About Hungry Harvest
Too busy to shop for groceries and cook, but tired of takeout? Hungry Harvest has a solution for you.
Unlike other food delivery subscriptions, this brand “rescues” wasted fresh fruits and vegetables by collecting them and delivering them to you. The company boasts that each delivery saves at least 10 lbs of food waste, making “imperfect” veggies worth a try.
With an appearance on Shark Tank, 33,000 likes on Facebook and 31.6k followers on Instagram, the company is garnering a wider range of dedicated customers.
But does the brand really live up to its hype? This Hungry Harvest review will take an in-depth look into the company, products, customer comments, and promotions to help you decide if you should start your own subscription.
Overview of Hungry Harvest
After founder Evan Lutz learned about the massive food surplus and how 6 billion pounds of fresh produce is wasted every year, he felt motivated to make a change. In 2014, he founded Hungry Harvest to resell the discarded extra produce due to shape or size, not quality.
Hungry Harvest buys the produce straight from farms and wholesalers, reselling them at a discounted price to consumers. Since fresh produce changes year round, you don’t get the same fruits and vegetables each time.
If you don’t know what to make with the ingredients, don’t worry, the brand also has a section with recipes and tips to help you make the most of your meal.
When you sign up for a Hungry Harvest subscription, you receive a box of fruits and vegetables for a much cheaper price than what you’d find at the grocery store. Better yet, two to three pounds of produce is donated for every box purchased.
If you feel like you need more than just fruits and vegetables, you can also add items from the grocery section. Just make sure to check when the product availability ends. Depending on your area, you might have different items offered to you. The brand updates their featured products on a weekly basis every Monday afternoon, so check back if you’re not seeing what you like.
From 2014, the company provided 1.7 million pounds of produce to hunger-solving organizations, and saved over 27 million pounds of produce. While the food you receive will look a little funky, the company says you can trust the quality to be just as good as your local grocery store.
Before we get into a detailed look at all the different products and customer comments, this Hungry Harvest review will give you an overview of the pros and cons of the brand.
Pros
- Environmentally-friendly business model
- Successfully minimizing food waste
- A great variety of healthy fruits and vegetables
- You can add items to your weekly subscriptions
- Affordable pricing on all items
- Free shipping on orders over $30
Cons
- You cannot buy items a-la-carte
- Not enough produce and variety to completely replace trips to the grocery store
- Limited delivery area
- Delivery fee of $2-3 for orders under $30
How Does Hungry Harvest Work?
A Hungry Harvest subscription is very simple. All you need to do is input your address to see if the company can deliver to you, create your account, and add the products you want to your cart. You can choose to sign up for weekly or biweekly deliveries, and if you want to cancel anything, you can easily remove it from your subscription.
If there are any ingredients you don’t like, you can choose to opt out. You can also buy other products from their Marketplace, like bread or canned goods. Unfortunately, there is no option to buy individual items.
Hungry Harvest has 8 different subscription box options depending on if you want a mixed harvest, veggie harvest, or organic harvest. You can decide to receive a shipment every week or every other week, but all the options cannot completely replace a visit to the grocery store, especially if you want meat products.
Since you can get any mix of fruits or vegetables in these boxes, the brand’s recipe database is very helpful to figure out how to use what you receive. This Hungry Harvest review will include a look at how to navigate their recipe database.
Hungry Harvest Review
One great feature on the Hungry Harvest website is their recipe list, which is organized based on the ingredient. Once you click on the ingredient you want to use, you will see several recipe options. When you find one that catches your fancy, you’ll be directed to the recipes.
Now, these recipes aren’t always written by Hungry Harvest themselves, but they are carefully curated to give you a range of options for you to choose from so you can cook the meal you want with their ingredients.
For example, if you receive a dragon fruit and you’ve never eaten it before, head over here to see some of the brand’s favourite recipes. You can make a dragon fruit smoothie or dark chocolate dragon fruit coconut treats!
