Need low-effort dinner ideas? These 5 credit cards help you save on takeout, delivery and meal kits

The dreaded, Sisyphean question many of us face daily: What’s for dinner?

Some days, you might already have the answer. But there are likely many days when you don’t, or simply have too much on your plate (pun intended) and need an easy solution.

With the right credit card in your wallet, you can actually save on lazy-day meals instead of forking over extra cash at the last minute. Think: fee-free delivery options, discounts on meal kits sent directly to your home and rewards stacked on top of these perks.

CNBC Select dives into a few popular credit card perks that help you save on low-effort meals, whether at home or dining out.

For many people, ordering food for delivery can be one of the least-stressful dinner options, but it can quickly get out of hand as fees pile up.

Thanks to a partnership between Chase and DoorDash, several Chase credit cards offer a complimentary membership to the food delivery service. The perk is available on some no-annual-fee Chase cards, with higher-tier Chase cards offering a longer membership term.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® (see rates and fees) carries no annual fee and comes with a complimentary six-month DashPass membership (activate by Dec. 31, 2027). Plus, DashPass members receive up to $10 off quarterly on non-restaurant DoorDash orders. With this membership, you’ll get $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees on qualifying orders, and subscribers save an average of $4 to $5 per eligible order, according to DoorDash.

DashPass typically costs $9.99 per month. The Chase Freedom Unlimited’s six-month membership is worth about $60, and when you include the $40 in DoorDash credits for non-restaurant orders, that’s roughly $100 in value.

On top of the DoorDash perks, the Freedom Unlimited earns 3% cash back on dining at restaurants and on takeout and eligible delivery services (like DoorDash), meaning you can stack rewards on top of your initial membership savings.

If you’re one of the many people who have an Amazon Prime membership, you might be surprised to find out you qualify for a complimentary Grubhub+ membership (which typically costs $9.99 per month).

Similar to DashPass’ perks, members receive $0 delivery and lower service fees, which can quickly add up if you frequently order in. The best part? As long as you’re an Amazon Prime member, your complimentary membership never expires. According to Grubhub, individuals who place at least one Grubhub+ order per month for 12 months save an average of $336 a year.

If you already have an Amazon Prime membership, the Prime Visa (see rates and fees) can help you double up on rewards. It doesn’t charge an annual fee, comes with an automatic $150 Amazon gift card upon approval (exclusively for Prime members) and earns 2% cash back at restaurants, including some delivery and takeout services. You also earn 5% cash back at Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh (which can help you save for the days when your meal requires a little more effort).

Meal kit delivery services saw an increase in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic and have stuck around as a solid option for easy home-cooked meals — without the additional hassle of hunting down recipes and ingredients.

Home Chef is one example, offering 20+ different meal kit options each week. The service lets you customize the type of protein you’d like in your dish for a number of its options, and standard meals start at $9.99 per serving.

If you have the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, you can get up to $15 in monthly statement credits when you purchase a Home Chef subscription with your card, which is up to $180 a year once you enroll (subject to auto-renewal).

Meal kits provide you with the directions and fully measured ingredients for several meals a week, making them a nice and easy middle ground between canned soup and a five-course meal. Unfortunately, these services are typically coded as “miscellaneous food stores” and won’t trigger the Blue Cash Everyday’s 3% cash back rate at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%). You will, however, earn at least 1% back.

*Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed for a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout. 

If your idea of a lazy-day meal simply means you’re not the one cooking, there are plenty of cards that can help you save on your next restaurant order — whether you’re dining in or picking up takeout.

The American Express® Gold Card earns 4X points at restaurants worldwide (including Uber Eats purchases made with restaurants or U.S. supermarkets). The rewards rate applies to up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points. That’s one of the highest earnings rates available from a rewards credit card, and you’ll also get access to a swath of dining-related statement credits (worth over $400 per year):

*Enrollment required for Select benefits

If you eat out frequently but would prefer a credit card without an annual fee, consider the Citi Custom Cash® Card. The card earns 5% cash back on purchases in the category you spend the most in each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent (then 1%). With restaurants being one of the 10 different categories available, you could earn up to $25 per cycle when dining out, provided it’s where you spend the most.

One often-overlooked aspect of credit cards is targeted merchant offers, which typically feature discounts (like 10% or $5 off) on specific products or services. Many large card issuers offer their own portals with customized offers, including Amex Offers, Chase Offers, BankAmeriDeals®, Citi Merchant Offers and Capital One Offers.

These deals are personalized and vary by user, and there’s no additional cost to claim them. If you don’t happen to use them before they expire, there’s no harm done. You can typically view merchant offers in your issuer’s app or on its website.

Since merchant offers have to be activated before the transaction, it’s not a bad idea to browse your offers once a week, as they’re updated pretty frequently. That way, you can activate any offers you anticipate using and automatically get the benefit when you use your card.

Here’s an example of a Chase Offers page that showcases different deals, including $10 cash back on the first three payments at Green Chef, a meal delivery kit with organic ingredients, for total savings of $30. While it may not feel like you’re saving a ton in the moment, these little bits of savings add up over time.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every credit card article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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