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Connie Chen/Insider
In the world of options that make cooking simpler and faster, you have two main choices: meal kit delivery services and grocery delivery services. But what if you want a little of both?
Hungryroot is a unique blend of everything that makes meal kits and grocery services great. You get a mix of healthy produce, proteins, and pantry items and they're easy to combine into simple, delicious meals.
I tried Hungryroot to set myself up with a week of groceries and easy meals and found it was perfect for people with busy days and active appetites.
To get started, you'll take a quiz about your eating preferences and intended use of the service. This helps Hungryroot recommend a personal plan for you (don't worry, you'll still be able to customize your basket later). Questions include how many people you're feeding, what meals you need help prepping, and dietary restrictions.
Connie Chen/Insider
Next, Hungryroot creates a plan for you with a suggested number of servings for each meal. You can adjust the serving size at this stage. Depending on how many meals you choose, you'll pay as little as $9.49 per serving.
Then comes the fun part: picking out your meals and grocery items. Hungryroot hosts a large variety of meals for different tastes and grocery items from its private label brand as well as popular names like Califia oat milk, Pukka tea, and Pipcorn popcorn. You can preview its meals here and groceries here to see whether the options appeal to you.
You can trust Hungryroot's offerings because its whole philosophy revolves around natural and nutritious ingredients. Everything on the site is free of artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and colors; high-fructose corn syrup; and partially hydrogenated oils. That means healthy and wholesome foods and less overthinking while grocery shopping.
Connie Chen/Insider
I landed on three meals that sounded good for lunch — the meal I usually have the most trouble arranging due to lack of time. I also chose a handful of regular grocery items, including spring roll wrappers and golden kiwi. The experience felt similar to shopping for frozen and prepared foods from Trader Joe's and produce from my local grocery store. The biggest and most convenient difference was that I could do it all from one platform.
My delivery arrived safely and packed with proper insulation in a large box. Accompanying my three meal options was a single handout containing all the corresponding recipes.
The recipe handout was pretty barebones, at least compared to the large and illustrative recipe cards from services like HelloFresh or Blue Apron. If you prefer simplicity, though, you'll love Hungryroot. Each of the recipes only contained four to five steps.
My meals were Ricotta Ravioli and Sausage in Marinara, Rainbow Peanutty Chicken Bowl, and Black Bean Carnitas Tacos. They were all really easy to assemble and required minimal "real" cooking.
The ravioli dish, for example, mainly consisted of boiling the ravioli, cutting up and heating up the sausage in a skillet, and combining it all with the marinara sauce. The tacos were a matter of assembly: heating up the precooked carnitas, then adding them to corn tortillas with a premade bean and corn salad, plus avocado crema. All in all, low effort for a high, delicious reward.
Connie Chen/Insider
As for my other groceries, they helped fill in the gaps of the rest of my day. I made tea in the morning, snacked on popcorn and plums, and made fresh Vietnamese spring rolls for dinner. Where traditional meal kits fall short in providing sustenance through an entire day, Hungryroot picks up the pieces and fills the rest of your pantry and fridge.
Don't get me wrong — I actually love spending a lot of time in the kitchen and cooking intensive meals, but the reality is, I can't do that for every single meal.
Hungryroot's meal kits serve as a practical bridge between ordering convenient but potentially unhealthy takeout and making a three course meal from scratch. And because I still need other basic staples like milk or fruit, I can cross off my entire grocery list without visiting multiple sources.
Pros: Large product selection and brand variety, natural and nutritious offerings, can shop both meal kits and regular groceries, quick recipes
Cons: Meals may be too simple for some
Personalize your meal plan at Hungryroot, starting at $9.49/serving
