I’m a Vancouver-based mom and writer who loves to cook. Hope you enjoy!Let’s face it. You never have enough time to plan your meals, cater to everyone’s taste buds and cook. And then, of course, there’s grocery shopping. If you’re spending over an hour getting to and from work, like many of us in Toronto, there isn’t much time for you to buy your ingredients after work.
Enter, meal kits. Meal kits allow you to eat nutritious meals while saving you time and eliminating that daily decision fatigue. They’re all the rage across North America these days. You’ve probably heard people talk about a few “big names”, but do you know which ones actually deliver to Toronto?
Even though Canada can be limited for delivery services, Toronto is still the country’s largest metropolitan area, so there are a whole slew of meal kit companies to choose from.
How do you know which one is best for you?
We’re here to help you save time by giving you the low-down on the top 8 meal kit delivery services for busy professionals and young families in the city.
| Company | Ideal For | Cost Per Week (including shipping) | Cost Per Plate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miss Fresh | Budget-conscious | $78.32 | $9.79 |
| Cook It | Unique family structures | $82.00 | $10.25 |
| Fresh City Farms | Dietary restrictions | $88.00 | $11.00 |
| LiveFit | Healthy lifestyles | $106.00 | $9.95 |
| Power Kitchen | Fitness-focused | $122.00 | $14.00 |
| HelloFresh | Beginner cooks | $99.99 | $12.50 |
| Chefs Plate | Beginner cooks on a budget | $71.92 | $8.99 |
| Good Food | Adventurous cooks | $91.00 | $11.38 |
Note: The above cost calculations are based on a typical order including 8 servings with the exception of LiveFit. LiveFit has a minimum order of $99 which includes more than 8 servings.
LiveFit’s Salmon and Ratatouille
Miss Fresh
The difference in cost is fairly small when comparing the various meal kit services. But if you like the idea of saving wherever possible, Miss Fresh is a good option for you. Additionally, this meal kit service calls for a relatively small minimum order fee of $55 and offers free delivery, Canada-wide.
Options include:
- Meals
- breakfast
- Ready-to-eat
- Snacks
- Desserts
- beverages
Also worth noting, Miss Fresh was the first meal kit company in Canada to offer eco-friendly packaging options and is currently working on reducing single-use containers.
better for your budget and better for the planet.
The Tradeoff: Miss Fresh seems to have a significant number of complaints against their delivery services. Many have complained that their orders contained the wrong ingredients and weren’t delivered on time.
Miss Fresh
$10.09| Delivers to: | Canada |
|---|---|
| Dietary Plans Available: | Diary Free, Gluten Free, Low-calorie, Pescatarian, Vegan, Vegetarian |
| Dinners for: | Two (Couple), Four (Family) |
| Price per Plate | $10 to $15, $5 to $10 |
| Free Shipping? | Yes |
| Intro Deal: | $30 Off First Order |
| Sustainability | Recycling |
| HQ Location | Montreal |
Read more: Miss Fresh Review
Cook It’s Goat Cheese and Pumpkin Seeds Pizza
Cook It
Cook It offers meal kit plans as flexible as your family needs them to be. Most meal kit services limit their plans to suit 2 people to a family of 4. Cook It offers options for 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 portions to accommodate the blended family, lone-parent family and other family structures that are on the rise in Toronto. They are a local brand, serves Quebec and Ontario only.
Other notable features:
- Online cooking tutorials
- Weekly vegetarian, gluten-free options
- Weekly ready-to-eat option at no additional charge
- Weekly 15-min recipes
- 14 new recipes each week
Cook It caters to your family with adaptable options, plenty of variety and recipes with the least amount of cooking time on the market.
The Tradeoff: Cook It doesn’t offer a way to sort recipes by “gluten-free” nor “dairy-free”. While they do offer those options, you need to search through their 14 recipes and their ingredients to find them. Considering that they cater to families (who often need those options), this is quite inconvenient.
Cook It
$10.16| Delivers to: | Canada |
|---|---|
| Dietary Plans Available: | Low-carb, Pescatarian, Vegetarian |
| Dinners for: | Two (Couple), Three, Four (Family), Six |
| Intro Deal: | No |
| Price per Plate | $10 to $15, $5 to $10 |
| Free Shipping? | Yes |
| Sustainability | Recycling |
| HQ Location | Montreal |
Read more: Cook It Review
Fresh City Farms
Fresh City Farms is by far the most committed to organic ingredients. And for those of us with dietary restrictions, Fresh City Farms is probably the only feasible option. No other meal kit service in Toronto allows viewers to sort recipes by their dietary restriction (besides the usual vegetarian options which are typically limited to 3-4 choices).
besides having the most generous selection of vegetarian and vegan recipes, they have recipes organized under the following categories as well:
- Soy-free
- Nut-free
- Dairy-free
- Paleo
- Anti-inflammatory
- Gluten-free
As long as you don’t have severe allergies, Fresh City Farms is the meal time service of your dreams.
Additionally, this company is dedicated to locally-sourced ingredients and only services the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). So if supporting local is important to you, look no further.
The Tradeoff: The downside of working with organic ingredients is that the food is more likely to be over-ripe or a little on the dirty side.
Fresh City Farms
$10.75| Delivers to: | Canada |
|---|---|
| Dietary Plans Available: | Diary Free, Gluten Free, Organic, Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian |
| Dinners for: | Two (Couple), Four (Family) |
| Price per Plate | $10 to $15, $5 to $10 |
| Free Shipping? | Yes for order above $30 |
| Intro Deal: | No |
| Sustainability | Recycling, Sustainability |
| HQ Location | Toronto |
Read more: Fresh City Farm Review
LiveFit Salmon and Ratatouille
LiveFit
If you’re looking for a mealtime solution that supports your health goals and maximizes convenience, check out LiveFit.
