I tried Factor Meals in 2020 and really liked them. Life was different then, living in northern California, during the pandemic and working from home. With my spouse gone for a while, I’m looking for accessible meal delivery services to avoid the grocery store as much as possible.
I’ve used several meal delivery services, including:
Unlike many food delivery services, Factor Meals are pre-prepared. They come ready to heat up, and then you have to pop in the microwave and cook. This was important to me because I don’t feel like cooking most of the time. I’m not a huge leftover person, so it’s nice to have prepackaged meals for lunch or dinner. I also bring them to work a lot.
Why Factor Meals?
The tagline is Healthy Eating, Made Simple.
Sounds ideal to me!
They provide fresh, already prepared, and microwaveable meals. They are shipped straight to your house and stay fresh for up to 7 days in the fridge. They use innovative packaging called Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) to keep fresh.
What does that even mean? They lower the amount of oxygen in the container, slowing food products’ natural breakdown. MAP allows food to last longer without the use of preservatives. Grocery store products like fresh salad mix use the same technology.
What Makes Factor Meals Different?
- Only uses fresh ingredients from a network of trusted partners.
- Free of hormones, antibiotics, gluten, refined sugars, and GMOs.
- Designed by dieticians: Dieticians work with the kitchen to ensure meals are packed with science-backed nutritional quality.
- All subscriptions include a 20-minute consult with a registered dietitian.
Diet-Friendly:
Is Factor Meals diet friendly? I don’t follow any particular diet, but there are several options if you follow a specific diet, including plant-based, low-carb, keto, and low-calorie. I’ve noticed a lot of meal delivery services not offering many vegan or vegetarian options, so it’s nice that they have an entire section dedicated to it. In fact with the exception of plant-based only meal delivery services, Factor Meals probably has the best options for vegan and vegetarian.
What kind of options can you expect?
Factor Meals changes their menu every week. While they keep some traditional favorites, there are always new options. This is important because having the same meal every day gets boring. To be honest, that’s why I like meal delivery boxes. You can have different and unique meals without the hassle (and mental stress) of grocery shopping and cooking.
If you are interested in seeing the current menu, you can here.
My Experience:
Factor Meals arrived at my doorstep insulated. Proper insulation is essential now that it’s over 100 in the Mojave Desert because food can spoil in minutes out in the sun. Luckily the insulation was still excellent, and I had no issues. Everything looked great, and I put them in my fridge, ready to eat and bring to work. I get half my meals to work and leave the other half home. I’ve now ordered them for about 5 weeks in a row and each time, the meals have been delivered perfectly. I also paid for them as any normal customer.
How many calories does Factor Meals have? Most of the meals have between 400-750 calories. I don’t recall having anything over 750 calories.
Choosing Meals is easy. You can select anywhere from 4-36 meals per box. For one person, I’ve chosen the eight, and it’s usually made it for the entire week (LOL, not every week, though). I also like you can select the day you want it delivered. Often, the company decides, and you have to hope it’s the right day for you. So it’s nice to have that flexibility. I choose Tuesdays.
Then you can choose whatever meals you want. You can get all of the same meals or choose 36 different ones. I like trying new meals but usually include at least one meal I already like.
They also have many additional sides you can purchase, such as muffins, smoothies, or even desserts like keto cheesecake. I’ve purchased about five boxes, and haven’t been adventurous enough to try their breakfasts or desserts, but I think I will get one of these times.
They also give the ability to add “premium meats” such as steak or even mahi mahi. I ordered one of the steak meals and it was an extra $9.99. It did not really wow me. The mahi mahi was an extra $6.99 and I actually really liked that enough I ordered it a second time.
Here are a few I tried:
Shredded chicken taco bowl:
This was one of my favorite meals. It came with a considerable portion of cheese, and the veggies and chicken tasted good.
Salmon and veggies:
The salmon meals have been my favorite. I’m always cautious of fish coming delivered (I don’t know why that feels so weird?), but the salmon has been fresh, and I haven’t had any that I did not like. The seasoning has been tremendous, and I’ve ordered this in almost all my meals. It also came with a cauliflower mash. It wasn’t something I would choose for myself, but I liked it.
Caribbean chicken and zucchini:
Another one of my favorites, the Carribean chicken and zucchini, came with a slightly spicy chicken breast an,d as you would guess, zucchini. It was tasty and filling.
What didn’t I like?
While there have been a few meals that I’ve found not my favorite, for the most part, I’ve liked almost every meal I’ve tried. An exception was the streak I tried was so dry and overcooked, I thought maybe I got a bad batch. A couple of meals I’ve found to get very watery and haven’t figured out why that is. User error, maybe? I don’t freeze mine and follow the microwaveable directions, and I’ve still found a couple to have a lot of water. I contacted their customer service,e and they couldn’t tell me why mine were watery either.
Cost:
One of the most important factors is cost. Are Factor Meals worth it? Depending on the box size you decide, they cost between $11.50-15 per meal. Choosing 12 meals a week is $11.50, whereas four meals a week is 15. You can select different sides, such as muffins or healthy smoothie drinks. Overall, the price is about the average of any meal delivery service, and they offer higher-calorie options (sorry, a 200-calorie dinner is not worth $11.50!).
Shipping cost:
Factor Meals are about in line with other meal delivery services at $9.99 per shipment.
Conclusion:
I like Factor Meals, and they’ve been a massive help in easy and relatively healthy dinners. I appreciate there are always new and fun options to try. Plus, they accommodate every diet. Finally, I’ve only needed to go the grocery store twice in the last month and once was for cat food, so wahoo! They are a great option if you are looking for a prepackaged meal delivery service that you only need to microwave (or just looking for easy and fast lunch options at work).
Are you looking for a Factor Meals discount code? You can also save up to $150 on your first box by using this link!
You can see more product and gear reviews here.
Questions for you:
Have you tried Factor Meals?
What is your favorite meal delivery service?