Purple Carrot, a Vegan Delivery Service Affiliated with Mark Bittman

[Josh]

We started using Purple Carrot 3 weeks ago (family plan which gives us 2 4-serving meals per week).  We have been eating probably around 75% vegetarian at home for the past year or so, and figured this could potentially introduce us to some new techniques/tastes in a relatively convenient way.  Compared to the vegetarian options from Blue Apron, these seemed more interesting.

So far so good.  Only 1 or 2 of the meals have been "knockouts," but all but tonight's "North African Orzo Risotto" have been pretty decent.  Favorites thus far have been spaghetti & carrot noodles with tomato sauce and miso/walnut "meatballs" (which you make from scratch with oats, nuts, & miso), and potato/collard green korma made creamy with almond milk.

There is a disconcertingly large amount of packaging that comes each week, but nearly all of it is recyclable, and I'm told they are working on a system for customers to return packaging.

Any other Purple Carrot folks out there?

[DonRocks]

Any other Purple Carrot folks out there?

Not yet, but quite possibly. This is *exactly* what I've been looking for, in theory, for about five meals a week. I need to take a few months, and step back, and Purple Carrot could potentially be a Godsend for me. I hope it delivers to Arlington, and is as good and healthy as it looks.

I assume (with absolutely *no* supporting facts) that Mark lent his name to a company, and is being paid to pitch it - does anyone know if this is true? I want to repeat: This is pure speculation on my part, and the second I find out I was mistaken, this entire paragraph gets deleted (with an apology).

* How much does Purple Carrot cost for, say, five meals?

* What is the minimum commitment per meal and per week?

* Do they deliver to Virginia? If not, where are they located?

* How much cooking skill and equipment needs inclusion?

* Are there any other pertinent questions I'm not thinking of?

[Josh]

Not yet, but quite possibly. This is *exactly* what I've been looking for, in theory, for about five meals a week. I need to take a few months, and step back, and Purple Carrot could potentially be a Godsend for me. I hope it delivers to Arlington, and is as good and healthy as it looks.

I assume (with absolutely *no* supporting facts) that Mark lent his name to a company, and is being paid to pitch it - does anyone know if this is true? I want to repeat: This is pure speculation on my part, and the second I find out I was mistaken, this entire paragraph gets deleted (with an apology).

* How much does Purple Carrot cost for, say, five meals?

* What is the minimum commitment per meal and per week?

* Do they deliver to Virginia? If not, where are they located?

* How much cooking skill and equipment needs inclusion?

* Are there any other pertinent questions I'm not thinking of?

From my understanding, PC was an already-exisiting startup that he joined as spokesman and recipe developer.  From the reports and interviews I read before signing up, it really does seem as though he is fairly intimately involved in the nuts and bolts of the thing.  There was a NPR interview I heard (could it have been the Kojo show?) where he discussed how small of an operation it is at this point...he talked a good game and convinced me to give it a shot.

1) Cost: There are 2 options. A 2-person plan with 3 meals weekly for $68/week, and a 4-person "family" plan with 2 meals weekly for $74.  We've done the family plan (2 adults and a 3 year old), and have found the portions to be very generous.  We generally have enough for 2 dinners worth, or a dinner and 3 lunch portions...a lot of food.  I'd say the value is there in that regard.

2) The minimum commitment is a week.  You can cancel whenever or just put on hold for however you long you want/need if you're traveling or having guests.

3) Delivery seems to be nationwide.  Not sure if they have different facilities that serve different regions, but I suspect that is the case.  I know there are times where some regions get one dish, while others get something different.

4) You basically get all the ingredients for the recipes, but have to do all the prep-work.  Since these are vegan, there is usually a reasonable amount of vegetable chopping that goes on, so if you aren't quick with a knife, it may take a bit longer than the recipe card says.  The recipes are generally pretty simple technique-wise, though if you aren't at least somewhat proficient in the kitchen, I could see you running into some problems.  The recipes are sometimes intentionally vague (which Bittman says is on purpose, so you can figure out how you like to do things) about things like the size to chop vegetables to, or how long to cook things.  I like this, since it forces people to actually continually taste what they're making to understand when it's done...not just set a timer and follow the recipe blindly.  Several of the recipes have called for a food processor, but that's about the only equipment outside a knife and pots/pans that I've come across.

5) No other burning questions that I can think of right now, but as we come across issues I'll report back.  The biggest change I'll be looking for is a reduction in the packaging, and/or a method to return the packaging to the company.  Even though this stuff is "recyclable," it makes me nervous "throwing out" so many bags/containers.

[Josh]

Here's a listing from my account page on the site of the dishes we've made so far to give you an idea.

[Rieux]

We've tried Blue Apron and Hello Fresh, and have now been doing Purple Carrot for about 2 months.  I like PC the best.  We've been trying to cook vegetarian at home, even though we are omnivores, for health reasons, so when Bittman joined PC, I signed up.  I've been very happy. Almost all the recipes are very good, a few have been excellent, and there have been no real clunkers.  I've been surprised, as the ones that seem the strangest (celery root miso schnitzel, vegan Korean pancake with starches standing in for eggs) have been the best.   The ones I think I will like the most (Shaskushka, or Batali's bolognese) have been weaker.

