Lily’s Kitchen

Lily’s Kitchen is the “proper food for pets” brand you will recognise from its colourful tins on supermarket and pet shop shelves. Its subscription is not a fixed box. You choose any of its dog or cat food, set how often each item should arrive (every 2 to 9 weeks), and get 20% off every order with free delivery. You can skip, reschedule or cancel online whenever you like. If your pet already eats Lily’s Kitchen, subscribing is the cheapest way to buy it direct, full stop.

Lily’s Kitchen subscription at a glance

What is Lily’s Kitchen?

Henrietta Morrison started Lily’s Kitchen after her border terrier, Lily, developed sore, itchy skin. Nothing she tried helped, so she began cooking for Lily herself, then worked with vets and pet nutritionists to turn that into a range. The brand has been selling since 2009, is a certified B Corp, and was bought by Nestlé Purina in 2020, though it still runs as its own brand from London.

The selling point is the ingredient list. Lily’s Kitchen uses freshly prepared meat, offal and fish rather than meat meal, adds vegetables, fruit and a blend of botanicals, and makes recipes complete and balanced for each life stage. Recipes have friendly names like Sunday Lunch, Cottage Pie and Lamb Hotpot, which is half the charm.

What can you get on subscription?

Almost the whole shop. When you add a product to your basket you choose “Subscribe and save” and a delivery frequency. Popular subscription items include:

• Wet dog food, such as the Classic multipack of 12 x 400g tins.
• Dry dog food in recipes like Lamb, Salmon, Chicken & Duck and Duck, Salmon & Venison, including small breed and senior versions.
• Cat food, including Tasty Cuts in Gravy, Shredded Fillets in Broth and paté multipacks.
• Treats and extras, such as the Organic Bedtime Biscuits.

The clever bit is that every item can have its own schedule. Dry food every 6 weeks, wet food every 2 weeks, treats every 8 weeks: it all works from one account. If you have a dog and a cat, one subscription can cover both.

How much does a Lily’s Kitchen subscription cost?

There is no set box price because you pay for the food you choose, less 20%. Lily’s Kitchen is a premium brand, so it costs more than supermarket own label food, but subscribing takes a real chunk off. For example, the Classic multipack of 12 x 400g tins has a full price of £44.40, which works out at about £35.52 on subscription. Dry food bags start at around £10.50 at full price before the discount.

Two things make the real cost better than it looks:

• Delivery is free on repeat orders. One off orders under £29 pay £4.95 for standard delivery, but subscription orders after the first go out by standard delivery at no charge.
• No minimum spend. You can subscribe to a single bag of food if that is all you need.

The catch: you cannot stack other discount codes on a subscription, so the 20% is the deal. If a big promotion is running, a one off order can occasionally work out cheaper.

How the subscription works

1. Shop as normal. Pick a product and select the subscription option with an “Order every” frequency.
2. Check out. Your first order arrives with whichever delivery option you picked.
3. Get a reminder. Lily’s Kitchen emails you 3 days before each repeat order is placed, so it never sneaks up on you.
4. Manage it online. In the subscriptions section of your account you can reschedule, skip, change frequency, edit address or payment, or cancel.

You pay by card or PayPal. Different subscriptions can even go to different addresses and use different cards, which is handy if you are buying for a parent’s dog as well as your own.

Delivery

Orders go by DPD, which emails you the day before and gives you a one hour slot on the morning of delivery. Standard delivery takes 1 to 4 working days to mainland Britain. The Highlands, Scottish islands, Isle of Man and Isle of Wight take a little longer, typically at least 3 working days, but delivery there is still free on qualifying orders. Lily’s Kitchen no longer delivers to Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland or the Channel Islands.

If something arrives damaged, the brand arranges a collection and sends a replacement. For quality issues it offers a refund or exchange if you get in touch within 14 days of delivery.

How to skip or cancel a Lily’s Kitchen subscription

Log in, go to the subscriptions section and:

• Skip the next order with the “Skip” button next to its date.
• Reschedule the next order with “Reschedule”.
• Cancel an item by choosing “Make Changes”, opening the recipe and pressing “Cancel subscription” at the bottom.

Allow up to 24 hours for changes to go through, so do it a couple of days before the reminder email rather than on the day. If Lily’s Kitchen changes its prices, it tells you first and gives you the chance to cancel.

What makes it different?

Most pet food subscriptions in the UK are fresh food services like Butternut Box or tailored kibble like Tails.com: you get one brand’s food, portioned for your pet, in a fixed plan. Lily’s Kitchen is the opposite. It is a flexible “subscribe and save” on a range you can also buy in shops. That makes it the easiest subscription here to start and stop, and the only one that covers cats and dogs in the same order with no fuss. What you do not get is personalised portions or a feeding plan, so you need to know what your pet eats.

Lily’s Kitchen vs the alternatives

Is a Lily’s Kitchen subscription worth it? Our verdict

If your dog or cat already eats Lily’s Kitchen, yes, without question. 20% off plus free delivery, no minimum order and the freedom to set each item’s schedule makes it cheaper and less hassle than buying in a shop, and you lose nothing because you can cancel at any time.

If you are shopping around for a new food, think about what you actually want. Lily’s Kitchen is a good quality, natural tinned and dry food at a premium but not eye watering price. It is not a fresh food plan, and it will not tell you how much to feed beyond the guidelines on the pack. Owners who want that hand holding are better served by Butternut Box or Tails.com. Owners who want proper ingredients, flexibility and one order for the whole household will find this one of the most sensible pet food subscriptions in the UK.

Who it suits: existing Lily’s Kitchen customers, households with both cats and dogs, anyone tired of carrying heavy bags home.
Who should skip it: owners looking for fresh or raw food, or a plan portioned for their pet.