Review of Daily Harvest

Daily Harvest is a novel new food delivery service that provides convenience without sacrificing nutrition.

If I had to name the most common obstacle to healthy eating that I hear again and again from people, it’s that they simply don’t have enough time to do it. Let’s face it- we’re all time-starved these days. Between juggling work, family, and other commitments, the thought of researching, shopping for and cooking nutritious meals at home may seem impossible at times.

So when I was asked to review Daily Harvest, a food delivery service, I was excited to give it a try. Although I’m a huge advocate of cooking at home, I also realize that there are times when we need to take a little help. And it’s good to know that there are options that provide the much-needed convenience factor without sacrificing nutrition.

Daily Harvest is a subscription service that delivers healthy, pre-portioned superfood eats to your home on a weekly or monthly basis. You can choose a delivery of 6, 9, 12, or 24 cups at once and they currently deliver to 95% of the U.S. A weekly subscription costs $6.99-$7.99 per cup (depending on how many you’re ordering) and a monthly subscription costs $6.99 per cup.

The menu items are diverse and include smoothies, soups, overnight oats, harvest bowls, chia parfaits, lattes and sundaes. The dishes are developed by both a nutritionist and a chef and they use only 100% natural, non-GMO, organic ingredients. So basically, not only is their food healthy, it tastes good too!

What stands out about this service is a couple of things. First, all of the food is delivered frozen. If you think fresh fruits and vegetables are always better, that’s actually not the case.   The nutritional content of fruits and vegetables starts to degrade as soon as they are picked. By the time they reach your local grocery store, they may contain significantly less nutrients than they did when harvested. Frozen fruits and vegetables, however, are harvested at peak ripeness and flash-frozen so that they retain their nutrients as well as their flavor and texture. Plus, once they’re in your freezer, they can stay there months without spoiling so it reduces food waste too.

Another thing that stands out about this service is that there’s absolutely zero prep work because it’s all done for you! All of the ingredients come pre-chopped and portioned in a cup. You simply have to add a liquid (like milk or water) and then pop it all into a blender, soak or heat it, depending on the dish. You can eat everything straight from the pretty containers, saving you from having to dirty any dishes. When I made a Daily Harvest smoothie the other day before a shift in the ER, it was so easy. I just threw everything into my blender with some almond milk, then poured it back into the original cup and took it with me on the road. It doesn’t get easier than that!

The website shows you bright, colorful pictures of all of the dishes with detailed information about each ingredient, nutrition facts and some health benefits (like workout-recovery, energizing, digestive-support or anti-inflammatory).I had a hard time deciding on which smoothies to order but I eventually decided on the Cold Brew + Almond and the Strawberry + Peach (one of their best sellers). Both of them blended to a nice, creamy consistency. The Cold Brew + Almond tasted like a healthier Frappuccino with a creamy mouthfeel and subtle sweetness. It was the perfect pick-me-up in the morning- a nice change from my usual cup of coffee! The Strawberry + Peach smoothie was very fruity and refreshing. It was my daughter Sienna’s favorite (plus she loved the pink color)!

My husband Pete particularly enjoyed the Butternut Squash + Chimichurri Harvest Bowl, which you can cook on the stovetop or microwave in just 4-6 minutes. It has a colorful and nutritious mixture of ingredients including buckwheat, butternut squash, mushrooms, spinach, and herbs. Pete doesn’t cook much on his own but he said that he would feel comfortable making one of these bowls for dinner if he was by himself. It’s a lot healthier than the usual bowl of cereal he eats when I’m not home!

The Cinnamon Protein + Banana overnight oats were a pleasant surprise. The dish has the same flavors as a banana muffin, as the site describes, but it gets a boost of protein from some interesting ingredients like pea protein and garbanzo beans. Chickpeas in breakfast oats? I wouldn’t have thought of it, but it actually worked.

One of my favorite dishes was a latte, one of Daily Harvest’s newer options. I tried the Chaga + Chocolate latte, which I was really curious about. Made with chaga and reishi mushrooms coupled with cacao, I was wondering what it would taste like. The answer is that it tasted like a delicious hot chocolate without any mushroom flavor. I felt like I was indulging when I was drinking it. And the best part is that the lattes all come with three individually packed portions in each cup.

And finally, I couldn't resist trying out one of the sundaes. The Chocolate Hazelnut sundae was calling my name. Cacao, hazelnuts and dates are blended with bananas and avocado to achieve a creamy texture. Did it taste like real ice cream? No. But it did remind me of a combination of banana “nice” cream and chocolate avocado pudding, both of which are desserts that I make at home. It’s a cold and creamy treat that satisfied my chocolate cravings.

Overall, I really enjoyed my Daily Harvest experience. It’s really fun getting that box of goodies in the mail. When I opened the box with all of those colorful cups filled with delicious, nutritious eats, I couldn’t wait to dive in! It’s something that I would look forward to every week. I think that if you’re someone that wants to eat healthy but doesn’t have the desire or time to do the shopping and prep work, Daily Harvest could be a great option for you.

A couple of things to keep in mind. First, you definitely need to have a powerful blender for some of the dishes. I have a Vitamix, which worked great but for some dishes, like the sundae, I had to use my tamper tool to push down on the ingredients to get it to process. So if you’re going to subscribe to a service like this, you may want to consider investing in a quality blender. Second, make sure you have enough space in your freezer. I have a relatively small freezer I had to do some reshuffling to make space for the cups. But I love that they will keep for a long time in the freezer and I don’t have to worry about spoilage.

So, to sum it up, if you want convenience without compromise, Daily Harvest may be a great fit for you. Healthy just got easy!

Want to read some more reviews of Daily Harvest? Check these out:

http://www.businessinsider.com/daily-harvest-smoothie-subscription-box-review

https://www.top10mealdeliveryservices.com/reviews/daily-harvest-review/