Daily Harvest Review

Daily Harvest offers a large assortment of frozen, single-serving menu items for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks as well as beverages that are 100% plant-based and gluten-free. Many items are soy-free as well. Nearly all ingredients used are also organic, although the company is not 100% certified organic. All labels are super clean, containing no fillers, gums, refined sugar, unhealthy oils, stabilizers, or artificial ingredients.

With over 100 items to choose from, customers can select a box size for weekly or monthly delivery and mix and match menu items. Most items require minimal effort to prepare—either reheat or add some liquid of choice and transfer to a stovetop or prepare in the microwave directly in the container. Learn about Daily Harvest’s offerings, how the ordering process works, what the menu items are like, and how user-friendly it is to make changes or cancellations based on our extensive testing of this service.

How It Works: Choose a Box Size and Mix + Match

Ordering from Daily Harvest is straightforward—simply choose a box size and fill it up. Choices include X-Small, Small, Medium, and Large boxes (6-8, 9-11 items, 12-23 items, and 24-26 items per box, respectively). Once you select a box size, you can browse the menu and add items to your box until it's full. You have the option to browse the entire menu, browse within categories, filter for likes/dislikes or dietary needs, or have your box automatically filled with what Daily Harvest calls Best Sellers.

Menu categories include Smoothies, Mylk (plant-based milk), Harvest Bowls, Flatbreads, Soups, Forager Bowls, Oat Bowls, Chia Bowls, Scoops (ice cream), Bites, and Lattes. You then select a delivery date (there are usually two or three options) and check out.

Choosing Meals: Large Menu Selection but User-Friendly

Daily Harvest offers a mix of menu items for all meal occasions, including dessert. Ordering is an easy process if you are a quick decision-maker and know what you like. But if you get easily overwhelmed with choices, the process may take a bit more time. There are nearly 100 menu options each week across all categories, so the easiest way to go about this is to think about how many items you want to select from each major category. For example, do you want a smoothie for each day for breakfast, or do you want a mix of smoothies, chia pudding, and oat bowls, which could double as breakfast or snacks? Some menu categories, like Smoothies and Harvest Bowls (vegetables + legume bowls), have 20 or more offerings within the category, while others (Soups, Chia Bowls, and Flatbreads have less than 10.

If you want the selection made for you, you can have your cart automatically filled with Best Sellers. All menu items are vegan and gluten-free. For additional dietary preferences, the menu can be filtered for categories such as High Protein, Low Cal, Low Carb, Paleo, or Keto, and you can also filter by selecting Likes and Dislikes for certain ingredients such as cilantro, avocado, garlic, nuts, spice, caffeine, and more.

What We Made

We chose a Small Box filled with nine items, but for the purpose of this review we are highlighting five items that we prepared:

• Flatbread: Broccoli flatbread with portobello + pesto with broccoli, artichoke, portobello mushrooms, spinach, basil, and cashew
• Soup: Turmeric + lemongrass broth with zucchini, parsnip, asparagus, lemongrass, sesame, and turmeric
• Forager Bowl: Cremini + miso oat with cracked oats, cremini mushrooms, spinach, miso, ginger, and reishi
• Oat Bowl: Cherry + dark chocolate with cherry, oats, raspberry, cacao, strawberry
• Scoops: Mint + dark, melty cacao chips with coconut, maple, dark chocolate, spirulina, and peppermint

Support Materials: Paper and Digital

Support materials are primarily delivered via emails after your first order is placed, but our box included a welcome pamphlet with the company’s background information, essentially the same as what appears on the About section of the website, with additional highlighted menu items for each meal occasion of the day. We also received emails that gave serving and prep suggestions for some of the menu items, reminders on how to compost or recycle packaging, and instructions on how to download the Daily Harvest app (only for iOS). In addition, there was a personal introduction to someone from the Daily Harvest Care Team, intended to act as a concierge service to help with upcoming deliveries or provide recommendations.

Packaging: Very Eco-Friendly

The delivery box was packaged with almost entirely recyclable or compostable paper and cardboard products and minimal plastic packaging. The only plastic packaging that was found was the two dry ice bags and the films on the individual cups. The box, item cups, and insulation surrounding the dry ice were all recyclable, and the lids could be recycled at most locations. The bowls were made of molded pulp and could be curbside recycled or composted. The Daily Harvest website has additional information on how to recycle specific packaging materials.

The Cooking Process: Add Liquid and Heat

All meals are pre-cooked and flash frozen, requiring minimal effort to prepare. The only equipment needed is a stove or microwave. The chia puddings just need a 1/2 cup of milk of your choice and then must sit in the refrigerator overnight. Warm items such as soups, forager bowls, oat bowls, harvest bowls, and lattes require the addition of a liquid of your choice (water, milk, mylk, or broth, depending on the item) and can either be heated in the microwave or on the stovetop in less than 5 minutes. The flatbreads are the only items that take longer, as they need to be reheated in the oven for about 20 minutes. Smoothies can be prepared by filling the smoothie cup to the top and blending from frozen. Scoops and Bites are ready to eat out of the container.

