Freshly Alternatives

Freshly is a meal service that provides great, premade fresh meals that are delivered to your door. The beauty of this type of meal delivery is that there’s no clean-up, no cooking, and no trips to the grocery store. Even if you love Freshy and their food, you might crave something a little different from time to time. For you, we’ve come up with a list of our favorite alternatives to Freshly. 

Freshly offers a great variety of meals each week, but they don’t really cater to some of today’s popular dietary lifestyles, like keto, paleo, and Whole30. Freshly is one of the more economical meal delivery companies, giving them wide appeal. It’s challenging to find a negative review about their food quality, so you’re getting a great value for what you pay for, but their shopping cost can cut into that budget-friendliness. 

Factor Meals is a great alternative option that rates well on taste, quality of food, free shipping, and options for more special dietary preferences. For a healthy option where you choose between prepared meals and a meal kit, Sunbasket is also a great choice.  We looked at all these details and more and compared Freshly’s top competitors. 

Keep reading to find out how our top choice and other prepared meal box services stack up. 

Factor Meals 

Of all the meal delivery services we’ve looked at, Fresh N Lean is the one alternative that matches most of Freshly’s strong points and delivers on a few more. Factor 75 or Factor Meals is a great meal delivery service alternative for people with health-centered goals. Their in-house dieticians and chefs have developed everything on their menu for maximum flavor, nutritional quality, and adherence to some of today’s most popular dietary lifestyles. 

Factor has meals that are dietarily appropriate for those who follow keto, paleo, plant-based, gluten-free, and dairy-free diets. Nearly two dozen menu options are available each week, and tags on their menu make it easy to identify which meals will fit your dietary needs.  Factor also offers a la carte soups, snacks, smoothies, and wellness shots. 

One more thing that makes Factor an excellent alternative to Freshly for the health-conscious is that they offer a complimentary 20-minute nutritional coaching session to help you develop and stick to the best plan for you. Factor’s meals are delivered fresh, not frozen, to your door and cost an average of $11-$15 per meal/person, depending on the subscription you choose. 

Fresh n Lean

One feature that makes Freshly so popular is its budget-friendly price point. Fresh N Lean is comparable in cost, with meals available at a marginally lower price than Freshly. 

Fresh N Lean believes that healthy meals should be accessible to everyone. Their ingredients are fresh, organically grown, and packed with nutrition. They deliver a box of fresh, heat & eat meals to your door every Friday, with several plans and a la carte options to choose from. 

This Freshly alternative supports your healthy eating habits by offering meal plans for high protein, keto, paleo, standard vegan, low-carb vegan, and a bulk meal option where you can purchase individual protein packages, grains, veggies, and more. They also offer breakfast, like oat bowls and high-protein dishes, to save you from cooking in the morning. 

Suppose you’re looking for organic, non-GMO, grass-fed, and wild-caught, sustainable, quality ingredients and breakfast or dinner options that meet your nutritional needs. In that case, this is a great alternative to Freshly, at prices that won’t break the bank. 

Sunbasket 

Sunbasket is a meal delivery service that offers freshly prepared meals, like Freshly, as well as some meal kits. Compared to Freshly, Sunbasket doesn’t offer as many prepared meals, but the variety is comparable once you include their meal kits. Where Sunbasket stands out as a solid alternative to Freshly is their commitment to quality and meals for special dietary needs. 

The concept behind Sunbasket is that good, nutritious food encourages good health. They strive to make all of their meals and meal kits nutritionally balanced, with clean ingredients. Their produce is almost entirely organic (they’ll let you know if they have to substitute a non-organic item) and non-GMO. Seafood and meats are sustainably and ethically sourced, with a commitment to protecting the environment. 

Sunbasket is also great for those with special dietary considerations. They offer meal options for gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegetarian, paleo, low-calorie, Mediterranean, and diabetic-friendly lifestyles. 

Sunbasket’s prepared meal menu has about 15 different selections each week. There are also 15-20 meal kit options, some with almost all of the prep work done for you. Sunbasket does cost a bit more than Freshly, with the average cost starting at $10.99 per person. 

Home Bistro

One thing that can turn someone off from signing up with a meal delivery company is quality. You might be worried that for the price you’re paying, what you end up with is only marginally better than what you’d find in the freezer section while grocery shopping. Home Bistro puts an end to this concern with restaurant-quality, gourmet meals that can be ready in minutes. 

Home Bistro features a selection of al a carte meals and meal combos that bundle a selection of entrees together. The meal combos are offered with options like Best Sellers, Table for Two, Vegetarian, and more. If you don’t see a combo package you like, simply choose what you’d like from the individual meal options. 

Home Bistro has also partnered with Iron Chef Cat Cora. You’ll find an entire menu full of her gourmet creations, like Harissa Roasted Lamb, Basque Beef Tenderloin with Chimichurri Sauce, and Grilled Tofu with Pumpkin Mole. 

Home Bistro offers a good selection of meals for special dietary preferences. They offer Paleo, Heart Healthy, Vegetarian (primarily plant-based), Diabetic Friendly, Mediterranean, and Body Shed for weight loss. 

