Snap Kitchen Review: No Fuss Meal Delivery

Founded in Austin, Texas, in 2010, Snap Kitchen offers fully-cooked, heat-and-eat meals via a weekly subscription. Snap delivers to 15 different states, offers in-store pick up in stores in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, and can be found at select Whole Foods Market locations.

Snap Kitchen says its goal is to “empower busy people to eat well without compromise,” believing that you don’t have to choose between health and convenience. The company also cares about sustainability and demonstrates this by offering fully recyclable packaging. It has donated over 4 million meals to charities as a service to the community.

Meals are created by chefs with input from the Snap Kitchen’s staff registered dietitians. Subscribers can choose from Snap’s low carb, Whole 30, high protein, keto-friendly, and paleo meal plans. All meals are free from gluten, soy, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and added hormones. We tried the service to see what it’s all about.

Pricing: Simple and Straightforward

Snap Kitchen offers two weekly meal delivery subscription options at either six or 12 meals per week. You can choose from any diet category for both plans and shipping is free.

Weekly plan options summary: 

• 6 meals per week: $75.99 ($12.67 per meal)
• 12 meals per week: $125.99 ($10.50 per meal) 

How It Works: Getting Meals Is a Snap

Signing up for Snap Kitchen online is quick and easy from a desktop computer or mobile device. When setting up an account, you can preview the menu, select your meal plan and preferred delivery dates, and then fill your box with meals. Use filters to view meal options by diet category or by the calorie range, protein type, allergens, and target ranges for carbs, sodium, and fiber.

You don’t have to commit to a specific diet with Snap Kitchen. You can mix meals from any of the different diet categories with ease. Just be sure to input your order correctly since you won’t be able to change it after your order is locked in. Once your first box is dispatched, your subscription will automatically renew at the weekly rate unless you skip a week or cancel your account.

Snap Kitchen only offers fresh, never frozen, heat-and-eat meals. Each meal is designed to serve one, so this service works well for busy people with access to a microwave or conventional oven. What you see is what you get, as the meals cannot be customized. However, the company offers a variety of different flavor profiles.

The meals are packaged so that homemade sauces and dressings are added after reheating for optimal flavor and texture. Ingredients include a variety of animal proteins, such as beef, bison, pork, poultry, and seafood. Meals also include vegetables and grains including lots of rice plus quinoa and gluten-free pasta.

Choosing Meals: Meals With Appeal

Scrolling through the menu, you are met with a variety of colorful and enticing meals that promise flavor and flair. Snap Kitchen keeps it simple, offering 35 meals that can work for lunch or dinner and just one option for breakfast.

You won’t be able to customize your meals or exclude specific ingredients and there are no meal add-on options. But depending on your delivery area, you might be able to add cold brew coffee, kombucha, packaged salads and soup, and wholesome snacks such as plantain chips, pumpkin seeds, almond butter packets, and beef jerky to your box.

The menu is composed of a few seasonal options, new meals, all-time favorites like the Korean barbeque meatballs, and classics with comfort-food vibes like the turkey meatloaf and ranch burger entrees. However, while the entrees are varied, you won’t find much selection of vegan or vegetarian entrees.

When selecting your meals, keep in mind that the meals have a refrigerated shelf life of three to seven days. 

Your subscription will renew each week unless you remember to go in and skip a delivery or cancel your subscription. There is no way to order on-demand or to only order one meal. The automatic renewal can be an issue for busy (or forgetful) people.

With plenty of overlap, there are 35 total meal options across the six diet categories. The options change, but here is how the menu shaped up at the time of this review:

• Seven High Protein options such as the bison quinoa bowl with peppers and onions
• Nine Balance entrees which tend to include a more liberal carbohydrate for dishes like the baked ziti with Italian beef sausage
• Eight Keto-friendly dishes like the Cajun salmon with braised greens and bacon
• Eight Low-carb selections including the romesco chicken with grilled kale and mushrooms
• 13 paleo meals like the za’atar chicken with lemon-roasted potatoes
• 12 Whole30 such as almond-crusted salmon with roasted carrots and zucchini

There were five new entrees listed on the menu when ordered, including a seasonally appropriate turkey and butternut squash stuffing with cranberry sauce. The menu also includes six entrees labeled as favorites including the cod piccata with garlic roasted cauliflower and Korean BBQ meatballs with sesame broccoli and carrots we reviewed.

You can skip or make changes to the menu items, delivery address, and payment method up until 11:59 p.m. CT on the day before your lock date, which can vary but is about a week before the scheduled delivery. 

What We Made

We didn’t filter for any food restrictions and chose a combination of member favorites and those with different flavor profiles. We went with the six-meal plan and received all meals as promised a week later. For the purpose of this review, we’ll share feedback on the five meals below, which highlight the variety of the meals we received:

• Cod piccata with garlic-roasted cauliflower
• Almond-crusted salmon with roasted carrots and zucchini
• Turkey meatloaf with potato-turnip mash and green beans
• Korean bbq meatballs with sesame broccoli and carrots
• Steak street tacos and Spanish rice pilaf with salsa verde

Packaging: Mostly Efficient

The meals arrived in a compact cardboard box with 29 pieces of recyclable packaging inside. The meals were kept perfectly cold using three strategically placed ice packs. Each meal came in a two-piece BPA-free recyclable plastic meal container, each with a sticker label. Five of the meals also included a two-piece ramekin inside to hold flavor boosters like barbeque or marinara sauce. The meals were kept in place with cardboard dividers and the recyclable insulating box liner.

While most packaging was essential for keeping the meals cool and secure during shipping, there were a couple of extra pieces of paper that seemed unnecessary. The heavy stock paper packet stuffed with a postcard and two stickers didn’t add to the experience and we felt this could be eliminated. 

