Dinnerly or EveryPlate? Find out who you should subscribe to with this head-to-head detailed analysis of Dinnerly by Marley Spoon and EveryPlate by HelloFresh.
Would You say no to someone who offered to take the constant burden of planning daily meals away from you?
We certainly wouldn’t.
YES, we are talking about food delivery services here.
If you aren’t already a subscriber of this trending and booming industry, and the only thing that keeps you from being one is the cost, you are in for a surprise.
The cheapest meal kit services in America, Dinnerly and EveryPlate, offer a $5 per meal deal. You read it right, the average cost per meal is between $4.80 to $4.99.
Committed to serving quality meals while erasing the task of day-to-day meal planning and grocery shopping from their customers’ to-do list, what they offer is a platter of affordability and convenience right at your doorstep.
We bet your grocery store is neither as caring nor as thoughtful.
We tried both these low-cost meal kits to find out which one is more worthy of our commitment and yours.
We did a head to head comparison of Dinnerly by Marley Spoon, and EveryPlate by Hello Fresh. Here’s what we found.
Meal Plans
Both Dinnerly and EveryPlate have a two-person and a four-person weekly plan. The only difference is the number of meals delivered.
Dinnerly serves a minimum of three recipes and a maximum of five recipes in both the meal plans.
EveryPlate offers the exact same thing in the two-person plan but offers a maximum of four meals per week in the four-person plan. That’s one less than Dinnerly.
EveryPlate is currently running a promotion to BoatBasinCafe readers! You can try EveryPlate for $1.99/meal and get 20% off your next two boxes! Get the deal here!
The Menu
One of the ways both these meal subscription services keep their price down is by coming up with a simpler menu. They do not cater to specific dietary preferences such as vegan, keto, and paleo. Moreover, the classic meals that their menu consists of are made of limited ingredients.
But the choice isn’t that limited, really.
Dinnerly offers up to fourteen different meal kits per week for you to choose from. Their menu is a balanced list of options including vegetarian, low carb meals, gluten-free meals, kid-friendly meals, and family meals.
EveryPlate, on the other hand, puts up eleven different meals on their weekly menu. These are all classic meals with uncomplicated recipes.
Even though EveryPlate doesn’t have categories like vegetarian, kid-friendly, and low carbs, it does offer something that sets their menu apart- three features enabling you with a lot of flexibility.
Firstly, your meals are upgradable. If you up the price by only $ 2.99/ person, you get to add steaks and seafood to your meals.
In the second place, there is this “Double-up” feature that allows you to double the size of your meals. This comes in handy when you order your favorite dishes and want a hearty portion on your plate before you dig in.
Furthermore, the “Modularity” feature allows you to replace proteins in some of your weekly menu meals. This gives you a lot of room for customization so that you can choose what you want to have.
Overall, the menus of both services mostly comprise of simple, classic meals that take 30 minutes tops to prepare.
Quality of the Ingredients
Quality of their ingredients is NOT something that any of our contenders sacrifice to keep their price range low.
The meals may contain fewer ingredients but not mediocre ones.
Dinnerly collects them from what they call “trusted sources” and guarantees freshness of their meat and veggies. Their suppliers vary from region to region but they make sure that their poultry is antibiotic-free, shrimp is caught from America, and beef comes from grass-fed cattle.
Similarly, EveryPlate assures consumers that they work with the best farms and producers in order to serve the best on every plate. They get to know their suppliers before they use their produce.
The crops and veggies supplied by both Dinnerly and EveryPlate are natural and fresh. Although, you should know that they are not all organic.
Taste
When we go for super affordable services, instinctively we tend to have lower expectations.
That’s what happened when we tried out Dinnerly and EveryPlate, and that’s where both of them caught us off-guard.
With their simple yet delicious meals, both the meal delivery services blew our minds away.
Dinnerly meals are easy to cook, generously portioned, and taste much more than the word ‘good’ bears.
EveryPlate meals come with super simple recipe cards, don’t require a lot of cooking time, and are super tasty, if not supreme.
Nutrition
If you worry that committing to either of Dinnerly or EveryPlate may cost you with a lack of nutrition, relax and rest assured.
The nutritional value of each and every meal is uploaded online along with the recipe so that you can see for yourself what you and your family are taking in.
We found all Dinnerly meals to be macronutrient balanced. Most recipes have ample vegetables. The calorie count per meal ranges from 500-900 calories.
EveryPlate meals are more for the omnivores and carnivores among us. They are bit veggie deficient compared to Dinnerly.
The portions are not as generous, but they are sufficient. They are also fairly nutritious. Their energy value ranges from 500-750 calories.
Packaging
Our candidates may not cut down on the quality of their meals but they do some serious trimming when it comes to packaging. We don’t blame them if that’s what they got to do to keep their food-service delivery super affordable for us.
