Factor Review 2025: Is It Worth It? (GQ)

Death, taxes, and stressing about what you’re going to eat for lunch tomorrow—three of the universally dreaded (but inevitable) certainties in life, right? Well, not exactly. Whether you’re a meal prep aficionado, a slop-bowl enthusiast, or a Sad Desk Lunch veteran, most 9-to-5ers have some sort of system in place to put lunch at work on autopilot. I, for one, prep my own form of slop bowls at home and bring them into work most days. And, while I like them, they can be a little… repetitive, at best—and “beige” (literally, like the color beige) at worst. Plus, while I love to cook, after a long day of work, going to the gym, and making dinner, cooking ahead for tomorrow is the last thing I want to do before bed. That’s why, when I got the opportunity to test out Factor, a high-protein meal prep service, I jumped at the chance.

How Does It Work?

Factor works pretty much exactly like you think a meal prep service would work, but with a few twists. First, you pop in your zip code to make sure they deliver to you, then you select a goal from the bank, which includes “Improve my health,” “Eat more protein,” “Save time in the kitchen,” “Manage my weight,” “Eat a better variety of foods,” and “Support my GLP-1 journey.”

You then tick off whether you want to focus on low-cal meals, Keto foods, etc.; mark if you want to exclude fish, pork, or shellfish; and let them know your spice tolerance so you’re not sweating bullets in the break room. Then, just pick how many meals you want per week, and boom—ready to rock. I got to test out some Factor favorites and a few of the new salads that are part of the recent collab between Factor and Sakara, another meal prep service, and put them to the test both at work and at home.

The new Factor x Sakara meals were top-tier.

Photo: Factor

Non-sad desk lunch inbound.

Photo: Ian Burke

What’s in the Box?

My Factor meals showed up in a big, clearly marked box that I saw in my building lobby as I was headed out the door to the gym. I looked at it, looked up at the three floors of stairs I just walked down, and figured, “eh, I’ll get it on my way back from the gym.” (Pro Tip: Do not do this.) Luckily, despite sitting in my lobby for hours, by the time I got it back up to my apartment and opened up, the insulated, freezer-packed meals were perfectly cold and ready to be popped into the fridge—so if you’re worried about them showing up warm and soggy, don’t.

So, there I was: Fridge (not freezer, which surprised me) full of pre-made meals, the next week or so of work lunches totally taken care of. That, I must say, was a pretty sweet feeling. I decided to tuck into one of the cheeseburger meals, which came with potatoes and a broccoli-mushroom mix that was way better than I expected it to be. Usually, broccoli and mushrooms are about the worst things I can think of to reheat, but these rocked so much, I wasn’t even mad about the bun-less-ness of the cheeseburger, which was equally excellent. Plus, since I’m not a big dessert guy, I wasn’t bummed about the lack of sweets, but it’s good to know in case you’ve got a sweet tooth. (Though I had some sort of apple crumble situation in a different meal that scratched that itch for sure.)