What’s for dinner? It’s a question that can cause a fair bit of anxiety and stress. While each week might start with good intentions and a pre-prepped lunch and dinner, by Wednesday our creativity and motivation is dwindling. Stir fries and eggs in various guises become regular fixtures, and come Friday it’s either a takeaway or beans on toast – undoing a lot of the good you did by fitting a few gym sessions into your busy schedule.
Even those with the skills and interest to prepare home-cooked meals have zero time to plan and shop, let alone execute interesting and healthy dishes.
Thankfully, companies are offering a solution for our modern dilemma: meal subscription services that offer everything from sending you every single ingredient that you need to make a week’s worth of delicious home-cooked interesting meals, to providing a fridge full of nutrient-packed dishes, all prepared and ready to eat.
Whether you’re vegetarian or gluten free, looking to slim down or bulk up, or just want to make life a little bit easier, with the help of the meal delivery services below, healthy meals are just a click away.
Billed as ‘the smartest way to cook a healthy dinner’, Irish company DropChef delivers nutritionally balanced meals pre-measured, so you just follow an easy step-by-step recipe and then cook. The nutrient-packed dishes are made with seasonal, local produce and 100% Irish meat, and come in just the right amounts for the number of people you are cooking for, so there is no wastage. Choose from recipe kits, where you can cook your own meal, or their Made Fresh service, where expert chefs make your meals from scratch, ready for you to eat.
Cost:
Recipe kits: Starting at €5.83 per serving in the Family Plan or €10.95 per serving for the Classic plan.
Made Fresh: Starting at €9.95 per meal for 5 meals, with options for 6, 8 and 10 meals per week.
A one-stop solution of assessment, advice, food and training to facilitate people achieving their goal, be it weight loss, muscle gain, training for an event, rehabilitation, or just overall general well-being. Any visitor to Gourmet Fuel’s site can take advantage of the free online diet tool, or you can go one step further and arrange a private consultation, allowing you to design fitness and meal plans to suit your exact requirements. You’ll find meal plans catering to a large number of diets, with everything from Mediterranean, diabetic-friendly, pregnancy, breastfeeding and more. You have the option to buy individual items from their site too, if some snacks or meals particularly catch your eye!
Cost: Prices start from €3.15 for snacks, and dinners cost between €8.95 and €11.95. Weekly options for diet plans are available at a varying price.
If you want easy, healthy meals but still enjoy a little time in the kitchen, Hello Fresh is a weekly recipe box delivery service with no minimum term or commitment. They will deliver boxes of perfectly packed fresh and seasonal ingredients along with simple recipe cards to help you create delicious, restaurant-quality dishes at home. All the ingredients are pre-portioned so you can get straight to cooking up the dishes you have selected with zero food waste.
Hello Fresh lets you choose from an array of ever changing and enticing menu options to suit your preferences and dietary requirements, so you can say goodbye to the same old boring midweek meals. Indulge in comforting creations like Lentil Shepherd’s Pie and family favourites like Mexican Spiced Beef Tortillas, and never fret about finding something to make again.
Dublin Meat Company is an Irish owned and family run craft butchers with over 40 years’ experience. They are the home of Fit Foods, which are low calorie ready meals which cook in only 4 minutes, with plenty of options available, including gluten free. These can be found at many local butchers and shops, so they’re great for grabbing on the go.
Cost: Individual meals are €4.50 with bundles ranging from €24 to €45. They also have a 3 for €12 special available.
Eatto is all about good food, handmade by experienced chefs using quality, local Irish produce and absolutely no additives or preservatives. All the meals are sustainably packaged, flash frozen for convenience and shipped right to your door. Their meals didn’t win Great Taste awards for nothing!
Cost: Meal bundles begin at €52.95, with a variety of diets including vegan, flexitarian, Asian favourites and microwaveable meals.
Eatstro offer delicious, chef-designed recipes with step-by-step instructions and pre-measured fresh ingredients. They do the shopping and menu planning so you can just cook and enjoy. Choose from a 2 person plan or a family plan and plenty of delicious dish options.
Cost: Weekly boxes starting at €52 for 3 meals a week for 2 people.
With goal-based plans in mind, Clean Cut Meals offer a delicious range of meal plans with detailed nutritional information on calories and macronutrients, so you can keep track of your meals with convenience. Clean Cut Meals delivers your meals freshly prepared by their chefs, helping you take the hassle out of cooking if you’re on a busy schedule.
Cost: Options to buy individual meals starting at €7.49 each, or larger plans with 5 meals a day starting at €34.94 per day. Subscriptions are flexible and can be paused or cancelled at any time.
The Natural Kitchen will prepare your delicious healthy gourmet meals and deliver directly to your door in Dublin or North Wicklow. With post-workout, weight loss and vegan options available, you can choose from 3 day to 5 day plans with everything from fakeaways to protein pancakes included.
Cost: Ranges from €30-€105.
At NutriQuick, they share a passion for tasty and healthy food. Their mission is to make healthy eating more exciting, convenient and affordable and inspire, encourage and fuel everyone to lead active, healthy lives. Each NutriQuick meal is made from scratch and seasoned with their special herbs and spices, allowing you to enjoy a delicious lunch or dinner without sacrificing the nutritional value. You can also build your own bundles with protein bars and powders, Vit Hit drinks, Cali Cali snacks and more, so this is a one-stop shop.
Cost: Ranges from €50 to €80, including breakfast, dinners and snacks.
Naomi’s Kitchen believe that everyone should eat and share good fresh food regardless of their busy lives, and that’s where they come in. They take the hassle out of home cooking, delivering fresh, handmade, ready-to-eat meals straight to your door, with comfort food options like Coliemore Fish Pie and Normandy Pork with Fresh Irish Apples.
Cost: Starting from a 7 Day Food Box for one at €90, there are options for New Parent, New Home and Congratulations food boxes with delivery in Dublin and North Wicklow.
I’m a Palestinian who grew up in Cyprus and moved to Dublin in 2013, so I’ve had a mishmash of different cultures and cuisines surrounding me my whole life. I’m an avid foodie, and after realising that life as a lawyer was not for me, I studied media and became a radio host for Dublin City FM. I’m now writing for TheTaste full time, but I also have my own food blog where you can find a mixture of restaurant reviews and the occasional recipe. I talk a lot about being Palestinian; to be honest, I talk a lot in general. That’s why I did radio!