If you’re a busy bee like me, you know how challenging it can be to get to the grocery store, cook meals, and clean every week. Especially if you’re health-conscious and try to eat most of your meals at home, the time spent preparing meals can add up fast. So when I heard about a healthy pre-made meal service that’s delivered directly to your door, I was intrigued! But I had questions… If the meals are pre-made, there’s no way they actually taste good, right? And they can’t actually be that healthy… Also, they’re probably really expensive… I’ll get into all those concerns (and more) in this Factor review.

Honest Factor Review

After seeing Factor meal boxes all over my apartment complex (I swear, every other person that lives here eats Factor meals…) I decided I need to try these out for myself!

I tried a few weeks of Factor meals, and am here to share my honest, unfiltered opinions with you. Because why waste your time/money on a new subscription that’s not actually worth the hype?

I wouldn’t want that for you, so I’ll do the dirty work of trying it out first. 😉

In this Factor review, I’ll be covering:

• How much does Factor cost?
• Are Factor meals healthy?
• Do the meals actually taste good?
• Meal ratings
• Is it easy to cancel your subscription?
• Overall pros & cons
• Is Factor worth the price?

Let’s get into it!

How much does Factor cost?

As of writing this review (in October 2022), here’s the breakdown of Factor’s pricing:

• 4 meals/week = $15 per meal
• 6 meals/week = $12.83 per meal
• 8 meals/week = $12.38 per meal
• 12 meals/week = $11.50 per meal
• 18 meals/week = $11 per meal

I found this info on Factor’s website, which is where you’d find the latest updates if they make any changes.

Are Factor 75 meals healthy?

Everyone has a different definition of “healthy”. For me, eating healthy means eating a good balance of nutrition-packed foods, and foods you love (that are less nutritious). By nutrition-packed, I mean foods that are full of vitamins and minerals (fruits, veggies, etc.) and a good balance of carbs, protein, and healthy fats.

For me, Factor meals are definitely a healthy option. They have different options depending on your diet, like keto, paleo, or plant-based. I don’t follow any of these diets, so I didn’t necessarily need any of these options. But it’s nice to have if you are on one.

When you go to choose your meals, they have different categories:

• keto
• calorie smart
• vegan/vegetarian
• non-dairy
• pork-free
• protein plus

This makes it really easy to choose meals that fit your dietary needs/preferences.

They have dietitians work with their chefs to make sure the meals are healthy, without sacrificing flavor. Factor also offers a 20-minute nutrition consultation to all subscribers, for free. (2)

I didn’t personally do the consultation, so I’m not sure what it involves. But it’s a nice touch if you’re looking for some nutrition advice.

Do Factor 75 meals actually taste good?

Absolutely! I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious the Factor meals I tried were. When it comes to pre-made meals, these are the best I’ve had. Read on for my meal-by-meal breakdown…

Meal Ratings

Sour Cream & Chive Chicken

This was the first meal I tried. I was pleasantly surprised! The chicken was moist and perfectly cooked (with grill marks). Everything had a lot of flavor (chives, garlic, pepper, onion…)

It tasted natural and pretty fresh. (I say “pretty” meaning as fresh as possible for a pre-cooked microwave meal.)

You could tell they used real sour cream and butter, which I really appreciated. I expect pre-made “health” meals to use low-fat/low-sugar horrible-tasting alternatives. But I double-checked the ingredient list and it’s all normal things you’d buy at the grocery store (unsalted butter, olive oil, sour cream, whole milk, garlic, sea salt, etc.)

The broccoli was pretty good too. It tasted like steamed broccoli with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I ended up adding buffalo sauce to the chicken because I wanted a little spice, but honestly, it didn’t need it. The flavor was good on its own!

I was full/satisfied after, but craving dessert. (The norm for me after dinner haha.)

Overall, I’d rate this meal an 8/10.

Buffalo Chicken Breast

I had my husband, Jeremy, try this one. (I’ll be trying half and he’ll try the other half, so he’ll review the ones he tries!)

Here’s his review:

The chicken wasn’t rubbery. The buffalo flavor is spicy but not overwhelming. The cauliflower potatoes were creamy and surprisingly good. Didn’t expect to like them, but they’re tasty. The broccoli was yummy and not soggy.

Overall, an 8/10.

Shredded Chicken Taco Bowl

The shredded chicken taco bowl was pretty dang good. It tasted a lot like something you’d get at Chipotle. It included cilantro rice, black beans, shredded chicken, corn salsa, and a cilantro lime sour cream.

The flavors were delicious and I was definitely satisfied after eating it for lunch. It’s a good balance of protein, carbs, and fat, to keep you satisfied, full, and energized.

The chicken was well-cooked and not dry or rubbery at all.

Next time I have this one, I’ll definitely be adding on some guac. 😉

I’d rate this one a 9/10. My only small complaint is that the cilantro lime sour cream was a little runny. Other than that, it was delicious!

Yucatán-Style Spiced Shrimp

This one Jeremy tried.

The contrasting flavors (sweet and spicy) work really well. There’s a Cajun taste along with pineapple. The shrimp is cooked well. Would definitely order it again, it’s really yummy. Overall, an 8/10.

Pesto Salmon

This salmon was delicious! It came with creamed spinach and tomato butter haricot verts (French green beans). The haricot verts were oddly enough my favorite part. They were so tasty! I’m definitely finding a recipe for tomato butter and making my green beans with it next time.

The salmon was cooked really well for being a pre-made meal. The pesto and creamed spinach complemented it perfectly.

