The Best Zero Waste Meal Kits in Canada
Open most meal kit boxes and the food is the small part. The rest is a cardboard shell, a plastic liner, gel ice packs, and a fistful of little bags and cups that land in your bin within minutes. If you want dinner sorted without that pile of packaging, “eco” and “green” labels will not help, because almost every brand uses them. The line that actually decides it is whether the kit closes the loop: the containers come back to the company, get sanitized, and go out again, rather than leaving you to rinse and recycle the leftovers yourself. A kit that does that is genuinely zero waste; one that just uses nicer materials is only tidier. So which kit in Canada actually closes that loop?
The best zero waste meal kits in Canada at a glance
- FreshPrep: the best overall and the only meal kit with a truly national reusable, returnable container loop. Serves BC, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec.
- Crisper: the strongest local pick in Toronto and the GTA, with fully reusable packaging collected from your door. Plant-based.
- Reimagine Co: a small reusable-packaging operation in London, Ontario, for plant-based meals and boxes.
- HelloFresh, Chefs Plate, and Goodfood: not zero-waste loops, but the most widely available lower-waste kits nationwide. Covered in their own tier below for readers outside FreshPrep’s reach.
1. FreshPrep is the one kit that actually closes the loop
FreshPrep is the answer for anyone in Canada who wants a meal kit that does not leave packaging behind. It is the only Canadian meal kit built around a patented reusable, returnable container, it carries B Corp certification, and it reaches more of the country than any other genuine zero-waste option. Everything below is why it earns the top spot, and where to start.
How the Zero Waste Kit actually works
When FreshPrep launched its Zero Waste Kit in February 2021, it was billed as an industry first in Canada, and the mechanics are still the cleanest in the market. Your ingredients arrive pre-portioned into individual sealed cups that sit inside a larger air-tight container. The container and cups are made from BPA-free reusable plastic and silicone, and every part goes in the dishwasher. The whole kit travels in a reusable insulated cooler bag rather than a foam-and-gel-pack liner.
The part that makes it a loop rather than a recycling chore is what happens after dinner. You rinse the cups and the container, leave them out, and FreshPrep collects the kit and the cooler bag on your next delivery. They sanitize both and send them out again. Pickup is free and the Zero Waste Kit comes at no added cost on your order. Nothing from the packaging ends up in your bin or your blue box; it goes back into circulation.
The numbers behind the claim
Most brands describe their packaging with adjectives. FreshPrep has figures. The company says its reusable kit has diverted more than 68,000 kilograms of single-use plastic from landfills since launch. It has been a certified B Corporation since 2019, the third-party standard for verified social and environmental performance. And the waste story is not only about plastic: because the ingredients arrive pre-portioned, you are not buying a full bunch of herbs to use a third of it, which trims the food waste that household cooking usually generates. More than 75 percent of the food spend goes to Canadian ingredients, including sustainably sourced seafood and antibiotic-free poultry. If ingredient sourcing matters as much as packaging, our guide to the best organic meal kits in Canada covers that side separately.
You can read our full FreshPrep review for the deeper breakdown of menus and quality.
Availability, price, and what you get
FreshPrep delivers across municipalities in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec, the widest footprint of any true zero-waste meal kit in Canada. Pricing runs from around $11 per serving, roughly $10.99 to $11.99 depending on plan and meal size, and shipping is free in most areas (top10.com, June 2026). You get 35 or more recipes a week, meals built to come together in around 30 minutes, and the freedom to skip weeks whenever you want.
If you live in one of those four provinces, this is the kit to order.
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If you are outside FreshPrep’s coverage, two regional loops and a nationwide lower-waste tier follow, so there is still a sensible choice for where you live.
2. Crisper (Toronto and the GTA)
A handful of small Canadian services run real reusable-container loops too, but only in one city or region. They are genuinely zero waste where they operate, which is why they belong here rather than in the lower-waste tier, but they cannot serve most of the country. If you happen to live in their area, they are excellent.
Crisper runs a fully reusable packaging model in the Greater Toronto Area. Everything arrives in its Reusable Kit, you rinse the empties and leave them at your door, and the company retrieves, sanitizes, and reuses them on the next delivery. The menu is entirely plant-based with five new recipes each week, meals stay fresh for up to five days, and delivery plus pickup are free with skip-or-cancel flexibility. Crisper frames its case bluntly: reuse, not recycling, is the real fix. It covers most of the GTA. For diet-led picks beyond Crisper, see our guide to the best vegan meal kits in Canada.
3. Reimagine Co (London, Ontario)
Reimagine Co serves London, Ontario, with plant-based prepared meals and weekly boxes delivered in 100 percent reusable packaging that is picked up, sanitized, and reused. It also runs a package-free grocery and refillery, so the brand sits inside a broader zero-waste mission rather than only doing meal boxes. Coverage is local, with pickup and delivery on Fridays and Saturdays. If prepared meals rather than cook-from-scratch kits are what you want, our guide to the best prepared meal delivery in Canada covers the wider field.
4. HelloFresh Canada
If FreshPrep does not reach you and you are not in Toronto or London, the honest answer is that no true reusable loop covers you yet. What you can get nationwide is a lower-waste kit: one that cuts packaging through recyclable and compostable materials and pre-portioning, but still leaves you to handle the disposal rather than returning anything. That is a real difference from zero waste, and it is worth naming plainly. These three are the most widely available, and they are solid choices for the rest of the country.
