For years, I've been buying organic and seasonal products to prepare my meals. However, I sometimes find myself lacking the creativity to discover new recipes.
When I discovered Rutabago, I couldn't wait to give it a try! The recipes looked absolutely delicious, and it was a great way for me to save some time. Here’s my verdict after several orders!
What is Rutabaga?
RUTABAGO - ORGANIC MEAL KITS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR | |
Concept | Choose your meal kits on our website, then enjoy home delivery of all the ingredients along with instructions to cook it yourself. |
Dietary Preferences |
|
Values | 🥦 Seasonal produce, 🥕 100% Organic, 🥔 Support for local sourcing, with a focus on French production, 🛫 No air-freighted products, 🌞 No heated greenhouses, even for organic items, 👭 Socially Responsible Business (SRB) |
Pricing | 💰 Starting at $4.95 per plate. |
Delivery Fees | Free delivery |
Commitment | No |
Flexibility | Ability to cancel or reschedule your delivery at any time |
👍 I Loved It
- The practicality of meal kits,
- The ability to eat organic easily,
- Discovering new flavours,
- The well-explained and easy-to-follow recipes,
- The option to take breaks whenever you want,
- The quality of the delivery,
- Quick meals that allow you to enjoy organic food without stress during lunch at work!
❌ Areas for Improvement
- The price is quite high,
- No option available for single occupancy.
Source: rutabago.com
How Does Rutabago Work?
Rutabaga is a meal kit: this means you receive all the ingredients and recipes to cook meals you’ve selected directly at home. It saves you the hassle of grocery shopping and the effort of figuring out what to make. Plus, it helps reduce waste, as you only get the amounts needed to prepare your dishes.
Unlike its competitors like HelloFresh, Rutabago offers a 100% organic box. You will receive only products that are certified organic.
Source: Rutabago.com
What meal plans does Rutabago offer?
Rutabaga offers omnivorous menus, as well as options such as:
- Seafood Option (includes fish),
- Vegetarian (no meat or fish),
- Vegan (no animal products).
👉 You can mix and match different meal plans in a single order. This is really convenient if you're trying to reduce your meat intake without necessarily becoming a vegetarian.
Source: Rutabago.com
How to Choose Your Menus?
Every week, Rutabago offers you a selection of recipes to cook. For each recipe, you will find the following information:
- The type of diet being followed (meat, fish, vegan, vegetarian, etc.),
- The preparation time (rarely more than 30 minutes).
Recipes to Cook Rutabaga for the Week of November 28
Source: Rutabago.com
When you place your order, you can choose the meals that appeal to you the most, so you can receive everything you need to cook them at home, along with the instructions for preparation.
What are the bonuses offered by Rutabago?
With every order, you have the option to add additional products, known as "Bionus". This includes a breakfast as well as a basket of seasonal fruits.
If you're planning to have a quick lunch, you can also order express meals that heat up in just three minutes in the microwave.
Source: Rutabago.com
Is There a Commitment with Rutabago?
Rutabaga is commitment-free. This means you have the option to pause your subscription or cancel it anytime you want, and it's easy to do.
👉 To avoid receiving your organic cooking box the following week, you need to cancel your subscription or pause it before the previous Wednesday at 11:59 PM. You can do this directly from your customer account on the website!
Where does Rutabaga deliver?
The company delivers its meal kits throughout mainland France, excluding Corsica. Some areas can take advantage of a two-hour delivery window from Tuesday to Saturday. These include:
- Paris and the surrounding departments (92, 93, 94, 77, 78, 91, 95),
- Nice,
- Marseille,
- Toulouse,
- Bordeaux,
- Montpellier,
- Rennes,
- Grenoble,
- Nantes,
- Lille,
- Strasbourg,
- Lyon,
- and Toulon.
The remaining destinations have a 5-hour window, meaning delivery is available between 8 AM and 1 PM from Wednesday to Saturday.
How does delivery work with Rutabago?
Delivery is done via a specialized carrier to ensure the cold chain is maintained. You can have it delivered directly to your home by selecting your preferred time slot, or to your workplace if that’s more convenient for you.
