“I appreciated being able to pick exactly what I wanted without feeling locked into a specific meal plan,” senior commerce editor Olivia Tarantino says. “Each recipe can also be edited, so if you already have cheddar cheese at home (like I did when shopping for a burger bowl recipe), you can remove it from your order and spend those credits elsewhere.” She also appreciated the freedom to repurpose ingredients: “I ordered a Marinara Ricotta Ravioli with Baby Mushroom dish and ended up using the mushrooms in an omelet instead of the pasta.”
The flexibility extends to timing too. “If I couldn’t cook one night, I wasn’t frantically worrying about my meal kit expiring before I could get to it,” Tarantino notes. “Because most of the ‘recipes’ are basically collections of grocery ingredients, you’re free to use them for whatever you want.”
What we’d leave: The credit system takes some getting used to. “You use credit rather than dollar values, and each item has an assigned credit value—it’s not immediately intuitive, though you can reduce or roll over unused credits to the following week,” Tarantino says.
Because Hungryroot functions as a grocery store with endless recipe-building possibilities, scrolling through all the options can be time-consuming. Tarantino found herself spending over 30 minutes selecting meals, even with filtering options. If that doesn’t appeal to you, Hungryroot’s AI quiz will learn your preferences and automatically fill your cart with suggestions each week.
Read our full review of Hungryroot here.
How we tested vegetarian meal delivery services
To test vegetarian meal delivery services, we drew on years of experience testing meal kits to narrow down a shortlist of top contenders. Then we enlisted staffers and contributors to try each service in their own homes for at least a week of meals.
When it came time to eat, we prepared each meal according to the provided instructions, paying attention to ingredient quality, how each recipe was packaged, the clarity of the directions, how seamless each recipe was to make, and, of course, how everything tasted when all was said and done. Because we were testing vegetarian meal kits, we also made sure to note the variety of vegetarian options available each week, as well as how satiating each meal was despite the lack of meat.
Others we tested
Green Chef
Pros:
- Really tidy packaging that’s easy to unbox and put away
- Easy assembly recipes with minimal prep, but enough that it still feels like you’re not just heating up a prepared meal
Cons:
- Not the most variety
- Some meals aren’t very streamlined and require a lot of pans
- Trumpet Mushroom Stew & Creamy Polenta
- Shawarma-Spiced Cauliflower Tacos
- Lasagna With Roasted Squash and Tomato
- Blackened Cauliflower With Couscous
Tester: Joe Sevier, senior cooking and SEO editor
About Green Chef: Green Chef is the first CCOF-certified organic meal kit company, and places emphasis on high-quality ingredients, chef-crafted recipes, nutrient-dense whole foods, and sustainability.
What we love: With around 10 vegetarian options available every week (which includes some vegan meals), Green Chef is a solid choice for any non-meat eaters looking to get into the meal kit game. According to senior cooking and SEO editor Joe Sevier, “Green Chef is for people who want to eat a nice meal at home, but don’t have the time or knowledge for how to put it together. Green Chef portions everything exactly; occasionally, you’ll use half a packet if you’re only making a recipe for two (as opposed to four), or you’ll have to chop your own cauliflower, or provide your own butter. The Green Chef customer has a pretty well-stocked kitchen, but probably not all the bells and whistles.”