How much does meal delivery cost in 2026?
Meal delivery costs about $13 a serving with shipping in September 2026: the median meal kit is $13.57 a serving and the median prepared meal service is $13.00 a meal, across 20 services MealFan priced on their own sites.
- Median meal kit is $13.57 a serving with shipping (2 people, 3 dinners a week)
- Median prepared meal is $13.00 with shipping (1 person, 10 meals a week)
- Prices read on brand sites September 21 and 22, 2026; EveryPlate, Dinnerly and HelloFresh re-read September 26
Average Cost of Meal Delivery in 2026: What 20 Services Cost With Shipping
The short answer: Meal delivery costs about $13 a serving in September 2026 once shipping is added. The median meal kit is $13.57 a serving for two people eating three dinners a week, and the median prepared meal service is $13.00 a meal for one person ordering ten meals. That is about 3 times what the USDA moderate grocery budget spends per meal, and roughly 35 to 38 percent less than a chain restaurant meal ordered through a delivery app.
- September 26, 2026: EveryPlate, Dinnerly and HelloFresh re-read from their own plan builders. The median meal kit moved from $13.49 to $13.57. EveryPlate for a couple is $8.82 a serving with shipping, not $7.82, and Dinnerly $11.99, not $7.99: their $5.99 headline price applies only to their biggest box. HelloFresh for a couple rose to $15.16 a serving with shipping, from $13.66. Family-of-four, cost-by-diet and price-change sections added.
- September 22, 2026: page rebuilt on the September Price Index. The earlier $11.49 median could not be reproduced from the page’s own table and was replaced.
How this was measured: MealFan read every price on the brand’s own website on September 21 and 22, 2026, using everyday prices before intro discounts, and added the shipping each brand charges. On September 26 it re-read EveryPlate, Dinnerly and HelloFresh from their own plan builders, because the headline “from” prices of the first two apply only to their largest boxes. Meal kits are priced for 2 people and 3 dinners a week (8 services); prepared meals for 1 person and 10 meals a week (12 services). Where a brand quotes a range, the median uses the middle of that range. Tax is not included. The full dataset is in the MealFan Meal Delivery Price Index and free to download as a CSV file.
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Key numbers
- Median meal kit: $13.57 a serving, shipping included (8 kits, 2 people, 3 dinners a week).
- Median prepared meal service: $13.00 a meal, shipping included (12 services, 10 meals a week).
- Cheapest meal kit: EveryPlate at $8.82 a serving with shipping for 2 people and 3 dinners. Its $5.99 headline price applies only to its largest box.
- Cheapest prepared meals: The Cumin Club and Mosaic Foods from $6.99 a meal with free shipping.
- Most expensive: BistroMD at $16.99 a meal, including $19.95 shipping; Blue Apron’s priciest dishes reach $17.91 a serving.
- Typical weekly bill: $81.43 for a couple on a meal kit, $130.05 for one person on prepared meals (medians).
- Shipping runs from free to $22.95 and up a box; most brands charge $9.99 to $12.99.
Disclosure: some “See current price” buttons earn MealFan a commission if you order. That never changes a price, a median or the order of these tables, which are sorted by cost.
How much meal kits cost per serving
Priced for 2 people and 3 dinners a week, which is 6 servings. Sorted from cheapest to most expensive per serving. The median is $13.57, and a couple spends $52.93 to $107.43 a week depending on the brand.
| Service | Food for the week | Shipping | Weekly total | Per serving, shipping included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EveryPlate See current price |
$41.94 | $10.99 | $52.93 | $8.82 was $7.82 on Sept 22; re-read Sept 26 |
| Hungryroot | $53.94 | $6.99 | $60.93 | $10.16 |
| Dinnerly See current price |
$59.94 | $11.99 | $71.93 | $11.99 was $7.99 on Sept 22; re-read Sept 26 |
| Sunbasket | $68.94 | $10.99 | $79.93 | $13.32 |
| Marley Spoon | $71.94 | $10.99 | $82.93 | $13.82 |
| Blue Apron See current price |
$56.94 to $95.94 | $10.99 or $11.49 | $67.93 to $107.43 | $11.32 to $17.91 |
| Green Chef See current price |
$77.94 | $11.99 | $89.93 | $14.99 |
| HelloFresh See current price |
$77.94 | $12.99 | $90.93 | $15.16 was $13.66 on Sept 22; re-read Sept 26 |
EveryPlate, Dinnerly and HelloFresh were read from their own plan builders on September 26 (HelloFresh at New York zip code 10001). Green Chef was read from its plan calculator on September 22. The Sunbasket row uses its advertised starting price because its signup is behind a bot check, so a small box may cost more. Blue Apron now sells per dish, so its range runs from the cheapest to the priciest dishes. Sunbasket has a $65 order minimum.
