Planty vs Allplants: Best Vegan Ready Meal Subscription?

Over the last few years ready meal and recipe box subscription services have really exploded with the likes of Simply Cook, Gousto and Hello Fresh being among the best known.

While these services are not predominantly plant based they do generally offer some vegan options. However you are likely to be fairly limited in meal choice. They are also geared more towards those still looking to do some level of prep and cooking vs just whacking something in the micro for a few mins.

I was looking very much for the latter. Something fairly healthy and tasty that I could stick in the micro and be sitting down to eat within 10 mins. No fuss.

Two of the biggest players in the vegan ready meal space are Planty and Allplants and they both kept popping up when I was researching my options. But which do I prefer and what one should you go for?

I’ll compare both services on key criteria such as subscription options, pricing, food quality and variety to help you decide which is the best vegan meal subscription service for you!

What’s The Story?

Planty

Launched in 2019 their mission is to make eating more plants as easy and delicious as possible via their ready meal food subscription service. All food is completely plant based and created by Michelin-star chefs using fresh, natural ingredients. You simply pick the dishes you want and have them delivered to your door. Which can then be stored in the freezer and heated up in a few minutes.

Sustainability is also a key part of the Planty offering. All packaging is 100% recyclable, compostable, or reusable and all deliveries are carbon-neutral. They are also working towards becoming B-Corp certified.

Allplants

Allplants launched in 2016 so they have been around a bit longer than Planty and that’s definitely reflected in the variety of meals on offer (more about that later on). Like Planty, Allplants provide a ready meal subscription service delivered to your door. Meals are created by their team of chefs and a nutritionist. Cooked fresh then frozen ready to be heated up and enjoyed in a few minutes straight from your freezer.

Again sustainability is a key message from Allplants who achieved B-Corp certification in 2018. Packaging is kept as minimal as possible while using sustainable, reusable materials. Any food which they can’t use is donated to charity or used to create green energy and is never sent to landfill.

Planty vs Allplants: Quick Summary

If don’t have time / don’t want to read the full review you can find a quick roundup of the main comparison points below:

Subscription Options & Pricing

When it comes to subscription options both follow a fairly similar model. You choose how many meals you want to fill your box, pick a delivery date and your done. Both also then offer various options in terms of rescheduling delivery dates, pausing your subscription or cancelling with no commitment required out with your first order.

Both services approach pricing slightly differently. However the cost still tends to work out fairly similar between the two.

Planty

With Planty you can choose between 6 to 12 meals per box, plus up to 12 extras (desserts, sides, breakfast pots). Subscriptions are very flexible with the option to update your box at any time and reschedule delivery date. You can also skip a delivery or pause your subscription and resume at any time.

Planty meal prices are based on how much you order – the more you order the lower the cost per dish: 12 meals offers the best value at £5.65 per meal. 9-11 meals and it’s £5.90 per meal and 6-8 meals is £6.50 per meal. All box sizes include free delivery.

If you want to order more than 12 meals at a time you can just create another subscription box within your account.

Allplants

Allplants follows a fairly similar subscription model. While there is no minimum number of meals there is a minimum order value of £25 which will generally work out to be 4 or 5 meals. There also doesn’t appear to be an upper limit on an order so presumably they would just split it over however many boxes are required.

Like Planty, Allplants also provide the option to reschedule delivery date and change delivery frequency from every 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 weeks. However unlike Planty, Allplants don’t offer the option to pause your subscription.

Dishes start from £4.60 for a main meal that serves 1 (all main meals are also available to serve 2) up to £6.25 depending on dish with most main meals priced at £5.75. You also need to spend over £40 to get free delivery (otherwise it’s £4.99)

As an example of how closely matched Planty and Allplants are price wise; my current box of 12 meals from Planty is £67.80 and my box of 12 meals from Allplants is £69.35. Obviously meals are not like for like however you get the picture – price point is broadly similar between the two.

Food Variety

Variety is the spice of life as they say. And this is one area where there is currently a clear and obvious winner.

Planty

Planty currently offer a total of 26 main meal options. 3 desserts, 2 sides and 3 breakfast pots. While the number of options here is much less than Allplants (more on that shortly), there is still a good variety of meal types within those 26, with curries and stews, pasta, pies, noodle based dishes, as well as classics like chilli con carne and mac and cheese.

This is one area where Planty are working to improve – with a number of new dishes now available compared to my first order with them back in November 2021. And while a good level of variety is important, the quality and taste of the dishes is clearly more important, and that’s something they are definitely getting right.

Allplants

Unsurprisingly with a few years head start on Planty this is an area where Allplants certainly excel with a whopping 62 main meal options. 17 sides (including rice options), 9 desserts, 6 breakfast pots and 5 smoothies.

Similar to Planty their main meals cover a wide range of cuisines; curries, stews, pastas and risottos, pies, buddha bowls and noodles.

Aside from the standard fill a box subscription method Allplants also offer various pre-selected bundles to, as they put it, “take the faff out of plant-based feasting”. I’m a big fan of minimal faff so these bundle options get the thumbs up from me! It’s also an easy way to sample the various additional options such as sides, breakfast pots and smoothies, such as those included in this Health Kickstarter Bundle.

Food Quality & Taste

Planty

I’ve tried almost all main meal options from Planty and genuinely enjoyed all of them and loved some of them. Aside from the delicious taste I find all of their meals have a great consistency – so the curries and stews can generally be eaten with a fork and don’t turn into more of a soup!

I love a curry and two of my top dishes from Planty are the Red Thai Sweet Potato Curry and the Not-a-chicken Tikka Masala. Both slightly spicy, creamy curries which include rice. Delicious and filling enough as a main meal.

