Having a blog is awesome. Especially on Thursday evenings when the delivery guy comes bearing a package of food! A couple of weeks ago Jennifer and Kevin from Gobble Green Gourmet Vegan Delivery Service contacted me to see if I'd like to try out their meal service in return for a review on my blog. Seven days of gourmet vegan food? uh, yes!
I sat in the living room with Josh sorting through the vacuum sealed meals and each time I'd pull something out I'd yell "look it's pizza!" "look spaghetti!" it's the small things folks.
Here's the question...was I nervous about vegan food? Yes. Was Josh giving me weird looks as I pulled the food out? Food with ingredients pretending to be something they aren't? yes and yes. We eat meat, and we eat dairy (albeit local as much as possible) on a regular basis around here, so I think he (as open as he is about food) was slightly relieved that he wasn't the one blogging about this sort of thing. That is, until I couldn't find my Gobble Green snickerdoodle cookies. Where had they gone?
Friday, day one. I decided to stick with the meals they had planned for the day despite my rebellious tendency to dance around rules. I was excited that I wouldn't have to think about what I was going to eat for breakfast or lunch. In the morning i plugged everything into Weight Watchers online...25 points total including dessert, not bad, not bad at all.
Breakfast started with a banana muffin and fruit salad. I let it sit on the counter straight from the freezer while I got ready for work. I took a picture frozen:
I heated up the muffin in the microwave per instruction and it was good, but nothing like the cloyingly sweet cake-like muffins that I'm used to. This one was more like a scone, lightly sweetened, dense, with a strong banana taste. I felt like I was eating something good for me rather than dessert pretending to be breakfast.
I felt good for it. If there were more, I wouldn't have eaten them with wild abandon. One was filling and sufficient. The wrapper did stick to the muffin a bit, I imagine from the freezer+ microwave moisture.
I placed the fruit in a bag and let it thaw out in transit to work. The photo above is the exact portion.
A couple of hours later I dug into my bag of trail mix that was assigned: mid-morning snack. And I snacked pretty much all morning on this.
By noon I was feeling good. I didn't feel bloated or full. I was comfortable. My energy was up, my moods were balanced, but I was ready to try the vegan "chicken" nuggets.
I took them out of the freezer in the morning and left them in the refrigerator until I was ready to eat them at noon. I preheated the oven to 425 degrees and baked them for about 5 minutes.
I was nervous about eating this. They looked a bit slimy coming out of the package and well, I don't like real chicken nuggets. Verdict? Chewy and flavorful. The dipping sauce was amazing! I loved it. I let a couple of my co-workers try them and one said "I love the texture! It's like real chicken and they are really flavorful" she was also impressed by the calorie count, protein and ingredients. Another co-worker tried them and she immediately said "I love these! They are addictive, I could eat a lot more!" She also noted that they tasted good with or without the sauce.
For dessert I chose the chocolate cake and let me just say it was amazing! It wasn't just good for being vegan, it was good period. It may have been one of the best tasting chocolate cakes I've ever had, it wasn't over the top or too sweet. I didn't let it thaw all the way, but I'm convinced that half-frozen desserts are just as good. The chocolate cake was rich and fudgey and the icing was smooth. Delicious. The ingredients are not bad at all:
organic vegan sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, salt, organic flour, baking soda, soybean oil, vanilla extract, white vinegar, expeller-pressed natural oil blend (soybean, palm fruit, canola and olive oils), soy protein, soy lecithin, lactic acid (non-dairy, derived from sugar beets)
That evening I had Indian food for dinner so I saved my vegan dinner for another day.
The next morning I pulled the vegan sausage and cheese biscuit out of the freezer and put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes. This meal wasn't on my list for day two, but I was eager to try it as I have a weak spot for breakfast sandwiches.
The biscuit was dense, and the sausage tasted like sausage with a chewier texture. The cheese didn't add or take away from the sandwich, it was just another flavor. Overall the sandwich was very flavorful, but not addictive like I find fast food sausage biscuits to be. It wasn't greasy or fatty in any way, it was like a biscuit minus all the bad stuff.
How did this get in there? Okay, after you eat one of their vegan chocolate chip cookies, you will know that the folks at Gobble Green can do no wrong in the world. Seriously, top chocolate chip cookie ever.
