I’ve tried my fair share of several grocery delivery boxes and meal kit services, many of which seem to blur together. I’d describe most of these services as “mid”, offering notable benefits but nothing notable enough that make me want to use them long-term. After using Hungryroot to order just one box, I was immediately impressed with the brand’s hybrid approach to healthy eating.
Unlike other services that either offer pre-portioned, cooked meals or the opposite — a box full of ingredients that all require preparation — Hungryoot delivers a unique combination approach with a mix of ingredients for healthy home-cooked meals and ready-to-eat foods. Hungryroot gives you more control over your boxes, perfect for picky eaters or those who don’t want to get stuck paying for foods they don’t really want. Here’s what stood out most to me.
How Hungryroot learns your food preferences
Most meal delivery boxes will start by having you complete a questionnaire about your food preferences. However, I found Hungryroot’s initial quiz to be far more detailed. I was asked about the exact foods I will and won’t eat, preferred food frequencies, and cuisine and flavor preferences.
When I first received the initial box, it felt like the choices I selected were actually reflected in the types of foods in the box. I really loved that the box included easy, high-protein snacks like ready-to-eat hard-boiled eggs, but also included the ingredients and recipes to make healthy weeknight dinners. Each week, Hungryroot’s system asks you how you enjoyed each item in the box, using a smart system to adapt next week’s box accordingly. This process felt like the kind of customization that today’s consumers expect out of a meal box. Control is key.
Based on my input for a lower-carb, higher-protein box, I found things in my box such as:
- Pre-cooked marinated chicken thighs
- Healthy snacks like almonds and olives
- High-protein dinners like chicken sausages and grass-fed burger patties
Flexibility for picky eaters and health-conscious shoppers
Meal boxes and grocery delivery services like Hungryroot are designed for those with busy lifestyles (or who simply don’t want to be bothered going to the grocery store). At the same time, lack of time shouldn’t mean you have to sacrifice the quality of your food. Beyond control over my box, quality is my second-most important factor when selecting a food delivery service.
Quality is another category where Hungryroot stood out to me — offering the same cleaner options you’d expect to find when shopping in person at a store like Sprout’s Farmers Market or Whole Foods Market. In my box, I found a variety of well-known health-focused brands, like Vital Farms Pasture Raised Eggs, as well as many of Hungryroot’s individually branded items. If you’re picky about the quality of food you allow into your home, you’ll definitely be impressed with Hungryroot’s selection.
Potential limitations
I did find some of the meal suggestions a little too simple, requiring me to make a few modifications. However, simplicity of meals could also be seen as an advantage — especially if you are short on time and prefer to stick to the basics. Over the course of using Hungryroot’s boxes for a few weeks, the meals felt a tad repetitive and lacked a bit of the spicy diversity I was looking for (think things like a healthy twist on Indian butter chicken). But if you mostly use meal kits like this to supplement some dinners a week, that shouldn’t be an issue.
