Factor review: Our pick for best fully prepared keto meal delivery service

Are you thinking about trying a prepared meal delivery service? Check out our review of Factor. We tested many of the most popular brands on the market — and Factor is the clear favorite when it comes to prepared meal delivery service for keto-friendly meals — and what's more, it offers options such as vegan, vegetarian and low-cal. Often, when you're trying to stick to a particular way of eating, life gets in the way. But you don't have to let a surprise meeting or a longer-than-expected visit from the grandkids derail your nutrition goals. If you want healthy microwavable meals that help you stay on a keto diet plan, Factor is the answer. We'll get into more detail below about why we recommend Factor, but first, let's learn more about how this fully prepared meal delivery service works.

What is the Factor fully prepared meal delivery service?

Factor is a meal delivery service that allows you to order a box of fresh (never frozen), nutritious prepared meals to be delivered to your home. All you have to do is heat the meals according to the package instructions and — presto! — dinner is served.

Factor offers a variety of meal delivery plans that range both in size (you can order 6 to 18 meals per week) and in food preferences, including Keto, Vegan & Veggie, Calorie Smart (550 calories or less per serving) and Protein Plus options.

Once you choose a plan, it's time to select a delivery date and browse the recipes that are available for the upcoming week. When that delivery day comes, you'll receive a box of some combination of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, smoothies, juices and fully cooked proteins.

As part of any Factor subscription, you can also book a free 20-minute virtual nutrition coaching session with one of its expert dietitians. This is a fantastic added value, as it allows you to ask all kinds of nutrition questions (related to Factor or not), create personalized dietary goals and generally set yourself up for success.

How did we test Factor's prepared meal delivery service?

For this review, I tried all of the Factor meals with my family. I’ve been eating for a living for many years now: I have a degree from the French Culinary Institute and have worked for various food publications. I’m also a mom with an active teen and tween, for whom I cook daily.

I evaluated Factor based on the following criteria:

• Subscription price, because everyone has different budgets.

• Ease of use, because you’re getting a meal to make your life easier, so you don’t want anything too complicated or time-consuming.

• Menu choices, because you want a good variety of flavors and ingredients.

• Taste, because above all, you want your dinner to be yummy!

• Packaging: Is there too much? Too little? Is it putting out too much waste into the world? We factored this into our reviews.

In making the selections, I considered feedback from other on-staff meal testers for a variety of opinions (we got reviews from a family of five, a family with both an infant and a tween, and a family of three with vegetarians and vegans). I also weighed info from Facebook Groups devoted to discussing meal kits, plus expert advice from Jaclyn London, a registered dietician based in New York City.

Here's how Factor's prepared meal delivery service stacks up:

• Subscription: Meals start at $11 each. A box of 12 meals (including shipping) costs $143.88 without any promotion. The more meals you order per week, the lower the price per meal. Factor delivers on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays, depending on your ZIP code. The cutoff for any new or modified orders is Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. CT, one week prior to delivery. Each subscription includes a free 30-minute virtual nutrition coaching session.

• Ease of use: Most meals are microwavable and most are ready in under three minutes.

• Menu choices: There are about 35 meal choices per week, with the ability to filter recipes by the following categories and dietary restrictions: keto, vegan or plant-based, calorie-smart, protein plus and more. Add-ons include breakfasts, snacks, smoothies, juices and portions of fully cooked proteins. You may order a maximum of 18 meals per week. We particularly appreciate Factor's keto egg bites, which are optional add-ons. They're tasty and provide a super-quick, protein-rich breakfast on the busiest days, when you might otherwise have the instinct to turn to a bowl of sugar-laden cereal.

• Taste: 7/10 When you have a protein goal in mind and you get bored by the same flavors at every meal, these dishes fit the bill. Our favorite meal was the White Cheddar Chicken with Broccoli-Parmesan "Grits," Roasted Green Beans & Sliced Almonds. The cheese sauce was really flavorful and truly made the broccoli "grits" seem more like carbs and less like veggies, which is always a win when you're trying to reduce your carb intake. Pork Tenderloin & Cheesy Cabbage with Garlic Butter Green Beans won our vote for second place, and for good reason — the pork was perfectly cooked, not dry at all, and well, we'll eat any green vegetable topped with garlic butter.

• Packaging: Most of the packaging is recyclable. The food trays are made from CPET, which stands for Crystallizable PolyEthylene Terephthalate, and are BPA-free recyclable plastic #1 — just rinse them first. You can learn more about how to recycle Factor's packaging here.

Let’s learn a little more about fully prepared meal delivery services and answer some commonly asked questions.

What can I expect from a Factor meal?

You won't waste time and energy stressing about what to cook or when to shop — just open the fridge, pull out a meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner and heat it up in the microwave. When you're ready to place a Factor order, you can browse the whole weekly menu or filter meals by your dietary restriction or preference: keto, chef's choice, vegan or vegetarian, calorie-smart (perfect for anyone with weight-loss goals) or protein plus. You can choose your delivery day and even add on extras like portions of cooked protein, breakfast foods, smoothies, juices, snacks and desserts.

What if I'm nervous about trying Factor?

Factor offers major discounts to first-time customers, making it very affordable to try before you commit (or don’t) to any one plan. All you have to do is take advantage of any one of these offers and then mark your calendar with an alert for the date by which you must cancel the subscription.

What if I need to skip a week?

You can skip a week or cancel if your needs change.

Where can I find the Factor nutritional information?

You can view full nutritional information for each Factor meal by clicking on specific dishes on the menu for each week. Also note that Factor uses locally sourced beef, pasture-raised pork, antibiotic-free poultry and cage-free eggs in their meals.

Is Factor a meal delivery service for weight loss?

According to the Factor website, their meals are not designed specifically for weight loss, but they can help you meet your nutrition-related goals, depending on how you combine Factor meals with the other food you consume.

What is a keto meal?

Factor's keto meals contain at least 60% of calories from fat, around 20% of calories from protein, and 10% or less of calories from carbohydrates. Since each individual will have a different carbohydrate threshold that allows them to remain in ketosis, the carbohydrate content of each meal varies. Some of Factor's meals may be low in carbohydrates, but are not quite high enough in fat to be considered ketogenic. By simply adding more fat to these meals, you can achieve a more "ketogenic friendly" meal.

How long do Factor meals last?

Factor meals will stay fresh for seven days in the fridge, and there is an "Enjoy by" date printed on each of the meal sleeves.

Can I freeze Factor meals?

Factor meals are fresh and intended to be eaten within seven days. It does not recommend freezing the meals.

How do Factor ingredients stay fresh during shipping?

Factor ships all of its meals in insulated boxes with gel packs that will keep the box at refrigerated temperatures for quite a long time. These methods have been tested in all seasons, across all climates.

Is it safe to eat food reheated in plastic containers in the microwave?

Factor meals are delivered to you in CPET individual plastic containers, completely free of BPA, or bisphenol A. CPET stands for Crystallizable PolyEthylene Terephthalate. These plastics are safe for food storage as well as for heating in the microwave or conventional oven.

Can I recycle the Factor packaging?

Yes! Factor meals come in BPA-free CPET individual plastic containers designated as recyclable 1, so go ahead and put them in the recycling bin. You'll find all the information you may want to know about recycling its different forms of packaging.