Prepared Meals Made for Kids

Yumble was founded in 2015 under the name Panda Plates and rebranded in 2017 as Yumble. The company has since become very popular, telling us that it shipped a high of 200,000 meals per month in 2021. Yumble offers fully prepared, single-serving meals for young children. None of the meals are made with peanuts or tree nuts and weekly menus incorporate meal options for a variety of dietary preferences, including dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free, and vegetarian.

Ingredients are thoughtfully sourced and combined to meet the nutritional needs of growing children. Weekly meals are delivered fresh in sustainable packaging and each box also includes activities for parents to interact with kids around mealtime. Meals will last about a week in the fridge.

Pricing: Buy More, Save More

Yumble offers four different meal plans that vary by the number of plates delivered in each box. The smallest order is four meals per week and the largest is 16 meals per week. Pricing drops as the number of meals per box increases. Free shipping is always included. Each week, customers have the option to choose their own meals from a rotating menu. There is a core menu that stays the same, but additional items (up to four) that change every few weeks. The plans are as follows:

• 4 meals per week: $9.99 per meal
• 6 meals per week: $8.99 per meal
• 8 meals per week: $7.99 per meal
• 16 meals per week: $6.99 per meal

How It Works: Choose Meals From a Rotating Menu

The first step to getting started is to enter your email address and zip code to confirm that Yumble delivers to your area. Next, select a meal plan from the options listed above. You are then prompted to choose your meals for the week or opt to have your cart pre-filled with top-rated meals. All meals are fully prepared as single servings and designed to be eaten cold, at room temperature, or reheated in the microwave. Meals can be filtered by allergens (free of gluten, milk, soy, eggs) as well as a “No Sugar Added” option. You can also filter by age: 1-3, 4-8, or 9-13. However, it was not clear what the differences were among the age ranges since the menu didn’t seem to change with the age filters when we reviewed the options. Also, keep in mind that even if a meal does not contain an allergen, cross-contamination can still occur because the facility is not 100% free of allergens.

Choosing Meals: Straightforward

Full meal descriptions, nutrition information, and allergens are all listed on the menu. There are also customer reviews for each menu item and labels on certain items as recommended for Picky Eaters, No-Heat Items, Top-Rated Items, and New Items. There are around 35 different meals to choose from per week, more than half of which are vegetarian. When we placed our order, there were seven breakfast options and three snacks and the rest were lunch and dinner options. There are no add-ons available but meals can be added to upgrade to the next meal plan as you are choosing meals.

Once meals are selected, customers can select between two delivery dates—each one week apart—and then check out. Any changes to an upcoming order must be made by the cutoff date and time that is listed in the account profile under the Upcoming Meals Page. This is about one week prior to the scheduled delivery date. Orders cannot be changed once they’re processed, but customers are encouraged to contact customer service with any requests.

What We Made

We placed an order to receive six meals per week and focused on the following for this review:

• Vegetarian bean burrito: bean, rice, and cheese burrito with a side of corn
• Mac n’ cheese & nuggets, please: creamy macaroni & cheese with chicken nuggets
• Pizza pocket & broccoli parm: cheese and marinara empanada with parmesan broccoli
• Classic cheese ravioli: cheese ravioli in marinara with green beans
• Chicken marinara & alfredo: chicken nuggets, cheese, and sauce with creamy pasta

Packaging: Minimal and Recyclable

Our Yumble box arrived simply packed with the meal trays stacked inside, insulated with one large liner and two large ice packs. The box and liner are fully recyclable and trays are made from recyclable plastic and recyclable paper sleeves. The gel packs may be reused (or drained, thoroughly rinsed, and recycled). The trays are packed with a plastic film on top and a paper sleeve around each one with information about ingredients, nutrition, and heating instructions. 

Customer Support: Fun, Friendly, and Prompt

Our box included a small plastic bag with a welcome pamphlet as well as a sticker sheet for kids, a small silicone placemat, and a card game with questions to ask each other at mealtime for some fun family table talk. The welcome pamphlet also included contact information to reach Yumble by phone, email, or text.

Yumble’s customer support is also available by live person chat on the website and per the company, includes after-hours support and weekend support. We reached out via text after hours on a weekend and received an automatic message that customer service would be available at 9 a.m. ET the following day. We ended up receiving a text response the next morning before noon and then an immediate response after we texted back. Similarly, we also reached out via email at the same time and received an email response before noon the following weekend day.