I ended up cooking this one in the oven (because our microwave broke…) It took 8 minutes to cook, which is obviously longer than the 2-minute microwave time, but still incredibly convenient. I thought it tasted better being cooked in the oven and will do that anytime I have the extra few minutes to spare.

My only complaint with this meal is that it was very fat-heavy (55g / 71% daily value) and low carb. Personally, I’d rather have a solid balance of healthy fats, carbohydrates, and protein in a meal. This keeps me energized, full, and satisfied.

However, I can’t complain too much because it’s a keto meal. So, I knew going into it that it’d be fat-heavy.

It’s still delicious, I just wish it wasn’t keto and had some rice on the side. I’d make my own, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a no-cook, no-clean, pre-made meal. 😉

Overall, it was very filling and satisfying.

I’d give this meal an 8/10. It was really good but left my stomach a bit upset afterward. (It’d probably be a 9/10 if I was keto, but I’m not, so… If I have this one again, I’ll be sure to get some bread or rice to have on the side.)

Honey Mustard Chicken

Jeremy tried this one as well.

The honey mustard chicken is a safe bet. The flavors are nothing too crazy or unexpected. Just your basic honey mustard dipping sauce, with green beans and diced potatoes. The chicken isn’t rubbery, which is nice. A solid 7/10.

Is Factor easy to cancel?

Factor’s website states that it’s easy to cancel and their plans are commitment-free. You can pause, cancel, or change plans at any time. (1)

To cancel, you just go to your plan settings, then scroll down to the bottom where it says “status”. Then click “deactivate my plan”. They’ll ask you a few questions about why you’re leaving, but nothing crazy. It’s overall an easy and pain-free process.

In my experience, skipping weeks was incredibly simple too. You just go to your weekly menu, then click “skip” for the week you don’t want. They’ll ask you a quick “why did you skip this week” fill-in-the-blank, and that’s that.

Factor Review: Overall pros & cons

pros

PRO 1:

The biggest appeal of Factor meals is the convenience. They come packaged and ready to eat, only taking 2 minutes to heat up in the microwave. If you’re a busy gal like me, you know how vital the convenience factor is.

I’ve used meal kits like Hello Fresh in the past for this reason, but Factor takes it to a whole new level. You’re still getting yummy, healthy meals delivered to your door, but it takes out the cooking/cleaning element as well.

I mean, who wouldn’t want a delicious healthy meal in 2 minutes? It’s absolutely a win-win.

PRO 2:

It’s customizable and you have SO MANY OPTIONS to choose from. Unlike other meal services that just choose the meals for you… With Factor, you have 30+ meal options every week, and get to individually pick them out.

We did the 6 meals/week subscription. So each week, Jeremy would go through and pick out his 3 meals, and I’d pick out my 3 meals. This alone is an awesome option to have, especially if you (or your partner or kid) are a picky eater.

PRO 3:

Another major pro of Factor is the quality ingredients they use. Unlike other premade meals that use ingredients you can’t even pronounce, Factor’s ingredient list looks overall like a typical grocery list.

cons

CON 1:

The first con would be the cost of Factor meals. I went into more detail above in the “how much does Factor cost” section. I’ll also share more of my experience below in “is Factor 75 worth the price?” so I won’t bore you with repeating it all here.

CON 2:

A lot of the meal options are keto. Which is great… if you’re on a keto diet. But since I am nowhere near being on a keto diet, I’d like to see more general healthy, balanced meal options (that aren’t keto.)

A breakdown of one week of Factor — out of the 34 meal options, there were:

• 15 keto
• 14 “calorie smart”
• 4 vegan/vegetarian (2 of those were vegan)
• 4 dairy-free

If you just want healthy, balanced meals with no real dietary restrictions, it’s a little hard to find with Factor.

Out of the 34 options, only 6 of the meals didn’t have one of the above labels. And one of those options was “gourmet plus” so it cost more.

Although, I will say… The “calorie-smart” meals I tried were pretty delicious. So I wouldn’t knock those down for being too restrictive or anything like that.

CON 3:

The portion sizes are a little small. Depending on what portion sizes you’re used to eating, you might end up feeling hungry an hour or two after eating these.

I thought the portion sizes of most of these meals were perfect for lunch. But both Jeremy & I were hungry a couple of hours after eating them for dinner.

Note: This isn’t true for all of the meals. It definitely depends on which ones you pick. I noticed I was getting hungry again soon after some of the chicken and veggie meals, though.

If you’re going to have Factor meals for dinner, I’d recommend pairing them with an extra side, a salad, etc. Just add something to bulk up your meal a bit, to keep you feeling full/satiated longer.

Is Factor 75 worth the price?

It depends. With my current budget and financial goals, Factor is a bit pricey. You can easily find discounts for the first box, but after that, it starts to add up.

We did the 6 meals/week option ($12.83 per meal). It ended up being $77 + $9.99 shipping = $86.99/week. So if you divide it up with the shipping included, it ends up being almost $15/meal.

If you’re busy and healthy pre-made meals are something you’re willing to splurge a bit on, the price isn’t that bad. It all depends on your current lifestyle, preferences, and budget.

I won’t continue to buy Factor meals weekly for much longer. The price is more than I’m willing to spend every week. I can make the time to grocery shop and cook for myself (even if it’s less convenient.)

But in future busy seasons of life, Factor will be something I’ll definitely come back to. The convenience really can’t be beat.

If you want to try Factor for yourself, you can get up to $150 off through this link. This post isn’t sponsored by Factor in any way, it’s just the typical “invite friends” link. So I’ll get a discount on a future box if you sign up through it. 🙂

Thank you for reading! 💛 Read more honest reviews from us here. Comment below with any questions.