This Ontario and Quebec-wide service offers ready-to-eat meals for breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks and dinner.
Meal packages are designed to support the following goals, dietary needs and lifestyles:
- Weight loss
- Muscle gain
- Detox
- Improve gut health
- Fat burn
- Keto diet
- Vegan diet
- Gluten-free diet
- Halal diet
LiveFit focuses on nutritionally rich foods by providing ample amounts of vegetables, meat, fish, nuts, and seeds in relation to their servings of grains and dairy.
The Tradeoff: The minimum order of $99 is higher than average. Also, it’s unfortunate that their containers are not returnable. While they are reusable, there are only so many containers that a household needs in their kitchen.
Power Kitchen
In comparison to LiveFit, Power Kitchen targets the fitness-focused in the GTA and provides a lot more customization for their ready-to-eat meals.
Power Kitchen packages support the following fitness goals:
- Fat loss
- Getting lean
- bulking up
- Increasing strength & energy
Where Power Kitchen shines is its customization features. Custom Meals allow you to control the following intake in each of your meals:
- Calories
- Protein
- Carbs
- Veggies
- Macros
- Fats
Other unique features include their Grab n’ Go menu and bulk Menu.
The Tradeoff: besides being one of the most expensive options, some may find that the customization process takes too much work. The target customer would choose Power Kitchen to be able to control the number of calories and amount of protein, carbs, fats…etc. If there was a way to view options by target calorie number, instead of proteins types, for example, there would be no math required.
HelloFresh’s Korean Beef Tacos
HelloFresh
HelloFresh is one of the very first meal kit providers and is now an international giant. Like most other companies, it promises fresh ingredients and delicious recipes. but is it a good fit for you?
If you to get bored in the kitchen easily, HelloFresh keeps recipes fun with a variety of flavours including:
- Lebanese
- Mexican
- Western
- Chinese
- South-western
- Japanese
- Italian
Beyond that, HelloFresh is ideal for beginners in the kitchen (although perfectly suitable for all cooking skill levels). Ingredients, instructions and visuals are all designed to be very beginner-friendly.
The Tradeoff: Although they attract beginners, certain dishes call for specific types of skillets or knives, which are more complex than what an unsuspecting newbie would have.
HelloFresh
$12.72| Delivers to: | Australia, Canada, Europe, United States |
|---|---|
| Dietary Plans Available: | Low-calorie, Vegetarian |
| Dinners for: | Two (Couple), Four (Family) |
| Price per Plate | $5 to $10 |
| Free Shipping? | Yes for order above $50 |
| Intro Deal: | Yes |
| Sustainability | Recycling |
| HQ Location | Germany |
Read more: HelloFresh Review
Chefs Plate
Founded in Toronto, and delivering across Canada, Chefs Plate is the most affordable meal kit in the country.
Other reasons to choose Chefs Plate include:
- Weekly menus
- Wide selection of 15-min recipes
- Convenient online gifting service
- Locally-sourced ingredients
- Easy recipes with step-by-step instructions
This meal kit service is best for beginners on a budget and those looking to spend the least amount of time cooking.
The Tradeoff: Part of the reason why you choose a meal kit service is because you want to eat cleaner than you would at a restaurant. Chefs Plate recipes could afford to have less sugar in their sauces, leaner meats and less oil.
Chefs Plate
$8.99| Delivers to: | Canada |
|---|---|
| Dietary Plans Available: | Vegetarian |
| Dinners for: | Two (Couple), Four (Family) |
| Price per Plate | $10 to $15, $5 to $10 |
| Free Shipping? | Yes |
| Intro Deal: | First 2 meals free |
| Sustainability | Ocean Wise, Sustainability |
| HQ Location | Toronto |
Read more: Chefs Plate Review
GoodFood’s Bone-In Rib Steak with Roasted Baby Potatoes
Goodfood
Goodfood delivers meal kits across Canada that are appreciated for their variety and recipe creativity. Chefs create 18 new recipes every week to keep you excited and engaged in the kitchen.
One week of flavour-filled recipes featured ethnic influences from the following regions:
- India
- Italy
- Spain
- Korea
- Thailand
- Greece
In that same week, the menu included an impressive variety of proteins, including:
- Salmon
- Cod
- Shrimp
- Pork
- Beef
- Chicken
- Plant protein (tofu)
GoodFood recipes boast seasonal ingredients that are said to be up to 7 days fresher than what you find at your grocery store. As far as supporting local, at least 85% of your delivery is sourced from Canadian farms and meat and fish are ethically sourced.
The Tradeoff: Cooking times can often reach up to an hour long.
Goodfood
$11.38| Delivers to: | Canada |
|---|---|
| Dietary Plans Available: | Diary Free, Gluten Free, Low-carb, Vegan, Vegetarian |
| Dinners for: | Two (Couple), Four (Family) |
| Price per Plate | $5 to $10 |
| Free Shipping? | Yes |
| Intro Deal: | 40% Off First Order |
| Sustainability | Recycling |
| HQ Location | Montreal |
Read more: Good Food Review
Which Meal Kit Service Is Best For You?
With so many options in Toronto, companies are niching to stand out and win you over. So when deciding on a meal kit service, we recommend choosing a company that speaks to your needs in particular.
If you need help with ready-to-eat meals that support your health goals, go with LiveFit. For the families that need more options than the typical 4-person unit, we recommend that you check out Cook It. If money is your main concern, Chefs Plate is definitely your best pick.
Which Toronto meal kit service is your top choice?
Take a look at all of our meal kit reviews here and weigh in with your own rating.