I bought three tubs of Nature’s Promise plant-based ice cream at the Grocery Outlet ($2.99 each) over the last month. Yes, that seems like a lot, considering that I’m trying to not buy ice cream very often (I get enough sugar in my diet). But trying three different flavors helps me to write a more balanced review – it’s all for science!
Here are the three flavors that I tried:
- Chocolate almond crunch (made with cashew milk)
- Vanilla cookie crunch (oat milk)
- Mocha fudge (oat milk)
Over the course of this web log I’ve reviewed several* vegan ice creams and have to say that some of them are pretty darn good. Plant-based ice creams are much closer to their dairy-based counterparts than vegan cheeses are to dairy. I’ve had a few duds along the way – products that were more ice than cream – but most are pretty good these days.
Of the three Nature’s Promise ice creams that I tried, I did prefer the variety made with cashew milk – chocolate almond crunch – than the two oat milk varieties. But the oat milk varieties aren’t bad at all – especially if you imagine them as gelato rather than ice cream. As with a lot of things, it’s about setting expectations.
After the chocolate almond crunch I’d rank the vanilla cookie crunch in second place and the mocha fudge in third, but still decent. I like ice creams that contain crunchy or chewy elements like the chocolate almond crunch (which is nicely done) or the cookie pieces in the vanilla cookie crunch. Your preference may be different so go for whatever takes your fancy!
*I’ve reviewed several vegan ice creams here on Ethical Bargains – Ripple, So Delicious, Ben & Jerry’s, Oatly, and Brave Robot. That list is roughly in order of best to worst but I would buy most of them again (esp. at Grocery Outlet prices). I’d rank the Nature’s Promise ice creams roughly in the middle of this batch.
Nature’s Promise vegan ice creams: ingredients and nutrition facts
Vanilla Cookie Crunch (Oat milk)
Ingredients: Oatmilk (Filtered Water, Whole Grain Oats), Tapioca Syrup Solids, Coconut Oil, Dextrose, Invert Sugar (Cane Sugar, Citric Acid), Chicory Root Extract, Agave Nectar, Chocolaty Flakes (Cane Sugar, Cocoa [Alkalized], Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Flavors), Baked Cookie Pieces (Graham Flour, Sugar, Wheat Flour, Palm Oil, Molasses, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Malted Barley Flour, Salt, Soy Lecithin), Maltodextrin, Himalayan Salt. Sunflower Lecithin, Pea Protein, Natural Flavors, Carob Gum, Vanilla Beans.
Chocolate almond crunch (cashew milk)
Ingredients: Cashewmilk (Filtered Water, Cashews), Cane Sugar, Tapioca Syrup Solids, Chocolate Flavored Flakes (Cane Sugar, Corn Starch, Cocoa [Alkalized], Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Flavors), Dextrose, Coconut Oil, Almonds, Maltodextrin, Chicory Root Extract, Cocoa (Alkalized), Himalayan Salt, Pea Protein, Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Flavors, Guar Gum, Carob Gum, Citric Acid.
Mocha Fudge (Oat milk)
Ingredients: Oatmilk (Water, Oats), Tapioca Syrup, Chocolaty Chunks (Cane Sugar, Coconut Oil, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Cocoa, Sunflower Oil, Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Flavors), Chocolate Fudge Swirl (Cane Sugar, Water, Dextrose, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Pectin, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor), Coconut Oil, Dextrose, Invert Sugar, Agave Syrup, Chicory Root Fiber, Maltodextrin, Coffee, Mono- And Diglycerides, Caramel Color, Himalayan Salt, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Carob Gum, Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Flavors, Pea Protein, Annatto Extract (Color).
The use of tapioca syrup solids instead of refined sugar is interesting. I’m not sure if there are massive benefits, but it may be a slightly healthier form of sugar. The mocha fudge uses tapioca syrup instead of tapioca syrup solids, which may explain why more of its sugars are counted as added sugars.
