If you’re in search of a prepared meal delivery service to reduce the time you spend in the kitchen prepping food, you’re likely to have come across Veestro and FreshlyFit. These two great services provide tasty prepared meals that cater to those of us looking to eat a little more healthily. But which one of them is the best option for you?
Veestro offers an entirely plant-based menu catering to many dietary needs while FreshlyFit is a new calorie-conscious plan by Freshly.
For a brief overview of Veestro vs. FreshlyFit, check out this handy chart:
Veestro | FreshlyFit | |
Dietary preferences | Vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, dairy-free, kosher | Gluten-free, peanut-free, soy-free, dairy-free, high-protein |
Menu variety | 40+ options (does not update) | 9-18 options per menu (new menu weekly) |
Starting price | $7.16+ per serving | Price: Missing Product freshly-fit+ per serving |
Shipping cost | $9.99 (free with subscription) | $5.99-$11.99 |
Prep time | About 3 minutes | About 3 minutes |
Special Discount | ||
Learn more |
The strength of FreshlyFit’s menu is that it emphasizes high-protein, low-carb dishes rich in macronutrients. As a result, the meals are great for people trying to eat healthily and lead an active lifestyle. To be honest, though, FreshlyFit falls short in terms of special dietary needs.
All of Freshly’s offerings are gluten- and peanut-free, but the company is inconsistent with other diets. You’ll be able to find some dairy-free, meat-free, and soy-free dishes among FreshlyFit’s weekly offerings (like the pictured Grain Goodness Bowl), but these dietary restrictions really limit your meal options.
Veestro, on the other hand, is an entirely plant-based service, making it an ideal choice for vegans and vegetarians. Its menu of over 40 dishes can also readily accommodate gluten-, nut-, soy-free, and weight-loss diets without severely limiting your options. Veestro even has family-friendly meals, like the crowd-pleasing, plant-based Chick’n Nuggets (pictured above).
This one is no contest: Veestro’s dietary options are much more comprehensive than FreshlyFit’s.
Winner: Veestro
The first major difference between these two services is their totally different approaches to meal variety. Veestro is 100% plant-based, while FreshlyFit focuses on lean proteins and low-carb, gluten-free sides.
Meat eaters may prefer FreshlyFit’s menu, which includes delicious high-protein meals like Ultra-Umami Turkey Meatloaf (seen above). Despite its high-quality chicken, beef, and turkey options, FreshlyFit falls short when it comes to plant-based dishes. Of its changing weekly menu, only a couple of dishes are vegetarian or vegan, and some weeks there might be none at all.
You may think Veestro would be more limited due to its plant-based mission, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Veestro’s 50+ entree options (including breakfast dishes) are more than enough to keep things interesting. A variety of vegetable-based proteins like Country Fried Chick’n (seen above) help to give Veestro the clear edge over FreshlyFit.
Winner: Veestro
Most of Veestro’s plans are geared toward bulk-buying. In fact, the smallest order size available is still a hefty 10 meals.
The price per serving ranges anywhere from $9.90 to $13, depending on the size of your order (10, 20, or 30 meals) and whether or not you choose to subscribe. Subscribing for auto-delivery every one, two, or four weeks gives you a 10% discount and free shipping.
In addition to this complex pricing structure in the a la carte menu, Veestro also offers a separate pricing model on its more structured Weight Loss plan. In general, you can expect to pay around $10-12 per serving for most of Veestro’s offerings.
The cheapest order you can make with Veestro is $117 in total for 10 meals with free shipping, but you need to sign up for auto-delivery otherwise the price per meal rises, and a shipping fee of $9.99 is applied. Check out this screenshot to get an idea of Veestro’s pricing structure with a subscription:
Without a subscription, $130 + shipping is the smallest order you can make.
FreshlyFit’s plan structure is better for those preferring not to buy in bulk. FreshlyFit gives you options to purchase four, six, 10, or 12 meals per week, allowing for much smaller orders than Veestro. The price per meal goes down the more you order, ranging from $8.49 to $11.49 per serving. This screenshot shows the details of FreshlyFit’s pricing model:
The smallest order you can make from FreshlyFit – four meals – works out to about $46 plus $5.99 shipping. The largest order – 12 meals – comes out to about $102 plus $11.99 shipping. Even with the shipping cost, you’ll notice the largest order you can make from FreshlyFit costs less than the smallest order you can make from Veestro.
It’s hard to compare these two pricing structures since Veestro’s model is more suited to bulk buying and ordering. Ultimately, FreshlyFit has much better options for smaller orders and is overall a more affordable service. Unless you’re interested in bulk ordering your meals, FreshlyFit gets the edge here.
Winner: FreshlyFit
I appreciated Veestro’s subscription options, which lets you schedule your deliveries for every one, two, or four weeks. The longer period between deliveries makes sense for smaller households, compensating somewhat for the 10-meal minimum order on the a la carte menu.
Unfortunately, Veestro doesn’t offer a specific delivery window. Depending on your location in the US, it can take anywhere from one to four days to receive your package. Veestro’s handy map – seen below – lets you know how long you can expect to wait for your shipment.
Compare this to FreshlyFit’s model, which lets you pick the exact day you want your shipment to arrive (any day of the week except Saturday). Since we’re dealing with perishable food, accurate shipping information is a high priority. Here’s a screenshot of FreshlyFit’s comprehensive shipping options:
Both companies get major props for committing to fully recyclable and compostable packaging, but FreshlyFit gets the win in this category because of its more accurate delivery windows.
Winner: FreshlyFit
Since both Veestro and FreshlyFit provide prepared meals, there’s not a lot to talk about in terms of meal prep. Meals from either service can be easily heated up in the microwave (see the screenshot for FreshlyFit’s serving style) or prepared on the stove or in the oven.
This is an easy tie.
Winner: Both Veestro and FreshlyFit
Veestro and FreshlyFit both serve the general niche of healthy meal delivery services, but they each serve rather different audiences. Ultimately, it’s hard to say that one is definitively better than the other. The right choice for you depends on your dietary preferences and whether or not your lifestyle is well-suited for bulk buying or smaller orders.
Winner: Veestro if you have specific dietary needs or like buying in bulk. FreshlyFit if you prefer smaller orders or want to keep meat in your diet.
Need more information to make up your mind? You can check out our dedicated review of Veestro and our review of Freshly’s core menu. If you’re curious to check out other healthy meal delivery services, visit our ranking of the best healthy meal delivery services in 2024.