EveryPlate or Dinnerly for easy meal planning?
If your main goal is to make weeknight dinners easier, both EveryPlate and Dinnerly can take much of the planning work off your plate. EveryPlate is a better fit for people who want a simple weekly routine with printed recipe cards, while Dinnerly is stronger for people who want a much larger menu and more ways to change their meals. Both deliver pre-portioned ingredients and let you choose meals before delivery.
Meal planning sounds simple until you have to answer the same questions every week: What should we eat? Do we have the ingredients? Who is going grocery shopping? How long will dinner take?
That is where low-cost meal kits can help. Instead of planning every recipe and buying every ingredient yourself, you choose meals online and receive the ingredients at home.
But EveryPlate vs. Dinnerly is not only about price. For easy meal planning, the bigger question is how much choice you want and how much effort you want to put into organizing dinner.
EveryPlate vs. Dinnerly at a glance
The two services solve the same basic problem, but they approach it differently.
| Feature | EveryPlate | Dinnerly |
|---|---|---|
| Main strength | Simple, low-effort weekly meals | Large menu and more choice |
| Weekly menu | About 35 recipes | 100+ recipes |
| Recipe instructions | Printed recipe cards | Recipes available online |
| Typical cooking approach | Simple, beginner-friendly meals | Simple recipes with few steps |
| Meal customization | Protein swaps on select dishes | Recipe swaps and selected customizations |
| Subscription | Flexible; skip, pause, or cancel | Flexible; skip, pause, or cancel |
| Best for | Predictable weekly meal planning | Variety-focused meal planning |
EveryPlate currently advertises about 35 recipes plus 50+ add-ons that change weekly. Dinnerly says it offers more than 100 weekly recipes, along with Market items such as ready-to-heat meals, breakfasts, and desserts.
Which service makes meal planning easier?
For the simplest meal-planning routine, EveryPlate has a slight edge.
The reason is not that its recipes are necessarily easier than every Dinnerly recipe. The bigger advantage is the smaller menu. A huge menu sounds great, but too many choices can make weekly planning take longer.
EveryPlate lets you select from a smaller group of recipes, receive pre-portioned ingredients, and follow the included recipe cards. The company says most meals take about 20–30 minutes and use six simple steps.
Dinnerly takes a different approach. Its 100+ weekly recipes give you more freedom, but you may spend more time browsing before deciding what to cook. Its recipes are available online through the website or app rather than relying on a standard printed recipe card.
So the choice comes down to this:
- Want fewer decisions? Choose EveryPlate.
- Want more choices? Choose Dinnerly.
Why fewer choices can actually help
Imagine it is Sunday night and you need five dinners for the week.
With a smaller menu, you can quickly pick a chicken dish, a pasta meal, tacos, a vegetarian dinner, and one family favorite. Your weekly plan is finished.
With a much larger menu, you can find more interesting meals, but you also have more recipes to compare.
For someone who gets tired of deciding what to cook, more variety is not always more convenient.
How EveryPlate simplifies the week
EveryPlate is built around a straightforward process: choose your meals, receive the ingredients, and cook.
The ingredients arrive pre-portioned, and the box includes recipe cards. You can change your selected meals through the weekly menu, and the service allows you to pause, skip, or cancel instead of requiring you to order every week.
That can remove several small jobs from your normal routine:
- Searching for dinner ideas
- Building a grocery list
- Measuring many ingredients
- Buying ingredients for one recipe that may sit unused
- Deciding what to cook after a long day
EveryPlate also offers meal plans and recipe categories aimed at different preferences, including family-friendly and vegetarian choices.
Where EveryPlate can be more convenient
The physical recipe cards are a small feature, but they matter if you cook with your phone away from the counter.
You can simply put the card beside your cutting board and follow the steps. There is no need to unlock your phone with messy hands or keep a screen awake while cooking.
For someone who wants a repeatable dinner routine, that can make EveryPlate feel less complicated.
