When you have a busy schedule, it’s hard to find time to eat well. Meal kit delivery can help you reclaim your time, but sometimes, you want to fully cut out the prep. That’s where prepared meal services, such as Factor and Trifecta, come in.
Prepared meal services offer healthy, nutritious meals that arrive ready to heat and eat. There’s little to no prep, so you can enjoy lunch or dinner in mere minutes! Factor and Trifecta are both well-known meal kit companies in the prepared meal space – but which is best for you?
Our team at the Meal Kit Review recently tested both Factor and Trifecta in 2024 to bring you this comparison. We’ll review all the basics and our opinions on the services to help you decide which prepared meal delivery service is right for your needs.
Short on Time? Why We Think Factor Is Better
- Factor’s menu offers a greater variety of exciting meals to try
- Delicious, elevated flavors for restaurant-quality dishes
- Factor is supported by HelloFresh, the largest brand in the US
- The Factor is more transparent and user-friendly
What Is Factor?
Factor is a prepared meal delivery service offering fresh, ready-to-heat microwavable meals to support healthier eating habits on a busy schedule. Their goal is to provide well-balanced nutrition in a way that’s easy and sustainable. Each meal is chef-prepared and dietitian-approved to ensure balanced macros and well-rounded nutrition.
Factor’s weekly menu has 35+ options of tasty recipes that arrive ready to heat and eat. The service also includes add-on options for healthy breakfasts, snacks, and protein shakes to keep you eating well all day long.
What Is Trifecta?
Trifecta is a fully prepared meal delivery service focused on transforming lives through ready-made meals with balanced macros. Their meals feature organic produce and responsibly sourced proteins while meeting high standards for clean eating.
Each week, you choose from a new menu of chef-crafted meals on your specific meal plan, including entrees for lunch, dinner, and breakfasts. Trifecta is geared towards athletes and you will get a personalized plan with macros and activity recommendations for your goals.
Pros & Cons
Factor Pros
- Fresh meals arrive ready to heat and eat
- Restaurant quality taste with balanced nutrition
- Offers add-ons for healthy breakfast options, snacks, and more
- Diet support for weight loss, Keto, vegetarian, high-protein, and flexitarian diets
Factor Cons
- Ready-made meals offer less customization
- Some meals are higher in sodium and fat
Trifecta Pros
- Uses high-quality ingredients with high standards
- Designed for balanced macros to support athletes and active lifestyles
- Options for breakfasts and meal prep proteins as well as entrees
- App for personalized nutrition plan and coaching
Trifecta Cons
- Meals arrive frozen, not fresh
- Fewer weekly options to choose from than other meal kits
Variety of Meal Plans
Factor Meal Plans
With Factor, you pick which dietary plan you want to follow and how many microwavable meals to receive each week. The meal plan options are:
- Chef’s Choice
- Keto
- Calorie Smart
- Flexitarian
- Protein Plus
- Vegan & Veggie
With any plan, you can still shop the full menu every week to choose your 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 18 meals. You can also add healthy breakfast items, juice, and snacks for your weekly delivery.
Trifecta Meal Plans
Trifecta also offers plans tailored to a specific diet, with the option to choose how many single-portion entrees you want to receive and whether or not to add on breakfast. The specific plans are:
- Clean
- Paleo & Whole30 Friendly
- Keto
- Plant Based
- GLP-1
Once you pick a plan, you will then decide to receive 5, 7, 10, or 14 entrees each week. You can also choose whether you want to add breakfast for the 7-day week or not. Finally, you will specify if you want to pick your weekly meals or opt for the Chef’s Choice to get automatic meals chosen for you every week.
Meal Variety
Factor’s menu offers 35 meal choices per week, with many classic comfort foods turned into healthy meals. They offer plenty of choices for various dietary needs such as Protein Plus, Keto, Carb Conscious, Fiber Support, and Calorie Smart. In our experience, there aren’t as many options for Vegetarian and Plant-Based diets, but there will be some options every week.
