Daily Harvest Review 2022: A Convenient Plant-Based Meal Service

Daily Harvest is a plant-based meal delivery service that delivers frozen ready objects to your door. The woman-founded firm was initially constructed round supply subscription smoothies however has since advanced to a strong assortment of flatbreads, forager bowls, bakes, soups, dairy-free desserts, and extra. 

Altogether, the model affords greater than 100 fruit and veggie-based objects. Every recipe is developed with the assistance of cooks and nutritionists and by no means comprises dairy or gluten, Plus, the brief ingredient lists—that are boldly printed on the label—by no means include components, preservatives, or fillers.

The subscription service affords 4 plan sizes: six to eight objects, 9 to 11 objects, 12 to 23 objects, or 24 to 26 objects. Orders arrive on each Wednesday or Friday. You’ll have till 6 p.m. on the Sunday previous to your supply to both skip the week or regulate the objects in your order. Day by day Harvest lets you both customise every field to your preferences or go for an automatic choice that chooses objects primarily based in your earlier recipe scores.  

An enormous perk? The model sends a textual content each Sunday morning to remind you to customise or skip that week’s supply. As somebody who typically forgets about updating or canceling my subscriptions, I really like this little consideration to element. It doesn’t really feel like the corporate is attempting to lure me into an order that I don’t really want. 

Plus, the location is tremendous intuitive to make use of. Adjusting your order is so simple as flipping a toggle to “skip a supply.” You don’t even have to press save!

Not like different ready meal providers, the ultimate cost of your Daily Harvest box is not fastened. As you curate your field to your wants—whether or not it’s a breakfast or gentle lunch—the ultimate worth shifts. Smoothies, soups, and scoops all value lower than $9, whereas the heartier picks corresponding to flatbreads and bowls are nearer to $10. 

Essentially the most inexpensive possibility on the menu are the forager bowls, which embrace oats and chia seed bowls. On the flip-side, every Harvest bake prices round $12 and sometimes comprises two servings (though the decrease calorie depend means you possibly can simply devour all the entrée solo). 

Sadly, you do must spend extra to avoid wasting. Transport is all the time free, however you solely unlock reductions in your order by including extra objects to your field; save $5 with the 9-item field, $10 with the 12-item field, and $25 with the 24-item field.

For instance, the 16-item field I reviewed value round $138. With the low cost, the ultimate value could be round $128 with sufficient meals for about 10 meals and 4 snacks.

Whereas I’ve beforehand used Daily Harvest earlier than, the model additionally despatched over a pattern field with 16 objects particularly for this evaluation. The field included an assortment of smoothies, bites, desserts, bowls, lattes, and crumbles (i.e. the corporate’s newest launch). In whole, I’ve tried greater than 30 of the model’s objects together with just a few recipes on repeat. 

Though I like to prepare dinner, I attempted to work by my rotation of Day by day Harvest meals from this order in a two-week interval to see how effectively the service might exchange conventional grocery procuring (and combine right into a busy work schedule). 

Whereas I positively bought much less groceries throughout this trial, I discovered the meal supply service wasn’t a complete alternative for grocery procuring—particularly as a result of I like so as to add protein to some objects and sometimes add spices and condiments to regulate the flavour profile to my style.

Whereas I really like my immersion blender and KitchenAid, they had been fully pointless for prepping most Day by day Harvest items. All you want is a microwave, oven, or blender to remodel the frozen recipes into one thing scrumptious. 

Just a few recipes—just like the flatbreads and oven bakes—take a bit bit longer to prepare dinner. Nonetheless, this preparation is completely hands-off, so you possibly can conquer different duties round the home. In any other case, you want lower than 5 minutes to get a deliciously creamy smoothie or piping sizzling bowl of grits.

My solely word? A lot of the smoothie elements are chopped comparatively small, however I nonetheless discovered that you just want a fairly highly effective blender to pulverize them into a superbly easy consistency.

When somebody mentions frozen meals, I typically consider bland, under-seasoned recipes with out a lot dietary worth. Daily Harvest defies this stereotype with elements that style recent. 

Just a few of my favourite recipes on the line-up are the Gigante Bean + Artichoke Olio Harvest Bake, Broccoli + Cheeze Forager Bowl, and Cremini + Asparagus Pot Pie. Regardless of being fully dairy-free, they’ve a creamy consistency that’s scrumptious and satiating. 

Often, just a few objects weren’t as seasoned as I preferred, so I might generously add a little bit of garlic powder, onion powder, and a sprinkle of Maldon smoked sea salt. These small modifications immediately elevated every dish to my liking with minimal effort—and I feel it’s completely price adapting these recipes to your private preferences. Sizzling sauce anybody? 

In fact, there have been just a few objects I might skip. I didn’t love the chia seed bowl or candy oatmeal that I examined. I’m not an enormous fan of the consistency of chia seed pudding, which transforms right into a gelatinous texture. My dislike is probably going from private expertise reasonably than the recipe itself. 

Equally, I sometimes eat a really particular candy oatmeal recipe, which is topped with cacao nibs, tahini, blueberries, and maple syrup. The berry-sweetened oatmeal was merely not as candy or nutty as my go-to creation (and positively not as cost-efficient). Nonetheless, the savory oatmeal recipes fully hit it out of the park, particularly the miso and mushroom recipe.

The comfort of getting wholesome, nutrient-filled recipes to my door is unquestionably price the fee—however I do know it’s not for everybody. As a vegetarian with a historical past of plant-based consuming, the meals style much like the creations I might make at dwelling with a fraction of the trouble. 

I feel anybody with a busy schedule would simply be impressed by Day by day Harvest. Whereas I wouldn’t personally exchange all my meals with the service, I really like having just a few objects available in my freezer as a backup once I’m in a time crunch (and it’s cheaper than ordering take-out). 

Plus, Day by day Harvest emphasizes biodiversity in its recipes. Which means every merchandise combines a wide range of elements to maximise the vitamins I’m fueling my physique with—so I don’t have to lay our a fortune stocking up on costly superfoods or spices that I not often use.

Once I consider a cargo on to my entrance door, my thoughts instantly thinks of waste. However I used to be pleasantly shocked to find a lot of the byproducts left over from my order had been recyclable or compostable (and virgin plastic-free). 

I did have to wash just a few of the packages clear, particularly the smoothie cups and aluminum tins. Nonetheless, I didn’t thoughts spending just a few further minutes on the sink if it meant my recycling heart might truly repurpose the product.

The signature white recyclable field has a compostable lining to maintain frozen objects insulated and makes use of dry ice reasonably than ice packs. This swap makes the field lighter and extra environment friendly to ship—and it lasts as much as 48 hours after your scheduled supply. 

Most of Day by day Harvest’s plant-based recipes are made with 95% organic ingredients and by no means include GMOs from the EWG’s Dirty Dozen list. Not like conventional frozen meals, they’re not excessive in sodium or fats. 

Nonetheless, one factor lacking from lots of the model’s objects is protein. Whereas I balanced this by including protein powder to my smoothies and legumes to lots of the bowls, this could possibly be a con for somebody following a high-protein weight-reduction plan. 

The latest launch of Crumbles, that are savory protein-packed toppings, is one other technique to circumvent this situation. It additionally will increase the energy, which are likely to cap round 400 energy—that means the recipes shall be way more satisfying.

Daily Harvest makes it potential to eat nutritious meals even whenever you’re in a time crunch. Whereas the service isn’t ideally suited for these on a good price range or anybody following a low-carb/high-protein weight-reduction plan, it’s an ideal possibility for anybody who needs to extend their fruit and vegetable consumption with out spending a ton of time within the kitchen.