Farmbox Direct Review

UPDATED March 11. 2024.
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Farmbox Direct is a rare find in the current food market. It is a produce delivery service that ships all-natural and organic fruit and veg all over the nation. It is based in New York and it first opened its doors in March 2014. Within just a few months, it exploded in popularity, boasting thousands of customers who instantly fell in love with its offer. In the meantime, its fame has spread across America and it is now one of the country’s favorite sources of healthy fruit and veg.

In this Farmbox Direct review, we will explore the story behind this service, discover what kind of natural goodness you can find in its boxes, talk about its pricing, and help you find out whether it is the healthy eating solution you have been looking for.

Farmbox Direct printscreen homepage

What Is Farmbox Direct

Farmbox Direct is a subscription-based produce delivery that provides organic and non-GMO fruit and vegetables available in boxes designed for households of different sizes and preferences. It aims to make healthy produce readily available to anyone.

The company was launched by Ashley Tyrner, a young entrepreneur whose difficult financial situation following her divorce and move from Malibu to New York City helped her identify the need for a more convenient and affordable source of natural and organic produce. She came up with the idea of creating a budget-friendly organic produce delivery service that would bring farm-fresh fruit and veg to homes across the country. That is how Farmbox Direct was born.

Farmbox Direct Snap Peas with Crispy Scallions

With this service, you get the finest, handpicked organic and naturally grown fruit and veg straight from local farms. You can decide whether you want to get enough food for a couple of meals or stock up on produce for the entire week. You can decide what kind of produce you want to get and customize your order to exclude items you do not like or include more of what you love. In other words, you get just the kind of produce you need, in the right quantity, delivered to your doorstep on a regular basis.

By opting for Farmbox Direct, you can eat healthily with much less effort, introduce more fruit and veg into your diet, and get the highest-quality produce at quite reasonable prices. These are all very good reasons to consider subscribing to this service.

How Does Farmbox Direct Work

As a Farmbox Direct subscriber, you can choose from 3 types of subscription boxes: Only Organic, All Natural, and Juicing boxes. You can decide whether you want to get fruit, vegetables or both and pick the box size that corresponds to your needs.

Only Organic and All Natural boxes come in 3 variations – Fruit, Veggie, and Mixed – and 3 different sizes – Small, Medium, and Large. Small boxes are enough to make 3 to 4 meals, Medium boxes are good for 4-5 meals plus healthy snacks, and Large boxes allow you to have enough produce for the entire week.

Farmbox Direct how work

Juicing boxes are available in 3 versions – Green, Orange, and Red. They come in only one size and include about 8 different organic items that are perfect for making nutritious juices.

Every week, the service sources the freshest fruit and veg and creates menus for each of the above-mentioned boxes. You get to view the menu for your box type in advance and make substitutions if you do not like everything in your box. You can make up to 5 substitutions per delivery.

Your Farmbox Direct subscription brings you produce of your choice every week or every other week, depending on your needs. You can make substitutions and customize your order until the weekly cut-off, which is at 3 AM EST 3 days before your box is due to arrive. If you want to skip a delivery or cancel your account, you should state your desire to pause or end your subscription by 12 PM EST 7 days before your next scheduled delivery.

What Makes Farmbox Direct Different

At the beginning of this Farmbox Direct review, we highlighted one of the main distinctive features of this service. It is one of the few produce deliveries that ship nationwide instead of limiting the delivery area to a couple of states or even cities. Its boxes are designed to be healthy, convenient, and affordable and they indeed tick all these boxes.

Another great advantage of Farmbox Direct is that it is good for home cooks, farmers, and the planet. It enables Americans to have healthy produce on the table at all times without overstepping their budget. It supports local farms and businesses through steady demand, that is, by connecting them with customers who would love their products. Finally, it only chooses produce that is grown in partnership with nature and uses 100% biodegradable, eco-friendly packaging.

Farmbox Direct vegetable on white background

To make it easier for its customers to make the best use of the produce in their boxes and live and eat more healthily, Farmbox Direct features blog and recipe sections on its website. It provides easy and delicious meal ideas for fruit and veg lovers and offers a wealth of useful health and lifestyle tips.

Wishing to show gratitude to its loyal patrons who spread the word about its produce, the company has launched a referral program. Every time you refer someone to Farmbox Direct, you get a $10 credit that is automatically applied to your next purchase. The best of all is that there is no limit to the number of referral credits you can get.

If you are looking for a good last-minute gift for a friend, you can get a Farmbox Direct gift certificate. The values start at $43.95, which is the price of the company’s most affordable box.