But because you’re receiving a package with no set menu recipes, you might need to buy more ingredients for certain recipes. The dark chocolate dragon fruit coconut treat sounds delicious, but you’d need coconut, pitaya cubes, maple syrup, beet juice, and dark chocolate too.
Fortunately, you can add ingredients from the Marketplace to your subscription, but at the end of the day, Hungry Harvest is a better option if you know how to cook and experiment with what you’re given. Fundamentally, it is a grocery service and not a meal box subscription service.
Comparison: Hungry Harvest vs. Thrive Market
Before we get into what customers think about the company, this Hungry Harvest review took a look at a similar company, Thrive Market.
Thrive Market is an online grocery store offering affordable food through sustainable practices. However, unlike Hungry Harvest, Thrive Market sells organic products from other brands instead of farms or wholesalers.
You also have the option to purchase a Thrive Market membership—at $60 annually which works out to $5 per month—and get groceries delivered to your door. The difference between this brand and Hungry Harvest is that Thrive Market does not have subscription boxes. Instead, you choose what you want from their 6,000 products.
According to reviews from Thrive Market customers, their pricing is inconsistent and not all items can be purchased individually, you will have to buy multiples in order to hit certain requirements. A few other reviews show their customer support needs more improvement. However, if you have certain dietary restrictions, you will find what you need at Thrive Market.
In this way, it appears to be more accessible than Hungry Harvest. But it fundamentally functions on a different model—Hungry Harvest is all about reducing food waste while Thrive Market brings you high quality, organic, and ethically-sourced food from other brands that would typically be more expensive.
Want to learn more about Thrive Market? Then check them out in our Thrive Market Review for a full analysis.
How Much Is Hungry Harvest?
There are several subscription boxes at different price points, all depending on how many meals you want to make, the ingredients you’d prefer, and how many people you plan on serving.
If you are planning on cooking four to five nights a week for two to three people, you should look into the:
- Full Harvest: starting at $25
- Full Organic Harvest: starting at $34
- Full Veggie Harvest: starting at $30
These boxes typically will have one type of green, two to four types of vegetables, and two to four types of fruits. For the Full Veggie Harvest, there are one to three types of greens and four to nine types of veggies. You can also head over to the Marketplace to add other products.
If you’re not cooking for as many people, you can get the Mini boxes. These options typically contain one type of green, three types of veggies, and two to three types of fruits, perfect for one to two people. While none of the prices are set in stone since it depends on what vegetables and fruits are available that week, the price doesn’t vary too much unless you add more products.
- Mini Harvest: starting at $15
- Mini Organic Harvest: starting at $28
- Mini Veggie Harvest: starting at $18
On the other hand, this Hungry Harvest review found that the company also has options if you want even more veggies and fruits. These boxes are great for daily meals serving three to five people. Each box usually has two types of greens, five types of veggies, and three to five types of fruits. Just like the other options, these are also customizable.
- Super Harvest: starting at $33
- Super Organic Harvest: starting at $42
Hungry Harvest Reviews: What Do Customers Think?
After scouring the internet, this Hungry Harvest review found that customers are generally very pleased with their subscriptions and purchases. From individual blog posts to comments on review websites, customers have a lot of great things to say.
Kristen on TheFrugalGirl enjoyed the affordability and variability with each subscription box since you can opt out of ingredients you don’t want and add ones you do. She wrote: “Aside from the pricing, I like getting a Hungry Harvest box because it gently forces me to prepare and eat more produce. I know for sure that we eat more produce because of having this box delivered.”
Amelia on TrustPilot agreed, writing: “Hungry Harvest has great produce that I have yet to understand why it would otherwise be discarded. The minor physical appearance issues never affect the flavor or quality. They are a great way to get quality produce at a reasonable price, all while reducing unnecessary food waste. Highly recommend!”
On Reddit, people did note that by selling already imperfect products, customers would have less expectations and therefore less concerns about quality. Nonetheless, the brand does deliver on its promises.
Is Hungry Harvest Subscription Worth It?
