Figuring out what to cook for dinner is one of the hardest things to do, especially when you’re vegan. The whole process was making me lose my mind. One night, while struggling to figure out what to eat for dinner (again), I came across Purple Carrot. In this Purple Carrot review, I’ll tell you if this vegan-based plan is worth trying.
What is Purple Carrot?
Purple Carrot is a meal kit subscription service that offers plant-based, quick-to-make meal kits delivered right to every customer’s door.
Each delivery comprises various ingredients such as fruits, vegetables, and plant-based proteins to prepare the meals you want to choose from each week.
However, unlike other meal delivery services that provide omnivorous meals, Purple Carrot offers an entirely plant-based alternative for vegetarians alone.
Purple Carrot does not use animal products in any of their meals or ingredients. Also, their meal is ready in about 30 minutes, making it easier to eat dinner in the comfort of your own homes. It also allows customers to select and try any dish from their eight dinner plant-based recipes and several dinners, snacks, breakfast, and lunch to create a custom menu that would suit their needs.
PROS
- Prep work is quick and easy.
- Shipping is free
- Has Extra Options
- Plant-based proteins
- Offers a rotating menu
CONS
- Limited recipes
- Recipes lack flavor
How Does It Work?
Purple Carrot gives its customers the liberty to choose the meals they want to eat per week. If you’re planning to subscribe, go to their official website to create an account to sign up for their meal plans.
You can choose between their High Protein, Chef’s Choice, and Gluten-Free food options. However, if you aren’t sure about subscribing yet and only want to check out their recipes, you can still view it even without an account.
Purple Carrot also takes the game higher because it allows its customers to choose their preferred delivery day. This meal-delivery service company can likewise pick your delivery day depending on your proximity to its distribution center.
Customers can also make a change, skip, or cancel their subscriptions with just a click of a button.
Choosing Your Meal
If you’re struggling to find time to prepare your veggie meals, Purple Carrot offers two-serving and six-serving plans that may help you. These servings have varied costs and can easily be switched to vice versa. When purchased individually, each meal may cost you a little more than $10 per serving, shipping included.
What’s great about their plans is that their payment is per week, so you won’t have to worry about paying for anything you don’t receive. This flexibility is impressive, making the cancellation process more manageable than other meal delivery services.
Two-Serving Plan
As earlier mentioned in this review, the two servings cost a little more than $10 per serving. In case you chose to receive three meals weekly, the cost will add up to only a little more than $70 per week. After subscribing to this plan, you can choose from 8 dinners, two lunches, and two breakfasts.
Four-Serving Plan
The four-serving plan is priced lower than $10 per serving, with two dinners arriving weekly. This meal plan can be considered a bulk program that is cheaper than other meal kit delivery services. This plan is like a family plan best shared with a family or even with many friends.
Purple Carrot has also launched a new plan for gym buffs—the TB12 Performance Meals. This gluten-free food is a great choice for serious athletes or gym freaks because it is jam-packed with protein and plant-based dishes are great for highly active individuals.
Who Is Purple Carrot Good For?
Purple Carrot is great for full-blooded vegetarians because it only serves plant-based meals. As someone who is vegan, I pretty much enjoyed how I was able to eat healthy food in almost just a snap of my fingers. Whether you’re a protein-conscious vegan or someone who craves gluten-free meals, this should kick up your chakra.
Their food is also a great option for busy people who want to eat something healthy once in a while. So, even if you aren’t entirely vegan, Purple Carrot is still worth giving a try. You can opt to receive nutritious meals once in a bit. You won’t have to worry since you can easily cancel their subscription any time you want, as long as you haven’t received the meals yet.
In this Purple Carrot review, keep in mind that gradually transitioning into eating healthy wouldn’t be too hard—shopping, curating plans, cooking, and all other tedious tasks one tends to avoid--as long as you’re determined to go to this route.
“I always say that eating a plant-based diet is the secret weapon of enhanced athletic performance.”
― Rich Roll, Plantpowered Wellness Advocate, Bestselling Author, Ultra-Athlete, and Podcast Host.
How’s The Food Quality?
