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It’s no secret that leaning less on takeout and eating more balanced, home-cooked meals can be beneficial for your overall health (1, 2).

But, if you’re like many other Americans, you probably feel like you have far too much on your plate to think about planning a week’s worth of healthy meals, going grocery shopping, and then cooking everything.

Thanks to Hungryroot, your healthy eating goals may be easier to achieve than you might think.

Offering the benefits of both a grocery delivery service and a meal kit delivery service, Hungryroot aims to make healthier eating as convenient as possible by doing most of the legwork for you.

Sound too good to be true? Maybe. We tried Hungryroot for 1 week to find out!

What is Hungryroot?

Hungryroot is a grocery delivery service that was founded in 2015. It caters to busy people who want to cook more nutritious meals at home but have trouble finding the time to meal plan and grocery shop.

Unlike other meal kit delivery services, Hungryroot provides personalized grocery recommendations along with a weekly meal plan.

In addition to the items you’ll need to prepare your meals each week, the service offers groceries such as fresh fruit, sous vide eggs, healthier packaged snacks, and pantry staples.

To get started with Hungryroot, you complete an online quiz. Based on your answers, the service then creates a customized meal plan, including a grocery list and ideas for meals and snacks.

Using a variety of tools available on the platform, customers can further customize their food and recipe preferences to ensure that their groceries and meal plan are tailored to their needs and preferences.

What’s more, many of Hungryroot’s recipes are designed to be ready in 10 minutes or less.

Groceries are shipped to your door each week, and you can skip, pause, or cancel deliveries as needed.

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Pros and cons at a glance

Pros

• Both groceries and customized meal plans are available.
• The website is easy to navigate.
• The selection accommodates many diets.
• The flexible ordering system allows you to purchase meals, individual ingredients, and snacks.
• The service offers multiple customization tools.
• Many recipes are quick and easy to prepare.
• Meals are nutritious and vegetable-forward.
• The company uses recyclable packaging for deliveries.

Cons

• Payment is required before you can view grocery options.
• The service may be more expensive than traditional grocery shopping.
• It can be difficult to estimate how much food to order.
• Some items are not organic or non-GMO.
• Some recipes require additional ingredients to make them nutritionally balanced.
• Reviews on ingredient quality are mixed.
• Some customers report difficulties with skipping weeks or canceling subscriptions.

How does Hungryroot work?

Getting started with Hungryroot is straightforward and requires just a few steps.

Step 1: Take the online quiz

Share on PinterestScreenshot provided by Kelli McGrane, MS, RD

To get started with Hungryroot, you’ll complete an online quiz. Using your answers, the service will create a customized meal plan and grocery list.

The quiz includes questions such as:

• “Who are you feeding?”
• “What are some of your goals with Hungryroot?”
• “How much time do you like to spend cooking?”
• “Which kitchen appliances do you use?”

You’ll also answer questions about your dietary needs and preferences, the types of flavor profiles and cuisines you enjoy, and how many meals and snacks you want Hungryroot to provide each day.

Step 2: Select how many meals you want

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Once you’ve completed the quiz, you’ll select the number of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and dessert servings you want to receive each week.

As we’ll discuss later, this section can be confusing for first-time users and requires a bit of a learning curve to figure out exactly how much food to order each week.

On this page, you’ll also see how much your plan will cost. Once you click “checkout,” you’ll be asked to select your first delivery day and enter a payment method, which will be auto-charged each week.

Step 3: Review your groceries

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Once your payment is accepted, you’ll be able to review your grocery list and recommended recipes. Your meals, snacks, and desserts will be listed, and you can easily swap out items or recipes that you dislike.

You can also add more groceries to your cart for an additional fee.

Once you confirm your cart, all that’s left to do is wait for your food to be delivered.

Delivery availability

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Hungryroot delivers to many — but not all — zip codes within the 48 contiguous United States and Washington, D.C. It is not available in Hawaii or Alaska.

Available delivery days may vary depending on your location.

