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I was taught -- like I’m sure most of you -- that jealousy is a bad character trait. Wasted energy at best, uncouth at worst. Of course that doesn’t stop jealous feelings from sprouting up from time to time over trivial things. I recall feeling serious FOMO when Daily Harvest first broke onto the scene several years back with its frozen smoothie bases. Several of my influencer type friends started posting their delish smoothies made from organic vegetables and fruits, and the Daily Harvest brand cache was officially born. What was this cool new brand and why had I not been the one bringing it to my friends’ attention?
Fast forward to 2021. As the Co-Founder of The Quality Edit, I receive a few perks from time to time -- including getting a chance to sample some of my never-tried-before brands. Daily Harvest was near the top of my list, and when a care package of all the brand’s favorites arrived at my door, 5-year-ago Scott was smitten. TL,DR -- Daily Harvest has grown up from its modest smoothie roots into a full-line meal service serving up delicious foods made from organic whole fruits and vegetables delivered directly to your front door. And I for one have moved from jealous onlooker to brand superfan.
Credit: Daily Harvest
Planting Seeds
Almost five years ago, New York based founder Rachel Drori was searching for nourishing and better-for-the-planet food that fit into her busy life. She always knew the things she should eat, but was often forced to settle for unsustainable, convenient options full of ultra-processed, hyper-refined ingredients. Rachel realized there are real systemic reasons why the food she wanted to eat did not exist. The hard truth: the food system is broken, and a century of damage has taken its toll on our food, our health, and our planet. Rachel was done compromising and determined to create food that is customer, human, and planet driven. And so the seeds of Daily Harvest were planted; 5 years and $43M in venture capital later, Drori has millions of happy customers. Patrons flocking to the brand have bought into Daily Harvest’s ethos: stock your home with delicious food that’s built on real fruits and vegetables made to keep up with the pace of your life.
Ingredients are of paramount focus for Drori and the brand. Daily Harvest’s assortment of soups, flatbreads, bowls, scoops, mylk, and smoothies are all built on organic fruits + vegetables. Everything comes frozen and is ready whenever hunger strikes -- which helps each item maintain freshness and nutrition. Daily Harvest works with its farm partners, flash-freezing everything at peak ripeness and always within 24 hours of harvest.
Daily Harvest works with its farm partners, flash-freezing everything at peak ripeness and always within 24 hours of harvest.
Taste Test
With the backstory on Drori’s company out of the way, now comes the fun stuff. Below is a rundown of everything I tried from the Daily Harvest line, complete with a ranking score (1-10) and the skinny on how to prepare each.
Strawberry & Peach Smoothie
Score: 10/10.
The Skinny: The organic strawberries and peaches yield a classic fruit smoothie flavor while the flax seeds and oats pack 6g of Fiber to help keep you satiated. I added a scoop of Ritual’s Vanilla Protein for a fully balanced after-workout meal. Strongly recommend adding this into your rotation.
How to prep: Incredibly easy to make, simply toss the prepared smoothie cup of frozen goodies into a blender with a cup of water or your preferred nut milk.
Kale & Sweet Potato Flatbread
Score: 9/10.
The Skinny: I was honestly shocked at how much I enjoyed this flatbread. Kale + Sweet Potato + Spinach screams awful diet food, but it was a delicious flatbread with a nice crunch from the sweet potato crust. The secret weapon here is the cilantro sauce and coriander garnish, which is packed with serious health benefits and is a great source of essential oils.
How to prep: This is one of the more long-winded preps of the whole lot, coming in at 25 minutes in a preheated 450 degree oven. I ended up baking this a bit longer the second time around because I’m a sucker for a serious crunch in my crust.
Chocolate + Ooey, Gooey, Midnight Fudge Scoops
Score: 10/10
The Skinny: This was the favorite item I tried, hands down. The product name kind of says it all -- chocolatey, gooey, fudgey, without any of the guilt. You can thank avocado for the incredible decadent creamy consistency. Packed with pine pollen and cacao you’re getting a more holistic nutrition profile than you’ll find in full-fat dairy ice cream. And your sweet tooth will find its fix here in spades, thanks to the unrefined maple syrup used as a natural sweetener. Good luck only having 1 serving of this at a time, of which there are 3 per pint.
How to prep: Simple, if not challenging for fellow impatient readers: Leave the pint out on your counter for at least 10 minutes before digging in.