Source: Rutabago.com
👉 If you missed your delivery, you can contact Rutabago by email at bonjour@rutabago.com or by phone at 1-855-555-1234 (toll-free call) Monday to Friday from 10 AM to 12 PM and 2 PM to 5 PM.
🏪 You can also pick up your parcel at a pickup location.
What Does a Rutabaga Package Look Like?
When you receive your Rutabago box, it arrives as a cardboard package, inside which all the ingredients for your meals for the week are carefully packed.
In each box, you'll find:
- a fresh pack, which includes all the perishable items to be stored in the fridge,
- a grocery pack, containing the dry ingredients used in the meals (pasta, cereals, spices...),
- the recipes to help you cook.
👉 All the ingredients are precisely measured so that you have only the amounts you need.
🥕 The vegetables and fruits are neither peeled nor cut, to help maintain their freshness and prolong their shelf life.
Source: Youtube.com - Rutabago Channel
5 Things to Know Before Ordering Rutabaga
What I appreciated about Rutabago are the brand's commitments to a healthy, organic diet sourced from local producers. Here are 5 key points to know about the ethics of this brand so you can order with confidence!
"Manifesto for Eating Well" by Rutabago
Source: YouTube.com - Rutabago Channel
Seasonal Menus
The recipes offered by Rutabago follow the natural rhythm of the seasons: no more strawberries in November or tomatoes in February! Instead, you will rediscover the joy of enjoying pumpkin soup in the fall or tasting the first fruits of spring, just like I do.
🍎 Fruits and vegetables are harvested at peak ripeness. They aren't artificially ripened, ensuring that you enjoy all their nutritional value when you eat them!
Meals are approved by nutritionists
Eating organic is important, of course, but maintaining a balanced diet is just as essential! For this reason, Rutabago has its recipes validated by nutritionists to ensure they include all the essential nutrients for good health.
Source: Rutabago.com
Rutabaga Supports Local and Short Supply Chains
Like 100% organic products, shopping locally helps boost the economy and improve the quality of life for producers. That's why Rutabago is committed to sourcing as much as possible from local producers.
Source: Rutabago.com
🛫 The ingredients delivered in your meal kit do not travel by plane.
🌞 Additionally, they are not grown in heated greenhouses, even in organic farming.
🚚 Delivery is done using 100% electric vehicles, or alternatively, Rutabago is committed to offsetting 100% of the carbon emissions from the delivery.
The Company is Committed to Reducing Packaging
The products you receive in Rutabago boxes are packaged as much as possible with recyclable materials, such as Kraft paper.
Currently, Rutabago is conducting research to create a deposit system, which would eliminate packaging. Products would be packaged in reusable containers that could be returned to Rutabago.
Ordering from Rutabago Means Showing Solidarity
Rutabago is a certified ESUS company, which stands for social utility solidarity enterprise. In fact, the company donates 5% of its products to community grocery stores and supports the social and solidarity economy.
Source: Rutabago.com
What is the price of Rutabaga?
The price of Rutabaga depends on the quantity ordered: the minimum is $4.95 per plate.
Here is a brief overview of meal prices at Rutabago, noting that there are no meat or fish-based recipes:
Number of People | Number of Meals | Price per Plate |
2 | 3 | $14.57 |
2 | 4 | $12.57 |
2 | 5 | $11.18 |
3 | 3 | $11.69 |
3 | 4 | $10.05 |
3 | 5 | $9.01 |
4 | 3 | $10.05 |
4 | 4 | $8.07 |
4 | 5 | $7.15 |
🐟 If you want meat or fish, just add it:
- approximately $1 CAD per plate for 4 people,
- about $2 CAD for 2 to 3 people.
Why this price? 💰
When I first ordered from Rutabago, I was a bit surprised by the prices, which are slightly higher than those of non-organic competitors.
However, Rutabago is transparent about how its fees are allocated and ensures that it compensates producers and collaborators fairly. This comes at a cost, which is illustrated in the graph below:
Source: Rutabago.com
Are there shipping fees at Rutabago? 🚚
There are no extra shipping fees, as they are included in the base price of your meal kit. 😊
Can I give an organic Rutabaga basket as a gift? 🎁
Great news: Rutabago offers a gift card that you can give to your loved ones to introduce them to this organic meal kit service. What a unique gift idea! 😊
How to Give a Rutabago Gift Card?