Flavor, Freshness, and Quality: Frozen, but Still Fresh

According to Daily Harvest, all ingredients are frozen at their peak ripeness right on the farm, locking in ripeness, flavor, and nutrition. When reheated, the ingredients have a fresh flavor and are bright in color, but they may just be on the softer side due to the nature of the cooking process. For example, the grain bowls were flavorful but tended to be mushy in texture, like a porridge.

Although Daily Harvest is not certified organic, 95% of the ingredients are organic and identified as such on the labels.

In terms of flavors, the Daily Harvest menu offers a diverse range of internationally inspired dishes, often relying on herbs and spices or umami-rich ingredients instead of excess salt or fat for flavor. Some of the sweeter items, such as the cherry and chocolate oat bowl, use natural sources of sugar and unsweetened cacao to provide a rich chocolate flavor without added sugar. We found this very satisfying and did not miss the added sugar one bit.

Some items definitely lean on the lighter side, such as the soup we tried—it was a flavorful broth with lots of veggies, but we felt it needed something more to be filling enough for a meal. Some portions were also on the smaller side, such as the oat bowl we tried. For a complete lunch or dinner, you may need to pair a soup and a bowl together depending on how hungry you are. We found the flatbread to be the perfect size; it was filling and satisfying, but not as rich in flavor as most flatbreads typically are.

Nutritional Value: Plant-Based and Nutrient-Rich

Daily Harvest is an ideal meal service for individuals who consume plant-based diets or who just want to incorporate more fruits and vegetables. All menu items are also gluten-free, but the food is processed in a facility that contains gluten (along with dairy, soy, and nuts).

Freezing the fruits and vegetables also makes them especially nutritious because it locks in the vitamins that can be lost through exposure to light and heat.

Calories are generally low on Daily Harvest items, which is why we suggest combining more than one item per meal. Many items we tried had less than 150 calories. The flatbread was the most filling, providing 380 calories, 20g fat (2.5g saturated fat), 8g plant-based protein, and 47g carbohydrates (0g refined carbohydrates). Just keep in mind that the nutrition labels do not account for any additional liquid required for cooking since that will vary based on the customer’s preference.

Daily Harvest Is Good For

Daily Harvest is great for individuals or couples since everything is served in single-sized portions. Families with kids could certainly enjoy Daily Harvest, but it would make sense to order a larger box size. However, this would also take up a lot of freezer space. Due to the nature of its plant-based menu, Daily Harvest is also ideal for vegans and vegetarians. This service would also be great for someone who wants to kickstart a healthy lifestyle but does not have time to prepare meals themselves.

Daily Harvest Is Not Good For

Daily Harvest is not recommended for those wanting high-protein, high-calorie items and obviously not for meat-lovers. This would also not be recommended for picky eaters who prefer simple, classic flavors since most dishes are complex in flavor and contain a mix of herbs, spices, and health-forward “superfoods” such as maca, reishi, spirulina, goji berry, acai, matcha, and many more. (Items can’t be customized so ingredients cannot be left out.) This service is also not ideal for families or those who enjoy leftovers because items are all one serving.

Add-ons: All À La Carte

Some meal delivery services will offer add-on items such as extra protein or a loaf of bread or even certain kitchen items related to the produce. As Daily Harvest’s entire menu is à la carte, there is no add-on section. The only additional items that can be purchased are gift boxes or gift cards to Daily Harvest. Customers have the option to customize a box for a friend, deliver a box of Scoops, or purchase a gift card.

Customer Service: Accessible and Personalized

Daily Harvest provides a variety of customer service options, including by e-mail, phone, 24/7 bot chat, and a personalized customer care agent provided by email after ordering. We contacted customer service by replying to the personalized customer care agent via email and received a very prompt response (about 2 hours) with detailed recommendations and suggestions for meals that we may like based on our inquiry. We did notice that although the introductory email we received made it seem like we would be interacting with the same customer care agent, the response we got was from someone different. Aside from that discrepancy, the information provided was very helpful and timely.

Making Changes and Canceling: Easily Done Online or via App

Changes to your box can be made up until 6 p.m. ET on the Sunday before your box is scheduled to ship and this information is clearly indicated upon ordering. Deliveries can also be skipped and accounts can be canceled online or via the company's app.

The Competition: Daily Harvest vs. Revive Superfoods

Daily Harvest and Revive Superfoods both offer an extensive selection of ready-to-blend smoothie cups with the addition of liquid at home. Revive Superfoods offers some additional savory bowls but does not have nearly the variety of items that Daily Harvest has. We also found the items at Daily Harvest to be slightly more creative in flavor and of better quality in terms of visual appearance and taste. Aesthetically, Daily Harvest also wins with its clean, minimalistic, eco-friendly packaging. On price alone, though, Revive Superfoods offers a better deal for smaller orders.

Methodology

Our testers ordered from, cooked, and rated 40 different meal delivery services. We carefully scored each one based on meal selection, nutritional information, sustainability, and customer service, as well as the flavor, freshness, and quality of each meal and ingredient. Our Spruce Eats tester panel includes dietitians, chefs, and longtime food writers. The one thing they all have in common is their love and knowledge of food.

The criteria we used to evaluate each company included:

• The ordering process
• Meal selection
• Packaging and support materials
• Recyclability
• The cooking process
• The flavor, freshness, and quality of each meal and ingredient
• Nutritional information
• Customer service