How much prepared meals cost per meal
Priced for 1 person and 10 meals a week. The median is $13.00 a meal, and one person spends $69.90 to $169.85 a week depending on the brand.
| Service | Food for the week | Shipping | Weekly total | Per meal, shipping included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cumin Club | $69.90 to $99.90 | free | $69.90 to $99.90 | $6.99 to $9.99 |
| Clean Eatz Kitchen See current price |
$84.95 to $94.95 | free | $84.95 to $94.95 | $8.50 to $9.50 |
| Mosaic Foods See current price |
$69.90 to $119.90 | free | $69.90 to $119.90 | $6.99 to $11.99 |
| Daily Harvest | $67.90 to $107.90 | $9.99 | $77.89 to $117.89 | $7.79 to $11.79 |
| Splendid Spoon | $99.90 to $134.90 | free | $99.90 to $134.90 | $9.99 to $13.49 |
| CookUnity See current price |
$112.00 to $117.20 | $9.99 to $11.99 | $121.99 to $129.19 | $12.20 to $12.92 |
| ModifyHealth | $134.50 | free | $134.50 | $13.45 |
| Tempo by Home Chef | $124.80 | $10.99 | $135.79 | $13.58 |
| Factor See current price |
$139.90 | $12.99 | $152.89 | $15.29 |
| FlexPro Meals | $154.90 | free | $154.90 | $15.49 |
| Trifecta See current price |
$154.90 | $12.99 | $167.89 | $16.79 |
| BistroMD See current price |
$149.90 | $19.95 | $169.85 | $16.99 |
CookUnity does not list a 10 meal price, so its row sits between its 8 and 12 meal plans ($11.72 and $11.20 a meal). Mosaic Foods, Daily Harvest and Splendid Spoon ranges run from their cheapest items (often smoothies or oat bowls) to full dinners. BistroMD is 5 days of lunches and dinners.
Meal delivery compared with groceries, takeout and restaurants
| Option | Cost per meal | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cooking a comparable meal at home | $3.03 | LendingTree, October 2025 |
| Groceries, USDA Thrifty plan (couple) | $3.46 | USDA, July 2026 |
| Groceries, USDA Moderate-Cost plan (couple) | $4.45 | USDA, July 2026 |
| Frozen grocery meal | $5.53 | LendingTree, October 2025 |
| Groceries, USDA Liberal plan (couple) | $5.55 | USDA, July 2026 |
| Fast food combo, ordered in store | $10.29 | Revenue Management Solutions, June 2026 |
| Chain restaurant meal, picked up | $11.71 | LendingTree, October 2025 |
| Prepared meal delivery, median | $13.00 | MealFan, September 2026 |
| Meal kit, median | $13.57 | MealFan, September 2026 |
| Chain restaurant meal through a delivery app | $21.00 | LendingTree, October 2025 |
| Casual dining visit, entree and drink, before tip | $22.97 | Revenue Management Solutions, June 2026 |
| Fast food combo through a delivery app, with fees and tip | up to $27.37 | Revenue Management Solutions, June 2026 |
Meal delivery sits in the middle. It costs about 3 times the USDA moderate grocery budget per meal, but it is cheaper than the delivered restaurant meals in these studies. A chain meal that costs $11.71 at the counter came to $21.00 through DoorDash, Grubhub or Uber Eats in LendingTree’s test, which is more than either median here.