It's very simple: just visit the Rutabago website and click on "Gift Card" in the menu, then click the orange button that says "Give a Gift Card" on the page that appears.
Source: Rutabago.com
You will then have the option to choose the amount for your gift card from the following options:
- $68 CAD (3 recipes for 2 people),
- $136 CAD,
- $204 CAD,
- or $272 CAD.
💬 You can then add a little message that will be associated with the gift to make it more personal.
Next, all you need to do is create an account or log in, and then proceed to payment. The gift card will be sent to you via email immediately and will be valid for one year. 😊
Who should you gift a Rutabago cooking box to?
Rutabago is a great gift idea for everyone. For instance, you could give this gift card:
- To a student struggling with their budget,
- To young parents who are exhausted and need relief,
- To a couple or a family,
- To the members of your roommate situation!
Source: Rutabago.com
What Do Customers Think of Rutabago?
Reading online reviews gives you a general sense of a brand's reliability. To save you time, I've done this research for you and here’s a summary of what I found.
About Trustpilot
Rutabaga encourages its customers to leave a review on the independent platform Trustpilot, whether they are satisfied or not. The feedback is largely positive, as out of the 200 reviews posted on the site currently, the average rating is 4.5 out of 5. More than 70% of the reviews are 5 stars, while only 2% are rated 1 or 2 stars.
Source: trustpilot.com
Let's take a closer look at the details of these assessments:
💚 Rutabago customers loved- The quality of the box,
- The careful organization of the products in the box (except for rare mishaps: in such cases, please contact customer service),
- The time and energy savings provided by this box,
- The balance and good taste of the prepared meals,
- The brand's commitments,
- The ability to learn to cook with new spices.
- The availability of customer service.
Positive reviews left by Rutabago customers on Trustpilot
❌ They appreciated it less
- The price is a bit high for some,
- The plastic packaging that sometimes appears in the shipments goes against the brand's ethos.
Mixed customer reviews about Rutabaga posted on Trustpilot
On Google
You can also find nearly a hundred reviews for Rutabago on Google Maps by searching for the company's name. The average rating is 4.4 out of 5 to date, which aligns quite well with what we've seen on Trustpilot.
Source: google.ca
Customers are generally thrilled with their experience with Rutabago. During the Christmas season, there were some extra treats included in the boxes (vegan truffles, for example), which were greatly appreciated.
The simplicity of the recipes and the ability to discover new flavours are significant advantages that Rutabago brings to our daily lives. It ensures that there's always a meal idea on hand and takes the hassle out of grocery shopping.
Some customers have experienced delivery issues due to the carrier, but the customer service team responds quickly to feedback to reschedule deliveries. 😊
Rutabaga dish created by a customer and shared as part of their Google review
Source: Google.com
Rutabaga on Social Media
Interested in keeping up with Rutabago's news and discovering a wealth of cooking and health tips? Like me, you can start following the team on the following social media platforms:
👉 Discover recipes from the Rutabago community by following #rutabago on these platforms!
You can also check out some features on Rutabago on the brand's YouTube channel. Feel free to take a look if you'd like more information!
Rutabaga, From Fork to Plate
Source: Youtube.com
Is Rutabaga a Reliable Company?
Rutabaga is part of the French company Les Commis, which is located in Gennevilliers. This company has been around since 2012 and specializes in the production of food and beverage products.
The Rutabago project was established in 2016 by Matthieu, Pierre, and Younès, three entrepreneurs with the goal of making cooking easier for everyone. Their aim was to provide not only recipes but also, and most importantly, healthy eating, which means quality products. This is what inspired the creation of this 100% organic box!
Source: Rutabago's LinkedIn Profile
Today, Rutabago is a strong company that has established a sustainable partnership with Biocoop since 2019, aimed at making organic products more accessible and providing simple, sustainable solutions for better consumption.
The company makes it easy to communicate with its customers by offering a customer service hotline available from Monday to Friday, as well as a chat option. The Rutabago team is also easily reachable by email, and takes the time to respond to reviews left on Google and Trustpilot.
