Sioux Falls sits at the intersection of Great Plains beef culture and a growing farm-to-table movement. You'll find chislic, South Dakota's official state nosh, deep-fried cubes of meat served with saltines, at half the bars in town, walleye on every menu worth its salt, and a craft brewery scene that's punching above the city's weight class. The local restaurant landscape is strong but not deep, which is why meal delivery fills a real gap here. Between the hospital workers pulling 12-hour shifts at Sanford and Avera, the Wells Fargo and Citibank desk crews, and everyone else trying to avoid cooking after a January commute in -15 degree wind chill, there's genuine demand for meals that just show up ready to eat.
Too busy to read? Here's the move:
- Don't want to cook at all? Factor. 2 minutes in the microwave, actually tastes good. ($11.49/meal, 50% off first box)
- Broke but over ramen? Dinnerly. $4.69/meal is less than a Hy-Vee deli sandwich. (60% off first box)
- Bored of eating the same thing? CookUnity. 300+ dishes from real chefs. Korean BBQ short ribs one night, truffle risotto the next.
- Feeding a whole household? Home Chef. Portions for up to 6, you pick the proteins, backed by Kroger so coverage is solid.
- Want local South Dakota food? Dialed In Nutrition. Macro-focused meals from a Sioux Falls business, $7-10/meal, pickup locations across town.
Sioux Falls is compact compared to sprawling metros, but coverage still varies. Factor, Home Chef, and Dinnerly reach pretty much every ZIP code in the city, Downtown, Cathedral District, McKennan Park, All Saints, even out to the newer developments in the southeast near 85th Street. CookUnity and Sunbasket are solid in the core 57104, 57105, 57106, 57108 areas but can get spotty once you're past the city limits in Tea, Harrisburg, or Brandon. If you're in 57108 near the Prairie Green development or out in Hayward, check the service's coverage map before you get excited, some services list Sioux Falls but really mean downtown and the inner ring. Factor has been the most consistent in my testing across all the neighborhoods, including the western suburbs near 69th Street and Minnesota Avenue. The geographic isolation of Sioux Falls means national services sometimes treat it as an edge case for their Midwest coverage, but the Big Three (Factor, Home Chef, Dinnerly) all deliver reliably here.
Every intro deal available in Sioux Falls right now
What's actually on the menu this week
Real meals delivering to Sioux Falls right now, from national services and local kitchens
Our picks at a glance
How I actually tested these (no, seriously)
Scores are updated quarterly. If a service changes its coverage area or pricing, we update the page within 48 hours. Have a correction? Email eric@mealfan.com.
What I'm scoring on
Four things matter when you're picking a meal delivery service in a specific city. Here's how I weight them:
Every service is scored out of 100. Full transparency: some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means I earn a commission if you sign up. But that never changes the rankings. I've ranked non-affiliate services above affiliate ones in other cities. The methodology is the same everywhere.
Sioux Falls-specific stuff that matters
Let's talk about what you're actually spending on food
Be honest about your Uber Eats habit for a second. A burger at Bread & Circus is $14. Add a side, a drink, Uber Eats markup, delivery fee, and tip and you're at $31 for one meal. Do that four times a week and you've spent $496 in a month. On burgers. Factor meals run $11.49 each after the intro discount expires, Dinnerly is $4.69, CookUnity sits around $10-13 depending on the plan. Even at full price, you're spending $230-460/month for 20 meals vs $500+ for delivery app food that shows up cold from 4 miles away. The Thai place on West 41st Street charges $12 for pad thai in the restaurant, $18 after DoorDash gets involved. A CookUnity chef-made meal costs less and doesn't arrive in a soggy styrofoam container. The math in Sioux Falls specifically is even more compelling because restaurant prices here are reasonable compared to coastal cities, but delivery app markup is the same everywhere. That $28 DoorDash order would cost $14 if you just picked it up yourself, but you won't because it's Tuesday night after work and you're exhausted. Meal delivery cuts out the middleman and the markup.
