I Tried Tasty Meal Prep Subscriptions over the Summer: These Are My Eye-Opening Discoveries

Dinner will never be the same.

Over the summer, I complained about it being too hot to cook in my AC-free apartment. A friend suggested I try meal subscriptions since most companies offer discounted trials.

This recommendation led me to try three meal subscription services over the summer. The companies I ordered from were Trifecta, Factor 75, and Everytable.

Once I started this journey, it was hard to turn back because the benefits were too good to ignore.

Like anything, my experience with meal subscriptions came with positives and negatives.

Here are my discoveries:

Positives

Reduces stress

I’m someone who tries to maximize each day. During the summer, I had a lot of writing deadlines and a heavy workload that required lots of deep focus. On top of that, I still had to report to my part-time job during the week.

Trying to make a meal plan and figure out what to prepare for a week was stressful. Plus, I wasn’t using my stove or oven because it made the temperature inside my apartment rise to the high eighties.

My stress levels dropped once I started receiving fourteen precooked meals a week. I no longer had to worry about hustling to the store to buy food for a week. Or worse, failing to get to the store and then ordering takeout.

Supports weight loss

I lost about 30lbs from 2022–2023 and prioritized keeping the weight off. To do this, I have to be mindful of what I eat.

One of my favorite attributes of meal subscriptions is that many offer varied diets. Such diets often include vegan, paleo, vegetarian, keto, etc.

No matter your dietary lifestyle, these services allow tasty options to keep you on track and promote healthy eating.

Another bonus is the meals come with detailed nutrition labels on each prepared dish. I could choose between lighter to heavier caloric meals depending on my daily activity.

Using these meal subscriptions made it simple to maintain my weight goals. It also gave me more than enough energy to execute my hard workouts.

The filling meals also made me reduce snacking throughout the day because I wasn’t often hungry between meals.

Builds enthusiasm

I eat the same thing for breakfast almost every day. It’s either rolled oats or eggs and sausage. If I feel fancy, I’ll slice up some tomatoes and avocado, but that’s it.

When it comes to lunch and dinner, though, I need variety. I make two big dishes a week when making my meals.

For example, turkey chili and spaghetti were often a go-to for me. Both were easy meals to cook and didn’t need much of my time.

But eating only these two meals for the week was boring. It was hard to get excited about eating spaghetti for the fourth day in a row, but I pushed through.

With meal subscriptions, you can have a different meal every day. After a while, I had some favorite dishes from the companies, but it was my choice if I wanted to eat them more than once that week.

Of the three companies I tried, Trifecta was the only one that didn’t let me pick what meals I’d have each week. In my book, this was a point against the company.

Knowing I had a new meal for lunch and dinner made me look forward to eating and helped expand my tastebuds since it was my first time trying many dishes.

Negatives

Price

I know many people decide not to try meal subscriptions because of price. I, too, was apprehensive because of the weekly cost.

Depending on the company, you can pay as little as $85/week for meals or up to over $200/week.

Even though I only tried three companies, that doesn’t mean I didn’t look at many others — I did.

My deciding factor in making the jump and subscribing to meal services was looking at my spending for food before joining. I was spending money at grocery stores and eating out.

I don’t think to spend less than $30 using Ubereats, GrubHub, DoorDash, or any other delivery service. Even if you order only $15 of food, the service, delivery, and made-up fees will bring your total well over the $30 threshold.

When I broke down the cost per meal when ordering from a meal subscription service, the meals worked out to $8-$15 on average.

So, in the end, the numbers swayed me to try out the companies I did and forgo the ones with pricier dishes.

Expiration dates

We all have to throw out food after a certain amount of time. While some companies’ dishes keep longer than others, it is a real bummer when you have to hustle to eat something before it goes bad.

Of all the companies, Everytable is the only one I felt has the fastest expiration dates on food. Their wraps go bad too fast, in my opinion. Other items last a bit better.

Since summer is over, and I can now use my kitchen appliances without melting, I let go of my subscriptions. Here and there, I use Everytable when I have a busy week.

Of all the companies I tried, they’re the cheapest, and they have a store in my neighborhood, so I often walk over to grab my meals.

But, my favorite food subscription of the trial group was Factor 75. They had the best-tasting food, the most variety, and great deals for getting discounts on orders.

Using meal subscriptions allowed me to focus on my work, projects, and fitness this summer. It also reduced my stress, helped me lose weight, and excited me about food again.

If there’s a meal subscription you love, please comment below and share. I’m looking forward to next summer and looking for new companies to add to my roster.