Recipe subscription services – the concept of ingredients, individually portioned up for cooking meals at home and delivered straight to your door complete with detailed recipe cards– have boomed in recent years. They are certainly a convenient way to make evening meals without the hassle of planning recipes and visiting the supermarket. It’s a step up from ready-meals as the food is prepared by hand, but it cuts out the legwork of cooking from scratch.
However, they can be an expensive way to cook, especially if you like to hunt for reduced ingredients or shop at inexpensive local markets, plus there is no shortage of inspiration for easy recipes online if you’re stuck in a food rut. There are also environmental pitfalls to using these services – they sometimes come with excessive packaging that can’t be recycled.
If you’re thinking of signing up to a recipe delivery service, bear in mind the value for money, convenience factor and any limitations, especially the terms around cancelling a subscription. It’s also worth considering any dietary requirements you have (some recipe boxes are more flexible than others) and how many people you want to serve. For solo cooks, few brands offer recipe boxes for one, but many offer meals for two if you’re happy to have leftovers the next day. We tested and scored popular brands to help you make your decision.
For more, visit our reviews section and find more than 400 practical buyer’s guides offering unbiased advice on what foodie products and services are worth spending money on, including the best meal delivery services for when you don’t want to cook at all, the best healthy meal box subscriptions and the best veg boxes to order to your door. We also have thousands of simple recipes for everyday mealtime inspiration.
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Best recipe boxes at a glance
- Best overall recipe box: Gousto, from £10.25 for two meals
- Best recipe box for diverse recipe ranges: HelloFresh, meals from £1.62 per person
- Best healthy recipe box: Mindful Chef, from £22 for two meals
- Best for accessible healthy meals: Green Chef, from £22.50 for 3 meals
- Best letterbox-friendly recipe box service: SimplyCook, first box is free, just pay £1 postage
- Best organic recipe box: Riverford, from £7.50 for one meal
- Best recipe box for adventurous cooks: The Cookaway, from £35 to serve two
- Best recipe box for pasta: Pasta Evangelists, from £9 for one meal
- Best for indecisive cooks: Nonna Tonda, from £5.83 for one meal
- Best for video learning: Chefs for Foodies, from £14.95 per box
The best recipe boxes to order to your door in 2025
Gousto recipe box
Best overall recipe box
Score: 4.5/5
Pros:
- Wide choice of recipes and dietary options
- Flexible subscription
- Option to have recipe boxes for one
Cons:
- Ingredients in the box aren’t divided by recipe – can be complicated to work out what you need each day
- Some unusual ingredient quantities – either extremely generous or quite minimal
Gousto is one of the original recipe box providers and its offering is accomplished. There are over 150 recipes on offer at any one time, with the menu rotating each week, including recipes to suit plenty of different dietary requirements. This is the ideal choice for busy professionals who don’t have time to shop, and want something quick, easy and tasty. It’s also good for people who want to try cooking new dishes and need some inspiration. There are lots of different recipe styles to choose from (such as Double Protein, Quick & Easy, Everyday Favourites or Premium) and you can filter by dietaries too so you can create what suits you, such as vegetarian, dairy-free or gluten-free recipe boxes.
When our Gousto box arrived, the ingredients were all intact and felt good quality. Unlike some other recipe boxes, the ingredients inside weren’t divided by recipe, meaning it was quite tricky to work out what ingredients were required each day. You need a careful eye to divide it all up, and some plastic packaging was still present on ingredients, such as mini sachets of vinegar. Our recipe box served four people, but you can also get options for two (with either two, three or four recipes per box).
The first recipe we tested was Moroccan-style meatballs with bulgur wheat grain bowl, one of Gousto’s high-protein recipes. The meatballs were easy to make, with a quick sauce. It’s great to get a chance to use a more unusual spice such as baharat without needing to buy a whole jar that you might not use again. There was a huge amount of bulgur wheat for two people compared to the amount of sauce, but it’s good to see portion sizes are generous. We also made a roasted red pepper orzo with goat’s cheese. This was a quick and easy crowdpleasing midweek meal that we can see becoming a staple. Again, the ingredient quantities were slightly off – only nine cherry tomatoes between two (we added more), but a very generous whole log of goat’s cheese to crumble on top.
