Splendid Spoon review: Smoothies, soups and bowls for your busy week

Meal kits are good for a prepare dinner who needs to shave a while off the meal-making course of and be taught new recipes, however you continue to need to prepare dinner the meals. For meal supply that requires no cooking in any respect, there are prepared meal delivery services, and Splendid Spoon is without doubt one of the extra fashionable choices in 2022. 

This wholesome meal subscription will ship premade vegan smoothies, soups and plant-based bowls to your door to eat all through the week. Daily Harvest is the same service, however even that firm requires you to rapidly prepare dinner the frozen substances or mix the smoothies with water or milk. Splendid Spoon’s meals is really able to go: Simply pop the highest on a smoothie or nuke the soups and bowls for a couple of minutes and breakfast or lunch is prepared. 

Learn extra: February deal only: Take $50 off your first 2 deliveries from Splendid Spoon

Whereas some meal supply is suited to dinner, this meal supply subscription feels extra tailor-made to breakfast and lunch. I attempted every week’s value of Splendid Spoon’s choices. Whereas it wasn’t my favourite meal supply, there is definitely an attraction in having breakfast prepared while you get up or lunch sitting there when the clock strikes midday.

This is the way it works and what I considered the vegan meal subscription. 

How Splendid Spoon works

As with most meal supply companies, Splendid Spoon is a subscription service. Which means you may choose a plan and that very same supply will hold coming each week until you pause or cancel (which you are able to do at any time). You’ll be able to select from a menu of meals every week or hold the identical stuff coming. You’ll be able to select between 4 plans with as few as 5 meals and as many as 20. Meals typically break right down to about $9 every.

After you choose your plan you may choose your meals, selecting smoothies, grain bowls, soups and noodle dishes relying on what your subscription contains. Meals are delivered to you chilled — not frozen — on both Wednesday or Friday every week. For Wednesday deliveries, you have to place your order by 1 pm PT on Thursday. For Friday deliveries, the cutoff is 1 pm PT on Sunday.  As of now Splendid Spoon solely delivers to the decrease 48 states within the US.

If you don’t need a recurring subscription, there are On-Demand containers, which operate as one-time orders. You’ll be able to choose from a number of bundles, together with smoothies solely, soups and bowls solely, wellness photographs and blended bundles with a bit little bit of the whole lot. The On-Demand containers are typically costlier per meal however there is not any dedication by any means. 

On any given week’s menu, you may have about 18 smoothies to select from with candy choices like blueberry coconut and a few extra savory blends like carrot-ginger and energy greens. There are additionally about 15 grain and rice bowls and 20 soups together with roughly 10 rice noodle bowls (noodles are a brand new providing). Whereas not a part of the bottom plans, Splendid Spoon sells 3-ounce wellness photographs and protein-packed snack bars you could tack on to your order or purchase in bundles.

What are Splendid Spoon meals like? 

All of the meals is 100% vegan (no meat, dairy or animal byproducts) and gluten-free. The recipes are made with numerous wholesome fruits, greens and superfoods like kale, spinach, beans and complete grains. The web site says about 95% of the meals is natural and it is 100% GMO-free.

A lot of the meals is what I would categorize as wholesome meals with a great deal of world culinary affect. Suppose brown rice taco bowl with beans and tomato salsa or cauliflower tikka masala soup. You will not discover many soy-based meat substitutes; these are largely complete substances. Parts aren’t large however they are not skimpy both, in line with the thought of wholesome consuming.

Earlier than selecting any merchandise you possibly can see the total ingredient listing and dietary data. You can too filter for extra particular dietary wants, comparable to high-fiber, low-carb and high-protein meals.

What I had and the way I appreciated it 

I am going to preface my critique of Splendid Spoon’s smoothies by saying I make a whole lot of smoothies at house and so may be specific. As a result of Splendid Spoon smoothies are preblended, they seem to be a bit extra like juices to drink and haven’t got that creamy, frozen texture I’m used to. 

Past the primary substances, every one is fortified with wholesome superfoods like chia seeds, hemp seeds and pea protein. These additions do not alter the flavour dramatically however ship dense vitamins and antioxidants.

Strawberry and Goji Berry with Cashew Butter: This was simply OK, a bit bitter for my style.

Carrot-Ginger with Mango and Dates: A superb smoothie with savory and candy components in good concord. No notes. 

Energy Greens: This green-juice smoothie is loaded with good things, together with natural hemp seeds, chia seeds, spirulina, pea protein and kale. The banana and coconut balanced all of the vegetal parts with simply sufficient sweetness and never an excessive amount of. 

