Dinnerly Review
Deliciousness - 92%
Pricing - 100%
Easy To Prepare - 100%
Variety - 90%
96%
CHEAP & Quick
Dinnerly lives up to their tagline as being the cheapest meal kit around, and surprisingly, they also delivery delicious meals. Even when comparing to some of the more well known, or more exotic meal kits, Dinnerly managed to convince me they are not only worth joining, but very much worth keeping my deliveries going for more than a tester for this review.
- Food Allergen Options? No
- Cost Per Meal: $13 (including shipping)
- Wine Option? No
- Additional food option? Yes
Dinnerly lived up to and exceeded my expectations for a meal delivery kit, making it one of my favorite choices to recommend of the cheapest meal kits out there.
That being said, they will not be for everyone! Although I liked their meals, there’s a bunch of complaints in the comments on this page. Plus, Dinnerly seems to be struggling with orders since meal kits have become so popular these days (food delivery is a must for many families).
For now, I’m recommending you check out EveryPlate instead. It’s less than a dollar more expensive per serving, the meals are pretty much similar, and they are handling high volume of orders like a champ in 2020.
Ordering Dinnerly
Dinnerly is one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest meal kit service out there. In total, including shipping, I paid $39 for three meals. That’s just $13 per meal, or $6.50 per serving including shipping!
Their advertising is a little deceptive, since they claim to charge just $5 per serving, but they do not factor in the $8.99 shipping.
However, even when you add in shipping, $13 per meal is still super cheap. Sun Basket has some meals which are $13 per serving, making them a whopping $26 per meal! Even more pricey, some kits cost more than $30 per meal! (they are tasty, just costly)
The cheap price of Dinnerly’s meals does come at a cost though!
There are no fancy allergen choices like Home Chef. They don’t have dietary restriction options (paleo, keto, etc) like Green Chef. There are only six meal choices, unlike some other kits which may have as many as 20+ options at a time.
But with all these concessions, you get a cheap, delicious pack of meals delivered to your door, and that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?
You can see that the meals are interesting enough, but not super exotic. They are basically meat and veggies or meat and car. Options include chicken & brussel sprouts, ground beef and lettuce, or turkey burgers with green beans.
Shipping & Packaging from Dinnerly
Dinnerly comes fast, and on time. Though I do prefer the individual bags for each meal because they are simpler to cook during dinner time, the “all in one box” is clearly better for the environment.
I don’t have anything against a loose potato in my box! LOL
As you can see in the image below, everything is recyclable, so goes perfect in your recycle can or even the paper could go into green-waste trash can (at least in my California county)
The veggies were fresh and crisp (not wilted), and the meat did not leak, despite only having one layer of plastic packaging!
Cooking with Dinnerly
Dinnerly is also missing one other thing to help cut back on costs – recipe cards. Not having a recipe card was kind of annoying, since I had to log into my phone to follow the recipes. However, it was a minor inconvenience to be able to save paper.
I’m not an enthusiastic environmentalist, but there is so much waste with many meal kits when you count the ice packs, delivery boxes, individual packaging, advertisements, and then on top of that recipe cards.
Plus, I’d rather save a couple bucks each week and deal with the inconvenience of not having a recipe card.
The meals inside my Dinnerly box were simple, but tasty and filling. You don’t get the exotic and exciting meals like with Blue Apron but the food is still good, and a lot more interesting than what I make on the daily.
Meal #1: Stir-Fried Beef Lettuce Wraps
Simple, fast, and easy to make Keto. I like meals that I can later recreate on the fly without having to look up recipes. Good find!
Meal #2: Chicken & Pepperoncini Relish
The pecceroncini relish for this meal was absolutely delicious. I’m on keto, but love pearl cous cous, so I cheated a bit tonight. This was a perfect example of how simple ingredients can make a delicious meal.
> Check Out The Current Menu!
Meal #3: Pork Shumai Meatballs
Super quick and easy, meatballs are a healthy way to get fat and protein into your diet. I usually don’t do ground pork on my own (I prefer beef), but these were still great.
With some pan seared green beans, keto rice, and a little asian influence with the seasonings, this was a perfect and easy meal.
As you can see, my girlfriend got a hold of the camera this time, and well, who can resist a selfie.
Oh yeah, and ignore my ugly kitchen. We just moved, and a remodel is scheduled for next year.
Canceling Dinnerly
Following with the trend of Dinnerly’s easy-of-use, it was simple to cancel. Unlike some services which make you jump through hoop, simply log into your account, go to account settings, and stop subscription.
One thing I did not like about Dinnerly was the large amount of emails I need to unsubscribe from. As someone that works online and gets a TON of promotional emails from all the services I try, it’s kind of annoying to have to manually unsubscribe, rather than choosing to manually subscribe.
Comparing Dinnerly To Other Meal Kit Services
We’ve done a lot of comparisons so far thought this post, so I’ll just recap here.
First, I haven’t discussed portion size. While the meals here were filling, they are not the biggest portion sized I’ve tried, and although there was an option to add portions to each meal during the ordering process, you can’t add more than six, so 2x one meal is 1x less another meal.