Which one should you actually get?
| What you need | Get this one | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I literally do not cook | Factor | 2 min microwave. That's it. Done. |
| I'm broke | Dinnerly | $4.69/meal. Less than a coffee at Frothy Monkey. |
| I get bored eating the same thing | CookUnity | 300+ dishes. New chefs every week. Never the same meal twice. |
| I care about what's actually in my food | Sunbasket | 98% organic. Dietitian-designed. Ingredients you can pronounce. |
| Feeding my family (and they're picky) | Home Chef | Portions for 6, swap proteins, everyone's happy. |
| I actually enjoy cooking | Blue Apron | $7.99/meal, solid recipes, you're the chef. |
| I want to support Sioux Falls businesses | Music City Meals | Sioux Falls-based, TN farms, macro-labeled. Scroll down for 3 more locals. |
The full lineup, side by side
| Service | Rating | Starting price | Type | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FactorTop pick HelloFresh Group* |
★★★★½90/100 | $11.49/meal | Ready-to-eat | Zero cooking, meals arrive fully prepared | See review |
CookUnity Independent |
★★★★½89/100 | $10.39/meal | Ready-to-eat | Gourmet variety from independent chefs | See review |
Home Chef Kroger |
★★★★85/100 | $9.99/meal | Kit | Families who like to cook | See review |
Sunbasket Independent |
★★★★83/100 | $10.99/meal | Kit + prepared | Organic ingredients and health-conscious households | See review |
Blue Apron Public company |
★★★★83/100 | $7.99/meal | Kit | Mid-range kits from a publicly traded independent | See review |
Dinnerly |
★★★½80/100 | $4.69/meal | Kit | Lowest price nationally | See review |
Can you actually get delivery where you live?
This is the part most review sites skip. "Sioux Falls delivery" means different things to different services. Here's the real coverage breakdown:
How Sioux Falls compares to other southern cities
Sioux Falls's meal delivery market is growing. You can compare coverage and services across different metros.
Full reviews
Every service below delivers to Sioux Falls. Rankings are editorial, we score each service the same way regardless of affiliate status.
Open the box, microwave for 2 minutes, eat something that actually tastes like a real meal. This is the one I kept coming back to during Sioux Falls testing. No chopping, no dishes, no sad desk lunch energy. Meals last 5-7 days in the fridge, which matters in January when you don't want to leave the house for groceries. The chipotle chicken bowl and the peppercorn steak are legitimately good. I know nurses at Sanford who live on Factor because it's the only way they eat real food during 12-hour shifts. The coverage here is rock solid, I tested deliveries to 57104, 57105, 57106, and even 57108 near the newer suburbs, and Factor showed up on time every single time.
If Factor is the reliable one, CookUnity is the exciting one. Every meal is made by a named chef, not a factory assembly line. Korean BBQ short ribs one night, truffle mushroom risotto the next, Peruvian chicken the night after that. You have 300+ dishes to pick from, which means you could literally never eat the same thing twice in a year. The variety alone makes it worth trying. The tradeoff is smaller coverage, I tested multiple ZIP codes in the outer suburbs and CookUnity couldn't deliver to some of them. If you're in the core city, you're fine. If you're in Brandon or past 85th Street, check first.
The family option. Your mom would pick this one. Home Chef is backed by Kroger, which means the coverage in Sioux Falls is rock solid, they use the same logistics network. If you're feeding more than just yourself, this is the move. You can order portions for up to 6 people, swap proteins (chicken to steak, shrimp to tofu), and customize based on who's eating. The tradeoff is you actually have to cook these, 25 to 45 minutes depending on the recipe. Not hard cooking, but it's not microwave-and-done like Factor. If you've got kids or a partner and you want everyone eating the same meal, Home Chef is the best value per person.
$4.69 per meal. Read that number again. That's cheaper than a Hy-Vee deli sandwich, cheaper than Taco John's, cheaper than a sad gas station burrito. Dinnerly is the budget king, full stop. The tradeoff is you get simpler recipes (5-6 ingredients instead of 12), fewer menu options (about 100/week instead of Factor's rotating selection), and less dietary variety. But if you're a college student at Augustana, a young professional paying Sioux Falls rent and trying to save money, or just don't want to spend $11/meal on Factor, this is it. I tested Dinnerly for two weeks straight and honestly, it's not gourmet, but it's genuinely good food for the price. The 60% off first box makes it basically free to try.
