Purple Carrot

One of the coolest gifts I received for Christmas this past year was a subscription to Purple Carrot from my parents (thanks Mom & Dad!!!)  When I opened it I was really excited because I have always been curious about trying a home delivery meal service (Blue Apron, Green Chef, Plated, etc) but have shied away due to the lack of plant based meal options.   On the contrary, Purple Carrot is completely vegan!!!  It was like a second Christmas the day my box arrived at my doorstep!

The fully insulated box was filled with goodies and had two gel freezer packs in the bottom to keep everything within the time-temperature safety zone.

Each week of Purple Carrot comes with three 8.5x11" recipe cards for 3 unique recipes.  This week's menu was Socca Pizza, Spicy Red Curry Ramen, and Vietnamese Tofu Bowl.  All the ingredients were partitioned by recipe and were in sachets of the exact quantity called for by the recipe!  The only ingredients needed from my own kitchen were olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Two of the three recipes were absolutely delicious!!!  Yum yum yum were the Spicy Red Curry Ramen and the Vietnamese Tofu Bowl!   I struggled with my pizza when I decided to skimp on the oil in the skillet that the pizza was cooked in, resulting in the crust clinging to my pan as persistently as gum on the bottom of your shoe :)  I improvised and used a spatula to pry the crust out and turned the dish into a pizza salad of sorts.

Socca Pizza

Spicy Red Curry Ramen

Vietnamese Tofu Bowl

I will leave you with my opinion of the pros vs. cons of Purple Carrot...

Pros
1.  Delicious meals!
2.  Explicit, easy-to-follow directions on large pretty recipe cards that you can keep for future use
3.  Quick - time from start to table was ~30 min
4.  Eliminates the question "What am I going to eat for dinner tonight?"
5.  Fun and exciting to try new meals that you wouldn't normally make with ingredients you wouldn't normally buy like bamboo rice (which was green) and daikon radish
6.  Each meal featured a hefty portion of leafy greens in some way
7.  Fresh, high-quality ingredients
8.  Each meal makes 2 filling servings (hiya leftovers!!!)
9.  Set weekly menu.  I know some people might consider it a con that they can't pick and choose their meals each week, but I like pretty much all foods so the set menu concept for me is yet another simplification in the process of feeding myself by eliminating decision making.
10.  Variety.  I can't attest to this personally yet, but I heard from another friend that she has been using Purple Carrot for a few months and has not gotten a duplicate recipe yet.

Cons
1.  My only real gripe is that these meals were a lot higher in fat content than I am used to.  I try to get my fat from whole foods like nuts, seeds, and avocados.  I have quit using oil to sauté foods and now only water sauté or sauté in vegetable broth. All of the recipes called for what I consider large amounts of oil and two of them had veganaise.  To get around this you could simply use less oil than the recipe calls for - just don't do it with the Socca Pizza!  ;)
2.  Cost - $72/week

Overall I am a highly satisfied customer and am waiting in eager anticipation for Wednesday when I receive my next box!