Gousto Vegan Box Review

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I’m on a mission to try all of the vegan meal delivery services in the UK to discover which is the best. And I’m excited to say, I’ve found my winner with Gousto!

As part of my series of reviews, I’ve tried recipe boxes from Gousto, Green Chef, Feast Box, and Mindful Chef. I haven’t tried Hello Fresh as they don’t do vegan options.

Disclaimer: All of these recipe boxes have been gifted to me, except Gousto, which I purchased myself. Gousto doesn’t send out any free gifts to bloggers and influencers, so you can be sure that all the Gousto reviews you read online are honest, not just written in exchange for a freebie.

In this Gousto review, I’ll show you the three vegan recipes that I cooked. I’ve also included details of the packaging as well as the ordering and delivery experience.

So, if you’re trying to decide if Gousto is worth it for vegans or vegetarians, read on for everything you need to know to make up your mind…

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Is Gousto good for vegans?

Gousto is great for vegans. There are at least 10 great-tasting, vegan-friendly recipes to choose from each week. The recipes use seasonal vegetables and almost all of the packing can be recycled.

How is Gousto different from other meal delivery boxes?

The main difference that I’ve found between Gousto and all of the other vegan meal kits I’ve tried is the price!

I’ve found that the price of recipe box deliveries usually ranges from £6 to £8 per serving, although you can get it a little cheaper if you buy a family box or order more than 3 meals per week. Yet, Gousto is considerably cheaper than all other others.

Right now, you can try Gousto for less than £2 per serving! Click here to get 60% off Gousto.

Does the low price of Gousto mean low quality?

You might assume that because Gousto is cheaper than other recipes boxes that the ingredients are of lower quality. After all, they must be cutting corners somewhere, right?

In fact, I’ve found that the ingredients that Gousto use to be great quality and not cheap at all.

My vegan Gousto box contained expensive herbs and spices like fresh root ginger and cardamom pods, as well as branded vegan products like Alpro soya cream, Taste & Glory chicken-style tenderstrips and Meatless Farm meat-free mince.

The Meatless Farm mince alone costs £3 per pack in Asda, yet my £12 Gousto box contained two packs, plus all this…

Gousto vegan ingredients

All the ingredients in my Gousto box were super fresh, which meant I could take my time to cook meals throughout the week, rather than trying to use it all up as quickly as possible.

Another difference between Gousto and other meal delivery boxes is the innovative, eco-friendly packaging. (More on that later.)

Reasons Gousto is the best vegan recipe box

  • Lowest priced vegan recipe boxes
  • At least 10 vegan meals to choose from each week
  • High quality, branded ingredients
  • Cook in as little as 10 minutes
  • Huge portions

Review of Gousto’s Vegan Recipes

I tried three of Gousto’s plant-based recipes – Vegan butter chicken and rice, the Korean-style meat-free mince bulgogi and the vegan baharat stew with couscous.

I had never cooked any of these exotic dishes before and was excited to get started. Here’s how I got on…

1. Plant-Based No Butter Chicken with Fragrant Rice

✅ Calories: 682kcal ✅ Fat: 31g ✅ Carbs: 69g ✅ Sugar: 10g ✅ Fibre: 11g ✅ Protein: 28g ✅ Salt: 3g

This vegan version of butter chicken curry and rice was delicious. The sauce was super creamy and bursting with flavours. Despite being loaded with coconut and cream, this dish had under 700 calories. That’s if you can eat it all! I couldn’t manage this huge plateful so I saved some to heat up the next day.

I found the step-by-step instructions to be really easy to follow. Making this dish was just as easy as using a ready-made jar of curry sauce, but so much healthier and tastier!

2. Korean-Style Meat-Free Mince Bulgogi With Beans

✅ Calories: 639kcal ✅ Fat: 27g ✅ Carbs: 66g ✅ Sugar: 11g ✅ Fibre: 10g ✅ Protein: 31g ✅ Salt: 3g

I had never heard of bulgogi but I’m in love with this dish. The apple and ginger give the mince a sweet taste which is perfectly complemented by the green beans and spring onions.

This plant-based Gousto dish was so simple to make with just nine ingredients, I’ll certainly be making it again. Previously, my husband would have said that you can’t cook vegan mince without sauce, but this dish made him eat his words. The mince was so tasty and not dry at all.

I love how Gousto recipes make everything easy. For example, half of the soy sauce was to be added earlier in the cooking and half later. So Gousto delivered it in two sachets. Perfect!

3. Baharat Meat-Free Mince Stew With Fruity CousCous

✅ Calories: 724 kcal ✅ Fat: 17g ✅ Carbs: 92g ✅ Sugar: 26g ✅ Fibre: 19g ✅ Protein: 41g ✅ Salt: 3g

I chose this dish because it cooks in just ten minutes. I can’t start cooking until after my kids are in bed at 7.30 pm so I absolutely do not want to spend an hour or more in the kitchen. Having a ten-minute meal option means that if they’re late to bed for whatever reason, I have something quick to cook so I can still enjoy my evening.

Usually, something quick would be beans on toast or noodles. This is a much tastier and healthier option with three of your five-a-day. I would have never thought to add dates or apricots to a meal like this, but they made a really tasty addition. Genius!

Gousto Recipe Cards

Gousto’s recipe cards are printed in full colour on A5-size card. You may notice that they have holes in the side. That’s so that you can keep them together in Gousto’s free recipe folder.

Getting a free Gousto recipe folder is easy. Just log into your Gousto account online or on the app, click the ‘Deliveries’ tab and choose ‘Shop Extras’ to add a free Gousto folder to your next box.