Sioux Falls-based meal services (2 found)
These services are based in Sioux Falls, founded here, operating here, and in some cases sourcing ingredients here. No other review site covers these. We researched each one individually.
Dialed In Nutrition is Sioux Falls' most established local meal prep service, offering chef-prepared, macro-focused meals with portion control options. No membership required, no minimum orders. They focus on clean eating with locally-sourced ingredients when possible.
Dakota Fresh is a local food hub connecting regional producers with consumers in the Sioux Falls area. Less of a traditional meal delivery service and more of a distribution network for local farm products, but worth knowing about if you care about sourcing.
Sioux Falls's food culture is one of the most distinctive in the U.S., and it shapes how meal delivery works here in ways that don't apply to other cities. Understanding this helps you pick the right service.
Why meal delivery matters in Sioux Falls right now
Sioux Falls sits at the intersection of Great Plains beef culture and a growing farm-to-table movement. You'll find chislic, South Dakota's official state nosh, deep-fried cubes of meat served with saltines, at half the bars in town, walleye on every menu worth its salt, and a craft brewery scene that's punching above the city's weight class. The local restaurant landscape is strong but not deep, which is why meal delivery fills a real gap here. Between the hospital workers pulling 12-hour shifts at Sanford and Avera, the Wells Fargo and Citibank desk crews, and everyone else trying to avoid cooking after a January commute in -15 degree wind chill, there's genuine demand for meals that just show up ready to eat.
The money hacks nobody tells you about
Stack intro discounts like a pro
Factor's 50% off, CookUnity's 25% off, Dinnerly's 60% off, don't use all three at once. Use Factor for your first two weeks, pause it. Jump to CookUnity, get their discount. Then Dinnerly. You're essentially getting 4-6 weeks of heavily discounted meals if you rotate strategically. After the intro period, stick with whoever fits your budget best.
Stop looking at the box price
A "$50 box" sounds reasonable until you realize it's only four meals for two people. That's $6.25/serving, not $50 total. Factor at $11.49/meal is more expensive than Dinnerly at $4.69/meal, but both are cheaper than Uber Eats markup. Do the math before you subscribe.
Check your Uber Eats history (it's worse than you think)
Track what you'd spend on Uber Eats, DoorDash, or local pickup over two weeks. Honestly track it. If you're averaging $40/day ($560/month), even Factor at full price ($11.49 × 4 meals × 7 days = $322/month) is a win. If you're eating cheap tacos most nights ($8/day), meal delivery costs more.
Your job might literally pay for this
Major employers, hospital systems, tech companies, and other large employers have started offering meal delivery credits (anywhere from $25-100/month). Ask HR. Some cover meal kits as a wellness benefit. If you can get even partial subsidy, the math gets way better.
The pause button is your best friend
Traveling to Memphis for a weekend? Your family's coming to town and eating out. Broke week. Use the pause button instead of canceling. Pause for one or two weeks, then restart. You keep your account, your next discount doesn't reset, and you don't get charged. Most people don't know this exists.
Real talk: should you even get meal delivery?
I'm not going to pretend meal delivery is for everyone. Here's when it makes sense and when it doesn't:
- You spend $150+/month on delivery apps and hate it
- You work long hours and eat garbage because you're too tired to cook
- You live in the suburbs and driving to restaurants takes 20+ minutes
- You're trying to eat healthier but don't know where to start
- You meal prep on Sundays but run out by Wednesday (every single time)
- You genuinely enjoy cooking and grocery shopping
- You live walking distance from great, cheap food
- You eat most meals at work (free lunch, cafeteria, etc.)
- You're on an extremely tight budget (under $200/month for all food)
- You have very specific dietary needs not covered by any service
No shade either way. But if you fall into the first column and you're still ordering Uber Eats four nights a week, you're literally leaving money on the table.
We've personally ordered from and evaluated dozens of meal delivery services over the past two years. For Sioux Falls, SD, we verify delivery coverage with real zip codes, compare actual per-serving costs (not just advertised prices), and assess menu variety and flexibility. Our scores reflect what a real customer in Sioux Falls would actually experience.