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RealEats Reviews: The Most Affordable Meal Delivery Service

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RealEats is a New York-based pre-made meal delivery service for the whole family. The company provides ready-to-eat meals for folks who don’t have much time to cook yet prefer healthy cuisine to takeout.

Let’s look at the company overview, its competitors, pricing, pros, and cons, summarized in a comprehensive reading of RealEats reviews.

What Is RealEats?

RealEats is the first sous vide meal delivery service. What sets the company apart from the rest is its cooking procedure, which requires no prep work on your end. After receiving your order, you only have to drop it into boiling water for 3–6 minutes. It’s all wrapped in a sous vide bag and sent in a box (chilled with ice packs).

The RealEats meals are entirely prepared ahead in the company’s facility. So you won’t have to cook from scratch but only reheat the food. You get a restaurant-quality dinner ready to eat; all you have to do is heat it in a pot.

The Story of RealEats

RealEats was a matter of necessity. Dan Wise, the company’s founder, was a single father who struggled to feed his children quick and healthy meals. He wanted the quality of home-cooked food with the ease of takeaway. Wise discovered that by using the sous vide technology to prepare meals and vacuum-seal them into little pouches, his family could enjoy fresh and healthy food at any time without cooking.

This small idea grew into RealEats — a successful business with numerous innovation awards and positive RealEats customer reviews.

How Does RealEats Work?

Getting started with RealEats is easy. First, you have to register and customize your meal plan based on your eating habits. You can choose your meals each week, and they’ll be prepared, packaged, and delivered straight to your door. The company vacuum-seals the meals. All you have to do is toss them in a pot of hot water to “cook” them before eating.

Main Competitors in the Fresh Meal Delivery Service 

Two of the major RealEats competitors in the fresh meal category are Freshly and Factor Meals.

If you compare RealEats vs Freshly, you’ll notice that Freshly is slightly more affordable. Also, the service has a diverse menu with classic Italian and American dishes prepared with fresh, natural ingredients. In contrast, RealEats provides freshly cooked meals crafted by a world-famous chef. The company uses exclusively 100% natural ingredients that are excellent for your body and sure to delight your taste buds.

Now, if you compare RealEats vs Factor, you’ll see that Factor is a fantastic keto-friendly Paleo meal delivery service with high-quality ingredients, affordable prices, and great discounts. Meanwhile, RealEats doesn’t have meal plans for specific diets, so vegans, vegetarians, and those on a paleo, gluten-free, or keto diet, have fewer options.

Also, RealEats doesn’t produce its meals in an allergen-free environment, so the service may not be appropriate if you have severe food allergies.

Other Competitors in the Meal Delivery Service Market

Trifecta Nutrition is worth mentioning when it comes to other RealEats meals competitors. It provides fully prepared fresh meals tailored to various diets, with rotating paleo, keto, vegan, and vegetarian options. Reviews on Trifecta Nutrition unanimously agree that it’s the best meal delivery service for athletes since the meals are appropriate fuel for exercise and recovery.

Martha Stewart offers another service with unique and delicious recipes — Marley Spoon. You can check what and decide if it’s worth it. Overall, they love how healthy and light the recipes are and the interesting twists to them. But there are very few pre-prepared items, so the service requires a fair amount of cooking experience and time.

How Much Does RealEats Cost?

With plans starting at just $11.47 a meal, RealEats is a simple, accessible, and affordable option for eating nutritious meals at home. It ranges from $54.36 for four-night meals to around $137 for 12 meals, depending on the package you choose.

Are There Shipping Costs? 

Some plans have no shipping fees. But depending on your location, you might have to pay $7.99. That said, you get free shipping on orders over $115, and there are also promos you can take advantage of. You can use a RealEats promo code to get discounts and save more on healthy, chef-prepared meals delivered to your home.

RealEats Subscription Models

Compared to other meal delivery subscription options, RealEats prides itself on offering a flexible subscription. Once you sign up, you can choose to receive 4, 6, 8, or 12 weekly meals. Then, you can customize the deliveries to fit your schedule. You can:

• Skip a week. You can do that from your account in the “Manage or Skip Upcoming Order” section. Here, you can choose to keep a certain week “on” or “off” for delivery. Just be sure to make your changes before 11:59 ET on Thursday, as that’s when the orders get approved.
• Pause your account. You can turn deliveries “off” for eight upcoming weeks upfront. You can always come back as soon as you see a RealEats food review and find your taste for good restaurant food again.
• Cancel your account. If you’re unsatisfied with your orders, you can opt-out at any time with no additional charges. Also, you can reactivate your account whenever you feel like it. If you want to stop the meals for a more extended period without canceling, you can click the “off” button for all upcoming weeks and activate a specific week whenever you feel like it.

