11 Eco-Conscious Meal Delivery Services to Try in 2024

If you’re like the rest of today’s consumers, you have a growing interest in green living. However, sustainable cars, fashion and beauty aren’t the only things to set your sights on. Many also turn to eco-conscious meal delivery services to reduce their food footprints.

Meal delivery services are most convenient for busy professionals and families. But, there’s much more to them than quick and easy dining options. Whether you love to cook or are adopting greener living, there’s a eco-friendly meal delivery service for you.

What Makes Meal Delivery Services Eco-Conscious?

Several factors make some meal delivery services more eco-friendly than others. Those considered the most sustainable focus on the following:

• Sourcing: Companies source food from local suppliers and deliver the most organic, seasonal and sustainable ingredients.
• Food waste: Services offer smaller portions, ingredients and meal plan flexibility. Many also have donation or recycling programs to prevent waste.
• Packaging: Enterprises strive for limited food packaging, smaller shipping boxes, and recyclable and compostable materials.

Food waste accounts for 30%-40% of the food supply in the United States. Also, about 133 billion pounds of food loss occurs at retail and consumer levels.

Much of this is caused by spoilage, over-ordering inventory, disposal of bruised produce and consumers buying more than they need. Additionally, the U.S. generated 82.2 million tons of packaging waste in 2018, primarily for shipping food and beverages.

Eco-conscious meal delivery services keep these statistics in mind when creating meal kits. Many are making impressive strides in gathering the most sustainable ingredients. This includes smart packaging solutions to meet your green demands.

The Benefits of Subscribing to Eco-Conscious Meal Delivery Services

Meal delivery services save time and stress in planning last-minute dinner ideas. It comes easy between easy recipes, simple ingredients and pre-portioned meals. You can rest assured you’ll eat the most nutritious and delicious food even with a hectic schedule.

Other benefits of meal delivery services include the following:

• Options for every budget — sometimes even cheaper than buying groceries
• The chance to experiment with different flavors and cuisines
• Options for dietary needs, such as vegetarian, gluten-free or low-carb
• The ability to learn new cooking techniques
• Bonding time with family and friends

Things to Consider Before Opting for Meal Delivery Services

Aside from checking a business’s sustainability efforts, you should consider the following before subscribing to a meal delivery service:

• Budget and cost per serving
• Special dietary requirements
• Time required for cooking and preparing meal kits
• Complexity of recipes and ingredients
• Delivery frequency
• Introductory discounts or meal samples before purchasing
• Customization options
• Subscription flexibility, such as skipping meals or weeks
• Cancellation policies

Always read reviews and critiques carefully before buying a meal delivery subscription. This will give you a better idea of whether a particular service best suits your needs.

This Year’s 11 Best Eco-Conscious Meal Delivery Services

The benefits of meal delivery services are appealing. Especially if you’ve hyped yourself up for meeting diet and time management goals in the new year. However, if you’re looking for all the above plus eco-friendliness, these 11 meal delivery services are worth trying.

Cost: Starts at $4.99 per serving

Options: Paleo, pescatarian, plant-based, Mediterranean diet, gluten-free, carb-friendly, keto-friendly, diabetes-friendly and pre-prepared

Sunbasket has everything you want from your meal delivery service. This includes yummy cravings to cost-effectiveness and diet-friendliness. You can also access an extensive selection of market items for breakfasts, snacks and lunches.

The brand prides itself on sustainability above all else. Meal kit ingredients are 98% organic produce, while Sunbasket ensures sustainably sourced seafood and responsibly-raised meat products. By 2026, it plans to serve only chicken certified by the Global Animal Partnership.

Sustainable packaging is equally essential to Sunbasket. In addition to providing enough ingredients to reduce food waste, most of its shipment packaging is recyclable or compostable.

Least Wasteful: Blue Apron

Cost: $12.49 per serving

Options: Under 600 calories, plant-based, family-friendly, low-carb, wellness-focused and pre-cooked

Blue Apron should be a top contender if eco-friendliness is a priority for your meal delivery service. Consider how grocery stores waste 10.5% of the food they sell, while shoppers waste 24% at home. Blue Apron wastes only 5.5%.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives are the cornerstone of Blue Apron’s business model. Some of its recent progress includes joining the United Nations Global Compact and meeting 87% of its 2025 packing objectives. They are also receiving praise for sourcing sustainable chicken and offering plant-based selections for 17% of its menu.

