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There’s a particular kind of tired that comes with having a newborn. It’s not the kind of tired that a good night’s sleep fixes. It’s the kind where you’re standing in the kitchen at 5pm, completely blank, wondering how dinner is supposed to happen.
As a vegetarian, that blank feeling gets a little more complicated. Grabbing fast food isn’t a great option. Ordering takeout works, but it adds up fast and doesn’t always hit the nutrition targets that matter when you’re postpartum. And cooking from scratch, something I do for a living, felt completely out of reach for the first time in my adult life.
That’s where Hungryroot came in. And this was the box that really earned its place.
Disclosure
Hungryroot compensated me for this review, but (as always) all opinions are my own. I tested every recipe myself and I’ll tell you exactly what I thought, including the parts that could’ve been better.
If you want to try them, you can get 40% off your first delivery + a free gift here.
What Did It Cost?
- Total order cost: $129.66
- Number of recipes: 5
- Total servings: 14
- Cost per serving: ~$9.26
- Average cost per meal (for 2): ~$25.93
We ate leftovers for lunch most days, which meant this one box covered a lot of ground. Compared to ordering takeout twice a week, we came out ahead.
The Meals We Made
Mushroom + Lentils Over Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes
17 min · 450 cal · 4 servings
This was the best recipe in the box, and it wasn’t a close call.
I’m a mashed potato person. Always have been. There’s something about a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes that feels like the answer to almost any bad day, and postpartum has a lot of those days.
The Maya Kaimal black lentil dal on top added warmth and depth, and the baby bella mushrooms, cooked in a hot skillet until properly browned, made the whole thing feel like a real plate meal rather than a shortcut dinner.
Sweet Potato Tikka Aloo Gobi with Seasoned Jasmine Rice
23 min · 560 cal · 4 servings
This one tasted like takeout, in the best way.
The tikka masala sauce from Hungryroot is good enough that I’d buy it separately just to keep in the pantry. Tossed with microwaved sweet potato and sautéed cauliflower florets, it came together into something fragrant and warming and satisfying. The seasoned jasmine rice is one of those things that sounds too easy to be good. You just pop the pouch in the microwave for 90 seconds and it comes out fresh and fluffy every time.
At 23 minutes this was the longest recipe in the box, and it still felt totally manageable with a baby nearby. The fact that it made four servings meant we had lunch taken care of the next day too.
Avocado Crispy “Chicken” + Cucumber Sandwich
Quick · 4 servings
I did not expect plant-based chicken to be this convincing.
The TiNDLE chicken tenders are crispy, they have real texture, and they held up on the sandwich without turning soggy. Layered on izzio Artisan Bakery potato sourdough with avocado spread and thin-sliced cucumber, the whole thing was fresh and satisfying.
My one honest note: it could have used a side. A simple salad or some sweet potato fries would have made it a complete meal. On its own it ran a little light for dinner, though for lunch it would be exactly right.
Goddess Seasoned Crispy Taquitos + Avocado Salad
12 min · 680 cal · 2 servings
One of my favorites of the box, and the most fun to make.
The plant-based chorizo gets rolled into flour tortillas, brushed with oil, seasoned with the spice packet from the salad kit, and baked at 400 until crispy. The result is little golden taquitos that are crunchy on the outside and savory and filling inside. The avocado goddess salad on the side was fresh and bright and made the whole plate feel balanced.
Easiest Vegan BLT Stuffed Russet Potato
10 min · 360 cal · 2 servings
A fun, creative twist on the classic baked potato.
The MyBacon from MyForest Foods, made from mushroom mycelium, gets cooked in a skillet until crispy, then crumbled over a microwaved russet potato with romaine, chopped tomato, and a drizzle of vegan mayo. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a BLT, but in potato form.
The vegan bacon continues to surprise me every time I use it. It crisps up well and has that smoky, savory quality that makes a BLT worth eating.
What I Loved About This Box
It was made for this season of life. Almost every recipe in this box required minimal active cooking time and came together without a lot of mental load. When you’re postpartum, that’s not a nice-to-have. It’s the whole point.
The leftovers were real. Two of these recipes made four servings, which meant lunch was handled for the next day without any extra effort. That kind of built-in planning is something I didn’t know I needed until I did.
The plant-based proteins were the best yet. The TiNDLE chicken tenders and the MyBacon are both products I’d seek out on their own.
The variety kept things interesting. Mashed potatoes, tikka masala, taquitos, a sandwich, a stuffed baked potato. No two meals overlapped in flavor or format, which helped a lot with dinner fatigue.
The Verdict
A few boxes in, and this was the one that felt most specifically designed for where I am right now.
Postpartum cooking as a vegetarian is its own particular challenge. You need food that’s fast, nutritious, and doesn’t require a lot of thinking. You want variety so you’re not eating the same bowl of pasta every night. And you want it to actually taste good, because food is one of the things that can still feel like a small pleasure in an exhausting season.
This box delivered on all of that.!
If you want to try it, they’re offering a Hungryroot coupon for our community: 40% off your first delivery with my link + code LIVEEATLEARN40.