USDA publishes a weekly cost per person that covers every meal and snack. MealFan divided it by 21 meals and applied USDA’s own adjustment for a two person household (add 10 percent), for a man and a woman aged 20 to 50. A single adult pays more per meal: $4.45 to $5.26 on the Moderate-Cost plan after USDA’s 20 percent single person adjustment. These plans assume every meal and snack is prepared at home, so they are a floor, not a typical grocery bill.
Why the gap with groceries and restaurants keeps moving
Restaurant prices are rising faster than grocery prices. In August 2026, food at home cost 2.2 percent more than a year earlier and 32.2 percent more than in January 2020; food away from home was up 3.4 percent in a year and 37.6 percent since January 2020 (BLS Consumer Price Index, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted). The average U.S. household spent $6,224 on food at home and $3,945 on food away from home in 2024 (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey).
What changed since July 2026
Meal delivery prices moved in both directions. Every row compares MealFan’s July check with the September check on the brand’s own site.
| Service | July 2026 | September 2026 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Factor | $11.49 to $15.99 a meal | $12.99 to $17.49 a meal | up |
| Purple Carrot | $11.00 to $13.25 a kit serving | $14.25 on every kit | up |
| HelloFresh | $10.99 shipping; 2 people, 3 dinners $11.49 a serving (Sept 22) | $12.99 shipping; same plan $12.99 a serving (Sept 26) | up |
| Green Chef | $12.99 to $13.49, $10.99 shipping | $12.99 on every plan checked, $11.99 shipping | shipping up |
| Sunbasket | $9.99 shipping | $10.99 shipping | shipping up |
| Blue Apron | about $9.99 to $12.49, $9.99 shipping, subscription | $9.49 to $15.99 per dish, $10.99 or $11.49 shipping, no subscription | wider |
| Metabolic Meals | $12.99 for a standard entree | $11.24 for a standard entree | down |
| Top Chef Meals | $9.95 to $19.95 | $10.95 to $14.95 | top price down |
| Fresh Meal Plan | $10.49 to $12.49 | $9.09 to $13.07 | wider |
Unchanged since July: Mosaic Foods, BistroMD, Hungryroot, Marley Spoon, Magic Kitchen, The Cumin Club and the headline prices of EveryPlate and Dinnerly. CookUnity’s own site disagrees with itself: its cost page lists $11.09 to $14.23 a meal and its FAQ still says $10.39 to $12.69; this page uses the cost page. Full detail in the Price Index.
Costs that are easy to miss
- Shipping. Most brands charge $9.99 to $12.99 a box. BistroMD charges $19.95 and Magic Kitchen passes on FedEx rates from $22.95. The Cumin Club, Clean Eatz Kitchen and ModifyHealth ship free, and Mosaic Foods and Splendid Spoon ship free at 10 items.
- The intro price ends. Factor at 8 meals a week costs $388.14 for the first four weeks with its offer, then $515.64 every four weeks, 33 percent more. BistroMD at 20 meals a week goes from $763.21 to $959.00, 26 percent more.
- Headline prices are for the biggest box. EveryPlate and Dinnerly advertise $5.99 a serving. Their plan builders charge that only at 6 servings and 5 meals a week; a couple ordering 3 dinners pays $6.99 at EveryPlate and $9.99 at Dinnerly, before shipping.
- Smaller plans cost more per serving. HelloFresh charges $14.99 a serving for 2 people and 2 dinners and $11.99 for 4 people and 5 or 6 dinners. Dinnerly runs from $11.49 down to $5.99. Factor runs from $17.49 a meal at 4 meals a week to $12.99 at 14 or more.
- Order minimums. Sunbasket has a $65 minimum, Trifecta $99, Icon Meals 8 meals and Eat Clean Bro 4 meals.
- Auto renewal. Subscriptions keep shipping until you skip or cancel before the weekly cutoff.
