CookUnity Is the Best Prepared Meal Delivery Service, Period

I’ve tried several meal delivery services—including some that ship partially prepared meal kits, some that provide ready-made entrées, and others that double as online grocery stores. But there’s only one meal delivery service I continue to use on the regular: CookUnity. The New York City–located food company focuses solely on fully prepared meals that are credited to award-winning chefs (many of whom we’ve featured here at Bon Appétit, like Teranga’s Pierre Thiam, Mokbar’s Esther Choi, and FieldTrip’s J.J. Johnson). Those names initially piqued my interest. Would I really be able to get a big box of restaurant-quality meals delivered to my door?

I was impressed after my first peek at the menu, which was more robust than what I’d seen from other boxed meal delivery services. This one featured a huge variety of dishes across so many different cuisines, and I was delighted to see options that went beyond the typical “meal kit–style” grain bowls and sheet-pan chicken. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good ol’ grain bowl and sheet-pan dinner, but I was really excited to see dishes like thieboudienne, beef birria tacos, and slow soy-braised pork shoulder with yu choy and soy-marinated eggs among the offerings.

I also appreciated that, unlike most other premade meal delivery services, CookUnity doesn’t place a strong emphasis on “health food.” While you definitely can choose options that cater to specific dietary needs and preferences, the top priority here is quick, satisfying, and delicious ready-made meals. As of this writing, I’ve been happily subscribed to CookUnity for about a year. This isn’t just my favorite premade meal delivery service, it’s my favorite food delivery service period.

There's tons of variety available on the meal kit market—and kits are designed to fit a variety of cooking needs. On Bon Appétit, we're always testing meal kits, so we have lots of recommendations for every category. If you're looking for something that teaches you new cooking techniques, offers recipe inspiration, serves as an online grocer in addition to a meal delivery service, or caters to a specific dietary preference, you might be looking for a different kit than Cook Unity. Find other favorites linked directly below, or read our full tested roundup of the best meal kits to learn more about each kit, and about how we put them to the test.

• The best vegetarian meal kits
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The menu, ordering, and delivery

To get started, you’ll enter your zip code to see if they deliver to your area. CookUnity doesn’t currently deliver nationwide, but it does cover most states (excluding Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, and some cities in Wyoming and Nebraska). During the sign-up process, you’ll be asked about your dietary preferences and eating habits. Here, you can let them know if you want to see options that are paleo, vegetarian, vegan, keto, Mediterranean, or if you’re open to seeing everything. They also ask about your favorite types of protein and ingredients you’d like to avoid (like nuts, milk, or shellfish, etc.). Then you’ll select how many meals you want to receive every week: you can choose four meals, six meals, eight meals, 12 meals, or 16 meals. The prices improve if you opt for more meals. For instance, if you go with four weekly meals, you’ll pay about $14 per meal, and if you select 16 weekly meals, you’ll pay about $8 per meal. The subscription itself is free without any recurring fees. You’ll only pay for the meals you receive, plus a delivery fee for each order. I believe this fee varies depending on your location, but for me, this has been about $15 per order.

Once you’re signed up, you can browse the upcoming weekly menus and place an order. With over 100 meals to choose from, CookUnity has the largest weekly menu I’ve seen from any meal delivery service. And I appreciate that (unlike with a lot of the other programs) all the dishes aren’t switched out every week, so I don’t have to wait weeks or months until my favorite dishes appear on the menu again. You can “star” your favorite meals so you can easily find them to reorder, and filter the options in order to see sandwiches, pasta, salads/bowls, tacos and burritos, pizza, or dishes you’ve tried before. Additionally, I like that the menu allows you to read ratings and reviews for every dish—I haven’t seen this feature at many other other meal delivery services.

For each order, I’ve been able to choose a day of the week and time window for drop-off. I’ve always received notifications when the courier is en route, so I can track exactly how far away they are. My CookUnity meal deliveries arrive neatly packed with ice in reusable insulated bags, which are a lot easier to handle than big cardboard boxes most other meal deliveries arrive in. That said, the company has two different delivery methods depending on where you live. In most areas, the meals will arrive with said courier in an insulated bag—in other areas, the meals will be delivered by a national carrier such as UPS or FedEx and will arrive in an insulated box. Over my year of subscribing, I have found the ordering experience easy and enjoyable, and I’ve never received an incorrect order or had trouble with delivery.

