How to Start a Meal Prep Business in the UK (2026)

What is a meal prep business?

A meal prep business prepares and packages ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat meals for customers, typically on a weekly subscription or order basis. Customers receive their meals pre-portioned and labelled, ready to refrigerate or freeze.

The model works well for:

• Fitness and nutrition-focused customers (high-protein, macro-tracked meals)
• Busy professionals who want home-cooked quality without the cooking time
• Specialist dietary needs (gluten-free, vegan, low-FODMAP, etc.)
• Local delivery within a defined area

Legal requirements before you start

Register as a food business

You must register your production premises (whether home or commercial kitchen) with your local authority at least 28 days before trading. Registration is free. Your premises will be subject to food hygiene inspections.

Food hygiene certification

A Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate is strongly recommended and required by most commercial kitchen hire facilities. If you employ staff, they should also hold this qualification.

Natasha's Law labelling

All meal prep boxes are PPDS (pre-packed for direct sale) food. This means every meal must carry a full ingredients list with allergens highlighted in bold — this is a legal requirement under Natasha's Law.

This is non-negotiable. A customer with a nut allergy relying on your label to make a safe choice is your legal and moral responsibility. Read the full Natasha's Law guide →

Use-by dates

Fresh prepared meals must carry a use-by date (not a best-before date). Use-by dates are legally binding — it is illegal to sell food past its use-by date. Typical shelf life for refrigerated prepared meals is 3–5 days.

Public liability insurance

Essential for any food business. Covers you if a customer suffers harm from your products. Typically costs £100–£300/year for a small meal prep business.

Choosing your kitchen

Most meal prep businesses start in one of three ways:

• Home kitchen — lowest cost, but limited capacity and may not meet commercial hygiene standards for high-volume production
• Hired commercial kitchen — rented by the hour or day, fully equipped and compliant. Costs £15–£40/hour depending on location
• Shared production facility — some areas have food business incubators with shared kitchen space at subsidised rates

If you're starting small (under 20 customers), a home kitchen is viable. As you scale, a commercial kitchen becomes necessary both for capacity and compliance.

Defining your menu

Start with a focused menu — 5 to 8 meals maximum. A smaller menu means:

• Fewer ingredients to source and manage
• Less waste
• Faster production
• Easier allergen management

Choose meals that reheat well, have good shelf life, and use overlapping ingredients to reduce waste. Avoid dishes that deteriorate quickly or are difficult to portion consistently.

Pricing your meals

Meal prep pricing needs to cover ingredients, packaging, labels, kitchen hire, delivery, and your time — and still generate a profit. A common mistake is pricing based on what competitors charge rather than what your costs actually are.

A typical meal prep meal costs £2.50–£5.00 to produce (ingredients + packaging). Retail prices typically range from £6.00–£12.00 per meal, depending on quality positioning and market.

Calculate your food cost percentage for each meal and aim for 28–38%. See our recipe costing guide for a step-by-step approach.

Finding your first customers

• Instagram and Facebook — post photos of your meals, share your story, run local targeted ads
• Local Facebook groups — many areas have buy/sell/swap groups where food businesses can promote
• Gyms and fitness studios — partner with local gyms to offer meals to their members
• Word of mouth — offer a discount to early customers who refer friends
• Local delivery apps — Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat all allow independent food businesses to list

Managing production as you scale

When you're making 10 meals a week, a notebook works. When you're making 100, you need systems. The key operational challenges as a meal prep business grows are:

• Ingredient ordering — calculating exactly what to buy for each week's orders without over- or under-ordering
• Label accuracy — ensuring every meal has a correct, up-to-date label
• Order tracking — knowing what's been ordered, what's in production, and what's been delivered
• Recipe consistency — ensuring every batch tastes the same and has the same nutritional profile

FoodCore is used by meal prep businesses across the UK to manage all of this — generating shopping lists from weekly orders, producing Natasha's Law compliant labels, and tracking orders from received to delivered.