Weeknight Winners: Nine of the Best Meal Delivery Services on Our Kitchen Rotation

Slow weekends call for cookbook flicking and farmers market perusing. But weekday life isn’t always so kind.

For the nights when time is short, meal kits and produce boxes can make it easier to put seasonal, chef-crafted dishes on the table. Plus, there are lots of organic, sustainable options to choose from, so you don’t have to compromise on fuelling your body with quality food.

We’ve compiled a list of some of Australia’s best, each one a cheat code to hassle-free midweek feasting.

• Best for a sweet fix: Two Good x Messina, starting from $40
• Best for home-cooked love: The Dinner Ladies, starting from $12
• Best for chef-crafted recipes: Make Out Meals, starting from $59
• Best for ethically sourced meat: Butcher Crowd, starting from $159
• Best for new mums: Whole Bowl, starting from $10

The Dinner Ladies began as a home-cooking project between two Sydney friends, each looking to make mealtime a little easier for their families. What started in a home kitchen quickly grew into a dedicated service, delivering chef-prepared, hearty meals made from quality, locally sourced ingredients.

Think comforting classics, from slow-cooked stews to nourishing salads, all delivered to your door. For busy weeks, or when you simply crave a comforting dish with no effort, these are meals that combine a homemade touch with a gourmet twist. 

Available to order: Vic, NSW, ACT and parts of Qld and SA
Subscribe at The Dinner Ladies

Make-Out Meals delivers DIY meal kits with everything you need to re-create famed dishes from Australian restaurants. Each box features recipes from two-hat restaurants or local favourites, including Entrecote, Mamasita, Coda, plus 40 more, complete with pre-measured ingredients sourced from local suppliers.

With 15 new dishes added each week, there’s always a new, flavour-packed meal to try and the recipe cards provided offer tips to help advance your cooking skills from some of the country’s best chefs. There’s Entrecote’s market fish with spiced citrus butter, Mamasita’s Mexican eggplant a la veracruz, Coda’s signature duck san choy bow, among hundreds more.

If a regular subscription isn’t for you – but you could still use a hand with catering a dinner party or festive celebration over the busy period – Make-Out Meals offers a one-off box with no strings attached.

Available to order: Vic, NSW and ACT
Subscribe at Make-Out Meals

The two brothers at Butcher Crowd started with a mission to make sustainable, high-quality food accessible, working with regenerative farms to deliver ethically sourced meat across Australia.

From grass-fed Tasmanian porterhouse steak to packs of peeled Australian tiger prawns, everything is farm-fresh, just like the produce the pair grow up eating. There are curated boxes to remove the decision-making, but you can also choose what you get as part of the build-your-own option.

Available to order: Vic, NSW, Qld, ACT, SA, Tas and WA
Subscribe at Butcher Crowd

Providoor elevates the dining experience beyond standard meal kits by delivering partially prepped restaurant recipes from some of Australia’s best-known chefs. Partnering with top-tier names across the country – most of whom don’t have their own bricks-and-mortar restaurants – now’s your chance to try their recipes, without having to cook from scratch yourself.

Savour Silvia Colloca’s traditional spinach and ricotta gnudi to start, George Calombaris’s 12-hour slow cooked lamb shoulder for main, and Justin Narayan’s dulce de leche flan to finish. Plus a whole lot more options, alongside dishes by Anna Polyviou, Christine Manfield, Gary Mehigan, Luke Nguyen, Manu Feildel and Marco Pierre White. It’s as close as you can get to eating out while staying in.

Available to order: Vic, NSW, Qld and ACT
Subscribe at Providoor

The Good Farm Shop all started from a small family-owned regenerative farm, delivering ready-made meals to people who care about where their food comes from. While the food label has since grown, the sustainable sourcing hasn’t changed. It’s all about serving up organic, pasture-raised goodness, alongside homemade small-batch condiments like eggplant kasoundi, shakshuka sauce, and many more.

Curate your own bundle of boxes, with recipes ranging from organic chicken and leek pie to beef bourguignon, using the freshest veggies, free-range meat and farm-made cheese. But you can also check out The Good Farm Shop’s cookbook for thoughtful food advice backed by regenerative farming expertise.

Available to order: Vic, NSW, Qld, ACT, SA & Tas
Subscribe at The Good Farm Shop

Founded in 2021 by Elle Doran and nutritionist Daisy Manson, Whole Bowl was created with new mums in mind, delivering meal bundles packed with locally sourced, organic ingredients to support recovery and save some effort in the kitchen. Think slow-cooked beef lasagne, super green soups and almond-cacao lactation cookies, all crafted to deliver essential nutrients when time and energy are in short supply. Whole Bowl also offers toddler-friendly options, too, including chicken, roast pumpkin and spinach risotto and hidden-veggie nuggets. 

Available to order: Vic, NSW, Qld, ACT, SA, Tas and WA
Subscribe at Whole Bowl

Good and Fugly is on a mission to reduce food waste by championing fresh, ugly produce that doesn’t meet supermarkets’ unrealistic beauty standards. With every box, you get a variety of seasonal fruits and veggies rescued from Aussie farms, helping the planet and providing nutritious produce that’s far from imperfect. You can choose from a small or big box and a healthy mix of fruit and vegetables – or just one or the other.

Available to order: Vic, NSW, Qld and ACT
Subscribe at Good and Fugly

For a meal kit to satisfy your sweet tooth, the latest collaboration from Two Good and Gelato Messina brings you an indulgent, triple-chocolate brownie pack for a limited edition treat. Inside the box, you’ll find signature Messina chocolate and caramel chips, designed for a gooey, decadent bake that’s easy to prepare. It’s enough to make 16-20 brownies and it comes with social impact, too: for each kit sold, Two Good uses the funds to support women in need.

Available to order: Vic, NSW, Qld, ACT, SA, Tas and WA
Subscribe at Two Good

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