Dinnerly: Meet the Affordable Meal Kit
Dinnerly started in 2017. Over the last few years, the company has seen impressive growth. Today, Dinnerly reaches 93% of the U.S. population. With digital recipes, carefully planned ingredients, innovative packaging, and minimal marketing, they offer one of the country’s most affordable meal delivery services.
What’s on the Menu?
Dinnerly’s menu has 28 recipes available every week. All recipes are for 2 or 4 servings and provide instructions in 5 simple steps.
Meals are identified with one or more of the following labels:
Low-Calorie, No Added Gluten, Under 30 Minutes, Meat, Kid Friendly, Healthy, Poultry, Vegetarian, Special, Dairy Free, Seafood, Fish, and One Pot Meal.
They have a good number of extras on their menu as well. From desserts, like ready-to-heat Chocolate Lava Cakes, to Superbowl finger foods like “Pulled Pork Cheddar Biscuit Sliders”, plus weekend bakes like Foccacia bread and protein add-ons like ready-to-heat meatballs.
Sample Recipe:
Caramel Chicken Stir Fry: This recipe comes with the labels of no added gluten, under 30 minutes, poultry, kid-friendly and dairy-free.
Dinnerly clearly indicates the ingredients and quantities in the box, including pictures, as well as what you will need to provide yourself, most of which are kitchen staples you likely keep at home:
All recipes are divided into 5 steps, often with an “Extra Credit” item at the end. In this case, they are:
- Cook rice
- Prep ingredients
- Prep chicken & cook peas
- Cook chicken & caramel
- Finish & serve
- Extra Credit: How to make caramel!
There are no photos available for the steps, but they have detailed descriptions so you can follow them precisely such as “Trim stem ends from snow peas and cut each crosswise into thirds” and “Continue to cook, swirling skillet occasionally, until caramel sauce becomes honey-colored, 4–5 minutes (watch closely)”. The Extra Credit item offers “the trick to making a great caramel sauce”, which is to watch it closely, as instructed, and reduce the heat if it’s getting too dark too fast.
Plans, Prices & Delivery
Dinnerly offers one general plan, with the ability to choose between the Two-Person Box and a Family Box (for four people). You can make either of these vegetarian.
Prices per serving decrease with more meals ordered. You can get between 3 and 6 recipes with either plan.
The lowest price is $1.99 per serving (as advertised) for six weekly recipes in the Family Box (24 total meals). Even the highest price of $2.50 per serving for three meals in the Two-Person Box (6 total meals), is still quite low relative to many other meal kit prices.
Delivery costs $8.99 and is available to most of the contiguous US states. Days and times will depend on location. You are not committed to the service, so you can cancel or skip a week for any reason before billing (5-7 days before delivery)
Customer Service
If you click “Contact Us”on the Dinnerly homepage you will encounter four methods of doing so. You can call them at 888-267-2850, email them at [email protected], chat with their automated Dinnerly support sous-chef, or complete a digital contact form directly on the website.
Final Thoughts
Dinnerly is affordable, simple, and family-friendly. They value your budget and your time “because an hour of chopping and slicing, mixing is too much” and their symbol is an oven mitt because they “have you covered”. If you are following a general diet, whether vegetarian or not, it certainly seems worth a try.