I love having this as it forces me to 1) cook when I might otherwise order in, and 2) eat more and more varied veggies.  The only downside is that sometimes we get a little behind (if it's a week when we are out a lot, or exhausted from work and just don't want to cook for 45 minutes and we order) and I get stressed about having too many PC meals "piling up".  That said, they seem to last more than a week (the ingredients are really fresh) so you can wait a bit.  Serving sizes are good - they keep me full, but not feeling gross.

Also, twice I have subbed meat into a dish - once it was to add some left over ground beef into a pasta sauce instead of the tempeh they provided, and another time I subbed eggs into something for tofu.  But I don't do that regularly, and I don't feel I need to.

[LauraB]

I've been considering PC for awhile.  I've hesitated to sign up, however, because it seems like every meal contains pasta or bread or other wheat-based items.  We try to avoid these types of carbs.  Also, as far as I can tell, there isn't much description of the meal other than the name of it and a photo.  And, I've only been able to see the meals for the following week, they don't seem to list anything further out.  Is this correct, or have I missed a link somewhere?    

[Rieux]

You are right, they only link to the current week.  But, if you are a subscriber you can click on each of the recipes you have gotten in the past and pull up the full recipe cards later.  I have not found the recipes to be carb-heavy, although there is some bread.  Some of the pastas are whole wheat, or alternative grains, or carrot "noodles".  The pancakes/dosa are usually non wheat flours.

I pulled a screenshot of the foods in our recent orders going back a bit - see below.  I think you can click on them.  Since these are public URLs, I don't think I am sharing any secrets here.  The only one that I have hated was the South Indian Coconut Pancakes, which was wayyyy too dry.  Some favorites were the jackfruit enchiladas, the Pa Jun, the Katsudon, and the miso-chile meatballs.

 Black Bean Burgers with Spiced Sweet Potato Fries 

Broccoli Pasta with Crisp Butter Beans

Aloo Paratha with Mustard Seed"“Scented Eggplant

 Soba Noodles with Bok Choy and Edamame 

Spiced Citrus Lentils with Rainbow Chard and Cranberries 

Avocados Rancheros 

Red Paella with Roasted Green Beans and Almonds 

Garlicky Greens Curry 

South Indian Coconut Pancakes with Homemade Chutney 
 
Jackfruit Enfrijoladas with Cilantro and Coconut Crema 

North African Orzo Risotto with Raw Fennel Salad 

Unstuffed Cabbage 

Potato Korma with Golden Raisin Pilaf 

Caramelized Onion Crepes with Warm Spinach-Mushroom Salad 

Pineapple"“Puffed Rice Chaat with Spicy Thai Tofu Fries 

 Miso-Chili "Meatballs" over Spaghetti and Carrot Noodles 

Winter Nií§oise Salad with Cashew"“Split Pea Páté 

Popcorn Posole with Jicama Salad and Pepitas

 Falafel Hash with Grapefruit-Arugula Tabbouleh 

Crisp Rutabaga Rösti with Garlicky Balsamic Spinach 

Creamy Polenta with Awesome Bolognese

[Rieux]

Some more:

Mu Shu Seitan with Homemade Hot Mustard 

Catalan Vegetable Stew with Crisp Fideos 

Shakshuka with Tofu Dumplings over Kasha 

Chilaquiles with Edamame Guacamole and Pickled Carrots 

Aloo Paratha with Mustard Seed"“Scented Eggplant 

Whole Wheat Fusilli with Mushrooms, Fennel, and Pecans 

 Brazilian Black Beans and Beets with Coconut Rice and Tropical Salsa 

Pa Jun with Quick Kimchi 

Broccoli Pasta with Crisp Butter Beans

 Mario Batali's Real Ribollita 

Red Lentil Stew with Cranberries 

Katsudon with Pickled Pea Salad and Tamari Cream

[LauraB]

You are right, they only link to the current week.  But, if you are a subscriber you can click on each of the recipes you have gotten in the past and pull up the full recipe cards later.  I have not found the recipes to be carb-heavy, although there is some bread.  Some of the pastas are whole wheat, or alternative grains, or carrot "noodles".  The pancakes/dosa are usually non wheat flours.

I pulled a screenshot of the foods in our recent orders going back a bit - see below.  I think you can click on them.  Since these are public URLs, I don't think I am sharing any secrets here.  The only one that I have hated was the South Indian Coconut Pancakes, which was wayyyy too dry.  Some favorites were the jackfruit enchiladas, the Pa Jun, the Katsudon, and the miso-chile meatballs.

Thanks, Rieux, this is very helpful.  It was hard to tell exactly what flours were being used since there was only a photo and no list of ingredients.  I'm more hopeful now that this could work for us.  I'm looking forward to checking out the links you sent to individual dishes -- thanks for taking the time.

[Josh]

Man, those miso meatballs with carrot noodles were good. So good in fact that we made the recipe again (with ingredients we bought) last week. Our 3 year old loves it.

I've found over time that I tend to tweak some of the technique/spicing to tailor the recipes to my own tastes, but we are still fans.

I still wish you could choose between dishes, since sometimes the ones featured on the 2-serving plans look better than the ones that week in the family plan and vice verse.