The variety on offer from Gousto is its biggest appeal. You’ll never run out of recipes to try, and it’s a great way to try new things. If you’re a regular customer, the Gousto app makes ordering and saving your favourite meals easy. The packaging could see some slight improvements, and you may need to be flexible with the quantities to expect.
Read about how to sign up for the Gousto recipe box
HelloFresh recipe box
Best recipe box for diverse recipe ranges
Score: 4/5
Pros:
- Different recipe ranges for every need
- Speedy recipe options from 20 minutes
- Can deliver when you’re out
Cons:
- Some packaging tricky to open
- Low vegetable levels
- Optimistic suggested cooking times
HelloFresh is another of the leading recipe box brands and remains a strong all-rounder. The dishes on offer are adventurous and bold, drawing on interesting flavour combinations from around the world, with plenty of choice and varied ranges designed for different needs, from family-friendly meals to calorie-smart healthy options. Weekly menus are available up to six weeks in advance.
You can choose whether to get from two to five recipes per week, and whether to serve two, three or four people. HelloFresh will take your first selection as your custom plan, but you can change this week to week. Ingredients are, true to the name, fresh and mainly high quality, and ingredients for each different recipe are clearly marked in paper bags. Plastic use is relatively minimal but not completely eliminated, with some elements tricky to open compared to more familiar supermarket packaging.
The first recipe I made was a Tuscan-inspired pulled chicken stew, which was straightforward to pull together and worked very well as a one-pot meal with very little washing-up. I’d make this again, even without reordering the box. The method was easy to follow, the kitchen smelled fantastic while it cooked, and the end result was excellent: a creamy, flavourful sauce with crunchy ciabatta for dipping. Although the recipe card suggested a 25–30 minute cook time, this felt slightly optimistic given steps such as frying for eight minutes and baking for 25, plus preparation in between. The portions of vegetables felt a little stingy, with just a few cherry tomatoes and 4og of spinach between two – I’d have happily added more if we’d had them to hand. Serving it with extra broccoli helped boost the veg count.
I also made a sausage and roast potato traybake. The sausages were a slight letdown, with a lower meat content (75% pork) and a less premium feel than you might get from some rival recipe boxes. However, HelloFresh does excel at thoughtful finishing touches: generous herbs on the roast potatoes, a honey glaze over the sausages and a punchy harissa mayo all helped elevate the recipe and were easy extra elements I wouldn’t have thought to add myself.
This felt like exactly what I’d use HelloFresh for: interesting new cooking inspiration and techniques when you’re in a rut, clever use of ingredients across different elements of the meal, plus the ability to make varied dishes packed with flavour throughout the week without having to have a fully stocked cupboard – and no waste at the end of the week.
Overall, HelloFresh delivers reliable, tasty meals with minimal effort and plenty of flavour, even if ingredient quality and packaging could be improved.
Read about how to sign up for the HelloFresh recipe box
Mindful Chef recipe box
Best healthy recipe box
Score: 4.5/5
Pros:
- Inventive recipes with no refined carbs or sugars
- Ethically sourced protein
- Range of serving sizes available
- Wide recipe choice
Cons:
- Some inaccurate cooking times
Read our full Mindful Chef review
Mindful Chef is a health-focused food box delivery service, first launched in 2015. Each of the recipes are designed to be nutritious and low-carb, and all use ethically sourced ingredients from small UK farms and producers. All Mindful Chef boxes are gluten- and dairy-free, plus they mention Paleo-friendly options on the menu. Each week, there’s a rotating menu of 20 recipes to choose from, with lots of vegan and vegetarian options, too. You can choose between 2-5 recipes per box, and choose a box for one, two or four people. You can also order up to eight weeks in advance, longer than many other services, which is great if you like to plan ahead.
The recipes we tried were delicious and well-portioned. The recipes were easy to prepare with no special equipment required – we used a baking tray, frying pan, saucepan and chopping board for our recipes. Our highlight was salmon with a potato, olive and tomato sauce where the fish felt very high quality. The dishes are innovative and use different flavour pairings, so it’s good for people who want some inspiration in discovering new dishes that are still healthy.
