I Tried Hungryroot Grocery Delivery. It's Like Trader Joe's Without the Lines

9.0/ 10
SCORE

Hungryroot

See at Hungryroot

Pricing Starting at $8/serving

Type Meal kit, grocery provider

Regional Availability Continental United States

Number of Meal Options per Week 100+

Menu Options/ Diet Types Vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, egg-free, shellfish-free, nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, omnivore

Pros

• Similar to meal kits but without restricting you to specific recipes
• Food arrived fresh and orderly
• More convenient than going to the grocery store
• Good for discovering new foods
• Items can be easily used in other recipes
• Tons of options for vegans and vegetarians

Cons

• Slightly more expensive than buying all the groceries yourself
• Canceling must be done after your most recent box is shipped

Hungryroot isn't quite a grocery delivery service and it's not quite a meal kit. It's somewhere in between. But whatever it is seems to work, since the online market and meal prep helper has gained a loyal following. In these busy times, we're all looking for some shortcuts, and having groceries delivered, including all the ingredients to fashion three square meals, is a very solid life hack.

To see for myself, I tested Hungryroot's grocery subscription. The casual vibe and offbeat grocery items reminded me of Trader Joe's -- which is definitely a good thing. 

The online market stocks quirky Hungryroot-branded products mixed in with name-brand grocery staples and goods made by small, independent producers of food, drinks and snacks. And shortcuts are the name of the game, with items such as precooked and shredded chicken to make a fast chicken salad wrap, or healthy sous vide egg bites to air fry in the morning before work. 

Best Meal Delivery Services for 2023 See at Cnet

Here's everything you need to know about Hungryroot grocery delivery and how to get started with this grocery subscription. If you decide to try it, Hungryroot will knock 30% off your first order.

How does Hungryroot grocery delivery work?

Unlike traditional meal kits, Hungryroot tailors a delivery of groceries with simple recipe suggestions that can be created from them. While services like Blue Apron and Sunbasket lock you into recipes with rather specific ingredients portioned for that particular meal, Hungryroot sends packaged goods often in the way you'd find them at a supermarket. 

To start, Hungryroot gathers a bunch of information on your eating habits and preferences to get the best food to your door. The quiz asks about foods you like and don't like, along with any dietary restrictions (Hungryroot has a robust offering for plant-based eaters). It'll also find out which meals you're interested in receiving ingredients for -- breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks or all four. 

After you log your food preferences via the questionnaire, choose a delivery address and date and supply a credit card, Hungryroot will curate a list of suggested groceries and recipes. Some are standalone food items while others are intended to make easy meals such as simple egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast, or curry chicken wraps for lunch or a light dinner. 

Emphasis on sandwiches and wraps plural here, since most recipes are intended to feed you and the crew for multiple meals per week. Almost everything can also be used outside of the recipe if you decide you're not feeling that particular meal, so you won't be stuck with various packets of seasoning or small portions of a random sauce or another ingredient.

Swapping items is easy (and fun)

Before you submit your week's order, you can easily swap items that don't appeal to you. Each food is assigned a credit value and once you delete an item from the cart, you'll be given those credits to spend on anything else including produce, snacks, meat, fish, dairy products and tons more. 

If you want something that exceeds your credit value, you can cancel other items to give yourself enough credits or go over and Hungryroot will charge your card on file for the amount. Hungryroot makes suggestions for replacement items too. If you cancel your whole-wheat bread, as an example, a few other bread options will pop up but you're not beholden to them in any way.

You can also cancel or swap out entire recipes if you want and you'll receive credits to pick a new one or select grocery items a la carte. It's like someone walking with you through the store saying, "Hey, I think you might like this based on what you've told me," and then very much letting you decide if you'd like to try it or not.

When I placed my order, I was given three recipe suggestions: egg and cheese sandwiches with seven-grain bread; curry chicken and broccolini wraps (lunch); and a Thai coconut chicken and green bean stir fry. The rest of my order was made up of snacks, cheeses, breakfast items, proteins and meal starters.

Here's how the price per serving breaks down:

Plans start at $65. Hungryroot gives you the option to add more servings in increments of two to four with a flat increase of $10 and the cost per serving decreases the more you order. Shipping is free for any plan over $70 a week.

Hungryroot's pricing varies based on what plan you choose. Each plan comes with a number of "credits" that correlate to the number of servings you've chosen. The price of your box will remain the same each week if you always use the same amount of credits. Some ingredients, like meats, use up more credits than others, so you'll either have to pay more for meat-heavy boxes or settle for fewer servings.

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How much Hungryroot costs vs. buying everything yourself

To calculate the value of a Hungryroot subscription, I priced out each item I received in my shipment using the lowest price I could find from a local grocery delivery service like FreshDirect or Instacart. Some items are Hungryroot branded; in those cases, I found another similar item of similar portion size and used that price.

