Tag: factor meals

Last updated: April 2026 | Author: Harold Phillips

Quick Answer

Factor and Goodfood are solving different problems. Factor delivers fully prepared, heat-and-eat meals: no cooking, no cleanup beyond a fork. Goodfood delivers meal kits with prepped ingredients and a recipe card, so you cook the actual dish. If you want food on the table in four minutes, Factor wins. If you want to cook but skip the grocery run, Goodfood is the better fit. Both are legitimate options for busy Canadians, and this article breaks down exactly which one makes sense for you.

At a Glance

Factor Meals Overview

Factor is a US-founded meal delivery service that expanded into Canada, and the pitch is simple: fully chef-prepared, dietitian-approved meals delivered to your door. You don't do any cooking. You peel back the film, microwave for two minutes, and eat. That's it.

The menu rotates weekly with 30–35 options covering a range of dietary priorities: keto and paleo, calorie-smart portions, plant-based, and protein-focused builds. If you're tracking macros, this matters. Every meal comes with a clear nutritional label, and the protein numbers on the higher-end options are actually respectable. Starting at around $11 per meal, the price per serving is genuinely competitive compared to what you'd spend at a restaurant for similar quality.

My interest in Factor came from the fitness side of my life, not the convenience side. I train four times a week and I'm particular about hitting my protein numbers. Sunday meal prep has always been my solution, but there are weeks when the prep doesn't happen (a long weekend, a late Friday, Beans managing to spill something on the cutting board at exactly the wrong moment), and having Factor boxes in the fridge meant I wasn't defaulting to whatever was in the pantry. For the stretches when I'm dialling in my eating, it's become a useful part of the rotation.

The genuine negative: you have no recipe. You can't replicate these dishes at home, you don't learn anything about cooking, and you're entirely dependent on Factor's weekly menu. If this week's rotation doesn't work for you, you're stuck. That has happened to me at least twice (three keto weeks in a row when I wasn't looking for that), so pay attention to your menu settings before the weekly cutoff.

Goodfood Overview

Goodfood is a Montreal company, which matters for two reasons: it means they understand Canadian seasons and Canadian eating habits, and it means they've been serving Quebec longer than most other meal kit services have. My family actually found Goodfood through the cottage. We have a small place in the Eastern Townships, and my parents started ordering it when Goodfood was still primarily a Quebec-focused service, well before it expanded coast-to-coast. By the time I tried it in Toronto, they'd been subscribers for a couple of years.

The format here is meal kits: your ingredients arrive prepped and portioned, with a recipe card telling you what to do. You're still doing the cooking — chopping any remaining veg, following the steps, making a real meal. The appeal is that the annoying parts are already done. No grocery run for shallots you'll only use half of, no uncertainty about whether your chicken is properly portioned for the recipe. Everything arrives exactly as needed for that week's meals.

Goodfood's rotating menu offers around 20–25 options weekly, with classic family-style recipes alongside plant-based and higher-protein choices. Serving sizes are generous, and the recipe complexity ranges from genuinely easy (30 minutes, minimal technique) to meals that'll have you actually learning something. That's not a complaint. If I'm going to spend 40 minutes cooking, I'd rather end up with a dish I'm proud of than something I could have made on autopilot.

The referral offer for new subscribers is notably strong. Using a referral link, you get 70% off your first box, then 30% off your second, 20% off your third, and 10% off your fourth, up to $153 in total value across those first four orders. That's a meaningful discount to actually evaluate whether the service works for you before paying full price.

Detailed Comparison

Pricing

This one requires some unpacking because the sticker prices don't tell the full story.

Goodfood's delivery fee is worth calling out explicitly. At $10.99 per order, that adds real cost to what looks like a comparable price per serving. A two-recipe, two-serving Goodfood box (roughly four servings total at $12.49 each) runs about $61 in food costs plus $10.99 delivery, so you're looking at around $72 for four servings. That's $18/serving all-in. Factor's pricing is inclusive of delivery, so the comparison is cleaner there.

Over the long run, both services will cost more than cooking from scratch. That's just true. The value equation is whether the convenience, reduced food waste, and time saved justify the premium, and that's a question only you can answer for your own household.

Food Quality and Variety

This is where the comparison gets genuinely interesting, because the two services are doing different things with "quality."

Factor's quality is about execution: consistent meals, reliable macros, no variability based on your cooking skill. You know what you're getting. The downside is that heat-and-eat containers have a ceiling on what they can be. There are textures you can't achieve in a takeout container, and the cooking process is essentially flash heating something that was assembled earlier. For what it is, the quality is good. For what it's competing with at the high end of home cooking, it has limits.

Goodfood's quality depends on you, in both the good and bad ways. A well-executed Goodfood recipe on a Sunday evening, with decent ingredients and the time to follow the steps properly, can be genuinely excellent. I've made dishes I've wanted to repeat, which doesn't happen with heat-and-eat food. The ingredients are fresh and clearly sourced with some care. The flip side: if you're tired, distracted, or rushing, the results are going to reflect that.

Convenience

Factor wins here, and it's not close. If what you need is food on the table with zero effort and zero dishes (besides the fork), Factor is the answer. The time equation for busy weeknights, especially solo meals or lunches, is hard to argue with.

