The best Toronto meal kit delivery options

These Canadian recipe subscription services – including some made-in-Toronto meal kit options – deliver everything you need to try new recipes in a snap

Meal kit delivery services have become an increasingly popular food option during the pandemic, along with food boxes and prepared meals. On top of groceries becoming more complicated to buy due to social distancing, many of us are suddenly finding ourselves with a lot more time at home (and not a lot of fresh ideas for things to cook).

Meal kit services offer pre-portioned ingredients for a rotating roster of recipes; you can select how many you'd like to sign up for on a regular basis, and often, choose your recipes in advance. Along with some Canadian services, there are also some homegrown Toronto meal kit options as well. Here's the breakdown:

Toronto meal kit delivery services

Chef's Plate

This Toronto-based option offers meal kit deliveries with 2, 3 or 4 meals, each at two servings – great for smaller households. Unlike many other services, Chef's Plate's kits can go as small as a 2-recipe box with 2 servings apiece, which might be a nice option for those who want to dip their toes in to a meal service for the first time. You can select recipes via the website or the Chef's Plate app.

Sample recipes: Pastrami-spiced salmon and latkes; Chinese meatball soup; slow-cooker barbacoa tacos.

Boxes start at $45 for a box with two (two-serving) recipes. Sign up for Chef's Plate here.

HelloFresh

Options for HelloFresh include the built-for-speed Pronto box (3-4 recipes, 2-4 servings each), an economy-sized, picky-eater-approved Family plan (3-4 recipes with 4 servings), and a vegetarian box (3 recipes, 2-4 servings).

You can order via desktop or the Hello Fresh app and choose your meals from a list of 25 options every week. (For those on the hunt for a HelloFresh coupon code: You can get $80 off over your first 3 boxes, plus free shipping, with the code AFF80.)

Sample recipes: Ponzu-marinated steak with bok choy; crispy pork tonkatsu; butternut squash risotto with herbed goat cheese.

Boxes start at $45 for a box with two (two-serving) recipes. Sign up for HelloFresh here.

GoodFood

Not to be confused with the Good Food Box, this popular meal kit option boasts three main types of recipe. The "Classic," which features slightly more adventurous recipes, can be ordered with 2 recipes (4 servings), 3 recipes (2/4 servings) or 4 recipes (2/4 servings) each.

Meanwhile, the "Family" plan, which features 2 to 4 dishes (designed to appeal to picky eaters) per week, automatically comes with 4 servings.

And for the particularly time-strapped, the "Easy Prep" box (2, 3 or 4 recipes at 2 or 4 servings) comes with pre-prepped ingredients, so all you have to do is pitch them in the pot. Vegetarian meals (which net you a slight discount) and low carb options are available.

Sample recipes: Lamb chops with black garlic labneh; miso-maple caramel chicken with smashed cucumber salad and garlic rice; green pea orzo with bocconcini.

Boxes start at $66.95 for a Classic box with three (two-serving) recipes. Sign up for GoodFood here.

Cook It

This Quebec-based company offers maybe the biggest range of available meal and serving options: Between 3 and 7 meals, available at 2 to 6 servings. Ready-to-eat meals are part of the available weekly options, as are veggie and gluten-free dishes (an all-vegetarian subscription option is present as well).

Another bonus: You can tack pantry items onto your order from a number of Quebec brands. A new rewards program, Star Chef, is currently in beta.

Boxes start at $63 for three two-serving recipes. Sign up for Cook It here.

Fresh City Farms

Yep, in addition to offering boxes of produce and a whack of other groceries, Fresh City Farms also offers meal kits made with organic ingredients. Instead of signing up for a number of mystery meals from a weekly rotating menu, though, you just order your kits a la carte (though you can set them to be auto-added to your Fresh City Farms orders on a varying basis).

Sample recipes: Lemon chevre pasta, sheet pan coq au vin, veggie bibimbap.

Meals start at $19.50 for two portions. Sign up for Fresh City Farms here.

Sorry I've Got Plants

This excellently-named plant-based business, based out of a shop on Roncesvalles, offers weekly meal kit deliveries of 2, 3 or 4 recipes at 2 servings each. All recipes are pre-prepped and are designed to be done in 20 minutes.

Orders are done via text message on Thursdays for the following week, and instead of automatically signing you up for a box each week, their service is opt-in only – so you don't have to worry about skipping. (Forgetful vegans, your moment has come!)

Sample recipes: Mint and orzo salad, curry Pad Thai, buffalo cauliflower tacos.

Boxes start at $40 for two 2-portion recipes. Sign up for Sorry I've Got Plants here.

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@nataliamanzocco