How Dinnerly simplifies the week
Dinnerly also removes much of the traditional meal-planning work. You choose recipes online, and the company sends the ingredients in an insulated box. Its current menu has more than 100 recipes each week, including family-friendly, vegetarian, vegan, fast, healthy, and reduced-carb options.
Dinnerly also lets you swap recipes in your account before the weekly cutoff. You can skip, pause, or cancel future deliveries as needed.
This makes Dinnerly especially useful if your household gets bored with repeating the same types of dinners.
For example, you might choose tacos one week, a pasta dish the next, then try a stir-fry, vegetarian meal, or another style of dinner the following week.
Dinnerly’s larger selection is useful, but it can create a different kind of work: decision fatigue.
If you open a menu with more than 100 options, you may find yourself scrolling through meals instead of quickly choosing dinner.
A simple solution is to create your own rule. For example:
- Pick one family favorite.
- Pick one vegetarian or plant-forward meal.
- Pick one pasta or rice-based meal.
- Pick one new recipe.
- Pick one fast dinner.
That turns Dinnerly’s large menu into a smaller personal menu.
Which one is better for busy families?
For a family that wants simple, familiar dinners without spending much time choosing meals, EveryPlate may be the easier fit.
EveryPlate focuses on affordable, straightforward meals and family-friendly choices. Its current site also highlights recipes designed to be ready in roughly 20–30 minutes.
Dinnerly can be the better option for a family with different tastes. Its larger menu gives parents more opportunities to find meals for picky eaters, vegetarians, or family members who simply want more variety.
A practical family example
Suppose two parents have busy workdays and two children who prefer familiar foods.
They may benefit from EveryPlate if they want to choose a handful of predictable dinners each week and avoid spending a long time browsing recipes.
Now imagine a family where one person wants vegetarian meals, another wants meat, and everyone gets bored eating the same dishes.
Dinnerly’s larger menu may be more useful because there are more recipes to choose from.
The best service is therefore not simply the one with the most recipes. It is the one that makes your household’s weekly decision easier.
Which one is better for someone who lives alone?
Neither service is a traditional single-serving meal plan in the usual sense.
EveryPlate says it does not offer a true one-person plan. Instead, its two-serving recipes can work for one person who wants dinner plus leftovers for lunch.
That can actually be useful.
For example, you could cook dinner on Monday and take the second serving for lunch Tuesday. In that situation, the extra serving becomes part of your meal-planning system rather than wasted food.
If you live alone, compare the total weekly box price and your ability to use leftovers before choosing either service.
EveryPlate or Dinnerly for recipe variety?
Dinnerly wins on variety.
Dinnerly currently advertises more than 100 recipes every week. Its menu includes different food preferences and styles, and its Market also adds items beyond standard dinner kits.
EveryPlate’s current menu is smaller at around 35 recipes, although it also offers a large selection of add-ons.
That difference matters if you are planning several meals every week.
If you are happy eating familiar meals, EveryPlate’s smaller menu may actually save time. If you enjoy trying new recipes, Dinnerly gives you more room to experiment.
What about cooking time?
Both services are designed around relatively quick home cooking, but exact times vary by recipe.
EveryPlate says most meals take around 20–30 minutes and use six simple steps.
Dinnerly promotes five-step recipes and says its easy recipes can be made in 30 minutes or less on its current promotional pages.
Still, do not assume every recipe will take exactly the advertised amount of time. Your actual cooking time can depend on your knife skills, kitchen setup, oven, and how quickly you prepare ingredients.
If speed is your top concern, check the individual recipes before adding them to your weekly box.
Which service gives you more control over your weekly plan?
Both give you meaningful control, but in slightly different ways.
EveryPlate lets you select your meals each week and offers protein swaps on selected recipes. Its current plans can be set for 3–5 meals per week for 2, 4, or 6 people.
Dinnerly lets you choose from its much larger weekly menu and swap recipes through your account before the cutoff. It also allows you to change portions and manage future deliveries.
For most people, the important point is that neither service should be treated like a rigid weekly commitment. Both provide ways to skip or pause future boxes.
