Our Honest Purple Carrot Review 2024
This is our honest Purple Carrot Review about the vegan meal delivery service that delivers tasty and entirely plant-based meals straight to your door! In this post, we’ll discuss whether or not Purple Carrot is any good + what we do/don’t like about it!
This post is not sponsored by Purple Carrot, but we are affiliates and make a small commission if you choose to purchase it through our code/links. This post contains affiliate links. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. Click here to read our full policy about affiliate links. Thank you for shopping our affiliate links, as it helps us keep the free vegan recipes coming your way!
I’ve always been so curious about meal kits, and after following Purple Carrot on social media for a while and seeing all of their amazing recipes (WAY beyond rabbit food), I decided to take the leap and order a box to review for the blog.
As food bloggers who are constantly developing and photographing recipe content, I did not go into this review thinking we were going to make it a part of our everyday life, but I was wrong!
After trying our first box, we decided to keep our Purple Carrot deliveries going at least once a month. (See below for info on how to skip a box.) I think it will be particularly helpful for when we travel or don’t have a lot of recipes to photograph in a particular week!
With this post, we hope to use our experience (and a ton of research) to help you cut through the guesswork and decide whether or not Purple Carrot is right for you and your family!
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What is Purple Carrot?
Purple Carrot is a vegan meal delivery service. They offer weekly subscriptions for delivery of both meal kits and prepared meals. This post will mostly focus on Purple Carrot’s meal kits (that is, until we give the prepared meals a try!).
Is Purple Carrot any good?
We did the research, and our answer is YES! We’ll get into more detail about what we think about Purple Carrot in the rest of this post (as well as answer some of the most frequently asked questions). Overall, Purple Carrot can definitely be a fantastic resource for anyone who’s vegan or trying to incorporate more plant-based food in their diet and want to have a ton of fun while doing it without putting in a ton of time. And that’s what we’re all about here at Plant Power Couple!
Purple Carrot Promo Code
Click here and use code PLANTPOWER30 to get $30 off your first Purple Carrot box!
Purple Carrot Meal Delivery Review
Purple Carrot Pros
Here are some of the top things we love about Purple Carrot:
- GREAT recipes. This is coming from two people who make a living developing recipes. Purple Carrot recipes are INCREDIBLE – so creative with simple methods but these amazing flavor combinations that are just delightful. I’m pretty picky with recipes (for obvious reasons), but I cannot find one thing I don’t like about any of the Purple Carrot recipes we tried. It has sparked so much creativity in our kitchen!
- Fresh ingredients. Purple Carrot ingredients arrive fresh in an insulated box packed with non-toxic ice packs. Sometimes this causes a few of the ingredients (like greens) to freeze and wilt a bit, but this is minimal in our experience. The ingredients we received in our box were incredibly fresh and stayed that way for as long as a week in our fridge. I couldn’t believe how crisp and fresh the lettuce for the tofu lettuce cups was!
- All vegan. All of Purple Carrot’s meals are vegan, unlike other meal kit delivery services who may only offer a vegan plan – leaving you with limited and, let’s be honest, often boring options. Purple Carrot only does plant-based, and they do it WELL, taking into account a wide range of vegan tastes that step far outside of the boring and stereotypical “rabbit food” meals. It’s REAL recipes for REAL vegans, like us!
Purple Carrot Cons
These aren’t necessarily deal-breakers for us. However, in the interest of providing you with the most honest review so you can make the best choice for YOU and your family, there are a few cons to consider:
- No monthly delivery option. Personally, I wish Purple Carrot had a monthly delivery option. However, weekly delivery seems to be pretty standard for any meal kit. Because we work with food a lot, we only need 1-2 boxes per month (depending on how many recipes we have to shoot that month and whether or not we’re traveling). There is a way to work around this though; we’ll talk more about how to pause or skip deliveries later on in this post.
- Simplified recipes but missing detail. While Purple Carrot recipes are VERY easy to make and are written in very simple instructions, that sometimes means they lack the detail that might be necessary for a very beginner cook. Speaking from experience here!. A basic knowledge of plant-based cooking (how to dice various veggies, press tofu, etc.) is extremely helpful when making Purple Carrot recipes. If you are new to cooking, you’ll want to factor in extra time to figure these things out.
- Waste. As with most meal kits, each box does create some waste. According to Purple Carrot, however, most of their packaging is recyclable and their website even includes a page with instructions on how to recycle each piece of packaging.
