Purple Carrot Review: The Best Plant-Based Meal Kits?
Purple Carrot offers an entirely plant-based meal delivery service, providing a safe haven for vegetarians and vegans to enjoy delicious and innovative meals. It operates a subscription service that can feed between two and four people per week.
Purple Carrot is aiming to instigate a plant-based revolution among the American people, and is determined to see healthy fruit and veg on every dinner plate. It’s not just appealing to committed vegetarians either, the meals on offer include innovative ways to get protein into your diet without using animal products, and the dishes are quite tasty. As you’d expect, the platform is committed to environmental sustainability and attempts to source organic and GMO-free ingredients wherever possible.
What is Purple Carrot?
The meal kit delivery service offered by Purple Carrot provides easy-to-prepare, pre-measured, plant-based ingredients for either two or four people on a weekly basis. The menu rotates each week and has around 15 different dishes to choose from that cover breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. As well as being jam-packed with nutritious veg, each meal comes with a detailed calorie breakdown for those looking to lose weight.
Purple Carrot Pros and Cons
- Incredibly healthy dishes
- Very little prep work
- Recipes are easy to follow
- Free shipping
- Extras are available
- Varied and innovative menus
- Lots of plant-based proteins
- Can help weight-loss
- Tasty vegan desserts
- Lots of packaging
- Some dishes can lack flavor
- Quite expensive for what you get
- It might not be suitable for those with severe allergies
- Has a limited number of servings per week
Who Is Purple Carrot Good For?
Vegans and vegetarians – In a market that doesn’t always have the most exciting options for vegetarians, Purple Carrot stands out by offering a great variety of different meals to try
Healthy eaters – While not a strict diet plan by any means, the ingredients here are packed with nutrition, low-calorie and full of antioxidants. Even if you’re not trying to lose weight, this is still a great choice to improve your overall health
Those with no time to plan – We’ve all wanted to get more fruit and veg into our diets, but most of us either don’t have the time or just don’t know enough recipes to get started. Purple Carrot solves both of these problems by bringing simple dishes to your door at a time that’s convenient for you
People looking for something a little different – If going full vegetarian sounds a bit scary, you can dip your toes into the water with Purple Carrot and use it as a chance to try something new. Get your hands on exotic ingredients like kimchi and togarashi to spice up your diet.
Fans of seasonal veg – The Purple Carrot menu changes with the seasons and tries to provide as many seasonal recipes as possible. You can look forward to warming winter soups and crisp summer salads.
Who Isn’t Purple Carrot Good For?
Meat-eaters – As you might have guessed, there are no animal products at all here. Luckily, there are plenty of meat-based alternative meal kit services for you to try out though
Fussy eaters – An entirely vegan diet means that Purple Carrot has had to get innovative with its recipes. You won’t find much in the way of classic home cooking here and you’ll need to become familiar with a lot of new and interesting ingredients quite quickly
Those looking for the wow factor – While the meals are healthy and tasty, the menu often lacks that extra punch needed to give the dishes that added wow factor. Some meals can actually be quite tame and bland, but it all depends on what’s on offer in a particular week’s menu
How Purple Carrot Works?
When you sign up you’ll choose whether you’d like three or four servings per week for two people, or, two or three servings per week for four people. This is relatively limited when compared to other platforms, and the plans won’t cover every meal per week. It’s probably best to use Purple Carrot as a healthy supplement to your other weekly meals.
Once you’ve selected your plan, you can pick and choose from the menu, which usually has around 15 dishes to pick from each week.
Pick a Plan
Hungry for more?
Busy?
Purple Carrot Website and App
The website clearly breaks down all the information you need to know in well-marked categories. You can read all about Purple Carrot’s plant-based ethos, the health benefits you can expect and how the company is minimizing its impact to the environment.
You can freely browse the current week’s menu to give you a good idea of the kind of meals you can expect should you sign up. If any take your fancy you can check out the ingredient and nutritional information, including detailed lists of vitamins and minerals.
There’s no app available at the moment, but this is something the provider may add in the future.
Creating an Account / Sign Up
Account creation involves entering a few simple details, or you can auto-sign up using your Facebook information. The whole process is done in no time at all and you can start building your first box from the menu.
Purple Carrot Meal Plans and Meal Selection Options
You have total freedom of choice from the menu each week, and plans are only limited to the number of people and servings you’d like each week:
Two people: Three or Four meals per week
Four people: Two or Three meals per week
Purple Carrot Meal Types
As any vegan will tell you, there’s a lot you can do with vegetables, and you may be surprised to learn that plant-based vegan desserts are now available that are indistinguishable from their milk and egg-based counterparts. Purple Carrot offers recipes to cover every meal of the day, and some current top picks include:
Thai tempeh khao soi with bok choy and crispy onions
Roasted sweet potato and beluga lentils
Coconut tofu with crunchy date slaw and peanut sauce
Crispy black bean tacos with mango avocado salsa
Pesto white bean melts with lemon arugula
Crispy sumac brown rice bowls with pistachios and cashew cheese
Dark chocolate with pink Himalayan salt
Chocolate chunk cookies
Choosing Purple Carrot Recipes
When browsing the menu dishes are broken down into breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks, and you can check the nutritional information if you’d like to choose the more protein-packed meals.
