Key takeaways
- One named editor: Mads Bukholt writes and approves all content.
- We never invent a number. If it cannot be documented, we leave it out.
- Every link we can earn from is marked in the code with rel="sponsored".
- Commission does not affect the ratings, and no provider can buy a recommendation.
Ten principles we do not depart from
01We never invent a number
If a price is not on the provider's own site, we say so. We do not fill the gap with an estimate.
02Every number has a named source
Prices and terms come from the providers' own sites, the customer rating from Trustpilot. What else we use is set out on our methodology page.
03We work out the real price, not the promotional price
Price per portion plus delivery minus welcome discount. A box that is cheap for five weeks is not a cheap box, and we say so.
04We only compare two boxes when they are comparable
Number of portions, number of meals and household size have to match. Where they do not, the difference is stated on the row.
05We state what the order is based on
You can sort it yourself. What the default order is based on is set out in the section on sorting below.
06Commercial links are marked
Every link we can earn from carries rel="sponsored" in the code. We do not hide when a click may earn us a commission.
07We state what we cannot measure
Where an assessment has a limit, it is stated on the page, not in a footnote. We have not, for instance, cooked every dish from every provider, and we do not claim to have.
08One named editor stands behind it
All content is written and reviewed by Mads Bukholt, responsible editor, who can be contacted directly.
09We correct mistakes straight away
And we put the date of the review on the page, so you can see how old a number is.
10We are not advisers
We do not sell meal kits, we do not run subscriptions, and we are not owned by a provider.
How we use AI
All content on MealboxGuide is written, reviewed and approved by our responsible editor before it goes live. To make it as clear and well-founded as possible, we use AI in three ways:
Clarity
AI helps tighten language and structure so a guide is easier to read. All editorial choices and the final text are the editor's.
Research and data
AI helps organise material and find patterns in prices and reviews. Every number is checked against its source before it goes on a page.
Tooling
We use AI to build the scripts that gather prices and terms from providers' sites, and the checks that stop a number that does not match the underlying data.
AI produces no prices, ratings, reviews or quotes here. Prices and terms are taken from the providers' own sites, and the customer rating comes from Trustpilot.
How a page is made
- Foundation We establish what can actually be documented: the provider's own pricing page, a public set of accounts, or a dataset from a named third party. If the question cannot be answered with data, we do not write the page.
- Collection Prices, delivery, contract terms and welcome discounts are taken from the providers' own sites. We never complete a purchase, and we do not create subscriptions to get behind a paywall.
- Writing The text is written from the material, and every number is traced back to its source along the way.
- Fact-check against the data Every number in the finished text is held against its source. A number that does not match stops publication, even when the rest of the page is ready.
- Editorial review Mads Bukholt reads the page through and approves it. Only then does it go live.
- Updating If a provider changes price or terms, we update the pages that show them and review the page again. The date is on the page.
What the byline says
At the top of every article is a line with four pieces of information. This is what they mean:
| What it says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fact-checked | The numbers on the page were held against their source before the page went live. |
| By Mads Bukholt | The named editor who wrote and approved the page. |
| Updated | The day the content was last changed. The date only moves when the text or the numbers actually change, not because the site was rebuilt. |
| min read | A calculation, not an estimate: the word count of the body text divided by 200. |
How the comparison sorts
In the comparison on the front page you choose the order yourself. These sort options are based on numbers you can check:
- Cheapest
- Best rated
- Most meals
- Most popular is the default order, and it is our own editorial judgement of how relevant the providers are to an American audience. It is not a measurement, and it is not bought: no provider can pay for a place.
Pick one of the other sort options and the order is pure arithmetic. If you want to bypass our judgement altogether, sort by price or by rating.
Independence and earnings
MealboxGuide is free to use. We may receive a commission when you click through to a provider via a commercial link. It costs you nothing extra, and the price at the provider is the same as if you had gone there directly.
The commission does not affect the ratings. No provider can buy a recommendation, and no provider has any influence over what a guide says. Read more about how we earn money on About us.
What we are not
We are a comparison site, not an adviser. Our prices are indicative: your own price depends on how many of you there are, how many meals you choose, where you live, and which discounts apply in the week you order. Use the numbers to see the level, and check the price with the provider before you order.
Nor are we a regulator. We can only compare what the providers actually publish. And we are not a restaurant review: we assess price, range, flexibility, delivery and nutrition, not whether you think the food tastes good.
Have we got it wrong?
Then we would rather know. Write to mads@mealboxguide.com, ideally with the exact page and the number you think is wrong. We correct quickly, and we put the date of the review on the page.
See also How we test and About us.