Gousto’s recipes are really easy to follow with just eight steps to each and pictures. I find that the layout makes it easy to see where you’re up to.

I love that the steps include tips like ‘add a splash of boiled water if it’s looking a little dry’. These make it easy for even beginners to cook perfect meals every time.

If you prefer to use technology than traditional paper, you can also see all of the recipes and step-by-step guides on Gousto’s app.

Tip: When you’ve ordered from Gousto once, you can always access the recipes with ingredients and step-by-step guides on the app, even if you never order again!

Gousto Packaging

All the different recipe boxes have slightly different packaging but I’ve found Gousto to be the best, both in terms of how easy it is to sort the ingredients and also in terms of sustainability.

Gousto obviously likes to keep things simple with their packaging and it works well.

Each box contains an inner cool box made of thick corrugated cardboard to keep the cold ingredients insulated. Whereas most recipe boxes use wads of denim insulation (and some even use sheep’s wool!), Gousto just uses cardboard. This is easy to re-use and recycle. While it’s nice to come up with various creative ways to re-use denim, there’s a chance that it’s going to get tiresome and the next batch of denim insulation will end up in the bin.

I also love that Gousto uses pure water in their ice packs rather than any chemicals. The ice packs are also reusable so you can keep them in your fridge and use them to keep food and drinks cold for camping trips, days out or parties.

The next clever thing that Gousto does with its packaging is that they separate the little bits and bobs in to paper bags for each recipe. So rather than sifting through sachets to figure out what’s paprika and what’s curry powder, you can just grab the bag for the dish that you’re about to make and everything’s ready.

Gousto box in kitchen

And finally, this cute little inner box is a game-changer for anyone with a small kitchen. Rather than putting your food away in the cupboards and getting it mixed up with your non-recipe box food, you can keep everything together on your countertop in this small box.

The zig-zag design is pretty cute so it will look nice in most kitchens. Much nicer than having the big delivery box out or having everything on display, anyway. Gousto really has thought of everything.

Gousto Prices

Gousto recipes boxes are much cheaper than other brands. You can compare all vegan recipe boxes to see how much you can save by choosing Gousto.

Remember, you don’t need to pay full price as when you click through from this website to Gousto.co.uk, you’ll automatically get 60% off.

Here are Gousto’s box prices (before discount):

2 recipes per week3 recipes per week4 recipes per week
Regular Box (2 adults)£24.99£29.99£34.99
Large Box (4 adults)£31.75£42.75£47.75

Here are Gousto’s prices per portion (before discount) :

2 recipes per week3 recipes per week4 recipes per week
Regular Box (2 adults)£6.25£5.00£4.37
Large Box (4 adults)£3.97£3.56£2.98

Get 60% OFF your Gousto box

Plus 30% off all boxes in your first month

As almost all of the vegan recipes can be reheated the next day, for the best value you should consider getting a large box, even for just two adults. Enjoying your leftovers for lunch or dinner will also reduce the time you spend cooking, as well as saving you money.

By choosing the largest box and taking advantage of Gousto’s 60% OFF offer, you can enjoy Gousto meals for as little as £1.19 per portion. This is cheaper than it would cost for you to buy the ingredients in your local supermarket, but much less hassle!

Is Gousto subscription only?

I’m not a fan of subscription services. I prefer to order things only when I want to, rather than being tied into a regular delivery.

While Goutso many appear to be subscription only, you can just place one-off orders if you prefer.

When you first order with Gousto, you’ll automatically be signed up to a regular weekly delivery. However, switching from weekly to one-off deliveries is easy.

How to pause Gousto:

  1. After your first box arrives, just log into the Gousto website
  2. Click on ‘My Gousto’
  3. Click on ‘Subscription Settings’
  4. Click on ‘Pause Subscription’
  5. You won’t receive any more deliveries or be charged

Pausing your Gousto subscription is the same as cancelling it. The pause is indefinite and you won’t be charged again unless you actively place another order. If you just want a temporary pause, you can instead opt to just skip a box.

Once your Gousto subscription is paused, you can place orders for one-off deliveries as and when you like.

The Bottom Line

Gousto recipe boxes are fantastic for vegans. Many other vegan recipe boxes shy away from meat alternatives, but Gousto boxes often feature meat-free burgers, mince, beef-style strips and chicken-style pieces. Of course, if you don’t like fake meat, there are lots of vegetable-based dishes to choose from too that use beans, legumes or tofu as the protein sources.

I love Gousto because the ingredients are fresh, the recipes are easy to follow and I love the attention to detail that the company gives to every aspect of the experience.

I would be happy to pay more than the full price for Gousto boxes. So with the 60% OFF deal, you’d be crazy not to give it a go and find out for yourself.

Gousto Vegan Recipe Box

Jenni Fielding

Recipes
Ingredients
Taste
Sustainability
Price

Summary

After trying lots of vegan recipe boxes, Gousto is definitely my favourite. There’s a fantastic choice of vegan recipes each week. They’re all healthy, easy to cook and they taste fantastic. I can’t fault it.

4.7

Gousto FAQs

Is Gousto good value?

Gousto recipe boxes offer excellent value for money. You can get 60% off with a discount code which will reduce the cost to as little as £1.19 per meal.

Is Gousto a monthly subscription?

Gousto is a monthly subscription by default. However, the subscription is easy to cancel. Then, Gousto allows you to place one-off orders as and when you wish.

Is Gousto free delivery?

Unlike some other recipe box delivery companies, Gousto never charges extra for delivery.

Are Gousto meals healthy?

Gousto has a ‘Healthy Choices’ section for those who like to eat healthy meals. The recipes in Gousto’s plant-based section are always healthy too with lots of fresh vegetables, beans and pulses.

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