How Much does Purple Carrot Cost?
If you’re shopping for two people, each meal will set you back $11.99 per portion, while those buying for four will pay a reduced $9.99 per meal. Shipping is free on all orders. Plus, new customers will receive $20 off their first order.
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Servings and Recipes/Week
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Total Cost
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$11.99/serving ($71.94 total + FREE shipping = $71.94/week)
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$11.99/serving ($95.92 total + FREE shipping = $95.92/week)
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$9.99/serving ($79.92 total + FREE shipping = $79.92/week)
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$9.99/serving ($119.88 total + FREE shipping = $119.88/week)
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Diet Friendliness
Purple Carrot is clearly one of the best platforms for anyone on a strict vegan or vegetarian diet, but choices are obviously quite limited for those following other plans. With no meat products, it’s unable to cater to keto or paleo fans, and pescetarians are out too.
With a lot of dishes containing nuts, we don’t recommend the service for those with severe allergies either. Aside from a gluten-free plan, Purple Carrot states that it’s unable to eliminate other allergens from its recipes.
However, those looking to lose weight are in luck, as plant-based diets can often assist with the weight-loss process. The platform doesn’t provide any specific advice, but by keeping an eye on the calories and doing your own research, it’s certainly possible you could drop those lbs.
Vegetarian: this option meat-free but does contain other animal by-products such as eggs and cheese.
Weight-Watchers Approved: these meals have been created with the weight-watchers guidelines and have Smart Points associated with each meal.
Diabetes-Friendly: food follows the guidelines of the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
Carb-Conscious: it contains 48 grams of net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) or less per serving.
Mediterranean Diet: expect heart-healthy Mediterranean meals. These recipes showcase a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. You can enjoy lean proteins and moderate portions of dairy.
Add-ons
Purple Carrot has lots of little extras you can throw into your package, which is useful as the plans don’t offer that many servings per week. All extras come from that week’s menu, and you’re limited to adding three extra options per delivery.
What’s more, you’ll find a merch page with some cool t-shirts, tote bags and aprons to try. The products come branded with the company logo and aren’t too expensive.
Purple Carrot Customer Service
The platform offers the same kind of customer service we’re starting to see as standard right across the meal kit industry. Customers will most likely utilize the live chat option and you’ll usually be connected to an agent in just a couple of minutes. You can send an email too, but Purple Carrot states that responses can take up to two business days. Agents are generally very helpful, friendly and courteous.
There’s a good chance you’ll never need to get in touch with customer service though, as most questions are answered via the comprehensive FAQ section. There are categories to cover nutritional and dietary information, account management, how to get started and dealing with delivery issues.
Purple Carrot Cancellation Policy
Before you make the final decision to cancel your subscription, you’ll be offered the choice to suspend your deliveries for up to 10 weeks. However, if you do decide you’d like to stop the service completely, it’s very easy to do so via your online account. You aren’t tied into any contract, and will only be charged for the food you get delivered.
You’ll need to cancel by 11:59 pm on the Tuesday one week before your next shipment is due to avoid being charged again. This is also the deadline to make any amendments and changes to your order.
Purple Carrot Alternatives
If veg isn’t really your thing, or the service looks a little expensive for your tastes, you might want to try out one of these other meal kit options.
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Meal Kit
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Price / Serving
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Minimum order
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Meal options
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Butcher Box
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$129
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1 Servings
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1-6
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Every Plate
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$4.99
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6 Servings
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3-5
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Nutrisystem
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$9.29
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5 Servings
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4-4
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Sunbasket
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$11.99
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4 Servings
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15-20
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Final Verdict
Purple Carrot might just have the best range of plant-based meals in the industry and is a no-brainer choice for any vegans out there that have been struggling to find a high-quality meal kit service. The recipes are tasty, if on occasion a little bland, but it’s good to see veg being used in so many inventive ways.
Being a niche service, many others might be put off, but then again, the platform isn’t really designed to replace every meal of the week. It can actually work as a supplement to your regular diet and is a great way to pack additional nutrition into your week.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Do I Have to Choose My Own Purple Carrot Meals Each Week?
No, you can leave the decision in the hands of Purple Carrot if you’re short of time, or just can’t choose what to eat. Pick the auto-select option and all your dishes will be chosen for you.
Is Purple Carrot USDA Organic Certified
No, not at the moment, although this is something the platform is working towards. The vast majority of the produce is organic, but it can’t currently guarantee this 100%.
Are Purple Carrot Meals Difficult to Prepare?
No, not at all. Most recipes are quite simple, and the longest time you should need to spend in the kitchen is around 30 minutes.
Are All Purple Carrot Snacks Vegan too?
Yes, all of Purple Carrot’s cookies, snacks and treats are 100% vegan, made with plant-based alternatives to eggs, butter and milk.
Does Purple Carrot Deliver Every Day?
No, the service only delivers on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Your delivery day will be decided based on your location and proximity to the nearest Purple Carrot packing center.
