If you’re looking for a healthy meal delivery service, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will be comparing two of the most popular meal delivery services available in Australia: My Muscle Chef and Youfoodz. Both offer ready-made meals that are designed to help people lose weight and get fit.
Key Takeaways:
- Both My Muscle Chef and YouFoodz provide an easy and effective way to maintain a calorie-controlled approach to nutrition
- For variety, both brands offer a good range to choose from
- Freezing ready-made meals will allow you to plan weeks in advance if you’re a busy individual
I’m a big fan of ready-made healthy meals when you don’t have the time to prepare meals yourself. They’re perfect for the busy person or someone who simply wants to automate this element of their life.
My Muscle Chef offers three different ways to purchase their meals: Online, In-store, and in wholesale providers like your Gym. Each plan has its own set of features and benefits, which we will discuss later on in this article. For those who don’t want to sign up for a subscription plan, My Muscle Chef also has retail stockists and an online store where they sell their products separately.
Youfoodz is another great option when it comes to choosing a meal delivery service in Australia. It offers around 100 different meals at any given time, which makes it easy for customers to find something they like without having to spend too much time searching through different menus or recipes online.
Let’s take a closer look at both My Muscle Chef vs Youfoodz so that you can decide which one is better suited for your needs!
Why use ready-made meals?
As I mentioned before, pre-made meals are a great time saver for busy people. Whether you’re a professional or parent, they can save you time in your day but still help you achieve your health and fitness goals.
Like anything, food delivery services should be used appropriately. If you’re someone with a weight loss goal be sure to address any other factors that may be impacting your goals. Automation is helpful but shouldn’t come at the cost of developing long-term, sustainable habits.
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Is food delivery better than doing it yourself?
We all have a limited amount of decision-making juice on any given day. If you find yourself making poor nutrition decisions after a busy day at work you might find that outsourcing your decisions to a healthy meal delivery service like Youfoodz or My Muscle Chef may just help you make better choices when it comes to food and portion control.
Whether it’s weight loss, weight gain or purely helping out with the day-to-day having healthy meals delivered to your door has a lot of benefits. As you will see through the article though, there are pros and cons with a home delivery meal service.
We find a lot of people love to use these type of services to supplement their own cooking. Keep a couple of meals in the freezer just in case life gets crazy!
Ready-Made Meals vs. Meal Kits
Unlike Marley Spoon and Hello Fresh, pre-made or ready-made meal services like Youfoodz and My Muscle Chef take nutrition and meal plans to another level, simply heat and eat!
Like with cooking for yourself though, nothing beats a home-cooked meal if you have the time so if portion control is more your focus and not so much automating the task of cooking, meal kits offer that fresh food option.
Youfoodz Review
For an unbiased opinion, I have personally used both products quite a lot. Youfoodz first started in Australia in 2012 and was one of the first ready-made meal companies that targeted portion-based, macro-balanced meals for the gym and on the go.
You will find a lot of stockists and reviews for Youfoodz online which makes Youfoodz super easy to get into your home, office or gym. They seem to target more of the vegan, vegetarian and portion-conscious customer base with their UX on their website.
Packaging
On a packaging level, Youfoodz beats My Muscle Chef on a visual standpoint. Youfoodz meals are not vacuum sealed which makes it easier to see what’s inside and because we eat with our eyes, it makes it a more appealing decision.
Can you freeze Youfoodz meals?
Absolutely, the simple packaging makes it easy freeze and store your meals.
Portion Size, Calories & Macros
The portion size, calories and macros are clearly displayed on both the packaging and the website. This makes it really easy to see what you’re eating, for those that are calorie conscious it allows you to factor this into your daily intake and goals.
If your aim is to lose weight and be in a caloric deficit, Youfoodz is great for this. If weight gain is your option, you would have to read the caloric details on packs to make sure the meals are large enough or supplement with other food.
Where Youfoodz loses points in this section is the UX and how hard they make it to see calories and macros at a glance to make quick decisions when ordering.
Is Youfoodz healthy?
Yes! With a balanced approach to macros and calories, Youfoodz provides a great option for those that are health-conscious and have a focus on portion control.
Cost
For in-person stockists, meals are $10.95 for the standard Youfoodz meals and $11.95 for the Youfoodz Fuel’d range which has more protein per serving. The website states for bulk orders you can get Youfoodz meals for as little as $4.99.
The website is also geared around a subscription model where you can choose a set amount of meals to be delivered every week. You can order between 5 and 18 meals per week on a standard plan.
They offer a heavy discount for new customers as you can see here:
There are also plenty of Youfoodz promo codes and discounts available online. Their model is definitely geared towards getting you to commit to a larger or longer-term subscription.
Taste
I honestly haven’t had a bad meal from Youfoodz, but I eat almost everything and variety isn’t on the top of my list when it comes to my food choices. Using a microwave to reheat your meals does take a little bit of the taste out of the meal but it’s unnoticeable for the most part.
With these types of services, if you’re someone who loves variety in their weekly meal plan, be sure to order some different options to keep it interesting. They also mention on their website that they have +23 recipes and new menus every week.
