excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, and parts of New Mexico.
- Shipping cost: Free for the first four boxes; $6.99–$12.99 per week after the first four boxes.
- Serving sizes: Two, three, four, or five servings.
Sunbasket is our top pick for flexitarians, who eat a mostly plant-based diet and occasionally animal-sourced proteins. This service has a wide variety of meal options, including Paleo, carb-conscious, gluten-free, diabetes-friendly, vegetarian, pescatarian, Mediterranean, and keto-friendly meals. You can also buy sides, snacks, drinks, and proteins a la carte.
Our tester tried the Sunbasket salmon with spring vegetables and tahini sauce meal.
Sunbasket allows you to be very specific about your dietary preferences, which can make choosing your meals a breeze. You can select recipes that are categorized as the following:
- High protein
- High fiber
- Low carb
- Low calorie
- Low added sugar
- Low sodium
- No dairy
- No sesame
- No soy
- No lamb
- No pork
- No beef
- No shellfish
- No fish
- No poultry
Handbook tip #1
Many meal delivery services that offer “gluten-free” or “dairy-free” options are not always certified or safe for people who have celiac disease or other allergies. For example, it’s common for meal delivery services to say they have options that are “gluten-free friendly” but then have a small disclaimer on the recipe card or website that states, “Meals are crafted in kitchens where gluten, dairy, and other allergens are present.” Before settling on a meal delivery service, check to see if it is “certified gluten-free” and states that it follows strict protocols to reduce cross-contamination.
Our tester ordered four meal kit meals and two Fresh and Ready single serve prepared meals. The standout meal kit meal was the cooked salmon with spring vegetables and a tahini sauce. The recipe says it takes approximately 30–45 minutes to prep and cook the meal, but it took our tester, an intermediate cook, only 24 minutes. They like how the instructions include a “chef’s tip” and “ingredient IQ” section, which offers a little extra information about the recipe.
From our tester
“No advanced cooking skills needed. Just some chopping. The recipe asks you to spoon the lemon butter over the fish, which is very easy and doable. The tahini sauce is the star of this recipe. Tastes delicious and healthy.”
Our tester was impressed by the Sunbasket prepared meals, giving them a five out of five rating for freshness and for convenience. In fact, our tester says that they enjoyed the prepared meals the most out of all the options they tried. They loved that the meals came fresh, not frozen, and that they were both filling but not too heavy. Sunbasket prepared meals also come in compostable fiber trays, which our tester appreciates, though they still include a plastic film on top like most prepared meal options.
You can choose which day you want your meal kit or prepared meals delivered Monday through Thursday. You can also skip a week or pause your subscription at any time.
Although the instructions on the recipe cards are easy to follow, the font size could be larger, and our tester thinks Sunbasket could break the instructions down into a few more steps.
Best affordable vegan meal delivery service: Mosaic Foods
- Price per serving: $5.99–$10.99.
- Plans: Six to 18 items per box.
- Types of meals offered: Vegan, vegetarian, frozen meals, healthy meals, dairy-free, soy-free, and gluten-free.
- Type: Prepared meals.
- Delivery area: Most metropolitan areas in the Eastern and Western United States.
- Shipping cost: $9.99.
- Serving sizes: Single and family of four servings.
Mosaic Foods is our selection for the most budget-friendly plant-based meal delivery service. Not every prepared meal is vegan, but there are plenty of vegan options. You can also find a variety of dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, and gluten-free items. The price per serving starts at $5.99, which is $4 cheaper than the second most affordable option on our list, and shipping is free if you select 12–18 items per order.
Our tester ate creamy pesto cavatappi as one of their prepared meals.
Subscribers can choose from a selection of veggie bowls, family meals that feed up to four people, pizzas for one or two people, smoothies, soups, and oat bowls. Our tester enjoyed the pesto pasta dish they ordered. The microwave directions were easy to follow and accurate.
