I am the shopper of the groceries and the planner of all meals in our house. And yes, I’m also the preparer — lucky me! I enjoy meal planning because I have come to follow a few Instagram food bloggers who haven’t failed me and are reasonably healthy. However, there are times when I loathe trying to figure out what to make for dinner. So I present to you a few tried and true options you will thank me for later. We’ve tried them each service and loved them all for different reasons. We had the meals for lunches and dinners which made for a nice change in our typical routine and the Bambinos enjoyed some breakfast options that were new to them as well.

Just choose whichever selection works best for your needs and lifestyle and don’t forget to use those discount codes we’ve included. All of these meal services also make for a great gift idea for friends who had a new baby, an upcoming dinner you are hosting or to send to someone who may be recovering from an illness or surgery. Regardless of how you use these options, here’s to making meals a little easier and depending on your audience, perhaps a bit more delicious.

Gather Round Family Chef Service provides a totally customized and effortless dinner experience to help busy families eat great even when life gets crazy. Chef Ariel Voorhees cooks in your kitchen on a weekly or monthly basis, so her meals are cooked just for you and the menus are unique to your family’s preferences. 

Gather Round takes the planning, shopping, cooking, and cleanup off your perpetual to-do list so that parents can focus on what’s important: raising a relaxed and healthy family at the dinner table and beyond. Looking for more confidence and joy in the kitchen? Gather Round offers cooking lessons to help you master exactly what you want to learn. And Chef Ariel can help you host a Cooking Lesson Dinner Party in which your group learns together and celebrates its shared efforts with a feast!

Healthy Fresh Meals is a local meal prep and delivery service that was founded in 2016.  Healthy Fresh Meals, aims to provide the DMV with healthy meals that are conveniently delivered to your front door! Eating clean is not always easy, so they’ve made it simple enough to fit every individual’s needs. Whether you are looking to lose weight, live a clean and healthy lifestyle, or build lean muscle mass through a natural diet, Healthy Fresh Meal service has a line of meals to fit your lifestyle including kids meals, family style, vegan and vegetarian, paleo, low carb, and low sodium.  Their meals can be tracked by scanning them into ‘my fitness pal’.  All meals and snacks are prepared weekly from scratch using only fresh ingredients, and packed in heat sealed containers staying fresh all week!  Each meal is a single serving portion. Use the code beltwaybambinos10 and get 10% off your order.

Vegetable & Butcher was started because the founders were tired; tired of mediocre food that was marginally healthy; tired of yo-yo’ing between diets that were difficult to sustain; and most importantly, tired of the single-use plastics and plastic packaging that are destroying our planet and knew they could do better.

Healthy and flavorful are not mutually exclusive. Perfectly portioned, plant-based meals made with real ingredients; that is sustainable. Compostable and biodegradable packaging are better than plastic. Period. So they created a company that aligns with their core values: chef-designed, nutritious meals delivered in actually environmentally-friendly packaging.

Guided by the wisdom of generations prior, “eat your greens!,” the meals are primarily plant-based and loaded with vitamins, minerals and other important micronutrients. All of the meals are gluten- and dairy-free and the menu changes with the seasons to ensure that only the freshest, most nutrient-dense ingredients make it to your plate.

Founded in 2015 by two fitness professionals and a classically trained chef, MightyMeals believes high-quality, healthy food should be accessible to everyone. The Burke, Virginia company provides a convenient, healthy meal delivery service made with locally sourced ingredients by chefs, offering a wide array of meals on a menu that changes weekly. The mission is to empower people to live healthier lives by being the leading provider of healthy, high-quality, locally sourced, chef-prepared meals that are delivered to you. 

Take the guesswork out of your nutrition so you can spend your time doing the things you enjoy. Visit MightyMeals and use code Meal100 to receive $25 off your first 4 orders. MightyMeals is the official meal prep company of DC United, Old Glory DC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.