?grilled fish dish? by Vitchakorn Koonyosying on Unsplash
Christie Tang
Oct 13, 201811 min read
Anyone trying out the keto diet knows that the hardest part is getting the macros right. Even if you cook all your meals yourself, it can be unclear as to how many grams of sugar are in your specific tomato, or doing the math to calculate the weight to figure out the carbs. And then you?re constantly googling and doubting yourself, ?shit, is carrot a carb?? The general rule is to stay within under 50g of carbs a day, and for your diet to be composed of 60?80% of healthy fats.
So if you?re busy and lazy like me, there?s no way you can do all the math, workout, drink enough water, work 8 hours a day, have a bf/gf, spend time with friends, read Mein Kamph, catch up on Orange is the New Black, cook, and be in ketosis all at the same time. Thankfully, I discovered the existence of meal delivery companies specifically for keto. I googled extensively for reviews on all these different companies and didn?t find any good ones that met my requirements. I wanted a company that had:
- Fixed meals in a microwavable container. No way in hell I?m gonna blue apron that shit and cook it myself ? that defeats the purpose.
- Reasonably priced stuff, like no more than $15 a meal, we?re not Elon Musk here.
- Delicious food. I?m a foodie, this isn?t gonna work if I?m hating my life over this diet.
So, I tried them all. A new company every week. Here?s my review.
By the way the good thing about trying all of these companies is that they usually have a discount code for first-time users.
This article has been updated as of July 5th, 2020, but please note that individual posts have different updates based on time of writing.
The following reviews have been removed due to the company no longer operating.
- Keto Fridge
- One Paleo Delivers
Ketoned Bodies
I really enjoyed the convenience of being able to microwave my food right in the container. They have a beginning of season pre-order deal that?s 21 meals for $210. That?s a huge deal so I ended up trying it out and getting their food for two weeks. The food comes all at once in a large box, however all of the food is frozen and on the box itself it says keep frozen if not consumed within a week. The caveat is that you also need to microwave the food for 4?5 minutes, which can be annoying if you?re in a big office with a line of people waiting to use the microwave during lunch. For some people frozen food is a big no-no, for me at the time I was like whatever if it tastes good then fine. The serving size is really small, but the macros are there and they?re laid out on the box. I would say taste is also so-so. Some meals were overly pungent or salty like the ?Chili Verdes Chicken Thighs and Smoky Refried ?Beans?? and the ? Stewed Chicken and Sausage.? Basically every meal contained a side of cauliflower rice, which gets boring real quick. Also the meals don?t rotate much week to week, and the selection is sparse, so I also got bored quickly. My favorite thing about these guys though is that they?re very quick. Once you place your order, you?ll receive it the day after. This is a great convenience because most delivery companies require you to plan out your schedule so that they can deliver next week. So if you realize you?re missing some time in between meals, these guys are great for a quick fix.
Updated Oct 13, 2018
Factor 75
These guys have more meal plan options like paleo, whole30, dairy-free, not just keto. They don?t have a wide selection of keto meals but definitely the most tasty. All of their meals are flavorful, very keto, and best of all the ingredients that use are GRASS-FED! For other meal delivery companies I often spike the flavors with hot sauce or some extra cheese, but with their meals I really don?t have to. They also hit the amount of fat macros too, and you can filter for ketogenic in their UI. They have everything in a microwavable container with all the macros written out. I also got the great glory to try their peanut butter chocolate cheesecake which is an addon extra. It comes in the same type of plastic container, but it was so good!!! It?s a lot too, six portions worth since it fills the entire container. Highly would recommend. I paid $99 for 8 meals, and they were delivered about a week later. There is some rotation of meals but I do wish that there were more keto options that rotated around.
? If you want to try them out, here?s a $40 discount.
Updated July 25th, 2020
Freshly
I?d heard about Freshly in the past from heavy marketing campaigns and never gave them a shot. After looking for more companies to try, I saw their paleo plan was pretty close to keto, I would just need to make up for the fat elsewhere. For the first time customer deal, I paid $40 for 6 meals, which is the cheapest out of all the delivery services I?ve tried. The food is also pretty good in flavor, it was so good I almost feel like their chicken is sous vide. The food comes in a microwavable container, with all the macros written out. The only sad part is that it?s paleo, which means it has the low carbs but it?s missing the high fat that we need. To make up for it I poured in extra virgin olive oil, or I slapped on a dollop of butter before microwaving in the container. You can also supplement with fat bombs. Throughout the years their UI has become very easy to navigate, and you can filter by the macros. So for keto I would filter by carb count, and you can see exactly how much there are. You can also click into the meal and minus the fiber to get the net carbs, which ends up being even less than shown. They?ve upped the number of low carb options but they don?t really rotate around.
? I would definitely recommend Freshly because of their deliciousness, you can get a total of $40 off by trying 6 meals for two weeks.
Updated July 5th, 2020
Lean Mean Meals
At this point I feel like I had exhausted all the microwavable meal delivery companies that do keto, so I started looking into local places that deliver only within a certain area. For me, that?s Los Angeles. I paid $133.06 for 3×3 meals for a total of 9 meals. They make you go through a tedious questionnaire which I felt was overkill for the meals that I got. The meals were hand delivered all at once and I had to make arrangements to be at home when the guy showed up. You were only able to choose three meals and have them repeated, and it was extra $$ to make it keto friendly. To me the flavors were bland, but I was particularly worried that the macros weren?t there. The nutritional facts are only on the website, and it?s not clear at all what the breakdown is. I know I paid extra to make them keto friendly, and there wasn?t bread or rice or anything, but it was usually just plain protein with vegetables. Since there was no clear writing I didn?t feel assured that there was enough fat, because keto doesn?t just mean low carbs. Very strict selection criteria, no description of macros, meh flavors, I wouldn?t come again.
