Daily Harvest is a plant-based meal and smoothie kit delivery service offering various meals to help you conveniently get in more fruits and vegetables.
Below is a video of my thoughts on Daily Harvest & how I make my lunch!
You know what the number one question I hear as a Dietitian is? What meal delivery service do I recommend? For many years, I got questions from clients and readers asking which meal kit delivery service I recommended. I couldn’t really make a solid recommendation because I didn’t use any of them. So, I set out in 2020 to start reviewing some of the most popular services, including Sun Basket, HelloFresh, Daily Harvest, Green Chef, EveryPlate, Home Chef, Blue Apron, Smoothiebox, and Hungryroot (my favorite.) Today I’m reviewing a healthy living blogger favorite: Daily Harvest
Up until recently, I haven’t had a good response. As a Dietitian, I don’t love meal delivery services for several reasons. The most concerning is that you won’t make any true lifestyle change, and when you don’t want to spend the money anymore or get sick of the food, you stop ordering, and it’s over.
However, I also realize the need for convenience to maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially during busy times in our lives. What I like about Daily Harvest is that it creates convenience in healthy eating while allowing some flexibility.
Please note, I received a free box of daily harvest products to try, but I was not paid for this review. I was planning on doing it anyway like I’ve done so many other reviews that I paid for myself. However, since they offered (literally a few days before I was going to order), why not? Right!?!? I’ve also signed up as an affiliate, so the links here are affiliate links. Thanks, friends!
Update: I’ve been ordering with DH since this original post was posted over two years ago, still a huge fan of DH, especially the Harvest Bowls!
If you want a quick version of this review, here are the cliff notes:
Top 3 Pros Of Daily Harvest:
- Convenience – You can’t beat the convenience of having quick items in your freezer ready to make in under five minutes for any meal of the day.
- Unique flavors & ingredients – Superfood ingredients and flavor profiles that you probably wouldn’t make at home.
- Nutrition – With such a huge variety of produce options available is so many meals. You’ll be getting a ton of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals.
Top 3 Cons Of Daily Harvest:
- Freezer Space – This is a con with any frozen meal kit delivery service, but the cups Daily Harvest uses require a ton of dedicated freezer space.
- Low Protein – The meals are 100% plant-based (at least that I’ve seen), so naturally, most (not all) meals are on the lower side in protein.
- Cost – The products are made with unusual, high-quality, nutritious ingredients, and, like most meal kit delivery services, you are paying for convenience — more on cost below.
For those of you who were looking for just the highlighted bullet points, that should help you out! If you are ready to order, click here and use the code hungryhobby for up to $40 off your first order!
How Does Daily Harvest Work?
Daily Harvest is exploding in popularity, and for a good reason. They shook up the meal kit delivery service world with a different kind of service and product. They currently offer various meal types that all come in unique recyclable cups you can take on the go with you.
They are adding new meal types all the time, but currently, they offer:
- Smoothies
- Mylk
- Harvest Bowls
- Flatbreads
- Soups
- Bites
- Oat Bowls
- Chia Bowls
- Lattes
- Scoops
Pick Your Plan – Cost
Daily Harvest plans range from 6.99 per cup/meal to 7.75 per cup/meal, depending on how many your order and at what frequency. That translates into $69.75 per week for 9 cups or $89.88 for 12 meals a week, or $167.76 per week or month for 24 cups.
It’s not cheap, but it’s on par with other healthy meal kit delivery services like Sun Basket, but unlike those types of services, you don’t have to spend more than five minutes cooking! Woot woot!
To put it in perspective, it’s cheaper than ordering from a restaurant but more expensive than making your food at home. You are paying for the convenience of not cooking or prepping your meals when you chose to use a meal kit delivery service.
And although I do not want to turn this into a SmoothieBox vs. Daily Harvest review, it’s worth mentioning that if you are only interested in smoothies ONLY. Daily Harvest is twice the price of SmoothieBox per smoothie. Also, I like Smoothie Box smoothies much better than I like the Daily Harvest smoothies.
Fill Your Box
I love the ability to filter by likes/dislikes! It could also be helpful if you have food sensitivities or allergies as well.
You can also filter by key benefits or dietary needs. I love this feature! Sometimes when companies have a billion meals to chose from, that overwhelms me. The filters help narrow it down, which is nice.
Receive Your Box
Your box will be delivered on the day of the week of your choice. It will come with dry ice on the bottom, which you discard by letting it evaporate outside.
How To Make Daily Harvest Meals
Each meal type comes with specific instructions on how to make it.
Harvest Bowls – MY FAVORITE OFFERING
You can cook these on the stove or in the microwave. For mine, I microwaved them while cooking eggs for added protein on the stove. Each meal was ready in less than 30 minutes!
I love these because they come in a TON of different flavors, so it’s easy to meal prep your protein for the week to add to a different bowl each week. This creates weekly flexibility and cuts down on time, and still teaches you lifestyle meal prep/planning skills.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to adding more protein:
- Leftover protein from dinner
- Baked tofu
- Edamame
- Eggs
- Pre-cooked nitrate-free sausages (any flavor)
- Shrimp (easy to quickly pan fry)
- Meal prepped protein sources like salmon, chicken, or beef.
They have over 16 harvest bowl recipes to try, so you’ll never have to eat the same thing over and over again!
2021 UPDATE! They updated their packaging for their bowls! You can now cook your harvest bowls DIRECTLY INSIDE the bowl packaging it comes in. I tried to use my hands to give you a reference for size. Keep in mind. My hands are pretty tiny even for the average 5’6″ woman.
Soups
Heat the soups for 3-5 minutes and enjoy it!
