Purple Carrot

The only vegan meal delivery service that is constantly sending fun stuff.

Include some snack promotions in the box every once and awhile. :) Also it is too pricey for me to do it all the time.

I started Purple Carrot about a month ago and am really impressed so far. I have a lot of unique dietary restrictions (no eggs, dairy, or gluten but not strictly vegan) so Purple Carrot made the most sense for me since all I have to worry about is making sure I am ordering their gluten-friendly options each week. The recipes are super easy to make - you do not have to be an expert home chef by any means. It doesn't require a ton of prep work or fancy cooking methods. I love that most ingredients are already pre-measured out and you're primarily cooking with fresh produce. As somewhat of a picky eater, I can honestly say I've enjoyed every single meal I've made thus far, even when I'm eating a new-to-me ingredient or flavor.

In my eyes, there are two obvious areas for improvement for Purple Carrot: Delivery date: In my area (Austin, TX) delivery is only available on Wednesdays which is not ideal. I'd most benefit from Purple Carrot in the first half of the week (Mon-Thurs) whereas the latter half / weekend is typically when I order in or eat out. Because the food is mostly fresh produce, it does not typically last long enough to save for the following week. I'd love to see them open up earlier weekdays for delivery. Packaging: Because ingredients are pre-measured out, the brand uses a fair amount of plastic packaging per weekly delivery. I'd love to see them move toward more eco-friendly packaging even if it means bumping up the pricing a little bit.

High-quality vegetarian meals. The prep is not overwhelming. This is a good way to introduction more vegetarian options into your life without having to do a ton of searching for recipes.

It's a big expensive still.

Let me start by saying I'm not a vegetarian and I don't really like these recipes-in-a-box subscriptions (why pay extra for food and then also do the labor of cooking it??) -- THAT BEING SAID, I fucking love Purple Carrot and would be earnestly sad if we had to cancel our subscription. I found out about them because my husband was interviewing for a job so we bought a short-term subscription to test. He didn't get the job, but once he did get a job this subscription was the first thing we paid for. I'm not a chef nor a foodie and all the recipes are still quite easy for me to follow! The most complicated recipes involve a food processor, but otherwise everything can be done with your regular old kitchen supplies. Every recipe is divine, even ones where you have no idea what any of the ingredients are. Sandwiches to pastas to salads to soups to curries to patties... there's a ton of variety, and we've only seen a few repeats of recipes over 2 years. We also sometimes (read: kinda often...) mess up the steps in the recipe, and everything still always comes out delicious, and visually beautiful to boot! It's super easy to skip boxes (so we only get a box once every 2 weeks) and I've never received a rotten or otherwise damaged box or ingredients. I don't have much experience with their customer service but based on product alone I'm a huuuuuge fan and very happy with my experience using Purple Carrot.

Not sure how this would be fixed, but it would be great to have fewer plastic baggies involved in the recipes!

The only vegan meal delivery service that is constantly sending fun stuff.

Include some snack promotions in the box every once and awhile. :) Also it is too pricey for me to do it all the time.

I tried Purple Carrot during the depths of the pandemic when I had serious decision fatigue and was getting stressed about the long lines at Whole Foods. I loved the variety in the meals — they were different than what I'd normally cook for myself — and the meals always had lots of flavor. As a vegetarian who often eats the same meals on repeat, it was a fun & tasty change of pace.

I wish they had used less packaging. There were a lot of individually wrapped ingredients in plastic, which felt unnecessary.

Easy way to bring plant-powered goodness into your life! I personally like to use this service in the "winters" when adequate food/produce may not be as easily available in Northern US. The recipes also provide inspiration, for when produce is more bountiful during the growing season. The recipes are easy to follow, take 20-40 minutes to make, and best part is you can get you kids involved! What is also special is a pharmacist colleague of mine did a study comparing Purple Carrot (all plant-based) vs. standard American diet (SAD; e.g. Green Chef, Blue Apron, etc.) meal kit delivery service and found that over 4 weeks, participants lost weight and reduced their cholesterol! So it is evidence-based as well!

I wish the ice packs were more environmentally friendly, e.g. could be used for something else as they do rack up space if you don't dispose of them.