Please prepare yourself for the Prepared Meals preparation paragraph. My ‘P’ key just broke off my keyboard…
Time. That’s our most precious asset as busy adults and this year Megan and I are actively doing things to give us more time…time that we can spend with our kids. What takes up time in our day-to-day lives? Well, cooking dinner and cleaning dishes can easily take about 2 hours daily, so this seemed like a good place to start.
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All we had to do was type in “prepared meals” in a google, and we were then bombarded with meal service ads on Facebook and Instagram for the next few weeks. We ended up trying three services and we wanted to compare them side-by-side to see which one was the best. Factor_, Flexpro meals, and CookUnity.
- IMPORTANT: Please note we did NOT receive any free meals or promotions outside of the normal new-customer promotions available to the public (for those services that offered them). This review is NOT SPONSORED in any way and is completely the organic and honest review from John and Megan based on our experience.
What are the Benefits of a Prepared Meal Service?
Convenience: One of the most significant benefits of a prepared meal service like the three we are testing is the convenience it provides. Many people (especially families with young kids) lead busy lives and may not have both the time/energy to prepare meals from scratch every day or the time to do the dishes afterwards. A prepared meal service can help by delivering healthy, ready-to-go meals to your doorstep that are ready to eat in minutes. This can save you time and reduce stress, making it easier to maintain a healthy diet even when you’re busy.
Nutritious Options: Another benefit of prepared meal services is that they often offer a wide variety of nutritious options. Many services focus on using fresh, whole ingredients and avoid processed foods, which can be a major source of unhealthy ingredients like added sugars and trans fats. This means you can feel confident that you’re eating a well-balanced meal that is good for your health and wellbeing. This review is not focused on the nutritional aspect of each service, but it’s important to note that many people will choose a service based on the nutritional value it provides.
Customizable: Many prepared meal services allow you to customize your meals to fit your specific dietary needs and preferences. This means you can choose meals that are gluten-free, keto, vegetarian, or low-carb, for example. This level of customization can be especially helpful for people with dietary restrictions or allergies who may struggle to find suitable options when eating out or cooking at home.
Overall, a prepared meal service like Factor, FlexPro, and CookUnity can provide a convenient, nutritious, and customizable option for people who want to eat healthy but may not have the time or energy to cook meals from scratch.
Factor vs. FlexPro Meals vs. CookUnity
Now before we get into the nitty-gritty, we want to discuss how we would be critiquing these services. We created a chart with a rating system and each service was rated on a 1-5 scale ( 5 being the best). There are also Yes/No factors where each Yes is equivalent to one point. The winner is the service with the most points. Ok, let’s tackle each one by one!
Factor_
Tagline: Just heat, eat, and enjoy! Our prepared meal delivery services provide fully cooked, healthy meals made by real chefs that are ready to eat in minutes.
Website: https://www.factor75.com/
PROS
- Food quality was good – meals tasted fresh and did not taste too salty or processed. Well sauced – no dry meals encountered.
- Communication was good for delivery estimates and delivery confirmations.
- Email notifications of upcoming meals are helpful.
CONS
- The cardboard around the meals has preparation instructions that are a bit hard to read.
- Their containers for the food are sealed with plastic, but the plastic does not tear off all the way and remains on the sides. Does not affect the food, but is more of a visual annoyance
- Had a box with two meals missing. I chatted with their customer support and they notified me of a cauliflower recall that week on some of their meals. I checked my other meals and two of them were also affected, so I had to throw those away. They refunded me for those 4 meals, which is great, but we had to come up with other dinner options for those two nights, which was a hassle. Also, I would not have known about the food recall had I not chatted with them about the lost meals. They said they emailed a message out to customers about the recall, but I checked all my email folders and did not receive any email about that. So that was a little concerning
- The pictures of the food on their website are OK, but not great. I never saw a meal on there that visually made me excited for it.
FlexPro
Tagline: Choose from 35 delicious macro-balanced meals. High protein, low carb, keto and gluten free meals available! Delivered next-day, fresh and ready to eat.
