Healthy eating shouldn’t be hard.

I have been on a hunt for a faster way to make myself healthy meals for a while now. I mean, who hasn’t really? I’ve seen the ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for a variety of companies lately that promise healthy meals fast, and I’ve been tempted to try them all. The ones that send you ingredients and you cook a healthy meal sound great, but they also sound like something I could easily screw up. Recently, though, I was over at a friend’s house and I opened her freezer and there was a dozen of these cute little cups all labeled “Daily Harvest.” It looked familiar, so I grabbed one to ask her about.

What is Daily Harvest?

Daily Harvest is a company that makes meals and smoothies from superfoods, almost all organic, and delivers them to you frozen in a cup and ready to prepare in less than 5 minutes.

I thought it was too good to be true, or else too expensive to afford. I was wrong! I cooked myself one of her harvest bowls to try it on the spot, and girl, it was delicious. I was shocked! (It needed a little salt, in my opinion, but honestly, everything needs more salt in my box of recipes.) I went home that night to research more about Daily Harvest and check out if I should get some for myself.  Turns out, they have smoothies, soups, harvest bowls, and more recently sundaes and lattes! ALL kinds of meal options! And they are really reasonably priced for being such a great company delivering an awesome product.

The pros:

• Daily Harvest meals are very healthy, all vegetarian and almost all are gluten and dairy-free.
• The ingredients are 98% organic and the majority are sustainably sourced!  They do not contain preservatives, additives, or useless ingredients.
• Their recipes are interesting and filled with ingredients that I wouldn’t often buy on my own. I might make a watermelon raspberry smoothie, but I’m not gonna have sea-buckthorn berries just lying around any day to add to it. Daily Harvest does.
• Daily Harvest bowls and smoothies taste GOOD!  The combinations of ingredients and the fact that they are flash frozen to preserve the highest amount of flavor and nutrients means they don’t taste like frozen meals.
• The fruits and veggies were picked and frozen at peak ripeness which means they naturally taste good and have more nutrients than most fresh foods (picked before they’re ripe and left to ripen en route to the store).
• They are cheaper than other meal delivery services.  Most meals from other companies that deliver food are around $9-10 a meal, at the cheapest. If you get a box of 24 Daily Harvest cups per month, they only cost $7 a cup!
• Cups are literally ready to consume in less than 5 minutes. You add a liquid and blend. Or you transfer to a microwave safe dish and heat. KabOOM you are ready to eat!
• Many harvest bowl options and several smoothies are filling enough, with calories to sustain you and healthy fibers and proteins to keep you feeling full. I have been shocked at how full I can feel on such a healthy, smaller portion!
• Smoothies are customizable! You can blend them with water, almond milk, cold brew coffee, coconut water, whatever! You can also add other foods to your harvest bowls and soups, of course.
• Daily Harvest uses recyclable cups and has no extra useless packaging! Way to be sustainable. You can also drink or eat directly from the cups most of the time so it saves you from washing extra dishes.
• Three free cups to start your very first box of healthy meals! Get yours here.

The Cons:

• One downside to Daily Harvest is that there are not too many options for harvest bowls and soups, yet. There are currently only 6 of each, while there are 17 different smoothies. I am hoping they make more because I like the idea of having a cup for EVERY meal.
• Daily Harvest cups are not always a full complete meal. Though I’ve done it, it’s not a great idea to eat just a harvest bowl or soup for all of your three meals a day. Most people are used to more calories and protein and need to eat more. I add an apple and peanut butter, a slice of toast or even a small chicken breast to some meals to make them truly filling. Snacking in between meals is also an option, but I’d rather cut back on snacks so I try to supplement instead.
• Cups are not microwave-safe. I drink the smoothies from the cup after blending with my Ninja, but I have to heat the soups and harvest bowls in a separate dish.
• The frozen smoothies are tough to blend if you take them out of the freezer and blend instantly. I tend to take them out, add the liquid to the cup, and then let them sit for about 5 min before I blend. Even with my all-powerful Ninja blender, the fact that they are mostly frozen makes it slightly harder to get them drinkable right away. Adding room temperature water helps.

Well, there’s my honest review of Daily Harvest smoothies, bowls, and soups! I definitely think the pros far outweigh the cons. I am super excited to order my next box… my mouth is watering just thinking about some of my favorites.  Go to their site and get your three free cups now!

Speaking of, my absolute favorite Daily Harvest cups are:

• Blueberry and Hemp Smoothie
• Carrot and Chia Smoothie
• Acai and Cherry Smoothie
• Watermelon and Cucumber Smoothie
• Brussel Sprouts and Tahini Harvest Bowl
• Cauliflower Rice and Pesto Harvest Bowl
• Quinoa and Chipotle Harvest Bowl
• Carrot and Coconut Soup
• Cauliflower and Leek Stew
• Lentil and Mesquite Chili

So in order to kick start my healthy eating again at the start of this summer, I decided to buy a 24 box of meals (the cheapest option!), mostly smoothies, bowls, and soups. I also got myself a Ninja blender, which in my opinion, is the only blender you should every buy. It’s super fast and powerful.

Here’s how my meal plan turned out most days:

1. Smoothie for breakfast
2. Harvest bowl or soup for lunch
3. (Occasional) mid-afternoon snack of fruit or veggies with a little protein
4. Salad or protein and veggies for dinner

On that plan, I felt full, ate extremely healthily, and lost 5 pounds in 10 days! I had more energy, I felt focused and ready for my day, I looked forward to every new meal, and I SAVED TIME. I didn’t have to prep, cook, or barely even clean up after those first two meals of the day! I have a few bowls left from that first round and I’m super excited to do another week of healthy eating with Daily Harvest.

So when are YOU going to kick-start your healthy eating with Daily Harvest?

Do it NOW so you can get yourself on track for a healthy summer, give yourself energy, save precious time, and feel GOOD about what you are putting in your body. Fuel your days, fill yourself with goodness, and spend your time on those things that make you feel best!