HelloFresh delivers nationwide and goes further on packaging than most major kits. It ships in boxes it says are fully recyclable, uses compostable kit bags, and packs water-based gel ice packs you can drain before recycling the pouch. Ingredients come pre-portioned, which keeps food waste down. The company once marketed itself as the first global carbon-neutral meal kit company, a claim a German court later barred it from making after the offsets behind it could not be proven, and its current Canadian packaging page no longer makes it. None of it returns to the company, so this is lower waste rather than a closed loop, but for sheer reach and packaging effort it leads the nationwide pack. See our HelloFresh Canada review for menus and current plans.
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5. Chefs Plate
Chefs Plate is the budget pick of the group and the cheapest of the major kits, delivered nationwide. Packaging is a recyclable cardboard box, recyclable ice packs, and compostable paper bags, with pre-portioned ingredients to limit food waste. Same lower-waste category as its sibling HelloFresh, owned by the same parent, but built for cost. Our Chefs Plate review has the full rundown.
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6. Goodfood
Goodfood is Canadian-owned and strongest in Western Canada, though it ships across the country. It uses recyclable boxes, paper insulation, and some reusable packaging options, with the usual pre-portioning. It is lower waste, not a returnable loop, but if buying from a Canadian company matters to you alongside cutting packaging, it is the natural choice. For a broader look at who is Canadian-owned in this space, see our Canadian-owned meal kits guide. More in our Goodfood review.
What makes a meal kit actually zero waste
A zero waste meal kit is one where the packaging comes back to the company to be cleaned and reused, so nothing from the box ends up in your garbage, recycling, or compost. That returnable loop is the dividing line, and it is why FreshPrep qualifies and a recyclable-box kit does not. The word “eco” gets stretched across four very different packaging models, and knowing which one a brand actually uses is the whole game.
There are four models in play, from most to least waste avoided:
- Reusable and returnable loop. Containers are collected, sanitized, and reused. Nothing is thrown out. This is true zero waste. FreshPrep, Crisper, and Reimagine Co work this way.
- Compostable. Bags and liners break down in green-bin or industrial composting. Better than landfill, but only if your municipality actually composts that material, and you still discard it.
- Recyclable. Cardboard boxes and recyclable ice packs go in the blue box. Useful, but recycling is far from guaranteed; only around nine percent of plastic is actually recycled in Canada.
- Carbon offset or carbon neutral. The company pays to balance its emissions elsewhere. This addresses climate footprint, not the physical packaging in your hands, and the two are often confused.
The first model is the only one that removes the waste rather than relocating it. The other three reduce it, which is why HelloFresh, Chefs Plate, and Goodfood are lower waste, not zero waste.
Are meal kits actually wasteful?
Meal kits are usually less wasteful than they look, but it depends on what you measure. The pile of packaging is the visible problem, and on plastic alone a recyclable-box kit can come out worse than a grocery run. The less visible side is food waste, and here meal kits do well: pre-portioned ingredients mean you cook exactly what the recipe needs instead of binning the leftover half of everything. The Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council, looking at both sides, frames meal kits as a genuine trade-off rather than a clear villain or hero, with portioning as the real saver and packaging as the real cost.
That trade-off is exactly why the packaging model matters so much. A kit that solves the food-waste side and the packaging side at once, by pre-portioning ingredients and taking the containers back, removes the main objection entirely. For context, Canadians throw out roughly three million tonnes of plastic a year, and only a sliver gets recycled, so cutting the packaging at the source through a reusable loop beats hoping it gets recycled later. The sceptic’s question has a clean answer: a reusable-loop kit is the version of a meal kit that is not wasteful.
Where you can get a zero waste meal kit by province
Availability is where most guides fall down, because the genuinely zero-waste options are Canadian and regional, not the US services that fill generic listicles. Here is who actually serves where.
- British Columbia and Vancouver: FreshPrep. More in our Vancouver meal kits review.
- Alberta, Calgary, and Edmonton: FreshPrep. See our Calgary and Edmonton meal kits guide.
- Ontario, including Toronto and the GTA: FreshPrep across the province, plus Crisper as a local reusable-loop option in the GTA. See our Toronto meal kits review.
- Quebec and Montreal: FreshPrep.
- London, Ontario: Reimagine Co for plant-based meals and boxes.
- Everywhere else in Canada: no true reusable loop yet. HelloFresh, Chefs Plate, and Goodfood ship nationwide as lower-waste options.
If you live in one of FreshPrep’s four provinces, you have a true zero-waste choice. If you do not, the lower-waste majors are the best available until the loops expand.
How to choose the right zero waste meal kit for you
The right kit comes down to where you live and what “zero waste” needs to mean for you.
- You want a true closed loop and you live in BC, Alberta, Ontario, or Quebec: FreshPrep. It is the only kit that takes the packaging back nationally.
- You are in the GTA or London and want a local plant-based loop: Crisper in Toronto, Reimagine Co in London. Both are genuinely zero waste in their area.
- You are outside all of those and want the lowest-waste option you can actually get: HelloFresh for packaging effort and reach, Chefs Plate for the lowest price, Goodfood if a Canadian-owned company matters to you.
Does zero waste cost more? Not dramatically. FreshPrep runs from around $11 per serving, which sits in the same band as the lower-waste majors rather than above them, and the reusable kit carries no surcharge. You are not paying a premium for the loop. For a full price comparison across kits, see our breakdown of meal kit costs and the cheapest options.
The verdict
For a meal kit that genuinely leaves nothing in your bin, FreshPrep is the one to order, as long as you live in BC, Alberta, Ontario, or Quebec, where its reusable, returnable kit does the work for you. In Toronto and London, Crisper and Reimagine Co run the same closed-loop idea locally. Everywhere else, HelloFresh, Chefs Plate, and Goodfood are the most sensible lower-waste options until the true loops reach you. If FreshPrep covers your address, start there.