Dinnerly Review: The Cheapest Meal Kit Delivery Service?
Dinnerly takes the prize for the cheapest meal kit delivery service we’ve ever seen. It’s held the budget crown since it was launched back in 2017, and few competitors even come close to beating the service on price.
Dinnerly is a meal delivery service that’s on a mission to feed your family for the lowest cost possible. Many customers find they can actually make significant savings when compared to traditional grocery shopping and, when coupled with regular home deliveries, it’s a no-brainer decision for most. Plus, each meal can be ready in around 30 minutes, making it a top choice for those with busy lifestyles.
You might be surprised to hear that Dinnerly offers some organic produce, grass-fed beef and other high-quality ingredients from small producers across the country. Of course, not every menu item is so carefully curated, and you may on occasion find some processed foods or traces of MSGs in some sauces. Still, pretty impressive for the price, though.
What is Dinnerly?
Dinnerly offers cheap, convenient and hearty meals designed to satisfy those hunger pangs. While the provider makes no claims to offer a health-food diet, you can actually find a lot of nutritious veg and lean meats in the recipes. You can choose either the weekly meal pack for two or opt for a family plan that feeds up to four people. Each option comes with three, four, five or six servings per person per week.
Dinnerly Pros and Cons
- Great value for money
- Meals can be ready quickly
- Encourages home cooking
- Some organic ingredients are included
- Packaging is kept to a minimum
- You can pause your subscription at any time
- Meals don’t require a lot of skill to make
- Weekly meals are fixed and choice is limited
- Shipping costs extra
- You might need to buy additional ingredients like eggs, milk and seasonings
- You can’t choose organic only, or pick specialist diets
Who Is Dinnerly Good For?
Budget shoppers – Most customers are drawn to DInnerly by the price point, and average meals are a rock-bottom $4.99 per serving on average
Busy families – If you struggle to juggle all your daily responsibilities alongside providing the kids a nutritious, home-cooked meal, then Dinnerly might be the kit you’re looking for. The provider makes the meals easy to prepare so you can have dinner ready in no time every night of the week. Plus, certain dishes are marked as kid-friendly which stealthily sneak in extra portions of veg without your little ones noticing
Novice chefs – Each meal only has about five to seven different ingredients and is incredibly easy to prepare. You certainly don’t need to be a culinary genius to prep these dishes
Fans of home-cooking – You’ll find lots of traditional favorites here like chicken pot pie, a Philly cheese-steak burger and one-pot ravioli to name a few. The dishes might not be complex or exotic, but they’re filling and hearty
Who Isn’t Dinnerly Good For?
Specialist diets – To cut costs Dinnerly only provides a limited, fixed menu each week. This means that it’s unable to cater to specialist diets like keto and paleo, and those with allergies don’t have many options either. The platform recently added a vegetarian filter, but there’s not an enormous amount of choice if we’re being honest
People looking for flavor and diversity – There isn’t a huge range of diversity in Dinnerly’s weekly menus, and you’ll usually only have around 14 options to choose from. This isn’t the meal kit for you if you’re looking for exciting spices and a taste of cuisines from across the globe
Calorie-counters – The dishes certainly aren’t unhealthy by any means, and actually contain a lot of fresh ingredients, but, there are better choices for those looking to lose weight or stick to strict low-carb diets
How Dinnerly Works?
Meals kits change on a weekly basis and you can decide which ones you’d like delivered from a list of around 14 different options. To save on production costs, you won’t find any menu cards or cooking instructions in your pack, you’ll instead have to get these either online or via the app.
You Pick
We Bring
You Cook
Dinnerly Website and App
Dinnerly’s website has a colorful, modern feel to it and key information is well signposted. Most will be drawn to the weekly menu options, which display all dishes currently available as well as those for the next three weeks ahead. Clicking on each one will bring up nutritional information, a calorie count and any potential allergens you need to watch out for.
There’s an app available for both iOS and Android, but it can be a little clunky to operate. Since there are no physical recipe cards you’ll need to keep either your laptop or phone handy to view the cooking instructions, but the app makes you click back and forth between the images of the dish and the instructions, which is a little inconvenient.
Creating an account / Sign-up
Sign-up can be done in no time at all, usually in just a few minutes. First-time users will be invited to follow a five-step process that involves choosing plans and meals and making sure that their address is covered by delivery.
Dinnerly Meal Plans and Meal Selection Options
Dinnerly keeps things incredibly simple, and there are only two plans to choose from:
- Two-person box
- Family box (meals for up to four people)
Each option lets you choose three, four, five or six portions per person, per week. There are no special categories and dishes aren’t broken down into different diet types. Although, there’s an option to select vegetarian meals only when you choose either of the plans.