From reducing food waste to providing affordable veggies and fruits, this brand is a success on many fronts. While there are few customer reviews, most have been positive.
The major downside is the super limited shipping range, but this also allows the company to ensure the quality of their goods. The vegetables and fruits have always been misshapen, and not through tough travels.
With the options to opt-out of ingredients or add other products you like, this Hungry Harvest review finds that a subscription is worth it. Especially since there are 8 different options at various price ranges, you can definitely find one that best suits your needs.
Hungry Harvest Promotions & Discounts
At the time of this review, there are no Hungry Harvest discount codes on the site since the prices are already low.
Sign Up For Hungry Harvest Subscription
Signing up for a subscription is an easy process. All you need to do is:
- Input your address to see if the company can deliver to you
- Create your Hungry Harvest login
- Choose which plan suits your needs
- Add items from Grocery if you’d like more products
- And wait for your shipment!
FAQ
Who owns Hungry Harvest?
Evan Lutz, the founder, owns the company.
Where does Hungry Harvest deliver?
Unfortunately, the company has a limited delivery range. At the time of this Hungry Harvest review, they only deliver to:
- Maryland
- Washington, DC
- Virginia
- Greater Philadelphia
- Southern New Jersey
- Northern Delaware
- South Florida
- Triangle Area and Charlotte in North Carolina
- Detroit Metro Area
Who is Hungry Harvest for?
This subscription service would be great for individuals who don’t care for the aesthetics of their products, enjoy experimenting with meals, and want to save a trip to the grocery store while reducing food waste.
But you also need to have some cooking skills since the ingredients aren’t delivered with any recipes. You can search for recipes using their database, but this Hungry Harvest review finds that you generally need to know how to cook to use this food delivery service to its fullest potential.
How do I customize my Hungry Harvest?
You can add whatever you’d like from the Grocery section to your Hungry Harvest order. From extra produce to pantry items like canned foods, you have a variety of options but they aren’t always available so be sure to check each product’s availability.
The prices are comparable to grocery stores, and it would save you the hassle of making the trip yourself. You can even get bread, coffee beans, sauces, crackers, and Beyond Burger meat, just to name a few. Often, you can find sales happening too, so the company continues to stay committed to their affordability business ethos.
How do I cancel my Hungry Harvest subscription?
If you want to completely deactivate your account, you need to email family@hungryharvest.net and tell them to cancel your account. While you can go into your account to remove orders, you would need to contact the company directly to delete your account. All you need to do is write your full name, email address, and that you want to cancel your account and stop receiving deliveries.
If you cancel your Hungry Harvest produce delivery or subscription after your order cutoff time, you might need to pay a late fee, even though there is no termination fee. Be sure to check your cutoff time so you won’t have to pay!
What is Hungry Harvest’s Shipping Policy?
Unfortunately, Hungry Harvest ships to a limited area: Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, Greater Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey, Northern Delaware, South Florida, the Triangle Area and Charlotte in North Carolina, and the Metro Detroit Area. But they are always working to expand their shipping area.
For orders under $30, there is a delivery fee between $2-$3,otherwise, shipping is free. While shipping times have been affected by the pandemic, Hungry Harvest strives to get your order to you before 8:00 pm, for most locations. Generally, there are specific delivery windows for each location. Check your address here.
What is Hungry Harvest’s Return Policy?
Though the company promises quality food despite its ugly appearance, there might be times where the product is not good. If that’s the case, this Hungry Harvest review found that you can take a picture of the item and email it to family@hungryharvest.net.
If you have an issue with your Harvest Box, you will either receive a store credit or refund processed within seven days of your email. Even if you deactivate your account, the remaining credit will be refunded to you. Just be patient, it may take up to 30 days.
How to Contact Hungry Harvest
You can reach out to Hungry Harvest in two ways:
- Email: family@hungryharvest.net
- Live chat option on their website.
Customer service hours are Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm EST, and Saturday and Sunday from 8 am to 4 pm EST.
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