Blue Apron also addresses food waste. The enterprise donated 1.3 million meals to Feed America and 400,000 free meals during its weekly Farmers Markets in 2022.

Although Blue Apron offers a wide selection — including vegetarian and protein options — it currently does not cater to specific dietary needs. If you’re gluten-free or need keto-friendly meals, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Best Plant-Based: Purple Carrot

Cost: Starts at $11 per serving

Options: Vegan, pre-cooked meals, pantry items, minimal prep items, frozen meals, gluten-free

Aside from being 100% plant-based — the most sustainable diet — Purple Carrot is always looking for ways to reduce its environmental footprint. The delivery box and liners are mostly recyclable.

Certain items — such as the TemperPack fiber liner, bubble liner, cooling packs, bags and jars — are No. 4 and No. 7 plastics, which may require special recycling. Because meals are plant-based, Purple Carrot also encourages you to compost leftovers.

Meals are delicious, satiating and nutritious — an excellent option for vegetarians and vegans who need to boost their protein intake. Even better, Purple Carrot offers an introductory discount of 50% off.

Try the blood orange poke bowl or roasted pear and coconut bacon flatbread pizza. You’ll find the perfect balance of flavors and textures with each bite.

Best Organic: Green Chef

Cost: $13.49 per serving before the introductory discount

Options: Keto-friendly, high-protein, vegan, vegetarian, low-carb, Mediterranean diet, paleo-friendly, pescatarian, gluten-free

Are you craving the tastiest organic dishes at an exceptional price? New Green Chef subscribers can get 60% off their first box and 20% off the following eight boxes.

This service is the first USDA-certified organic meal delivery company with a wide range of organic and premium ingredients for freshness and clean eating every meal. 

While you can order other animal protein meal kits from Green Chef, its pescatarian meals are excellent for staying on track with healthy eating while reducing your food footprint. There is even a meal plan tailored to clean eating.

Best for Meat Lovers: Gobble 

Cost: $14.99 per serving for Classic Dinners or $11.99 for Lean & Clean

Options: Classic Dinners, Learn & Clean, vegetarian, dairy-free, nut-free and gluten-free

Not everyone follows plant-based diets. However, meat and dairy account for 18% of global emissions — particularly methane from beef production. This is why opting for a meal delivery service serving the most sustainable animal proteins is essential.

Gobble is committed to sustainable sourcing of meat products. Its wild-caught seafood is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, while farm-raised seafood meets the Best Aquaculture Practices to ensure environmental friendliness.

The salmon is also certified by Good Agricultural Practices. It never contains antibiotics or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Gobble prioritizes grass-fed beef and free-range chicken with an explanation of its sustainable farming practices in its Animal Welfare Policy.

Once you pick your meals, Gobble’s chefs do all the prep for you. It only takes 15 minutes to cook food for the whole family, such as pot roast with root vegetables and chicken korma.

Best Seafood: Maine Lobster Now

Cost: About $14.99 to over $200, depending on what you buy

Options: Lobster, crab, shellfish, fish, gourmet seafood entrees, steaks

Whether indulging in a gourmet seafood dinner for yourself or sharing a romantic dinner with a partner, Maine Lobster Now delivers fresh catch straight to your door. Choose between a wide selection of live, fresh or frozen seafood, and steaks.

And, you can even schedule a delivery date with overnight shipping. Seafood can be tricky if you’re not an expert cook, but the service provides easy instructions for a perfect dish every time.

Sustainability is essential to Maine Lobster Now. The company follows all of the state’s lobster fishing regulations, including ensuring its lobster is harvested 3 miles off the coast with a National Marine Fisheries Service permit.

Best for Kids: HelloFresh

Cost: $9.99 per serving

Options: Meat and veggies, family-friendly, vegetarian, pescatarian, healthy meals, and quick meals

HelloFresh knows little ones can be picky eaters. Fortunately, its kid-tested, family-friendly meals aim to satisfy everyone.

Perhaps they’d like the cheesy pork burgers or crispy cheddar chicken with loaded bacon mashed potatoes. Of course, there’s plenty for adults to enjoy, too — many of which are diet-friendly.

In addition to hundreds of weekly menu options, HelloFresh puts sustainability at the forefront of everything it does. It even has a sustainability team to develop new initiatives and meet its ESG goals.