Finally, we would like to mention that the service has made ordering even easier by introducing a mobile app that lets you manage your account and customize your orders in just a few taps.

Farmbox Direct Products

Earlier in this Farmbox Direct review, we mentioned that the service offers different menus for each of its boxes and changes the menus every week. The boxes are packed with seasonal produce, so the contents depend on what is currently available on the farms. To give you a sense of how much food you can expect to get and what kind of fruit and veg you can receive in your deliveries, we will now explore each box in greater detail.

If you opt for the Only Organic box, you can get fruit, veg or both. With the fruit box, you get 7-8 different items, the veggie box brings you 10-11 distinct products, and the mixed box should include 12-13 different fruit and veg. The amount of food you get depends on the box size you choose.

Farmbox Direct Products on table

For example, the small Only Organic box can include 12 organic items, including 1 apple, 1 granny smith apple, 1 Valencia orange, 1 pear, a bunch of Brussels sprouts, 1 zucchini, 2 tomatoes, 1 kiwi, a bunch of green beans, a bunch of kale, a bunch of rainbow carrots, and 1 purple yam. With the medium Only Organic box, you would get twice as many apples, oranges, pears, zucchinis, kiwis, and yams, twice as much green beans, and 1 extra tomato. In comparison to the medium box, the large Only Organic box would bring you 1 extra piece or more of everything except for green beans, kale, and carrots and it would include a bonus avocado.

The situation is almost identical with the All Natural box. You get the same number of items as with the Only Organic box and the amount and selection of food you get is also the same. The only difference is that the produce in your box is all-natural instead of certified organic, which also means that it costs less.

As mentioned previously in this Farmbox Direct review, Juicing boxes come in Green, Orange, and Red varieties and bring you 8 distinct organic items per week. For example, if you opt for the Green Juicing box, you may get 4 apples, 3 granny smith apples, 2 avocados, 4 pears, 1 ginger, 4 kiwis, 3 bunches of kale, and 3 bunches of rainbow carrots. The Orange Juicing box can bring you 4 apples, 3 granny smith apples, 2 lemons, 6 Valencia oranges, 1 ginger, 4 kiwis, 2 bunches of kale, and 4 bunches of rainbow carrots. Finally, the Red Juicing box can bring you 4 apples, 3 Valencia oranges, 5 pears, 10 red beets, 1 ginger, 2 red bell peppers, 2 bunches of kale, and 2 bunches of rainbow carrots.

Farmbox Direct Roasted Acorn Squash, Sweet Potato & Kale Soup

Since the boxes normally contain 7-13 items per week, it is great that you can make as many as 5 substitutions and make sure nothing you dislike ends up in your delivery. If you need more food during the week, you can pick up a couple of add-ons in the form of farm products like cheese or eggs. As a bonus, you always get a recipe card that can help you cook up something delicious with the produce in your box.

How Much Does Farmbox Direct Cost

If you choose to order from Farmbox Direct, you can expect to pay between $43.95 and $68.95 per delivery. The price depends on the subscription box type you opt for as well as the box size you pick. Making substitutions comes with no additional fees.

Now, let us get more specific and find out how much you pay with each box.

If you opt for the Only Organic box, you pay:

  • $47.95 for the Small box;
  • $57.95 for the Medium box;
  • $68.95 for the Large box.
Farmbox Direct example price

With the All Natural box, the prices are:

  • $43.95 for the Small box;
  • $48.95 for the Medium box;
  • $53.95 for the Large box.

All juicing boxes cost the same. You pay $57.95 per delivery regardless of whether you opt for the Green, Orange or Red variety.

The selection of produce in your order does not affect the cost of your deliveries. Whether you choose to receive fruit, veggies or both, the prices remain the same. However, the price of your box does increase if you choose to get add-ons like artisanal products.

Shipping normally comes free of charge, but there is a handling fee of $5.98 per delivery. The company’s free shipping policy applies to more than 24,000 zip codes nationwide. For other areas, a small shipping fee may apply.

Where Does Farmbox Direct Deliver

Farmbox Direct ships its produce all over the contiguous United States. It is unable to ship to Hawaii and Alaska and it does not deliver to PO boxes. Its carrier of choice is UPS. The produce is shipped in insulated biodegradable packaging with ice packs.

Farmbox Direct delivery box

Delivery days differ from one zip code to another. Once your box has been dispatched, you receive tracking information so you can keep an eye on your order during transit. If your box arrives damaged, be sure to reach out to Farmbox Direct’s customer support representatives via email within 24 hours of receipt so they could resolve the issue.

