We Had an Office Luncheon With CookUnity's Prepared Meals. Here Are Our Thoughts

Even those who love to cook don’t always like to do it. That’s where prepared meal delivery services come in handy. They’re cheaper than takeout and if you pick the right one, they can be just as delicious. After trying the CookUnity service on my own in 2023, we recently decided to see how the delivery service holds up in 2025 as a team with an office luncheon featuring its gourmet prepared meals.

CookUnity lived up to its billing with a huge range of interesting and tasty meals that kept me wanting to try more. The biggest knock on CookUnity from our crew was too much salt. Still, with elevated eats, reasonable prices and an easy-to-navigate website and app, CookUnity mostly impressed our hungry writers, editors and video producers.

Having previously tried dozens of prepared meal delivery services available — and having liked quite a few of them — I tasted roughly three weeks of meals before our most recent test, which included seven additional meals that we shared as a team potluck style.

As you might expect from a service with recipes sourced from a lineup of chefs, each with unique culinary backgrounds, CookUnity meals, which start around $11 a serving, were equally diverse. 

Overall, we found the quality of CookUnity meals extremely high and the ordering platform easy to use. It’s one of the tastiest subscriptions I’ve tried and earns a place on this editor’s list of best meal delivery services available.

Here’s a rundown of how CookUnity works and what we all liked — and didn’t like — about it.

CookUnity pricing

Meals per week	Price per meal	Price per week
4	$13.59	$54.36
6	$12.29	$73.74
8	$11.69	$93.52
12	$11.19	$134.28
16	$11.09	$177.48

How CookUnity works

This is a subscription service, so you’ll choose either four, six, eight, 12 or 16 meals. You can easily add, pause or skip deliveries or change your plan at any time. Remember that meals will keep coming if you don’t make changes and you’ll be charged. Meals are delivered chilled with ice but are never frozen. However, after receiving the meals, most can easily be frozen if you can’t eat them by the date recommended on the side of the box. I’d contend that some meals would freeze better than others.

Each of CookUnity’s ready-to-eat meals has a chef’s name attached to it; the inference being that the chef has created the recipe you’re eating at your dining table or over the kitchen counter. Among some newer names, there are heavy hitters available for order, including Einat Admony (Taïm, Balaboosta), John DeLucie (Waverly Inn, Lumaca) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Jean-Georges).

You can pick your meals each week from a rotating menu of over 150 meals or let CookUnity decide for you and be surprised. When picking meals, you can sort via filters for specific diet plans, including vegan and vegetarian, keto, low-calorie, Whole30-friendly, gluten-free and many more. You can also see the complete nutritional information and ingredient list as well as reviews from others before you put something in your cart.

CookUnity will choose an initial delivery day but you can change that and also schedule within a certain window to ensure someone is home who can pop the meals in the fridge. 

CookUnity is currently available in most of the continental US, including all areas and ZIP codes highlighted on this map.

When the meals arrive they come with simple heating instructions on the side of the box, often with a chef’s recommendation and a quick-heat option — which generally means using the microwave, but not always so read carefully (and learn from my mistake.)

What we ate and how we liked it

During my initial test, I chose six meals and tried them all fresh within a few days of arrival. None of them seemed like particularly good candidates for freezing, unlike some other services I tried, where some meals seem tailored for that. Overall, I found the quality very high and, while some were better than others, I didn’t hate any of them. 

Chicken tinga tacos with cilantro and guacamole: The pulled chicken that came in these tacos was incredibly tender and full of smoky, slightly spicy flavor. The corn tortillas were not the freshest but they didn’t spoil the meal. 

Vegetarian crepe with cheddar cheese: This was another good one with spinach and mushroom bursting from the flaky crepe. It could have used a little bit more flavor and was a tad soggy when reheated but altogether was a pleasant lunch, and it was plenty filling.

Lamb kebab with roasted sweet potatoes, hummus and pickles: Super tender lamb jam-packed with flavors, including mint and garlic. The sweet potatoes were also cooked extremely well, having just begun to brown around the edges. This may have been my favorite and it heated particularly well as the oils from the lamb reroasted the kebab from the inside out. 

Tofu with hemp seeds and sweet potato puree: The tofu was tender if not a little bland and the sweet potatoes were creamy and nicely seasoned. It was served with a bright parsley sauce, which may have been the best part.

Miso cod with sautéed vegetables: The cod tasted fresh although the veggies left something to be desired — a tad boring I suppose. This was definitely a smaller portion than the rest, good for someone trying to cut carbs or calories but wasn’t enough to fill me up.