Purple Carrot Cost
Here is the cost breakdown for Purple Carrot Meal Kits:
- 2-Serving Plan with 3 Dinners per Week: $79.50 / $13.25 per serving ($49.50 / $8.25 per serving for your first box with code PLANTPOWER30)
- 2 Serving Plan with 4 Dinners per Week: $106.00 / $13.25 per serving ($76.00 / $9.50 per serving for your first box with code PLANTPOWER30)
- 4 Serving Plan with 2 Dinners per Week: $88.00 / $11.00 per serving ($58.00 / $7.25 per serving for your first box with code PLANTPOWER30)
- 4 Serving Plan with 3 Dinners per Week: $132.00 / $11.00 per serving ($102 / $8.50 per serving for your first box with code PLANTPOWER30)
Is Purple Carrot expensive?
This is going to depend on what you normally spend on groceries / takeout each week currently and how willing you are to pay for the convenience Purple Carrot provides. If you’re eating out or ordering takeout several times a week because you’re short on time and your goal is to replace those meals with home-cooked dinners that are quick and easy to make, I think Purple Carrot could actually save you money.
However, if you’re a budget grocery shopper who has the time to meal plan and shop each week, paying for Purple Carrot might be a little more expensive than you’re used to. If you need more time in your week and your budget allows you to pay a little extra for the convenience of having someone else meal plan, prep, and shop for you, I think it is absolutely worth a try!
Overall and depending on your situation, we do think the cost of Purple Carrot is definitely worth the convenience.
Click here to sign up for Purple Carrot and get $30 off your first box with code PLANTPOWER30.
How does Purple Carrot meal delivery work?
Here’s how the Purple Carrot meal delivery process works:
- Sign up for Purple Carrot. Sign up for your subscription here (and use code PLANTPOWER30 for $30 off your first box!).
- Select your meals…or don’t! From here, you’ll either choose your own meals each week or let the Purple Carrot team select something for you! In addition to the meal kits, you can also add a few breakfasts, lunches, or some of their featured Pantry Items to your weekly box. It’s important to remember the deadline to make edits to an upcoming order is always Tuesdays at 11:59 PM EST the week before to your next shipment!
- Your box is delivered! Your Purple Carrot box will arrive with all the ingredients you need to make the recipes you selected that week. When your first box arrives, it might be helpful to give yourself a little time to go through it, read the helpful pamphlets that come with it, and get a feel for how Purple Carrot packages different meals.
All-in-all, we think the Purple Carrot customer experience is fantastic. They even offer flexible subscription options like the ability to skip or pause your subscription at any time. You can also easily change your address for the week or choose to skip your box and send it to a friend instead. How cool is that?!
What comes in a Purple Carrot meal delivery box?
You’ll get all of the ingredients you need to make the recipes you chose for that week packaged in an insulated box with non-toxic freezer packs to keep everything nice and cold.
Most of the ingredients come in separate bags for each recipe, but there are sometimes a few free-floating items. There’s always a head of garlic in each box meant to be used across all the recipes. Sometimes this is hiding in the bottom of the box, so be sure to look for it!
There are only a few ingredients that don’t come in the Purple Carrot box. Things like olive oil or other vegetable oils, salt, and pepper.
How to Cancel Purple Carrot
Purple Carrot is available as a weekly subscription, but it’s easy to skip, pause, or cancel!
Here’s how you cancel your Purple Carrot subscription:
- Log into your account and go to the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page. (This is a list icon on the top left of the page on mobile.
- Then, click on the My Account page
- Next, go to Account Settings, and to the right of your subscription status, click Change
- Scroll to the Cancel My Account option
- From here, you’ll be given a short survey and simple cancelation instructions to complete the process
Purple Carrot also offers the option to Pause your membership for up to 10 weeks with no charge. You’ll see the Pause option next to the Cancel My Account option.
Purple Carrot also lets you skip a box for a particular week. Here’s how you do that:
- Log into your account and go to the Upcoming Deliveries page. Purple Carrot displays up to 4 weeks of upcoming deliveries to make it easy to edit in advance!
- Click the green skip toggle (located to the right of each scheduled delivery) to skip that particular week. The skip deadline for each week is noted next to each skip toggle.
Best Purple Carrot Recipes
Purple Carrot has some seriously talented recipe developers on their team. Every single recipe we have tried from them has been incredible.
