Purple Carrot Review: Is the Vegan Meal Delivery Service Worth Trying?

If you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, you’re probably used to eating most of your meals at home. However, all that grocery shopping, meal planning, and cooking can be time-consuming.

Fortunately, several meal delivery kits now offer plant-based menu options. One that stands out as the only completely plant-based service is Purple Carrot.

This Purple Carrot review shares what you need to know about the vegan meal kit service so you can determine if it’s right for you.

What is Purple Carrot?

Purple Carrot is a fully plant-based meal kit company that offers ready-to-make meals for vegans and vegetarians.

They deliver meal kits featuring fresh ingredients and dinner recipes along with breakfasts, lunches, and pantry staples through their “Plantry.”

While all of their ingredients are completely plant-based, they’re not currently using exclusively organic ingredients.

Purple Carrot will also be rolling out pre-prepared meals soon. Hungryroot is a similar service that mixes groceries and meals for a bit less.

Read our Hungryroot review to learn more about that service.

How Does the Service Work?

Signing up for Purple Carrot is a straightforward process. First, navigate to their “Pricing” page.

Right now, you can only select meal kits. Their prepared meal menu is debuting soon.

Next, you’ll choose your plan size. You can select three or four recipes per week for two or three people.

If you’re looking for one person meal kits, the service is a good choice as serving sizes were on the smaller size in my testing.

After you enter your payment details, you’ll be able to choose your meals. Purple Carrot’s weekly menu features roughly eight two-serving meals and four four-serving meals.

You can filter meals by:

• High Protein
• Low-FODMAP diet
• Soy-Free
• Nut-Free
• Chef’s Choice
• <600 Calories
• Quick and Easy

You can also add breakfasts, lunches, and Plantry items for an extra cost.

Purple Carrot is a subscription-based service, so you will receive boxes every week until you cancel.

However, you can easily skip weeks or cancel online without contacting customer service.

If you continue the service, be sure to make a note of the deadline each week to select your meals. If you miss the deadline, you’ll receive Purple Carrot’s selections.

How Much Does Purple Carrot Cost?

Purple Carrot meals cost a flat $11.99 per serving for their two-serving plan and $9.99 per serving for their four-serving plan. Shipping is free on all orders.

With each order, you can add extras from their Plantry at a variety of price points.

My Experience Using the Service

My family isn’t anywhere close to vegan or even vegetarian, so I was curious how we would like this box.

It was very well packaged. The fresh ingredients for each recipe were contained in their own bag, and there were a few odds and ends kept separate, like lettuce, arugula, and garlic.

There was no meat to worry about, which was a plus for the packaging. Most of the materials are eco-friendly and recyclable.

However, the portion sizes were a little small for my crew, especially since my husband only eats one meal per day.

For example, for the White Bean Cassoulet with Smoky Cremini Mushrooms and Basil Pesto, the only significant source of protein for two people was a small box of cannellini beans.

*Related: Are you looking for another plant-based delivery service? Read our Gobble meal kit review to learn if the service might be a fit for your needs.

We added some smoked ham and diced bacon to add extra flavor to the dish and make it more filling. This obviously wasn’t vegan, but as I mentioned, our family eats meat.

It was actually our favorite of the Purple Carrot meals we tried. I never would have thought to put pesto on a bean soup dish like this, but it was delicious.

We also had the Japanese Gnocchi with Miso Tomato Butter and Bok Choy. Again, it was tasty, but the portion size was on the small side.

I loved the funkiness that the miso paste and tomato powder added, but the flavor isn’t something that my six-year-old would have liked.

Finally, we had the Chipotle Tofu Tacos with Radish Escabeche and Cilantro Crema.

The taste was excellent, but even after crisping, the tofu had essentially no texture. I did like that this meal provided a substantial amount of protein, though.

This meal also had a good portion size of three tacos per person.

How Easy are Purple Carrot Meal Kits to Prepare?

I found that Purple Carrot offered easy to prepare meals. They’re veggie-heavy, which I loved, but you’ll need to carve out plenty of prep time ahead of the cooking process.

None of the veggies came pre-prepped.

Regardless, the meals all came together in about 30-40 minutes, so making dinner wasn’t a huge production.

In fact, with no meat to cook (which is usually one of the most time-consuming parts of cooking), these were pretty simple recipes.

Instead of a recipe card, Purple Carrot sends a booklet with all of the recipes for the week. It’s packed with detailed instructions, step-by-step photos, and helpful cooking tips.

If you want healthy meals, but want individual servings, Factor is a good alternative. Read our review of Factor to learn more.

Who Should Use Purple Carrot?

Here’s who Purple Carrot is a great fit for.

