Food Subscription Boxes
Food Subscription Boxes are growing in popularity. Each offer different recipes and meal plans. To help you find the right service, we’ve reviewed the best Food Subscription Boxes in Canada for variety, cost, delivery option and other features.
In a nutshell
Food is not just eating energy; it’s an experience. That’s according to Guy Fieri, restaurateur, and Emmy Award-Winning TV show host. As such, it’s not surprising that millions of Canadians are always seeking healthier meal experiences, even if it means ordering through food subscription boxes.
Today food subscription boxes offer busy consumers a great option to skip grocery shopping and maintain healthy eating habits It is estimated that about 5% of Canadians have tried ordering a meal kit in the past 12 months. This number might be still small but it is growing quarter over quarter (you can see the subscriber numbers of the big players as they are publicly traded companies).
The industry might be young, but already there are over 20 different companies operating across Canada and but thanks to a focus on delicious, healthy, and affordable meals, food subscriptions boxes in Canada are really growing as this is a perfect solution for today’s busy on the go lifestyle that most of us lead.
What are Food Subscription Boxes?
Food subscription boxes are companies that deliver sourced and often pre-cooked meals through online portals. You can order daily, twice weekly, or as many times as you want. All you need is to create an account with one of the best food subscription boxes Canada and place an order. The beauty of these services is that they emphasize on healthy meal options. As a result, they tend to offer naturally sourced ingredients and meal options handpicked by professional nutritionists. That means you can also use the services for dieting or gaining weight.
What Kinds of Food Subscription Boxes can you get?
You’ve probably heard of the health benefits of vegan and vegetarian diets. Maybe you are looking for a Keto diet or dishes based on seafood. You can find these options on multiple monthly food subscription boxes in Canada.
For the uninitiated, these are some of the benefits of consuming popular health-based diets:
- Ketogenic diet: it consists of low-carbs and healthy fats foods. It can be used to treat epilepsy, but importantly, to burn body fat through a process called ketosis.
- Vegetarian diet: it consists of healthy meals, including eggs, dairy, and honey, but not meat. This meal plan helps reduce saturated fat in the body, leading to a healthy, longer life.
- Vegan diet: It consists of healthy meals sourced for plants. Vegans do not eat meat and meat products such as eggs, dairy, and honey.
- Weigh-Watchers diet: it consists of well-balanced meals that may include meat and animal products. However, the menu has to be accompanied by exercises.
- Mediterranean diet: it emphasizes on the dietary lifestyles of indigenous people from countries touching the Mediterranean Sea. Precisely, their meals were all organic seafood, plant foods, fruits, dairy, and nuts.
- Western diets: these are the meal plans commonly consumed in the Western world. They are sweet and easy to access but not always healthy.
OVER 20 COMPANIES OFF DIFFERENT FOOD SUBSCRIPTION BOXES. BELOW IS A LIST OF THE BEST ONES WITH THEIR DIFFERENT OFFERS.
Best Meal Kits in Montreal
1. HelloFresh
Hello Fresh is an industry veteran, a trailblazer, and an innovative meal-kit provider from Berlin, Germany. Launched in 2011, the company has been expanding its reach yearly, and now serves all parts of Canada.
Admittedly, Hello Fresh gets a lot of things right. It provides a healthy dose of organically sourced ingredients, but lets you do the pealing and the cooking. That’s regardless of what you order from the mobile-friendly website.
You could ask for vegan foods, Mediterranean, Paleo, Keto, or western dishes. In fact, you could also base your choices based on how well you know the recipes. For example, if you have a preference for a specific gluten-free meal, you can order those.
However, Hello Fresh also lets you choose level two and level three meals—dishes related to your likes you might not have tried before. That said, the company has a solid reputation built on its ability to provide healthy, fresh meals correctly.
Cost/Minimum Order: $60.93/week for a meal of three persons.
Average Weekly Meals: They offer 2 to 4 recipes a week
Sample meals we liked:
- Figgy Balsamic Pork with Roasted green beans and Rosemary Potatoes
- Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken over Truffle Mushroom Risotto.