Trifecta’s weekly menu is clearly labeled with the specific diet plans, with around 10 different dishes for each plan per week. They have some classic flavors mixed in with more global cuisines and styles vary a bit depending on your selected diet plan. There are vegetarian options for Trifecta, but only on the plant-based menu.
With both companies, you will receive ready-made meals that tend to include a main protein and a side. Due to the meals being fully prepared, you aren’t able to customize what’s in specific meals when choosing your weekly menu.
Our Experience – Is It Tasty?
Over the years, our team has enjoyed plenty of experience with both Factor and Trifecta. We recently re-tested both services in 2024 by using them for two weeks to update and verify our past reviews and comparisons.
Overall, we were happy with the delivery experience for both meal kit companies. The clearly branded boxes arrived on time and well chilled. They were clearly organized and it was very easy to unpack the box and move the meals into the fridge or freezer.
Best Meal We Enjoyed from Factor
In our recent Factor delivery, we very much enjoyed the Southwestern-style turkey & Mac with Roasted Zucchini, Corn & Poblano Peppers. The turkey mac was beautifully seasoned with just the right amount of cheese to add creaminess without making it heavy. The veggie mix on the side had a nice bit of spice from the peppers, making it exciting and tasty. The portions were good, leaving us feeling satisfied but not overly full.
Best Meal We Enjoyed from Trifecta
From Trifecta, we enjoyed the Chicken Mac N Cheese with green beans dish. The pasta was tossed in a satisfyingly creamy cheese sauce that was tasty without being too heavy, and the chicken was well-cooked and high quality. The green beans on the side were a perfect complement, a nice fresh taste alongside the indulgent mac and cheese. The flavors were simple but good, with portions on the smaller side.
Other Top Meals To Try
Factor Meals To Try
- Red Chile Chicken Thighs & Tamale Cake with Spiced Sweet Potatoes & Pickled Jalapeno Crema
- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Drizzle & Chicken Sausage
- Creamy Pesto Cavatappi & Sausage Ragu
- Garlic Shredded Chicken & Creole-Style Rice with Andouille Chicken Sausage, Red Beans & Cajun-Spiced Cauliflower
- Carrot Cake Overnight Oats with Toasted Coconut, Walnuts, Raisins, and Cream Cheese Drizzle
- Ancho-Line Salmon with Mexican-Spiced Quinoa, Black Bean Corn Salad, & Chimichurri Crema
- Bacon & Smoked Cheddar Egg Scramble with Bell Peppers, Everything-Seasoned Broccoli, & Onion Sour Cream
- Aloo Palak & Shredded Chicken with Indian-Spiced Potatoes, Spinach, Tomato Chutney & Curry-Spiced Carrots
Trifecta Meals To Try
- Tofu & Rice Chipotle Bowl with fiesta black bean and corn
- Eggs & Turkey Smokey Benedict with roasted country potatoes
- Szechuan Salmon with Vegetables with mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Vegetarian Basil Pesto Tofu Scramble with roasted sweet potato
- Turkey Patty with Teriyaki Sauce with brown rice and broccoli
- Sweet Garlic Pork with Noodles
- Plant-Based California Burrito with a guacamole side
- Red Enchilada Chicken Tamales with rice and vegetables
Style and Complexity of Dishes
With Factor, meals typically come with a main protein and side of veggies. Their menu includes many classic American-style meals with a meat and side, but also some globally-inspired cuisines such as curries and Mexican-style dishes. In our experience, the flavors are often vibrant, including a sauce or seasoning that truly brings the dish to a restaurant level of quality.
Moreover, Factor offers an amazing selection of add-on options like breakfast, snacks and bars, juices, smoothie blends, and more.
Trifecta meals also tend to feature a main protein with a veggie side to create balanced macros. They have many dishes with rice or other grains as a base alongside proteins and veggies, with varying flavors from BBQ to Buffalo to Asian-inspired. In our experience, there is a bit less variety with Trefecta’s dishes, which tend to rotate through different combos of the same proteins and sides.