Overall, you can expect simpler ingredients, simpler cooking, and fewer choices. However, you also pay significantly less, and the quality of the food is not “worse” in any way (just not a fancy-schmancy).
Final Thoughts
Overall, I loved Dinnerly and it was one of the few meal kit delivery services I could picture myself ordering frequently and consistently. My main gripe with these kits is that the price is hard to stomach. Why pay $20/meal when I could just get restaurant food for a similar price?
Anyway, Dinnerly is cheap and tasty. It’s a great option for families or couples on a budget who want to also enjoy the meal kit trend and save some time cooking (or just spice up the kitchen routine).
Get Dinnerly Here!
19 Fermented Drinks Including Classic And Obscure Types To Enjoy
Did not like my box everything was thrown into the box , no instructions ,on what ingredients go with what meal,. Lost and totally disappointed (no recipe)
They hide the recipe cards, but they are in there!
They do not provide recipe cards in the box. You have to go online to download/print them yourself. They also don’t include all the ingredients in the box, but that’s a separate issue …
Oh yeah, forgot about that. I was thinking of a different company.
My box was identical to Nanny’s. There were no recipe cards so I called. They said they are digital and NOT printed and included. That’s fine- but not great.
My food was thrown all over the box. My onions were soaking wet from other food melting on them.
My final review of Dinnerly- worth the one time shot with the big coupon but never ordering again. The food was mediocre at best and not super exciting or flavorful. Simply not worth the cost without a big coupon discount.
Hello Fresh has way better receipes however it’s even MORE expensive than Dinnerly. I’ll be trying Freshly next, but I have seen the trend in these meals. They are overall a tasty simple dinner at a very high cost. They are only worth trying with a major discount and then never again.
Same here. I had too much prep and cleanup time too. Directions were not up to par. They had me sauté garlic and butter and put it aside but never indicated when or where to add back in. Potatoes were too mushy. Maybe too much butter or water?
Worthless product. Every meal takes over an hour to make. The time listed is only cooking not including prep time. “Fresh produce” is a joke. We received garlic that was sprouting and zucchini that was bruised. The broccoli was turning brown. Directions are complicated and steps are out of order. Not every ingredient is included (needed to provide vinegar).
This meal service is not worth the time or money.
That was not my experience, but thanks for sharing!
Same here. Broccoli was on the verge. Too much and confusing prep instructions. You should do all prep ahead of time. Veggies should be cooked last also so they are fresh and hot.
I’ve been getting Dinnerly for over a month now. I find the instruction very easy to follow and I like the “What you’ll need” feature at the bottom of the recipe. It identifies each ingredient and shows a picture of what it looks like. I lo ve it
Missing an item or two in every box and they will only give you credit for the missing item. So what’s the point of doing this if you have to go to the store for ingredients with every box
Yeah, a lot of people aren’t happy with them. I though they were decent, but I guess they have some work do to to catch up to the likes of Blue Apron.
My fiancée and I have used a few meal delivery services and tried shopping around with Dinnerly. I would strongly not recommend it. They don’t provide recipe cards and everything is tossed into the box, so prep Is a little confusing. They also don’t supply as many ingredients as other services(though I guess that’s reflected in the price.)
Our main gripe is that our first box came without ground pork for one of our meals. The second we received a day late. Everything inside was warmed over and wilted, and a package of raw chicken and pickles were both open and spilling juice on to everything. Overall just a bad experience though at least they refunded us.
I’ve been hearing lots of bad things about Dinnerly. Personally, I liked them. People visiting my blog? Not so much.
My Dinnerly experience started out great, but after several weeks of receiving spoiled vegetables, and then two weeks in a row of missing items, I cancelled. I loved the low price of Dinnerly, but the hassle and the waste (many items had to be tossed because they were not salvageable), resulted in no overall savings.
CRAZY that the veggies they sent you were crips, mine were totally bloods! Fingers crossed for some Latin Kingz next time. Oooh or maybe the elusive MS-13.
Sorry. Couldn’t help it 🙂
Typo fixed. Thanks!
Horrible customer service. I’m starting to realize that the price point reflect the lack of professionalism and customer satisfaction bottom line. Sending us multiple boxes, double charging, rotten ingredients on occasion, and no receipt trail. Over all, bad business model, can’t reach out to anyone but there customer service team who have no ability to escalate issues. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of Dinnerly, should have stopped our subscription summer of last year
I’ve had Dinnerly delivered about 5 weeks now and have been very pleased with the selections, the produce and meats, the time saved from not shopping nearly as often and also the price. I look forward to seeing my box on my porch every monday morning like clockwork. Delicious and plentiful portions.
I agree. Cheap easy and pretty tasty
My wife and I have been getting Dinnerly for 3 months now, and we’ll continue. Apparently we’re less entitled, because printing out the receipt cards and sorting the ingredients actually became part of the game. We have other couples over and together for two meals, then pot luck it. We recommend it!
