Purple Carrot Meal Delivery Review 2021

Purple Carrot Meal Delivery Review: Is It Worth It?

We are beyond excited to share this Purple Carrot meal delivery review!

Of all the meal delivery services we reviewed, we awarded Purple Carrot the Best for Beginners service of 2021. Why? It’s simple. Purple Carrot is an exclusively a plant-based delivery service, so finding 100% vegan meals is a breeze.

Purple Carrot has been featured as a standout meal delivery company by Eater, The Today Show, Shape Magazine, Fast Company, Inc., and Thrillist. It isn’t hard to see why.

Forward thinking business plan, exceptional consumer reviews, fresh food, and a genuine commitment to a sustainable future. These are just a few of the reasons we are extremely happy and impressed with our Purple Carrot experience.

OUR PICK: Best Overall Vegan Meal Delivery Service 2021

• 100% Vegan
• Starting at: $71.94
• Price per Serving: $11.99
• Frequency: Weekly
• Both Premade or DIY Kits Available
• Free Shipping on all orders
• Promotions: Save $20 on your first week. See website for details!

Try Purple Carrot Here!

Purple Carrot Company Vision

Good for your health, and good for the earth. Essentially, this is the Purple Carrot vision.

Purple carrot believes we can improve not only our health, but also the health of the planet, simply by eating more plants. We don’t disagree!

Here are a few facts that support their vision:

• In just 4 weeks, people who ate Purple Carrot meals were able to shed some weight and lower their LDL (bad) cholesterol
• Maintaining a healthy weight and balanced lipids (like cholesterol) is a well known way of reducing your risk of serious heath problems
• Physicians believe eating a plant-based diet, like Purple Carrot delivers, can significantly lower your chance of developing type-II diabetes

Purple Carrot’s vision is to make plant-based eating simple and delicious through a streamlined meal delivery service. Because when more people eat plant based (even just a few meals a week), the Earth sees significant benefits.

In fact, independent data analytics have shown Purple Carrot’s forward-thinking business model to:

• Use 51% less water per meal, compared to the cost of the standard American meal
• Produce 71% less carbon than the typical American meal

As Purple Carrot says on their website, “Is it any wonder we’re all about cultivating the plant-based revolution?”

Social Impact

Beyond health and sustainability, our Purple Carrot delivery review uncovered a couple facts that score the company big points in our book. First, Purple Carrot supports The Farmlink Project in their mission to connect farms that have extra produce with communities in need. In doing so, Purple Carrot and The Farmlink Project are tag-teaming the fight to end hunger and food insecurity in America.

Second, Purple Carrot shows a strong commitment to helping kids understand the power of plants. Through future education programs, Purple Carrot aims to shift the world’s next generation of leaders, companies, and consumers toward a healthier and more sustainable way of life.

Lofty goals? Maybe. But we’re all in. That’s why we are pleased to award Purple Carrot as the Best for Beginners vegan meal delivery service of 2021!

Social Proof: See What Customers Are Cookin’ on Instagram

Purple Carrot Pricing Review

Pricing for Purple Carrot Meal Delivery is generally better than other meal delivery services we reviewed. Although the “getting started” price is a little higher than some, the price per serving ends up being exactly on-par with the competition.

• Starting at: $71.94 (this is below the median price of $75.35 for other services)
• Price per Serving: $11.99 (this is exactly the same as median price of $11.99 for other services)
• Frequency: Weekly (this is most common)
• Free Shipping on all orders

That last point is big. Not all vegan meal delivery services that we reviewed offer free shipping. Purple Carrot does, so that “getting started” price of $71.94 is more affordable than it first appears.

At the time of this review, Purple Carrot also offers a $20 discount on your first week. With the discount, that comes out to just $51.94 to get started.

