There's tons of ways to get food delivered to your door these days. Instacart for groceries, Uber/Doordash/Grubhub and more for restaurants, Hello Fresh to deliver sets of ingredients for specific recipes, or pre-made meal delivery services such as Factor and Freshly. Each market will have its own local variants of each of these services. The appeal is definitely there - we spend tons of time working and doing work adjacent activities, we have to get time back wherever we can.

My wife and I have busy, stressful jobs. I do like to cook, but sometimes it's the last thing I want to do after a 10 hour workday. This article is my attempt to log my experience with various meal delivery services. There's a good incentive to switch it up. Many offer excellent prices for new customers.

When you initially do the math, the prices can seem quite high. However, if you compare the prices to a few nights of takeout or fast food, it starts to look more attractive especially if you consider that with many of these services you're eating much closer to "real food." Many offer options for various nutritional needs, including low-carb/keto and vegetarian options mixed in. Acquiring ingredients is not the issue for me, so I'm trying specifically pre-made meal services.

Pricing

Factor is the first one I'm trying. One of the Youtubers I follow had a promo for it so I decided to try it out. 50% off the first box which came out to around $79 for my first box of 12 meals, or around $6.60 per serving. Each meal serves 1 person. Price-wise, we are about on par with a fast food meal, but Factor is going to have more vegetables and less fried food, so at this price it's a no-brainer. But, without any sort of promo we're looking at $13 per serving which is hard to justify. If you're feeding multiple people or eating these at lunch and dinner, the non-promo price for 18 boxes a week is $209 or around $11.60 per meal. If your other option is eating takeout at every meal, then maybe you're coming out ahead with Factor, but it's a bit steep.

The Food

Let's dive into the actual food now. I got an assortment of meals because I like variety. When I cook for myself I usually make the same things which does get boring sometimes. The meals are delivered in an insulated box, non-frozen, refrigerated for up to 7 days, and can be heated for 2 mins in the microwave, but the trays are oven safe, too. I microwave mine cause I'm lazy and impatient so keep that in mind.

Artichoke & Spinach Chicken - Really enjoyed this one. I'm a big fan of spinach and artichoke dip and Factor's version was tasty. The chicken was tender and flavorful. I ended up mixing the zucchini on the side with the sauce as well. I would get it again, 7.5/10

Turkey Chili and Zucchini - Not great. The chili had a good flavor, it tasted beefy despite being turkey. It was noticeably salty. The crema sauce wasn't good either but I don't like sour cream to begin with. The zucchini and peppers on the side were fine though nothing special. 4.5/10, not recommended.

Creamy Parmesan Chicken - I liked the parmesan sauce, it was great with the broccoli, too. But, the broccoli portion was pretty dang small. 6.5/10

Red Chile & Thyme Ground Beef - I also picked this one out for my wife since she likes ground beef. It was nicely balanced. The ground beef was seasoned well and it was a nice combo layered over the zucchini. My wife didn't care for the green beans on the side because she didn't like the blended herby cream cheese, butter and parm mix. I enjoyed them a lot. I only tried a bite of the beef portion, overall 8/10 would get again.

Grilled Chicken a la Vodka - Excellent! I usually play it safe with my pastas and go for marinara or alfredo, but this was a good vodka sauce, creamy and flavorful. It was nice to have zucchini noodles and broccoli to help soak up the sauce. The sauce portion was generous but again I was wishing for a greater serving of veggies. 7.5/10

Chile Braised Shredded Pork - It was ok. The pork was nice and tender, and the cabbage/peppers underneath mixed well. Little lacking in flavor. The chimichurri aioli on the side was the best part of the dish and I was happy to mix it with the pork. The side of zucchini was bland but otherwise fine. 5/10 still hungry after this one.

Cheesy Bacon Ranch Shredded Chicken - I got this one for my wife. She enjoyed it. I tried her leftovers, the chicken was tender and flavorful, and the mushrooms were tasty and cooked well. They had a nice texture, I was worried they'd be gummy. The broccoli was supposed to be garlic broccoli, but it tasted rather plain. Overall, high in fat, fine if you're doing keto, but it was pretty good. 7/10 because the chicken was on point.