Consider that most ice creams (Ben & Jerry’s, Haagen Daaz, etc.) contain around 13 grams of saturated fat and 20 grams of added sugars per serving. In comparison, Nature’s Promise ice creams contain less added sugar (and is also a little lower in terms of total sugars) and quite a bit less saturated fat. They also provide around 4 grams of fiber per serving – something you don’t get from dairy. Regular ice cream is also high in cholesterol and trans fat, so there’s quite a few reasons to go for plant-based ice creams, besides the environmental and ethical advantages.
Let’s get to an ethical rating for these products. First I need to understand the company, as I know nothing about it.
About the brand, Nature’s Promise
Nature’s Promise is a brand of food products created and owned by Ahold Delhaize USA. According to Wikipedia, Ahold Delhaize is a Dutch company that actually owns almost 10,000 grocery stores across 9 countries (mostly Europe). This is organized into 19 different grocery store chains, including four in the US: Food Lion, Giant, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop. This is the largest grocery store retail group on the US east coast.
The frustrating thing about Nature’s Promise is that it has one of the most basic websites you could imagine for a food brand. (It just needs a dancing baby on the homepage.) It highlights three top products and provides links to buy them on Amazon. There’s no information on who owns the brand, or any detail on the company beyond this:
Nature’s Promise brings wholesome goodness straight to your pantry with a focus on natural, organic, and allergen-conscious foods. Every product reflects a commitment to clean ingredients, free from artificial additives and GMOs, making healthy choices simple and affordable. From farm-fresh produce to kid-friendly snacks, this brand delivers transparency and quality that health-conscious shoppers can trust.
Delivers transparency?! Not on the website, it doesn’t! The Cornucopia Institute gives a very low rating to Nature’s Promise (for milk) largely due to this lack of transparency. Yes, the company produces dairy and meat products as well as vegan ice cream.
This seems to be the trend: in-house brands are popular because they are affordable. Think of Trader Joe’s and its European counterparts, Aldi and Lidl. These stores tend to be more affordable because they’ve cut out some of the middlemen: external brands and the large marketing budgets that they rely on.
It’s fair enough to save money on marketing. I guess my biggest issue with this model is when brands are sparse on the details that help us evaluate them (see my GSP post on Trader Joe’s for more on that topic).
But we can still do it!
Ethical rating for Nature’s Promise plant-based ice cream
I’m rating Nature’s Promise plant-based ice creams 3 to 3.5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on the following:
- These are plant-based alternatives to dairy ice cream, helping to mitigate climate change, food scarcity, animal cruelty, deforestation, and other major environmental threats.
- Nature’s Promise lacks transparency on supply chains and company operations, both on its own website and also in reports from parent company, Ahold Delhaize or Ahold Delhaize USA. In this case the products will have to be evaluated purely based on ingredients and packaging.
- There are no third-party certifications listed for either packaging (e.g., FSC-certified paperboard) or ingredients (e.g., fair trade or organic).
- Even if major ingredients like oats and tapioca are not certified, it would be nice to see certification of some of the more sensitive minor ingredients, such as cocoa. This wouldn’t cost a lot but would demonstrate a commitment to social and environmental welfare.
- With all that said, based on the major ingredients used, these plant-based ice creams almost certainly have significantly lower environmental footprints compared to dairy-based ice cream. Land and carbon footprints, in particular, are very high for dairy products. (And there are other ethical downsides of dairy too, of course.)
- As an example for that last point, I rated Ben & Jerry’s dairy and non-dairy ice creams 1.5 and 4 Green Stars, respectively. That’s how big the difference is, in my opinion (based on science!).
I couldn’t decide between a rating of 3.0 or 3.5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, so I thought it would be fair to give one variety (vanilla cookie crunch) 3.5 Green Stars and the others 3.0 (based on their ingredients).
Summary scores (out of 5) for Nature’s Promise vegan ice cream:
- 4 gold stars for quality and value.
- 3.0 or 3.5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, depending on the flavor.
What do you think? Comment below with your rating if you like!
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Grocery Outlet Ethical Bargains 
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