Our clean standard

The three rules

1. 1

   Whole foods first.

   Recipes are built mostly from unprocessed or minimally processed foods: vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, eggs, fish and meat. Kitchen basics like olive oil, butter, salt and honey are welcome too. They're how people have always cooked.

2. 2

   No ultra-processed ingredients.

   Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are factory-made products built mostly from food extracts and additives you wouldn't find in a home kitchen. Think flavor enhancers, emulsifiers, modified starches and sweeteners. Drop recipes contain none, apart from a short list of exceptions that we publish below.

3. 3

   No fast food.

   No takeout-style junk food. If you're craving a takeout night, we'll give you a home-made version, as long as it passes rules 1 and 2.

How we measure it: NOVA

NOVA is a public scale, developed by researchers at the University of São Paulo, that sorts food into four groups by how processed it is. It's widely cited, and it's simple enough to use in a real kitchen.

• 1. Unprocessed or minimally processed

  Foods as they come, or close to it. e.g. Vegetables, fruit, eggs, rice, oats, fresh fish and meat, milk

  In our drops: The foundation of every recipe

• 2. Kitchen basics

  Ingredients pressed, refined or dried from group 1, used to cook. e.g. Olive oil, butter, salt, honey, vinegar

  In our drops: Yes, in normal amounts

• 3. Processed foods

  Group 1 foods with group 2 added, made to last longer. e.g. Cheese, canned fish, canned beans, simple bread

  In our drops: Yes

• 4. Ultra-processed foods

  Industrial products built from extracts and additives. e.g. Most packaged snacks, soft drinks, instant noodles, reconstituted meats

  In our drops: No, except the exceptions below

Your whole-food score

Every recipe shows a whole-food score, like 92% whole foods. It's the share of the recipe's ingredients that are whole foods (NOVA group 1), counted by ingredient, not by weight. Kitchen basics like oil, butter, salt and vinegar (group 2) and water are left out of the math, and allowed exceptions count against the score. A higher score means more of the plate is food in its simplest form.

Our exceptions list

A few useful staples are hard to buy without some processing. We allow these, and we list every one so nothing is hidden.

• Tortillas and wraps. Choose the shortest ingredient list: ideally just flour or corn, water, oil and salt.
• Stock and broth. Choose the shortest ingredient list: vegetables or bones, herbs and salt, without flavor enhancers.
• Unsweetened plant milk. Choose the shortest ingredient list: ideally just oats, soy or nuts, water and a pinch of salt.
• Curry paste. Choose the shortest ingredient list: chilies, herbs, spices, garlic and oil, without flavor enhancers.

For each exception, the recipe suggests what to look for on the label.

What this standard isn't

• It isn't a diet. There are no calories, macros or points. You eat what you choose from the drop.
• It isn't medical advice. The standard describes how a recipe is made, not what it will do for your body. If you have a medical condition or a serious allergy, talk to a professional and always check labels.
• It isn't a list of forbidden foods. We don't shame what anyone eats. We just make the whole-food choice the easy one.

How we check every drop

Each week, a draft drop is checked against these rules automatically. Then a person on our team reviews every recipe, ingredient and dietary tag before it goes out.