Thistle Review 2025: Great Plant-Powered Plans!

Overview

Thistle provides a plant-based meal delivery service tailored to different regions. West Coast customers can choose from curated boxes like Vegan Essentials or Enhanced Boxes, while East Coast residents get local delivery with the flexibility to select unlimited breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks. Meals focus on plant-based proteins, but I like that you can add meat for an extra fee, making the service appealing to vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians.

The weekly menu features gluten-free meals, soups, salads, and cold-pressed juices, ensuring variety. Meals contain 450-650 calories and at least 20 grams of protein, making them suitable for calorie-conscious diets. Sustainability is emphasized with organic ingredients and nutrient-rich "booster foods" like turmeric and chia seeds. However, I felt that the frequent use of rice and quinoa may get repetitive for non-gluten-free customers.

Local delivery customers can customize meals to omit allergens, while West Coast customers must choose prefixed plans without allergen substitutions. Meals arrive fully prepared, with some dishes suitable for light reheating. Packaging is eco-friendly, with reusable ice packs and recyclable containers.

Shipping areas are limited, so check your zip code before ordering. Prefixed plans include free shipping, but local deliveries incur a $4.95 fee. Customer support is limited to an online contact form. I tested this and got a quick response, though I’d prefer live chat or phone support.

Overall, Thistle is an excellent option for those seeking convenient, plant-based meals, but meat lovers and those looking for hearty comfort food may find it less appealing.

Thistle’s Menu: Specializing in Plant-Based Proteins

With Thistle, there’s a difference in meal options depending on your location. If you’re located in a delivery area, you can freely choose anything from the menu. If you’re located further away in a shipping area, you’ll have to choose a prefixed plan. You’ll still get to choose from the menu, but you’re restricted by the plan you choose.

If you live on the West Coast, you can choose from 6 different options. These are the Cold-Pressed Juice Box, Lite Bites Box, Essentials Box with Meat, Vegan Essentials Box, Vegan Enhanced Box, and the Enhanced Box with Meat. So, for example, the Vegan Essentials Box contains 6 meals, including 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners. You can pick your meals from the full menu.

If you live on the East Coast, you can choose the number of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks. After that, select your meal preferences.

Note that there’s no apparent meal limit for the East Coasters.

Meal Options: A Decent Selection of Healthy Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners & Sides

I like the idea of having a plant-focused delivery service that has the option to add meat as an alternative protein. You can also opt for a mix of plant and meat protein. If you do decide to add meat, you’ll have to pay an extra cost.

The menu rotates on a weekly basis, so there’s always something new to try. As the menu is all gluten-free, it tends to focus on quinoa and rice as carbohydrate options. If you aren’t gluten intolerant, you might find this a little repetitive.

Every meal has a plant or meat protein option, making it a great choice for flexitarians. If you like to switch things up a bit, you can go for the omnivore option, where you can have a bit of both in different dishes.

Thistle also delivers juice, soups, and salad. There are 12 oz bottles of cold-pressed juices as well as 2 oz fruit shots. The sides include soups and salads and are a good idea if you want to make a more substantial meal or as an alternative lunch option.

Lunches and dinners contain between 450 and 650 calories. This makes it a suitable option if you’re looking for a calorie-conscious meal delivery company. There’s also at least 20 g of protein in every meal, so you know it's a healthy option.

I like that Thistle is committed to sustainability with its ingredients. Organic ingredients are denoted with an asterisk on the nutrition and ingredient list available for every dish.

I like that each dish contains nutrient-dense booster foods like turmeric, chia seeds, and spirulina. This is a unique feature that sets Thistle apart fromsimilar plant-based delivery services, such as Purple Carrot.

Customization: You Can Select Your Proteins but Little Else

When you sign up to Thistle, you have the option to customize your plan by protein choice. You can opt for the standard plant-based protein or choose to add meat protein for an additional cost. If you’re flexitarian, you can go for the mixed plan, which gives you half plant and half meat.

Thistle is great for vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores. However, there are no specific dietary plans available, such as diabetic, keto, or weight loss. That said, meals are generally low in calories, so they could be used to support your weight loss goals.

Every recipe can be made with or without meat, so there's the same number of choices for meat eaters and veggies alike. This is something I was pleased about, as usually, vegetarian options are more limited than meat options.

If you’re dairy or gluten intolerant, Thistle is a good choice. All of the meals are dairy and gluten free. If you’re allergic to gluten or particularly sensitive,I’d recommend Green Chefinstead, as Thistle is yet to be officially certified gluten free.

You can also adapt your plan if you have allergies. Currently, these are the allergens identified by Thistle: soy, peanuts, tree nuts, coconut, pork, fish, and shellfish. I like that it will either omit the ingredient from your recipe or remove the meal choice.

If you’re located in a shipping area, you’re unable to customize your menu for allergens or substitutions. So, if you’re looking for a vegan delivery service that can accommodate your dietary needs,check out Purple Carrotas a good alternative.

Thistle’s Menu at a Glance 

Unboxing: An Overall Smooth Experience

Meals arrive in insulated reusable bags that can be returned with your next delivery. Ice packs are used to keep the meals cold, and you’ll need to put everything in the refrigerator to store it until you eat. Meals are single portions in plastic containers, and sauces are packed separately.

It’s recommended to eat meals within 2 days, but check the dates on packs to make sure. You can also freeze some of the items, but this isn’t recommended for salads. Frozen lettuce isn’t very appetizing.

The large 64 oz ice packs are collected to be used for future deliveries. The smaller ice packs can be collected, or you can dispose of them yourself at home. There are detailed instructions on the Thistle website for this.

You can recycle the plastic containers, but they aren’t the best in terms of sustainability. Thistle is looking into more eco-friendly options. But until then, if you can’t think of a creative way to reuse the containers, you can recycle them with your curbside pickup.

Cooking With Thistle: Just Heat & Eat

The great thing about Thistle is that there’s next to no prep involved. In fact, all of Thistle's options are ready to eat. If you want to heat some dishes – perhaps a pasta-based dish or the soups – it’s as simple as gently heating them in a skillet with a little olive oil.

Shortlist of My Favorite Meals

I find Thistle's recipes quite appealing. In this section of my Thistle Review, I'll briefly describe my favorite meals.

Butternut & Pear Pasta Salad

Roasted butternut squash and sweet pears take center stage. Some other welcome ingredients in my book are organic spring mix lettuce or seasonal greens, chickpea pasta, and arugula. You'll get chicken if you opt for meat in your dishes.