Here in Australia, we’re blessed with quite a few great meal delivery services. I’ve tried Dinnerly lots of times and I personally really enjoy their service.
However, as a regular consumer of meal kits, I understand that Dinnerly’s service simply isn’t perfect for everyone. They’re cheap and provide great value, but that comes at the price of having simpler meals and less variety.
So, you’re looking to see if there are any services that are better for you? You’re in the right place. Here are my favourite alternatives to Dinnerly, with a few discount codes to get you started.
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Top Dinnerly Competitors
- Type: Meal Kit
- Price: $4.44 - $8.00 / Serving
- Delivers To: NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD, NT
- Top Feature: Exceptional value
- Type: Meal Kit
- Price: $8.25 - $11.67 / Serving
- Delivers To: Australia-Wide
- Top Feature: Restaurant-quality food.
Types of Meal Delivery Service
When considering a new alternative to Dinnerly, it’s important to start by thinking about your priorities. Do you value fresh, home-cooked meals at a low price, or is convenience much more important for you?
Meal Kits
Meal Kits are a fantastic opportunity to learn new cooking skills, discover new ingredients, and generally explore the world of food.
All the services available in Australia offer a weekly selection of different meals, delivering all the ingredients to your house with associated recipes. All the ingredients are ready to use and in the right quantity so you can eliminate food waste almost entirely.
Prepared Meals
In contrast, if your priority instead is convenience then it’s worth giving Prepared Meals services a try. These services deliver fresh (or frozen) fully prepared meals to your front door, meaning you can just chuck your dinner in the microwave for a few minutes and eat straight away.
Perfect for anyone who finds themselves with limited time in the evening or hates cooking. Want to know more? We have an awesome guide covering the top meal delivery services in Australia.
Now, on to the best alternatives to Dinnerly.
EveryPlate – Most Similar to Dinnerly
Type: Meal Kit
EveryPlate is a budget option owned by HelloFresh, launched in 2020 as a direct competitor to Dinnerly. Having used both services extensively, I can comfortably say that EveryPlate’s experience is hard to beat at the price they’re offering.
At full prices, you can get meals as low $4 per serving, plus the chance to apply a 40% discount on your box. That’s some incredible value when you’re receiving good quality ingredients and interesting recipes.
EveryPlate has improved significantly since they first launched in Australia, now boasting 20+ different meals every week along with a good selection of vegetarian options. If you like Dinnerly for the price but just want to try something a bit different, then EveryPlate is perfect for you.
Cost: 2 People / 3 Meals at $38.94 + Shipping. 4 People / 5 Meals at $99.80 + Shipping
Delivers To: Most major metropolitan and rural areas in NSW, VIC, WA, ACT and QLD.
Best For: Budget conscious, simple family meals.
HelloFresh – Top Quality Meals
Type: Meal Kit
Whilst every service mentioned on this list delivers quality meals, HelloFresh top my personal list. They’re not as cheap as Dinnerly though, so you need to be prepared to pay a premium.
What makes them different? Well, HelloFresh offer a wide selection of brilliantly simple recipes that produce incredible meals. You should expect a similar range of dishes as Dinnerly, but every single dish is incredibly high quality. I liken it to a restaurant-quality experience. I also find the HelloFresh website slightly easier to navigate and select your recipes each week.
Your meals will arrive with ingredients in separate paper bags, along with large, detailed recipe cards. It makes cooking each meal that little bit easier.
Cost: 2 People / 3 Meals at $68.00 + Shipping. 4 People / 5 Meals at $160.00 + Shipping
Delivers To: Most Metro & Regional areas across Australia.
Best For: Date nights, delicious meals, quality experience
My Muscle Chef – Delicious No Prep Meals
Type: Prepared Meals
If you’re not convinced that meal kits are right for you, then it’s worth giving prepared meals a try. Whilst you likely won’t use these as an ‘every day’ meal, they’re perfect for storing in the fridge / freeze if you just can’t be bothered to cook.
My personal top recommendation is My Muscle Chef. Despite the name, they aren’t just for ‘muscle’-heads who hit the gym every day. Their menu offers a wide range of 50+ meals that allow you to choose calorie/carb amounts that suit your dietary needs.
The main reason we recommend My Muscle Chef is because most of their meals taste amazing. In my opinion, they are on par with the kind of taste you get from Dinnerly meals, without any of the hassle cooking!
