10 Best Vegetarian Recipe Boxes UK 2022 | Hello Fresh, Mindful Chef, and More

1. Mindful Chef - Recipe Box for £10.50
2. Planthood - Seasonal box for £5.95
   
3. Riverford Organic Farmers - Organic Recipe Boxes for £12.45
   
4. Grubby - The Recipe Box for £8.00
   
5. Great Food 2 U - Meal Kits for £12.50
   

Aside from saving time scouring the shopping aisles, queuing, and travelling to and from the shops, there are many benefits to buying a recipe box. All too often we get stuck in a rut of using the same ingredients to make our tried and tested meals. Recipe boxes are an excellent way to push your culinary skills to the next level whilst expanding your repertoire. 

Boxes are also a great way to limit food waste as they provide you with exactly the right amount needed for your meal. No more having to buy a huge bag of carrots when the recipe only calls for two and the rest are inevitably left to rot away at the bottom of the fridge.

1. Choose the Right Box for Your Level of Experience
   
2. Check for Dietary Preferences and Allergens
   

If you rarely cook, there is absolutely no point in choosing a box with complicated recipes that take forever and require tools that you’ve never even heard of, let alone have lying around in your kitchen. The last thing you want is to be put off so much that the food goes to waste and you end up with (yet another!) takeaway. 

Many of these boxes are geared towards people with minimal experience in the kitchen – the recipes are quick, simple, and require only basic tools to work with. If you’re new to cooking, ease yourself in gently. Beginner boxes are excellent for showing how easy preparing homemade meals can be and often end up being the key to opening up a passion for cooking that you thought you never had. 

Cook up something that's perfect to pair with our Best Vegan Wines!

Sometimes, even if we’re a dab hand in the kitchen, we get stuck cooking the same dishes over and over again. It can be a tough task sifting through your collection of recipe books, Pinterest boards, and the rest of the internet, trying to find something new to cook.

Recipe boxes are excellent for expanding your repertoire of recipes. You get a few days each week to choose from their options so that you’re always cooking something you know you'll enjoy. Each box differs, but a good brand will provide you with a wide selection of vegetarian recipes that vary in style, flavour and diet. 

Recipe boxes were born to solve the dinnertime dilemma. In today’s modern world, it becomes increasingly harder to get a healthy, hearty, home-cooked meal on the table, especially when you’re limited to a vegetable-based diet and your schedule is fully packed.

Intentions are often there, but can quickly get pushed away once you realise that you need to factor in another 45 minutes to pop out and grab a few more ingredients along the way. If you’re often strapped for time, go for a box with quick recipes that will have you eating in under 30 minutes. Anyone can spare 30 minutes, right?

Some people relish in the idea of having the entire week planned out in advance – calendars organised, lunches prepped and clothes washed so that you can hit the ground running come Monday! 

If you’re this way inclined, one of the most frustrating things is when you run out of food and have to do a shop mid-week when you hadn’t planned for it – that’s when takeaways and pizzas often look the most appealing! The number of meals offered in a recipe box per week can differ, so check to make sure you have the right amount covered for your full week. 

Try something from scratch with our Best Vegetarian Cookbooks!

This one's a biggie. If you suffer from a gluten, lactose or any other kind of intolerance, we're sure you’re clued up on how to shop for your food, but when you’re paying a premium for delicious vegetarian meals, you need to get this one right!

Whatever your allergies or intolerances, choose a box which highlights the ingredients on their online portal. Many companies will advise if the recipe contains nuts or dairy, but many also won’t until you receive the box in the post. You might need to check through the list of ingredients online to see if they're suitable. 

Vegetarian recipe boxes tend to follow one of two choices when it comes to their ingredients. Either, every piece of produce is organic, or none of it is. There isn’t usually a mix of the two. 

This is excellent information for helping you sift through the companies that aren’t suitable. There didn’t used to be a wide range of organic boxes available, but as more people become aware of the dangers of pesticides, and the benefits of opting for an organic diet, vegetarian recipe boxes are following suit. 

Some boxes are specifically geared towards local, organically-sourced ingredients from British farmers. These cut down CO2 emissions from the transportation of goods, making them excellent for the environment as well as your tummy. 

If you're thinking of going vegan or just looking to cut down on your dairy intake, it can be difficult to find vibrant and flavourful recipes that will really make you want to stick with your new diet. Making the switch is easy with vegan recipe boxes, though, as they'll provide plenty of options to keep you interested and challenge your cooking expertise. 

Many vegan boxes will come with ingredients you may have never used before, as a huge part of cooking vegan meals is sourcing innovative alternatives to mainstream animal products. Keep in mind, some vegan recipes will rely on you already having some of these alternative ingredients at home, but this is easily achievable with a quick trip to the local shops where plant-based milk and butter are now widely available. 

Packages wrapped in plastic and stuffed with unnecessary packaging are environmentally damaging, especially when you’re ordering on a regular, weekly basis. A few companies now use environmentally-friendly packaging which is always worth looking for – instead of individually wrapping ingredients in plastic, they use paper bags and biodegradable bags.

It's also worth noting that many of the recipes are quite simple. This is great for busy schedules, but what happens when you want to serve up something a bit more impressive? Luckily you choose a recipe box that gives you the option of upgraded meals. These can include puddings or exotic ingredients that usually cost more, but are excellent for guests or if you just want to treat your family to an indulgent meal.

For more great foods, try our Best Vegetarian Sausages!

This ranking has been compiled by the writing team at mybest UK via careful evaluation of the points made in the buying guide and thorough research of each product and comparing multiple verified customer reviews across the EC sites used.

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Written and researched by Roxy Pratley