Goodfood requires effort. Not a lot of effort, and the effort is structured, but it's a non-trivial cooking commitment. A 30-minute recipe is a 30-minute recipe. If you're cooking for two, that's actually pleasant: a weeknight activity you can do together. If you're alone, exhausted from work, and you just want to eat, it's more friction than Factor.

Where Goodfood's convenience shows up is at the planning stage: no grocery runs, no recipe research, no half-used vegetables going soft in your crisper drawer. That's a real benefit, just a different one.

Availability in Canada

Both services deliver across most of Canada, including Quebec, which matters to me personally. Goodfood's Quebec coverage is particularly strong. It's their home market, and you'll find the service discussed openly in Quebec communities in a way that national services don't always achieve.

I'm not certain Factor's coverage extends to all rural parts of Canada, so I'd verify your specific postal code before ordering. Goodfood has more historical presence outside major cities, particularly in Quebec, but remote delivery is never guaranteed with either service.

Customer Experience

Both have apps. Both work. Neither is going to win a design award.

Goodfood's interface for managing your weekly menu, skipping weeks, and adjusting your plan is functional but occasionally clunky. I've missed the cutoff by accident more than once because I forgot which day of the week the deadline was. Their customer support, based on my experience, is responsive enough when something arrives damaged or missing.

Factor's app is cleaner for browsing and filtering the weekly menu. The subscription management is straightforward. I haven't had a significant issue with Factor that required escalating beyond the automated options, so I can't speak to their customer service under pressure.

Which Should You Choose?

Choose Factor if:

• You want food with zero cooking effort on weeknights
• You're tracking macros and want consistent nutritional information
• You work long hours and need something reliable in the fridge
• You live alone and cooking for one feels like a lot
• Keto or calorie-controlled eating is part of your routine

Choose Goodfood if:

• You like cooking but want to skip the grocery store
• You're cooking for two or a family and want a shared kitchen activity
• You want to try new recipes without sourcing 12 separate ingredients
• Quebec-market familiarity matters to you
• The first-box referral discount is attractive (the value is genuinely strong)

Referral Codes

If you use my referral link for either service, I may receive a reward. Factor sends $25 my way, Goodfood credits $35 to my account. I'll note that Goodfood's new-subscriber offer is one of the better ones I've seen: 70% off your first box is enough to genuinely try the service without committing to the full price.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Factor or Goodfood cheaper in Canada?

At the per-serving level, Factor and Goodfood are close, but Factor's pricing is all-in (delivery included), while Goodfood adds $10.99 per delivery. When you account for that, Factor tends to run lower on a cost-per-serving basis for most plan sizes. The Goodfood welcome discount changes this math significantly for new subscribers, so if you're just starting out, Goodfood can be cheaper for your first month.

Can I use both at the same time?

Yes, there's nothing stopping you. They're separate subscriptions. Some people use Factor for weekday lunches and Goodfood for weekend dinners. Different needs, different services. The referral offers for both are independent of each other.

Can I pause or cancel easily?

Both services let you skip weeks through the app. Cancellation is also available online without requiring a phone call, which is a higher bar than it should be in 2026 but worth confirming before signing up. If either service ever adds a cancellation wall, that'll be in my review.

Which has better options for dietary restrictions?

Factor has more specific filtering: you can browse by keto, calorie-smart, plant-based, or paleo, and the nutritional info is prominent. Goodfood has plant-based and protein-forward categories, but the dietary filtering is less granular. If a specific macro or diet style is non-negotiable for you, Factor gives you more control.

Does Goodfood deliver in Quebec?

Yes, and their Quebec coverage is notably strong given that it's their home market. If you're in Montreal, Quebec City, or anywhere in between, Goodfood is a natural choice. I've used it at the family cottage in the Eastern Townships without issue, which is about as rural a test case as I can offer.

Which service has better customer support?

Honestly, I haven't had a bad enough experience with either service to really test their support systems under pressure. What I can say: both have standard chat and email options, and neither requires a phone call for basic subscription changes. I'd be curious to hear from readers who've dealt with a larger issue. My experience has been limited to missing ingredients and a couple of damaged containers.

Final Verdict

These two services aren't really competing for the same use case, which makes a "winner" declaration feel a bit artificial. But if someone asked me which one to try first, I'd say: what's your Tuesday evening like?

If your Tuesday evening involves coming home at 6:30, exhausted, wanting food in the next five minutes, Factor is what you want. Microwave, eat, move on with your night. For busy households, solo living, and anyone who's serious about hitting a protein or calorie target without thinking about it, Factor earns its place.

If your Tuesday evening has 35 minutes in it and you'd rather cook something that actually tastes like you made it, Goodfood is genuinely worth trying. The first-box discount is strong enough that the risk is low, and the Quebec-market credibility is real. My family has been happy with it for years.

The thing is, neither service is a trap. Both do what they claim. The mistake is ordering Goodfood when you're looking for Factor's convenience, or expecting Factor to give you the cooking experience Goodfood offers. Match the service to how your evenings actually go, not how you want them to go.

This article contains referral links. If you sign up using my code, I may receive a reward at no extra cost to you. I only recommend services I personally use.

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