Best Diabetes-Friendly Meal Delivery Services

For those following a strict diabetic diet, dinner isn’t the only meal with potential pitfalls. BistroMD provides physician-designed meals for all times of day, plus snacks, so you can eat worry-free.

Founded by doctors with a team that includes registered dietitians, chefs, and fitness experts, BistroMD is designed as a weight-loss program, providing heat-and-eat meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks so that customers can easily adhere to daily calorie limits while still ensuring they’re getting enough nutrition. The company has applied this expert-led approach to diabetic diets as well. BistroMD’s Diabetic Friendly Program serves up prepared frozen meals that contain 25 grams or fewer net carbs per serving. Sodium levels adhere to U.S. Dietary Guidelines with about 2,000 to 2,300 milligrams per day, and a heart healthy program that averages about 600 milligrams per serving is available.

The lineup of meals is vast, with about 145 options, including desserts and snacks, but most are classic and familiar comfort food favorites like hickory-smoked barbecue beef with potatoes for dinner, sloppy joe with cabbage slaw for lunch, and familiar breakfast options like a cheese frittata with turkey sausage. Full ingredient and nutrition information is available for each recipe when you sign up.

The plan is ideal for customers who want a service to provide all of their meals each day, which is why the five- or seven-day program that includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner costs the least at about $8 to $10 per meal. The other option is lunch and dinner only for five or seven days, which comes in closer to $10 per meal. Shipping is $19.95. Although BistroMD is subscription-based, you can change, pause, or cancel anytime.

Diet-to-Go excels at offering calorie-controlled meals that fit within diabetic parameters. It’s an ideal service for those diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes who are told by their doctor that losing weight can help manage and even eliminate their condition.

Diet-to-Go, founded in 1991, now owns Freshology meal delivery service, which is why it goes by both names online. But it’s the same company and one that follows the American Diabetes Association's nutritional guidelines to help people who have Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes manage their condition and even lose weight.

The service offers four menus: Keto-Carb30, Vegetarian, Balance, and Balance-Diabetes, the latter specifically designed for diabetics. The meals are approved and calibrated by dieticians to keep calories, sodium, carbs, fat, and cholesterol in check.

There are dozens of frozen, heat-and-eat meals to choose from, and if you don’t like a meal in your plan that week, the service offers a list of other meals to choose from that still fit the nutritional guidelines of your plan. The selection tends to be mostly traditional, with options like blackened salmon with spinach-cauliflower puree and Brussels sprouts, and turkey Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans.

Customers can opt for five- or seven-day plans, and get breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or just lunch and dinner. Meals average about $10 and shipping is $19.98. You can change, skip, or cancel the subscription anytime.

This service is designed expressly for people with diabetes and metabolic disorders, with meals that pay careful attention to carbs, fiber, and healthy fats. But the interesting selection, responsibly sourced ingredients, and options to add extra protein make it a great choice for active adults who appreciate food.

With a name like Metabolic Meals, it’s no surprise this subscription service is tailor-made for people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome. Each week brings 15 new entrée options and seven breakfast dishes, all made with organic produce, wild seafood, and pasture-raised meats. Even the shipping containers are lined with biodegradable materials.

The meals come fresh, not frozen, and can be ordered in two sizes: regular, or with extra protein—which is great for athletes or those who work out regularly. In addition to classics like organic free-range turkey meatloaf with mashed cauliflower and corn, there are more uncommon dishes like miso-glazed wild-caught salmon with hot and sour sweet potato noodles. Customers can even order packs of cooked proteins and side dishes to create their own meals, like grass-fed bison burger patties and creamy herb mashed cauliflower.

Dishes generally cost $12.99 each, or $17.49 if you want the extra helping of protein that comes with a Performance meal. Shipping costs $19.95, but if you order at least 15 meals, it’s free. You can change, pause, or cancel your subscription anytime.

Freshly’s meals are aimed at health-conscious food lovers with adventurous appetites, but its emphasis on low-carb, gluten-free meals built on vegetables and lean proteins fits in well with diabetic diets too. And with meals as low as $8.99, the price is hard to beat.

Freshly is aimed at anyone who wants to eat healthier without having to spend time shopping and cooking. Since all of its meals are gluten-free (it even uses gluten-free pasta) and many are high protein with lower carbs, it can work great for diabetics too, especially those who enjoy meals that are more adventurous than traditional selections.

There are about 30 dishes to choose from, including low-sodium options, and they’re delivered fresh so they need just a couple minutes to reheat. There are always a few classics like turkey chili, but it’s jazzed up with rich ancho chiles and features a trio of beans. There are also more surprising options like spiced dukkah chicken or beet risotto. Dishes average 500 calories, 30 grams of protein, and 8 grams of sugar per meal. Vegetables are incorporated into not only the side dishes, but the sauces and “noodles” too, which can significantly increase the fiber content.

This is a subscription service but you can cancel, pause, or change anytime. The cost per meal starts at $11.79 for a minimum order of four meals and gets cheaper the more you order ($8.99 for orders of 12). Shipping is about $9.99.

Active people following a diabetic diet often find paleo meals, with their emphasis on fiber-rich vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats, a good mix for their needs. Pete’s Paleo creates these meals with organic and pasture-raised ingredients.

Although Pete’s Paleo isn’t aimed at people with diabetes, its paleo-designed meals naturally meet their needs because they’re low in carbohydrates and centered around lean protein, healthy fats, and lots of low-carb, fiber-rich vegetables.

All of the regular heat-and-eat meals offer under 30 grams of carbohydrates and come with 5 ounces protein and two, 3.5-ounce side dishes of vegetables rather than grains, an amount of food that is ideal for active people. You can even add extra protein and sides. For lighter appetites, there’s the Lite program with meals that feature 3.5 ounces of protein and two 2.5 ounces of cooked sides at a slightly lower cost.

The menu changes every week and is inspired by seasonal ingredients like organic produce, sustainable seafood, and pasture-raised meats, which have more healthy omega-3 fats. The fresh meals can stay refrigerated for two weeks or can be frozen. A minimum order of five meals costs $19.5, but the price goes down to $18 when ordering 14 meals. The Eat What You Love plan offers frozen meals for a smaller fee, such as a chef’s bundle of 10 meals for $120.98.