Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon Review: We Tried Martha Stewart’s Meal Delivery Service

Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon, more commonly known just as Marley Spoon, is a popular meal kit delivery service. The company launched in 2014 but joined forces with businesswoman and lifestyle influencer Martha Stewart in 2016 to offer her recipes.

Each week, members can choose from a large selection of more than 50 meals, many of which are family-friendly or quick and easy to prepare.

Although the service does not offer specific meal plans, the weekly options include some meals that are OK for low carb, low calorie, vegetarian, and vegan diets.

Boxes are delivered weekly and include recipe cards and preportioned ingredients. The company also makes it easy to skip weeks or cancel your subscription at any time.

The packaging materials are all recyclable or reusable, and the company participates in a number of carbon offset projects to help reduce its carbon footprint. According to ClimatePartner, the company is carbon-neutral.

The sign-up process

Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon is a meal kit delivery service from Martha Stewart, a renowned TV host, cookbook author, and lifestyle expert. It features her popular recipes alongside some new ones.

With this service, you’ll receive a weekly box of recipes and preportioned ingredients to make it easier to cook fresh and flavorful meals at home.

To sign up, you’ll first select the number of people you’re cooking for and the number of meals you wish to receive each week. While the service does not offer specialty plans or menus, there is an option to make your box vegetarian-friendly.

Next, you’ll enter your location, set your delivery preferences, add your payment information, and select your meals.

If you have any problems with your order, you can contact customer service via email or phone.

Meal selection

Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon offers a rotating selection of more than 50 recipes each week, and you have total control over which recipes you receive in your shipment.

Most of the recipes are dinner entrees. However, the service occasionally offers appetizers, holiday foods, desserts, and breakfast items.

What’s more, Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon allows you to add extra protein to your order if you need it. Extra protein options come in variety packs, which can include items such as burger patties, steak, chicken, salmon, and shrimp.

While the service does not offer diet-specific menus, it does include several labels on each recipe to help you identify meals that suit your dietary needs and cooking preferences.

Some examples of labels are Low-Calorie, Under 30 Minutes, Kid Friendly, Healthy, Nutritious, and One Pot Meal.

With the exception of an option to make your box vegetarian, Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon does not offer meal plan options that cater exclusively to certain dietary needs.

The menu includes at least six vegetarian recipes each week, which means it’s suitable for people following a vegetarian diet.

However, vegan options are much more limited since many of the vegetarian recipes feature dairy.

Each week’s menu includes two or three recipes labeled “low calorie.” These have fewer than 650 calories per serving. The service also offers some low carb selections each week.

However, if you need more than two or three of these meals each week, it may be difficult to fill your weekly box.

The company labels some recipes “dairy-free” or “no added gluten,” but Martha and Marley Spoon says it cannot guarantee that there is no cross contamination with allergens or gluten.

Therefore, if you have severe food allergies or follow a strict gluten-free diet, Martha and Marley Spoon might not be a good fit for you.

The price per serving for Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon is based on how many servings you receive per week.

Here is a breakdown of the per-serving prices at the time of publication:

The most cost-effective option is 6 meals per week for 4 people, which costs roughly $4 less per serving than the option of 2 meals per week for 2 people.

Keep in mind that there’s also a $9.99 shipping fee, regardless of the size of your order.

Editor here! As someone who grew up watching Martha Stewart cooking shows on TV and has made several of her recipes in the past, I was curious — and excited — to put Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon to the (taste) test!

Delivery and packaging

Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon delivers to most of the United States, except for Hawaii and Alaska. The service ships weekly, and — if it’s available in your area — you can choose the best delivery day and time for you each week. Some areas may have only one available delivery day.

My meals were delivered on a Wednesday and arrived in good condition: None of the ingredients were bruised or spoiled, and all the correct ingredients were included.

As with most meal kit services, the items arrived in a recyclable cardboard box that contained ice packs to keep the ingredients cold. However, the service was unique in that while most of the items were loose in the box, all the pantry items were together in a brown paper bag.

Speaking of recycling, all of Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon’s shipping materials are recyclable or reusable. If you want to recycle the ice packs rather than reuse them, you’ll need to throw away the gel filling before recycling the liner.