Allplants

With over 60 main meal options on offer with Allplants I’ve not quite got round to sampling them all yet (but I’ll get there!). However those I have tried I’ve very much enjoyed.

Particular highlights include the Bhaji Daal and the Chickpea & Aubergine Jalfrezi. Both mega tasty with great texture and consistency. The Spicy Szechuan Noodles and Tofu Pad Thai are also excellent.

One minor criticism I do have is a couple of dishes I’ve found to be a little on the light side in terms of consistency. The coconut and ginger curry in particular is very thin and really you need a spoon to eat it. I think a small portion of rice added to the meal would help to thicken it up a bit.

Portion Sizes & Nutritional Value

Planty

Planty portion sizes are all intended to serve 1 with no option to increase the serving size. Meals generally come in at around 400-460g, with the majority around the mid 400 mark.

All meals are packed with fresh natural ingredients with no weird unpronounceable stuff on the ingredients list.

You can filter meals to suit your particular nutrition and dietary needs such as high protein, low fat, low sugar and made without gluten, soy, nuts.

I don’t want to spend too much time on the where do you get your protein part! But safe to say there’s more than enough present in Planty meals ranging from around 16g of protein at the low end and over 30g at the higher end.

I find the portion sizes to be more substantial with Planty compared to Allplants and never feel the need to cook some additional rice or order any sides.

Allplants

Allplants allow you to change the serving size on all meals for either 1 or 2 people. Meals for 1 range 340-490g and meals for 2 range from 680-980g. While portion sizes obviously vary from dish to dish, in general Planty appear to provide larger single portion sizes than Allplants.

Again with Allplants you won’t find anything weird in the ingredients list and they also cater to those with additional dietary requirements and you can filter the meals based on nutritional information and made without soy, gluten or nuts.

I love the variation on offer with Allplants but do sometimes feel the need to stick on some micro rice to bulk out the meals – particularly if I’m having it as a main evening meal.

Similar Meal Comparison

While there can be no direct comparison due to different ingredients, portion size etc. I’ve pitted a couple of similar meals against each other below to give a general idea of ingredients and size differences between the two:

Chilli Con Carne from Planty vs Smoky Soul Chilli from Allplants

Values	Chilli Con Carne (Planty)	Smoky Soul Chilli (Allplants)
Portion Size	440g	406g
Energy	471.5kcal	540kcal
Fat	11.3g	18.3g
of which saturates	2.9g	4.1g
Carbohydrates	60.8g	69g
of which sugars	11.8g	16.2g
Fibre	13g	15.4g
Protein	23.8g	18.3g
Salt	3g	2.31g

As you can see in that example Planty wins out in terms of portion size, lower calories, lower fat, lower sugar and more protein. Whereas Allplants wins in terms of higher fibre and lower salt. I’m not a nutritionist but I think the differences between these two are negligible.

I’m also fairly confident in saying that both of these would still be considered “healthy” as far as ready meals go. However it may be something to keep in mind if you are particularly interested in increasing your protein intake or lowering fat, sugar etc.

Delivery & Packaging

Planty

Planty use DPD for their deliveries and for me the delivery process always goes very smoothly. You can choose a weekday delivery for free or you can pay a fee if you want a Saturday delivery.

You can also request DPD to leave your parcel in a safe location if you’re not going to be home to take delivery.

Meals are always very well packaged within protective reusable filling material inside the cardboard box. Dry ice is used to keep the meals in their frozen state and that also comes in completely recyclable packaging.

Here’s a tip for you – don’t stick the dry ice in the sink and run the hot tap…

Although it did keep my 5 year old son entertained for a while!

If you want to just recycle the packaging at home all the packaging from the meals and the cardboard box is of course recyclable. However the reusable protective inner packaging is not recyclable at home. So the best option is simply to put the packaging back in the box, seal it up and send back to Planty to sort out.

Every box comes with a pre-paid DPD label which you can stick on the box and take to your nearest DPD drop off point.

Allplants

Allplants delivery is also handled by DPD and the packaging is very similar. Consisting of a cardboard box, the same reusable protective lining and dry ice to keep things cool.

Allplants returns can be made via Royal Mail and an added bonus is you can arrange for them to collect from your home. So I can simply seal up the box with the reusable packing, stick on the returns label, arrange the collection online then just leave the box outside my front door and it gets picked up.

Personally I think the home collection service is handy and it’s something that Planty will hopefully also offer in the future.

Pros & Cons

Planty Pros

• Meals are generally larger than comparable Allplants meals
• No need to supplement with additional sides / rice
• Very tasty dishes with good range of cuisines

Planty Cons

• Less meal variety than Allplants
• Currently no home collection option when returning packaging

Allplants Pros

• Great variety of meal options
• Good to have the option of 1 or 2 person serving size
• Curated bundles are a nice additional option

Allplants Cons

• Subscription not as flexible as Planty with no pause option
• Portion sizes are generally smaller than Planty
• For some dishes an additional side or rice is needed to bulk out for a main meal

Planty vs Allplants: Which is the best option?

Honestly If you’ve read this far I guess you can hopefully decide for yourself which is going to be the best choice for you! I currently subscribe to both and overall have been impressed enough to carry on being a customer.

If slightly bigger portions are important to you, you’re willing to sacrifice slightly on variety and you just want one dish to whack in the micro for lunch or dinner without bothering with sides then Planty is likely to be a good choice for you.

On the other hand if you are looking for a wider range of dishes or to completely replace the majority of your meals – breakfast, smoothies, lunches and main evening meals with additional sides then the variation on offer with Allplants would likely make that the better choice.

Alternatively take advantage of both discount codes below, order a box from both and decide for yourself. I think both provide great service and fantastic food so it’s really going to be down to personal taste and circumstances as to which you prefer. Either way you’re sure to enjoy finding out!