Thrive Market Review (and 25% off)

This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

Since I started my clean eating journey six years ago, I've had to learn quickly how to eat real food on a budget and with limited time to prep and cook. If I had a million dollars, I'd pay someone to come and prepare my weekly meals... but I don't. Instead, I have Pinterest, 8 kids, and Thrive Market! We work together to make healthy, edible, and sometimes delicious food for our family. 

I came to love Thrive Market a little late in the game and passed over it many times before finally jumping in when I saw this fantastic coupon: 25% off your first order. Whoot! Combined with the free trial month, I was more than happy to dive in. My first order ever is pictured at the top of this page and featured products I already knew and loved, my first introduction to Primal Kitchen (LOVE!!!), and some clean make-up brands. 

I figured that I would take advantage of the deal and the trial month and then just quit. The problem with that strategy was that I ended up loving the products, the service, and the savings. I discovered that several of my staple paleo purchases were less on Thrive Market than they were on Amazon, and I started saving money right away.

When it came time to opt in to a full membership, I knew that I had found the paleo/keto/real food online Costco-like option I'd been hoping for... and it was really a no-brainer.

Thrive Market offers the best-selling natural and organic products at wholesale prices through an annual membership. Thing Costco meets Whole Foods online! Popular brands and best-selling products including food, snacks, supplements, vitamins, non-toxic cleaning supplies, beauty essentials, baby products, home goods, and much more. The site is stocked with an amazing array of raw, vegan, Paleo, dairy-free, nut-free, allergen-free and gluten-free, organic, and non-GMO items.

I honestly thought it would be more expensive than my local stores but I was wrong. Plus, the packaging is the best I have ever seen in my experience purchasing online. The pics here don't show that well because I unpacked so that you can see my goodies! But they do go above and beyond to ensure protection during shipping.

And... I don't have to leave my house. I wait until I have a $50 order for the free shipping. And then I just sit back and let my stuff come to me.  

Thrive also offers their own Thrive brand option for many products. I have never been a store brand buyer, having been grossed out too many times to keep taking the bait. But my experience with the Thrive brand has been quite positive so far. As you can see above, I've used their coconut flour, spices, and chia seeds, among several others items not shown here. 

For shoppers on a budget...

One of my favorite aspects of the company is that Thrive is committed to expanding access to healthy living... meaning that healing food and products shouldn't just be for the wealthy but for all people. For every membership purchased, one is gifted to a low-income American family. 

I've been accused many times of promoting a life style that only the rich can afford. As a not-rich-mom of 8 kids, this accusation doesn't stick to me. I understand the difficulty of living in a culture in which it costs more to afford healthy food than garbage food. Grocery bills for a family my size can be shocking. I am grateful to companies such as Thrive which make it a little more accessible. 

Healthy food... healing food... costs money. Since our lifestyle change, we have definitely seen our food budget expand and now embrace that as an acceptable sacrifice for good health. We trade doctor bills for food bills! 

There are ways to equalize the budget problem; planting gardens (and finding friends with gardens), learning to meal plan, learning to cook for a family with good ingredients, bartering in the community, and finding companies that make it a mission to provide more accessible health care. Yes, I'm one of those people... Food is my primary health care.

Joining Thrive Market is easy and for less than $5 a month, members can access some of the best health and wellness products. Here's how:

1.  Register for free to browse the Thrive Catalog, see member savings, and receive 20% off your first 3 orders.
2.  Start your trial. With your first purchase on Thrive, you'll start a free 30-day membership trial. See how much you save. Cancel any time.
3. Join the community at Thrive for just $59.95... and receive access to many of the world's best healthy products for a full year. With your membership, Thrive will donate a free membership to a low-income family.

**I would be remiss if I didn't share that there is one section on Thrive at which I do NOT shop. And if you know me, maybe you can already guess that I do not purchase their essential oils. As a student of aromatherapy, I'm aware of the tremendous difficulties in the essential oil industry right now and have seen chemistry reports on at least one brand they carry which shows contamination. Since they do not provide a lab analysis of their Thrive brand oils, I will continue to purchase and use from my favorite and proven supplier!**

Since that is just a small portion of what Thrive sells, I don't find that it detracts at all from the overall value and I'm increasingly impressed over time by what I'm able to find. It's a fantastic service with true value and I recommend it!