Of course, this service is more suited to people purchasing dinners for 1 or 2 people. If you’re buying for your family, meal kits are the way to go!
Cost: Individual meals cost between $9.55 โ $11.40 + Shipping.
Delivers To: Over 4,200 postcodes across Australia, including all major towns and cities
Best For: Saying “this is too good to be a microwave meal”, meeting fitness goals.
Get Up To $120 Off Your First 6 My Muscle Chef OrdersClick this link and use code SAVE120
Marley Spoon – Greatest Variety
Type: Meal Kit
Marley Spoon actually owns Dinnerly. So, if you’re switching between the two, you aren’t going to find too many differences. At least, that’s what I discovered in our Dinnerly vs Marley Spoon comparison.
So, why would you go try Marley Spoon instead of Dinnerly?
Well, Marley Spoon offer a much wider variety of meals every week with at least 27 options available. This makes them much more suitable for anyone with a restricted diet (vegan, vegetarian, gluten free etc.) or anyone who just wants to explore more variety each week.
The overall quality of Marley Spoon’s service and meals are closer to HelloFresh, so you’ll find some more adventurous ingredients for people who want more exciting meals to cook. This includes more variety with each meal’s protein source (not just chicken and beef!).
Personally, I think this is worth the price increase. Especially when you take advantage of our welcome discount.
Cost: 2 People / 3 Meals at $69.00 + Shipping. 4 People / 5 Meals at $170.00 + Shipping
Delivers To: Most Eastern Metro locations with limited service to regional areas
Best For: Special diets, calorie control, picky eaters.
Lite n Easy – Healthy, Calorie Controlled Meals
Type: Prepared Meals
Whilst not directly an alternative to Dinnerly, I do recommend Lite n Easy to anyone who wants to switch more towards a weight-loss service. These prepared meals are perfect for anyone who’s committing to a calorie deficit, with plenty of individual meals under 350 calories.
Convenience is incredibly important when you’re on a calorie-controlled diet as it stops those impulses dead in their tracks. It’s very easy to get a takeaway if the alternative is cooking for 30-40 minutes, but it’s much more difficult when your meal needs just a few minutes in the microwave to be ready to eat. Whenever I’m craving a takeaway, I can solve it with a quick look in the fridge and picking up a Lite n Easy meal.
Lite n Easy offers 1200, 1500 and 1800 calories plans to suit every dieter, with an incredible community of users who can help when times get tough.
Cost: 10 Meals are $11.40 each (+Shipping) and 21 Meals are just $10.40 each (+Shipping)
Delivers To: 24-hour delivery to most places in Australia.
Best For: Weight Loss
Try Lite n Easy TodayDiscover weight loss meals with Lite n Easy
Making the most of Dinnerly
There are plenty of reasons you might want to move away from Dinnerly, although it’s also worth considering whether some minor changes to your approach might make Dinnerly work for you.
Dinnerly for Singles – With meals being delivered for 2 or 4 people, it’s easy to be discouraged if you’re only cooking for yourself. However, I have found this to always be super helpful for meal kits as you can get away with cooking half as much. How? By making sure you’re cooking meals only once and reheating them for the next evening. Check out my article on the best meal kits for singles for more help on the best ways to do this.
Ingredient Problems – Unfortunately, fresh ingredients are tricky things to manage at a large scale for companies like Marley Spoon (and therefore Dinnerly). The trick is to be aware of this and treat every ingredient with the respect it deserves. Get your meat and veggies in the fridge as quickly as possible, store the herbs right and use a cupboard/pantry that doesn’t get too warm. Discover my top tips for looking after meal kit ingredients.
Too Expensive – The only cheaper option you have is to sign up with EveryPlate, who are around 5% cheaper than Dinnerly. It’s not much, but it will save you a few pennies. To save some more money, we highly recommend using our Meal Kit Method that could save you over $1500 a year whilst still getting meal kits delivered every week. This method simply takes advantage of the regular offers that each meal kit service offers to existing customers.
Get on to Live Chat – I’ve never had any problems using Dinnerly, so I’ve not had to contact their support team before. However, the feedback from regular users of Dinnerly is that their Live Chat team are very responsive and supportive. They will always be able to provide credit for any missing or incorrect ingredients.