The food

The truth about premade meal delivery services is that the food usually isn’t that good—it generally ranges from bad to just okay, and it’s rarely tasty or filling enough to justify the cost. I think CookUnity is an exception to this rule. Their meals are flavorful and generously portioned, and they appear to be made with high-quality ingredients. I’d compare these single-serving meals to the take-out orders I receive from my favorite restaurants, which I can’t say about other premade meal services. One of the first dishes I tried was the short rib with herby mashed potatoes and burst cherry tomatoes, and it quickly became one of my repeat meals. The short rib was melt-in-your mouth tender, and I could really taste the red wine in the braise. The accompanying potatoes were the ideal combination of rich and creamy and light and fluffy. The grilled chicken yassa with jollof rice and plantains was another instant fave: With deep, well-rounded flavors, it was perfectly sweet, tangy, and spicy.

I’ve also been ordering the spicy lamb vindaloo, steak tampiquena plate, ginger salmon cakes with miso sriracha, chicken curry rice with kimchi, and pappardelle with pork ragù on repeat. In each of these dishes, the meat is always juicy, never underdone or overdone. I also like that the rice is not made of cauliflower (although CookUnity does have a lot of cauliflower rice options on the menu, if that’s your thing). I’ve always found that the ingredients taste fresh and are well seasoned. I’ve never felt the need to add more salt. Plus, the portions here are bigger than what I’ve seen with other premade meals. I’m never left hungry or unsatisfied after eating.

As with any restaurant you’d walk into, a lot of the meals CookUnity offers aren’t made to be low-calorie, low-fat, or low-carb—but I like that if I do ever want to go those routes, I can find those options. The online menu displays all of the ingredients and nutrition facts, so you can always make health-informed decisions if you want.

Flexibility and convenience

If you ever want to skip a weekly delivery, you can—and you won’t be charged for anything as long as you cancel by the cutoff time (for me, this is the Friday prior to my next delivery date). You can also skip as many deliveries as you want. I often skip multiple weeks in a row, and I usually receive one delivery per month. You can really tailor the subscription plan to fit your lifestyle and schedule. For instance, I realized that I don’t usually end up eating all of my CookUnity meals in one week—so when I receive my delivery, I put some of the meals in the refrigerator and some of them in the freezer. This way, my meals never go bad and I always have ready-made meals on deck for whenever I get too busy or tired to cook. (Note: CookUnity doesn’t necessarily recommend storing the meals in the freezer, but I’ve found that it doesn’t sacrifice the quality.) I also like that the meals can be heated up in either the microwave or your oven. All things considered, I’d say CookUnity is very flexible and convenient.

A few drawbacks

After a year of eating from this service, I’ve found that not every CookUnity meal is spectacular. Some of them are just okay. I’m not a huge fan of their barbecue ribs or fried dishes (which makes sense to me, because these types of foods really are best eaten right after they’re cooked). My advice is try out a bunch of different meals and take note of which ones you gravitate toward. I’ve learned that my favorite CookUnity meals tend to include some form of braised meat or grilled chicken. I also recommend tapping into the reviews—I try to only order dishes that have a rating of 4.5 or above.

Another drawback is that some of the best meals are labeled as “premium” and you have to pay extra for them—adding these meals to your cart can jack up the price pretty quickly. It’s also worth noting that all of the meals are single servings, which can get annoying if your goal is to feed a crowd.

The verdict

Is CookUnity worth the money? I think so. The membership is flexible (and free), the food is high-quality, and the convenience of fully prepared meals is unmatched. I find the dishes more flavorful and filling than those from other premade meal delivery services. And compared to typical restaurant takeout or delivery, these meals are much more affordable. I’d be just as happy eating an $8 CookUnity dinner as I would getting a $22 delivery with extra fees attached.

If you usually only feed one or two people, and you like the idea of having ready-to-eat meals on hand for when you don’t have the time or energy to cook, CookUnity is a top contender to consider.