Carrot + Coconut Curry Soup
Score: 7.5/10
The Skinny: Daily Harvest launched soups as a way to diversify its product line away from smoothies (and cushion the revenue model during colder months). That said, I enjoyed the flavors of this carrot and coconut curry soup. You definitely get your Thai/coconut fix here, and the soup is bursting with healthy and immune boosting ingredients like Vitamin C, ginger, and galangal. At just 170 calories for the full soup container, it left me wanting a bit more substance for a lunch replacement. I’d grab Daily Harvest’s soups as a cold-weather snack instead of a proper meal.
How to prep: Similar to the harvest bowl, you can heat in the microwave but I opted for the stove-top. It’ll take 4-6 minutes as you stir the ingredients together to fully integrate the soup.
Roasted Eggplant + Red Pepper Caponata Harvest Bowl
Score: 7/10.
The Skinny: Part of Daily Harvest’s nourishing bowl line, this was a hearty dish with eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, kalamata olives and a few other goodies. It reminded me of an olive-forward shakshuka style base. Come to think of it, I think this dish could have benefited from a fried egg or two on top. I enjoyed this warm, healthy meal during my WFH lunch break, a welcome change from the daily rotation of salads and other cold fare.
How to prep: Microwave friendly, but I recommend heating the bowl on your stovetop for about 5 minutes for a quick and easy hot meal.
Matcha + Lemongrass Latte
Score: 9/10
The Skinny: One of three lattes offered, the Match + Lemongrass latte was another pleasant surprise from my Daily Harvest haul. Full disclosure, this was my first ever matcha latte (I’m more of a double cappuccino kind of guy), and it exceeded my expectations. Definitely an earthy vibe going down, but it was delicious and I was excited to see the sustained energy offered by the matcha compared to my usual caffeine induced crash. Organic MCT oil and Cholera aid in brain power and a healthy immune system to boot!
How to prep: You can make this hot or cold; I opted for the cold version on a warm Los Angeles morning. Blend the pod with your favorite milk and serve over ice.
The Deets
Taste tests complete, let's get down to some brass tacks. Daily Harvest is a tool of convenience in my view -- and leaning into its subscription packages is a big part of that. Choose between Small (9 items), Medium (14), and Large (24) weekly plans with accelerating cost savings as you go. Items are priced a-la-carte, beginning at just $5.99 -- and the more you buy, the more you'll save. You can expect your weekly box to hover around $75-100 as a range, which I feel is fair given Daily Harvest’s commitment to bringing fresh, organic, high-quality fruits and veggies directly to your doorstep in easy to execute meals and snacks.
I loved the focus on freezer-ready items, so there’s very little guilt if you don’t get through something in a given week; a nice contrast to some of the other fresh meal kit services I’ve tried which run the risk of real food waste.
I would recommend incorporating Daily Harvest into your bad habit meals or snacks throughout your day that could benefit from a health-conscious improvement; for me that was workout smoothies and lighter lunch fare like the flatbreads and harvest bowls. I loved the focus on freezer-ready items, so there’s very little guilt if you don’t get through something in a given week; a nice contrast to some of the other fresh meal kit services I’ve tried which run the risk of real food waste.
Remember those influencers who made me kind of jealous 5 years ago? I guess you could say I’m one of them now. Daily Harvest is the real deal -- committed to incredible ingredients, an ever evolving menu to keep your palette engaged and curious, and a flexible model that works for all types of situations and lifestyles. You’ll definitely find my freezer stocked with Daily Harvest staples, but I’m not sure you’ll convince me to share any of my Ooey Gooey fudge scoops. Consider them off limits.
5 More Reasons To Love Daily Harvest:
- Convenience Without Compromise - Daily Harvest brings you the food you want to eat but never have time to make. It’s personalized to you, fits within your unique lifestyle, and is the easiest way to make great decisions every day. In short, it’s healthy eating made simple.
- Get your Fruits + Veggies - Whole foods are the foundation of good nutrition and living well. Daily Harvest accommodates a host of dietary needs, including gluten-free, dairy-free and plant-based without any gums, fillers, refined sugars, preservatives or artificial anything.
- Flex is Key - The brand sends out a reminder before each Daily Harvest box ships, so you only get deliveries when you want them. Edit or skip a delivery at any time.
- 90+ Options Designed To Meet Your Needs - The menu is flexible to fit all sorts of tastes and preferences. Choose from 90+ Daily Harvest meals, including Smoothies, Harvest Bowls, Flatbreads, Scoops and more.
- Regenerative practices - Daily Harvest is working to address the labor/wage disparities that exist, putting more money in the pockets of the people who grow the food. By freezing ingredients on the farm from which they came, there’s less waste for the planet, more nutrition for customers and higher yields for farmers.
