Logo

The Minutes

Fitness and wellness insights from experts to help you hit your Paceline Minutes

Paceline Daily Harvest

I Tried Daily Harvest, and I’m Officially Sold

In this new Paceline franchise, we ask Pacers, Paceline team members, and friends to test out products from our reward partners. First up: wellness writer and editor Erin Warwood tries Daily Harvest for the first time.

Confession: When life gets crazy (as it frequently does), cooking good meals is one of the first things I sacrifice to save time. So, I often find myself turning to snack foods and takeout menus for something that’s both easy and tasty—usually at the expense of feeling actually nourished by the food.

Then, I tried Daily Harvest. In case you missed it, Paceline members can find $30 off their first Daily Harvest box in the app when they hit their streak, and Card members will get up to 3% cash back1 on future Daily Harvest—and up to 5% back1 on  other Health & Wellness—purchases.

Daily Harvest delivers organic smoothies, soups, bowls, and more straight to your doorstep, and all of their food is built on fruits and veggies. When they arrive, you just put them in the freezer and rest assured that you’ve got plenty of options (for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, and dessert) waiting for you. My box included the Chickpea + Coconut Curry Harvest Bake, Tomato + Zucchini Minestrone, Raspberry + Fig Bites, Mint + Cacao Smoothie, Strawberry + Peach Smoothie, Sweet Potato + Wild Rice Hash, Cauliflower Rice + Pesto, and the Apple + Cinnamon Oat Bowl.

Over the course of a few weeks, I tried all of them—and I would definitely do it again. Below, my top three takeaways from the trial.

  1. Daily Harvest makes it easy to prepare a good meal.

All of the meals and snacks in my box were a cinch to prepare—they were so quick and easy, in fact, that I found myself reaching for them in the midst of even my busiest days. For instance, I pulled out the Tomato + Zucchini Minestrone for lunch one day, added water, and warmed it up in the microwave. Altogether, it took me less than ten minutes to go from starving at my desk to tucking into a real, warm meal (instead of my usual quick-fix protein bar). 

Now, the most time-consuming items to make were probably the smoothies, but that’s just because I don’t like cleaning my blender (definitely a me-problem). All I had to do was add my liquid of choice (almond milk), pop the ingredients into the blender, and whiz them into a delicious, cold treat. I drank the Mint + Cacao smoothie the day I received my box for an after-dinner treat—as a mint chocolate chip ice cream enthusiast, I couldn’t resist! I didn’t blend this one all the way through, so it had some great texture to go along with the cool, minty flavor. Honestly, I’d take it as a dessert any day of the week. 

  1. All of my Daily Harvest items felt nourishing to my body.

This may have been the most important part of my Daily Harvest trial. As someone who writes primarily about wellness, I’ve become very conscious of the way foods and activities make my body feel. And I was thrilled with the way everything in my Daily Harvest box sat well in my stomach and didn’t make me feel sluggish or overly full. The first item I tried, for instance, was the Chickpea + Coconut Curry Harvest Bake. The dish had a rich flavor and provided plenty of food—it was such a satisfying (and easy!) dinner that didn’t make me feel bloated. Plus, it included ingredients I know my body can appreciate, like chickpeas (a good source of fiber) and cauliflower (a good source of vitamin C).

I also felt great when I ate Daily Harvest items for lunch. The Cauliflower Rice + Pesto kept me full for hours, which is really saying something for a late afternoon snacker like me. I also loved the tangy flavor of the sun dried tomatoes in this bowl. In my totally unprofessional opinion, they really complemented the pesto. And I’m a huge fan of spinach, which is a great source of vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, vitamin K1, and iron

  1. Frozen meals can still taste fresh.

If my last takeaway was most important, this one was perhaps the most surprising. Don’t get me wrong: I had high hopes for Daily Harvest, but I assumed that the frozen meals would be inferior to ones I could create with fresh ingredients—and I couldn’t have been more wrong. When I took the lid off my Strawberry + Peach Smoothie, I was stunned by all the beautiful, bright colors. (I’m no expert, but maybe that’s because Daily Harvest freezes their ingredients at peak ripeness?) And although I expected the Raspberry + Fig Bites to be kind of icy (since they’re meant to be eaten straight out of the freezer), they were actually rich and creamy.

Bottom line: I would absolutely order from Daily Harvest again, and I’m excited to try their other items, too—especially the flatbreads and lattes. As a Paceline member, I’m looking forward to earning discounts on those future orders simply by hitting 150 minutes of elevated heart rate activity each week. To me, that sounds like a wellness win-win.