Banana-Flax with Almonds: I make nut butter and banana smoothie most mornings. This was totally different and the lemon gave it a vivid zing however I nonetheless desire my freshly blended model.

Blueberry-Coconut with Acai and Cinnamon: One other superb smoothie. The cinnamon and vanilla made it sing.

Spiced Lentil and Chickpea Soup: Stable, however not terribly flavorful for a soup that payments itself as “spiced.”

Kale-Pesto Noodles with Roasted Tomatoes: A flavorful vegan pesto over al dente noodles. A really tasty meal. 

Dan Dan Noodles with Bok Choy and Peppercorn: This noodle dish was filled with Sichuan flavors and had good warmth. The noodles had been chewy and never mushy, simply the way in which I like them.

Coconut Curry Rice Bowl with Kale, Chickpeas and Cashews: This was tasty and filling. A well-recognized taste mixture.

Fennel Consomme with Dill: The intense fennel was overpowering and the one factor I might style. I did not get pleasure from this one very a lot.

Wellness photographs: My order got here with 5 free wellness photographs. I particularly appreciated the watermelon, beet and ginger “restoration” shot, however all of them had been tasty and went down easily.

How I ready my meals

The drinks come utterly able to drink. They’re additionally good to pop into the freezer when you want extra time to get by them. The soups and bowls may be microwaved however I counsel reheating them gently in a saucepan or nonstick skillet. This technique at all times produces extra even heating and reduces the possibility that you will overcook the meals.

Who’s Splendid Spoon good for?

As a result of the meals is really able to eat, Splendid Spoon is ideal for anybody trying to reduce cooking — and even mixing — utterly out of the equation for a number of meals per week. 

The meals is vegan and gluten-free so it is a good selection for anybody adhering to these diets. The parts aren’t large, so when you’re attempting to chop whole energy per week, this meal supply service would possibly assist. Splendid Spoon can be very Whole30-friendly when you’re trying to eat much less processed meals and meals with extra pure substances.

That is additionally a superb possibility for a recurring smoothie and juice drinker who needs to combine up their recipes and flavors however does not really feel like purchasing for all of the substances wanted to make them.

Who’s Splendid Spoon not pretty much as good for?

If in case you have a smoothie routine that you’ve got right down to a science, the Splendid Spoon smoothies would possibly really feel like a slight downgrade. Sure, you may style new recipes and fascinating taste mixtures however they’re extra like juices in texture.

For the reason that meals is all vegan, this is not a superb choose for anybody who craves meat for breakfast and lunch or different dense protein meals comparable to eggs. Since a whole lot of the smoothies comprise fruit (sugar) and the bowls have grains, beans and noodles, this is not the best meal supply for somebody retaining to a low-carb or keto plan, both.

How a lot does Splendid Spoon value?

For each plan besides one (5 meals per week) the value per meal nets out to about $9 per serving. To me, that looks like an honest deal for the bowls however a bit steep for a smoothie. This pricing is on par with plant-based rivals like Daily Harvest and Mosaic Foods. 

Should you select the five-meal plan, you may pay $13 per meal, which you most likely do not wish to do.

Packaging and eco-friendliness

The drinks, soups and bowls are all packaged in recyclable plastic. Splendid Spoon additionally makes use of dry ice as an alternative of ice packs, that are hardly ever totally recyclable. The cooler field can be made out of recyclable supplies. Pound for pound this is without doubt one of the most eco-friendly meal supply companies I’ve examined. 

The bowl containers are additionally very reusable, with tight-fitting lids and durable plastic. They won’t survive a sizzling dishwasher however are actually good for a number of hand washes.

Remaining verdict on Splendid Spoon

There’s something to be mentioned for having totally ready lunches and dinners round while you want them. Splendid Spoon provides over 50 or extra choices for wholesome, plant-based meals. Whereas most of them had been fairly tasty, they weren’t terribly thrilling. 

Should you do not thoughts a couple of minutes of smoothie prep, I would suggest Daily Harvest, which sends all of the substances diced, frozen and able to be blended with milk. If it is simply the soups and bowls you are after, Splendid Spoon has a number of nice lunches or mild dinners to select from every week. They arrive recent and able to be eaten or popped within the freezer, saving you treasured time through the morning and afternoon.

And for larger eaters on the lookout for full meals which might be extra dinner-friendly, there are higher plant-based companies on the market. Mosaic Foods is my No. 1 choose that includes extra fascinating meals for about the identical whole value per meal.

Extra meal supply suggestions 

The knowledge contained on this article is for academic and informational functions solely and isn’t meant as well being or medical recommendation. At all times seek the advice of a doctor or different certified well being supplier relating to any questions you will have a couple of medical situation or well being goals.