I had lunch at a meeting and later on in the evening I broke out the vegan supreme pizza. Baked it in the oven at 425 for about 12 minutes.
It was really good, I loved the green peppers, the crust and the sauce. The cheese wasn't like regular mozzarella, in the way that is strings out when melted. This cheese melted much like American cheese, in a gooey sort of way. It wasn't bad, just a texture to get used to. Josh tried a slice and said that it was way better than he expected and flavorful.
I've been eyeing the blueberry pancakes for a couple of days now and decided to have them for breakfast this morning. I took them out of the freezer and let them thaw out for a few minutes before heating up in the griddle. In the package, they look weird and sad. Just pressed in there with a package of organic syrup dangling behind. After heating them up and putting the syrup on I had two thoughts:oooh butter and aunt Jemima. That would defeat the purpose and I ate as-is.
They were glorious. They smelled like waffle cones in an ice cream shop, they were slightly crunchy around the edges (how I like them to be) and soft, sweet and hearty. The syrup was the right amount. So good, and highly impressed, I couldn't get over how good these were.
I have a few more days left of Gobble Green meals and at this point all I have to say is: bring it on!
Wow. Great reviews! I would never have even considered adding vegan-prepared food to my life before reading this. I’m going to head on over to Green Goblin and take a look. Thanks for your honesty and the acoompanying smiles.
I just started a blog about a month ago (www.Results-Not-Typical-Girl.com). I’m having a blast! But I am curious as how you get offers to try stuff. When you first got started was there some list you signed up on? Like you, who doesn’t love free stuff!! Enjoy your weekend! Hugs, Kirsten
Thank you so, so much for reviewing the Gobble Green food! I am thinking of doing the Gobble Green challenge this summer so I have been feverishly searching for reviews. I am going to try the vegan starter kit first (I think that’s what you are doing) before I commit to the full challenge. Thanks again!
hi! I really like your review of gobblegreen I have to agree 100% with you about the chocolate chip cookies.
I am addicted!!!!!!!!!!!
Some of this stuff looks interesting, but so many vegan recipes involve soy, which I am allergic to. Still nice to read your review of some of their food. Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow! This food looks delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever knowingly eaten vegan food, haha. Is this service meant to be for people on diets or just daily food? It seems like it would be expensive either way, but I can’t imagine being vegan and opting to order all of my food this way.
To TFG and Everyone Else,
Thank you for spotlighting tasty VEGAN food! I went completely Vegan the beginning of last December and have loved the results. While I made the choice for ethical reasons I have seen a major de-bloating and thinning out in my body. I haven’t cut calories or lost weight but I look slimmer and feel better.
And Vegan doesn’t mean tofu, it simply means without animal products (eggs, butter, yogurt, meat, etc) so making baked goods is very simple, pasta is still delicious in marinara, etc. Don’t think everything you eat has to be replaced by something else, most times you can just live without, like that second helping of dessert
Happy Blogging!
Wow, I can’t believe we have such different reactions to this food. I am ready to throw everything out into the garbage. That breakfast sandwich was literally inedible. I tried the enchiladas and couldn’t believe how much they tasted like paper. I actually looked to see if I had done something wrong — like maybe it was wrapped in paper. To be fair I’m not a dessert person but I thought the brownie was like eating a cube of sugar. And to also be fair I’m not into fake foods. I don’t need something to taste like meat. I like a tomato to taste like a tomato. I don’t need to replicate foods. Plenty wonderful vegan foods out there. I let the breakfast bar thaw out and nuked if for a minute this morning for bfast. Two bites and it hit the trash. What the heck was that made of? Sand? I’ve tried a couple of other items over the last week and I’m just dumbfounded. I keep thinking it can’t all be this bad, but one item is worse than the next. None of this resembles real food at all. I’ve been a vegetarian my entire life, vegan for the last 3 years. I love the vegan food life — fresh fruits and veggies, grains, legumes and beans. I just wanted something to make my life a little easier in the shopping/chopping department. It’s like they had to work at making everything this bland, tasteless and over-processed. I’m really confused as to how we had such a different experiences but I guess that’s what makes the world go around. I got this through a living social deal for $100 and change. Not worth $1. Plus the packaging and shipping across the country took 4 days (how could something taste good that took that long to get to me?) My fault for not doing the research ahead of time. So far it is all inedible. Should be called gobbledygook. How to ruin poor innocent vegetables….. Just had to post because I googled Gobble Green reviews and found yours and felt an obligation to give a different opinion. I will give the slice of pizza a shot based on your recommendation, but I’m not holding my breath. Sorry to vent on your very nice website. And you have very nice pictures!!!