Cost per gram of protein
For people eating for protein, including GLP-1 users and athletes, the price per gram matters more than the price per plate. Protein is the median across every dish in MealFan’s meal catalog for each brand (9,045 meal pages, brands with at least 30 dishes carrying nutrition data; the 2026 Meal Delivery Data Study explains how dishes are collected). The price is the September 2026 cost per serving above, shipping included.
| Service | Median protein per serving | Cost per serving | Cost per gram of protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| EveryPlate | 38 g | $8.82 | $0.23 |
| Dinnerly | 39 g | $11.99 | $0.31 |
| CookUnity | 39 g | $12.56 | $0.32 |
| HelloFresh | 42 g | $15.16 | $0.36 |
| Green Chef | 41 g | $14.99 | $0.37 |
| Marley Spoon | 37 g | $13.82 | $0.37 |
| Blue Apron | 38 g | $14.62 | $0.38 |
| Factor | 33 g | $15.29 | $0.46 |
| FlexPro Meals | 32 g | $15.49 | $0.48 |
| Trifecta | 31 g | $16.79 | $0.54 |
| BistroMD | 23 g | $16.99 | $0.74 |
| Mosaic Foods | 12 g | $9.49 | $0.79 |
| Daily Harvest | 8 g | $9.79 | $1.22 |
| Splendid Spoon | 8 g | $11.74 | $1.47 |
EveryPlate and Dinnerly deliver protein most cheaply, at about $0.23 a gram. Splendid Spoon is the most expensive per gram because its menu averages 8 g of protein a serving.
What it costs to eat a certain way
A brand counts as fitting a way of eating when at least 40 percent of its cataloged dishes meet the rule and it has at least 30 dishes with nutrition data. The rules use the published nutrition numbers, so every brand is judged by the same test. The table shows the three cheapest fits, cost per serving with shipping as above.
| Way of eating | Rule | Cheapest brands that fit |
|---|---|---|
| High protein | 30 g or more protein a serving | EveryPlate $8.82 (81% of dishes); Dinnerly $11.99 (83% of dishes); CookUnity $12.20 to $12.92 (72% of dishes) |
| Lighter meals | 600 calories or less | Mosaic Foods $6.99 to $11.99 (100% of dishes); Daily Harvest $7.79 to $11.79 (100% of dishes); Splendid Spoon $9.99 to $13.49 (98% of dishes) |
| Protein-forward and lighter | 30 g or more protein and 600 calories or less | Factor $15.29 (42% of dishes); FlexPro Meals $15.49 (60% of dishes); Trifecta $16.79 (48% of dishes) |
Vegetarian and keto are not ranked. Brands label those diets so differently that a fair test is not possible from the labels: largely plant-based brands such as Daily Harvest and The Cumin Club carry no vegetarian label on any cataloged dish, and only Factor labels keto on more than 40 percent of its menu. Nutrition data is the brand’s own; dishes were cataloged mostly between May and September 2026, so a current menu can differ. This is not medical advice.
What a year of meal delivery costs
- A couple on a meal kit, 3 dinners a week: $81.43 a week at the median, about $4,234 a year. The range is $52.93 to $107.43 a week.
- One person on prepared meals, 10 a week: $130.05 a week at the median, about $6,763 a year. The range is $69.90 to $169.85 a week.
What a family of four pays
Four servings a dinner, read from each brand’s own plan builder on September 26, 2026, everyday prices before intro offers, shipping added. Bigger boxes bring the price per serving down, so a family pays less per plate than a couple, but a lot more per week.
| Service | Dinners a week | Price per serving | Weekly total with shipping | Per serving, all in | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EveryPlate See current price |
3 | $6.99 | $94.87 | $7.91 | $4,933 |
| Dinnerly See current price |
3 | $8.99 | $119.87 | $9.99 | $6,233 |
| HelloFresh See current price |
3 | $12.29 | $160.47 | $13.37 | $8,344 |
| EveryPlate See current price |
5 | $6.99 | $150.79 | $7.54 | $7,841 |
| Dinnerly See current price |
5 | $8.69 | $185.79 | $9.29 | $9,661 |
| HelloFresh See current price |
5 | $11.99 | $252.79 | $12.64 | $13,145 |
Shipping for EveryPlate ($10.99) and HelloFresh ($12.99) is the Price Index figure, because their builders do not show it before signup; Dinnerly’s $11.99 was shown in its builder. HelloFresh was read at zip code 10001. Home Chef asks for an email before it shows plan prices, so it is not in the table; its homepage lists dinners from $7.99 a serving and a Family Plan minimum of $82.91 a week including shipping. For comparison, the USDA Moderate-Cost plan for a family of two adults and two children aged 6 to 11 is $321.00 a week for every meal and snack (July 2026).
