Here at Food Box Mate, I work hard to try as many different a meal delivery services as possible in Australia. By testing their service and quality, I hope to be able to give you the best possible recommendations.
There are plenty of meal delivery services out there, but very few that are specifically aimed at families. I understand the difficulties of raising a family, looking after the never-ending needs of our children with so little time available. So, I have picked out the best meal delivery services that free up more of that valuable time and help our little ones be a bit healthier.
- EveryPlate – Great value Meal Kit that helps you cook simple meals at home.
- GoodnessMe – Small monthly discovery box with healthy snacks and products for Kids.
- School Snack Box – Get a full month of healthy snacks delivered to your door that your kids can take to school.
- KiwiCo Crates – Admittedly not a Food Box, but these science crates are fantastic and will keep your kids entertained for many hours.
Skip down to our first recommended service
Benefits of Food Boxes for Families
I believe that Food Boxes can provide many benefits for you and your family. The convenience of a subscription service and being able to try new things are absolute game changers. I’ve seen the joy and happiness that these boxes can bring to a family, so I hope you’ll want to share in the fun. I’ve highlighted the main reasons I think your family should give one of the recommended Food Boxes a try:
- Discover New Foods – With most Food Boxes, you often don’t know what’s going to arrive before it’s at your door. This is super exciting and often presents you with products/ingredients you haven’t used before. It’s no surprise when some of these often become firm family favourites.
- Simplify Your Life – With the ‘set & forget’ model of subscription services, it’s one more thing you won’t have to worry about. You’ll get your box every week/month without having to go anywhere or do anything. Saving you the time and energy to spend more quality time with your family.
- Get Everyone Involved – When a Food Box arrives, everyone crowds around to see what’s arrived. It’s a really exciting moment and you’ll no doubt have cheeky family members trying to claim some of the products. Meal Kits, in particular, are fantastic at getting kids engaged in cooking with simple recipes.
About our Food Box Recommendations
Here at Food Box Mate, I endeavour to try all our recommended Food Boxes for at least a couple of subscription cycles. This makes sure I get a sense of their consistency, variety and overall experience. Based on my experimentation, I rate each Food Box with an individual review score. However, each Food Box is great for different people so even if it wasn’t right for me, it might be perfect for you. I recommend Food Boxes based on the following 3 categories:
GOLD STANDARD: For those services that I think are perfect for Families. These are tried and tested Food Boxes that deliver a fantastic experience. I’ll never give out a Gold Standard recommendation if I haven’t thoroughly tested the service myself.
RECOMMENDED: Depending on what you’re looking for, these services may be perfect for you. Here, I recommend any services that I’ve tested and think you’ll enjoy – even if they don’t quite make the Gold Standard grade.
SUGGESTED: Due to time, money and location restrictions, it isn’t always possible for me to try every single service. In this scenario, I don’t want you to miss out on a potentially exciting Food Box experience so I share them as ‘suggested’. I always check to make sure these are well regarded and have a proven history of happy customers.
What I’m looking for in Family Meal Delivery services
Family is the most important thing in the world. That’s why we always want to be sure that our families are healthy and happy. As a result, whenever I’m testing a Food Box I’m really questioning whether it’s going to bring a positive experience to everyone involved. We need to be sure that whatever arrives as part of our delivery is going to be safe and good for our loved ones. The main factors I look for when recommending Food Boxes for Families are:
- Saves Money – Raising a family is expensive! There are plenty of people struggling to get by, so I don’t want to recommend any products that aren’t great value.
- Great For All Ages – Families come in all shapes and sizes, so where possible I’m looking for Food Boxes that are interesting for everyone. Naturally, these tend to focus on entertaining the kids since they’re often the pickiest users! Plus, if it’s good for the kids, it’s definitely good for the adults.
- Health-Conscious – We never want to be feeding our family rubbish, or encouraging poor behaviours. That’s why it’s important to have confidence that whatever arrives in our Food Boxes is healthy and great for both body and mind.
Best Meal Kit for Families: EveryPlate
Type: Meal Kit
If you’re not sure what a Meal Kit is, we have the best Meal Kit guide on the internet (opens in a new tab). Put simply, they provide a weekly delivery of fresh ingredients for you to cook up healthy meals at home. This encourages the discovery of new flavours, new ingredients and new cooking techniques. Most meals can be cooked from start to plate in about 30-45 minutes.