True to its claims, the meals I have ordered arrived fresh and stayed fresh until I cooked them. Thank goodness I read a helpful Purple Carrot review about refrigerating the veggies as soon as possible after receiving the packages. Although this pro tip says you should probably only do this during summertime, I reckoned I couldn’t take the risk. It’s impressive how the dairy substitutes and condiments remained fresh.
I also like how generous the portions per serving are. If you are to eat their meals alone, you may have some leftovers that may last you up to four meals more. They are still as delicious, so you don’t have to worry about these leftovers. Taste- and flavor-wise, Purple Carrot is a good alternative. It’s also fun to discover creative ways on how to cook vegetables.
Purple Carrot Menu
If you’re vegan, you’ll be happy to try Purple Carrot. Its meal kits include various fresh, high-quality ingredients, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, herbs, spices, and sauces. Based on research, Purple Carrot’s most non-produce items are organic and non-GMO, including fruits, vegetables, beans, tofu, nut milk, and tempeh.
Here are my personal favorites after making this Purple Carrot review:
Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats
Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats with pecans and vanilla yogurt is my favorite breakfast meal. This recipe is so easy to prepare, so if you’re as busy as a bee, this is worth trying. Within five minutes, I can toss all the ingredients needed in a large bowl or container with a lid and pop the mixture in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 8 hours. The next morning, I can take it out, and voila, my breakfast is ready to eat within five minutes of preparation.
Brown Rice Banh Mi Bowls
For lunch, Brown Rice Banh Mi Bowls with avocado and peanut sauce is my go-to vegan recipe. This quick-to-make easy plant-based diet has beans/legumes, root vegetables, peanuts, nuts, lime, jalapeño, fruit, coconut, cilantro, carrot, avocado, and brown rice. It is also soy and gluten-free. I could prepare this meal in barely ten minutes, and the taste is such a lover-boy. I would eat this vegan meal any day with minimal cooking required.
Lemon Zucchini Noodles
And for dinner, Lemon Zucchini Noodles with cashew cream and crispy artichoke hearts is my favorite. I feel like cooking this vegan meal is so much fun because I prepare the zucchini noodles. This dish has cashew cream, crispy artichoke hearts, lemon zest, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, and red chile flakes. It would only take at least 30 minutes of your time to prepare this.
How Do I Order?
To order, you will need to create a profile and sign in to their official website. Before subscribing to any of the meals, try to pick the recipes you want to include in your meal plan. You can either choose High Protein, Chef’s Choice, or Gluten-Free meal options. Carefully review your selected meals before placing an order.
After placing your order, you will receive an email or text with tracking information as soon as your order has been shipped. If you don’t have any particular meal that you want to have, you can let the company’s culinary team curate your plans week to week, ensuring something new and flavorful in every meal kit.
You can skip, change, or altogether cancel your subscription. You also get to review and choose pre-selected recipes or add additional meals to your order. Always check the shopping cart to save the changes and totals for your orders.
Related Post: 10 Best Vegan Meal Delivery Services
Purple Carrot Extra Features
Recipe Booklet
Purple Carrot sends a booklet with all of that week’s recipes for your dinner, breakfast, lunch, or snacks instead of a recipe card, like the Sun Basket, another meal delivery service. This recipe booklet includes step-by-step cooking instructions, pictures, and lists of the ingredients you should receive.
It also has the eight weekly recipes and extra options, not just the two or three recipes you receive, so I feel like this perk is relatively generous. This booklet of nutritious recipes is quite good for busy people who don’t have time to search for recipes online.
Gift Option
Purple Carrot has a unique gift option. Every four orders that a current subscriber receives will earn one free box to give to a new user. However, the Share-A-Box free boxes can only be redeemed by first-time users and per household. However, the recipient must redeem the free box credit within 30 days because it will be sent back to the subscriber’s account to be re-sent to someone new.
Extra Options
This plant-based meal delivery service also offers extra options where subscribers can add snacks and other ingredients that they like. However, these extra options can be limited depending on the serving plan the customer has subscribed to and come at an extra cost. You can add up to three extras to a two-serving plan, one extra to a six-serving plan, or four “extra” options a week designed for five-minute prep.