Dinnerly Meal Types
Dishes tend to focus on traditional classics and staples built around meat and two veg options, but you can occasionally find some nice surprises on the list and some innovative ingredient combinations. Some of the tastiest options from recent weeks included:
- Crispy cheddar chicken with broccoli potato mash
- Chicken pot pie
- Low-cal steak shawarma
- Miso chicken and rice soup
- Beef fried rice with scallions
- Skillet sausage alfredo gnocchi
- Grass-fed cheeseburger
- Shrimp chowder with potatoes and corn
Choosing Dinnerly Recipes
While the meals are definitely filling and generously portioned, there’s not a huge amount of variety to choose from. The budget nature of Dinnerly means the service is limited on the number of ingredients it can provide for each dish, and long-term users of the service might start to notice the repetition of meals or similarities in ingredient combos.
That being said, there are still around 14 to 18 recipes to choose from each week and there’s usually enough choice to keep both you and the kids happy.
How Much Does Dinnerly Cost?
The price per meal ranges between $4.49 and $5.29 and is based on a sliding scale. Basically, the more food you order, the cheaper it will be. Each delivery will come with an $8.99 shipping charge too.
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Servings and Recipes/Week
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Total Cost
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|---|---|
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$5.29/serving ($31.74 total + $8.99 shipping = $40.73/week)
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$4.99/serving ($39.92 total + $8.99 shipping = $48.91/week)
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$4.99/serving ($49.9 total + $8.99 shipping = $58.89/week)
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$4.89/serving ($58.68 total + $8.99 shipping = $67.67/week)
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$4.99/serving ($59.88 total + $8.99 shipping = $68.87/week)
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$4.99/serving ($79.84 total + $8.99 shipping = $88.83/week)
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$4.89/serving ($97.8 total + $8.99 shipping = $106.79/week)
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$4.69/serving ($112.56 total + $8.99 shipping = $121.55/week)
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Diet Friendliness
Given the no-frills nature of the service, it’s not one we can really recommend for those on specialist diets or trying to lose weight. You can occasionally find some meals marked as low-carb or keto friendly, but you won’t get these choices consistently each week, and they exist more to add variety rather than part of a detailed diet plan. However, calorie count and nutritional information is provided for each of the meals, so you could track your own intake separately if you’d like.
Dinnerly does now offer vegetarian options, but this isn’t available for those that choose six meals per week, as there currently isn’t enough variety to cover you.
Add-Ons
There are no add-ons to be found at Dinnerly, and you’ll need to bear in mind that not all ingredients will be provided either. You’ll still need to supplement your dishes with some extra purchases from the grocery store.
Dinnerly Customer Service
You can get in touch via a customer service helpline or by email, and Dinnerly encourages you to get in touch for any reason you’d like, whether it’s to provide feedback on recipes, make a complaint or suggest an improvement to the service.
For general account issues, it’s highly likely that you’ll find the answer you’re looking for in the FAQ section of the help center. Here you’ll find information on deliveries, dealing with invalid addresses, food storage tips and billing queries among others.
Dinnerly Cancellation Policy
You aren’t tied into a restrictive contract and can cancel your membership at any time. Just make sure to cancel before your next order has been processed, otherwise, you’ll receive an additional delivery. You can check in your account when your weekly billing date is so you know when to cancel.
Dinnerly Alternatives
While Dinner certainly won’t be beaten on price, you might still want to check out one of its rivals if you’re looking for a little more diversity from your meal kits.
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Meal Kit
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Price / Serving
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Minimum order
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Meal options
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Green Chef
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$10.49
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4 Servings
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3-6
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Freshly
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$8.49
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8 Servings
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2-6
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Sunbasket
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$11.99
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4 Servings
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15-20
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Final Verdict
Dinnerly enables you to feed the whole family for a week for $121.55, and we expect the platform to retain the budget crown well into the foreseeable future. Plus, the meals are simple, filling and won’t take long to cook, which will definitely be a selling point for those of us juggling hectic schedules.
However, it might not be the best choice to use long term as the meals can become a little samey over time. You might want to use the service for a few weeks, take a break, then pick it back up again later. Dipping in and out at your convenience. Plus, if you’re looking for a specialist diet, or suffer from severe allergies, there just won’t be enough to cater for you at Dinnerly.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How Is Dinnerly So Cheap?
Dinnerly sources its products in bulk, operates a limited menu and has the bare minimum in terms of packaging. Plus, you won’t find extras in your box like recipe cards and will need to get your info from the website. These cost-cutting measures ensure Dinnerly can pass the savings onto you.
Are the Ingredients High-Quality?
Dinnerly may be a budget service, but its ingredients certainly aren’t poor quality. Its produce is of similar quality to what you’d find in your local supermarket, including a mix of fresh, canned and chilled goods.
Can I Customize My Choices?
No, there’s currently no option to customize meals or swap out certain ingredients. What you see is what you get.
Are There Plans for Singles?
No, not at the moment. The weekly plans only cater to either two or four people.
Where does Dinnerly Deliver to?
Most of the United States is covered, barring certain areas. Simply enter your zip code into the form at when signing up to see if meals can be shipped to you.