Availability: HelloFresh ships orders throughout Canada
What we liked:
- Lots of meal options
- Portion size
- Most popular diets available
What we did not like:
- Limited options for those who look for ready to eat meals
2. GoodFood
Similar to Miss Fresh, GoodFood is a 2015-launched Montreal-based food subscription box company. It boasts overwhelmingly positive reviews for its healthy, vegan, Paleo, and carb-conscious meal plans.
GoodFood organizes its meal options neatly so that you can choose from family-style options to low carb, classic, and easy-prep options. There are eighteen recipes on the website weekly—all handpicked by veteran chefs.
If you love classics, you’ll find dishes such as seared pork sausage skillet or Greek-style chicken breasts over herbed orzo. In contrast, available low-carb meals include Shrimp Korma and Crispy Tofu Katsu in Coconut curry source.
Crucially, GoodFood emphasizes on naturally sourced ingredients. That means its sea animals are caught in the world while its poultry and red-meat options are hormone-free. Its vegan ingredients are also organic products sourced by experienced nutritionists.
Cost/Minimum Order: $72.25/week for three meals.
Average Weekly Meals: They offer 2 to 4 recipes a week
Sample meals we liked:
- Fresh Gemelli with Mascarpone & Lemon
- Thai Basil Shrimp over Jasmine Rice
- Spring Vegetable Fattoush
Availability: Delivers to most areas in Canada, including Quebec, Vancouver, and Toronto.
What we liked:
- Offer free delivery
- Daily picks by TV host Anne-Marie Withenshaw
- Good for families
- Nice low carb menu
What we did not like:
- Goodfood is considered to be slightly pricey than competition
- No meals for 1 person.
- Not best for dietary restrictions
3. MissFresh
Based in Montreal, Miss Fresh is a fast-growing meal delivery provider established in 2015. It offers ready to eat meals, snacks, breakfast, beverages, desserts, and whole meals through its weekly plans.
Now that it’s focused on healthy meals, Mish Fresh avails a wide range of vegetarian, keto, and Mediterranean dishes on its menu. You can order breakfast plans sourced from apples and oats or request vegan snacks.
Mish Fresh also provides a wide variety of lean and clean Middle-Eastern dishes, Mediterranean foods from Italy and Spain, as well as diabetes-friendly vegan dishes. In the spirit of healthy eating, the meal kit provider sources all meals organically and portions them with the help of professional chefs.
Cost/Minimum Order: $65.95/week for three meals. A simple plan of $7.99/week is also available
Average Weekly Meals: Customers are allowed a selection of 2 to 5 recipes.
Sample meals we liked:
- Loaded Italian Pork salad
- Fish tostadas
- Gluten-free cheese stuffed chicken
Availability: Ships to most zip codes in Canada, including Toronto, Vancouver, and Quebec.
What we liked:
- Vegan, Vegetarian and gluten-free meals
- Ready to eat meals
- Family-friendly options
What we did not like:
- Small meal options
- Can adds some more recipes
4. Livefit Foods
Unlike Miss Fresh and Fresh Prep, LiveFit delivers fully-cooked ready to eat meals. That means you don’t have to spend 30 minutes of your time in your kitchen. Instead, all you need is to check out what options the provider has and make an order.
For clarity, LiveFit provides all popular diet options: weight loss, Keto, Fat burner, Vegan, Gluten-free, and diabetes-friendly meals. Expectedly, their prices are higher than all other monthly subscription boxes food delivery providers we’ve mentioned.
But if you are after healthy dishes but have little time to get in your kitchen, LiveFit is an excellent option. Fortunately, LiveFit makes it a point to describe all their meals. So, you only order a meal fully aware of the value to expect.
Cost/Minimum Order: Most of their plans go for $11.95. $117-$159/week for a meal of three. A $96 value option also exists.
Average Weekly Meals: Customers are allowed to pick the number (10-32) of recipes they want a week.
