One Potato Review: Healthy, Organic Meal Kits Designed for Families

When I’m assessing a meal kit in the context of the competition, I’m always considering who the service might be good for, even if it’s not a good pick for me. One Potato is a perfect example of this since it’s one of the best services I’ve tried for families looking to eat healthy and organic food. But I found it to be too expensive if you’re only cooking for yourself or a couple. 

The (mostly) plant-based meal kit service just recently burst into the growing category with organic, family-friendly recipes featuring plenty of vegan options and meal plans designed to feed families as big as six or seven without busting the budget. I decided to take One Potato for a one-week spin and see how this new and intriguing meal kit delivery service holds up in a test. I enjoyed all the meals I made, enough to anoint One Potato the best healthy meal kit service for families of four or more.

Here’s how my week with One Potato went. 

How it works: One Potato pricing, sign-up and ordering 

Getting started with One Potato is simple. You’ll just plunk in your zip code to make sure they deliver to you, and then you can choose from the various meal plans. One Potato meal plans range from two- all the way up to six-serving recipes, which is as much as I’ve seen from a meal kit company. You can choose either two or three recipes per week. The more meals and servings you order, the lower the per-serving cost will be.

For two people, One Potato is rather expensive at about $14 per serving. For families of four, five or six, you’re looking at somewhere between $8 and $10 per serving. In choosing your plan you’ll also select any dietary preferences: vegetarian, omnivore, and any meats you do and don’t eat so they can filter them out. After logging your shipping address and credit card info, it’s time to choose your meals and delivery date. Once you enroll, you can skip any week and as many as you choose to. If you don’t skip or select your meals each week, One Potato will choose them for you.

One Potato also has fresh, organic smoothie packs that you can add to any order for $6 each. You’ll just add ice, water or nut milk at home and blend them up. There are also rolls of sweet cookie dough for dessert and protein-packed versions meant for a healthy snack or quick breakfast. These are also $6.

Pro tip: Start with a smaller meal plan

Because the portions are unusually large, I might suggest starting with a meal plan with fewer servings than your total number of eaters. For instance, if you’re a family of four, give the three-serving plan a try and see if it works out. You can easily level up to the four-person plan if it’s not enough. 

What are One Potato meal kits like?

There are about 10 recipes each week and most of them are at least vegetarian. There’s generally only one or two meat options, such as chicken tikka masala or wild striped bass. There are roughly five vegan options per week. I’d say the meals are generally pretty kid-friendly — pizza, dumplings, tacos — although you’ll find the occasional dish with big flavors like curry that might not appeal to younger eaters.

Not a ton of recipe turnover

While the recipes do change each week, there’s not as much turnover as with other services. For instance, the week after I ordered meals, only two or three of the recipes had changed. A few new meals each should be enough to keep things interesting, but know that you won’t have as many options as with other meal-kit services.

How my meals looked upon arrival

My three meals showed up in good shape. I noticed, though, that there was more plastic than seemed necessary. Each recipe was secured in its own large plastic bag, inside which there was no shortage of single-use plastic to contain individual ingredients. All the ingredients looked fresh, and there were no spills or leakage. 

What I made and how I liked it

I ordered three dinners, one smoothie and two kinds of cookie dough. Overall, I thought the One Potato food delivered big on taste and freshness. The recipes were fun and easy to execute, and the portions were larger than most services I’ve tried. 

Vegan potstickers with green salad: I loved this because it was delicious and actually really fun to make. I forgot how simple potstickers are to make, especially when you have good wrappers and the filling is premade. I had a friend over to share the meal and we still had tons of leftovers. The salad was very simple but super fresh, and the carrot-ginger dressing was positively addicting. 

Vegan Tikka Masala with garlic green beans: This plant-based tikka masala was even easier to execute. The sauce was premade, and so it was essentially just heating the other ingredients — chickpeas, tofu, cauliflower, potatoes — in a pot along with the tangy masala sauce. I used my trusty rice cooker to make the rice and had a huge and satisfying pot of Indian food with rice, garlic green beans and premade chutneys in under 25 minutes. The naan bread that came with it was fine but nothing extraordinary.

Chicken fajitas with rice and beans: This was the one meat dish I made, and it was pretty solid though probably my least favorite of the three. I have nothing bad to say about it except that it was just not as exciting as the others. It was also missing the red pepper, so I went without it. The premade salsa and guacamole that came with it were both fresh and delicious.

Blueberry, banana and chia smoothie: This was fine but not great. I’m rather picky about smoothies and so would probably opt to make them myself and forgo these.

Lemon coconut cookies: These were tangy and tasty and ready in under 10 minutes.

Chocolate walnut protein cookies: These were excellent, made with what tasted like high-quality chocolate. If this is the new breakfast trend, count me in.

How easy are One Potato meals to make?

These meal kits have much of the prep work done for you, and so they are more easily executed than some others I’ve tried. The recipe cards were clear and easy to follow. None of the meals took more than 25 to 30 minutes.

The vegan dumpling recipe was the most complex since I had to fill each wrapper and seal them tight before cooking. That said, it still took less than 30 minutes from start to finish. The ingredients for the tikka masala including the cauliflower and diced potatoes were mostly already cooked and the sauces were already prepared, making this one a breeze to execute. Cooking the rice took the longest but a rice cooker makes easy work of that task.

Who is One Potato good for?

This is a great meal kit service for families, first and foremost. More specifically, families who eat plant-based or wouldn’t mind incorporating more vegetarian and vegan recipes into their weekly diet. One Potato is designed for families and the pricing reflects that. If you choose multiple portions per recipe, the price drops significantly. 

The recipes are mostly healthy with organic ingredients so it’s a good pick if that’s important to you. I also found portions to be quite generous, so I’d also recommend this service for big eaters, too.

Who is One Potato not as good for?

This would not be a good meal kit service for big meat-eaters. There are only one or two meal options per week with meat and so you would be forced to eat plant-based, not to mention settle for whatever the meat recipes are. If you want those tasty meats, I’d suggest EveryPlate, HelloFresh or Sunbasket. It’s also not such a good service for singles or couples, since the meal kits are pricey if you order meal plans for fewer than four servings. 

Environmental friendliness and packaging

This is one area where One Potato came up short. While the boxes and cooler bags are curbside recyclable, there was more plastic in my One Potato box than in any other meal kit delivery I can recall. 

The final verdict on One Potato

I’ve tried nearly every meal kit service, including the best vegan and vegetarian meal kits and One Potato still managed to impress. The ingredients all arrived in great shape and the recipes were easy to execute. Portion sizes were as plentiful as any meal kit service I’ve tried, so you’ll almost certainly have leftovers. The biggest flaw is the limited number of recipe options, many of which carry over from one week to the next.

If you’re a single person or couple looking for plant-based meal kits, I might recommend Purple Carrot since it has more vegan meal kit options per week and slightly more interesting recipes (but no family pricing). If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly option, EveryPlate is still my favorite cheap meal kit service with recipes for as little as $5 a serving. 

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The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.