“Daily Harvest” is a vegan meal delivery service that provides healthy frozen meals made primarily of fruits and vegetables. The delicious-looking advertised photos and first-box coupon drew me to try it out. As convenient as the meals were to make, their consistently bland flavors stopped me from renewing my subscription.

Daily Harvest allows the user to pick from around 100 plant-based menu items to create a box filled with a minimum of six items and a maximum of 26 items. After using my coupon, my box of nine meals totaled $37.91. I thought that was a fair price for the amount of food, and I was extremely impressed with their company’s packaging. My box arrived on time and it was lined with thick sheets of dry ice which kept my food completely frozen. In terms of shipping and delivery, Daily Harvest could not have done better.

BOWL

The first item I tried was a “Broccoli + Cheeze Harvest Bowl.” The ingredients consist of broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato, olive oil, tomato and nutritional yeast. I expected it to taste somewhat similar to Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup, but this was far from it. After heating my bowl in the microwave, I was severely disappointed that my meal tasted solely of broccoli. The nutritional yeast was meant to act as the cheese flavor, but I couldn’t taste the ‘cheesiness’ at all. Also, the picture from their website was incredibly deceiving as the “cheeze” looked to be like a sauce, but in reality, it was a powder that was mixed with the broccoli. 

ICE CREAM

After that bland bowl, I thought I’d cheer myself up with Daily Harvest’s “Chocolate + Ooey, Gooey, Midnight Fudge” ice cream. As someone who expects their ice cream to be sweet, I was unpleasantly surprised by the slightly bitter dark chocolate flavor and overwhelming avocado taste. The texture was fairly chalky and stiff, even after leaving it out for 20 minutes to thaw — which didn’t help the already disappointing flavor. Maple syrup was the main sweetener, but the sweetness from that did not come across in the overall flavor.

OATMEAL

Next, I tried the oat bowls, which I was the most excited for. The cinnamon banana oats tasted mostly like bananas, with a hint of cinnamon, along with flavorless butternut squash pieces mixed in. The oats had a nice creamy texture, but were not sweet at all. I also tried the apple cinnamon oats, which were my favorite of the two. They had pumpkin seeds and walnut chunks sprinkled throughout, which added a nice crunch. Again, the bowl was not sweet and would have benefited from brown sugar added on top. Overall, these oat bowls are great for those who prefer unsweetened oatmeal and want something easy to make but, as someone with a sweet tooth, these were not for me.

SOUP

The “Cauliflower + Leek Stew” was the most depressing meal of my life. Each spoonful tasted like water with a green hue. I could not find a speck of seasoning even though sea salt, white pepper and garlic were all listed as ingredients. At only 90 calories, I didn’t expect the soup to be great, but I at least wanted a bit of flavor.

SMOOTHIE

I mainly ordered this box for the smoothies because of the super thick and creamy texture appearing in the advertisements. I tried the “Strawberry + Peach” smoothie, which blended easily and had a perfect consistency. I used Daily Harvest’s “Almond + Vanilla Mylk” to blend with the smoothie as the company suggests. It came in a little triangle-shaped mold that users blend with water to create the ‘mylk.’ The ‘mylk’ blended well with the fruit — however, the flavor of the smoothie was not as fruity as expected. It mostly tasted like watery strawberries with no peach and the almond milk gave it a strange nutty kick.

Overall, Daily Harvest’s weak flavors made even the discounted price not worth it. People who prefer less seasoned foods might love Daily Harvest’s options, but it was not for me. I respect Daily Harvest’s mission of packing nutrient-dense foods into ready-to-eat meals. However, if I were to order a second box with the same items, it would not have the discount code, so I would be paying $62.91. That price is absurd for the food’s dull flavoring, so I will not be purchasing from their company again.

Edited by Shannon Worley | sworley@themaneater.com