Bites
Bites are healthy snacks or desserts that can be enjoyed directly out of the freezer. I had a cup full of chocolate chip cookie dough bites that I inhaled without evening stopping to take a picture. So delicious!
Oat Bowls
Make overnight oats by letting it defrost with milk in the fridge overnight or heat from frozen. I also love the oats because they include more healthful ingredients than I would bother to include on my own. So, that’s a big bonus win! Oat Bowls now come in similar packaging to the harvest bowls.
Smoothies
Dump contents of the Daily Harvest cup into the blender and blend with your choice of liquid. Mr. Hungry and I always add collagen powder and spinach to our smoothies.
Lattes
Run one pod over hot water for 10 seconds, then with 10 ounces of liquid heat for 1-2 minutes in the microwave, or blend in a blender until frothy.
NEW: Flatbreads
Flatbreads are a relatively new offering introduced in late 2020! They have super expanded their offerings since the first roll-out. They now have seven offerings to choose from! To cook: Place baking sheet on center rack of your oven or toaster oven and preheat to 450°F. Unwrap and remove Flatbread from the base. Place frozen Flatbread on a preheated baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until edges are a deep golden brown. Cool for 1-2 minutes. Enjoy.
NEW: MYLK
A relatively new offering as well are their Mylk Pods. I haven’t got a chance to try this yet, but the concept is cool. Basically, they make super fresh almond milk with 3 ingredients or less in a very concentrated form, then freeze it to retain its nutrients. You then blend the frozen pods with water to create a batch of almond milk. Easier than trying to make almond milk from scratch, that’s for sure!
Is Daily Harvest Healthy?
Daily Harvest meals are PACKED with fruits, vegetables, and unique superfood ingredients. If you are looking for a convenient way to get in more plants into your day (always a healthy win), they will help you!
Frozen = More Nutrients
The products come frozen, which is great for nutrient retention. When produce is frozen close to the farm, they don’t lose any nutrients in transport, which is great!
Unique Flavors & Ingredients
Whenever I make a Daily Harvest meal, I feel like I just ordered a smoothie from the Whole Foods smoothie bar or picked up a meal from their hot bar. The flavor profile and additions of superfood powders into their meals are VERY unique.
It’s often combinations I would never think to make at home, and I’m a food blogger. It’s like eating out, but you’re not actually eating out. THE BEST!
One thing to note here is that some of their products contain herbal and superfood powders, which is fun. However, I would avoid consuming just those products (usually the smoothies and lattes) in pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Certain herbs/superfood powders used for energy/relaxation can also have an impact on hormonal balance. Not something you want to mess with in pregnancy or while trying to keep up a breastmilk supply. Also, we aren’t sure what, if any, impact they have on developing babies. Best to skip! As I said, that’s mostly the smoothies, and my favorite offering of theirs is the harvest bowls.
Macro Breakdown
As far as macro breakdown goes, I don’t love that many of them are low-protein. They do have a filter for “post-workout recovery” that shows your options that have more protein. However, the vast majority of their meal options provide less than 10 grams of protein per meal.
Why do I care about protein? Protein keeps you fuller for longer and helps stabilize blood sugar levels creating more steady energy levels throughout the day. I try to get at least 15 grams of protein at a meal, so I added collagen powder to my smoothies and oatmeal bowls, and I added eggs to the harvest bowls. Easy peasy, not a big deal!
The nice thing is, all the meals I’ve seen have been under 45 grams of carbohydrate and high fiber. Sometimes plant-based meals overdo it on the grains sending the carb count out of control.
Most of their meals are between 30-45 grams in carbs with a good amount of fiber. That falls within the guidelines of how I design my meal plans for steady blood sugar, which reduces energy swings and cravings.
Many plant-based healthy fats in the Daily Harvest meals, but not so much that the calorie count is out of control. Perfect amount and types of healthy fats if you ask me!
Is Daily Harvest Good For Weight Loss?
I’ve been receiving many questions about this topic in particular lately, so I thought for this update, I’d hit on it. Keep in mind Daily Harvest does not market itself for weight loss. Instead, they focus on providing healthy, nutritious plant-based meals. If your main goal is to lose weight, will Daily Harvest help you do that? The answer? Maybe, let’s dig in.
Here’s how Daily Harvest might help you lose weight:
- Most products are low to moderate calories (400 calories or less) appropriate for weight loss goals for some people.
- Daily Harvest products are packed full of filling nutritious ingredients, which will help keep you full* (see cons as well.)
- Ordering DH eliminates the need for meal prep (or cuts down your meal prep), helping you stay more consistent and out of the drive-thru line.
- Plant-based diets are known for helping with weight control and even weight loss.
Here’s how Daily Harvest might not help you lose weight:
- Low protein = not as filling and potential loss of muscle mass when calorie deficient, making it harder to control your weight long term. (This can be remedied by adding protein or filtering by high protein options.)
- Relying on any meal delivery service means you aren’t developing the cooking skills yourself and will need to continue to rely on that service to continue to get results.
I have recommended DH to many of my clients. Here is what I’ve noticed: typically, they order the meals for lunch and add protein, which is what I do. However, they must also continue to develop meal prep skills for other meals throughout the day, or they don’t get results. So, yes, DH can help weight loss, but you must also focus on the meals outside of DH to get results.
Is Daily Harvest Worth It?
In most cases, a meal kit delivery service provides convenience. However, with Daily Harvest, you get loads of produce and unique ingredients like superfood powders that I wouldn’t spend the time to use or buy. They also provide portability with their specially designed on the go cups.
Is it worth it? If you are looking for a meal kit delivery service to make your life a little easier and help you get in healthier meals, I would definitely consider Daily Harvest! Let me know if you have other questions, happy to answer them!
If you are ready to order, click here and use the code hungryhobby for up to $40 off your first order!
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