Introduction Pete Scherer has been a curious and industrious cook from an early age. In his early twenties, his interests led him in two directions: he began working in farmer's markets around the Los Angeles area - including several years at the famed Wednesday Santa Monica farmer's market - and he began teaching himself to make sourdough bread. These interests coalesced when he began working as a baker for Suzanne Goin at her restaurants Lucques and AOC. Peter later went on to work for Salt's Cure, the nose-to-tail boutique steakhouse, before briefly owning his own small artisan bakery. He left the restaurant grind in his early 30s to start a family, for whom he does the majority of the cooking.

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The goal of a gourmet meal delivery service is to deliver high-end meal kits and/or ready-to-heat meals to your door. These services typically use premium ingredients in a wide variety of menu options, so you can choose the meals that best fit your taste and dietary needs. Most companies only offer subscriptions, but a few allow standalone orders as well.

How does a gourmet meal delivery service make our list of top companies? In addition to a range of meal options and quality ingredients, inventiveness is also key. A company's meals ideally take you beyond what you'd ordinarily prepare for yourself at home. Finally, a great gourmet meal delivery service should have knowledgeable and friendly staff to assist with your questions or concerns.

Blue Apron is the original player in the meal kit delivery game, and it's clear that the company has learned a thing or two over the years. In our testing, the company has consistently demonstrated a high level of quality across the board. Tasters said the dishes were "diverse and interesting" with excellent flavor and texture, and praised the company's responsive and effective customer service.

Blue Apron has been a popular choice for many years, and it's easy to see why. The inventive menu rotates weekly; the ingredients are top notch; and the site and app offer an intuitive user experience. If you're a foodie, you'll definitely be in good hands: We've tested dozens of meal delivery services, and Blue Apron's menu is the only one we've seen that includes a duck dish. Not to mention prosciutto quesadillas!

You can sign up to receive either two- or four-serving kits, in quantities of two, three or four kits per week. Blue Apron also offers "Heat & Eat" meals, which can be ready to enjoy after only three minutes in the microwave. The more you order, the lower your per-serving cost will be, ranging from a low of $7.99 to a high of $11.99.

Blue Apron categorizes its menu as follows:

Our team of testers thoroughly enjoyed CookUnity's diverse menu; even the kiddos were impressed. We also appreciated the company's responsive customer service, the transparent, informative site and mobile app, and the mostly recyclable packaging.

CookUnity is pioneering the chef collective model of gourmet meal delivery. Each dish on the menu is the work of an individual chef, whose name and photo appear on the package. This model generates an exceptionally diverse menu of fresh, fully-prepared, single-serving meals.

Tovala has something no other meal delivery service has: the Tovala Smart Oven, which our testers identified as the service's primary strength. The oven has a built-in barcode scanner which instructs the appliance on how to cook or steam a particular meal. Customers simply scan the barcode on the meal's packaging and the oven does the rest. One tester noted that, "All the meal components cook at the same time, and come out perfectly cooked." Our testers also found the meals to be tasty, made with fresh ingredients, and highly enjoyable.

Tovala is the only gourmet meal delivery service we've seen that comes with a purpose-built appliance that does the cooking for you. The menu offers plenty of variety and includes dietary accommodations like vegetarian and gluten-free dishes. Plus, the $49 (for new customers) oven is affordable, and the company allows you to try it risk-free for 100 days.

You can order four, six, eight, 10, 12, or 16 meals in your weekly delivery. Meals are priced individually. Most cost $12.99, but some cost as little as $9.99. Shipping is an additional $9.99. Unlike most meal delivery services, Tovala does not offer a discount for larger orders.

While Sakara Life's claims to "release years of toxic build-up" and "reset the body's systems" are not based on scientific evidence, there's no denying that these phrases carry a certain allure, which the $28 per meal price tag only enhances. Go ahead and splurge. You know you want to.

Sakara mixes the wellness and meal delivery worlds into one service. Its best selling Signature Nutrition Program offers a fixed menu, with dishes such as:

You can also order "Wellness Tea, "Super Bars," "Super Powders" and more.

The Signature Nutrition Program, mentioned above, is flexible. You could pay as little as $63 dollars for a standalone order of two breakfasts. But as long as you're splurging on the Sakara Life, why not go all out with a weekly subscription for five days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus three signature green smoothies, for $459 per week?

If you're looking for pre-made frozen meals, Home Bistro may be worth a try. Many of the meals are created by celebrity chefs like Cat Cora and Richard Blais. Our testers really liked the fast shipping, the straightforward and accurate heating instructions, and final products that matched the photos on the website.

Home Bistro is one of the few gourmet meal delivery services that does not employ a subscription model. You can buy one individual meal, or fill the deep freeze in your garage with a single order. The single-serving meals are inventive and diverse.

Home Bistro is a totally à la carte service. All meals and combo packs are individually priced. Single meals range between $15 and $19, while combo packs sell for around $75 for five meals up to about $320 for 20 meals.

