Dinnerly Review: We Tried One of the Most Affordable Meal Kits

What is Dinnerly?

Dinnerly is a subscription-based service that offers affordable, easy-to-cook meal kits.

In fact, Dinnerly claims to be the most affordable meal delivery service on the market, with meal kits starting at just $4.99 per serving.

Using the service’s rotating weekly menu, you can mix and match your favorite meals to create a custom meal plan.

Dinnerly recipes require no more than 5 steps, and many take 30 minutes or less to prepare.

Each order includes a digital recipe card and the ingredients necessary to prepare 3–6 meals each week.

Pros and cons at a glance

How does Dinnerly work?

Dinnerly is a subscription-based service that provides recipe cards and ingredients to help you add more homemade meals to your diet each week.

The service offers a large rotating weekly menu with at least 45 recipes to choose from, including many low calorie, low carb, dairy-free, and kid-friendly options.

Dinnerly also labels meals that take less than 30 minutes to prepare, meals without added gluten, one-pot meals, and vegetarian meals.

Depending on the plan you select, you can choose up to six recipes each week, which include either two or four servings each.

Plus, Dinnerly is a contract-free service. This means you can skip as many weeks as you want.

Dinnerly makes it easy to change plan options, and you can pause your subscription indefinitely up to 6 days before payment is due.

Sign-up process

Signing up for Dinnerly is an easy process. You are first prompted to select either a two- or four-person box and select 3–6 meals per week.

You can also make boxes vegetarian or select meals from the weekly menu based on your preferences.

After choosing your plan, you input your zip code and delivery details, including your address and which date you’d like to receive your first delivery.

Finally, you enter your payment information and select your meals from the weekly menu.

Meal selection

Dinnerly features a rotating menu with more than 45 items to choose from each week.

Here are a few examples of Dinnerly recipes:

• Honey-Garlic Pork Cutlets
• No-Stir Shrimp Scampi Risotto
• Loaded Veggie Pot Pie
• Low-Cal Tomato & Red Pepper Shakshuka

You can mix and match your favorite recipes to create a custom meal plan each week.

While Dinnerly doesn’t offer any specific menus, it does label items that are suitable for various dietary needs and preferences, such as:

• no added gluten
• low calorie
• low carb
• kid-friendly
• healthy
• under 30 minutes
• spicy
• one-pot meal
• vegetarian
• vegan
• dairy-free
• poultry, meat, or seafood

You can view the full list of ingredients and nutritional information for each recipe on the menu, along with details on the amount of preparation required, potential allergens, and equipment needed.

Will Dinnerly suit your diet?

Dinnerly offers options to suit several dietary patterns and lists the nutrients and ingredients found in each meal, making it simple to find recipes that work for you.

The service specifies items that are low carb, low calorie, dairy-free, or vegetarian.

The service also labels foods without added gluten. However, these may not be suitable for people with celiac disease or another gluten-related disorder because of the risk of cross contamination.

Keep in mind that options for those with specific dietary restrictions may be limited, as most weekly menus offer only a few selections for certain diets, such as keto, paleo, and vegan.

Additionally, meals are prepared in a facility that processes many major allergens. This may increase the risk of cross contamination for those with severe food allergies or sensitivities.

How much does Dinnerly cost?

Dinnerly claims to be the most affordable meal kit service, with prices ranging from $4.99 to $6.39 per serving.

Here is the cost per serving on the two-person plan:

• 3 meals: $6.39
• 4 meals: $5.99
• 5 meals: $5.89
• 6 meals: $5.79

Here is the cost per serving on the four-person plan, which is slightly more affordable:

• 3 meals: $5.69
• 4 meals: $5.49
• 5 meals: $5.29
• 6 meals: $4.99

In addition to the price of your meal kit, there’s a $9.99 flat fee for shipping, regardless of which box you select.

Dinnerly says it keeps its prices low by using fewer ingredients, less packaging, and digital recipe cards in place of printed materials.

Who tried it

My experience trying Dinnerly

Editor here! After trying more than 25 meal delivery services, I was curious to see how one of the most affordable options on the market would stack up to its pricier competitors.

Delivery and packaging

Dinnerly is available throughout most of the contiguous United States and offers delivery once per week.

Delivery slots vary depending on your location. However, you can select your preferred delivery day when signing up.

Each order is shipped with ice packs and insulated liners, which help ensure that ingredients remain fresh during transit. My delivery arrived during a heat wave, and while the ice packs were starting to melt, all the items were still cold.

Unlike many other meal kit services, Dinnerly packages its ingredients loose in the box, with perishables located at the bottom under an ice pack.

I prefer having ingredients grouped together by recipe, as it’s a bit more convenient and helps keep my fridge organized. However, I assume having the items loose in the box helps cut down on cost.

I appreciated that most of the packaging was recyclable and that detailed information on how to recycle or dispose of each component was easy to find online.

Ingredient quality and freshness

Dinnerly meal kits include fresh ingredients sourced from trusted suppliers. The company lists all ingredients in each meal and states that ingredients should be refrigerated upon delivery to maximize freshness.

