Plant-based meal kit company Grubby claims to offer quick, vegan recipes packed with protein, which take the stress out of cooking — L360’s Katie Sipp-Hurley put it to the test.
It’s the end of a long day — you’re tired, stressed and all you want to do is crawl into bed. But then comes the dreaded question: what shall I make for dinner?
Now imagine adding veganism (or even just trying it out) to the mix. Your day just got harder, didn’t it? Whether you’re fully committed or just testing it out.
Plant-based recipe kit service Grubby aims to tackle this. Since I’ve been pescetarian and vegetarian before, but never vegan, I thought I’d put it to the test.
How does Grubby work?
To get started, you’ll need to create a Grubby account. Like most recipe kit services, new customers receive a discount — Grubby offers 25% off their first three boxes. While not as good as HelloFresh’s 60% off offer, three boxes are definitely enough to decide if the service suits you.
You can choose meals for two or four, with prices ranging from £4 to £7 per serving — making it a decent option for families looking to vary weeknight meals without the hassle.
Available delivery slots typically start around a week after ordering, so you’ll need to plan ahead. This can feel a little inconvenient if plans change last minute (especially for busy families), but this is typical for any meal service I’ve tried.
Is it nutritious?
As a novice vegan, my main concern was nutrition. Left to my own devices, I imagined my vegan meals would end up as bland, meatless, dairy-free versions of regular dinners.
However, I was pleased to discover Grubby promises that each meal is packed with plant-based ingredients, three of your five-a-day and at least 24g of protein per serving.
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Each recipe sheet — also available online — includes the cooking time (usually around 30 minutes, ideal for weeknights, though I’m a slow chef), serving size and a full nutrition breakdown. It was helpful to know exactly what was in each meal — including how many of my five-a-day I was getting, as well as the calories, protein, carbs and fat content.
What are the meals like?
The meals were colourful, fresh and often Instagram-worthy. There were a few felt slightly random choices for weeknight meals (personally I couldn’t imagine myself rushing home on a normal day to make a fake bacon and mushroom galette), but I saw that as a bonus — enjoying trying dishes I wouldn’t normally cook.
I especially liked the sticky tofu wings with sweet potato wedges, ranch dip and salad. I’m a big fan of tofu, but I’d never thought to use it to mimic the texture of chicken wings. I was also introduced to nutritional yeast for the first time, a surprisingly essential vegan staple that added a cheesy flavour to the sauce.
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By day three, I was getting into the swing of things. I even mixed and matched meals by pairing the tofu wings with a zingy green enchiladas with avocado recipe and saving half for the next day — a time-saving trick I’d definitely repeat — and enjoyed the variation.
As with many recipe kit services, not every meal is a standout (or necessarily worth it) and some need slight alterations. To avoid this, I’d recommend steering clear of Grubby’s simpler dishes or those that involve fake meat substitutes (unless you really like fake meat).
For example, the chick’n traybake with roast broccoli and gravy felt a bit underwhelming (essentially a meat substitute with some basic roasting). And I ended up switching the ‘buratta’ in the creamy ‘burrata’-topped za’atar-spiced squash with zhoug and croutons, for a real burrata — but of course these all depend on personal preferences.
Is Grubby worth it?
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There were no downsides here that wouldn’t apply to any other recipe kit service — so it really comes down to whether you’re open to going vegan for a few days at dinnertime.
There’s even a QR code that links to a curated Spotify playlist designed to complement the cooking experience, which was an unnecessary but fun extra (even if the songs weren’t to my taste).
It’s a win for anyone mindful of nutrition, but I’m not sure I’d want to eat these meals five days in a row. My advice would be to order two or three meals for one week so you can space them out, combine or tweak them, and avoid the pressure of fitting them all in.
Feature image: Grubby