What Are the Pros and Cons?

There are many reasons why RealEats is among the best food delivery options and why it could be the right choice for you:

• Easy to store. The food stays fresh in the fridge for up to seven days. But can you freeze RealEats meals? You can. You can just thaw fully and follow the heating instructions whenever you want to.
• Organic. The meals come with high-quality, seasonal, and farm-fresh ingredients. The vendor is in the Finger lakes agricultural region.
• Subscription-Free. You can order a specific amount of meals whenever you like. 
• Zero cleanups. Just use a pot or microwave and have a healthy meal ready without any cleanup.
• Healthy. The pouches are BPA, phthalates, and plasticizers-free. Also, the food contains no artificial sweeteners or preservatives.
• Very customizable. You can choose one of the Chef’s Picks from the RealEats menu. Alternatively, you can customize your food and swap any ingredient. For instance, you can include salmon instead of steak.

Just like everything else in life, RealEats also has some drawbacks. Here are the major setbacks that might not work for you:

• Diet-restricting. There aren’t many meal options for specific diets. So the service might not be suitable if you follow a very strict diet as you’d have to customize each order.
• Allergy-sensitive. The service doesn’t produce its meals in allergen-free environments. Everything’s manufactured in a facility that uses wheat, soy, egg, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, and milk.
• Restricted shipping area. Most RealEats.com reviews mention that the service doesn’t include shipping for every state. Still, the company is expanding, and you may see the option in your state sooner than you think.
• Slightly messy. You can make a mess when plating because you have to cut open the hot pouches to drain the excess water.

You can overcome all of these cons in one way or another. For instance, you can customize the meals, and the allergens are designated on the bags. Also, you can be a bit more careful when handling the food to avoid a mess. 

Is RealEats For You?

RealEats is a meal delivery business that offers nutritious, restaurant-quality, and customizable entrées with local ingredients.

Reading this and other RealEats reviews, you’ll notice that the service’s most significant advantage is that real chefs make the food so you can be sure you get the best. Also, they pride themselves on keeping the ingredients 100% natural.

What sets apart RealEats from its competitors is that this is the first sous vide meal delivery service. The company sends you prepared food to heat up and enjoy in a few minutes.

So if you want fresh, healthy, and restaurant-quality meals and don’t have time to cook and wash all the dishes, RealEats is exactly for you.

FAQ

Is RealEats good?

Most customers who have tried the service agree that RealEats offers excellent food. People describe it as a real restaurant meal you can eat at home. Also, the food combinations are quite fun and include various ingredients and spices. You just may find a taste you never knew you loved.

Who is this for?

If you’re a single person with priorities other than cooking, a couple that has to spend “date night” at home but wants a quality restaurant meal, or a hardworking individual who works from home, this might be the perfect meal service for you.

Who is this not for?

According to most RealEats reviews, the meals can be quite expensive if you’re feeding a family of four or more, especially if you’re on a tight budget. Also, if you’re into sports and require a high-calorie bulk diet, this might not be for you as the meals often seem quite small.

What will I get in my delivery box?

You get the exact meals and add-ons you’ve selected for the week and a paper insert with all the best-by dates. The meals come in individually vacuum-sealed Fresh Packs with a cardboard belly band. You’ll get them in an insulated box with frozen gel packs to ensure the food stays cold and fresh.

What do the customers think?

While reviewing RealEats ratings, we noticed complaints that the meals could be quite small and the prices somewhat high. But since the company advertises them as restaurant quality, prepared by real chefs with the best ingredients, we think it’s definitely worth it. Also, numerous reviews talk about the range of taste and the time they save with these meals, and we couldn’t agree more.

What if I’m not satisfied?

If you have any RealEats complaints, you can always contact the customer team to notify them and receive further help.

How do I sign up?

Just go to the official website and click the Get Started button or choose a meal you like and proceed from there. RealEats reviews confirm that you can choose whatever you want and swap any ingredients before the order gets approved.