While Home Bistro offers gourmet meals delivered to your door, there are a couple of things to consider when comparing them to Freshly. The first is that Home Bistro meals are frozen instead of delivered fresh. This is good for people who like to have a stash of microwave meals in the freezer but not so great for those who prioritize fresh flavors. 

The second is the price. Home Bistro is one of the more costly delivery services out there. You’re getting gourmet meals, but you’re also paying for them. You’ll pay $15-$29 per meal from the a la carte options. The cost per portion is slightly less when you choose from the meal combos. 

Modify Health

Digestive health is a major concern for many people in the United States. It’s estimated that 15% – 25% of people suffer from some degree of irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS. Women experience these uncomfortable digestive symptoms three times more than men. The main way of controlling symptoms is through dietary adjustments, making it hard to find a meal delivery service that doesn’t make your digestive issues worse. Modify Health has the answer. 

With Modify Health, every prepared meal is low-FODMAP, meaning it’s free of ingredients that are known to irritate IBS and other digestive issues. While healthy and nutritionally balanced, fresh meals often contain high-FODMAP ingredients, like wheat, onion, garlic, dairy, and certain fruits or vegetables. 

Modify Health is gluten-free, dairy-free, and does offer some vegetarian/vegan meal options. There are more than two dozen entrees and a handful of breakfast items on their weekly menu. There are two plans to choose from. The first allows you to build your own plan a la carte, with a minimum of six meals per week. Prices range between $7.99 – $11.75. The second option is a low-FODMAP program that includes a full week’s worth of entrees and breakfast meals for $165 per week. 

Modify Health’s meals are delivered fresh to your door. All you have to is pop them in the microwave, and you’ll have a digestive health-friendly meal in minutes. 

Epicured 

Epicured is focused on health and is another good option if you’re looking for a meal delivery that isn’t Freshly. Epicured’s menu offers more than your standard variety of vegan/vegetarian, omnivore, and pescatarian meals, so there’s something there for even the most devout carnivore, and they’re all low-FODMAP and gluten-free. 

Epicured, on average, costs quite a bit more than Freshly. Items like their soups that make good light meals are priced right about the same as Freshly. What you are paying for with Epicured compared to Freshly is variety. Epicured offers dinner entrees, breakfast, soup, bowls & salads, sides, snacks, beverages, and special bundles. 

Epicured meals are delivered fresh, and their meal delivery is completely customizable. You choose the number of meals you want and when/how frequently you want them delivered. On average, items from Epicured last four days in the refrigerator, so if you’re enjoying them as a staple of your diet, plan on ordering more than once a week. 

Meal Kit Alternatives to Freshly

Freshly is a popular meal delivery service if you’re looking for a good-tasting prepared meal. Customers like the prepared meal concept because it saves so much time in the kitchen, or they simply aren’t a fan of cooking. The services in this category offer meal kits that require a bit of prep work but are still easy to prepare. If you don’t mind a little bit of chopping or cooking, these two companies are good alternatives to Freshly. 

Blue Apron 

Blue Apron was one of the first meal delivery services, and now they’re one of the most popular. Where Blue Apron most compares to Freshly is their price point, style of meals, and quality of ingredients. They offer about a dozen meal choices each week, with your choice between their signature and vegetarian plans. 

For those who don’t like cooking or are a little intimidated in the kitchen, Blue Apron offers meal kit options that are perfect for beginning cooks, with many taking only 20 minutes to prepare and cook. A few good choices would be their Sambal-Peanut Chicken Noodles, Lemon Caper Tilapia, or Middle Eastern Style Beef Pitas. 

Home Chef 

Home Chef is a meal kit service that also offers a small selection of oven-ready meals. Home Chef isn’t as good for dairy-free or gluten-free meals as Freshly, but if dietary restrictions aren’t a concern, you’re sure to find something that you enjoy on their menu, including lots of popular comfort food style dishes. 

What’s nice about Home Chef is that they offer a couple of 15-minute meal kits with easy-to-follow recipes. These are great for people that like Home Chef’s prepared meals but also enjoy the idea of cooking a quick meal from scratch. Home Chef’s prices are comparable to Freshly’s, and they make it easy to customize your order. 

Best Alternative to Freshly

Freshly is a prepared meal delivery service that offers fresh, heat & eat meals delivered to your door. Their simplicity and quality ingredients make them an attractive option. If you’re looking for an alternative for Freshly, our top choice is Factor_. Out of all the meal delivery services that we compared, this one stands out as offering fresh, delicious prepared meals with quality ingredients at a great price. 

The style of meals offered by Factor_ is also a good match to Freshly, with flavorful dishes that include both familiar favorites and a few options with less traditional, exciting flavor combinations. 

Bottom Line

Freshly is a good meal delivery service, but they’re not for everyone. Factor offers great food, quality ingredients, and prepared meals that customers love. Them, along with the other meal services, give you many choices for prepared meal boxes. Check out Factor, Sunbasket, and the others Freshly competitors to explore their menus and experience them for yourself.