From our tester
“There didn’t seem to be a lot of pesto, but I enjoyed it. The pasta felt al dente, and it was a good portion size.”
Our tester tried a few other dishes, including penne alla vodka, noting that it was delicious, filling, and reheated well. While the pasta portions satisfied them, some other meals disappointed. The frozen pizza box was damaged on arrival, and our tester thought it tasted like freezer burn, was cardboard-like, and bland.
We like that Mosaic Food’s prepared meals are easy to heat when you’re short on time. Most dishes are perfect for single serving sizes, but there are some family-size options, too. Frozen meals arrive with printed expiration dates, so undamaged items can remain frozen for months. This easy storage option means less food waste if you have a week when you can’t get to all your planned meals.
How to choose the best vegan meal delivery service
Based on our Handbook Team’s research, we recommend you consider the following to ensure you get the best vegan meal delivery service possible. Here are some key things to consider:
Delivery range
The delivery range is one of the first things to check when looking for a vegan meal delivery service. Not all services are available everywhere in the United States; some may only deliver to certain cities and states.
Cost
Whether supplementing your weekly cooking routine or trying new cuisines, think about how much you are willing to spend on delivery and shipping. Meal kits you cook yourself tend to cost less than prepared meals.
Check for places to save on your delivery service. Many companies offer free shipping on your first order, discounts, and money off when you refer a friend.
Vegan or plant-based
Depending on your dietary preferences and needs, you may want a meal delivery service that is entirely vegan or just plant-based. Some shoppers may have ethical concerns about eating animal-based proteins and prefer to work with companies that adopt an entirely vegan service. If that’s not your preference, you may have more options.
Quantity
Whether you cook for one or a family of four, it’s nice knowing what to expect from a meal delivery service. Prepared meals tend to feed one person, while meal kits provide more opportunity to expand the menu for multiple people. Some delivery services offer a mix of both and may include pantry staples, too.
Expiration dates
It’s important to know how long your veggies, fruits, and nut-based milks are safe to consume. Not all produce arrives in packaging, so finding an expiration date can be challenging. Feel free to contact customer service to find out more about food safety.
Dietary or allergy-safe
Although the meal delivery service may be vegan, it may not be safe for people with specific allergies or dietary restrictions. Some companies do a better job than others of creating specific filters so you can omit exactly what you can’t eat.
Frequently asked questions
A vegan diet is plant-based and excludes all animal byproducts, proteins from animal sources, eggs, or dairy products. A vegetarian diet is also mostly plant-based but may include eggs and dairy products. Here are a few types of vegetarians:
- Lacto-vegetarian: This diet leaves out meat, fish, and eggs. Dairy products, such as milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter, may be included.
- Ovo-vegetarian: This diet excludes meat, seafood, and dairy products but includes eggs.
- Lacto-ovo vegetarian: This diet excludes meat and fish but includes dairy products and eggs.
- Pescatarian: This diet includes seafood but is vegetarian otherwise.
Yes, eating a vegan diet is associated with health benefits, including a lower body mass index (BMI) and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular conditions.
It’s important to note that eating a completely vegan diet can leave you low in certain vitamins like B12, calcium, and vitamin D—all of which are vital for bone health—so your doctor may recommend taking supplements.
Our Handbook Team found Mosaic Foods to have the most affordable vegan meal delivery service. Its prepared meals cost $5.99–$9.99 per serving. The first box is shipped for free and then will cost a flat rate of $9.99. If you’re looking for a service that provides both prepared meals and meal kits, consider Sunbasket, which starts at $9.99–$11.49 per serving.
- Key, T.J., Papier, K., & Tong, T.Y.N. (2022, May). Plant-based diets and long-term health: Findings from the EPIC-Oxford study. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 81(2), 190-198. Link
- Derbyshire, E. J. (2017, January 6). Flexitarian diets and health: A review of the evidence-based literature. Frontiers in Nutrition, 3(55). Link