Both Dinnerly and EveryPlate stack the protein portion at the very bottom of their box with some ice packs that keep them from perishing. The rest of the ingredients rest above.
None of the contents of the box are labeled, so expect some organizing to do before you store them in your refrigerator.
Dinnerly cuts the cost down a notch further by not offering any recipe card inside the box. You will have to look up the recipes on their website.
EveryPlate provides simple recipe cards though.
Convenience and Flexibility
When it comes to choosing the best food subscription box for your home, it’s not just the meals that need to be good. Rather, the entire service needs to be competent enough to cater to your satisfaction.
After a detailed analysis of how we were served, we have listed several facts and observations that you need to know:
- Both Dinnerly and EveryPlate are subscription-only services. You cannot place a one-time order.
- With both the services you can skip meals whenever you want.
- None of them asks for any long time commitment from you. Pause or cancel the subscription whenever you wish.
- You’ll be given several possible delivery dates from which you pick one. The dates vary across zip codes.
- While Dinnerly menu options are more varied, EveryPlate ups the game by introducing upgradable meals and innovative features like “Double-up” and “Modularity”.
- Both companies offer attractive beginner’s promotions.
- Refunds are available.
- If you are not satisfied with Dinnerly meals, you’ll have to contact support within 7 days of receiving your food box. They’ll either refund you or give you credits.
- For EveryPlate, you’ll have to hurry and lodge a complaint to Customer Service within 5 days of receiving your meals and you’ll get the same privileges.
Surfing the Website
The websites of both Dinnerly and EveryPlate are user friendly and easy to navigate across.
As soon as you create a subscription, select the delivery options, and finalize your order, you get on board.
We found the Dinnerly website more pleasing to the eyes.
The website of EveryPlate is pretty much like Hello Fresh, which makes complete sense as the latter is the mother company of the former.
Both websites allow you to change your meal selections, cancel meals, update your info, change payment methods, and much more. You can also keep track of your order history.
Both services are app-enabled.
Delivery Area
The two cheapest meal delivery options are available across the vast majority of continental US.
Even then, EveryPlate takes the trophy in this round with a coverage of 48 states. Dinnerly, on the other hand, lags behind, covering 29 states so far.
To know if your area falls within the delivery area of either or both of them, enter your zip code on their websites. They’ll tell you if they have got you covered.
Support
In case of any inconvenience, you’ll find the Customer Care of both our contenders quite helpful.
To reach out to Dinnerly, drop a message on their website, or simply give them a call during working hours.
The Support team of EveryPlate is more accessible, though.
They offer a 24/7 LIVE chat option. If you want to take a more formal approach, their phone line is open for you to give them a buzz any time during working hours.
Our Favorite Meals
Here’s one from the Dinnerly menu options and one from EveryPlate menu that we went gaga for and would strongly recommend.
Moroccan Chicken with Roast Vegetables with Quinoa and Cucumber by Dinnerly:
This yummy combo of roast chicken and vegetables cooked with Moroccan spices will steal your heart and leave you with 599 calories.
A word of caution, it is not gluten-free.
Tuskan Herbed Chicken by EveryPlate:
Tuskan heat spice casts a magic spell on this fairly basic chicken pasta. EveryPlate deserves a whole lot of praise for making simple meals like this one taste so great.
Oh, and it gives you around 750 calories or so.
Who Should Go for Dinnerly?
Home cooks who want some degree of variety and a whole lot of veggies on their meals, but on a budget.
Also, recommended for homes with kids.
Who Should Go for EveryPlate?
Economic and cautious home cooks, mostly with an omnivorous to carnivorous appetite.
Also, recommended for the ones who need a generous room for customization.
You can try EveryPlate for $1.99/meal and 20% off next two boxes! Get the deal here.
Who Pocketed Our $5 and Why?
When two services you set to compare are so similar to each other, it all comes down to the subtleties to decide which one you are going to spend your money on.
Here are the subtle differentiating points and our thought process that led us to decide whom we are going ahead with:
- Fewer calories per meal to burn (generally).
- Upgradable meals with steak and seafood on the plate.
- One less meal on a four-person plan, but that’s okay.
- Double-up and Modularity options.
- Lacks a kid-friendly meal category, but all the meals are suitable for kids anyway.
- Super tasty.
- Recipe cards are available.
- 24/7 access to Customer Support via LIVE chat.
- A wider delivery zone.
YES, you got it right. We decided to spend $5 on a serving of EveryPlate.
But just so you know, we can never really say Dinnerly fell behind.
It is the compulsion of choosing one in a head to head review like this, that made us judge the cheapest meal kit delivery services of America with such scrutiny and skepticism.
So if your gut tells you to go with Dinnerly instead, go ahead!
And please do try the Moroccan Chicken with Roast Vegetables with Quinoa and Cucumber by Dinnerly if you can.
Aloha!