Groceries are delivered once per week, and you can easily cancel or skip deliveries by logging into your account on the Hungryroot app or website.

Sustainability and ingredient quality

Hungryroot emphasizes sustainability. Weekly deliveries are packaged using 100% curbside recyclable boxes and include biodegradable ice packs to keep the ingredients cold.

The brand also claims that it’s committed to zero-waste sourcing and crafts its recipes with the goal of reducing food waste.

All Hungryroot items are free of partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, and artificial preservatives.

Additionally, many ingredients are non-GMO and certified organic, but not all are.

Which dietary patterns does Hungryroot support?

Hungryroot accommodates a wide variety of diet patterns and restrictions, including:

• pescatarian
• vegetarian
• vegan
• dairy-free
• gluten-free
• soy-free
• tree nut-free
• peanut-free
• egg-free
• shellfish-free

Plus, as you can swap out items you don’t want, Hungryroot makes it easy to select items that fit almost any dietary need.

For example, Hungryroot offers several keto-friendly items, and customers following a keto diet can mark any non-keto-friendly ingredients as “never send” items.

If you have a food allergy, it’s important to keep in mind that while an item may be free of an allergen, such as dairy or gluten, it may not be certified gluten-free or processed in an allergen-free facility.

To find out whether an item is suitable for your needs, be sure to thoroughly read its description on the Hungryroot app or website.

How much does Hungryroot cost? 

At time of publish, weekly plans start at $70 for 3 meals with 2 servings each, with costs increasing as more food is added to your delivery. Shipping is always free for orders of $70 or more.

Food items are sold in “credits” that are provided based on the subscription plan.

For example, the $70 plan provides a customer with 32 credits. The credit values of items range from 0.25 to 10, with some items, such as meat products, costing more credits than less expensive foods such as vegetables.

In general, meals tend to cost just under $10 per serving.

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Editor’s review of trying Hungryroot for 1 week

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Overall, my experience with Hungryroot was positive. The items arrived on time and in good condition, everything was fresh and tasty, and there were multiple ways to customize the service to fit my family’s grocery needs and preferences.

With that said, there were a few aspects that I didn’t love, thought could be better, or would take into consideration before subscribing.

Here are my 9 main takeaways after trying Hungryroot for 1 week.

1. It provided a much-needed break from meal planning

You might think that, as a registered dietitian with experience in recipe development, I’d be a meal planning pro. However, between life getting busier and rising grocery costs, I’ve increasingly found myself hitting a wall when trying to come up with menus each week.

Because it provides both groceries and recipes to use the ingredients in, Hungryroot was a breath of fresh air.

I genuinely found taking the quiz to be fun and enjoyed setting up my food and grocery profiles.

But what I loved most was that I wasn’t responsible for creating a grocery list or researching recipes. Instead, all I had to do was swap out items or recipes that I didn’t want.

2. There are multiple ways to customize your experience

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Hungryroot manages to be both convenient and highly customizable. If you aren’t picky, you can simply let the service pick your recipes and grocery items for you.

But if you want more of a say in what you’re eating, the service offers numerous ways to do so, including the quiz, meal plan editor, food profile, grocery preferences, and recipe finder.

I really liked these features, as I was able to go through Hungryroot’s catalog of groceries and select how frequently I wanted to receive each item. For example, I dislike onions and mushrooms and was able to mark both of these as “never send” items.

Similarly, the food profile allows you to set preferences, such as the types of proteins you want to receive and the level of spice you’re comfortable with.

While I could have done a better job adjusting my meal plan (more on that later), all the groceries I received were ones that my family likes.

3. The Almond Chickpea Cookie Dough is best eaten straight out of the tub

One perk of signing up for Hungryroot is that you get a free gift in every delivery.

My options were a fresh veggie of the week, a premium protein, and the company’s Almond Chickpea Cookie Dough. While the vegetable or protein would have been the more economical choice, I couldn’t say no to cookie dough that’s designed to be eaten straight out of the tub — though you can also bake it.

