About six weeks ago, my girlfriend Rebecca and I signed up for Purple Carrot, a vegan meal kit company.

We're not vegans. We're not even vegetarians. We like to eat meat! But we wanted to cook more, and eat food that was healthy and tasted good.

We heard about Purple Carrot when Mark Bittman, the cookbook author and former food columnist at The New York Times, announced in November that he'd taken a job there to work on recipes, source food, and write newsletters for members.

We were not only attracted to the company because of Bittman — he's long been a proponent of ethically-sourced and environmentally friendly food — but also because the meals looked and sounded good. They're not based on "fake meat" or meat substitutes, which is what comes to my mind when I think "vegan."

Here's what it's like to use Purple Carrot.