Keto Mushroom Chicken Thighs - Fine if a little basic. The mushroom sauce tasted like cream of mushroom which...it probably was. 6/10

Sun-dried Tomato Chicken - This one was good, it was nice to have zucchini noodles for once. It was a natural fit with the sun-dried tomato sauce which was basically a pasta sauce. 7.5/10

House Burger & Mozzarella Cheese - Had high hopes for this one but it was kind of a let down. The burger wasn't too flavorful nor was the cheese on top. The potatoes were ok, corn was good. 5.5/10

Sweet and Smoky Butternut Squash Risotto - I was skeptical of this one. Risotto, pre-cooked, packaged, and reheated in the microwave? How could it be good? I was pleasantly surprised. The risotto was creamy and delicious. The squash, pumpkin, and apple had a nice sweet and slightly smoky flavor as indicated by the name. There was one ingredient I didn't care for, possibly the hazelnuts, that were kinda gritty and crunchy. They didn't taste bad but I didn't like the texture which was akin to overcooked chickpeas. But, there weren't a ton in there so not a problem. The green beans on the side were a bit wet (not sure if it was oil or water) but otherwise good. 8.5/10 because the flavor and textures were great, it tasted really fresh while being fairly healthy.

Peanut Buddha Bowl - Another veggie dish, this contained sweet potatoes, quinoa, riced and chunky broccoli, bell peppers and onions, gochugaru-spiced peanuts, and with a nice peanut sauce. I mixed everything together so I didn't judge the broccoli on its own to see if it was better than the bacon ranch chicken. Everything in this mixed together nicely and had a pleasant flavor. Some more spice would have been nice, but Factor overall seems to lean towards minimally-spiced. Gotta cater to that bland American palate lol.

Conclusion

Factor had good tasting meals, but the price isn't worth it without a promo code. Click here to use my promo code! It'll get you 50% off your first box, or $78 for 12 meals/$108 for 18 meals. Not bad at all especially when you take into account the ever increasing inflation going on. Use the promo code then cancel after the first box for the best deal.

Pricing

Front Porch Pantry is local to Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Their meals are a little pricier but they have multiple servings. They do seem to have regular sales depending on the day. I've seen 2-serving meals for as low as 10 bucks which is not bad. I paid $122 for the below plus a $10 tip for the delivery team.

The Food

The meals were delivered very similarly to Factor meals. Insulated bag, microwave/oven safe trays. Since these meals seem to be higher quality I plan to mostly cook them in the oven.

Chipotle Chicken Pasta - Yummy! I got this for my wife but she wasn't hungry when I made it lol. I enjoyed it, 8.5/10.

Mini Corn Bread Loaves - Very good. This came with 4 mini loaves. Pretty sweet cornbread. Didn't even need butter, thought it was good plain. Tasted closer to a dessert. 8/10

Loaded Breakfast Casserole - Love a good breakfast casserole. This one was hearty and great with hot sauce. 9/10, probably my favorite dish.

Southern Butter Pecan Cream Cake - This was free when I placed my order. Cake is just a little dry but great spiced flavor with a nice cream cheese frosting. 7.5/10

Cream of Broccoli and Asparagus Soup - Nice creamy soup with big chunks of veg, 7/10

BBQ Chicken Quarters - Pretty good, standard bbq chicken. Was kinda small but tasted good. 6/10

Kentucky Bourbon BBQ Meatloaf - Great flavor, portion was a tad small (or maybe I'm used to eating too much meat lol.) 7.5/10

Beefy Sheperd's Pie - Seasoned beef, peas, corn, mashed potatoes and shredded cheddar cheese. This wasn't exactly healthy but it tasted great and was very filling. Classic southern comfort food, my wife really liked it. 8/10

Marry Me Chicken - Good flavors, but I was really looking for the bacon. 7/10

Chicken Fajitas - Kinda bland but after adding some Fire sauce and spicy guac, it was decent. My wife didn't like the included queso. It also didn't come with tortillas, you have to buy those separately. 5.5/10

Conclusion

I did enjoy the taste of Front Porch Pantry enough to order them a 2nd week. Price was still a little high overall (isn't everything these days), but the quality was there and still overall cheaper than a few nights eating out, but you'll never beat the price of cooking your own food. How much is your own time worth to you? Only you can answer that. No referral codes for this one. Their sales and specials change frequently so if you're interested I recommend signing up for their text club.