Review: Daily Harvest Smoothies

Note: this is not a paid advertisement. I purchase all my smoothies, this is just an honest review of a product I dig.

This summer, a friend introduced me to Daily Harvest – a convenient, healthy food prep/delivery service. I’ve been using it almost since then, which works really well with my weekly food plan. I love having Daily Harvest smoothies for breakfast.

I started with the coffee-based one, and have since been loving the cherry one and the green one. The options have improved since I started ordering them.

What is Daily Harvest?

Daily Harvest is a subscription service that delivers pre-portioned cups of do-it-yourself frozen smoothies, soups, breakfast bowls, and more directly to your doorstep.

(source: from their website)

How it works: smoothies

First, you set up an account with Daily Harvest. You choose the delivery type: weekly or monthly. For the monthly option, you get 24 cups. For the weekly option, you can choose 6, 9, 12, or 24. Cups are $7.99 each. For your very first order, you can even get 3 cups free with my referral link. You choose a delivery day – Tuesday or Thursday.

Your package will arrive packed in dry ice — it needs to be removed in a timely manner, and the items stored in the freezer. Why frozen? Daily Harvest gives a few reasons here. Mostly, I love that they are frozen for the convenience and storage. The smoothies are ready to blend, and are delivered in perfectly-portioned disposable containers.

I have only ever ordered smoothies from Daily Harvest, and my experience has been great so far. The deliveries come on time, and it runs smoothly, as long as I remember to skip deliveries I do not need. You only have a certain amount of time to skip a delivery before it automatically processes and ships.

PRO:

Convenience – The smoothies are ready-to-go, portioned just right for your meal. You can choose the liquid to add and just use a blender to mix it together.

Nutrient-dense – the items chosen for the smoothies are jam-packed with nutrients. I know I’m getting a delicious and nutritious meal when I have a Daily Harvest smoothie. I do add a scoop of vanilla whey protein powder and chia/flax seeds to some of the smoothies. Some of them have the seeds in them already.

Easy – dump the smoothie cup into the blender, add liquid of choice (I highly recommend coconut or almond milk), and blend it. It doesn’t get much easier than this. I also don’t have to spend time chopping or portioning ingredients.

Taste – The combinations are delicious. They are perfectly blended for optimum taste and nutrition.

Automated delivery – I have this as both a pro and a con. It’s an easy ‘set it and forget it’ service, and you can manage your calendar for 3 months at a time to determine whether you want a delivery that week or month. You set it up once, and they continue to come unless you skip a delivery.

CON:

Automated delivery – If you don’t need as many one week, or if you’re going away, you have to remember to skip the delivery in your account on Daily Harvest. It’s not the worst thing to have too many, they freeze so well, but I don’t like having them delivered if I’m not home. There are also weeks I don’t want smoothies.

Price – In the grand scheme, the price is not that bad for what you get, but it’s definitely higher because of the convenience. Otherwise, you’d have to go to the store, select all the ingredients, and portion them yourself. I don’t mind doing this, and used to do it weekly before I discovered Daily Harvest.

Limited flavors – I will say that the overall list of smoothies has expanded since I started getting deliveries, but they are not as wide as the smoothie flavors I could mix myself.

Individually packaged/waste – While the box, the cardboard inserts, and the lids are recyclable, but the cups are lined with a coating that makes them unable to be recycled. I like my glass reusable meal prep containers, and want to be ‘team reduce’ before ‘team recycle,’ but I also am very susceptible to the idea of convenience, like in the case of these smoothies.

Overall, I’m glad to invest in this subscription service, and see it improving even more. I have tried these smoothie flavors so far: cold brew, carrot chai, acai and cherry, banana and greens, and ginger and greens. I have not tried anything beyond the smoothies. Follow this link to claim your 3 free smoothies (disclaimer: I can earn free cups if you make a purchase). I hope you enjoy this service as much as I do!