Thank you . I almost bought the living social deal. I think I may reconsider.
I have to agree with piratedame. As a vegan of six years, I am entirely unimpressed by Gobble Green’s food. Loved the chocolate chip cookies, the lentil loaf was good not great, but everything else was horrible. The apple oatmeal was this disgusting artificial sour flavor and went straight into the trash. I just tossed out the tropical rice pilaf, which I found to be downright oily and flavorless. The breakfast sandwich was rubbery and inedible.
TokenFatGirl, I suspect you have some bias since you got the food for free. I got mine through Groupon and paid up $99 for this crap.
Wow, I had the exact opposite experience. I found Gobble Green’s food inedible, tasteless and on the verge of disgusting. I often wonder if those getting freebies feel an obligation to write kind reviews. I had so wished for the food to be good, it would make being vegan that much easier. (time to go give the dog my leftover GG dinner)
Hello! Thanks for reading
I just wanted to comment to those who have tried Gobble Green and did not like their products. I hope you can contact the company directly with your issues.
I left these comments up so that others may see them if they are considering the products themselves.
I also wanted to mention that I didn’t give them a positive review because the products were given to me in exchange for a review. If I don’t like a product, I won’t review it on my site. If I have a negative experience I will review my honest opinion out of ethics.
I’ve received food from other companies that I didn’t like, so I just didn’t do a review. As far as Gobble Green goes, I genuinely enjoyed the food. Coming from a non-vegan/vegetarian I think that says a lot. My husband enjoyed many of their products as well.
The desserts were excellent. The muffin was a little dry. I enjoyed many of the dishes listed above. I didn’t have high expectations and did not expect the food to taste “non-vegan” they were obviously different, but I expected that. They were still edible.
I noticed that the company has new products, I would be willing to try them for a review as well.
Like I said before, there was only one item that I truly did not like and that was the baked apple. A product it looks like they aren’t even selling anymore.
Hope that helps. -Lorrie
My above comment was poorly written. Hope you can get through that mess
I wish I had the same success with GobbleGreen as you did: Ordered $100 worth of items, they shipped after 6 days and from California to Chicago it was scheduled to be a 5 day trip. Delay ensued with FedEx so 5 days turned into 8, and I knew the products would be spoiled, which they were. There was not a single gel pack in what they refer to as a box (just pieces of styrofoam laid together to form the shape of a box, so no air seal) and nor was there any dry ice. Just a blue plastic bag sitting loose at the bottom of the ‘box’ (did the dry ice melt away? doubtful) containing the individual packages, warm to the touch. I emailed them before the order arrived as I had received notice from the shipper regarding the delay. No response. I emailed them once it had arrived asking what to do in this situation of spoiled food. No response. Another 3 days pass and I email the only other address they have listed, No response! Finally 8 more days and I can’t take it, since I was nothing but pleasant and professional in previous emails, I decide to let them know if I do not receive a response soon I will be forced to reverse charges on my card and possibly file a complaint with the BBB. Wouldn’t you know it? 43 minutes later I finally get a response which basically states: Take it up with FedEx, we shipped when we said we would. They never addressed my concerns regarding the packaging, were no where to be found when I needed help, and it took a threat to get any form of response. I love their idea, was really excited to try, but no such luck. Extremely poor communication and attitude regarding customer satisfaction. I hope others have better luck, but I for one will never attempt business with them again.
Well, I ordered a week supply of Gobble Green food from a Living Social deal…$125, I believe. And Day 3 of my food choices and I must say that I am NOT impressed. I am a vegan and have been for over 15 years, so I know good vegan food. This stuff was hard, cardboard like and most dishes tasted really vinegary. I even got a tummy ache twice. The desserts were like 3 day old bakery goods, with an apple or banana undertone. I had to throw pretty much everything I ate. Even my kid, who loves food – esp desserts – would not eat it. I am sadly disappointing. I really wanted to like this and support what they are doing, but I just can’t stomach the food. Sorry.
