The Purple Carrot

I sleep in a sleeping bag on a blow up mattress and The Purple Carrot sent recipes that take over an hour to prepare and require you to own a food processor. So yeah… you could say I was in over my head.
I think this meal delivery program, while tasty, is about 40 skill levels outside the realm of what is possible with my current (and probably even future) cooking expertise.
I tried out this vegan meal-​prep delivery service for 2 weeks on the 2-​person plan, which includes 3 different meals portioned for 2 people for a total of $ 68, making each meal around $ 11-​$ 12 a person. Which isn’t really all that great considering I could have gone out to eat for about that much and not have had to do so much work and so (so so so) many dishes after.
The meals are usually very good but to me they might as well have been Master Chef level recipes. Each meal is divided up to look like it’s only 4 or 5 steps, but within those steps are for real about 37 different instructions (pictured). It’s insane.
If you truly enjoy cooking but hate grocery shopping, then this is a great service for you to pay a premium for portioned groceries to come to your door, but otherwise it really isn’t worth the trouble.
Some of the ingredients will come in cans, so you aren’t getting fresh stuff and some of the «fresh stuff» arrives in pretty haggard condition… like a carrot that’s turned black and mushy a quarter of the way up or banana that’s rife with rot throughout. One recipe called for rice vinegar, which they sent in a tiny plastic bag that could not be resealed and had the recipe call for half of the unreasonable bag. The other half of the rice vinegar was to be used later but instead tipped over and leaked out everywhere because that’s what happens when you give someone a liquid in a tiny un-​resealable bag.
To be fair, most of the stuff was perfectly fine but none of the meals were worth all the trouble.
Meals are estimated to take between 35 – 45 minutes ended up taking me over two hours and twice I ran out of bowls to put stuff in because the recipes require you to use sooo many utensils and bowls and saucepans and a food processor and c’mon! I don’t own a real and I’m supposed to have all that stuff. The final straw was the recipe that required a food processor, a strainer, and a colander. Who do I look like? The Queen of England? I don’t have that kind of equipment and I also don’t have the rest of my life to wash every pot I own 3 times a week to make these meals.
The portions, for the most part are pretty perfect. Most of the meals we had a little left over for a small lunch the next day and only one meal left me feeling like I could have used a larger portion.
I think in a restaurant scenario these meals would work well and they could probably even charge a bit higher of a price point, but for me doing all the work in cooking (which always took over an hour, even with my roommate helping) and then all the cleaning, it’s just not a product I can commit to.
** Small Update **
While this product isn’t for me, I do need to rave a little about their customer service, which really did go above and beyond in addressing the partially rotten carrot issue, the late delivery, and a botched cancellation of a week’s order. I have to give an extra star for their legitimate desire for honest feedback and to improve on their current product, which is unfortunately a very rare quality. If you’re a vegan with a burgeoning love of complicated recipes, this service just might be for you.

I’ve done trials of A LOT of these companies already (HelloFresh, Green Chef, Gobble, SunBasket, Din, Blue Apron, Plated). What sets Purple Carrot apart from the others is that they provide only plant-​based (vegan) ingredients/​recipes. My husband and I signed up for their 2-​person meal program ($ 68/​week). Our first box was pretty good, but it took a long time to prepare :(
If you sign up, be sure to pause your account right away so you don’t get stuck purchasing meals you do not want. You can also skip deliveries on a weekly basis, but they only allow you to do this 1 week in advance. So you really need to stay on top of things (or just put your subscription on pause, which I find is easier and less stressful!).
I’ve kept my accounts for multiple food delivery companies open, and just order from whichever one has the most appealing menu that particular week.
PS — I have a few extra free/​discounted trials to give out for some of the above mentioned companies (hello fresh, green chef, gobble, din), so if you are interested in trying any of them, message me.