Read about how to sign up for the Mindful Chef recipe box
Green Chef
Best for accessible healthy meals
Score: 4.5/5
Pros:
- Lots of dietary options to choose from
- Making healthy eating accessible
- Wide recipe choice
- Add-ons available, e.g. tofu, vegan burgers
Cons:
- Lots of washing-up midweek from some recipes
If you know you want to eat healthily but aren’t sure where to start, or you want to make nutritious meals for your family, Green Chef is a great place to start. There are six diet options – vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, lower carb, keto and flexitarian – so there’s plenty of flexibility, and you’ll never feel like you’re eating ‘diet food’. Even with its healthy mindset, recipes still feel indulgent and easily accessible as Green Chef aims to break down the barriers of healthy eating. All recipes are approved by nutritionists with menus changing weekly, and you can see recipe choices three weeks at a time to help you plan ahead.
Boxes can be ordered for two or four people, with a maximum of five recipes per box. We tested out a selection of recipes including pinto bean tostadas – a meat-free dish with lots of colours and textures for a midweek meal that breaks you out of a ‘meat, carb and veg’ mindset when cooking. It involved lots of prep and chopping, but nothing complicated, and it came together quickly. We also tried double cheesy pork meatballs and peri peri chicken thighs – recipes that might not scream healthy at first glance, but had been cleverly developed.
Read about how to sign up for the Green Chef recipe box
Riverford recipe box
Best organic recipe box
Score: 3.75/5
Pros:
- Good quality organic ingredients
- Easy recipes to follow
- Generous portions
- Creative recipes
- Guest chefs
Cons:
- Small recipe selection
- Often had leftover ingredients
- Expensive
Riverford Organic’s recipe box puts seasonal produce at the heart of its colourful menu, with 13 recipes available each week across plant-based, vegetarian and meat categories. You can order as many as you like, with each recipe serving two or four people and prices starting from £7.50 per person.
We tried one recipe from each category. For the meat option, we cooked a Mexican chicken, corn and tomatillo salad. We were excited to try tomatillos, a tricky ingredient to find in the UK, and the salad was full of flavour. It was the favourite of the three, though we felt it could have been taken further. The recipe suggested serving the corn raw or blanching it, but charring would have added more depth. We were also left with part-used ingredients, like half a courgette, one tomatillo and some chipotle paste.
The vegetarian option was a courgette and spinach gnocchi carbonara. It was hearty and veg-packed, though not particularly memorable. Again, we ended up with leftovers including lemon, half a pot of cream and an egg white. The vegan choice, a Sri Lankan-style French bean curry, was vibrant and full of spice, but left us with three-quarters of a tin of coconut milk unused.
The quality of the organic produce is undeniable and the recipes are straightforward to follow. Each dish felt nourishing and satisfying thanks to the abundance of fresh vegetables. The main drawback is waste: leftover ingredients cropped up in several recipes. There’s also less choice compared with some competitors, and Riverford’s once-a-week delivery policy may not suit those who need more flexibility. That said, the policy reflects the company’s commitment to reducing food miles.
Riverford stands out for its ethics and quality, but the higher price and occasional inconvenience may not work for everyone. If you value organic ingredients and enjoy cooking with seasonal veg, it’s a strong option.
Read about how to sign up for the Riverford recipe box
SimplyCook recipe box
Best letterbox-friendly recipe box service
Score: 4/5
Pros:
- Fits through letterbox
- Long shelf life
- Covers wide range of cuisines
Cons:
- Majority of ingredients must be purchased separately
Read our full SimplyCook review
SimplyCook is a unique service in that, unlike other recipe boxes, it’s letterbox-sized. Each delivery contains four ‘recipe kits’ – dry ingredients in pots, to which you add your own fresh ingredients. The recipe list features a good mixture of cuisines, satisfying hot meals such as stews, curries and bowl food.
It’s a great option if there are cuisines you’ve not cooked before and are keen to try out before you commit to filling your storecupboard with new ingredients. The recipes are customisable, because the box is just recipe cards, pastes and seasonings. All of the other ingredients you buy yourself from the shops and suppliers you like/have access to. There are optional garnishes and additional serving suggestions too, should you want to customise further. You can filter by dietary requirements of vegan or vegetarian, but not gluten-free or dairy free.
