GreenBlender Smoothie Delivery Review

GreenBlender

Figure 1: GreenBlender Box

GreenBlender is a food delivery service that focuses on smoothies.  With GreenBlender, there are limited options to choose from if you are looking for healthy smoothie recipes and ingredients delivered to your home.  I have found three options.  Home Chef will deliver a single recipe every week, but if you want multiple, you will have to try GreenBlender or Daily Harvest.  Green Blender is the product of the hard work of health and fitness blogger Jenna Tanenbaum and web developer Amir Cohen.  

With GreenBlender, you will get a box of smoothies every week.  The first week, you do not get to choose the smoothies but thereafter, you will be able to select 5 from a list of eight recipes.  Each week, you will receive a box with the ingredients and a

Figure 2: GreenBlender Open Box

recipe card that contains all eight recipes.  You follow the recipe to combine ingredients to make the smoothie in your own blender.  

I signed up for over 12 weeks to this date and I have received any compensation for this article outside of a discount on my first box and you too can get this same discount.  I personally feel like I have plenty of knowledge to review this service.  I did the Fresh Start week-to-week subscription which is $49 for 5 smoothies but you can get a larger discount if you pay for more than 1 week at a time.  That turns out to be $9.80 per smoothie which is a little expensive for my taste, but then again, you are paying for the recipe too and now I can make them at home with ingredients from the grocery store. The company notes that each smoothie provides 2 servings, which is true, but I got one per mix for most of the recipes.  I guess you could add a couple eggs and toast to the recipe.  

Summary of my review
Quality Of Ingredients
Organization of Ingredients
Price / Value
Ease of Blending
Recipe Selection
Taste / Deliciousness
Nutrition:
Website
Packaging
Shipping
Customer Service
Overall Rating

Pros

1. Great Recipes:  The recipes are seasonal so many of the ingredients are repeatable.  
2. Nutrition: Nutritional information is available with each recipe.  
3. Flavor: I love almost all of the recipes.  
4. Options: The recipe selection is ample for even those who cant have hemp seeds.

Cons

1. Odd ingredients:  You will find some of the ingredients hard to find in rural areas.  You will need to order some online.  For example, maca powder will be hard to find in your Piggly Wiggly.  
2. Portion sizes are small:  I used them for breakfast and often have to add kefir or protein powder to get enough calories. Other have amply calories so it depends on the recipe.  
3. Cost:  The per serving cost if about 4.99 which is on par for Smoothie King, but you can easily make them for less on your own.  
4. Prep: You have to chop many of the ingredients.  I did not find this as a shortcoming but you might.  

Packaging: Unboxing GreenBlender

Figure 3: Ingredients in Box

When I opened my first box of GreenBlender, the most impressive thing was the with insulated packing and the quality of the ingredients.  A typical box is shown above in Figure 1 with the open top of the box in Figure 2.  The recipe card is in the top of each box and is usually well protected.  Rarely, it has a fold.  

In the box, you will find your recipe card which as the recipe and nutritional information on each card.  The best part is they send you the recipes you did not buy.  Each card has little icons to indicate the strength of each recipe.  Once you fold back the insulation, you will notice that the ingredients are included in their own plastic bag.  Sometimes, some of the ingredients are not in the bag. This is often when the ingredient is fragile such as bananas.  Rice and almond milk or juices are also no in the bag.  Once you remove them the ingredients, you will find medium

Figure 4: Ingredients

size ice packs with the meat in the bottom.  They are of a size that is reusable.  

Quality of the Ingredients

They source the best ingredients for each week’s smoothies.   The ingredients are delicious and in good condition when they arrive (see Figure 3 and 4).  I found them to be absolutely perfect.  The vegetables were rarely bruised.   

Organization of the Ingredients

The ingredients are well organized in plastic bags (see Figure 5).  On a rare occasion, the bags are ripped but that is very rare.  

Price / Value

• 

  Figure 5: Ingredients for one recipe

  For 2 smoothies: $9.80 for three sets of 2 smoothies, six total servings with free shipping.  You can get it for a lower price if you order more than one week at a time.  

Ease of Blending

GreenBlender’s recipes come printed on card stock (see figure 6).  The recipes provide simple step-by-step instructions on how to make the smoothies with all the helpful information on the health benefits of ingredients.  

Recipe Selection

GreenBlender’s recipes are of a good variety.  I will say that there are two each week that have hemp seeds.  As a government employee, I cannot eat them, but there were ample choices to avoid them and I even made them without the hemp seeds and found them delicious.  I often substitute chia seeds.

Figure 6: GreenBlender Recipe Card.  

Taste of Recipes

The recipes are simple and delicious when I could find three that met my tastes.  I really liked the recipes I ordered from GreenBlender and will continue to order form them.   

Nutrition

You will be very happy with the mix of smoothie options.  Some have high fiber and others are higher in protein.  I often add kefir or FiberDx from Barndad nutrition to add fiber and protein.  You could easily add soy protein instead if you are vegan.   

Website

The website and app are easy to use.  It is easy to pick your recipes for each week and skip one if you need to leave town for a week.  The best part is you can cancel or skip without calling.  

Packaging

Figure 7: Insulation

Overall, the packaging is near perfect (Figure 7).  The ice packs were the perfect size to reuse.   The insulation is recyclable.  

Shipping

I had no delays in delivery that resulted in any lost meals.  The packaging was recyclable and protected the food during delivery.

Customer Service

In general, customer service was perfect.  I had a terrific experience with GreenBlender.  Customer service was polite on the phone and quickly solve all problems.  They gave me credit for one ingredient that failed to arrive.   

The Bottom Line

GreenBlender scored 54 out of 55 total stars for an averaged of 4.9 stars.  I will continue to use GreenBlender.  The ingredients are unsurpassed in quality and the packaging is perfect.   I would recommend this service to anyone who loves smoothies and wants to expand their recipe collection.  The recipes could fit into your weight loss or maintenance plans if you chose wisely of adjusting the portion size.