I’m ready to try a new food plan. I’m looking for a food delivery service that offers fresh, healthy food at a relatively low cost. Therefore, I’m going to try Hungryroot. I just got my first box today, and so far I’m happy with what I see. But will it prove to be worth it?
Previous Food Plans I’ve Tried
I have tried a few different food delivery plans. Generally speaking, I don’t like the ones that deliver you a specific set of ingredients along with a recipe in order to make a meal yourself. I want either one or the other: just the ingredients or only the ready-made food.
Fresh Farm To You
For “just ingredients” I’ve long been a fan of Farm Fresh To You. I’ve gotten their fresh local farm delivery for years. Benefits include:
- They deliver overnight to the inside of my building. Every other service I’ve tried requires me to be home to collect the package at drop-off. This makes Farm Fresh To You a huge plus in my eyes.
- Farm Fresh To You provides food from local sources, which is really important to me.
- I appreciate that I can pick and choose what produce I want each week (based on what’s seasonally available). I also like their growing selection of ready made food options and grocery aisle goods.
Thistle
Of the “ready to eat” services that I’ve tried, my favorite so far has been Thistle. They provide low-calorie vegan meals that almost always taste really good. The price is less than what I pay for restaurant food delivery. However, I have to be home and awake during the delivery window. That proved too often to be inconvenient for me, so I ultimately paused this one.
Why I Chose Hungryroot
Overall, Farm Fresh To You provides what I need. However, I feel like I’m in a rut with my meals. Moreover, I’ve been spending way too much money on food lately. I keep adding more and more on to my weekly deliveries. And while the produce prices are good, the prices for other goods (alt milk, yogurt, bread, snacks, readymade meals, etc.) are all a little bit on the pricier side.
Therefore, I decided to shake it up and try something different. Here’s why I chose Hungryroot:
- It looks like it has really good prices. That’s the number one reason.
- The food is healthy. They eliminate artificial preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and other things I don’t want in my body.
- They have meal suggestions. However, they are very flexible. You get the ingredients and you can choose to make the recommended meals or not.
- Hungryroot has a lot of vegan options. I’m not currently vegan but I like having those options to choose from.
- I LOVE their sustainability ethos. All of the packaging is recyclable or compostable.
What I Expect
I got my first Hungryroot box and I feel really happy with it so far. The produce all looks like it’s really good quality. The price was lower than I’d pay through other sources. (My local grocery store is expensive, so it might not be a money saver for everyone, but it definitely is so for me.) And I think I’m going to enjoy playing around with one of their meal suggestions while eating the other food prepared more simply.
What I kind of expect will happen is that I’ll end up trading off between Hungryroot and Farm Fresh To You. It’s not always going to be convenient for me to have to be home for deliveries. (I should add that this isn’t a problem for everyone. If it’s safe to leave the package at your door, they will. However, I live on a busy urban street and there’s nowhere to leave packages without risk of theft.) And there are things I love from Farm Fresh To You that I want to keep in my diet.
But we’ll see. The determining factor is probably going to be money. I’ll be tracking my food spending over the next 4-6 weeks. Then if the cost continues to be lower with Hungryroot, I’ll likely lean towards getting it most often.
Do you use a food box subscription service? Is it cost effective for you?
Read More:
- Meal Prep Subscriptions: Good For Some But Not For All
- Blue Apron Review: Is It Worth It?
- Thinking About Meal Delivery Services? Here Are the Pros and Cons
Kathryn Vercillo is a professional writer who loves to live a balanced life. She appreciates a good work-life balance. She enjoys balance in her relationships and has worked hard to learn how to balance her finances to allow for a balanced life overall. Although she’s only blonde some of the time, she’s always striving for total balance. She’s excited to share what she’s learned with you and to discover more together along the way.