Quality of Ingredients Used In The Meals
Both Factor and Trifecta have high standards for the ingredients they use in their prepared meals, bringing you healthy, balanced meals that are microwave-ready.
Factor uses a 5-step analysis to ensure ingredients are healthy, safe, and responsibly sourced while meeting customer expectations for tasty and nutritious meals. They focus on whole-food ingredients and variety. The quality of ingredients in the fresh and delicious meals we enjoyed was quite clear.
Trifecta uses organic produce and responsibly sourced proteins to craft macro-balanced meals. They also strive to avoid preservatives and artificial flavorings, and most meals are gluten-free. The high quality of these ingredients was well noticed in our box.
The Delivery Box
Factor and Trifecta both ship their meals in clearly branded, insulated cardboard boxes. You’ll easily know when your food has arrived! With box companies, unpacking your box is easy thanks to the individually packaged, heat-and-eat meals that can easily be moved right from the box to your fridge or freezer.
Factor boxes are recyclable and use mostly recyclable materials for the insulation. Their gel packs are non-toxic and can be reused or donated.
Trifecta uses recyclable ClimaCell technology in their boxes and strives to use green packaging whenever possible, though their website does not specify which elements are recyclable beyond the insulation.
Subscribing & Managing Your Account
You can sign up for Factor or Trifecta easily through their website, which is also where you’ll manage your account info. We found the sign-up process for Factor a bit more clear, whereas you’ll need to take a bit more time to choose a plan with Trifecta.
Once you’ve signed up with either service, you can manage your account and choose weekly meals all online or with their mobile app. With Factor, you can easily pause or skip a week right from your account page and even cancel online if you choose. Trifecta requires communicating with the customer success team to skip a week or cancel, making the process a bit less straightforward.
What Do Customers Say About Factor and Trifecta?
What Customers Think of Factor
Factor customers love the flavor and convenience of pre-portioned, fully prepared meals.
Reddit user @vanker says “I thoroughly enjoyed factor” adding that “ Everything we got was super tasty.”
Another Redditor who uses Factor, @Cam95, says “The meals are helping with portion control and weight loss, and they’re very delicious.”
What Customers Think of Trifecta
Trifecta customers appreciate that the company offers right-sized portions for losing weight and balanced macros, but note that the food doesn’t always look appetizing when it arrives.
On a post asking about services that have chicken that actually tastes good, Reddit user @Ok-Scarcity-5213 says “I love trifecta. No issues.”
On Reddit @desertgirl624 says “The bulk protein was good quality, but the veggies in meals or bulk were watery and slimy most of the time.”
Customer Support
If you have questions before signing up for Factor or Trifecta, both websites have helpful FAQ pages with answers to many common customer questions.
If you have additional questions about Factor, you can use the Virtual Assistant chat or call customer service during business hours. An exciting additional piece of Factor’s customer support is their free dietitian chat, where you can schedule a 1:1 coaching session to get nutrition advice. This is available to current customers or anyone thinking about trying Factor.
To contact customer support at Trifecta, you can use their live chat function during business hours, call, or email. Their app also includes macro and weight tracking tools, ideal for customers focused on losing weight.
Delivery Areas
Factor delivers to the 48 contiguous United States, whereas Trifecta does deliver to all 50 states. It is important to note that Trifecta does charge an additional shipping cost for deliveries to Alaska and Hawaii.
Bottom Line: Our winner Is Factor!
Trifecta and Factor both offer nutritionally balanced options that are easy to fit into busy schedules, with prepared meals you can feel good about eating. That said, we liked the flavors and variety offered by Factor just a bit more!
With Factor, you’re getting fresh food with a lot of different flavors to choose from every week – not to mention great breakfasts and other add-ons like healthy juices. We also like that it’s easier to sign up, skip weeks, and cancel their plan compared with Trifecta.
No matter which prepared meal plan you choose, we know you will love the ease and convenience of meals that arrive ready to heat and eat!
