Fast food and home deliveries

How we review meal delivery services

We explain our scoring and methods for assessing food box and prepared meal delivery services.
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Last updated: 16 Oct 2024
person taking ingredients out of a meal delivery kit

Our resident home economist and kitchen expert Fiona Mair orders and cooks meals from Dinnerly, Everyplate, HelloFresh, Make-out meals, Marley Spoon, Pepperleaf and QuiteLike. She also orders prepared meals from Chefgood, Gourmet Dinner Service, Nourish’d, Providoor, Soulara, THR1VE, The Dinner Ladies and YouFoodz to find out which meal delivery service comes out on top.

When reviewing these services, we rate them on ease of ordering, taste and presentation, temperature on delivery, ingredient freshness, recipe accuracy and more. 

Each meal delivery service receives a CHOICE Expert Rating made up of:

  • performance (50%)
  • meal ratings (which includes taste and presentation) (30%)
  • ease of ordering and delivery (20%).

Performance 

Fiona reviews each food box delivery service by assessing:

  • the presentation of the box on arrival, including how the prepared meals are packed, and for food boxes, whether the ingredients are grouped together by recipe or if you need to sort them out yourself
  • whether the recipes are easy to follow/ We ask questions like: are recipe cards provided in the box? Is the method in easy-to-follow steps? What kind of cooking skills are required? Is there adequate allergen and ingredient information provided? Are adequate heating instructions provided for prepared meal services?
  • whether the ingredients provided are fresh and if there are any leftover items or portions
  • whether the recipe times provided are accurate, and for prepared meal services, whether the heating times provided are accurate.
Read more:
Meal delivery services compared: HelloFresh, Marley Spoon, Youfoodz, The Dinner Ladies and more

Meal rating

As each meal is cooked, Fiona assesses the presentation and taste.

Ease of ordering and delivery

Fiona also looks at:

  • how easy it is to subscribe to the service and importantly, how easy it is to deactivate or pause the subscription
  • how easy it is to select meals and place an order
  • whether the box is delivered in the specified timeframe
  • the order accuracy (once arrived) to make sure all meals and ingredients are accounted for
  • food temperatures. We take the temperature inside the box, inside the cooler bag and check the internal temperature of any protein and dairy ingredients themselves.
Rebecca

I joined CHOICE in 2008 as a work experience student while studying my Bachelor of Science (Nutrition and Food) at the University of Western Sydney. I've been with CHOICE ever since.  My first job was in a room full of muesli, collecting all their nutritional data. When I completed my course, CHOICE offered me a full-time position as a Test Officer in the Kitchen Lab. In 2009, I moved into the role of household content producer. I write about a wide range of children's and household products, ranging from cots and strollers to ovens, BBQs, espresso machines and electric blankets. I even write about grocery items such as nappies, sanitary pads and laundry detergents. I love my job and the extremely talented and passionate group of people I work with. I love knowing that our research, testing and results go a long way to helping consumers with their buying decisions by highlighting great products – and singling out poorly performing ones. You can find me on LinkedIn.

I joined CHOICE in 2008 as a work experience student while studying my Bachelor of Science (Nutrition and Food) at the University of Western Sydney. I've been with CHOICE ever since.  My first job was in a room full of muesli, collecting all their nutritional data. When I completed my course, CHOICE offered me a full-time position as a Test Officer in the Kitchen Lab. In 2009, I moved into the role of household content producer. I write about a wide range of children's and household products, ranging from cots and strollers to ovens, BBQs, espresso machines and electric blankets. I even write about grocery items such as nappies, sanitary pads and laundry detergents. I love my job and the extremely talented and passionate group of people I work with. I love knowing that our research, testing and results go a long way to helping consumers with their buying decisions by highlighting great products – and singling out poorly performing ones. You can find me on LinkedIn.

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