EveryPlate vs Dinnerly: Which Affordable Meal Kit is Right for You?

Interestingly, both EveryPlate and Dinnerly scored identically in our initial reviews. Then, when you line them up side by side, they’re nearly identical. 

Read our full EveryPlate review and Dinnerly reviews.

So, how do you know which kit is right for you? 

In order to fairly judge, we’ll have to dive in a little deeper on this side by side comparison.

Pricing

Winner: Dinnerly

At this time, Dinnerly is correct in labeling themselves the most affordable meal kit delivery services available. However, they’re only just a bit cheaper than EveryPlate. Dinnerly starts at $4.29 per serving and EveryPlate starts at $4.99 per serving, and their shipping prices are identical. 

However, when you compare quality to price, there is a bit of a difference. Dinnerly is less expensive, but with this comes some fresh ingredients subbed out for their canned counterparts. This is definitely something you’ll want to consider when deciding between the two. 

In addition to EveryPlate being more costly, they also offer costly upgrades. They have premium recipes that can add up to $3.99 per serving. 

Because of this, Dinnerly wins for pricing.

Plans

Winner: Dinnerly 

Both services have a 2-person box and a 4-person box. However, for both the 2-person and 4-person boxes, you can opt to receive 3, 4 or 5 recipes per week. 

Whereas, with EveryPlate, you can get 3, 4 or 5 recipes per week for their 2-person box, but not their 4-person box. EveryPlate’s 4-person box is only available with 3 recipes per week.

Dinnerly is the winner for plan options because they have more options. 

Food variety

Winner: Dinnerly

Not only does Dinnerly have more flexibility with the amount of recipes you can receive each week with each box, they do offer more food variety.

In fact, EveryPlate specifically cites their lack of variety as the reason they’re able to keep their prices so low.

This is interesting because Dinnerly is cheaper and has a bit more flexibility. What I will say though is that Dinnerly’s food style is a bit more homey/simple, but EveryPlate’s food style is more fancy/high-end feeling. We’ll get into this more in the “Ingredient Quality” section.

Accommodate dietary restrictions

Winner: Dinnerly

EveryPlate goes out of their way to state that they don’t accommodate anything but a “regular diet” in an effort to keep costs low.

Dinnerly doesn’t offer much variety, but they do have a vegetarian menu, so if you’re a vegetarian on a budget, Dinnerly is definitely a great option.

Ingredient quality

Winner: EveryPlate

This is where things get interesting, in my opinion. We’ll start with EveryPlate. 

EveryPlate is the budget friendly counterpart of HelloFresh, but they use a lot of the same ingredients that HelloFresh does (in our experience). The only issue we had with our EveryPlate ingredients is that some of our produce was a little banged up, but not over ripened. 

I think as a fiscally responsible hack, if you aren’t picky and like HelloFresh, EveryPlate uses some of the same spice blends and (it seems like) the same ingredient quality and EveryPlate is almost half the price.

Then, there’s Dinnerly. Now Dinnerly does something I haven’t seen other kits do. They actually use some canned ingredients. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it could turn some customers off, so it’s something to consider. However, my hypothesis is that the canned ingredients are what helps keep them the most affordable meal kit.

Because of the use of canned ingredients, and the fact that Dinnerly is the only service that we know of that does this, we’re giving the ingredient quality point to EveryPlate. 

Ease of use

Winner: EveryPlate

To be honest, both services are very user friendly. Both Dinnerly and EveryPlate have super simple websites that allow you to customize your kit with ease. Then the cooking processes were just fine. There was nothing that involved a high technical skill level. 

So why then did EveryPlate get the point, you ask? They basically won on a technicality. Because of the ease of use of both services, we had to consider everything we could as far as the cooking process goes, such as the method and the amount of dishes that resulted from the meal.

In doing so, we realized that one of our Dinnerly meals called for the use of a grill. They did give alternate instructions if you don’t have access to a grill, but this recipe ended up being the most labor intensive because of the swap, so EveryPlate gets the point.

Ordering experience and packaging

Winner: EveryPlate

As previously stated, both websites were very easy to use. The order process was simple and the delivery times weren’t inconveniently long. This is pretty on par with other services. The packaging is where these services differ immensely from other services. 

Both services package their ingredients in insulated boxes, but unlike other services, they’re not separated by recipe. All the ingredients are just free floating in the box, which is about as chaotic and annoying as you’d might expect.  

Thankfully, EveryPlate has their recipe cards right in the box as well. This means you can immediately sort your order and get it put away. Conversely, Dinnerly has digital recipe cards, so the only thing in the box is the ingredients, which can be a bit overwhelming.

Because of the inclusion of paper recipe cards, EveryPlate gets the point for packaging.

The Bottom Line

As far as budget friendly meal kit delivery services go, Dinnerly and EveryPlate are really the only two available. Thankfully, both these services are actually decent. They’re a little bit of money, well spent!

In our original full review of each, both services scored highly, but exactly the same. Then in this side by side comparison, both services received the same points. Each had their pros and cons, so it’s impossible to judge a true winner.

You’ll have to do this for yourself. If you’re vegetarian, the choice is easy. Your only budget friendly option is Dinnerly. If you detest canned ingredients, EveryPlate is for you. Conversely, if you have a strict diet you need to follow, you’ll want to check out our other meal kit reviews because neither of these services is for you.

However, if you’re the average person who follows the average diet, you really cannot go wrong with either. Both services offer delicious recipes and are easy to use. Dinnerly does have a homier/comfort food vibe and EveryPlate is more “foodie” friendly, but both are certainly worth trying.