If you are unhappy with the quality of any product you get, you can request a refund or replacement within 7 days of delivery.

Farmbox Direct Pros And Cons

To make sure Farmbox Direct meets all your standards and expectations, it is important to know its biggest advantages and disadvantages. With a short overview of its pros and cons, you can easily decide if Farmbox Direct  is the right meal kit service for you.

Pros
  • Farm-fresh, locally sourced, organic and natural produce
  • 3 different types of produce boxes
  • 3 box sizes for different households
  • 5 substitutions per box
  • Farm products like cheese and eggs available as add-ons
  • 7-day money-back guarantee

Cons

  • Charges for handling
  • Exact weight of the boxes is not specified
  • Amount of food can vary from one box to another

Sample Dishes

If you subscribe to Farmbox Direct, you can easily prepare culinary masterpieces using only the ingredients and recipes found in your meal kit box. You may not be a pro chef just yet, but with Farmbox Direct, you can easily make restaurant-grade meals. You don’t have to take our word for it – check out the images below to get a better idea of the types of dishes you can enjoy with Farmbox Direct.

Bottom Line

Finishing off this Farmbox Direct review, we would like to just briefly highlight what we really love and what we somewhat dislike about this service. Obviously, we love that its produce is farm-fresh, organic or all-natural, and delivered in eco-friendly boxes to homes across the continental US. We like that the boxes are customizable and available in multiple sizes and variations. It is also great that you can purchase farm products if you wish and that shipping is generally free even though handling is not.

What we find to be the main downside of this service is that it does not let you know the exact weight of all the produce in its boxes. We find that such information would be helpful when determining whether the box in question suits your needs. Likewise, the amount of food you get per week may slightly vary from one delivery to another, which may be an issue for home cooks who appreciate consistency. Fortunately, variations are far from huge and the produce you get really is worth the cash.


User Reviews (9)

Farmbox Direct is rated 4.5/5, based on 9 user reviews.

The Farmbox Direct reviews listed below reflect the opinions and experiences of real users and are in no way influenced by the service reviewed here. Before publishing each review, our team checks whether it was submitted by an actual user in an effort to prevent false or spammy reviews.

  1. | March 9, 2021

    We were really looking forward to this during the fall and winter months when we have no local fresh produce and our garden is already depleted. If even though it appeared to be pricey, we thought it was worth a try if it was good produce.

    We were shocked at how little produce we received for the cost of the service. There wasn’t enough to last 1 week for 2 people. For the same amount I could get quadruple the amount at any local store.

    Pros:
    What we did received looked good
    Vegetables were very good quality and tasted great

    Cons:
    Extremely high cost compared to local
    Size of fruit was ridiculously small
    Produce only lasted 2 days and then most were already rotting.
    Taste was not fresh at all. Seemed as though all fruit had been frozen and then thawed out.
    Texture was not crisp – actually more mushy. After 2 days downright mushy and gross.

    I’m sorry but this was just terrible.

    We’ll continue to buy at the local stores and have to wait a few months to enjoy some actual fresh produce from local farms and our own garden.

    Nice thought… but a total failure.

  2. | November 12, 2020

    Very disappointed in my boxes. My vegetables were brown and all of box was inedible. I want to cancel which is no easy feat. Sorely disappointed. CANCEl, CANCEL CANCEL! No further billing or delivery of proclaimed fresh produce!!!

  3. | May 18, 2020

    I am reviewing Farmbox Direct on their price, quality, website and lack of customer service and this company wants me to travel back in time to cancel an order.
    1) Price is way too high. After receiving the only box I ordered, I did online shopping at Kroger. With the first time only $20 discount, Kroger was still lower AND with Kroger I can pick what ever I want. Not just settle for what Farmbox Direct has available. In case you are not familiar with Kroger, it is not an inexpensive store. Since this produce is supposedly coming from a farm, you would think their price would be competitive. There is no middleman! Nope!
    2) The quality was fine, but no better than Kroger. You would expect better coming from a farm. There were several items were damaged in packing and shipping. The lettuce is wilted. It was definitely not worth paying more than $20 extra.
    3) The website has very little functionality and even less, if you don’t have an account. I canceled my account, so I have no way to see history. I probably couldn’t because the website probably doesn’t have that functionality anyway. I was setup for every two weeks and in the same week I received my box, I got an email about the next weeks shipment. Not my week! I just received a box the day before. This was Wednesday the 13th and It said to cancel by 12:00 noon. I trusted that I set myself that I setup for every two weeks and they send these emails to everyone. The next day (the 14th) I decided I should cancel before I get a box I don’t want. I clicked a link in the email that said schedule your next delivery. Links like this normally take you to a website where you do the actual scheduling, I guessing since I can’t see history. Not this website! It apparently created an order right when I clicked on it. I canceled my account that same day, on the 14th. I found out the next day that clicking that link actually did create an order. I received a receipt in my email the next day.
    4) I replied to that email. This is about the ONLY thing good about this company is that they actually receive emails when you reply. I told them I didn’t order they and please give me a credit. Corrine replied that I needed to cancel by 12:00 pm on the 13th and terms and conditions blah blah blah. I replied again that I am every other week and it wasn’t my week. Corrine replied, “I see you created an order from the home page yesterday, May 14th, at 7:03 AM. I do see you received our substitution email on the 13th, and opened it. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but we are unable to credit your account.” The email she mentions is the one I mentioned above. Clearly Corrine confirms in her comment that the order was made when I clicked that link on the 14th. So tell me this Farmbox Direct, if I accidentally made an May 14th, at 7:03 AM, how do I cancel by 12:00 noon on the 13th? If I am to be held to canceling by Wednesday at 12:00 noon, it should be Wednesday the 20th. That hasn’t happened yet!!!!!

