I tried Factor meal delivery for 30 days. Here's my honest dietitian review.

As a registered dietitian with 12 years of experience, I wanted to test Factor meals so you don't have to. Below I share the good, the not-so-good, and who can actually benefit from this type of service.

Meal delivery programs are a hot topic at the moment. After a long day of work and obligations, who doesn’t want to save time coming home to a cooked meal and be sitting down to eat in just a matter of minutes? The idea of pre-made meals delivered to you door is pretty appealing! But are they actually worth it and how do they stack up from a nutrition standpoint?

I'm a big believer in firsthand experience. My clients regularly ask me about meal delivery services and I like to give them my honest feedback. So I signed up for Factor and committed to a full month. Here's what I found.

By the way, this is not a sponsored post. Factor has no idea who I am. I’m just a dietitian who paid for her own meals and has opinions she likes to share!

What is Factor Meal Delivery (and how does it work)?

Factor is a prepared meal delivery service, meaning the food arrives to your door fully cooked and just needs to be reheated. Unlike meal kit services where you still do the cooking, Factor delivers ready-to-eat dinners. You can choose the number of meals you want for the week, choose from a rotating menu of options, and the meals arrive in an insulated box with ice packs.

They do offer several meal plan categories including keto, calorie smart, protein plus, and vegan/veggie options, making it pretty easy if you are following a specific diet.

First impressions:

My first delivery arrived in a large, insulated cardboard box packed with cooler packs to stay cool. I was grateful for this, as I worried the Florida heat would warm my meals by the time I could bring them inside. I received 6 dinner meals, each in a microwaveable container with a plastic seal on the top. You could see a protein portion, a small starch and a veggie in each container. I loaded them up in the fridge, which took less than 60 seconds, excited to try them the following day!

Taste and texture:

The first meal was a simple dinner of chicken, green beans and a wild rice with mushrooms. Personally, I am not a fan of microwaving single-serve materials so I moved the food to a baking tray and heated it up in the oven at 375°F for about 8 minutes. The food came out sizzling and smelled good. The best part was that it took minimal effort on my part.

I noticed many trays included a small flavored butter ball on top of the vegetables. As it melted during cooking, it added flavor to the vegetables. The chicken was surprisingly tender, (not the rubbery, reheated texture I was half-expecting) and the seasoning was pretty tasty. My only complaint was that the vegetable portion felt small. I'm someone who likes volume on my plate, so I would probably add a side salad or extra steamed vegetables to round out the meal.

Over 30 days I tried a variety of proteins (salmon, chicken, shrimp and vegetarian options) and found the quality and flavor were consistent. A few meals were great, some were okay, none were necessarily bad. For a pre-made, mass-produced product, it was nice to know I wouldn’t be disappointed!

Nutrition analysis:

Each meal comes with a full nutrition label which, if you’re like me, and you like to know what ingredients are in your food, or if you track your macros, it is a must. I always appreciate transparency. Here’s my dietitian perspective regarding the nutrition breakdown of the meals.

Protein: The protein content was decent across the meals I tried, especially if you chose the protein plus or keto plan options. I always teach my clients that getting enough protein at each meal matters for staying full, maintaining muscle, and keeping blood sugar steady, and Factor does well here.

Carbohydrates: I chose a lower-carb meal plan and it actually was low-carb, not just labeled that way. If you're managing prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, or just watching your carb intake, that's a positive.

Sodium was my biggest issue: Here's where it went South. The sodium in these meals run high, anywhere from 700 mg on the low end to over 1,000 mg in some meals. For context, most adults should stay under 2,300 mg per day, and closer to 1,500 mg if you have high blood pressure or heart disease. One Factor meal can use up nearly half of that! Remember that butter ball I mentioned? I'm pretty sure that's where most of the sodium is hiding. If salt is something you're keeping tabs on, this is worth paying attention to, or at the very least, toss the butter ball out and add your own spice!

Ingredient lists: The other negative is that the ingredient lists are long. I noticed a lot of added flavorings, and preservatives, which are things I wouldn't be using in my own kitchen. If you're someone who prefers to keep to simple ingredients, it's something to watch out for.

Who is Factor best for?

In my opinion, Factor could be a good fit for:

• Busy professionals who don't have time to cook but want better nutrition than takeout

• People working on portion control: the single-serve portions makes overeating much harder

• Those following a lower-carb diet, and bariatric patients: who want to stick to their diet plan without having to meal prep

• Anyone new to healthy eating: seeing what a balanced plate looks like in practice is such a great way to learn better habits. Plus the variety can help you find new meals you may have never tried before!

Factor not as great of an option for people with hypertension, heart disease, or kidney conditions where sodium intake needs to be limited or for those who prefer minimally processed foods.

My final verdict - 3 out of 5 stars

Factor is great for convenience, taste, and portion control and those are pretty valuable things to most people. The meals did save me hours each week, the food was flavorful, and I never once had to think about what I was eating for dinner. For a busy lifestyle, that can mean a lot!

But the high sodium content and long ingredient lists are real nutritional drawbacks. As a dietitian I probably wouldn’t jump to recommend Factor as a first option. For my clients with blood sugar concerns, heart conditions, or anyone prioritizing whole food nutrition, there are other meal delivery options out there that are probably better suited to their needs.

Have you tried Factor or any other meal delivery programs? Leave a comment below and share your experience!

If you are more of a home cook, check out the meals I'm making in my own kitchen here!

Want personalized guidance on which meal delivery program actually fits your health goals?

I work one-on-one with clients to find nutrition solutions that fit real life, including what meal programs I recommend for blood sugar management, weight loss, and more.

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