The box was well-packed and the food was cold to the touch even though it shipped about 36 hours before and traveled through several southern states in the early fall heat.

Note: People living near pickup locations can subscribe to a Local Meal Plan and pick up their meals or use a local courier instead of opting for standard shipping via FedEx, UPS, or Ontrac. 

Customer Support: Several Avenues

Snap Kitchen generally provides clear information about its food and the service.

Each meal includes microwave instructions on the label. However, Snap Kitchen recommends reheating in the oven as the preferred method. It would help to print the oven-reheating instructions next to the microwave ones (or direct customers to the website) since using the conventional oven is preferred. 

The company provides a useful FAQ section that’s easy to search for and is regularly updated. This was helpful to us in learning more about how the meals are shipped, whether the packaging is recyclable, how the service works, and what the different dietary designations mean. As a service, the company also offers a handful of educational and timely blog posts to support healthy eating as well. This is a nice service for customers since they might be visiting the site each week. 

Overall, we had a positive customer service experience. Luckily, all meals were delivered as promised with no issues in terms of quality or freshness. But when problems arise, the company offers a convenient online chat to quickly connect with customer support as well as email and phone which have a longer response time. We reached out to customer service twice (once by chat and another by phone) to sort out an admin issue that arose after we canceled our account. After contacting them the second time by phone, the issue was resolved within a few minutes.

Nutrition: Lots of Protein

Snap Kitchen hits the mark for the diets it supports. Nutrition information for each meal is available at the point of purchase, making it easy to see how the food will fit into any diet or eating plan. Overall, Snap Kitchen does a good job disclosing the big eight food allergens and sesame on the label. Though most are clearly marked, a couple of meals didn’t include allergens on the online label.

True to keto and low-carb style, most meals center on animal protein and are high in protein. The company’s chefs do a good job pairing the meat, fish, or poultry with high-quality vegetables to add fiber, color, and increase the overall nutrient value of the dish. However, some meals are lower in calories and may leave you wanting more food. 

Snap Kitchen does mention eating clean in a few places—highlighting that its food contains no preservatives, antibiotics, artificial sweeteners, hormones, or other “junk.” But considering the company’s focus on restrictive diets, the site doesn’t lean too heavily into diet language, opting instead for an eat better, feel better motto over one about weight loss. Still, there is an underlying theme around clean eating. 

The Cooking Process: Very Simple

Meals can be ready within about 3 minutes or less, where the cooking process consisted of opening the packaging, following the cooking instructions, and checking if the ingredients have been thoroughly cooked.

The microwave heating instructions on the package were clear and appropriate for the individual meals. However, the meals are much better when reheated in a conventional oven, which is Snap Kitchen’s preferred reheating method. The problem? You would only know this if you happen to read the instructions for each meal on the website. There, you will find heating instructions for both oven and microwave reheating options.

Generally speaking, the directions were clear. However, there were times when the meals needed more than the recommended time in the oven, and when microwaving, it would be easy to forget to remove the plastic ramekin. Most meals were not appropriate for reheating on the stovetop, and it may have helped to separate the components a bit to ensure even cooking.

Flavor, Freshness, and Quality: Above Average

Borrowing from international cuisines yet presented as familiar, Snap Kitchen provides a diverse selection of flavor profiles. The ingredients are high quality and are delivered fresh. Overall, the meals were well-seasoned and tasty. We didn’t need to add salt and didn’t find that any of the dishes were overly salty.

Generally, people might avoid foods like turkey meatloaf as it can sometimes be dry. But Snap Kitchen did a good job adding moisture to the meatloaf and making it taste like something you’d make at home. The salmon in the almond-crusted salmon was indeed dense and a bit dry—though still fine to eat. On the other hand, the cod piccata was a welcome addition to the week. The fish was moist and flaky and seasoned well, with a tangy lemon sauce and capers to drive the flavor home. Though the piccata was a favorite, we needed to add more vegetables as the portion was small—with only five small cauliflower florets, we were left feeling hungry and had to add more food to dinner.

The steak tacos were tender, but they lacked flavor without the salsa verde on top. Though these street tacos are a member favorite, this one missed the mark in terms of presentation as the soft corn tortillas crumbled and fell apart after heating. With or without the sauce, the Korean BBQ meatballs were a favorite and left our tasters wanting more. Though the rice got a bit tough upon heating in the oven, the meatballs were tender and flavorful.

Snap Kitchen says on its website that its goal is to source protein “as responsibly as possible, while still keeping our meals accessible.” There are a few details available about sourcing, including using cage-free and certified humane egg whites and liquid whole eggs, as well as wild-caught shrimp and cod.

Snap Kitchen Is Good For

Snap Kitchen says its goal is to empower busy people to eat well without compromise, and it seems to hit the mark. The meals are tasty, nutritious, and easy to prepare. You can set and forget the subscription and have lunch and dinner ready to go on most days of the week. However, it’s not a good fit for vegans, vegetarians, and anyone who prefers to prep and cook meals.

The Competition: Snap Kitchen vs. Mom’s Meals

We compared Snap Kitchen to Mom’s Meals as both services provide heat and eat meals that cater to specific dietary needs. And both are created with chefs and dietitians on the team and include a combination of comfort foods and globally-influenced flavors.

Snap Kitchen, however, is significantly more expensive (starting at $10.50 per serving compared to $6.99 per serving) and caters to busy people who desire a low-carb, higher-protein diet that doesn’t have additives. Mom’s Meals targets senior adults with meals designed to help manage chronic disease. The meals often contain preservatives and additives and tend to have a more comfort-food focus. Plus you can use Medicaid, Medicare, and other health plans to get Mom’s Meals. That is not an option with Snap Kitchen. 

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, filled out surveys, 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.