With praise like "Green Chef's dishes are among the best I've received from any meal kit service," it's safe to say that our testers unreservedly loved Green Chef. Everything from the recipes to the site and app is "very clear and functional," while the meals deliver "an exceptional combination of easy preparation and big flavor."

A Green Chef subscription delivers certified organic gourmet meal kits that serve up to 12 people, making it a great option for families. The concise, well-designed menu changes weekly and draws on a wide variety of culinary traditions. The company also takes sustainability seriously with a fairly comprehensive guide to recycling its packaging, as well as a carbon offset program.

Green Chef offers six categories of cuisine, including vegetarian and vegan plans. At initial signup, you have the option of serving two, four, or six people; but once you're a customer, you can order kits that serve eight or 12 people as well (although you can only get two such kits per week). Prices range from $13.49 per meal for three two-serving kits per week to $11.99 per meal for four six-serving kits per week.

Our testing team found ModifyHealth to be a good option for customers who prefer organic meals because the company provides the necessary ingredient information for its flavorful and balanced meals upfront. If there's any info that you can't locate, we found that ModifyHealth's customer service team provided quick answers to our questions.

ModifyHealth delivers fresh, fully-prepared, single-serving meals from the company's two menus: Mediterranean and Low FODMAP. Most meals contain organic ingredients, and both menus offer a meal program that includes educational materials and dietitian support for those who want it. The service's facilities are also 100% gluten-free.

Epicured takes gut health seriously. Our testers noted that the service is among the few gourmet meal delivery services with a registered dietitian on staff, not to mention a relationship with the Mount Sinai Health System. Information is transparent for everything from sourcing to recycling, plus there's a robust FAQ in addition to other resources. Gluten-sensitive customers are definitely in capable hands with Epicured.

Epicured considers itself to be a healthcare company. It also happens to employ a chef, Daniel Chavez-Bello, who has worked in some of the world's best kitchens, including El Bulli and Mugaritz. The comprehensive menu includes categories like breakfasts, beverages, and snacks and is designed in collaboration with a registered dietitian.

With Epicured, you basically create your own subscription. You can order as much or as little as you like, and your last order will recur on a weekly basis until you change it. You can buy just a single smoothie (although you'll pay many times the smoothie's price in shipping) or multiple bundles of many meals. Entrees range from around $10 to $24, while bundles go for between roughly $100 and $200.

Factor straightforwardly states the macro breakdown for its keto meals: 60% of calories come from fat, around 20% of calories come from protein, and 10% or less of calories come from carbohydrates. Our testers loved many aspects of Factor's service, from the high-quality, flavor-packed meals to the friendly customer service associates conveniently available via live chat. A certain salmon dish even blew one of our testers away with its perfect "flaky, buttery, and sumptuous" texture.

A member of the HelloFresh portfolio, Factor offers fitness-focused meals, delivering a well-curated variety of fresh, single-serving dishes along with a decent selection of unique add-ons. Compared to other fresh ready-to-heat meal services, our testers were very impressed with the quality and flavor of Factor's food. All meals are single-serving, so Factor is better suited to active busy adults than to families with children.

Overall, the best gourmet meal delivery service is Blue Apron. In our tests, the company has consistently received top ratings across multiple categories due to its exceptional ingredient quality; an inventive menu that rotates weekly; an intuitive, flexible ordering system; and prompt, convenient customer service. Finally, as always, the proof is on the plate, and that's where Blue Apron really shines, delivering attractive, delicious, well-balanced recipes week after week for a very reasonable price.

In general, using a gourmet meal delivery service is simply a matter of choosing meals, waiting for delivery, and then preparing the food according to the provided instructions. Most services offer subscription plans, which provide customers with a set number of meals per week or month. The degree of flexibility varies widely across companies. A few services allow à la carte orders.

Prices range from around $7 to nearly $30 per meal. Most services also pass along shipping costs, or offer free shipping above a certain threshold. Your weekly cost will vary depending on which service you use and how many meals you order.

In short, yes. A gourmet meal delivery service that doesn't offer fresh, wholesome ingredients likely won't survive for long in this competitive market. Most services provide some ingredient and sourcing information upfront, but if you can't find what you're looking for, just reach out to the service in question. Companies are usually happy to provide more information.

There are several gourmet meal delivery services that you may find helpful in achieving your weight management goals. On this list, Factor and Sakara are the most explicitly wellness-focused services. Epicured might also be a good choice because of its comprehensive menu.

Gourmet meal delivery services have many moving parts. From the moment you order to when the last dish is cleaned and put away, the overall customer experience is influenced by many factors. We tested more than three dozen meal delivery companies, subjecting each to a rigorous data-driven analysis of every aspect of its service. Price, flexibility, variety, flavor and texture, sustainability, nutrition, cookability, and customer service all factored into the final scores.