    So, I replied to Corrine’s last email very angry and said, “If I accidentally created an order in May 14th, you will also see that I that I canceled the account on May 14th. It is obvious and know darn well that the order was completely accidental and you are a totally disreputable company If you cannot acknowledge that order was accidental If you hold me to this order and don’t give me this credit or I will share my very unpleasant experience on ALL of the sites that have reviews of your company, including the Better Business Bureau. I could just dispute the charge on my credit card but I am giving your company the chance to do the right thing. Now act like a respectable company and acknowledge that this is an error that should be corrected by you!!!!”

    After calming down, I now see that not only was I correct, I have proof that Farmbox Direct is in the wrong. I was setup for every other week and they are trying to hold me to an order that I inadvertently made on the 14th and they are holding me to this order because I didn’t cancel by the 13th.

  4. | April 18, 2020

    $50 for like 1 lb. of food. Maybe others have better luck, but the selection was very poor, and when substitutions were also limited, it left a total of maybe 10-12 items to choose from for fruits and vegetables combined. Very pricey and minimal variety.

  5. | February 17, 2020

    I’ve bought a Farmbox gift certificate for my friend and she was beside herself from excitement! I recommend it as a gift for all people who are devoted to eating healthy and for those who should consider doing the same just need a little nudge in the right direction 🙂

  6. | February 12, 2020

    I want to support the business that cares about its customers, the environment and everyone’s well-being! And the rest should to the same!

  7. | December 9, 2019

    This happened two out of 10 times I’ve ordered from Farmbox and this was the last time. The veggies were not fresh, the tomatoes were almost squashed and it seems they were going bad. I’m not saying it happens every time but it’s not that it never happened before…

  8. | October 22, 2019

    Every week I order only organic mixed box in medium which is enough for a whole week’s worth of dinners. When I come home I don’t have to run around to look for ingredients, instead I already have everything waiting in the fridge, all I have to do is dice it or throw it into the blender.

  9. | September 13, 2019

    I helps me save time and gas money I would spend on locating organic produce and driving to three different places to pick it up. With Farmbox I get the stuff I need delivered directly to my house and I don’t have to wonder if the food is organic or not!

  10. | June 1, 2019

    Love it, love it, love it! Farmbox is just perfect! Everything I love and need at one place!

  11. | May 18, 2019

    It is our 4th week with FD, everything’s perfect as always! Hope to meet Ashley one day, she’s been such an inspiration to me!

    • OPB | April 5, 2020

      Buyer beware. I got the organic small box which is supposed to be good for 3-4 MEALS. What I got was about $10 of stuff, even if shipping at Whole Foods. Lettuce was winter, box was too big for products, it had more ice packs than my meat shipments. Customer service was rude. They say the $56 cost is due to shipping,. For such a small amount of food, totally not worth it. Very disappointed in selection as well. You are allowed to substitute 5 items but are limited to how. Example: replacing my kiwis resulted in one zucchini or one apple. I guess they need to be more clear on how many people the meals are counting for…

  12. | January 24, 2019

    Well-packaged, fresh, maybe it would be nice if the produce was labeled but it’s not a big deal because I know what I’m getting and there is nothing exotic that I wouldn’t recognize. Good price too, I would pay much more at WF for what I get in my box.

  13. | September 8, 2018

    Got my first box and I am pretty satisfied but 2 carrots are not as fresh as I hoped. We’ll see if it happens again.

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