All of my items arrived in good condition and appeared to be fresh, though I did notice that Dinnerly used more prepackaged or premade items than other services, such as ready-to-heat meatballs and canned tomato sauce.

According to the company, most of the fruits and vegetables it uses are conventional, which may not be ideal for those who prefer eating organic foods. However, this wasn’t a deal-breaker in our household.

Preparing and cooking the meals

Compared to most other meal kit delivery services I’ve tried, Dinnerly stood out for several reasons:

• Recipe cards are virtual: While I know it helps cut down on cost (and is more eco-friendly), I found the recipes harder to follow on a smartphone. If I were to try the service again, I’d probably pull up the recipes on a laptop or tablet.
• There’s very little prep work: Two of the three recipes I tried were incredibly simple to make. All I had to do was open a few packages and stir everything together in a pot or saucepan. This makes Dinnerly a good option for people who dislike or are new to cooking.
• You’ll need to provide more than just the basics: Like most other meal kits, Dinnerly requires you to provide a few basic cooking ingredients such as salt, pepper, butter, and oil. However, I was surprised that the recipes also asked me to provide more substantial ingredients, including flour, garlic, and eggs.
• Estimated cooking times are generous: All the meals I tried were ready 5–10 minutes sooner than the recipe cards estimated. And because there’s very little prep involved, cleanup was a breeze.

Taste

I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty all the meals were, though I did make a few changes to the recipes to make them a bit more nutritious.

Here are my thoughts on each dish:

Low-Cal Ginger Rice Noodles: This was my favorite of the three as it featured fresh vegetables and was flavorful without being overly salty. With that said, the portion sizes were a bit small, and I decided to add pan-fried tofu for an extra boost of protein. I made this dish first and was so excited to get started that I spaced on taking a picture of the meal.

Swedish Meatballs with Egg Noodles and Peas: This dish was my husband’s favorite as the portions were generous and the meatballs were well seasoned. I ended up using about half the amount of butter called for in the recipe and still found the dish to be plenty rich.

Creamy Tomato Basil Tortelloni with Peas: It’s probably no surprise that this was a hit with the whole family. In particular, the basil pesto was well balanced and added a nice flavor kick. However, as with the Swedish Meatballs, the only vegetable was frozen peas, so I added leftover zucchini and peppers from my fridge to make the meal more nutritionally balanced.

Overall thoughts

Dinnerly is a budget-friendly meal kit service offering flavorful meals to satisfy the whole family.

Because many of the meals come with premade or premeasured ingredients, the recipes come together quickly and are a good fit for beginners or people who dislike cooking.

All the ingredients arrived in good condition, and my family — even my picky toddler — enjoyed the flavors of each dish.

With that said, many of the meals did not include enough vegetables to be considered balanced, so you may want to keep a stash of frozen vegetables in your freezer or pick up a salad kit while grocery shopping.

I also made other changes, including adding a protein source to one recipe and reducing the amount of butter in another.

As I enjoy cooking and look forward to recipes with ingredients or flavor combinations that I haven’t tried before, Dinnerly isn’t my top meal delivery service pick.

However, I do think it’s a good option for couples or families who want the convenience of a delivery service without the high price tag. Just make sure to add extra vegetables on the side.

Brand reputation and customer reviews

As of the time of publication, Dinnerly is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau and currently holds a C rating from the organization, which is based on factors like the company’s complaint history and business practices and how long it has been operating.

On Trustpilot, Dinnerly has an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars, which is based on 3,992 customer reviews.

Many reviewers on Trustpilot express satisfaction with the portion sizes and ingredient freshness. Some say they enjoy the convenience and flexibility that the service provides.

However, less favorable reviews mention issues with missing or damaged ingredients and delivery delays.

A few customers also report frustration with the responsiveness of customer service when issues with orders arise.

Alternatives to consider

Several other subscription-based meal kit services are similar to Dinnerly.

Here is a closer look at how Dinnerly compares to its main competitors: EveryPlate, HelloFresh, and Home Chef:

Frequently asked questions

How long can a Dinnerly box stay outside?

Dinnerly uses packaging designed to keep food fresh at room temperature for up to 6 hours after delivery if unopened. However, the company recommends refrigerating ingredients as soon as possible once they’re delivered to maintain quality and freshness.

Are Dinnerly portions big?

Dinnerly portion sizes vary by recipe. While some, like the Swedish Meatballs with Peas, are generously sized, others, like the Low-Cal Ginger Rice Noodles, may not provide enough food to satisfy some people.

Can you lose weight on Dinnerly?

Though Dinnerly is not specifically geared toward weight loss, the service does offer several low calorie options, which contain fewer than 650 calories per serving.

That being said, whether you’ll lose weight with Dinnerly depends on several factors, including your daily calorie needs, the specific meals you select, how physically active you are, and how many calories you consume from other meals, snacks, and beverages throughout the day.