At the dawn of the new millennium, science was turning a corner: US researchers cracked the human genome; a biotech company successfully cloned five piglets; and McDonald’s started serving salad in a cup. McShakers were a revolutionary innovation in fast-food technology that let customers dress and toss a salad with a few shakes of a cup, no utensils required.
While McShakers were discontinued just three years after launch, the concept of a shakable salad persisted. That’s because it’s convenient and portable and spares you from hauling out a mixing bowl and tongs. So when I came across Gardencup, a prepared-meal delivery service built around salads in sealed plastic cups, I had to try it.
While the concept was very up my alley, I had some reservations. How fresh would these container salads be? How long would they last in my fridge? Store-bought salad kits are notoriously hit-or-miss—would Gardencup be the same? And most importantly, would they even taste good? I ate Gardencup salads for two weeks to find out, and to see if it’s something I’d actually recommend. Here’s what I learned.
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What’s the ordering experience like?
Gardencup’s ordering process is very straightforward. I commend them for not requiring you to give your email or credit card information in order to look at the menu. A lot of meal-kit businesses do this, and it’s annoying. You first choose the shipping frequency and the number of salads in your order (6 or 9). Then you make your selections. The menu is à la carte style, meaning that instead of paying a flat rate for your shipment, each cup is priced individually between $11–$14. Each salad counts for one slot in your order, but there are additional add-ons like soups and snack cups that are worth half a slot (more on those add-ons down below). Once you fill your available slots, you check out and get your delivery date. They make it pretty easy to change and edit your orders or skip and cancel shipments too.
The offerings are organized into a few categories. Gardencups are lettuce-based, usually with romaine, and vary in toppings and dressing. They come in both meat-based and vegetarian versions. Powercups use a grain or noodle base and tend to be higher in protein.
In general, Gardencup seems to cater to the macro counting set, highlighting the protein and carb counts for each meal. The meat-based salads contain between 15 and 35 grams of protein. Powercups offer more, averaging 30 to 46 grams of protein and 39 to 66 grams of carbohydrates. The vegetarian options are mostly meatless versions of the other salads, with the exception of the Moroccan Spice variety.
What to expect in a Gardencup shipment
Gardencup uses UPS Second Day Air to ship its products, which means that the salads do spend a couple of days in transit. They ship from Texas, so you may receive your order faster depending on your proximity to the state. (I live in Brooklyn, and it took two days from shipment to arrival.) The company provides plenty of tracking data—emails to notify initial shipment, when UPS picks up the package, when the shipment is out for delivery, and when it arrives. Both UPS and Gardencup sent emails of this nature, so rest assured you won’t miss when these salads hit your doorstep.
The salads arrive in an insulated cardboard box with a large biodegradable cold pack at the bottom. I was a little worried about how they’d hold up during shipping, but when I opened the box, everything was well-insulated and fridge-cold, and the ice pack was still partially frozen. Each salad comes clearly labeled and sealed, which makes it easy to organize and identify them in the fridge. Gardencup also offers a freshness guarantee and will refund your order if the cold pack is completely thawed on arrival.
How are the ingredients?
Despite the transit time, the salads arrived fresh. My biggest concern was whether the salads would hold up throughout the week. I got a 6-pack, and I planned to eat one a day as my lunch, so the very last salad had to last 2–3 days in transit and 5 days in my fridge. When I got to the end of the shipment, the lettuce in the last cup wasn’t as crisp, but the toppings were fine. Frankly, I would’ve been worried if the ingredients had looked completely unmarred by time after six days in the fridge. Since the assorted crunchy toppings and dressing are in their own packaging, you don’t have to worry about things getting soggy either.
What I liked
I think Gardencup appeals to anyone desiring convenience, familiarity, and consistency in meals. Gardencup’s menu consists mostly of familiar crowd pleasers you’d recognize from the menu of your local bar and grill. You’ve got your southwest salad, your cobb, your wedge, your caesar, and so on. There’s a good chance that you’ve already eaten a version of every salad on their menu. That isn’t a bad thing if you want something tried and true that you know you’re going to enjoy. I appreciate that they include a decent amount of protein, and I found the meat salads to be filling.
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