How pricing affects easy meal planning
Price is part of meal planning because the goal is not only to save time. You also want a weekly food budget you can live with.
Current promotional and standard pricing can change, so do not rely on an old comparison that lists a fixed price forever. Dinnerly currently advertises meals starting around $5.99 per person on its main site, while promotional pages can show lower introductory prices. EveryPlate is also running introductory offers that can differ from the regular cost.
When comparing the two, look at the full checkout price, not just the advertised price per serving.
Check:
- Number of servings
- Number of meals
- Shipping
- Premium meal charges
- Protein upgrades
- Add-ons
- Taxes, if applicable
- Introductory discounts
- Regular price after the promotion
A low introductory price can make a meal kit look cheaper than it will be after the promotion ends.
What can make meal-kit planning less convenient?
Meal kits remove many grocery-planning tasks, but they do not remove all cooking work.
You still need to:
- Store the ingredients correctly
- Read the recipe
- Prepare the food
- Cook it
- Clean your kitchen
- Keep basic pantry items available when a recipe calls for them
You also need enough refrigerator space for the delivery.
There is another practical issue: allergies and dietary restrictions. EveryPlate provides ingredient and allergen information, but it warns that its meals are prepared in facilities that handle common allergens. Dinnerly also provides information about dietary requirements through its help resources.
If you have a serious food allergy, always review the current ingredient and allergen information before ordering or cooking.
So, which is better for easy meal planning?
The answer depends on what you mean by “easy.”
| If your priority is… | Better fit |
| A simple weekly routine | EveryPlate |
| Fewer recipes to choose from | EveryPlate |
| Printed recipe cards | EveryPlate |
| A very large recipe selection | Dinnerly |
| More variety from week to week | Dinnerly |
| Different dietary preferences | Dinnerly |
| Simple, budget-focused cooking | Both |
| Flexible weekly scheduling | Both |
Choose EveryPlate if you want to make fewer decisions. Choose Dinnerly if you want more decisions to choose from.
That small distinction is the key to this comparison.
A person who thinks meal planning is stressful because they cannot find dinner ideas may prefer Dinnerly. A person who thinks meal planning is stressful because there are too many choices may prefer EveryPlate.
A simple way to decide before you subscribe
Before signing up, look at each service’s current menu for the weeks you expect to order.
Do not judge the service from its homepage alone.
Instead, ask yourself:
- Can I find at least three meals my household would actually eat?
- Are the cooking times realistic for my schedule?
- Will I use the ingredients before they spoil?
- Does the box fit my weekly food budget after shipping?
- Are the available recipes suitable for my dietary needs?
- Will I enjoy cooking these meals?
If you can answer yes to most of these questions, the service is probably a reasonable match.
For Dinnerly, also consider whether the large menu will help you or make choosing dinner harder. For EveryPlate, consider whether its smaller selection gives you enough variety to stay interested.
FAQ
Is EveryPlate easier than Dinnerly for weekly meal planning?
EveryPlate can be easier if you prefer a smaller menu and a straightforward routine. Dinnerly offers far more weekly recipes, which is useful for variety but can take longer to browse and choose from.
Does Dinnerly have more meal choices than EveryPlate?
Yes. Dinnerly currently advertises more than 100 recipes each week, while EveryPlate advertises about 35 recipes plus add-ons. This makes Dinnerly the stronger choice if variety is your main concern.
Can I skip EveryPlate or Dinnerly when I do not need a box?
Yes. Both services offer flexible subscriptions that let customers skip, pause, or cancel future deliveries, although you need to make changes before the applicable weekly cutoff.
The bottom line
For easy meal planning, I would lean toward EveryPlate for simplicity and Dinnerly for variety. EveryPlate’s smaller menu and printed recipe cards can make the weekly routine feel more straightforward, while Dinnerly’s 100+ recipes are better for households that want more choices.
The practical tip is to preview both menus before choosing. Pick the service that gives you several meals you genuinely want to cook without making your weekly planning feel like another chore.