The portions are generous (kits serve 2-4 people) and the finished dishes very flavoursome. We also noted that it feels like a lot of thought has gone into using as little packaging as possible, with minimal excess. We liked that you’re not tied to it if your plans change. The sachets have a long shelf-life, so there’s no pressure to cook the recipes within a limited time frame.
Read about how to sign up to the SimplyCook recipe subscription box
The Cookaway
Best for adventurous cooks
Score: 4/5
Pros:
- Interesting recipes to choose from
- 95% of packaging is recyclable
- Good quality ingredients
- Can choose halal meat
Cons:
Read our full The Cookaway review.
The Cookaway is the recipe box to choose when you’re getting bored of your own cooking repertoire and want to try something new. Based around menus from eight different cuisines, there are over 55 menus to choose from, designed by expert chefs that specialise in Malaysian, Pakistani, Spanish, Indian and more cuisines.
There is no subscription method here, you simply choose a recipe you want to cook – most come as a main and accompaniment in one box, and others may even have more dishes if you’re choosing a meze or tapas-style feast. You can choose to serve 2 or 4 people. Our delivery was in a compact cardboard box and packaging didn’t feel excessive.
Recipes will introduce you to new ingredients and learn more about different global cuisines than the cliche dishes we may know. They also host free cook-alongs to join as you make your dish. It is expensive, so works best as a one-off treat or cooking experience to do as a couple and enjoy, rather than a shortcut for midweek cooking.
Read more about how to order The Cookaway box.
Pasta Evangelists
Best recipe box for pasta
Score: 4.5/5
Pros:
- Quick and easy to prepare
- Minimal plastic packaging
- Good for freezer filling
Cons:
- Dishes rotate regularly
- Can get expensive if ordered often
Read our full review of Pasta Evangelists
Billing itself as the first fresh pasta recipe box, Pasta Evangelists deliver fresh pasta to your door, complete with quality sauces and garnishes.
There are over 15 pasta recipes to choose from each week, plus a couple of side dishes and dessert options. You can filter by ‘meat & fish’, ‘free-from’ and ‘vegetarian’ options and can view four weeks at a time if you’re planning ahead. You can add as many recipes as you’d like to your basket – handy for filling up the freezer. Recipes serve one or two, but again you can add as many portions as you need if you’d like to serve more people. The dishes are priced individually, from approximately £7-11 per portion. We feel this makes sense, depending on the cost of ingredients, much like in a restaurant (e.g. a £7.50 tomato rigatoni vs a £10.50 lobster and crab tortellini). Pasta Evangelists is a great option if you’re looking for recipe boxes for one, as standard portions are for one.
Slightly different to other recipe subscription boxes, there is minimal cooking involved as everything is done for you. Meals are ready in minutes – simply boiling the pasta and reheating or melting sauces. We were very impressed by the quality of the finished recipes; they live up to the ‘restaurant-quality’ claim. We liked the extra touches, such as tubs of parmesan with each pasta.
Read about how to sign up to Pasta Evangelists
Nonna Tonda
Best for indecisive cooks
Score: 4.5/5
Pros:
- Quick and easy to prepare, no cooking skills required
- Fresh and high-quality ingredients
- Great results
Cons:
- Gets expensive if ordered often
- Limited dietary filters
- No recipe choice
Read our full review of Nonna Tonda
If you get overwhelmed by choice, Nonna Tonda is the pasta delivery service for you. A hybrid of a meal delivery service and a recipe subscription box, Nonna Tonda delivers two pasta dishes a week. The choice is whether to go meat or vegetarian or a combo – there’s only two of each on the menu. Just boil the pasta, reheat the sauce, and dinner is served. You can also add an antipasti selection to your order, which changes weekly. Portions serve two, four or six – you could have leftovers the next day if you’re cooking for one.
We were impressed by how compact our delivery was, deceptively containing two pastas to serve two, and two antipasti selections in a cardboard box. Each pasta, cheese and sauce comes in a sleek cardboard box, so it’s clear which elements go together. A lot of the packaging is recyclable and reusable – we kept the resealable bags that our ciabatta and pasta came in to use again. Finished recipes were impressive, and we’d definitely be tempted to order more as a treat for busy weeks.
