Eat Clean Bro Review

Eat Clean Bro is a New Jersey- and Georgia-based food service company dedicated to creating healthy and nutritious prepared meals without a subscription. People may also recognize the company for its marketing and partnering ties with some of the cast members of the "Jersey Shore" TV show.

Eat Clean Bro offers low-carbohydrate, single-serving prepared meals available for pickup in the area or delivery on the East Coast. We tasted and tested six prepared meals that were microwaved or oven-heated and ready in minutes. Read our review to learn more about our findings.

Learn More: Read Our Full Methodology

How It Works: No Subscription Necessary

Eat Clean Bro is a meal order service that is available without a traditional subscription program. Customers can choose six, eight, or 16 prepared meals, which can be shipped and delivered the following day. Eat Clean Bro services four states: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

The company has facilities in New Jersey and Georgia, so meals are available for pickup in Freehold, Eatontown, and Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and Atlanta, Georgia. Meals are created with the goal of offering clean, non-processed, fresh foods to help customers stay healthy and reach their nutrition goals.

Choosing Meals: Many Low-Carb Options and Great Search Filters

Eat Clean Bro has a rather large menu platform, which offers preportioned meals and food. The company offers its traditional meals, which change from time to time, and specials, which change every two weeks. For our week of tasting, there were four specials available and 57 regular meals. Additionally, you can order food a la carte and by the pound. Some examples of add-ons include a package of salmon burgers for $16.49; a pound of shredded chicken for $15.99; a pound of green beans for $15.49; and Dave’s Killer Bread organic bagels package for $4.99. The add-on feature is nice if you like to plan and prepare meals at your own leisure.

To search and find foods, you can sort and filter selections in the following ways: specials, a la carte, under 500 calories, clean, lean, mean, vegetarian, keto-friendly, low carb, early bird (breakfast), energy drinks, snacks, and active nutrition (energy sports drinks and protein powders). You can also shop by protein, price, calories, and allergens. When filtering food by calories, you can use a sliding scale to sort (0-840 calories), which was a feature that we really liked. We wished that when you sorted, however, there was more information about the populated results. For example, we were curious as to what qualified as “lean” vs. “mean” vs. “clean” meals.

When selecting your food, you can scroll and click on each meal to learn more about the dish, including ingredients, and full nutrition facts. Small icons labeling allergens and dietary types are utilized under each dish, and calories, carbohydrates, fiber, fat, and protein are presented in large font, making it easy to pick and choose meals based on your needs. Some meals allow you to customize, such as choosing white or brown rice for starches. For those particular dishes, Eat Clean Bro has a “modification macros” section, which shows you nutrition data for the customization options.

Eat Clean Bro utilizes a point system as a reward, called a Bro Point. Each item is associated with a particular amount of Bro Points, so the more you order, the more Bro Points you get, which you can use to save money on future orders. An order of 6 ounces of blackberries will get you 4 points and an order of 1 pound of Cajun shrimp will get you 21 points.

What We Made 

We wanted to sample an array of meals and used the calorie tool to select a low-calorie meal of buffalo chicken (320 calories) and a high-calorie meal of Mediterranean half chicken (930 calories). We also chose a vegetarian, red meat, and a special shrimp dish to get an overall sense of Eat Clean Bro’s offerings.

Here’s what we made:

• Italian roasted spaghetti squash—vegetarian special
• Mediterranean half chicken
• Shrimp poke bowl—seafood special
• Buffalo chicken with roasted garlic cauliflower rice
• BRO's gluten-free falafel
• The Frankie Edgar; sliced sweet potato and a grilled ranch steak served with a side of garlic green beans

Support Materials: No Recipe Cards or Cooking Instructions

The only material included in our delivery box besides the packaging and meals was a packing slip. Cooking instructions were also not included, even on each individual meal tray. Each meal tray was wrapped in a cardboard branded wrapping sleeve with the name of the service, website, and social media information. None of the outer cardboard wrapping sleeves were labeled with the meal name; only the meal container tray itself was labeled with a sticker. On the sticker label, you will see the name of the dish, ingredients, any substitute ingredients, allergens, and best-by date.

If the dish was a special for that week, the packaging referred to the meal as a “seafood” special; it did not have the full recipe name of the meal, e.g., “shrimp poke bowl—seafood special," for example. This is a little confusing, as we like to know exactly what we are eating when we prepare and heat up our meals.