I tried the cookie dough both ways and found that eating it out of the container was the way to go. Not only did it feel more indulgent to take spoonfuls from the tub (my toddler especially got a kick out of it), but I found that baking the dough resulted in cookies that were a little too oily for my taste.

4. The items are high quality and very tasty

Share on PinterestPhotography by Kelli McGrane, MS, RD

By far the most impressive aspect of Hungryroot was the quality of the ingredients.

Not only did all my items arrive undamaged and unspoiled, but many of the ingredients, especially the shredded cheese and ground beef, tasted better than any brand I’ve been able to find at the grocery store.

5. Just say yes to the vegan spinach artichoke dip

Another product endorsement, but I promise you’ll thank me for it. Made from cashews, almonds, and artichoke hearts, this creamy dip is wonderfully smooth and has just the right balance of savory, salty, and citrusy.

I served it at a party, and it was a hit with vegans and omnivores alike.

6. The recipes are quick and easy to make

Share on PinterestPhotography by Kelli McGrane, MS, RD

The majority of recipes on Hungryroot are made with just 3–6 ingredients, and many take less than 10 minutes to prepare.

All the recipes I tried were approachable for beginner cooks and didn’t require fancy kitchen equipment.

While the instructions were easy to follow, I didn’t love that I had to access them on the Hungryroot app or website, as I much prefer a tangible recipe card.

7. Figuring out how many servings I needed was more confusing than it should have been

Maybe it’s just the way my brain works, but it took me quite some time to figure out how many servings I needed to select on the checkout page.

I’m used to planning for how many servings I need on a day-to-day basis, as it varies depending on whether my son is in day care or whether we’re going out to eat one night.

However, the checkout page has you tally the total number that you need for the week, which was just harder for me to wrap my head around and feel like my estimate was accurate.

I understand that the page is designed to allow people to buy just 2 days of groceries or a whole week’s worth, and now that I’ve tried Hungryroot, I’d feel more confident in my estimates the second go-around. But as a first-time user, I felt like the form could have been laid out in a way that was a bit more intuitive.

8. You’ll want to review your recipes ahead of time

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While the recipes were easy to make and the ingredients were top-notch, some meals were a bit too simple or were not nutritionally balanced enough for my taste.

This was especially true with the Beef Tacos dish. The recipe was very simple and involved simply mixing ground beef with taco seasoning, placing it in a tortilla, and adding shredded cheese on top.

Don’t get me wrong — the cheese and ground beef were delicious. But the dietitian in me was wishing for fresh avocado and tomato on top plus a vegetable on the side.

If I were to try the service again, I’d definitely spend more time going through the recipes and making sure that my grocery list included enough fruits and vegetables to ensure balanced meals.

9. The convenience comes at a cost

Without the first-delivery discount, my Hungryroot delivery would have cost $211.99 for 2 lunches (2 servings each), 3 dinners (4 servings each), and 2–3 breakfast servings, plus a few snacks, a pancake mix, and a Hu chocolate bar.

Out of curiosity, I decided to see how much the same grocery list would have cost if I’d purchased the items from my local King Soopers. While some of the brands were different, I made sure to select items that matched as closely as possible and ensured that the volumes were the same.

When shopping at my local store, the total would have come to $130.14.

Of course, it’s important to remember that you aren’t just paying for groceries. Hungryroot is also acting as a meal planning service. Still, it was an eye-opening exercise and highlights the importance of considering how much the convenience factor is worth to you.

Would I try it again?

Overall, I found the ingredient quality to be fantastic and appreciated being able to edit a meal plan rather than create one.

I also enjoyed trying foods, including Hungryroot brand items, that wouldn’t typically make it into my shopping cart.

With that said, I found many of the recipes to be a bit too basic given the cost, though this could be a positive for some people.

Plus, while the service provides a few additional groceries, I still had to go shopping for items like milk, eggs, and ingredients for day care-friendly meals.

While I could see Hungryroot being a particularly good option for singles or couples who value the convenience it offers, the downsides mentioned above and the high cost make the service too hard to justify for my family.