Website: https://www.flexpromeals.com/
PROS
- Offered two sizes of meals: Standard and large portions. We chose standard, and they were equivalent to the meal size of the other two services. Not sure how much bigger the large sizes are.
CONS
- Website did not give any indication when the box would be delivered. Even after we purchased, it never gave us a date saying when the box would arrive.
- When checking out on the website, it added desert cookie balls to my order. I then had to figure out how to update my order (which wasn’t easy), and removed the balls, but then the box arrived with the balls, and not even the right flavor!
- The food quality, in all honesty, was not good. Each dish was salty, looked (and tasted) processed, and 4 of the 8 meals in our box we could not even eat because they tasted so bad.
CookUnity
Tagline: CookUnity offers flexible and convenient meal delivery plans that match your needs and taste. Find out more and start eating healthy every day, today.
Website: https://www.cookunity.com/
Promotion: Get $50 Off By Clicking Here
PROS
- Really great communication. They notify you via text several times before your order for the next week is placed (so you don’t get those dreaded ‘it’s shipped’ emails because you forgot to cancel for the next week). They also do a great job of notifying you of estimated delivery and confirmation once delivery is completed
- Love that the boxes are well labeled, color coded, and can be easily read from the side when they are stacked in the fridge. They also have very clear heating instructions.
- CookUnity had the most selection of food, and the most variety, each week (by far!). Their pictures of the dishes were also really well done
- Love the ratings for each dish on the website – was really helpful in finding popular meals
- The food quality was really good – we have not had a bad meal yet and the dishes taste fresher than the other two services
- I like sauces, and loved that CookUnity offered additional sauces if needed. Also, in general, we never had a dry-tasting meal.
- Each meal is created by a Chef, with their name and picture on the packaging. This gives a nice personal, high-end touch to the meal
CONS
- Portion sizes are OK, but could be a little bit bigger. Or have the option to have a larger portion size (similar to FlexPro). I find myself eating a snack a few hours later.
Point-Based Comparison
So how do these three services compare head to head? We created a chart with several key factors – some are ratings (1-5 with 5 being the best) and some are simple yes/no factors.
Description | Factor_ | FlexPro | Cookunity |
---|---|---|---|
Website ease of use | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Order process | 4 | 2 | 5 |
Text message notifications | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Communication | 4 | 3 | 5 |
Meal packaging | 4 | 3 | 5 |
Box packaging | 5 | 4 | 5 |
Correct meals included | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Selection/variety of Food | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Picture quality of food on website | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Ratings for meals? | No | No | Yes |
Food quality | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Coupon/promotion for new customers? | Yes | No | Yes |
On-time delivery? | 5 | 5 | 5 |
TOTAL | 42 | 33 | 53 |
And The Winner Is...
CookUnity! They had a perfect score in all categories, and it’s the service we have been using for weeks now with NO ISSUES! The only downside is the portion sizes – if they offered a “large” portion size to their menu offerings, my late night snacking would probably come to a screeching halt. Overall, we highly recommend CookUnity and are enjoying the time savings that prepared meal services offer.
Try Cookunity for you and/or your family and get $50 Off your first box – click here!
Don't Commit Unless You Have This...
A toaster oven/air fryer! It is not a must have but it is by far our preferred way of heating these meals up and makes a world of difference compared to a microwave. We tried both ways of heating, and while the microwave is faster (only a few minutes for each meal), our Air Fryer made the food taste much fresher and gourmet. Yes, a conventional oven could also work, but the Breville Air Fryer we have only takes about 5 minutes to heat to 350, which is awesome (more time savings). Each meal takes about 10-12 minutes to cook in the air fryer, so all-in-all, it takes about 15 minutes to warm the meals. Not bad!
About The Authors
John and Megan are the founders of Arched Manor, which is a passion-project turned business featuring home design, renovations, DIY tutorials, décor, e-Design, and 3-D rendering services. This married couple lives in Leesburg, Virginia, and is currently renovating The Arched Manor, a brick colonial house built in 2000.