How It Works

We love that Purple Carrot lets you browse their menu before signing up for your vegan meal delivery membership. Some competitors do not do this, and we think that’s a little frustrating. It’s always nice to browse your options before signing up, especially when you’re committed to being 100% plant-based. After all, who wants to open a box and find out they can’t eat half the things in it?

Simply click on the Menus option, then select either Meal Kits or Prepared Meals. Then, browse the available recipes.

1. Meal Kits vs. Prepared Meals

First, you have to decide what kind of Purple Carrot delivery you would like:

Meal Kits are boxes of individually packaged ingredients. They include Meal Cards that describe what’s inside and how to prepare the meal.

Prepared Meals are pre-cooked meals that come ready to heat and serve.

For this Purple Carrot review, we selected the Meal Kits option to see how well things are packaged and presented. Spoiler alert: We were not disappointed.

2. Sign Up

You can begin the sign up process by clicking on one of the “Get Started” buttons on PurpleCarrot.com. They all say different things, like “I’m Ready to Order” or “Let’s Do This”. And they are all colored purple. No matter which button you select, it will funnel you to the account sign up page.

Once on the sign up page, you will need to register with either your email or Facebook account. Then, you will have to enter your billing information before you can select any meals. You can opt to pay via credit card or PayPal.

Important: Be on the lookout for welcome emails from Purple Carrot. This is one of many opportunities the company takes to welcome you and explain how your membership works, including pausing and canceling service. Judging by some of the other reviews we’ve seen, it seems like some customers ignored these emails and got frustrated while trying to make changes later.

3. Select Meal Kits or Prepared Meals

Once your account is created, you move on to meal selection. Note that this will either be Meal Kits or Prepared Meals, depending on your preference.

It’s important to remember what your meal plan includes, and what is extra. For example, the introductory membership we reviewed includes 3 meals (2 servings per meal).

If you select more, you will be charged for the a la carte items you add. While reviewing Purple Carrot as a meal delivery service, we found a few negative reviews from customers who were confused about this. However, this pricing structure seemed clear to us.

In terms of selection, we love the Purple Carrot website/app interface. It is super user-friendly and easy to sort through meal options

4. Schedule Delivery

Once your Meal Kits or Prepared Meals are selected, you schedule your delivery. We scheduled ours for a Tuesday so we could experiment and review our meals mid-week. When we logged-in to our account, we could see information on our order in the Upcoming Deliveries page. This page also includes information on how to cancel or pause the subscription.

5. Pause if Needed

If you’re still hesitant, it’s good to know you can pause your subscription for up to 10 weeks while you consider other options. The process seems straight-forward and shouldn’t require any customer service help. Simply log-in, go to your My Account page, and select “Pause”.

You may see some negative reviews about this, but they seem to have been left by some unreasonable people. We’ve checked the Pause feature and it seems to work just fine for us. Remember, though: Account Pause/Cancelation must always be made before 11:59 PM EST on the Tuesday one week prior to your next shipment.

This seems to have been unclear to customers leaving the negative reviews, but we have seen this policy clearly displayed on the FAQ page, welcome emails, and next to the order on the Upcoming Deliveries page in our account.

6. For Meal Kits, Enjoy Easy-to-Follow Instructions

We have to say, the Meal Cards that come with Purple Carrot Meal Kits are awesome. Full color, front and back, these cards tell you what’s in the meal kit and exactly how to prepare it. What’s more, the Meal Cards acquaint you with the finer points of the meal. What it’s inspired by, how nutritious it is, and what those nutrients do for you are just a few details that make cooking with Purple Carrot Meal Kits low-key educational.

Purple Carrot Delivery Review

Purple Carrot makes it easy to schedule and keep track of deliveries. There’s a page in your account clearly labeled “Upcoming Deliveries”. There, we could confirm that our order had been scheduled while also seeing information on on how to cancel or pause the subscription.

We scheduled our test dinner for a Tuesday so we could try out and evaluate our dishes throughout the week. Our delivery arrived on time that day with everything neatly pre-portioned inside the Purple Carrot box.

