100% plant-based and also 100% tasty?
It’s true — after cooking and eating Purple Carrot’s vegan meal kit offerings a few times over four years, we can safely conclude that the recipes, ingredients and company stand up to our testing and then some.
I’ve personally been testing all the meal kit companies we could find for almost five years, from placing the orders and making accounts to washing countless dishes and everything in between. From vegetarian and vegan kits to ready-to-eat and grocery delivery, there is a kit out there for everyone — and plenty for me!
How Purple Carrot Works
Purple Carrot is quite simple to set up. The meal kit company offers the traditional weekly menu with corresponding plans but has also introduced ready-to-eat meals, frozen meals sold in your local grocery store, and even an online market with an array of other plant-based brands to shop.
The brand offers vegan cuisine and vegan cuisine only, so if this is your diet, you are in luck! However, even if you do choose to partake in meat and fish like I do, Purple Carrot can serve as a great way to introduce a few plant-based options into your weekly rotation.
The traditional meal kits span breakfast, lunch and dinner and also come in either two or four-person serving sizes. Party of one? When testing these meals, I saved the second portion of the two-person meals for lunch, and most of all the recipes I tried reheated well.
Make sure to pay attention to your delivery window when planning meals, as once you place your order, your box will arrive on a Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, depending on your location. You can also pause your account or skip deliveries, should you be out of town.
Purple Carrot price
Like the menu of meals, Purple Carrot varies in price.
For traditional meal kits, prices start at $11 per serving. Ready-to-eat meals are priced at $13 each, as they contain one serving. Grocery items are each individually priced and will be added to your weekly box total.
Is shipping free? For orders under $100, there is indeed a $12 shipping fee but orders $100 or more are on Purple Carrot! The vegan meal kit delivery currently ships to all 48 contiguous U.S. states.
Purple Carrot Meals
Purple Carrot only carries plant-based meals, but by no means does that limit the options you can choose from every week.
The brand offers choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but the most variety can be found in the dinner section. As I previously mentioned, many dinner options also work for lunch.
While you won’t ever find chicken or pork, you will indeed find other plant-based protein sources in many recipes, including tofu, beans, chickpeas, and also meat replacements like mock-crab and other dupes for chicken, beef, and pork.
Purple Carrot recipes include the estimated cooking time, with some starting at 15 minutes for a quick dinner or simple lunch. Nutrition facts, ingredients, allergens and kitchen tools are also listed, so you know what’s what before placing an order.
Our review
Pros:
- Great variety of meal kits, heat-and-eat meals and snacks
- Meal kits have easy instructions and packaged ingredients for easy sorting
- Ready-made meals warm up well and easily
- Great flavors and textures
- Yummy meat and dairy replacements
- Free shipping, easy customer service, on-time delivery
Cons:
- Individual packaging does mean less sustainable
I ordered a few different options with varying difficulty levels — difficulty being relative, as all recipes came pre-portioned and wrapped by meal. While not the most sustainable, it did make for super easy unboxing and prep.
The Green Shawarma Burgers with Lemon-Sesame Yogurt and Cucumber Salad was a perfect reintroduction to Purple Carrot, as it reminded me how easy a vegan meal can be to make but also how fun and tasty. The cucumber salad only took a bit of skill with a peeler, and then the rest was just a bit of mixing or flipping in a frypan.
For a more involved meal, the Mafaldine with Red Pesto and Crispy Artichokes required a bit more cooking and appliances, like a food processor and an oven in addition to the stovetop.
I actually don’t have a food processor, so I used my blender and it worked perfectly. With meal kits, I’ve found that being flexible is key! It typically turns out well.
For my ready-to-eat option, I warmed up the Pesto Portobello Tortellini with Tofu Ricotta and Broccoli with a few reservations. Would the broccoli be soggy? Or worse, how does tofu make a yummy, cheesy ricotta? I was shocked and amazed that both of my nerves were soothed at the first bite. Cheese can be a tricky thing to make vegan and tasty, but somehow Purple Carrot did just that, and my pasta and sauce were creamy and cheesy, just like the real thing.
The only downside to note is the excess of plastic, as each of the ingredients, sauces, and seasonings come packaged in it. I don’t personally see how this could improve, as having everything pre-measured did make for a seamless cooking experience that would keep me subscribed to Purple Carrot, but something to mention nonetheless.
The final verdict
Purple Carrot is a perfect option for those who subscribe to a vegan diet and those who simply want more veggie-based meals in their diet.
The price is comparable with other meal kits and it has plenty of offerings, including la carte grocery shopping.
As a carnivore, the meals were just as delicious as what I would want from a meat-based dish, and I would certainly subscribe to a smaller plan to have a meal or two per week.
How we tested
- Ease of ordering: The online weekly menu is easy to navigate, allowing you to fill your box with meal kits and then add on grocery items and see prices and shipping before you check out. You can also add any promo codes on the site while placing an order.
- Prep, cook and cleanup time: Prep is the easiest part, as each meal comes pre-packaged up per meal. Cooking and cleaning times varied, stacking up to the 15 to 30-minute average for many of the kits I tested.
- Flavor and fullness: Flavor was a 5-out-of-5; a standout for a vegan kit. The meals were also filling, despite not containing traditional meat or dairy products.
- Sustainability: The box and ice packs are recyclable, but they do wrap all items in plastic, making it a bit more wasteful than other meal kits.
- Price: With meals starting around the $11/serving mark, this is comparable with other meal kits I’ve tested.
FAQ: What to look for when choosing a meal kit
Diet: Pay attention to the dietary options each service caters to, from vegetarian and vegan to Keto and paleo.
Household Size: Count the number of people in your family and then account for how much they eat to best calculate how many servings you need to feed everyone. Some kits detailed above have larger portions, while others are single-serve only.
Budget: Meal kits and services have a wide range of prices. Some offer free shipping, while others have a minimum spend. Specialty or health-related plans may cost more.
Time: Think about how long you want to be cooking for each night. Some meals require 30 or more minutes to cook, not including cleaning up. Others are microwavable, requiring no clean-up time after.
