Fresh Diet is a meal delivery service that is calorie controlled and delivered to your doorstep literally each morning. Many celebrities have used it to slim down as it’s like having a personal chef who controls your calories. The food needs to be reheated some times but is never frozen or dehydrated. You can choose your 3 meals and 2 snacks or leave it up to the chef (a little cheaper). Your calories are determined by Fresh Diet’s team to help you reach your goals.
When I first attempted to start my own business, Fresh Diet reached out to me to review their services. Like many blogger/brand exchanges in 2009-2010, I was given comped meals to share on my Tumblr and YouTube channels. For this reason, I was able to work on my blog nearly full time without making the money to support myself. I am grateful to them for that reason but like all my reviews this is unbiased.
They reached back out this summer to see if I would give it another try to test out their new recipes so I accepted.
I chose to have my meals delivered on days that I knew I did not have dinner or lunch meetings which resulted in mostly Tuesday and Wednesday deliveries but could have done Monday-Sunday. When choosing my meals, I recognized most of them from 2010. I saw old favorites and a few new ones that I knew I needed to try. I updated my meal preferences including no sucralose and noticed that most meals had pictures and even calorie information. If I selected a meal that had one of my “prefer to avoid” ingredients I would be warned. If you select too many carb heavy meals, it will let you know. I think it uses a similar “Zone Diet” approach to macronutients.
I remembered being frustrated with the morning meals. There were no breakfasts that were dairy, gluten and artificial sugar free in 2010 and still weren’t. Again, I am not allergic, I would just prefer to eat things that naturally do not have these things. However, everything that I ordered was delicious.
Cinnamon Raisin French Toast with blueberry ricotta cheese and apple slices. I did not like the syrup so I didn’t even eat it. Two out of the 5 mornings I got the large fruit bowl option with yogurt or ricotta cheese.
I am not a huge yogurt/ricotta person because most of the time it is sweetened with added sugar or sucralose. I tried the chia pancakes which were delicious. Again I avoided the syrup because it tasted funny, maybe sugar free syrup but it was not flagged as such. The turkey bacon was fine. I haven’t had it in ages so it was funny to start a mid-week day like this!
One morning I got the granola which seemed to be a cup of granola and 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese with a little bit of fresh pineapple. The granola was good but made me curious what the rest of the day would be like. Was I eating all my calories allotted for the day first thing!? This is maybe 1/2 of the granola in the bowl below. You can see the remainder in the top left of the shot.
The snacks were usually a mix between sweet and salty for me. I liked the panna cotta, chocolate dipped figs with pistachios, shrimp skewers, proscuito wrapped melon and broccoli slaw with sliced turkey.
I used to love the cheesecake from Fresh Diet but this time around it was flagged by my ingredient preferences. I still could have ordered it but since it is made with Splenda, I declined.
Lunch was always my favorite and still is. You can order a sandwich but they always have one or two big salad options. I ordered ahi tuna one day.
My favorite fruit and grilled chicken salad which I remembered from 2010. The chicken was a little different and I doubt organic, something that didn’t really bother me much back then.
The vegetarian options seemed to be really heavy with cheese and not much protein so I ordered mostly chicken or fish salads.
This pistachio crusted salmon salad was probably my favorite lunch this time around but I have no idea if the salmon is farm raised or wild.
If you notice the calories on the labels, those are given to you. You don’t get to choose. Last time I did Fresh Diet I had them increase the calories to 1600-1800 but some how it went back to 1200-1400. I never gave them my height, weight or age this time around so I assume my calories were determined by the info I gave them back then. I supplemented my meals with my own snacks as needed.
This dinner was probably my favorite, Ahi Tuna with Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms. You pick your two sides separately as well as your main meat dish. I noticed last time and this time again, most people must skip the weekends so the best dinner are on the weekend menu.
The Good
- Convenient. Bag dropped off at your door step every night. Doesn’t get easier than that.
- Variety. There are plenty of options to choose from as long as your are not vegan or have food allergies.
- Fresh. The food is fresh. It is not dehydrated or frozen like many diet systems.
- Reasonable cost. I think Fresh Diet is reasonably priced as low as $28 per day. I spend easily $10 on lunch and dinner if I eat both meals out. Add in snacks and breakfast subtract the time it takes you to prepare each meal if you value your time and it comes out to a reasonable cost if you live in a city like me where $10 lunches are expected.
- No kitchen clean up!
Can Improve
- Volumetrics – I like to eat a lot of low calorie foods to help me feel full at dinner. I would have liked more veggies at dinner and less sugar at breakfast.
- Calorie system needs adjustment – Now that they post the calories for each meal, I could see that one day what I selected was actually just 1100 calories! I didn’t realize this until the end of the day. I ate more than the amount given to me but was curious why I was so hungry all day.
- More options for today’s dietary preferences – I eat a lot of vegan meals and would have liked a few options. If you eat a gluten free, vegan diet there really wasn’t a meal for you.
- Transparency on where ingredients come from. I would have liked to know if the chicken was organic, free range or if the salmon was wild. Same with the veggies and fruits. What were organic and what was not.
Final Word
Fresh Diet is a great option for people who want to lose weight without thinking about what they are making or eating. If you want someone else to do the dirty work, Fresh Diet is a good option. If you prefer to eat mostly organic and know what is in your food, it probably is not for you. I will admit I went from not caring in 2009, to caring a lot in 2014 so Fresh Diet is probably not for me anymore but I did like the meals and convenience for the week. I could see myself ordering it before vacation if I had a busy work week scheduled.
I’ve never heard of this service. It doesn’t look like it hits San Francisco, where I live yet, but I love the idea of it. I feel like I would eat more variety if I used meal delivery, because I tend to stick to the same healthy options during the week. Thanks for sharing!
I am exactly in the same boat. I did not care so much where my chicken or fruit came from a few years ago, but now I want to know organic etc. Good review -- thank you for sharing!
Very interesting. There is a local business trying to do the same thing here in Maryland and they deliver to your door or gym (whichever you prefer). It is a bunch of chefs so they make it fresh and drive it to wherever you are. The crabcakes looked like they needed further cooking and that they had too much breading on them. 🙁
Definitely way too pricey for me to do every day! We usually do just fine bringing every meal to work with 1-2 hours of food prep on Sundays. I get, though, that some people are probably busier and might not have that kind of time!
I did something similar to Fresh Diet when I was single and it worked out really well! Now that I live with my fiance it’s too expensive for two people and sharing the cooking duties it works out better just to meal plan and make the meals!
Wow, I like that it’s so fresh they have to deliver it daily!
I used fresh diet on and off for the past year and a half. I have lost 50lbs with its help. It is a great tool to teach you how to eat when starting you weightloss journey. I was happier with them moreso under their previous owner. There was more freedom jn ourchase plans and pricing, i enjoy alot of the food as I am not very picky with my dislikes and am not a super clean eater. Wrap and burger days are my fave!
Been using the Fresh Diet service for over a year and have not lost a pound. I’m only trying to lose 7 pounds but, still! They assured me that they could limit my meals to 1000 calories by limiting portion size but that hasn’t happened consistently and my complaints are now being ignored. So, now, I’m taking their calorie counts off their website and manually calculating and limiting my intake to 1000 calories (plus regular exercise). Still, can’t seem to lose weight. So, I came to this site to see if I could get some feedback. I’m wondering if their calorie counts are correct. I think I’ll finish out this 6 month financial commitment to them and move to another service. I’m getting kinda bored with the menus, anyway.