Overall Meal Experience

From start to finish, we’re very happy with the overall experience of our Purple Carrot Meal Kit delivery. We’ve covered how easy the registration and sign-up process is, along with tweaking your subscription to pause or cancel deliveries. Now, our favorite part of the review: The oh-so-delicious vegan food!

Overall, the Purple Carrot experience is easy and fun. Unboxing our first Meal Kits felt like a bit of an adventure. We loved following the Meal Cards, mostly because they are so well designed. You can tell a lot of thought was put into them. Colorful designs, interesting nutritional facts, and easy-to-follow instructions. What more could you ask for?

Cooking is a joy, especially when you share the adventure with family and friends. Add Purple Carrot’s carefully curated recipes, thoughtfully packaged ingredients, and colorful Meal Card instructions, and you have all the fixings for a memorable night.

Purple Carrot’s pre-made meals are a great option too. Variety, convenience, and flavorful ingredients make this one of best vegan meal deliveries we reviewed in 2021.

Customer Service Review

Unfortunately, a string of negative reviews in early 2021 indicates Purple Carrot experienced some growing pains. A relatively “small team” with big ambitions, the company seemed to be leaving out some details that had customers flustered. You can read more about these individual issues on the Purple Carrot Better Business Bureau listing.

TL;DR – Most of the complaints stem from the use of Gift Cards or Coupons.

For you convenience, we’ve outlined the most common misunderstandings below. Please review these terms prior to scheduling any meal deliveries with Purple Carrot.

Do I need a Purple Carrot subscription to use my Gift/ Coupon?

Yes. All Purple Carrot gifts and coupons are really just credits toward a subscription. So, a subscription must be set up in order to redeem them. This is not uncommon among other subscription services that we’ve reviewed. However, understand you must cancel your subscription should you no longer wish to receive meals (see below). Otherwise, you will be charged in accordance with Purple Carrot’s Terms & Conditions.

How do I cancel my Purple Carrot membership?

Whether you signed up yourself or received it as a gift, an active Purple Carrot membership must be canceled to avoid future weekly charges. Although several customers have left negative reviews about this process, we think it is pretty simple:

1. Log in and go to the letter icon (top right corner of the page)
2. Click on My Account
3. Navigate to Account Settings, and next to “Subscription Status,” click “Change”
4. Scroll to “Cancel My Account”
5. Complete the short survey and follow cancelation instructions to complete

Remember: If someone gives you Purple Carrot as a gift, you will need to complete this cancellation step before 11:59 PM EST on the Tuesday one week prior to your next shipment.

How do I pause my Purple Carrot membership?

Purple Carrot also allows subscribers to pause their account for up to 10 weeks. Simply follow the instructions above. When you arrive at your Account Settings page, select “Pause”.

When do I need to Pause or Cancel by?

According to Purple Carrot, subscription changes must always be made before 11:59 PM EST on the Tuesday one week prior to your next shipment.

To be fair, these terms require a little bit of hunting to find. However, it seems extreme to say Purple Carrot is “hiding” these terms from their customers. In fact, Purple Carrot has a thorough and public FAQ page and Managing Your Account page. If you feel uneasy, you can review these pages without even creating an account.

Purple Carrot Review: The Bottom Line

We awarded Purple Carrot the Best for Beginners vegan meal delivery service of 2021!

Globally-inspired recipes, solid price per serving, 100% plant based menu, and a strong commitment to social change. Add the ultra-intuitive sign up and meal selection process, and it’s no wonder we’re so high on Purple Carrot.

Free Shipping on all orders, plus the ability to easily pause or cancel your subscription, and we can’t think of a reason why beginners who are looking for a vegan meal delivery service shouldn’t give Purple Carrot a try.

Try Purple Carrot Here!

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• WINNER, BEST OVERALL: Sunbasket Vegan Meal Delivery Review 2021