• Andrew & Everett shredded mozzarella: $5.69
• Andrew & Everett shredded cheddar: $5.69
• Vital Farms ready-pour eggs: $4.49
• Angelic 7-grain bread: $7
• Angelic sweet potato wraps: $4.59
• Pizza Gourmet wood-grilled flatbread: $5
• Tucson Tamale sausage and cheese breakfast tamale: $3.29
• Three Little Pigs prosciutto (2 ounces): $8
• Three Little Pigs egg bite (1): $2.59
• Trimmed green beans: ($3) 
• Keven's Paleo Thai coconut chicken: $11
• Rastelli's albacore tuna steaks (2): $14
• Mighty Spark bruschetta chicken burgers (2): $7
• Seasoned grilled chicken breast: $7
• Lesser Evil Himalayan salt popcorn: $4.29
• Hass Avocado: $3
• Red onion: $1
• Hungryroot coconut curry sauce (8 ounces): $6
• Sweet baby broccoli (8 ounces): $4.59

• Hungryroot total: $120
  
• Groceries if purchased separately: $107
• Difference: +$13

For my grocery order, Hungryroot proved to be $13 more expensive than if I were to buy the groceries individually. It's worth mentioning that these items vary in price depending on where you live. For me in New York, where the cost of living is high, these groceries would likely cost a smidge more if purchased at my local markets. I also didn't include the delivery fee for a typical grocery service like Instacart or Fresh Direct. Nor did I account for the cost of gas driving to and from the market.

With Hungryroot you're paying a little extra for the convenience of curated recipe suggestions and also food being delivered straight to your doorstep. 

Food you'll use, not lose

One thing Hungryroot does well is to stock food items that can either function as small meals themselves such as the excellent breakfast tamales and sous vide egg bites, or that can be easily integrated to make more complex meals and recipes. Even the food intended for recipes is often more than you'll need, so then it's up to you to decide how to use it.

The loaf of seven-grain bread, for instance, did double duty. I used it for its intended egg and cheese sandwiches but also made a toasty grilled cheese for lunch one day with the mozzarella cheese and prosciutto that was also included in my box. And since I only really needed half of the trimmed green beans for my Thai curry stir-fry, I paired the rest with the tuna steaks for dinner on another night. I also used the sweet potato wraps, shredded cheddar and some salsa I had on hand for a quick quesadilla one afternoon.

As much as I enjoy meal kits, once you select your recipes for the following week, you are more or less locked in. It's the flexibility Hungryroot affords that separates it from most other meal kit and meal delivery operations. For someone who enjoys cooking creatively and whose desires change on a whim, this format works especially well.

The only ingredient I thought I might not use all of was the 8-ounce jar of Thai curry sauce. I only used about half the jar to make the intended recipe and the meal was still more than enough for me and my dining partner. There was no other natural fit in my grocery order to use the rest of it on, so I bought some eggplant and chickpeas and made a vegan curry meal a few nights later. 

Hungryroot learns what you like and don't like

After each delivery, Hungryroot surveys you on what you liked and didn't. It asks you to rate each recipe but also to decide if you'd want certain food items again and how frequently: never, sometimes or often.

How easy is Hungryroot to pause or cancel?

If you sign up for a subscription to Hungryroot you'll keep getting curated boxes of groceries. You can customize your order every week but unless you cancel, it'll continue to send boxes and charge your card.

One small annoyance is that you can't cancel your subscription until your order is fulfilled and shipped (generally same-day shipping) so you'll have to set a reminder to cancel typically a few days after you've confirmed your latest order. 

Who is Hungryroot good for?

If you've tried meal kits and like the concept but find that you're not always in the mood to make the recipes that arrive, I'd suggest trying Hungryroot. You can select full recipes but they're never so complex that you can't use the ingredients in other, often simpler ways if you want. Speaking of the recipes, Hungryroot's are mostly easy, sometimes with as few as three ingredients. I made a paleo Thai chicken stir-fry, for instance, with precooked chicken, a packet of tasty Thai curry sauce and green beans (uncooked) that turned out great and took almost no time or effort.

Hungryroot also functions like an easy grocery delivery service making suggestions for new and interesting foods and snacks each week based on your preferences so it's a good pick for anyone who wants to cut down on trips to the market. 

It's a bit like Trader Joe's with some fun, proprietary products you probably won't find elsewhere, so I'd suggest Hungryroot for anyone looking to expand their arsenal of ingredients. 

Who is Hungryroot not good for?

If your goal is to improve your cooking skills and learn to make recipes fit for a dinner party, this probably isn't the right service. Hungryroot is more about shortcuts and quick meals than it is serious cooking. For that, I'd suggest a full meal kit service such as Sunbasket or Blue Apron.

Final verdict on Hungryroot

Hungryroot makes meal prep for mealtime and snacking super easy and even fun. It's also a great medium for discovering interesting new foods, snacks and recipes without the pressure to make or eat something you're not in the mood for. The service curated a tailored bundle of groceries that kept me satisfied for most of the meals throughout the week, all for just a few bucks more than if I went out and got the groceries myself. 

I found the ordering and customizing process easy and liked the recipe and grocery suggestions, but also that I was able to easily swap out items and peruse the extensive market for other things I wanted more. Upon arrival, I found all the food to be fresh and a lot of it was interesting. 

The meals I made were simple but tasty and I was turned on to a few brands and products I wasn't aware of. The bruschetta chicken burgers, for instance, were an easy meal and a big hit when I sizzled them on the grill one evening. A nice change of pace from the burger and chicken routine. The breakfast tamale was a revelation and a welcome shakeup of my famously mundane breakfast regimen (I definitely plan on ordering more of those).

If you're looking for easy answers to that perpetual question "what's for dinner?" but find traditional meal kits a bit too restrictive, Hungryroot is a perfect alternative for all the freestyle home cooks out there.

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