Factor meals review 2025: We tested the service to find what’s worth ordering — and what to skip

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Hate cooking but still want a healthy lunch? After testing the most popular prepared meal delivery services, Factor stood out as one of the best options for anyone looking to eat healthier — especially those following a low-carb or keto diet.

Factor delivers dietitian-approved, microwavable meals made with fresh ingredients, and has recently expanded into the supplement space with protein shakes, electrolyte mixes and greens powders. While you don’t need to follow a specific diet to enjoy Factor, the service is designed for those seeking high-protein meals. Yahoo editors Lisa Schweitzer and Kelli McGrane (a registered dietitian) put the service to the test to help you decide whether Factor is right for you — or if you might want to explore another option.

Read more: These are the best meal kit delivery services and the best healthy meal kit delivery services of 2025

Factor at a glance

Factor: How it works

Factor offers a variety of meal delivery plans that range both in size (you can order four to 36 meals per week) and in food preferences, including:

• Calorie Smart

• Fiber Filled

• High Protein

• GLP-1 Support

• Flexitarian

Once you choose a menu, you’ll be asked about how many people will be eating and how many meals per day you want to order. Next, it’s time to select your meal plan, set a delivery date, and browse the available recipes for the upcoming week. There are about 88 meal choices per week, plus add-ons including breakfasts, snacks, smoothies, juices and portions of fully cooked proteins.

As part of any Factor subscription, you can also book a free 20-minute virtual nutrition coaching session with one of its expert dietitians. This is a fantastic added value, as it allows you to ask all kinds of nutrition questions (related to Factor or not), create personalized dietary goals and generally set yourself up for success.

Factor: Delivery and packaging

Our meals arrived fresh (not frozen) and in perfect condition, with no tears or spoilage. The slim, microwavable containers were easy to stack neatly in the fridge, and the protein shakes were equally compact for easy storage. A small but thoughtful touch: The meal names are printed on the side of each container, so you can easily see what’s inside even when they’re stacked.

Most of Factor’s packaging is recyclable. The food trays are made from CPET, which stands for Crystallizable PolyEthylene Terephthalate, and are BPA-free recyclable plastic #1 — just rinse them first. You can learn more about how to recycle Factor’s packaging here.

Putting it to the taste test

Ease of prep

Factor meals are incredibly easy to prepare: all you have to do is heat them according to the package instructions, and — presto! — dinner is served. Most meals are microwavable and ready in under three minutes, while many add-ons are ready to eat straight out of the fridge or pantry.

Taste and texture

Factor’s meals were a mixed bag: Some were among the best-prepared meals we’ve tried, while others fell flat in either flavor or texture, or sometimes both.

Schweitzer’s favorite meal was the White Cheddar Chicken with Broccoli-Parmesan “Grits,” Roasted Green Beans & Sliced Almonds. “The cheese sauce was really flavorful and truly made the broccoli ‘grits’ seem more like carbs and less like veggies, which is always a win when you’re trying to reduce your carb intake,” she said. Her runner-up pick was the Pork Tenderloin & Cheesy Cabbage with Garlic Butter Green Beans: “The pork was perfectly cooked, not dry at all, and well, I’ll eat any green vegetable topped with garlic butter.”

McGrane’s top two were the Green Chile Chicken and Unstuffed Spinach Ricotta Shells: “The chicken was moist, but what really stood out was the rich green chile sauce. The downside? The cauliflower rice with queso blanco turned a bit mushy — I would’ve preferred something with a pop of freshness, like a corn salad or crisp veggies. The pasta dish had a similar texture issue, but the flavor made up for it. The sauce was nearly as good as my homemade version, and I ended up polishing off the whole plate.”

Some dishes, however, missed the mark. In the Athenian-Style Feta Chicken, the chicken turned out a bit rubbery, and the zucchini was overly soft. The Vegetarian Tamale Bowl had a slight bitterness that overshadowed the rest of the flavors. And while the African Peanut Curry & Tofu started out flavorful, it became a little one-note by the end.

McGrane’s favorite? The Cold Brew Latte Protein Shakes. She said they quickly became her go-to during the hectic mornings of getting her kids ready for day care: “The shakes were creamy, not overly sweet, and had a rich cold brew taste without any bitterness. They’re also impressively filling for a snack.”

Nutrition

Factor meals are designed by registered dietitians to ensure that they contain a relatively balanced mix of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Because foods differ in the types of micronutrients (aka vitamins and minerals) they contain, Factor makes an effort to include a wide variety of ingredients in its menu.

