13 best recipe boxes and meal delivery kits 2025, tried and tested
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There’s a good reason Gousto is now one of the country’s biggest and best-known recipe subscription services. We were impressed by the vast range of recipes on offer before we’d even received our box. There are more than 250 to choose from each month, including several plant-based, gluten-free and dairy-free options and plenty that would suit the whole family. Boxes are delivered weekly but can be paused or cancelled at any time – the more you order, the cheaper each meal works out. The cheapest option is a box of four recipes serving four adults, but you can choose as little as two recipes for two people a week, which works out at around £6 per person. We found every recipe was generous and often left us with leftovers for lunch the next day.
The box got the thumbs-up before we’d even started cooking. Spices arrived in paper sachets rather than plastic bags, most veg was loose and the whole thing came in the entirely recyclable Eco-Chill box, which Gousto says has reduced its carbon footprint by 80 to 90 per cent compared with its old insulator. Recipes are straightforward and well explained and particularly useful for those midweek nights when inspiration is lacking – although, there are more involved recipes for leisurely weekend cooking, too. Our Mexican-style feast with pulled pork birria tacos was a real treat, while our lamb keema saag with nigella rice and naan was better than any takeaway. It’s nothing short of a dinnertime dream.
Want a little more flexibility? This is a slightly different type of meal kit, and we think it is genius. SimplyCook send letterbox-sized packages containing pots of herbs, pastes, spices and stocks, then you add the rest. That means you can use whatever you have left in the fridge or add extra ingredients to feed more people. Each pot comes with an easy recipe card plus a tear-off shopping list for what you’ll need to buy, though, we already had most of what we needed in the cupboard, including rice, honey and onions.
