Are you looking for an easy way to lose weight? Here are the best meal delivery kits for women over 40, including our favourite picks to suit your lifestyle.

We speak to a lot of women in their 40s and 50s who are looking to lose weight, but struggle because they can’t find the time to cook healthy meals every day. It becomes especially hard when cooking for the whole family!

This can lead to them grabbing fast food, ready meals, snacks, takeaways and other quick and easy solutions which are not always healthy. Plus, when stepping on the scales and seeing the number going up every week, it can become frustrating.

Luckily, it is possible to make delicious and healthy food in very little time – if you have the knowledge and you know exactly what you’re doing. Yet, when you’re really busy at work in a stressful, demanding role then this isn’t always realistic, it becomes much more difficult.

One solution which is becoming more and more common these days is to use meal delivery services. Companies will send you all the ingredients you need and make the process of cooking dinner a bit quicker and easier.

But, are they any good? And if so, what are the best ones for women over 40? In this blog, we’re going to reveal the best meal delivery kits for women over 40 so you can decide if they are right for you.

The benefits of meal delivery kits

When it comes to meal delivery kits, they make it much easier to have variety, keep the family happy. They save the mental energy and time shopping, and can help to build confidence with cooking.

Additionally, there’s no food waste, and you get the exact quantities of everything you need! For some, they also saves time as a partner and/or child will cook the meals.

So, there are plenty of benefits to using a meal delivery kit, especially if you’re short on time, but there are some drawbacks too…

The drawbacks of meal delivery kits

While meal delivery kits can be handy, they can also be more expensive than cooking from scratch. Usually, they are only able to provide dinners – so they aren’t a complete solution either, as you still have to go to the supermarket.

Plus, some kits are marketed as being healthy – but are not as healthy as they claim. There might be an assumption that fresh ingredients and home-cooked food means it must be healthy.

Despite these drawbacks, for certain people – especially those who are time poor – we do think some meal delivery kits can work well. But, not all meal delivery kits are created equal…

We’ve analysed the top three meal kits in the UK from HelloFresh, Gousto and Mindful Chef, to give you the lowdown on which is best for women over 40 who want to lose weight, get back into their favourite clothes and maintain it long term!

HelloFresh

HelloFresh calls itself the UK’s Leading Recipe Box. They claim to have fresh, quality ingredients, even more recipe choice and variety, and a flexible subscription. However, nutritionally, it’s the least transparent company.

Their packaging includes vague calories e.g. under 650kcal. Plus, many meals contain gluten/processed carbs, which might not be suitable for all.

When diving into HelloFresh, we couldn’t see anything specific about nutrition. They don’t include any calories, protein, carbs etc per meal (at least on their website), so you can’t plan in advance.

As a note, HelloFresh starts from £3.25 per person.

Gousto

Gousto claims to ‘deliver fresh boxes of ingredients and delicious recipes 7 days a week’. They have links with Joe Wicks, and limited “calorie controlled” options.

They claim to have veg-packed meals with less than 600 calories, which are actually more like 400 calories. Plus, the healthy options have around 600-700 calories – a little on the high side for weight loss.

For reference, they start from £3.14 per person.

Mindful Chef

Mindful Chef claims to bring you delicious recipes to help you lead a healthier life. Their meals are gluten and dairy free, and they’re very transparent about nutritional information, making it easier for you to plan.

You can immediately see nutritional values on their website, and they’re very protein and veg focused with their meals. They don’t use refined carbs, and have a rough guide of 450-650kcal per serving.

Mindful Chef’s meals start from £4.50 per person, slightly more than the other options.

Our recommendation for a meal delivery service

In our opinion, there’s a clear winner when it comes to the best meal delivery kits for women over forty: Mindful Chef.

Mindful Chef has the best nutritional principles, and every recipe avoids the key foods which can cause hormonal disruption for women over 40. There are no refined carbs either, which keeps you fuller for longer. Plus, it’s easy to pick lower calorie options, and easy to pick higher protein options.

Of course, a meal kit on its own isn’t a fool-proof solution for women over 40 who want to lose weight. It can be a helpful part of it but, if you still eat poorly for the rest of the day, or you’re living a completely sedentary lifestyle sitting at a desk all week – you won’t hit your goals.

A meal delivery kit is like buying a dishwasher before buying a house to put it in – in theory, it saves you time, but if you don’t have a house to put it in, then you can’t plug it in and it won’t work.

So, if you’re a woman over 40 you also need to focus on the bigger picture. You need something that works with your changing body and hormones, rather than against it (like most diet and exercise approaches do). For more information on how to lose 1-2 dress sizes in just 12 weeks, you can find out more here!