Our favorite Purple Carrot recipes (so far!) are:
- Spinach Artichoke Grilled Cheese with Hot Pepper Mayo and Oregano Fries
- Taiwanese Tofu Lettuce Cups with Dates and Gingered Jasmine Rice
We love that Purple Carrot includes a great mix of healthy light options and comfort food options. We highly suggest selecting a good mix of each kind of meal for your Purple Carrot box. Choose some things that are obviously going to be wins, but also select something that you’re not so sure about and just make it. Because, like us with the Tofu Lettuce Cups, I was so unsure if I was going to like the dates cooked with the tofu but I just followed the recipe and had my mind totally blown. It opens up new options for you and new foods to include in your diet, and it’s exciting!
Hot Tip: Look for the label “Chef’s Choice” next to your recipe options for the week. Most of the recipes we gravitate towards end up having that label!
Purple Carrot recipes change every week, but they share their recipes on their website so you can make them in your own kitchen anytime!
Purple Carrot FAQ
Is Purple Carrot vegan? Yes! That’s something we LOVE about Purple Carrot. Unlike other meal kits who may have a vegan option, every single Purple Carrot meal is completely vegan. If you’re vegan, it’s the only meal kit we recommend.
Is Purple Carrot organic? Most of the non-produce items in Purple Carrot boxes are organic (like the beans, non-dairy milks, tofu, vegan cheeses, etc.), but the produce is often not. Their website says “…due to constraints with sourcing, shipping locations, and our desire to provide unique ingredients and recipes, we are sometimes limited in our options for organic (and non-GMO) products.”
Is Purple Carrot healthy? By our definition, yes! There are definitely some more decadent options (like the Spinach Artichoke Grilled Cheese we loved so much!). However, every single recipe is packed with veggies in a way that we are always surprised how good it tastes. It’s a great way to start introducing more veggies into your diet and learn how to eat them in different ways. All recipes are listed on their website with the calories and labels like “high protein”, “soy-free”, “nut-free”, etc. depending on what your specific health needs are. You can also view nutritional information for each meal on the Menus page. Just click the photo or meal name and then View Full Nutrition Label. Subscribers can also find this info on the Upcoming Deliveries page. Just click the photo or meal name and then the View Full Nutrition Label on the right.
Does Tom Brady own Purple Carrot? No, Tom Brady does not own Purple Carrot (although he has worked with them in the past). This may sound like a weird question, but it’s one of the most-asked questions on Google about Purple Carrot!
What’s better: Green Chef or Purple Carrot?
In our opinion, Purple Carrot. And full disclosure, we have yet to try Green Chef ourselves, but we did a little digging, and Purple Carrot comes out on top.
For one, Purple Carrot is all vegan while Green Chef offers a “Plant-Powered” meal kit option (many but not all of the recipes are vegan; all of them are vegetarian). As a vegan household, we’d always rather go with an all-vegan company because it aligns with our values and negates the risk of any animal product slip-ups.
I also think the Purple Carrot vegan recipes are much more exciting. Looking at their website, Green Chef also seems more expensive than Purple Carrot. For example, Green Chef’s 2-serving plan with 3 meals per week is $13.49 per serving while the same plan with Purple Carrot is $11.99 per serving. Also, Purple Carrot charges no additional shipping costs, while Green Chef charges a flat shipping fee of $9.99 per box.
Is Hungry Root or Purple Carrot better?
It depends on what kind of service you’re looking for. We have yet to try HungryRoot, but we did some research and there are some pretty big differences between the types of services they offer. Like Green Chef, HungryRoot offers vegan options but is not an entirely vegan company. They also seem to be more of a grocery delivery service and less of a meal kit delivery service. The groceries do arrive with recipes, but in my search I did not find too many that are completely vegan. If you’re looking for fully planned and packaged meals ready to be cooked, I’d go with Purple Carrot. If you’re looking for more of a grocery delivery with some flexibility in what you’re cooking, you may want to check out HungryRoot!
We hope you enjoyed our Purple Carrot review and that you found it helpful! If there’s a question you have that we didn’t answer in this post, let us know in the comments.
And if you end up giving Purple Carrot a try, be sure to tag us in your photos on Instagram. We’d love to see how it went! If you’re not already hanging out with us over there, we’re @theplantpowercouple with the “the”.
Click here to sign up for Purple Carrot and get $30 off your first box with code PLANTPOWER30.