Updated Oct 13, 2018
Zone Healthy
This is another local company that delivers within certain areas. They serve a wide range of counties in California, and they also serve in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. These guys do it really differently, and I LOVE it. When you start online, you go through this long and tedious form which is a pain but you get to select 5 foods that you want to omit from your meals. For me, I selected no shellfish because I?m allergic, and also I said no cilantro, lamb, parsley, or cucumber. The meals are essentially a daily set, you get breakfast, lunch, dinner, plus two snacks. I paid $653.22 for 15 days worth of food. That?s equal to $47.55 a day. I actually had a hard time finishing all of it because it?s just so hard to eat that much during intermittent fasting. They switch it up all the time, and I find lots of variety in my food. The lunch menu items are heavy on the salad type meals, and I preferably like my meals warm with less greens, but dinner usually makes up for it. My favorite is definitely the yogurt snack, or the breakfast chia pudding with fruits. You don?t do any meal choosing on a day to day basis, you just close your eyes and let them do all the work, which I love. The meals come delivered EVERY DAY fresh to your door in a little ice pack pouch, so that means you can skip deliveries a few days in advance if you need to. The customer service is also great. On labor day weekend I emailed them to send me the weekend?s worth of food on Friday so that I could take them with me on my road trip, and it worked! For the macros, they write down how many carbs and calories there are in each meal, but sadly not the fat amount. Customer service assured me that I would stay in ketosis though and I did not seem to have any problems. The only hassle is that because they make the food during the day, the food is delivered at night between the hours of 10pm-2am. If you don?t have a way for the delivery guy to enter the building without waking you up, this could be an issue.
? Use the code zh@50 to get $50 off your entire order!
Updated Oct 13, 2018
Territory
Originally Territory was new to the keto plan, and I had reviewed that they didn?t have enough fats to constitute true keto. I said that it was kinda meh that I have to go pick up the food at a local refrigerator somewhere, and that the box didn?t have handles to carry them. In my updated review, I tried again after they went full keto. So the macros are decent, they could be even lower in carbs, but it?s a significant improvement. For example, they sometimes use high carb vegetables like bits of potato or carrot, when they could have done a leafy green. The fat content usually comes from a side of olive oil mixed with some flavoring, which to me is unfortunate. If that were the case then I should have just used a different service and added my own olive oil. The other thing after the revamp is the flavors end up tasting all very bland and similar. And worse, you still have to pick up the food at a local refrigerator, hah. They did deliver to your home for free during COVID but I don?t know if that?s something they will keep. Too many negatives for me on this one which is why I don?t recommend, especially because the flavors are bland.
? Use code CTANG or this link to get $50 off across two weeks worth of orders.
Updated July 5th, 2020
Trifecta
My friend gave me a referral to Trifecta and he was really excited about the service because you can truly customize your meal plan. He and his wife are on different diets and Trifecta works for them because caters to all kinds. You can even choose a la carte, where you individually pick out your meats, and pair them with vegetables and sides. I like that they are very detailed with their macros, and their meals are genuinely keto-friendly with most of them around 10g net carbs per meal. Their referral is pretty crazy, if you refer somebody, you AND and your referee will receive a free pound of extra beef with your order?for a lifetime. Yeah that?s pretty wild. In terms of what you get, the food comes in an airtight container, which is a bit unattractive when you first receive it. The flavor however, was not exciting to me, and there?s a lot more meat than there is vegetables. Most of the time I wish there was more meat in my meals but this is like 90% meat and 10% vegetables, which is a bit unexciting, and the meals could use a bit more fat. The meals are on the smaller side, but I do like that all their meats are grass-fed, which is what all keto meals should strive for.
? Use my referral to get a free pound of beef for a LIFETIME with all your future orders.
Updated August 3rd, 2020
Don?t see it on the list?
Let me know if you find another keto meal delivery company and I will for sure try it. For health reasons keto is no longer a diet for me but a lifestyle, so I?m in this for life and I?m determined to find the one that will work best for me. I will update this list as I try new companies because I remember how frustrating it was to not have any reviews to go off of my first time looking around.
TL;DR
Most Delicious
Factor 75 wins for most delicious. The meats are all very fresh and oh yes grass-fed, non GMO. The price is great at $12.50 ish per meal (cheaper the more you buy), and they have all the standard stuff that I was looking for like the microwavable container and the detailed macros.
Cheapest
Technically on the trial run Freshly is the cheapest at $6.66 per meal, but after the first two weeks each meal shoots up to $10. Over time, Zone Healthy has the cheapest options decreasing in price the more days you purchase. For a two week trial (plus one additional promotional day), each day came out to be $43.55 which came with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. If you divide it evenly it?s $8.71 per dish.
Most Keto
It?s probably easier for me to say which ones were less keto since part of the requirements to make it on the list was for it to be keto. So a better metric is probably which had the least carbs. I would still say Factor 75 wins this because each meal is under 10g net carbs (they even write it out for you on the packaging), their meats are grass-fed, and they did the best in adding a significant amount of healthy fats.
Overall
So far my overall favorite has been Factor 75 since their revamp because it?s the most keto and most delicious. The price is a little bit on the higher end compared to their competitors, but for the quality of food the value is definitely worth it. If you appreciated my genuine review and want to try them out, I would appreciate if you used my referral code as a token of thanks. You also get a discount on your first order!
? If you want to try Factor 75 out, here?s a $40 discount.
As I try new companies I will update this article. I will be retrying some of these meal delivery services as I noticed some of them improved their meals! Stay tuned!