Shipping & Packaging
Recycling reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators, increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials, saves energy, and helps create jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States. [1]
Like other meal delivery services that I have tried, Purple Carrot also tries to limit its packaging’s environmental impact by using recyclable materials, which is good. Each meal kit is shipped in a cardboard box with limited usage of plastic bags, lined with fiber insulation made of recycled cotton encased in a plastic wrap and kept cold with gel packs.
As for the shipping fee, you won’t need to worry about it because this plant-based meal delivery service offers free shipping for all their meal plans.
Does Purple Carrot Deliver To My Area?
Purple Carrot currently delivers to the contiguous US only. However, if you want to know if Purple Carrot sends to your area, you can go to their website and enter your zip code. You can also click the purple chat button to ask one of their Carrot Coaches.
Any Downsides?
Based on customer reviews found online, some people are not happy with Purple Carrot’s price transparency. They claim that it confuses them how much everything adds up, including extra options, on the website until they get to the final bill.
These people also complain about the limited customization they get for special needs. Although common allergens like soy and wheat are marked clearly in the condiments with their meal serving plans, there aren’t many options to customize for other food allergies and dietary restrictions.
What Customers Say About Purple Carrot
Based on my research, other people like how Purple Carrot plant-based meals are fresh, tasty, and affordable. They get to enjoy their vegan meal plans every week, which can be rotated or switched.
They also like how all ingredients come pre-measured and portioned, which makes cooking more comfortable and faster. The recipe booklets are also easy to follow because they have clear instructions and steps. Some meals are too easy and fast to make, too. You can whip out your snacks in under five minutes.
Purple Carrot also allows change of plans, weekly delivery skips, and subscription cancellation anytime. And since the options are already on your account settings, you don’t even have to talk to a service representative to skip, make a change or cancel your subscriptions. Purple Carrot meals are also free of gluten, have plenty of flavors, and have the option to add extras for your plans. You may also want to check out our comparison of Purple Carrot and Green Chef here.
FAQs
Purple Carrot claims that their boxes’ contents will last up to 72 hours, relatively more protracted than most meal kit delivery services because they don’t contain meat. However, I still recommend that upon receiving your order, you put the contents straight into your refrigerator to preserve its optimal freshness. If maintained correctly, these contents will last up to three to five days.
Yes, you can cancel your subscription at any time. Purple Carrot doesn’t have a membership fee. You can also skip deliveries or change your subscription meal plans through their website. In other words, you don’t have to go to their office or talk to their representative personally. Just go to your Purple Carrot account and save the options that you modified.
No, Tom Brady doesn’t own Purple Carrot. However, he is one of the few celebrities that Purple Carrot has partnered with. Since the notable New England Patriots quarterback partnership, he lent his name to the company’s $78-a-week “TB12” Performance Meals diet, modeled after his culinary regimen. This particular food utilizes whole foods and focuses on providing nutrients for workout recovery.
No, you don’t need to be home when your Purple Carrot order arrives because this meal delivery service doesn’t require signatures for the order delivery. In other words, you can still receive your orders even when you aren’t at home. All orders are securely put into a thoroughly insulated and packaged with ice packs cardboard, keeping them stable and temperature-safe at your door.
Yes, you can add a snack the same way you’d change meals or add an Extra for your subscribed plan. All offered snacks are 100% plant-based and are provided on a rotation, available for six weeks at a time. Snacks vary in price, depending on the item. However, the number of snacks you can add depends on the amount of room left in your box each week after your meals.
Should I Buy From Purple Carrot?
Based on my research, I recommend that you buy plant-based meals from Purple Carrot because its meals are fresh, gluten-free, have plenty of flavors, and affordable. The ingredients for each meal are also pre-measured and portioned, so you don’t have to exert extra effort to prepare and cook their meals.
Purple Carrot boxes also come with recipe booklets that contain easy to follow steps in preparing and cooking their vegan-bases meals. This company also allows easy changing of plans, skipping deliveries, and canceling subscriptions. And since you’ll get to pay after receiving their boxes, it is easier to cancel any time.