Packaging: Some Recyclable and Reusable

The inside of the cardboard delivery box was wrapped with insulation. On top of the interior package, there was a Pad Loc Pac, a sustainable packing cushion. A shipping order was also included, as well as two large Nordic ice packs and one small one. The ice packs could be reused, but they did not appear to be eligible for household recycling programs. Below the ice packs were our individual meals, which were wrapped in bright blue branded cardboard packaging sleeves. Each meal was placed inside a recyclable, microwave-safe, plastic takeout container tray.

The Cooking Process: Heat in Microwave

The meals from Eat Clean Bro are prepared and packaged without any preservatives. Each meal can be microwaved and ready in just a few minutes in the prepackaged plastic tray. If your meal has a clear sauce cup, then the sauce cannot be microwaved; if there is a black sauce cup, you can remove the lid and microwave the sauce with the meal. Food can also be heated in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at 350 F, but make sure to remove the food from the plastic trays as they are not oven safe.

We had some issues identifying cooking instructions. We actually created our account after we placed our first order, so none of our six meals were linked to our account. We had to search individually for each meal to find cooking instructions, which were on the nutrition label photo available on each meal page.  In some cases, the label on the meal tray only included a name such as “NEW weekly vegetarian special,” making it even more confusing to identify what the actual dish is on the website. Since some of the specials are weekly, we were not able to locate all of our dishes on the site.

Some of the meals we didn’t want to microwave and some of the microwave times seemed off. For example, on the Bro’s gluten-free falafel page, in small print, it says to microwave for two and a half minutes to three and a half minutes. But we didn’t want to microwave the salad portion of the dish, so we removed the falafel from the tray and microwaved the protein for 30 seconds, which was just fine. Had we microwaved the falafel for over 2 minutes, we think it would have been inedible.

When we were initially confused about cooking times, we used the live chat feature and were immediately directed to a heating instruction page, which is a general overview of how to warm up dishes.

Flavor, Freshness, and Quality: Mixed 

We chose a variety of dishes to get a sense of Eat Clean Bro’s offerings, but most of our dishes didn’t overly excite our tasting panel. We found two of our meals to be quite flavorful. Most of the meals were full of vegetables and healthy sides, but often we wished we had more sauce. Some of our meals were a little lackluster and dull and were missing seasoning altogether.

Below is a synopsis of our tasting panel’s thoughts on flavoring for each of the dishes.

The Bro’s gluten-free falafel was not crispy at all; rather, it was mushy. We also needed a lot more dressing for our salad.

The flavoring on the Mediterranean half chicken dish was nice overall. We liked the slight kick of spice on the chicken rub, but we found parts of the chicken dry and other parts juicier. The rice was surprisingly fresh with nice flavors of fresh rosemary despite being microwaved. The asparagus was well-flavored but there were only three pieces, which we felt was a little meager. We also wished there was something else to make the meal more complete; perhaps a squeeze of lemon would have added more acidity to the overall dish. Our tasting panel liked the red pepper sauce that came with the Mediterranean half chicken, but again, there wasn’t enough sauce.

We enjoyed the Italian roasted spaghetti squash vegetarian special, which had a nice serving of spaghetti squash with toasted pine nuts, roasted red peppers, spinach, and pesto. But we also wished there was more pesto to fully dress the squash.

When we tasted the Buffalo chicken dish, we found the flavoring to be tangy, but also a tad bitter, and it seemed slightly off. Our tasting panel loved garlic but we even found the garlic in the cauliflower rice to be overpowering.

We chose the Frankie Edgar dish as it was popular on the website; it features a grilled ranch steak with garlic string beans and sweet potatoes. However, none of our food was seasoned and we didn’t see or taste any garlic on the string beans. We concluded that the whole dish needed seasoning and flavoring, especially because there wasn’t any sauce included. We decided to cook this dish in the oven as opposed to microwaving the steak. Despite baking at 350 F for a few minutes as directed on the website heating instruction page, the steak was tough and lacked flavor.

The shrimp poke bowl looked colorful with shredded purple cabbage and a big bed of rice. But even with the spicy mayo, we found the meal lacking in flavor and excitement. We ended up adding sweet Thai chili sauce and a touch of soy sauce for more sweetness and umami flavoring.

Overall, we found Eat Clean Bro’s meals to be a bit bland and not too exciting, but we appreciated the colorful vegetables and nods to various diverse cuisines.