Cost of meal delivery FAQ
What is the average cost of meal delivery in 2026?
About $13 a serving with shipping in September 2026. The median meal kit is $13.57 a serving for 2 people and 3 dinners a week, and the median prepared meal service is $13.00 a meal for 1 person and 10 meals a week, across 20 services MealFan priced on their own sites on September 21 and 22, 2026, with EveryPlate, Dinnerly and HelloFresh re-read on September 26.
Is meal delivery cheaper than groceries?
No. The USDA Moderate-Cost food plan works out to about $4.45 a meal for a couple in July 2026, so meal delivery costs about 3 times as much. It is cheaper than restaurant food ordered through a delivery app, which averaged $21.00 a meal in a 2025 LendingTree study.
What is the cheapest meal delivery service?
Among meal kits for 2 people and 3 dinners, EveryPlate at $8.82 a serving and Hungryroot at $10.16 with shipping. Among prepared meals, The Cumin Club and Mosaic Foods start at $6.99 a meal with free shipping.
Are meal kits cheaper than prepared meals?
Not at the budget end: The Cumin Club and Mosaic Foods start at $6.99 a meal with free shipping, below EveryPlate’s $8.82 a serving. At the median they are close, $13.57 for a kit serving and $13.00 for a prepared meal, because several prepared brands ship free at 10 meals.
How much does meal delivery cost per month?
At the median, about $352.86 a month for a couple on a meal kit (3 dinners a week) and about $563.55 a month for one person on 10 prepared meals a week, shipping included.
How much does meal delivery cost for a family of four?
For 4 servings and 3 dinners a week, with shipping, EveryPlate is $94.87 a week, Dinnerly $119.87 and HelloFresh $160.47, read from their plan builders on September 26, 2026.
How much does shipping add to meal delivery?
Most brands charge $9.99 to $12.99 a box. The highest include Magic Kitchen from $22.95, Diet to Go at $19.98 a week and BistroMD at $19.95. Several brands ship free at 10 items or on every order.
Sources and method
- Meal delivery prices: read on each brand’s own website on September 21 and 22, 2026. Factor was read from its plan calculator at New York and Dallas zip codes, HelloFresh and Green Chef at New York zip code 10001, stopping before signup. Published in the MealFan Meal Delivery Price Index (CSV).
- Medians: each service counts once, a price range counts as its midpoint, meal kits and prepared meals are calculated separately. Everyday prices, intro offers excluded, tax excluded.
- Grocery benchmark: USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home, July 2026, issued August 2026.
- Delivery app and restaurant benchmarks: LendingTree, delivery vs pickup study, October 2025 (5 chains, 10 largest metros); Revenue Management Solutions, June 2026 (61,000 restaurants, 21 chains).
- Price trends and household spending: BLS Consumer Price Index, August 2026; BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2024.
- Plan-builder re-check, September 26, 2026: EveryPlate, Dinnerly and HelloFresh plan builders, everyday prices before signup, no account created; HelloFresh at zip 10001.
- Protein and diets: MealFan meal catalog, 9,045 meal pages with the brand’s own nutrition data; method in the 2026 Meal Delivery Data Study.
How to cite this page
Cite as: MealFan, “Average Cost of Meal Delivery in 2026,” prices checked September 21 and 22, 2026, with a link to https://mealfan.com/average-cost-of-meal-delivery-2026/. The tables and the Price Index CSV are free to reuse with credit.
Related guides
- Meal Delivery Price Index: every price, every month, for 37 services.
- Meal Delivery Statistics 2026: market size, brand revenue and growth.
- Best meal delivery services of 2026: ranked picks at every tier.
- Meal kits vs prepared meals: cost and time head to head.
- Best GLP-1 meal delivery: services built for Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound users.
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