I Tried Daily Harvest For 14 Days & Here’s The Full Scoop

A 2021 mood: watching my weekly grocery haul wilt away as I scramble to collect enough brain cells and post-workday energy for crafting a nutritious meal. Lockdown fatigue has set in and my culinary creativity is, admittedly, sapped. Sometimes a break from the hamster wheel of grocery-shopping, recipe-scrolling, and meal-prepping is just what the doctor ordered (if and when it's in the budgetary cards!). That's where, for me, Daily Harvest came into play. The popular meal-delivery service offered to send me a free 14-day trial of its plant-based and premade recipes — and I, along with my not-so-fresh fridge, happily obliged. With my entire vegan being aching to take a home-chef time out, I typed in my zip code on the DH site and picked out my curated box filled with tasty smoothies, grain bowls, soups, and beyond. Below, discover my full rundown of two weeks with Daily Harvest (including my honest opinions and foodie snapshots) to discover if it's actually worth your coin. 

Unlike my previous organic-only Sakara Life adventure, Daily Harvest is a service with ingredients you can pronounce and dishes you can easily recreate on your own. They work directly with farmers to grow superior produce, harvest it at the right time, and freeze it all at the source to lock in that flavor and peak nutrition. Here, you won't find fillers, gums, refined sugars, harmful oils, stabilizers, or artificial (anything) in the food. Yet, they remain relatable. Instead of containing crazy ingredients like ashwagandha and spirulina, you'll find nourishing kale, squash, sweet potato, grains, and more common veggie faves within grain bowls, soups, smoothies, flatbreads, ice creams (called Scoops), and tasty sweet morsels like superfood bites and chia pudding bowls.

Around 3 p.m., I heard a knock at my door and saw my dog jump up from the couch with a small-dog yelp. My meals had arrived! As a new customer, I chose the plan with 9, 12, or 24 items, and then I picked how often I'd like them delivered. I decided on 24 items, and the pre-made containers came in an insulated box with lots of recyclable ice packs to keep them fresh. Most of the meals come in ice-cream-style pint cartons, while the Harvest Bowls and soups arrive in soft, recycled rounded bowls with plastic covers. You can choose between weekly or monthly deliveries with swap-outs, box sizes, and skippable weeks after your first delivery.

Everything is frozen. Yes, everything. You don't have to worry about avocados suffocating overnight or arugula somehow turning a strange shade of brown before the week is finished. The containers arrive sealed and ready to live within the confines of the freezer — and truly they didn't go bad in there. I found myself constantly gravitating toward the flatbreads; tasty crips with all-veg crusts and savory sauces drizzled overtop. The Spinach + Artichoke version came in first place while the Kale + Sweet Potato breezed in at a cool second. The real champion of Daily Harvest was, surprisingly, the smoothies. I often make smoothies myself but these flavors (mango and papaya or mint and cacao and carrot and cinnamon, just to name a few) really blew me away. During one particularly drowsy morning, I set aside my latte in favor of their Cold Brew + Almond smoothie. And I never, ever toss out a latte.

Over the course of fourteen days, I slowly consumed everything from veggie-packed "Harvest Bowls" to creamy butternut squash soups topped with rosemary. It felt like my mom was here with me; making sure I filled my body with warming, comforting, and nutritious meals every single day — no matter how busy my schedule became. On days when I'd rather eat sweets, I opted for their no-bake superfood bites that I devoured within two seconds of realizing they tasted like fresh cookie dough. Mmm. The DH website states: "The scrape-the-plate-clean kind of delicious, super-nourishing, any-and-all palate-pleasing bowls. Aka good food, ready in minutes." They were right.

The most popular subscription plan features 14 items of your choosing (with $20 off your first box.) You can select whichever recipe you'd like with each dish costing anywhere from $5.99 to $9.99.

As a plant-based eater, I can certainly say that prepping, washing, shopping, chopping, and planning can be exhausting. I'm always looking for ways to improve my digestion (IBS sufferers raise your hands!) and get more greens in, rather than indulging in the popular soy products available these days. As opposed to other meal delivery services I've tried in the past, Daily Harvest feels the most affordable — and even though I tried the service for free, I can see myself working it in as an occasional break from my usual grocery-shopping and meal-prepping routine. The only real con is that in order to make this plan effective, you'll still need to buy additional food for the week — especially if you're serving a family. I had my doubts, but with a little added salt and lots of time saved, I can definitely see myself ordering another Daily Harvest box soon. Enjoy 20$ off your first box with code WELCOME20.