I Tried Daily Harvest Smoothies, Oat Bowls, And Bites, And Here's What I Thought
We've all been there. Feeling inspired after your amazing workout, you buy a blender and swear that you're now the type of active, healthy person that makes amazing smoothies. But after your first subpar smoothie or poor recreation of an acai bowl, you realize that even though it's technically easy, anyone can throw things into a blender, it's difficult to nail the perfect combination of healthy, delicious, and convenient. Especially if you’re trying to do so before your first cup of coffee. That's where Daily Harvest comes in.
Instead of sending boxes full of ingredients to cook entire meals (like Blue Apron, HelloFresh, or Sun Basket), Daily Harvest focuses on sending you pre-portioned, frozen smoothies, bowls, and soups that can be prepared using a blender or a microwave. Without a ton of advanced nutritional knowledge, it can be such a struggle to know exactly what combinations of ingredients will help accomplish your health goals. Daily Harvest guarantees that each of their items will help you improve your health while tasting good.
I recently signed up for our own Daily Harvest plan and sampled a ton of Daily Harvest meals and snacks, and I'm happy to report that the process was just as convenient, delicious and healthy as I hoped for. Here's my full breakdown of the service:
Ordering
Starting Daily Harvest is very straight forward. After confirming that they deliver to your area (as of now they deliver to 95% of the U.S), you will choose if you want to receive weekly or monthly deliveries, then you’re immediately whisked to a page where you build your first box. I was overwhelmed by the amount of options. Daily Harvest offers food in eight categories: Smoothies, Harvest Bowls, Soups, Flatbreads, Bites (think healthy cake truffles), Oat Bowls, Chia Bowls, and Lattes. There are tons of options in each category, ranging from a Mulberry and Dragon Fruit oat bowl to a Matcha Lemongrass Latte to a Mushroom Miso soup.
To help narrow down your choices, Daily Harvest gives you a multitude of filters that will help you cater to your own dietary needs and likes. Let's say you're paleo and looking for a good workout recovery meal but you hate coconut. You would input these preferences then quickly find that the Chocolate Almond Chia Bowl checks all the boxes.
Are you stuck with the same things every time? Nope. You change the contents of your box every week.
Pricing
The pricing structure of Daily Harvest is easy enough. The items start at $5.99 for oat and chia bowls, $7.99 for smoothies, soups, lattes and bites, and $8.99 for harvest bowls and flatbreads. Like most meal delivery services, the more food you order, the cheaper it is. If you order 24 items (per week or month), you'll get $20 off your box. You can also elect to get 12 or 9 items delivered for $10 off and $5 off your box respectively. Regardless of your choice, shipping is free.
When you consider the fact that many juice bars charge $10 for a smoothie, it's a good deal.
The Packaging
Starting in April 2020, Daily Harvest announced that they would be making the transition towards 100% compostable and recyclable packaging. The new packaging is made of totally plant-based renewable fiber that breaks down naturally instead of sitting in a landfill for hundreds of year. In fact, they will not just be commercially compostable, but you can even compost them at home. Daily Harvest is still developing the new containers for their smoothies and lattes, but for now they will come with recyclable cups about the size of a standard small to go coffee cup with plastic lids that have a convenient place to insert a straw, so you can drink right out of the cup itself.
Your box will come neatly packed with Daily Harvest’s signature cups and bowls. The box itself is cooled by two dry ice packs with instructions on how to dispose of them properly. Finally, each item has a clearly written list of ingredients, highlighting that each snack and meal contains zero additives or preservatives.
Preparation
Preparing our Daily Harvest items couldn’t have been easier. Each cup has a short and simple instructions, never exceeding four steps. The only additional ingredient you might need is a liquid—the milk of your choice for smoothies and oat bowls or water (or stock) for soups. Honestly, the longest it took to prepare one of the Daily Harvest cups was 6 minutes, and most of that time was spent watching a microwave.
The Flavors
"Healthy" food can have a reputation for either being totally bland, but that's definitely not true here. I was especially impressed by the oat bowls and soups. My leek and cauliflower stew tasted like it had simmered for hours, and my apple cinnamon oats had the same texture of just-made oatmeal. The perfectly balanced cacao nib and vanilla bites are also noteworthy.
Weirdly, I thought the smoothies could use some work. They were filling and fresh, but the flavors were a little less developed and exciting. Regardless, it’s rare that I have lychee and dragon fruit just lying around my kitchen. So I'm thankful for a service like Daily Harvest.
The Verdict
Daily Harvest is a convenient way to start thinking more consciously about the food we eat. Without having to do hours of research and shopping in health food stores, I was able to create bowls and snacks that helped with inflammation and digestion, all while tasting fresh and delicious. I urge anyone trying to eat a little healthier, even smoothie bowl skeptics, to give this approachable option a try.
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