Dinnerly will change your entire order at their discretion. I purchased this for my 21 year old son. The orders were selected to be simple to prepare and things he would like. The order was changed without our knowledge. Emails weresent from Dinnerly with a subject line saying “Get excited for next weeks recipes! Choose your next tasty dinners.” Since we had already chosen the meals, there was no reason to pay attention to the emails. Even if you did click on the emails, it just shows please click here to update your box, NO CLEAR STATEMENT THAT WE CHANGED YOUR ORDER TO OUR CHEFS SLELCTION FOR YOU. Finally the 1st email came on the 5th and by the 6th Dinnerly had already processed the order. Called them and they said so sorry, but cut-off date has passed and your credit card has been charged. They told me they were sorry but there was nothing they could do. We cancelled all future orders, and will contact our credit card company to dispute. Don’t go with them, just not worth it.
Got my first box yesterday, it was supposed to come the day before, but somehow they claim that there was a change.. oK, hopefully a one time hiccup… But it was a problem that I had no idea how those ingredients should come together. I did not even remember what meals I ordered, and there was no confirmation in any email. I just made a chicken stir-fry and added the sauce. I have to say it was delicious! But come on guys, just tell me what i’m supposed to do with this stuff, If a piece of paper is too expensive send an email with the recipe! this is a potential dealbreaker for me if I have to go on a sleuthing trip before I can start cooking.
It took me about 30 seconds to figure out how to get the prep instructions from the website. I find the website to be very user friendly
We’ve been using Dinnerly for a few months now and have been very happy with it. It seems people are annoyed with the packing and the fact that there are no recipe cards. I think that’s great though. That means there is less waste produced and it also allows them to keep pricing down. I just pull up the recipes on my tablet and follow the recipes that way. Our vegetables have always come fresh and in good shape. And we’ve only had a couple of recipes that we didn’t really care for, but everything else has been delicious and simple to make.
I have had two issues with the ingredients. Once a can of tomato sauce completely demolished a tomato and two green peppers that were integral to my stuffed pepper recipe. The second time I received doubles of the condiment/sauce part of one recipe and none for one of the other recipes. Both times I sent emails and pictures to the company and received credit for the issues. When I receive the emails that have the recipe cards, I print them right out so that when the box arrives either I or one of my sons can quickly sort the items into meal “kits” we place in bins in the fridge. When it comes time to cook, we grab a bin and the recipe and go. If I work late I can call the boys and say “pick a meal and cook it”, so I am all for it. I like the fact that the meals are ones that we all enjoy and the price is reasonable.
What a fair and thoughtful review.
I’ve tried just about every service out there (Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Purple Carrot, Green Chef, Sun Basket, Home Chef, Gobble, Every Plate, Dinnerly, etc) and every service has their pros and cons. Usually I switch it up when I start getting bored or want to tweak things.
I was attracted to Every Plate and Dinnerly because the price point was so much lower than even the mid range services (think Home Chef, which is probably an overall fave at $60/box for 2 ppl/3 meals). Saying that, EP and Dinnerly are much more bare bones and seemingly less food than the other meal plans. But for us, an adult household of two who comes home late, cooks, and serves dinner around 7:30, we’ve found Dinnerly to be economical and fill a great niche of giving us good dinner options that don’t take long to do.
I’ve found meal planning to be so much easier and now I spend a lot less at the grocery and have a lot less waste. At first I was annoyed that everything was tossed in the box rather than bagged per meal as I was used to before, along with the lack of recipe cards. But I’ve adjusted; I print out the “cards” from the “This is what will be in your box next week” email and I put the pages in sheet protectors. As soon as I open the box I put those sheets on the counter then unload the box and put each ingredient close to the card, making sure I have all the ingredients. Only one time I was missing something. I emailed them immediately asking for a modest credit for having to go buy the item, and they responded with a $5 credit (for a can of chickpeas), which was fair. After I’ve reviewed the items I then bag them (keeping meat separate) and put them in the crisper, ready to use. The biggest ongoing question mark right now is the delivery – sometimes the company they contract the delivery through will experience delays. I see this being a big problem people complain about in a Facebook Dinnerly group, but I have only experienced that once, and Dinnerly sent an email to notify me of that. When I received the box the next day both meat and produce were just fine.
We’ve used Dinnerly for over three months now, and it’s working fine. I’m always on the prowl to try something else, but so far we’ve found the recipe selection adequate, the recipes good (not mind blowing, but good), the 20-40 minute prep/cooking time good, and the budget hard to beat.
We have been getting Dinnerly for several months now and are totally satisfied. We have never received wilted vegetables or leaking meat. We’ve recommended this service to others without hearing any complaints. We print the recipes and place in a notebook. The instructions are very clear. From start to finish rarely takes more than 30 minutes. We will continue to use this plan and to also recommend it to others. Thank you for a great product.
It sounds like Dinnerly hasn’t changed much in 2 1/2 years! I just received my first box and was very disappointed. All of the cans in the box were dented, and the vegetables were bruised. Everything looked like it had literally been THROWN into the box from several feet away. An impromptu game of food basketball? I used a promo code to get a huge discount on my first box. I’m cancelling my subscription now. I would not pay full price for this service.