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NYC's 5 Best Home Delivery Meal Services For 2014

Thanks to Seamless, it's never been easier to order food delivered to your home. But man cannot live on a diet of pad thai and french fries alone. So when you want fresh, organic food, take a look at one of the purveyors below. Some specialize in detoxing, some send the ingredients and let you cook everything yourself, all offer a healthy alternative to take-out. By Jessica Allen.

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BlueApron
(credit: Blue Apron / Facebook)

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Blue Apron brings the ingredients and recipes right to your house. This once-a-week service gives members access to original gourmet recipes (developed by one of the co-founders, who's also a chef), along with pre-measured, seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. What's even better, the goods come with nicely sized recipe cards featuring step-by-step instructions (and pictures -- so you really have no excuse to screw it up). It removes the fuss from cooking, but leaves the fun. The food is delicious, too. You might make cod with pickled grapes and summer succotash, quinoa "fried rice" with tofu and choy sum, or turkey chili with avocado and cheddar.

UrbanDetoxClub
(credit: Urban Detox Club)

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Urban Detox Club is ideal for people who want to do a cleanse but don't want to give up solid food. Its programs, including the 12-Day Revolution and 30-Day Burn, are designed to help you get healthy, eliminate toxins, and lose weight ("healthy is the new black" is one of Urban Detox's mottos). The Detox to Your Door Meal Delivery brings—you guessed it—organic, detox-friendly meals to your home. Each program also includes recipes, shopping lists, plant-based supplements, and personalized coaching.

Sakara Life
(credit: Sakara Life)

Sakara Life "takes the thinking out of eating healthy." Founded in 2011, this company makes and delivers superfood-filled meals, including cleanses and entrees, in 100 percent compostable packaging. You won't find any calorie-counting, preservatives, added sugar, gluten, or additives. Instead, you'll get whole grains, raw vegetables, and organic everything. It all tastes good too, thanks to input from consultants like Bobby Flay, Ann Marie Gardner, and Daniel Holzman.

SweetRootsNYC
(credit: Sweet Roots NYC / Facebook)

Sign up with Sweet Roots NYC, and you'll get high-quality ingredients from local businesses and farms delivered straight to your door. But these won't be cookie-cutter ingredients for cookie-cutter meals. Sweet Roots NYC tailors its offerings to your specifications—everything is totally customized. You'll begin with a consultation, at which you'll discuss your dietary needs and restrictions. A few days before delivery you get to approve the proposed plan. Then all you have to do is cook, and eat.

Shrimp
(credit: Ramiroja)

The Portable Chef supplies you with farm-to-table meals at your home or office, sized for individuals, families, or very large parties. You can even opt for the Fridge Full of Food, or FFoF, several small-batch meals prepared with humanely treated livestock and locally and regionally sourced produce. The menu changes frequently, depending on what's in season, but among the options these days are tofu triangles in soy-almond butter sauce and wild-caught shrimp with grilled mango. You can also get meals based on the Paleo Diet.

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