Youfoodz Menu
The Youfoodz menu is seasonal and there’s a weekly range available on their website. There’s a great range to choose from every week and the photos really make the meals look great.
Youfoodz Stockists
If you’re on the run and looking for Youfoodz stockists, you’re in luck! Currently, you can find Youfoodz in:
- Coles
- OTR
- Foodworks
- BP
- Ampol
- Foodary
- Night owl
I’m sure there’s also a list of service stations and convenience stores that stock Youfoodz in your location.
Delivery, Customer Service & Returns
The delivery for home-delivered meals is great. Fast turnaround and they’re often dispatched quickly after your order. If you’re in a major city you can expect your order within days. The customer service line is relatively easy to find on the website and it does a good job of filtering your enquiry. They’re responsive enough for the ready-made meal service they provide.
In relation to returns, they offer credits on your account if there are issues with your Youfoodz order. That makes a lot of sense because you wouldn’t be able to send the stock back anyway. Cancelling your subscription takes a few clicks inside your account which makes it very easy to manage your account.
Overall experience
For what it’s worth, Youfoodz is a great option for a time-poor person or someone wanting to take the thought out of meal prep and meal planning. Although If you have other goals outside of weight loss, it may not be the best choice for your ready-made meals.
My Muscle Chef Review
My Muscle Chef began in 2013 and you can clearly see they are appealing to more of the gym and fitness market with their product positioning and UX on their website. My muscle chef also has more of a set menu and is less seasonal compared to Youfoodz which is great for the person who just wants the same order week after week.
For me, this is a bonus because I can pick my favourites and plan the rest of my meals predictably.
Packaging
This is where My Muscle Chef loses points against Youfoodz. The vacuum seal makes them look a little less appealing. On the plus side, they stack and pack in the fridge really well than Youfoodz and save a bit of space.
Can you freeze My Muscle Chef?
Absolutely. Being vacuum sealed they freeze well and reheat better than Youfoodz as there is less moisture caught in the packaging.
Portion Size, Calories & Macros
My Muscle Chef wins the round. Combining their UX that helps people navigate to the right meal choices based on their goals the website also clearly places calories and macros front and centre.
Their quizzes and meal-planning tools are simple and straightforward and seem to produce some relatively good results. My Muscle Chef calories per meal vary from 286 to 704 which gives lots of options depending on your goals.
If your goal is weight gain, the predictability of the menu plus the easy UX saves some mental fatigue when trying to choose what is best for you. It works just as well for weight loss goals also.
Is My Muscle Chef Healthy?
Yep! The balanced portions and goal-friendly approach make My Muscle Chef a healthy and easy option for the time-poor person that wants to make consistently healthy choices.
Cost
The standard price in their retail stockists is $11.95 which is a dollar more expensive than Youfoodz. My Muscle Chef online meals vary between $10.40 and $14.95 from a quick glance but very much depend on your choices.
They have less of a focus on first-order discounts and promo codes as Youfoodz and appear to be a little more expensive online and in-store.
Here you can get $20 off your first order.Taste
Much the same as Youfoodz, My Muscle Chef meals taste great but due to the way the meals are reheated, they can sometimes blur into the same tasting food if you eat the same meals regularly enough.
My tip would be to vary the meal selections enough and take a break when you feel like meals are getting a little tiresome.
My Muscle Chef Menu
The My Muscle Chef menu is comprehensive and features a lot of great options. Unlike Youfoodz, they have less of a focus on vegetarian and vegan options but they have some great “meal bundles” based on themes like low-calorie, high-calorie and vegan:
My Muscle Chef Stockists
My Muscle Chef features in some of the same places as Youfoodz but that is stockist dependent. You can also find them in:
- Woolworths
- IGA
- BP
- Ampol
- 7-Eleven
They also seem to have a larger market share in gyms, nutrition and supplement stores.
Delivery, Customer Service & Returns
My Muscle Chef has a super efficient delivery system. Orders turn up without fuss week after week. They have an easy-to-use delivery tool on their website to find out if they deliver to your area.
Their customer service team is responsive and the chatbot on their website is useful for filtering your enquiry, very much the same as Youfoodz. They also make it super easy to get a credit if there is an issue with your order and cancellation is as simple as logging into your account and clicking a few buttons.
Overall experience
Overall, My Muscle Chef is a great pre-made meal delivery service. The predictability and great user experience make the process easy, having said that it’s a little more expensive than Youfoodz per meal if that’s a consideration you need to account for.
Verdict
For me, it’s My Muscle Chef by a nose. But, depending on your own goals that might be a different story so let’s break it down.
Youfoodz wins on cost and the front-end savings they give you. So if cost, seasonality or vegan/vegetarian options are your most important factors, stick with Youfoodz.
If simplicity, predictability and you have goals other than weight loss, My Muscle Chef wins every day of the week.
Personally, I prefer this service as I can set and forget and change when I feel the need, it takes very little time to have my meal planning and meal prep sorted so I can focus on the activities I need in my life.