There are 3 reasons that make EveryPlate perfect for Families:
- Incredibly budget conscious. EveryPlate is on of the most affordable meal kits available which means you’re able to feed your family on a tight budget. They keep costs low but reducing packaging, providing online recipes and using simple but tasty ingredients.
- Simple recipes and dinners. The last thing any of us want to do after a long day of work is cook up a complex recipe. EveryPlate recipes are super easy and quick to cook up. So simple, in fact, that it’s easy to get the kids involved in cooking the dinner.
- Suits large families. You can order meal kits for up to 6 people, as well as 6 different meals each week. EveryPlate are the only service who offer such large boxes.
EveryPlate starts at just $75 for 3 meals feeding a family of 4. If you opt for 5 meals, then it’s still only $105. That comes to an incredibly low $5.25 per portion. Shipping is an additional cost of $8.99 per delivery, with EveryPlate delivering to most areas across Australia (except WA).
Best Discovery Box for Families: GoodnessMe
Type: Discovery Box
GoodnessMe provide a fantastic health food discovery box that helps you find new products and brands that everyone will love. They have recently expanded their offering to include a quarterly Beauty Box ($45) and Monthly Kids Box ($15). It’s no secret that I absolutely love GoodnessMe and everything their brand stands for, so I never hesitate in recommending their boxes to people.
The Kids box is a really cheap and exciting way to introduce kids to eating healthy snacks and discover new foods. There’s a minimum 3 month subscription (that’s $45) but you get at least 4 products in each box guaranteed to be higher value. At just $15 a month I think this is an absolute bargain. Alongside the main box and the beauty box, there are plenty of treats available for the entire family.
GoodnessMe delivers everywhere across Australia and shipping is free to all Metro areas with any 3 month subscription. If you live in a regional area, some delivery fees may still apply.
SUGGESTED: School Snack Box
Type: Discovery Box
This Snack Box is perfect to meet the demands of School Lunches, with 22 (or 44) snacks arriving each month. They provide a rotating list of snacks to keep kids engaged and guarantee that more than half the box will change each month. They even have nut-free, dairy-free, gluten-free and Vegan options. I love the fact they promise that all their snacks include no artificial colours and meet school healthy eating guidelines. Definitely another thing less to stress about every morning!
The standard Snack box costs $55 per month with completely free shipping Australia wide. The boxes ship at the start of each month.
SUGGESTED: KiwiCo Innovator Crates
Type: Science & Art Projects
Yep, I know this site is ‘Food Box Mate’ and I always focus on the fantastic food delivery services here in Australia. However, I have to recommend my favourite subscription box in the world. KiwiCo create science & art crates designed to inspire and educate kids about the world around them. Products like this are how kids get interested in Science, Technology, Art & Maths and those kids will only end up making the entire world a better place.
Crates are available for all ages and ability, from the Panda Crate (0-24 Months) through to the Maker Crate for anyone 14+. My favourite is the Tinker crate that’s super engaging for kids aged 9 – 16. Every single box contains a really exciting project and some inspiration from the science behind that project. They’ve been designed from the ground up with Kids in mind and they make fantastic activities for everyone in the family.
Prices vary between $20 and $50 each month depending on which crate you want and how long you want to subscribe for. Shipping is from the USA and costs USD 4.95. I think these are some of the best value subscription boxes you’ll ever get.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have any discount codes?
Where possible, I present a direct link to their website with the discount automatically applied. Most suppliers are happy to provide a discount to Food Box Mate readers and we try and make sure you’re getting the cheapest price. You can check out all the discounts we have negotiated on our discounts page.
My kids have food intolerances, can I still order Food Boxes?
I have found that Discovery Boxes are generally fantastic at altering their service to meet any dietary needs your family might have. It’s definitely worth messaging these companies directly to make sure they can cater for your needs. Meal Kit services find this a lot more difficult due to the scale of their operations, however you’re able to carefully choose your meals and have full control over which ingredients you use.
Do I have to be at home when the Food Boxes are delivered?
All family meal delivery services offer the ability to have their boxes left outside your front door. Let them know in the delivery instructions where the best place to leave your parcel would be. You can then pick up the parcel when you get home.
I hope you found this page useful, it’s really exciting for me to spread the word about businesses I love. If you’ve had any experience using any of these companies, do let me know on Facebook. Alternatively, if you think I’ve missed an incredible service out of these recommendations, send a message from my Contact Us page.