Beef bulgogi ramen: Solid dish with the noodles properly cooked and lots of tart kimchi flavor infused into the tender beef stir fry. Not the best bulgogi I’ve had, but not the worst, either. 

Haitian vegetable stew (legume): When we tested the meals as a group recently, we only had access to a microwave and an air fryer so we began by popping this meal into the microwave for 2 minutes. It was served with with fried plantains, rice and beans and was tasty, plus it got extra points for being vegan. But like many of the meals we tasted in this round, we were shocked at the amount of sodium it had. According to the nutritional label, this meal had 2,250 mg of sodium, making it nearly your entire recommended daily sodium intake.

Cheesy beef picadillo: This was simple and delicious and the crushed up tortilla chips you sprinkle on top after warming it up added a nice crunch.

Slow-roasted kalua pulled pork: This was one meal that would have most likely benefitted from being cooked on the stove instead of in the microwave. Although the rice and green beans turned out fine, the pork could have been a bit more shredded.

Red wine-braised short rib: This meal was delicious and despite being warmed in the microwave, the short ribs melt in your mouth. However, we were shocked to see the sodium count (3,960 mg, which is 72% more than the recommended daily intake.) This meal was a premium pick, so it was about $5 more expensive than the others we tasted this year, making it a whopping $16.71 and quite pricey for its size.

Chickpea and spinach-stuffed sweet potato with tahini maple sauce: You really can’t go wrong when combining sweet potatoes with, well, just about anything, so this was another favorite. We heated this one up in the air fryer to see how it would bode, and it tasted great.

Mediterranean salmon and quinoa bowl with chermoula sauce: Our taste testers thought this had a good flavor, but was quite dry. We do however believe it would have been much better if it was heated up in the oven using the “chef instructions” instead of the “fast instructions” on the side of the box.

BBQ chicken with gooey mac n’ cheese: Like with the braised short ribs, this mac n’ cheese was delicious, but the chicken — and the tangy barbecue sauce — missed the mark for us.

How much does CookUnity cost? 

This service is on par with other high-end meal delivery services with meals ranging between $11 and $13, depending on how many meals per week you order. The premium picks tack on at least a few more dollars.

Others in the same category, including some of our top picks like Pete’s Paleo are more expensive at $12-$15 per meal. There are cheaper options though, including Mosaic Foods, which can be had for as little as $6 per serving when you order family meals.

What’s the shipping cost for CookUnity?

You’ll pay a $10 flat rate for all orders through CookUnity. That’s fairly standard, although some services such as Fresh N Lean will wave the fee if you order enough meals.

Who is CookUnity good for?

Because this meal delivery outfit has such a wide range of options, I’d say this service is one of the best for someone with a curious palate and who likes to try new dishes. The food is all over the map, quite literally, with dozens of world foods represented, but there is consistency in quality. 

There are plenty of low-carb, vegan and paleo options so this is a good meal delivery service if you’re trying to stick to a specific eating plan.

CookUnity is also a great option if you’re big into the celebrity chef scene and want to brag to your friends that you had Jean-Georges’ pizza for dinner last night. Yes, the French-born, James Beard Award-winning chef actually has a pizza recipe on the CookUnity menu. Go figure.

Who is CookUnity not as good for?

It’s probably not a great choice for families since the portions aren’t huge and things would get expensive if you were ordering for three or four people. It’s also not ideal if you have a very unpredictable schedule because I wouldn’t consider the freshly prepared food to be great for freezing and it is definitely best consumed a few days after delivery.

Also, although there are some meal options with less sodium than others, this might not be the best chose for someone on a low-sodium diet.

Final verdict on CookUnity

I’ll admit I was pleasantly surprised by the high hit rate of this meal service. When I saw how many cooks were in the kitchen by way of the dozens of chefs they’ve culled recipes from, I was worried the service itself would be inconsistent. In practice, each meal was well prepared with good flavor. Although it would have been nice if some of the meals had larger portions, overall each lunch or dinner was pretty satisfying. 

The most exciting thing about CookUnity is the sheer volume of meal options you can choose from, all originating from chefs of different backgrounds, culinary styles and levels of fame. As a bona fide restaurant junkie, I would think of CookUnity not only as a tasty way to keep myself fed without having to cook but also as a fun way to learn about new chef personalities and restaurants for the next time I’m traveling to a new city or looking for a place to dine out locally.

Since you can pause or cancel the subscription at any time, I recommend giving it a try to see how you like it. 

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.