So, are the meals actually healthy? “Overall, Factor meals hit the right notes for a healthy microwavable meal option: They feature whole foods with lean proteins, veggies and healthy fats, and most provide a solid amount of fiber. That said, many options are high in sodium and saturated fat, so they may not be the best fit if you’re managing certain conditions, like high cholesterol or blood pressure,” says McGrane.

Factor costs and shipping

How much are Factor meals for a week?

Weekly costs depend on the number of meals you choose. For example, a box of 18 meals (before shipping) costs $224.82 without promotions. Meals start at $12.49 each. The more meals you order per week, the lower the price per meal.

How much is shipping?

Shipping costs $10.99 for your first box, then $13.99 for subsequent orders — slightly higher than average for meal delivery services.

Tip: Factor offers steep first-time customer discounts, making it affordable to try before committing. Take advantage of these promos, then set a calendar reminder to cancel or adjust your plan if you decide not to continue.

Delivery

Factor delivers on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, depending on your ZIP code. The cutoff for new or modified orders is Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. CT, one week before your scheduled delivery.

How does Factor compare?

Factor is far from being the only meal delivery service in town. Here’s how it compares to two major players: CookUnity, a chef-driven prepared meal service, and HelloFresh, a popular meal kit option for couples and families.

A dietitian’s quick review of Factor’s supplements

In September 2024, Factor launched into the wellness space with its Factor Form supplement line. Currently, the brand offers three products: Daily Greens, Whey Protein and Hydration Boost. As with its meals, Factor Form supplements are reviewed by registered dietitians and formulated with zero added sugar or artificial additives. However, the company doesn’t mention whether the products are third-party tested to ensure purity and potency.

Here’s McGrane’s quick review of each:

Is Factor worth it?

How we test meal delivery services

For this review, we tested all Factor meals with our families. Schweitzer, Yahoo’s senior home editor, is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute, a former food publication writer and mom to an active teen and tween. McGrane, Yahoo’s wellness commerce editor, is a registered dietitian and cookbook author with hands-on experience in recipe creation — and mom to two young (and often picky) kids. We evaluated Factor based on the following criteria:

• Subscription price, because everyone has different budgets.

• Ease of use, because you’re getting a meal to make your life easier, so you don’t want anything too complicated or time-consuming.

• Menu choices, because you want a good variety of flavors and ingredients.

• Taste, because above all, you want your dinner to be yummy!

• Packaging: Is there too much? Too little? Is it putting out too much waste into the world? We factored this into our reviews.

• Nutrition: Are meals generally well-balanced and worthy of a “healthy meal” designation?

To broaden our perspectives, we also gathered feedback from other Yahoo staff members and their families of varying sizes and dietary needs, including households with infants, teens and vegetarians. We supplemented this with insights from active Facebook groups discussing meal kits and expert input from registered dietitians — our own McGrane and Jaclyn London, based in New York City.

FAQs

What if I need to skip a week?

You can skip a week or cancel if your needs change.

Where can I find the Factor nutritional information?

You can view full nutritional information for each Factor meal by clicking on specific dishes on the menu for each week. Also note that Factor uses locally sourced beef, pasture-raised pork, antibiotic-free poultry and cage-free eggs in its meals.

Is Factor a meal delivery service for weight loss?

According to the Factor website, the company’s meals are not designed specifically for weight loss, but they may help you meet your nutrition-related goals, depending on how you combine Factor meals with the other food you consume. The company also offers 1:1 appointments with a registered dietitian who can help make meal recommendations to better meet your goals.

Related: The best weight loss meal delivery services in 2025

How long do Factor meals last?

Factor meals will stay fresh for seven days in the fridge, and there is an “Enjoy by” date printed on each of the meal sleeves.

Can I freeze Factor meals?

Factor meals are fresh and intended to be eaten within seven days. The service does not recommend freezing the meals.

How do Factor ingredients stay fresh during shipping?

Factor ships all of its meals in insulated boxes with gel packs that will keep the box at refrigerated temperatures for quite a long time. These methods have been tested in all seasons, across all climates.

Is it safe to eat food reheated in plastic containers in the microwave?

Factor meals are delivered to you in CPET individual plastic containers, completely free of BPA, or bisphenol A. CPET stands for Crystallizable PolyEthylene Terephthalate. These plastics are safe for food storage as well as for heating in the microwave or conventional oven.

Which is better, HelloFresh or Factor?

It depends on what you’re looking for. Factor delivers single-serve, heat-and-eat meals — many geared toward adults following specialty diets like keto. HelloFresh, meanwhile, focuses on meal kits designed for couples and families, though it does offer some single-serve prepared meals. While HelloFresh covers several diet preferences, it’s not as specialized for low-carb plans.

Our health content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as professional medical advice. Consult a medical professional on questions about your health.