My coworker, Molly Higgins, who follows a vegan lifestyle, explored her own distinct goals and preferences using Hungryroot, which notably did not involve any chicken.
Upon signing up, it appears that a Hungryroot dinner serves as a $13 offering, while lunch comes in at $12, and breakfast costs a mere $4.50. However, in reality, the number of meals opted for translates into a weekly allocation of “points,” with each dish potentially carrying a different point value. So, while one dinner might be assigned 11 points, another could tally up to 12. Snacks may only demand a couple of points each. And if you find yourself with leftover points this week, there’s always next week for ribeye.
Simple and Stylish Chicken Caesars
Regardless, when I expressed to Hungryroot’s survey that my meal kit should assist in saving time, their algorithm took heed. Out of five recipes and several prepackaged breakfast options, just one meal required over 15 minutes to prepare.
Most dishes felt more like assembly than actual cooking. For instance, a lunchtime meal required nothing more than slicing sous vide chicken breast on top of a Caesar salad mix. An avocado chicken rice bowl mainly involved arranging a few ingredients after heating a rice pouch and searing some pre-cooked “chile limon” chicken breast. Paired with a delightful Southwestern-style black bean and corn salad, topped off with a drizzle of avocado crema, it made for a relaxed West Hollywood lunch.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
The sole dish that extended the cooking time substantially beyond the eating time was a pair of stuffed red bell peppers, which boasted a surprisingly good enchilada sauce from new-school Mexican-American brand Saucy Lips. Here, too, the chicken was offered pulled, precooked, and seasoned, while the rice was packaged in typical pouch form. My cooking mainly entailed warming the peppers in a toaster oven, requiring barely more effort than heating up frozen lasagna.
In truth, my week with Hungryroot often felt less like traditional cooking and more akin to a week spent sampling items from the prepared food section of an upscale grocery store, or visiting an upscale food court—one that features Sweetgreen and Baja Fresh rather than Wendy’s and Chipotle.
Personal Preferences
That being said, amidst my recipes, the simplicity of cooking seemed to compromise the freshness of produce. My order included merely two red bell peppers and an orange. When I shared this with my vegan co-tester, Molly, she responded with surprise. She experienced no such issue at all. Her meals were brimming with vegetables. My own responses on the survey had inadvertently led Hungryroot’s algorithm to assume I preferred minimal cooking.
“Every single meal contained fresh produce, required half an hour or less to prepare, most were under 500 calories, and those that exceeded that threshold were high in protein (plant-based protein, naturally),” Molly noted. Some meals combined vegan proteins with vegetable sides. Others featured veggie-rich stir-fries and a plant-based taco plate made with chipotle-spiced, charred cauliflower. While I was merely warming a pre-mixed black bean salad, Molly was busy charring brussels sprouts.