HelloFresh also works closely with suppliers like The Better Fish, Wonderful Citrus, Colavita and Pratt to ensure their meals produce a 31% lower footprint than supermarket-sold fare. The enterprise also adheres to strict animal welfare policies. They turn to science to determine adequate portions with less food waste.

Most Budget-Friendly: Dinnerly

Cost: $4.99 per person

Option: Nutritious, ready in under 30 minutes, kid-friendly, gluten-free, vegetarian, low-calorie and pescatarian

If you’re on a budget, Dinnerly is the best eco-conscious meal delivery service for you. The company prides itself on its affordability at $4.99 per person, with hundreds of menu items to choose from weekly. Subscribers can opt for the Couples or Family Plan when signing up.

To help Dinnerly subscribers make greener food choices, many of its items come with a “Climate Hero” label. This means the meal kits contain the most sustainably sourced ingredients and the lowest carbon footprint.

For example, the Climate Hero label is applied to meals emitting 0.2-1.1 pounds of carbon emissions according to standards set by the United Nations and the Paris Agreement.

Dinnerly also encourages you to recycle its packaging. While the box and liners are recyclable, its cool packs are not entirely. However, the brand is looking for options to change this. Currently, you can discard the toxic, non-hazardous material inside and recycle the plastic casing.

Best for Prepared Meals: Territory Foods

Cost: $14-$18 per meal on average

Options: Mediterranean diet, paleo, vegan, Whole30 and keto-friendly, gluten-free, non-dairy

Every meal from Territory Foods is gluten-free and non-dairy. They also contain zero refined sugars, GMOs, preservatives or artificial colors. Choose at least four meals weekly from their rotating menu of 90 à la carte items.

Prices vary depending on where you live — most meals cost $14–$18 each, while more expensive dishes could run about $30. While Territory Foods is among the more expensive meal delivery services, it is also one of the most sustainable.

The chefs work in kitchens nationwide — not a singular processing plant — meaning your meals always come with locally and premium-sourced ingredients.

This business works with ranchers who follow best practices for animal welfare, raising livestock with no antibiotics or hormones. Its beef is grass-fed, while its pork never comes from concentrated animal feeding operations. Likewise, all seafood is wild-caught or sustainably farmed.

Territory Foods prioritizes sustainability by reducing waste in its supply chain. They also support communities with special giveback delivery programs and purchase carbon offset credits for sustainable projects. Its packaging solutions are also fully recyclable.

Best Variety: Splendid Spoon

Cost: Starts at $9.99 per meal

Options: Plant-based, ready-to-eat, high-fiber, high-protein, low-calorie, low-carb, low-fat, low-sugar and low-sodium

Splendid Spoon delivers a wide range of plant-based smoothies, soups, noodle bowls, meals, juices and wellness shots. Select various menu items from each category to make up your seven, 14 or 21-day food plan. Offerings are the perfect portions to keep you satiated with zero preparation.

The company claims 95% of its smoothies and shots are organic, while all items contain no GMOs. It also prioritizes produce on the “Dirty Dozen” list — such as tomatoes, kale and celery — when sourcing organic ingredients.

Even more impressive, Splendid Spoon boasts 100% recyclable packing from dry ice to the box it arrives in. This includes all bowls, containers, lids and insulation.

Most Customizable: Hungryroot

Cost: $8.49 per serving or $65 per week

Options: Vegan, meat lovers, vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, egg-free and shellfish-free

Of all the eco-conscious meal delivery services, Hungryroot allows the most customization. Pick your ingredients and receive healthy recipe ideas for quick meals in 10 minutes.

While more expensive than buying groceries at the store, you don’t get locked into a traditional meal kit. The brand is committed to perfecting its food footprint, donating any excess food to local food banks, community fridges and nonprofits.

It also ships all items in fully recyclable packaging materials, including cardboard boxes, paper coolers and food protectors. Hungryroot is currently working toward joining the Better Chicken Commitment. This way, they can deliver more sustainably sourced ingredients and minimizing food waste.

Eat Clean With the Greenest Meal Delivery Services

Not all meal delivery services are created equal. Those committed to a healthier planet are indeed your cleanest options. Opt for eco-friendliness when selecting the best meal delivery subscription to ensure your food is organic and sustainable.

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