I’m officially living on my own this fall, and #adulting is TOUGH — it’s become all too easy to rely on pre-packaged snacks, meal bars, and instant ramen to get me through the work week. I’ve noticed the toll it’s taken on my energy levels, and leaving me with an overall feeling of “bleh” at the end of the day. That’s when Hungryroot came in!
Hungryroot, a personalized grocery service, is all about healthy food and simple groceries.
Their motto is “healthy is personal,” and believes that having the right ingredients or meals in the fridge is the key to fresh and nutritious food on the table. Hence, everything you find on Hungryroot’s website has passed a 3-point check: “First, it has to be nutritious and made from whole, trusted ingredients. Second, it has to be easy and quick to prepare in (real, hectic) life. Finally, it has to taste damn good.”
TL;DR: All the food Hungryroot carries is free of partially hydrogenated oils; free of artificial sweeteners, colors, and preservatives; and free of high-fructose corn syrup. A Hungryroot box is full of nutritious, wholesome food that you can feel good about consuming, both for yourself and the environment.
Sustainability is a priority at Hungryroot. They acknowledge that their “approach won’t be perfect,” but promise to be transparent as they navigate this eco-centric project. Right now, Hungryroot’s goal is to “increase recipe support to minimize food waste; introduce more sustainably sourced grocery items; and join the Better Chicken Commitment.” I was uber-impressed by the packaging, which not only kept my food cold, but was completely recyclable and safe to open and dump in my garden! Yay for feeding myself and my plants!!!
Hungryroot’s team of food sourcing and personalization experts provide consumers with the most nutritious, sustainable options of their favorites — which is why I left the contents of my delivery up to them! And let me tell you, I was absolutely right to do so.
Each individual grocery item and recipe is assigned a credit value, and you can fill your box until the credit value has been reached. (For example, if your box value is 33 credits, you could add three nine credit recipes and have six credits leftover to be applied to snacks or other individual grocery items.) I got the smallest box, which starts at $59.94 and consists of three two-serving meals (aka ingredients and recipes!), plus leftover credits which were applied to Hungryroot’s infamous Black Bean Brownie Batter.
Here’s the three meals I received:
1. Green Thai Curry Shrimp with Pad See Ew Noodles
2. Thai Peanut Kohlrabi Noodles with Tofu + Snap Peas
3. Stir-Fried Coconut Curry Salmon + Pea Snaps with Jasmine Rice
Without further ado, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: my honest thoughts.
Hungryroot makes it stupid easy to cook balanced, satisfying, ~professional~ adult meals — this is coming from someone who once set a small kitchen fire cooking spaghetti. Really, though, it’s hard to make excuses when you have all the ingredients in the fridge and the recipe is four steps, one of which is “microwave rice for 90 seconds.” In terms of the recipes, it’s nice to have a guide, but there’s also a TON of room to mix and match! For example, I used one serving of Wild Caught Gulf Shrimp with Coconut Curry, and topped it with Jasmine Rice.
Though Hungryroot comes with three “meals,” I found that some of the components in my box also made great snacks. After having the Hot Smoked Salmon with Jasmine Rice for dinner one night, I had it the next day with a rice cake, cream cheese, and Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel Seasoning for a nutritious snack that took me right to Midtown Manhattan. And a huge shoutout to Hungryroot for rekindling my love affair with Snap Peas for snacking (though it was BYOHummus).
There are definitely a few things to consider when ordering, though. I’m a HUGE breakfast gal, and the lack of breakfast options in my box left me sticking to my usual protein bar, or peanut butter toast if I was really feelin’ fancy. That being said, there are PLENTY of breakfast options on Hungryroot to choose from (for example, Hungryroot’s Deli-Style Bagel Sandwich or Banana Bread Overnight Oats) as one of your three meal options.
I also found that, though it said two servings per meal, some ingredients had anywhere from 3.5-8 servings per package. Luckily for me, that meant extra snap peas to munch on, and lots of curry for my own stir fries. If you get tired of meals quickly, though, Hungryroot may not be ideal for solo living, especially since the biggest disappointment of Hungryroot was how FRESH the food was.
That said, I do want to note that I received a Bell Pepper and Onion Sauté kit — which I opened two days after receiving my box and three days before the “best by” date — smelled and tasted like nail polish remover. On the other hand, I was absolutely shocked and so pleasantly surprised by the vacuum-sealed seafood for the Green Thai Curry Shrimp, which tasted fresh-out-of-the-ocean after 11 days in my fridge.
Don’t get me wrong, fresh is GREAT; however, when you’re living alone and have 6+ servings of various meals, it’s overwhelming when some of the ingredients expire within five days of their arrival on your porch. Granted, it’s a very, very small price to pay for personalized, customizable groceries delivered right to your door.
TL;DR: Would I recommend Hungryroot as a grocery service? ABSOLUTELY — so long as it fits in your budget and makes logistical sense for your grocery needs.
Would I use Hungryroot if I was living in the dorms with a meal plan? No. Would I use Hungryroot if I was living alone with a paying job and #adulting for the first time in a house with a microwave and working stove? Every few weeks, for sure. Would I like to be buried in the Hungryroot Coconut Curry? 1000 times, yes.