I had to put all the food from Gobble green in the trash (I have pictures of each one of the dishes on top of each other in the trash bag. I wish I could post them somewhere). My husband and I had to put all their food on the table one night and start trying each dish to see if we could actually eat anything for dinner. It was disgusting, it got to a point where we got scared to even have a bite because some of the food had gone bad before we received it (still frozen on arrival – so they froze food that had gone bad and then mailed it to us).
It’s too bad they make vegan food look so awful when it can be tasty. We also tried Macro-mediterranean meal delivey and realized that vegan delivery companies can actually be really good, their food is fresh and delicious. When I was trying the food from Gobble green and my husband wanted to stop eating it crossed my mind that it was probably not worth risking to poison ourselves when frozen food that tasted like cardboard wasn’t even going to provide many nutrients. But we tried everything just in case something was ok, (after smelling it in case more items had gone bad – out of all the meals we were sent two of them were rancid although they arrived frozen), and nothing was enjoyable and we are not picky eaters.
Judy
This food is horrible !!! Don’t waste your money…
NO, no, NO!!!! I am so sad to say Gobble Green gives vegan a BAD name. Please save yourself time, money, frustration and healthy taste buds and try a different delivery food service. I had the worst experience ever from beginning to end (and they still won’t respond to my- I admit it- not so nice e-mails.
What was wrong with Gobble Green?
1) Bought a voucher through bloomspot and was NEVER informed that I would have to wait a month to receive my food because of the ‘special treatment’ Gobble Green gives to discounted customers. Ok you know what? Even with the voucher at $129, you can get MUCH better food and service at around the same price from many other delivery services so do some research. In summary, I really despise being treated differently because of a promotion. When I wrote to tell them this I didn’t even receive an apology!
2) When the month finally rolled around and I was up on the waiting list, I had to contact THEM to find out the status of my order. Never received a courtesy email that is common practice for this kind of service.
3) It took FOUR DAYS to arrive to my house. This is unacceptable. EVERY other food delivery service I have tried has shipped FedEx 2-Day Air, especially from California to the Midwest where I live.
4) Here I write 2nd complaint letter and after 4 days…no response
5) Very frustrated with my pre-order experience, I am less than enthusiastic to see th big box on my porch on the 4th day. When I open it, GUESS WHAT??? DRY ICE Explosion! The packing geniuses dumped the dry ice in open-top bags which not surprisingly spilled all over the food content. Miserable. I had to put on gloves to fish out all the pieces of dry ice. Again, with other food delivery services the dry ice was contained in a secure manner- not dumped in plastic bags waiting to spill
6) back track. When I first opened the box the ‘welcome letter’ was- I KID YOU NOT- TORN, Wrinkled…despicable looking. What the….???? And no, it wasn’t even because of the spilled dry ice since the letter was on top of a block of foam separate from the inner contents. Again, what the…… seriously, that’s how you greet a customer? The thing was mangled.
6) COMPLAINT LETTER #3. I am still awaiting a response. Whatever the answer is, I just have a feeling I’m never going to be satisfied with Gobble Green. Even with a FULL reimbursement (which to be honest they’d be smart to offer without me asking first this time), I have wasted my time, energy and expectation on this company. I am very sad to have to go all out on them this way and I hate that I have to bitch about a vegan company that I discovered in one of my favorite vegan lifestyle magazines but WHAT THE H. They deserve it.
OH…
7) THE FOOD IS NASTY!! IF I ATE MEAT I WOULD THINK VEGANS ARE CRAZY BASED ON THIS FOOD; IT IS ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE and I promise I am not just saying this because my whole order experience was below zero. I literally cannot stand the food and I notice some other reviewers said something like “maybe for vegans who live in the middle of nowhere.” Well I DO (live in the middle of nowhere) and I’D RATHER EAT GRASS as long as I could marinate it and season it with the FLAVOUR that Gobble Green stored in the attic somewhere dark and cold.
Whew. I hope to never have to be so angry again to have to write a terribly long-winded, negative review. But the world has to know. Just because a company is featured in a magazine, don’t buy it on that basis alone. If you’re reading this before purchasing consider yourself smart. Adieu.