We Recommend
Purple Carrot
- Pre-measured and portioned ingredients
- Recipe booklets with easy to follow procedures
- Easy cancellation of orders
- Quick and easy to prepare
About Author
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
Meg S.
My husband and I have completed 4 weeks of purple carrot. We love it! The only downside for me is cost. The meals are delicious and taste restaurant quality. We have never had any missing items however we did receive one bell pepper that was on its way out. Luckily I happened to have an extra bell pepper in the fridge. And of all 16 meals so far there was only one that I didn't like. So, I would definitely recommend. Purple carrot is such a time saver!
Steve H.
Every week we receive Purple Carrot meals to assemble where the pre-cut or bagged greens (arugula, spinach, kale, etc.) are rotten or on the verge of rotten and make the entire bag of greens stinky and unusable. The customer service will give you a $10 credit for future orders if you complain, but honestly, it's not worth it. Purple Carrot has an operations problem in their distribution centers, no doubt. We are currently switching away from Purple Carrot. We live in the Charlotte, NC area.
Renee Auerbach
My husband and I have been vegans for 30+ years. After years of frozen entrees and eating out we tried purple carrot. Knockout flavors - we were floored at the ease and the downright scrumptious flavors from such few and wholesome ingredients. Yeah I've had some problems with customer service but I'm telling you you cannot beat these recipes which could rival any high end vegan restaurants.
Jessica Pena Metcalf
Our first set of meals arrived completely warm and had to be thrown out. The packaging was nice and had plenty of insulation and icepacks, but I don't see how this will work with the frozen meals being on a delivery truck all day. When I contacted Purple Carrot they did refund the order, but would not allow me to use my first order coupon discount on the next order and told me it could only be used on the first order. They have horrible customer service when trying to resolve the issue, it's completely like talking to a wall and they just follow the script and you can't talk to them in common sense terms. Stay away and just go to the grocery store and get Amy's microwave meals instead.
Sophia E Steilen
I LOVE purple carrot, the recipes are always incredible. It makes my life so much easier and healthier!!!
k
I can't seem to even get my boxes delivered. first one promised my first Box in april, but nothing arrived and i got no notification it shipped. they said they sent me a notice that my box would not be delivered because they ran out of ingredients.... they have me a credit and did not charge me. ok. fine... I'll give it another go. come this month and it loojs like the box left their facility in NJ yesterday, but it was supposed to arrive today and nothing arrived. Looks like it was lost. wondering if these guys are really legit or it wasn't meant to be.
Jennifer Wilton
I’ve been a purple carrot customer for 8 months and love it. I think they have made some changes but even as someone who needs gluten free, there are always enough options. They also just added the option to add fully cooked meals to your box. I have referred six or seven people (they give you a box to ‘gift’ every four boxes you order) and at least three of them are still ordering. I don’t always love absolutely everything but I’d say 85% of the time it’s a home run.
Tracy
I have been a purple carrot subscriber since Jan 1, 2022. (about 2 months of this writing) and I have never experienced a missing ingredient. I enjoy all the filling meals and agree that SOME lack full robust flavor. While others have an abundance of sweet/salty components. I am careful when selecting to read thoroughly looking for the full flavored items.
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Tracy, thank you for your feedback. It helps others who wish to have meals delivered rather than cooking. I appreciate your reaching out to share.
D
I find that 75% of the time there is some ingredient missing from the box. Take my Thanksgiving box for example, no entree was included! But they apologized, again. I won't be using their substandard service anymore.
miss jay
in the initial list of pros and cons, you have “recipes lack flavor” as a con, but this is contradicted in the rest of the entire blog by the rest of your commentary. can you please share more information about what was lacking flavor? what made you report that? thanks!
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Miss Jay, I prefer a little more spice and seasoning on my food. So, I think Purple Carrot meals are great but need to be adjusted for personal seasoning and spice. I think they make the meals less flavorful to appeal to all people. The great thing about seasoning and spices is you can always add more, but you can't take it away once it's been added. So, with that being said, I add more salt, pepper, and condiments to make it exactly to my liking. I hope this answers your question. Let me know what you think about Purple Carrot.