Healthy Eaters

If you’re interested in healthy living, you’ll appreciate Purple Carrot’s meal choices that highlight fresh vegetables.

*Related: Are you looking for easy-to-prepare vegan meals? Read our review of Daily Harvest meals here to see how the service works.

Even if you’re not a vegetarian, the service offers an easy way to incorporate more veggies and plant-based meals into your weekly menu.

Many companies make it difficult to serve healthy meals to your family, but not all are that way. Read our guide on the top family-friendly meal kits to serve in your home to identify the best available choices.

Vegetarians and Vegans

Purple Carrot is probably the top meal delivery service for vegans and vegetarians because they offer only plant-based food, and they do it very well.

It provides an easy way to cut down on grocery shopping while still incorporating flavorful recipes and home-cooked meals.

Best of all, you can rest assured that every ingredient in your Purple Carrot box is 100 percent plant-based.

Read our review of other services that deliver vegan meals if Purple Carrot doesn’t meet your needs.

Skilled Cooks

For skilled cooks, the Purple Carrot menu offers some interesting new recipes and plant-based takes on classic meals. These may add some challenge and excitement to your meal rotation.

The service features several veggies that aren’t widely available in most grocery stores outside of major cities, so it’s a good way to try some new veggies and flavors.

Who Shouldn’t Use the Service?

If you fall into one of these categories, Purple Carrot may not be the right meal delivery service for your household.

Meat Eaters

Purple Carrot isn’t a good fit for people who like to eat meat with all their meals. I found that some of the meals weren’t as satisfying without a significant protein source.

ButcherBox is a suitable option for those looking for meat delivery services. Read our review of ButcherBox to learn more.

People on Special Diets

Although Purple Carrot is vegan and suitable for vegans, vegetarians, and dairy-free eaters, it may not be a good fit for other dietary needs or dietary restrictions.

For instance, some of the recipes contain soy or wheat, which are common allergens.

*Related: Do you need a reduced calorie meal plan that caters to specialty diets? Read our review of Trifecta Nutrition to see what they offer.

Additionally, Purple Carrot may not be a good fit for paleo or low carb diets because the recipes can be higher in carbs and lower in protein than meals that include animal products.

However, they do offer some gluten-free meals.

Read our analysis of the top paleo meal delivery kits to find a more suitable fit if you need to follow the caveman diet.

Pros and Cons

Here are the pros and cons of Purple Carrot.

Pros:

• Vegan, vegetarian, and dairy-free
• Free shipping on all orders
• Add-ons like breakfast and pantry staples
• Gluten-free plan available

Cons:

• Not a good fit for special diets other than plant-based or gluten-free
• Comparable prices to meat-containing meal kits
• Small portion sizes
• Not exclusively organic

If you’re looking for healthy meal delivery services and want plant-based meals, Purple Carrot is worth trying.

The Competition

Here’s how Purple Carrot compares to other meal delivery subscription services.

Sunbasket

Sunbasket is a meal kit delivery service that caters to specific diets and offers high-quality, organic ingredients.

They have plant-based meal selections and might be a better fit for you than Purple Carrot if it’s also important to you to eat organic whenever possible.

Read our review of the best organic meal delivery services to consider if Sunbasket isn’t for you.

Their meals start at $8.99, so the prices are somewhat comparable to Purple Carrot.

Read our review of the Sunbasket menu to learn more.

HelloFresh

HelloFresh is less expensive than Purple Carrot, with meals starting at $7.49 per serving. They are known for their wealth of weekly meal options from a variety of different cuisines.

They offer a limited number of vegetarian meals each week. However, most of them contain dairy products and therefore aren’t appropriate for vegans.

If having a wide variety of recipes is important to you, the service is worth trying.

*For a limited time only, Frugal Rules readers can get Free Breakfast for life + 16 Free Meals! (One free breakfast item per box as long as subscription is active, and free meals are applied as a discount across 9 boxes, new subscriptions only, and varies by plan.)

Read our review of the HelloFresh menu to learn more.

Marley Spoon

Marley Spoon (from Martha Stewart) is a family plan that offers several kid-friendly and family-friendly meals each week.

They do feature several vegetarian choices, but most contain dairy and aren’t vegan-friendly.

Marley Spoon prices start at $8.49 per serving, so it might be slightly less expensive than Purple Carrot depending on the plan you choose.

Read our review of Marley Spoon to learn more.

Bottom Line

Meal kits are a popular option to save time in the kitchen. But, not all of them cater to plant-based eaters.

If you avoid meat or follow a vegan lifestyle, Purple Carrot is worth considering.

What’s your favorite vegan meal delivery service?