Sample meals we liked:
- Butter chicken with mixed vegetables
- Chicken teriyaki
- Pan Roast mushroom chicken
Availability: In Canada they are available in the Greater Toronto Area including Montreal.
What we liked:
- Offer great solution for people with special dietary needs
- Orders are customizable
- Deliver all over Canada
What we did not like:
- Expensive
- Website not mobile-friendly
- Not so good reviews around the web
5. Fresh Prep
Established in 2014, Fresh Prep is the creation of three childhood friends from Vancouver. They designed it to help people eat healthy meals from home. As a result, they pre-cut all their meals after sourcing them organically.
Fresh Prep also uses an independent delivery system to ship orders quickly throughout Canada. The company has a limited range of meals, but it compensates that by providing low-carbs vegan, Keto, and Paleo options.
That means if you are after diabetes-friendly, carb-conscious, or lean and clean meals, you can get them on Fresh Prep. All the meals take less than 30 minutes to cook, although you should check the preparation time for each meal.
Cost/Minimum Order: $44.50/week for a feast of three people. A simple $12.25 option is also available.
Average Weekly Meals: Customers can choose between 2,3 and 4 weekly recipes.
Sample meals we liked:
- Flat Iron Steak & Black Pepper Cream Sauce
- Kung Pao Chicken Stir-Fry
- Spiced Pork Barbacoa
Availability: They are available everywhere in Canada including Montreal
What we liked:
- Easy to skip weekly orders
- Preps almost all ingredients
- Affordable pricing
- Sources meals in Vancouver
What we did not like:
- Limited meal options
- Only delivers to Vancouver and Victoria
Our Suggestions For Your Best Food Subscription Boxes
Best Overall: HelloFresh – $9.69 per serving at www.hellofresh.ca
Best for Time Strapped Foodies: GoodFood Meal Delivery Service – $9.42 per serving at www.makegoodfood.com
Best for Chefs on a budget: Livefit – $5.95 per serving at www.livefitfood.ca
The Best for occasional home chefs: Fresh Prep – $ 10 to $12 per serving at www.freshprep.ca
Best for vegans: LiveFit Foods – $11.95 per serving at www.livefitfood.ca
Best for environmentally conscious chefs: GoodFood – $9.42 per serving at www.makegoodfood.ca
The Best for Novice chefs looking to learn: HelloFresh – $9.69 per serving at www.hellofresh.ca
Why you Should Consider Food Subscription Boxes?
If you have sincere love for food, but you find yourself in these situations:
- You have little time to cook
- You hate cooking
- You don’t know how to find healthy ingredients
- You overspend on meals
- You want to try new diets
Consider working with Canadian food subscription boxes. These companies find all the ingredients you need to prepare healthy meals. They also save you the need to purchase large quantities of ingredients you might not use twice.
More importantly, food subscription boxes solve all the hurdles that keep you away from eating healthy meals. For example, they give you recipes, find natural low-carb ingredients, and deliver in appropriate portions.
Food Subscription Boxes FAQ
How do Food Subscription Boxes work?
They source and prepare ingredients for popular meals and deliver them to your doorstep at your request. You make orders online, usually for a serving of two or more people.
Do meal delivery services operate in Montreal?
Yes, a wide selection of meal deliveries are available in Montreal including HelloFresh, GoodFood, Chefs plate, Global Belly, Miss Fresh and Cook it are among the leading ones. Some of them are even headquartered in Montreal.
Can you trust Food Subscription Boxes?
Yes, you can trust these companies. Some of the companies are large publicly traded companies. Canadian food subscription boxes all have licenses to operate their food and delivery businesses. They have also been vetted for providing fresh, healthy meals safe for human consumption.
Final Verdict
Food Subscription boxes are a relatively new industry in Canada. But they are mushrooming, with some providing meals to Canadians in all provinces. The beauty of these companies is that they are health-oriented. So, most of their meals are have low-carbs; they are diabetes-friendly and geared for keeping your physically fit.
Of course, not all monthly food subscription boxes are equal. Compare their monthly packages, take up their trials, or read reviews to find the right provider for. you.