It can be difficult to eat healthily in college. Although cooking has the potential to be fun and easy, sometimes between classes, clubs, student orgs and that all-important social life, it seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day! Luckily, there are several food subscription boxes that can do the work for you. They send healthy foods right to your door so all you have to do is start snackin’ to feel the benefits of a nutritious diet. Here are some of the best food subscription boxes for college students!
1. Love With Food (Starts at $7.99/month)
Love With Food sends you a box of all-natural, organic or gluten-free snacks every month. There are three different options you can choose from depending on your price range, the number and kinds of snacks you want.
The Tasting Box is $7.99/month, and according to the Love With Food Website, includes “7+ new and surprise snacks each month,” while the Deluxe Box is $16.99/month, and has 15+ snacks. There’s also a Gluten-Free Box for $19.99/month, which includes 10+ — you guessed it — gluten-free snacks each month. The snacks are all typically things you can’t just find in the grocery store, like gluten-free muffin mix, green tea latte flavored candy and pasta made from chickpeas!
Rachna, a freshman at Dartmouth College, has a friend that orders one of the boxes. “She orders the Tasting Box, which gives her seven snacks a month that are organic, without trans fats or hydrogenated oils, without artificial flavoring and coloring.” Also, for each month that you’re a member, and for each purchase that you make, Love With Food donates one meal to hungry children. You get healthy, yummy snacks, and you get to make a difference! It’s a win-win.
2. Freshly ($49.99/week)
Freshly is a great option if you have your own kitchen but find yourself too busy to cook healthy meals. (Has anyone else gotten into the habit of coming home after a long day and pouring yourself a bowl of Cheerios for dinner?)
Freshly has over 30 meal options, which are all gluten-free, and each week you select the ones that you want sent to you. They’re all cooked by chefs, so you know that they taste delicious. Plus, none of the meals have any refined sugar, gluten, or artificial ingredients (which is great because artificial sweeteners can sabotage weight loss). It’s super easy! They send you meals big enough for one adult, and you just have to heat them up and they’re ready in under three minutes. Some of their “top rated” meals are buffalo chicken breast, veggie baked penne, and chicken and rice pilaf. (So definitely a level up from Cheerios and ramen!)
Related: The Only Dorm Grocery List You'll Ever Need
3. Urthbox (Starts at $19.99/month)
Urthbox is another awesome choice for all of you snackers. Basically, you choose what size box you want (from Mini, which is $19.99 per month for 6+ snacks, all the way up to Large, which is $49.99 per month for 25+ snacks.)
You also choose which kind of box you want, with options like the Classic (“healthy snacks” acording to Urthbox), Gluten-Free, Vegan, or Diet (“calorie/fat/carb conscious”). Regardless of which box you pick, though, all of their snacks are organic, non-GMO and all-natural. Depending on which kind of box you select, the products can range from juices to dried meats to snack bars.
Urthbox is a great option because the choice in boxes allows you to have more say in the energy sources you want. Sarah Ball, a MPH and RD who works in the University of Michigan School of Public Health, says that “Snacks (and meals) should ideally contain a mix of protein, fiber, and healthy fat. This will provide ample energy and will stabilize blood sugar levels so that you don’t experience the blood sugar roller coaster as you might with a snack containing lots of sugar or refined carbohydrates.”
4. VeganCuts ($22.95/month)
With the popularity of documentaries like What the Health, lots of people are making the decision to go vegan. VeganCuts makes it way easier to do that! For $22.95 per month, you’ll get ten or more treats, which include lots of fun snacks that might be hard to find as a vegan, like “vegan eggs” and peanut butter cups. They have full-sized and sample-sized snacks, ranging from chips and cookies to sodas and teas. And if you subscribe for longer, the deals get better: a six-month subscription is $20/month, and a one-year subscription is only $18.50/month!
5. Graze ($13.99/week)
Graze is another popular food subscription boxes, and it chooses snacks based on your personal preferences. You get eight snacks per week, and each snack has a specific health benefit. Their snacks include “cinnamon pretzels” and “summer berry flapjacks”...definitely not stuff you can find in your school dining hall. And you’ll never get the same combination of snacks twice! Graze’s website says that “we have developed a range of over 100 delicious snacks and designed an intelligent algorithm, that we call DaRWIN, to customize each and every box specially for you.”
Emily, a third year student at The University of Nottingham, says, “I've subscribed to Graze for a few years now, on and off, because it's a great way to get healthy snacks that are perfectly portioned for you already when you're on the go. It also feels like a treat to yourself when it comes through the letterbox!”
Graze is definitely worth a try, especially since you can get the first box half-priced!
6. Naturebox ($5/month)
Naturebox is different than the other food subscription boxes because instead of paying a flat rate for a box each month, you pay $5 for a membership, then choose which food items you want in your box, and pay for each of the food items at a special membership rate.
The membership also gets you free shipping for as many snacks as you want. Naturebox has categories like “popcorn and pretzels, pantry staples, cookies & bars,” and more. They also have the option to buy in bulk to stock up those bare college-student cupboards! Naturebox is a great option if you want to choose which snacks you’ll receive and don’t have the time or transportation to go shopping. Plus, if you don’t like a snack, just let them know within ninety days and they’ll give you store credit for the price of that snack. And with the coupon code “THIRTY3” you can get 30% off your first three purchases!
Clearly, eating healthily in college isn’t as hard as you thought it was going to be! Of course, as Sarah Ball notes, the healthiest option is usually food you prepare yourself, like “deli turkey wrapped around guacamole and some spinach; apple slices with nut butter; trail mix with nuts/seeds, dried fruit and oats; cheese on whole grain crackers; hummus with veggie sticks.” But if it’s between ramen noodles for every meal and subscribing to one of these boxes, these boxes win every time.