Source: Rutabago.com
✅ Rutabago is a French company that has been around for several years. It is a reputable and trustworthy business from which you can confidently place your orders.
My Verdict on Rutabaga ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Since I discovered Rutabaga, I've often found myself placing orders, especially during busy weeks, to save time. Here’s a brief overview of my experience.
Was it easy to order from Rutabago?
The website is well designed, especially for first-time orders. Right from the start, users can specify their dietary preferences to see only dishes that they'll likely enjoy.
Additionally, I found the recipe photos to be really appealing. They entice you and immediately let you know what the preparation time will be.
Source: Instagram (@amandinecooking, @addict_healthylife)
For shipping, I found it easy to choose a time slot. Since I don't live in a big city, I have to select a half-day window. I usually opt for Saturday morning, as I need to be home to put away the fresh products.
How was the Rutabago delivery?
My deliveries have always arrived on time. I appreciate that all the fresh products are packed together, in a separate bag. This saves time and ensures that the cold chain is maintained.
The products I received were mostly well packaged and in good condition. Some best before dates were a bit short, but that was never an issue since the meals are intended to be cooked within the week.
Source: Instagram (@grange_eliane, @etiquettable)
Are Prepared Meals Good for You?
Yes! This is exactly why I choose Rutabago every time I order prepared meals. The recipes are well-balanced, and the meals are generous and delicious.
With the spices included in the packages, I discover new and unique flavours every time. I've often reused tips I've learned from Rutabago dishes in my everyday cooking.
Is this meal kit worth it?
I find the Rutabago box really interesting if you're looking to cook new dishes or want to save time on your daily grocery shopping. It's also quite convenient if you have guests and want to prepare an original meal without too much hassle.
However, I find these meals a bit pricey to order every day throughout the year, especially if it's just one or two people at home. Personally, I live alone and I somewhat regret that there is no option to order meals for one person.
Source: Instagram (@etiquettable, @chicdesplantes)
✅ In summary, I encourage you to try Rutabago because the meals are truly delicious and the ingredients delivered are of high quality. Personally, I haven't encountered any issues, but I felt reassured knowing that I could call customer service if something came up. 😊
Rutabaga FAQ: I Answer YOUR Questions!
To wrap up this experience report, I’d like to offer a brief FAQ section to address some of the main questions you may have about Rutabago! 😉
Source: Rutabago.com
Is there a referral program at Rutabago?
Yes, Rutabago offers a referral program that is available to all its customers. It allows the referred friend to receive $20 off their first order, and the referrer to earn the same amount for each person who places an order.
👉 To sponsor someone, you need to share your personal referral code with them. You can find it in your Rutabago client area, under the section "My Referral Program". You can only sponsor people who have never ordered before, and you must have already ordered the Rutabago cooking box yourself. 😉
How to Get a Rutabago Promo Code? 🤑
You can receive a $20 promo code through referral by following the instructions above.
Right now, you can also get $20 off with the following code: PAR-63FC1E!
Source: Rutabago.com
How to Contact Rutabago by Phone? 📞
You can call Rutabago's customer service at 01 75 85 85 06 (or +33175858506 from abroad) at the cost of a local call. Customer service hours are from 10 AM to 12 PM and 2 PM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday.
💬 Alternatively, you can also reach out to Rutabago via email at bonjour@rutabago.com! The advisors are very responsive during the week!
📩 To visit Rutabago or for any inquiries, here is the company's mailing address:
Rutabaga
84 Paul Vaillant Couturier Avenue
92230 GENNEVILLIERS
France
How to Cancel Your Rutabago Subscription?
Rutabago is commitment-free. This means you can cancel your subscription whenever you like. To ensure that your cancellation is processed before the next delivery, it must be done by 11:59 PM on the Wednesday before the delivery.
To do this, log into your client area, then go to "My Subscription". Next, click on "Suspend my subscription until further notice". If you wish, you can reactivate it later! This is how I do it when I want to order occasionally from Rutabago, and it works very well.
In conclusion, I find that the Rutabago box is really super convenient when you don’t have the time or motivation to explore new meals. Have you tried it? 😊