Unsponsored Daily Harvest Smoothie Box Review
Smoothies are a favorite of many for the ability to pack a lot of nutrition into a quick, portable, easy to consume beverage. However, they can either be full of nutrition or a sugary disaster!
Daily Harvest is a company that sends boxes of smoothie cups that you simply mix with the liquid of your choice and blend.
I'm discussing the pros and cons of this box below to see if it's a good fit for you!
You've probably heard of Daily Harvest either through internet ads or perhaps your favorite social media influencer promotes it as a convenient and easy way to eat nutritious food. This is a subscription box where you can order smoothies, bowls, flatbreads, dairy free ice creams, and more.
We have ordered a few boxes and tried a variety of smoothies and dairy free ice creams and I'm going to share my thoughts on these as well as the pros and cons for our family.
SMOOTHIES
In general, I'm not a huge fan of smoothies. They have the potential to be loaded with sugar, they are often drunk too quickly, and they are not satiating like real food that you have to chew and digest. However, when made properly they can be a good alternative when you need a quick meal or a refreshing snack in the summer.
The biggest issue nutritionally with the majority of Daily Harvest's smoothies is that the protein/fat/carbohydrate ratio is far from ideal. Fruit heavy smoothies often have upwards of 25g of sugar and little to no fat or protein to help prevent a blood sugar spike. This leads to quick energy and a quick crash shortly thereafter. The lack of fat and protein also means you are likely going to be hungry again really quickly and will crave something sweet as your blood sugar drops.
The cacao avocado smoothie has the best ratio with 40g fat (don't freak out; this is healthy fat from avocados), 29g sugar, and 21g of protein. The cold brew + cacao also has a better macronutrient ratio as well.
When we purchase these, we use a can of full fat coconut milk and a scoop of collagen peptides to add fat and protein to the fruit based smoothies. This makes for a far more nutrient dense version that won't spike your sugar and leave you starving.
While I'm not an overall fan of the sugar content of these smoothies, I did enjoy their interesting and unusual additions that I would not necessarily have added on my own. Ingredients like cauliflower, zucchini, mushroom powders, & cucumber weren't typical smoothie ingredients at my house!
SCOOPS ICE CREAM ALTERNATIVE
This is a coconut based frozen dessert available in chocolate, strawberry, mint, and vanilla. We have tried all of these and just didn't love any of them. We typically eat dairy free ice cream so we are used to nondairy versions and we thought the texture of this was too icy and all of them just tasted very strongly of coconut to us and not really like chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla.
If you're looking for a great dairy free ice cream, Nada Moo is our favorite right now!
FLATBREADS, SOUPS, BOWLS
We have not tried any of these as they are all plant based and I have the same concerns about the lack of satiating protein and fat in meals like this. The need to add additional protein and fat to each of these to make a meal or well balanced snack makes these too expensive to justify at my house!
OVERALL PROS
1. It is convenient! Premade smoothies delivered straight to your door on dry ice is fun. Picking out our smoothies from the variety of flavors on our very first order was fun!
2. You can pause and restart your subscription anytime! This is so nice because you don't have to worry about a box that you didn't order showing up at your house!
3. Ingredient quality. The vast majority of ingredients are organic which is always my preference with fruits and vegetables.
4. Great for backup or emergencies. I ordered a box of the cacao avocado smoothies to have on hand after my tooth implant placement and it was easy for my husband and son to dump one of these and a can of coconut milk in the blender for me.
5. A good option if you live alone. If you are just feeding yourself, this could be a simple, convenient way to add some nutrition to your meals. While I wouldn't recommend any of the products as a stand alone meal, having a variety of soups, bowls, and smoothies that you could use to supplement your meals could be a great option.
OVERALL CONS
1. Not enough fat and protein. If you simply added water or a low fat milk to the smoothies, you would disrupt your blood sugar and not be satiated. Adding full fat milk and some extra protein (collagen peptides or nut butter) makes for a much better option, but also adds time and expense.
2. Many of the smoothies did not have enough flavor to us and we just preferred our homemade smoothies!
3. Price. The smoothies average out to about $8 each (price decreases as you add more to the box). While organic ingredients certainly cost more and shipping costs are outrageous lately, this was just more expensive than is feasible for our budget. I can make a smoothie at home using coconut milk and frozen fruit from Costco for significantly less than this.
If Daily Harvest sounds like something you might enjoy, you can save up to $65 off your first order by using this link. Our favorites were cacao avocado, cold brew cacao, and my son likes the mint cacao.
(The link above is an affiliate link which means I receive a small credit to my Daily Harvest account if you purchase. This review is not sponsored by Daily Harvest in any way and is based on my own purchases and experiences with this service.)