Brand reputation and customer reviews

Hungryroot has a B rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and is not BBB accredited. The company is headquartered in New York City and was founded in 2015.

Hungryroot passed Healthline’s vetting process, though we noted that the company was involved in a 2019 lawsuit claiming that its website is not fully accessible and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (3).

Overall, online reviews of Hungryroot are positive, and the brand currently has a 4.3 average star rating on Trustpilot.

Several happy customers write that they appreciate the variety of recipes and grocery items to choose from. Others say they appreciate how quick and easy the recipes are to make, and many find the website easy to navigate.

However, not all the reviews are positive. Common complaints include issues with incorrect or missing items, difficulties with pausing or canceling subscriptions, and receiving spoiled ingredients.

Some customers also complain that the portions are too small for the price.

How Hungryroot compares to its competitors

Hungryroot isn’t the only delivery service that can help people meal plan or load up on groceries, but it’s one of the few that can do both.

Home Chef

Home Chef is a popular meal delivery service that offers a variety of meal kits and Fresh and Easy Meals, which include a mix of oven-ready entrees, express meal kits, and microwaveable prepared meals.

The service also offers a variety of Extras — items such as desserts, side dishes, breakfast options, and proteins that can be added to your order for an additional cost.

Misfits Market

On the grocery delivery side of things, Misfits Market stands out for helping to reduce food waste by offering organic fruits and vegetables that grocery stores won’t accept, usually for cosmetic reasons.

The service also provides other grocery and pantry items, including meats, dairy products, and snacks, most of which are sustainably sourced. What’s more, the company claims that its fruits and vegetables are about 40% cheaper than what you’d buy at the grocery store.

Comparison table

Here’s a quick look at how these three services compare:

-Weekly costShippingServicesGood forHungryroot$70+free• grocery delivery• personalized meal plansmeal planningHome Chef$48+$10.99–$13.99• meal kits• prepared mealsquick and easy dinnersMisfits Market$30+$5.50grocery deliveryloading up on sustainable groceries

Note: The prices above are current at time of publish and may vary.

Who should try Hungryroot?

Depending on your lifestyle, budget, and cooking needs and preferences, Hungryroot may or may not be worth the cost.

For example, Hungryroot may be a good fit for people who:

• want to eat healthier but lack the time to meal plan and grocery shop
• value the convenience and want a service that accommodates several dietary needs and preferences
• are looking for quick, beginner-friendly meals to cook at home
• like the idea of a meal kit but also want breakfasts, lunches, and snacks provided

On the flip side, Hungryroot may not be the best fit for:

• people with limited budgets
• large families, as the service provides only a maximum of 16 servings per week
• households with picky eaters, as the options are more limited than those of a traditional grocery store
• people who want all their groceries for the week delivered
• people who prefer to eat only organic

Frequently asked questions

How much does Hungryroot cost per month?

Hungryroot starts at $70 per month and becomes more expensive as more food is added to your order.

How long does Hungryroot food last?

How long your Hungryroot groceries will last depends on the type of food.

For example, perishable items such as fruits, vegetables, and meats may stay fresh for only 2–3 days, whereas unopened shelf-stable items such as packaged snack foods can last for months (or even years) when stored properly.

Is Hungryroot good for weight loss?

Hungryroot isn’t designed to support weight loss. However, depending on your current dietary habits, it may help you lose weight by reducing portion sizes and encouraging the consumption of whole foods that are high in fiber and protein, such as fruits, vegetables, and lean meats.

The bottom line 

Hungryroot is a subscription-based grocery delivery service that also provides personalized meal plans.

It could be a particularly good fit for busy individuals who want to eat healthier but need help with meal planning and grocery shopping.

Plus, because many of the recipes are designed for beginners and take less than 10 minutes to make, it’s a good option if you dislike spending too much time in the kitchen.

However, there are some downsides to consider, including the fact that you’ll still need to purchase grocery staples, such as milk and eggs, separately.

Also, Hungryroot isn’t designed for large families, and some people may find that they’d prefer to save money by learning how to meal plan on their own.