Veestro eliminates all your excuses for not regularly eating vegan dishes. This meal delivery service sends you an ample supply of plant-based food that you simply need to warm before eating. Even better, Veestro’s menu variety and high-quality flavors dispel the myth that eating vegan means sacrificing taste. There are a couple of caveats: You must order many meals upfront, even with the a la carte purchasing options, and some of those individual meals are more satisfying than others. Still, Veestro is an easy, healthy, convenient meal kit pick.
Veestro’s Plans and Pricing
Like most meal services, Veestro lets you purchase a subscription so that you receive regular deliveries. You can get your box every week, every two weeks, or every month. Meal prices vary depending on how many meals you purchase upfront. A 10-meal plan charges $11.70 per meal, while a 30-meal plan charges $9.90 per meal. These prices are typical for the category.
Like Housemade, Veestro doesn’t require you to buy a subscription; you can make a la carte purchases. Granted, you must purchase at least 10 meals, which is a lot. One-time purchases also come with a $10 shipping fee, unlike the free shipping and other occasional discounts you get with a subscription. Veestro sells gift cards, which makes it easy to convince a friend to try the service without fear of commitment. Veestro delivers to anywhere in the contiguous 48 United States.
Veestro’s Menu Options
Veestro’s menu includes more than 50 meals, mostly for lunch and dinner. Like Editors’ Choice pick Green Chef, Veestro offers plant-based food. This all-vegan menu contains an appetizing variety, including pizza, faux chicken nuggets, and Middle-Eastern delicacies. With so many options, you’ll find plenty of promising food choices even if you use the dietary filters to only see “kosher,” “gluten-free,” and “nut-free meals.” Each meal listing includes user reviews and a star rating.
Keep in mind, though, that these are all frozen, single-serving meals. You won’t find the beverages or snacks you’ll see on similarly convenient, no-cook meal delivery services, such as Daily Harvest and Splendid Spoon.
If you’re interested in a vegan diet because of its health benefits, you can read Veestro’s blog to learn more about plant-based meats, how vegetables fight heart disease, and other fascinating food topics. Veestro also offers a plan specifically for weight loss. FreshlyFit and bistroMD also walk you through their food’s health benefits, even if those services are weaker than Veestro overall.
Veestro’s Packaging
Initially, I thought my Veestro delivery came in an overly big box that seemed to waste a lot of cardboard. However, my sample box contained four meals, whereas regular consumers would receive at least 10 meals, more than enough to fill the box I received.
Veestro’s meals come frozen, surrounded by dry ice to keep them cold during the commute. It took about a week to receive my box, and depending on where you live, you can expect deliveries to arrive even faster. Veestro’s meals supposedly last eight weeks in the freezer and up to five days in the fridge. Some meals require you to defrost them before eating, while others can go straight into the microwave. The food comes pre-prepared so needn’t about raw ingredients.
Aside from some plastic wrappers, Veestro’s meals come in streamlined, recyclable cardboard boxes. I never ate the food right out of the tray, but there’s nothing stopping you if you don’t want to wash a plate.
Cooking and Eating With Veestro
As fully prepared frozen meals, Veestro’s food requires no cooking. Peel off the wrappers, pop the box in the microwave for five minutes, and enjoy. If you’re feeling fancier, dump the frozen block onto a pan or into the oven and reheat it that way. Veestro’s packaging details multiple recommended cooking instructions.
This is all extremely simple and convenient, but if you want a meal delivery service that teaches you to cook, Editors’ Choice Pick Blue Apron is a good place to start. If you want to learn to cook vegan dishes, check out Purple Carrot. Hungryroot, another Editors’ Choice pick, even sends you groceries along with recipes for cooking them.
Fortunately, none of my Veestro meals looked or tasted like something from the freezer. The Pasta Bolognese had the proper ratio of wide noodles and flavorful, tomato-heavy sauce. My partner’s Red Curry With Tofu and my Fajitas were both a little mild for our tastes, but they still clearly contained the flavor and aroma those dishes need. Each meal contains enough separate components, from thick mushrooms to kale and basmati rice, for appreciated, taste complexity.
A funny observation my vegetarian partner and I agreed on is that Veestro didn’t taste “obnoxiously healthy.” The meals are obviously vegetable-based, but they were so tasty that we didn’t feel like we were being forced to eat our vegetables by a stern parent (unlike Daily Harvest). The fact that Daily Harvest’s vegetables lose their freshness after being frozen doesn’t help.
However, I do wish Veestro’s meals were more filling. My pasta took up about half of a bowl, and I was left moderately hungry even after eating nearly 500 calories. I wished I had added more noodles. I had to bust out my own tortillas and hot sauce to give the Fajitas that last bit of kick and substance. Perhaps these meals could satisfy me as light lunches, but they’re lacking as dinners. Editors’ Choice pick HelloFresh frequently provides more than enough food in each meal for leftovers.
Your Pick of the Frozen Garden
Veestro makes it equally easy to either buy one large box of frozen meals or let the vegan meal delivery service take over your entire diet. Between the easy prep and large selection of tasty meals, both of those options are compelling. Some meals could be more filling, but if food leaves you wanting more, that’s a great sign.
Still, if you prefer a meal delivery service that teaches you how to cook with fresh ingredients, go with one of our Editors’ Choice picks. Blue Apron teaches amateur chefs how to cook; Green Chef provides fantastic plant-based meals; HelloFresh should satisfy all omnivores; and Hungryroot offers both meal kits and groceries.
