Nutrisystem vs. Diet-to-Go vs. Jenny Craig: Which Meal-Delivery Diet Tastes Best?

A Diet-to-Go Meal. Photo via Facebook

For those of us who are too busy to write an extensive grocery list and plan a strategic attack on our local food store, meal-delivery diet programs can be a life saver. Healthy? Check. Convenient? Check. Easy-to-follow? Check. And, while all of these aspects of delivery diet programs are awesome in both theory and practice, the most important factor to consider is, of course, taste. Fear not, Delivery Diet Programmers—NextAdvisor.com, an independent consumer information and research web site, has announced the results of its 2013 diet meal-delivery taste test.

NextAdvisor anonymously ordered a week’s worth of meal plans from leading diet programs—including Diet-to-Go, Jenny Craig, and Nutrisystem—and ranked them from most delicious to least yummy. Ten individuals of varying ages, male and female, sampled each meal and (without knowing exactly what they were eating) rated the taste on a scale of 1 to 10. “We had no input from the diet companies and the tasters had no way of knowing which brand they were trying. This was a completely independent taste test,” NextAdvisor lifestyle editor Polina Polishchuk said in a press release.

So who came out on top? Diet-to-Go came in first, with feedback noting its “excellent consistency and good flavor.” In second place came Jenny Craig, which scored highest for its breakfasts. Third was Bistro MD, the previous taste-test winner in 2012, and fourth went to Nutrisystem, whose meals were described as unappetizing in look and “mediocre” in taste. In fifth place was eDiets Fresh Prepared, which scored low taste points across the board for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Other factors that were incorporated into the overall rankings were price, fitness tools and support strength and availability.