Ingredient quality and freshness

Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon recipes include fresh produce and meat, a variety of grains such as rice and pasta, and premade sauces or premixed seasoning blends.

According to the company’s website, it sources seasonal vegetables and works with “trusted suppliers” to source animal proteins. Many of the spice blends and sauces may also highlight local ingredients or seasonal offerings.

To optimize freshness, the service recommends that you cook seafood recipes within 1–2 days of receiving the box, ground meat and chicken recipes within 2–3 days of receiving the box, and all other recipes within 3–5 days.

All the items I received appeared to be fresh and of good quality.

Preparation and taste

I received three meals, all of which were flavorful and easy to make.

The recipe cards were easy to follow, and I found that the timing and order of the steps made sense and helped the different components of the meal come together at the right time.

Two of the meals were designed to be one-pan meals, which would have been really convenient. However, I have an induction stovetop, and my induction skillet is not designed to go in the oven. As a result, I ended up using a skillet and a baking pan for both recipes.

Still, as written, all three recipes were designed for easy prep and cleanup — a big plus for busy families.

We received recipes designed to feed two people. However, after my husband, my 20-month-old, and I had eaten, we still ended up with leftovers after each meal.

Here are some notes about each recipe:

• Fast! Chana Masala: As advertised, this meal was super quick and easy to make. I found it to be very flavorful, though my husband would have preferred a bit more heat. I was skeptical about the precooked rice and was pleasantly surprised to find it perfectly chewy and not at all dry.
• Vegetable Pot Pie: This was my favorite recipe, as the flavors were just so rich and comforting. The rosemary biscuits, in particular, were delicious, and I’ve since made the biscuit recipe on my own several times.
• Corn and Poblano Enchiladas: This recipe was my son’s favorite, as he loved the soft flour tortillas and the slightly spicy bean mixture. I accidentally left the corn on the stove a bit too long, but the charred flavor actually paired really well with the roasted poblano peppers. I did end up adding a dollop of Greek yogurt to help with the spiciness and a dollop of homemade guacamole for extra flavor (and nutrition).

As a dietitian, I think it’s important to point out that several Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon meals fall more into the “comfort food” category and are not necessarily well balanced.

However, the company does include labels like Nutritious and Healthy to help you select meals that better suit your health goals.

Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon offers comforting, family-friendly recipes that are mostly quick and easy to make.

While some dishes are more nutritious than others, the company includes diet-related labels to help you select recipes that better fit your dietary needs and preferences.

If you and your family regularly dine out, the service could help you save money. However, it’s still more expensive than planning and cooking meals at home.

Additionally, if you’re following a specific diet or have severe allergies, you may want to consider a service that caters directly to your needs.

Overall, Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon may be worth the money if you value the convenience of meal kit delivery, enjoy cooking, and do not have specific dietary needs.

Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon has mixed reviews. The company has a 3.9 out of 5 star rating on Trustpilot — based on 4,000+ reviews — but an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Happy customers say they appreciate the wide selection of meals and find the service convenient. They also note that they typically don’t have issues with ingredients being damaged or their orders being wrong or late.

However, some reviews are less positive. Common complaints include payment issues, late deliveries, and poor quality ingredients, such as bruised or spoiled produce.

Here is a quick look at how Martha and Marley Spoon compares with some other meal kit delivery services:

Who is Marley Spoon owned by?

Marley Spoon was founded by entrepreneur Fabian Siegel and is part of MMM Consumer Brands, Inc. The company also owns Dinnerly, a budget-friendly meal delivery service.

Where is Marley Spoon shipped from?

Marley Spoon’s fulfillment centers are located in New Jersey, Texas, and California. Your delivery is shipped from the fulfillment center that is closest to you.

How can you cancel or change your Martha and Marley Spoon order?

You can skip, change, or cancel your order by logging into your account on the company’s website or app.

To change your order, simply go to “Orders” and then “Edit recipes.” Similarly, to skip a week, click on “Orders” and then “Skip order” under the order you would like to skip.

Just keep in mind that you must edit or skip your order by the deadline each week, or you will be charged for the next order. This deadline day will depend on your designated delivery day.

To cancel your subscription, you can go to the “My account” tab, click “Settings,” and then click “Stop subscription.”