Dinnerly Meal-Kit Review
There are a lot of meal kit subscription services available varying in price and options. Each one offers consumers different options and convenience.
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We knew we wanted to try a meal-kit subscription but we weren’t sure which one. One thing that was a priority — the cost of the meal kits needed to fit in our budget.
Dinnerly was on our list to try because of their lower price. We were happy when they asked us if we wanted to write an honest review Dinnerly review so we jumped at the chance.
Disclaimer: I was given three complimentary meal-kits to try before writing the review of Dinnerly.com. This in no way influenced what was written in the post. The opinions and tips expressed in the post are my own opinion.
The Frugal Housewife’s Honest Review of Dinnerly Meal Kit Subscription
Is Dinnerly owned by Marley Spoon?
It is a flexible meal-kit subscription service owned by Marley Spoon. They are a cheaper alternative to Marley Spoon with a price of just $4.99 per adult-sized serving and offer different menus than Marley Spoon.
Do you have to order each week?
The subscription can be paused at any time and you can skip any week that does not work for you. You can also change the number of portions that you would like to cook.
Dinnerly Weekly Menu
Each week Dinnerly customers can choose from a menu of 16-20 weekly recipes. Each recipe uses 6 ingredients or less and usually only has 5 easy steps to complete per meal and has minimal chopping and prep time. You receive pre-portioned ingredients.
Some Dinnerly meal examples are:
- Spring Veggie Shepherd’s Pie with Cheddar Mashed Potato Topping
- Creamy One-Pot Penne with Roasted Peppers & Baby Spinach
- Crispy Pork Egg-Roll with Cabbage & Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
What meals does Dinnerly offer?
You can choose from two plans with different options:
- A two-person box — You can now choose 3-6 meals in this option. The Meal Portions are priced at $4.99 per portion plus $8.99 for shipping. The six-meal box is currently priced at around $64.00.
- A family box — You can now choose 3-6 meals in this option. The Meal Portions are priced at $4.99 per portion plus $8.99 for shipping. Plus, they have now added the option to make this box “Vegetarian”. The six-meal box is currently priced at around $111.00.
Where does Dinnerly deliver?
Dinnerly delivers to most of the contiguous United States.
Dinnerly Recipe Cards
One way that Dinnerly keeps the cost of their service down is by cutting out on excess packaging.
They also do not include printed meal kit recipe cards with their packages. You receive the digital recipe cards in .pdf form and can view them either online or print them on your home computer. We viewed ours online and saved them on the computer so we can make them again.
We didn’t print the recipe cards but saved them on our tablet.
What are Dinnerly meals like?
What we ordered:
Here are the three meals that we chose and how the digital recipes cards look in our .pdf. This is just the front. The actual instructions on another page.
Meatball Parm Pizza
Fettuccine Alfredo with Chili-Garlic Broccoli
Beef & Pepper Skillet Chili
DELIVERY TIME AND PACKAGING
The confirmation email told us it would arrive on Wednesday and FedEx delivered it around 9 am on Wednesday morning!
What was in the box and how was the Dinnerly packaging?
When I pulled back the insulated lining, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My main concern was how Dinnerly was going to package the food so that it was going to be kept cold during shipping. But that wasn’t a problem!
The food was packaged in a cardboard box that is lined with recyclable insulated lining and each section was kept cold with freezer packs that did their job.
The vegetables and canned goods were packed on top of everything else in the box. They were separated from the refrigerated items by a piece of cardboard and a freezer pack. The items that needed to be kept the coldest were placed in the bottom of the box.
As you can see in the right-hand picture of the refrigerated items, there was also a freezer pack in the bottom of the box.
There was quite a bit of food in that box! See that ground beef — it was organic and vacuum sealed. Everything was very fresh!
Meal Prep
The recipes were easy to follow with only 5 or 6 steps. The meals cooked in under an hour (sometimes less)! Plus they were delicious! Here are photos of our meals!
Beef & Pepper Skillet Chili
Fettuccine Alfredo with Chili-Garlic Broccoli
Meatball Parm Pizza
OUR OVERALL DINNERLY EXPERIENCE
Overall, this whole experience was new to us. And we absolutely loved it! The meals tasted good and were easy to make. We will more than likely try them again!
TIPS TO REMEMBER IF YOU TRY DINNERLY…
Here are some tips if you decide to try Dinnerly.com!
- The recipes are simple and basic.
- The ingredients are boxed together and are not separated by meal. This keeps the cost down by eliminating extra packaging.
- You will need to either print or save the Dinnerly.com recipe cards. They can also be viewed on the app. They are not included in the shipment. Again, this is done to help keep the cost of the meals lower.
- Read the instructions completely before starting to cook your meals.
- Save the freezer packs. They can be refrozen and used again!
- Remember it is a subscription-based service but you do NOT have to order every week!
- There is a shipping cost of $8.99 that is added to the order.
Disclaimer: I was given three complimentary meal-kits to try before writing the review of Dinnerly.com. This in no way influenced what was written in the post. The opinions and tips expressed in the post are my own opinion.