Nutritional Value: Low-Carb and Low-Calorie Meals

Eat Clean Bro has several types of meals that can accommodate different dietary needs, and its website makes it easy to sort and find the best meals to suit each one. The company makes a lot of dairy-free, gluten-free, and even grain-free meals. The service also offers keto-friendly, paleo-friendly, low-carb, low-fat, vegan, and whole-30 options. We found the meals to be clean and health-conscious, but oftentimes we wanted more sauces or flavors. Many of our meals were 500 calories or less, and most meals included a nice portion of fiber and vegetables.

Here is a nutritional breakdown of each meal our tasting panel tried:

• Italian roasted spaghetti squash—vegetarian special: 412 calories, 36.7 grams of fat, 19.9 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 5.2 grams of protein, 0 cholesterol, 600mg of sodium
• Mediterranean half chicken: 930 calories, 54 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 40 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, 70 grams of protein, 3 grams of sugar, 280 milligrams of cholesterol, 700 milligrams of sodium
• Shrimp poke bowl—seafood special: 980.8 calories, 54.4 grams of fat, 65.5 grams of carbohydrates, 57.2 grams of protein, 290 milligrams of cholesterol, 1100 milligrams of sodium
• Buffalo chicken with roasted garlic cauliflower rice: 320 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 8 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 44 grams of protein, 3 grams of sugar, 135 milligrams of cholesterol, 980 milligrams of sodium
• Bro's gluten-free falafel: 384.7 calories, 14.4 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 51.4 grams of carbohydrates, 11.7 grams of fiber, 17.3 grams of protein, 11 grams of sugar, 0 cholesterol, 820 milligrams of sodium
• The Frankie Edgar with sliced sweet potato: Grilled ranch steak served with a side of garlic green beans: 530 calories, 22 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 52 grams of protein, 3 grams of sugar, 150 milligrams of cholesterol, 58 milligrams of sodium

Eat Clean Bro Is Good For

Eat Clean Bro is good for single adults who do not have a lot of time or interest in cooking and want to adhere to a low-carbohydrate diet.

Eat Clean Bro Is Not Good For

Eat Clean Bro is not good for adults or families who love to cook and enjoy the process of preparing rich, gourmet meals.

Add-ons: A Few Options

Eat Clean Bro offers many add-ons and a la carte options, including sports and energy drinks; 1-pound preportioned proteins; fruit; packaged cookies; bottled water; and almond milk.

Customer Service: Great Chat Assistance

Eat Clean Bro offers an online form, phone, and email, as well as a chat feature. We tried to use the online form but never heard back. What we did like though, was as we were scrolling, a pop-up chat appeared on our screen encouraging us to sign up for extra “Bro” points. We decided to engage with the chat and were connected to a live person, who was extremely helpful. The representative pointed out where we could find the specials and explained the Bro point system to us. We connected with her several times and she was quite resourceful and responsive. She was also able to assist when we were looking for specific nutritional information for our meals.

Making Changes and Canceling: Very Easy

Eat Clean Bro is a subscription-free service, meaning at any point in time, you can order as you wish. Orders can be rescheduled or canceled if you reach out to customer service within 24 hours. Orders that are canceled on the day of delivery are subject to a 50% restocking fee.

The Competition: Eat Clean Bro vs. Trifecta

Eat Clean Bro and Trifecta are two meal delivery service companies that focus on clean, nutritious, and low-carbohydrate food. The services offer prepared foods that can be heated up in minutes, making the meals appealing to adults who do not have a ton of time to think about grocery shopping, prepping, cooking, and kitchen cleanup.

Our tasting panel found Trifecta’s chef-curated gluten-free Clean Meal plans to be a bit boring and redundant, and also on the carb-heavier side. We preferred the diversity of Eat Clean Bro’s meals and appreciated the array of colorful vegetables and the ease of filtering to select meals. We also liked that we could easily select what we wanted. Trifecta does offer nutritional counseling for weight loss, so customers may prefer this 360-degree service and approach. We appreciated Trifecta’s clear labeling, nutrition facts, and heating instructions that were on each individual meal tray.

Methodology

We spent hundreds of hours looking through 46 meal delivery services’ websites, ordered meals and cooked them at home, photographed the process, spoke with customer service representatives from the companies, filled out detailed surveys about each company and their meals, and wrote in-depth reviews and comparison articles. Our expert panel includes dietitians, chefs, and longtime food writers. The one thing they all have in common is their love and knowledge of food.

The criteria we used to evaluate each company included:

• The ordering process
• Meal selection
• Packaging and support materials
• Recyclability
• The cooking process
• The flavor, freshness, and quality of each meal and ingredient
• Nutritional information
• Customer service