Sign up to a Nonna Tonda pasta subscription
Chefs For Foodies
Best for video learning
Score: 4/5
Pros:
- Chef-led video to watch
- Complex recipes made simple
- Learn a new skill
Cons:
- Lots of plastic packaging
- No physical recipe card
Read our full Chefs for Foodies review
Chefs for Foodies describes itself as ‘recipe kits by award-winning chefs’. It’s not a recipe subscription box – it’s more like a restaurant meal kit, so you just pick one recipe you want to try at a time. Chefs and restaurateurs share their skills and expertise in signature recipes, whether that’s a chicken tikka masala from the head chef of an Indian restaurant, pizza kits from Italian masters of pizza dough, or classic recipes such as beef wellington from MasterChef winners. There was more range when we tested the kit, but currently on offer are pizza, pasta or dessert recipes.
We tested the chicken tikka masala, and appreciated the breakdown of step-by-step results and delivery of complex spices that would be tricky to source on our own. The amount of plastic packaging was disappointing, but Chefs for Foodies has told us that they’re working on it.
Try out a Chefs for Foodies recipe box
Are recipe boxes worth it?
The decision over whether a recipe subscription box suits you will depend on your lifestyle and what you’re hoping to get out of them. For busy weekdays or when you’re trying to reset your routine, recipe subscription boxes can take the stress out of meal planning and grocery shopping. You don’t need to find time to go food shopping as everything arrives measured and ready to go, which saves time and reduces waste.
On the plus side, they introduce variety and can help you learn new cooking skills, with clear recipes and fresh ingredients delivered to your door. Some services such as Gousto or HelloFresh offer hundreds of recipes a week to choose from, so you can break out of your traditional recipe rotation. Others, such as Pasta Evangelists and Nonna Tonda, are essentially delivering fully cooked meals with minimal cooking at all – good for busy weeks when you’ll be home late.
But they’re not perfect for everyone: the cost per meal is usually higher than shopping yourself, and the packaging can feel excessive. If you love choosing your own ingredients or eat very specific diets, the pre-selected meals might feel restrictive. Ultimately, they’re worth it for some, especially when life gets hectic, but less so if cost and control are your top priorities.
What to consider when choosing a recipe box
There are lots of recipe subscriptions to choose from, and finding the right one for you means thinking about a few things:
- How much cooking do you want to do? Some boxes will deliver elaborate recipes that can be great weekend projects or ideal for keen cooks, whereas others deliver you fully prepared meals that you essentially just reheat.
- Do you have specific dietary restrictions? Not all subscriptions can cater to all requirements, so check that there are enough dishes on offer that you want to eat.
- How many people are you cooking for? Not all boxes offer deliveries for one (Gousto and Pasta Evangelists do), and most only go up to servings for four people.
- Consider ingredients – for example, Riverford is a suitable choice if eating organically is important to you.
- Flexibility – if your schedule is regularly changing, make sure you check that the recipe box you sign up to is equally flexible. Lots let you opt in and out for different days and cancel when you need, whereas others have strict delivery days you have to adhere to.
How we tested recipe box subscriptions
Members of the Good Food digital and cookery teams each tested a week of each recipe box subscription. There were several key criteria that teams based their verdict on:
- Range of recipes: was there plenty to choose from, and did recipes rotate regularly if you were going to repeatedly buy? Were all dietary options covered? Was it possible to scale recipes up or down to serve different family sizes?
- Ease of cooking: we looked for clear instructions (photos and obvious step-by-step methods were a bonus), accurate suggested cooking times and clear ways to distribute ingredients between elements and steps.
- Quality of the ingredients: some of the recipe boxes provided organic ingredients, but regardless we were looking for ethically sourced, fresh, high-quality ingredients.
- Packaging: with small quantities of ingredients individually sent, packaging can quickly add up. We looked for packaging to be sustainable, with minimal plastic where possible.
- Quality of the finished recipes: the all-important cooking results! After accurately following the recipes, we wanted delicious meals that we would want to cook again. Portion size and whether the meals were balanced were other consider.
- Value for money: how does the subscription compare to cooking from scratch? Would it be practical to regularly get a recipe delivery, or would it be more of a one-off purchase?
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Are you signed up to a recipe delivery service? We’d love to hear about your experiences. Leave a comment below…
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