Factor Delivery Meals Review (2025): Tender Salmon, Room to Grow

Factor's selling constituent implicit different ready-to-heat repast kits has ever been twofold. One is that its meals are affable to keto and different versions of high-protein and carb-conscious diets. The different is that its microwaveable meals person ne'er been frozen, leaving unfastened the anticipation for existent texture successful one's meal—a airy crispness to the greenish beans, say. Or the grill char and brushed springiness of a medium-rare filet mignon.

But successful past years, those 2 selling points seemed to interfere with each other. Factor, noted my workfellow Louryn Strampe successful her 2024 appraisal (6/10, WIRED Review), fell prey acold excessively often to the porridgy and cauliflower-heavy “mush-on-mush” schoolhouse of carb-avoidant fare. The nutrient failed connected texture, she wrote, successful somewhat much colorful terms.

But ever since HelloFresh bought Factor, the paper has been dilatory evolving to heartier fare with much chew and snap. Starches present veer to murphy wedges, coconut lime rice, oregon al dente forbidden rice. The greenish beans, excessively often overdone adjacent astatine restaurants, had a astonishing and invited tautness. (One tin spot this improvement by looking astatine aged menus done the magic lens of Wayback Machine.)

Over time, Factor has evolved into the champion ready-to-heat repast transportation work I've truthful acold tasted.

Mitigating Factors

But this isn't to accidental Factor has solved the issues inherent to ready-made transportation meals. There's the cost, of course, much than astir could spend arsenic a afloat substitute for cooking: A afloat week of luncheon and meal for 1 would tally astir $170, with shipping.

And pre-cooked meals volition ne'er rather beryllium arsenic bully arsenic fresh-prepared meals: It volition ever beryllium a balancing enactment to debar the duplicate terrors of sogginess and rubberiness successful reheated food. And for each crisp greenish legume oregon air-fryer charred broccoli, there's a limp zoodle.