When we asked a follow-up question by replying to the email, we again received a response instantaneously. Our question via text was related to the credentials of the nutrition experts on staff and we initially received some conflicting information. After some back and forth, however, this was soon clarified. In fact, the customer service agent informed us that after our conversation, the internal customer service team was also notified to make sure all of the agents have the correct information. While we were initially disappointed that we received conflicting information from the customer service agent and our previous research, we were pleased with how quickly the issue was addressed and resolved. (Read below for more information on the credentials of the staff and advisors).

Nutrition: Nutritionally Balanced for Young Kids

While all nutrition information is available on the website before placing an order, there are no specific nutritional parameters that are publicly disclosed on the company’s website (nor were they available when we asked customer service). However, the founder holds a youth nutrition certificate from an online program, has some supplemental nutrition education, and is a mom of three with first-hand experience in feeding growing children. The company also partners with nutritionists from Danone, an international food company. All meals are designed with nutritional balance in mind but do not seem to be strict guidelines related to the nutrition labels, or at least none that are available to the public. 

Based on our order, most meals had low sodium contents, particularly for prepared food (many contained less than 300 milligrams per serving), but some were on the higher end, closer to 700 milligrams per serving. Saturated fat content varied depending on the ingredients, but added sugar was consistently negligible except for the snack items. Fiber ranged from 1-3 grams for the items we ordered, which is on the low end, but keep in mind the portions are smaller than adult servings. All meals we sampled contained some amount of calcium, iron, and potassium. 

The Cooking Process: Heat and Eat

All Yumble meals are designed to be reheated in the microwave for 45 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on the item. Cooking times were all accurate during our testing. All instructions on the sleeves are for the microwave but we noticed that there are also instructions for oven reheating on the company’s website. We do wish the oven instructions were listed on the packaging for some of the items that were breaded such as the nuggets or pizza pocket because they would have been more crispy using this method.

Flavor, Freshness, and Quality: Hit or Miss

According to Yumble, its menu includes dishes that span a range of cuisines including American, Chinese, fusion, Italian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern. From our experience, however, the menu is predominantly American, Italian, and fusion. Our 6-year-old and adult testers both really enjoyed some of the components of some of the meals, including the burrito in the vegetarian bean burrito meal, the cheese ravioli, the macaroni and cheese component of meals, and the pizza pocket & broccoli parm, but other meals and some components of meals were either bland, too soft and mushy, or not very visually appealing. For example, the green beans were a drab green color and very soft; the chicken nuggets did not retain any crispiness in the microwave, and the chicken meatballs would have benefited from some browning in the oven or some type of sauce. For the dishes that were a hit though, the portions were satisfying and our testers would definitely reorder them.

We like that the company has a set of standards around sourcing, including hormone-free milk, pasture-raised or grass-fed beef, and regionally sourced food. Yumble uses organic ingredients whenever possible and notes them in every ingredient list. The company also has a “food promise,” which lays out its priorities around each meal related to nutrition and sourcing. Yumble pledges its food is free of added preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, and trans fat. At the same time, the company says it prioritizes vegetable-forward meals, whole grains, high-quality protein, and fresh, seasonal, thoughtfully sourced ingredients.

Yumble Is Good For

Yumble is good for busy parents who want to spend less time preparing food for their families and young children but still value nutritious, home-cooked meals. It’s also good for families who may have limited cooking equipment or space. This service is not great for families who prefer to eat family-style meals since all meals are single serving, or for children with severe allergies or dietary restrictions.

The Competition: Yumble vs. Little Spoon

Yumble and Little Spoon both offer heat-to-eat meals for toddlers and young children. Little Spoon has baby food as well, and its age range is also generally slightly younger, even for the kid plates; portions are smaller and the target eater is up to 6 years old, whereas Yumble claims that its meals are appropriate for ages 12 months to 12 years, with its sweet spot falling between ages 3 and 8. Yumble’s pricing seems to be slightly higher but its portions are also slightly larger and shipping is free.

Menus are fairly similar, but Little Spoon’s flavor and quality were more consistent and visually better. Both companies have nutritional advisory boards, but Little Spoon takes it a step further by working with a registered dietitian consultant and has more transparency around nutritional criteria for its meals.

Methodology

We ordered, cooked, and evaluated meals from 27 meal delivery services to get a sense of each one’s offerings, nutrition profiles, prices, and, of course, flavors. We contacted the customer service teams at each of the companies, collected data, and wrote detailed reviews about each one.

Our writers are all registered dietitians and relied on their research and its resulting data to inform their reviews.