There are plenty of meal-subscription services available today. Some deliver full meals, others focus on delivering one kind of meals, say vegan meals for example.
And there are still others like Splendid Smooth who only specialize in smoothies and soups. We are going to talk about Splendid Spoon in this review.
Splendid Spoon is a meal delivery service for plant-based foods. Nicole Centeno created Splendid Spoon in 2013. She was pregnant at the time and working a full-time job which limited her ability to cook nutritious food. Challenged by the sheer lack of options around her, she came up with the idea of Splendid Spoon where customers can have healthy meals on the go. She tested the service at several farmer’s markets and pop-ups in Brooklyn. As demand grew, she rolled out Splendid Spoon nationally in 2015.
With the service, you get a range of smoothies, soups, and noodle meals. There are no main courses.
They offer plenty of choices for meals. There are scores of different subscription plans all of which make it possible for you to easily have a varied plant-based diet.
In this review we are going to take a look at what Splendid Spoon is, we’re going to understand what its pros and cons are, along with who would benefit the most from Splendid Spoon.
Like other delivery services discussed on the Mealfan blog, Splendid Spoon is a meal subscription service. Once you choose a plan, the meals start arriving every week as per the specifications of the plan.
You can choose between four different plans. The lowest-priced plan delivers 5 meals/week and the top-priced plan delivers as many as 20 meals.
The cost for each meal is about $9. After you zero down on a plan, pick smoothies, grain bowls, soups, and noodles depending on your subscriptions. All meals are delivered chilled and they’re never frozen. You get deliveries every Wednesday or Friday of each week. For deliveries on Wednesday, place an order by the cut-off time which is 1 pm on Thursday. For deliveries scheduled on Fridays, the cut-off is 1 pm on Sunday.
Splendid Spoon delivers to all 48 states in the USA. Not everyone is on board with the idea of paying for recurring subscriptions. For everyone who dislikes the subscription fees, but still wants meals from time to time, there’s the option of on-demand boxes. These are one-time orders. Pick from different bundles that offer smoothies only, soups and bowls only, wellness shots, or mixed bundles that pick an item from everything.
The food is 100% vegan. The recipes are made of assorted fruits and vegetables featuring greens like spinach, kale, avocado, coconut, and whole grains. The site claims 95% of its food to be organic and 100% are non-GMO.
The dishes you see on Splendid Spoon are picked from all over the world. You get to taste global cuisines. There are plant-based meat replacements in the recipes but these meat replacements aren’t made of soy. They use pea protein instead which is an isolate of ground-up pea.
Also, you can’t call the portions generous but they’re not tiny either. The smoothies contain 16oz fluid. It’s equivalent to two snack portions.
Before you choose any meal, you see the ingredient list and its nutritional information. You can filter the meals for your dietary needs, choose high-fiber foods, and if you’re calorie conscious, go for low-carb foods.
A few different subscription plans list the meals you’re going to get for the day.
Splendid Spoon meals are vegan, low on sodium, and free of added sugar, sodium or gluten, and soy.
Splendid Spoon offers several choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can use these options to build a customized menu for your dietary needs.
They offer a rotating menu with over 50 different meals and smoothies that you can customize to your liking every week. Don’t want that many? Make a few tweaks to your profile to set filters for ingredients or flavors based on your likes and dislikes.
Breakfast choices include smoothies made of cacao, cherries, almond butter, or avocado with no added sugar.
Lunches are whole grain bowls and proteins like lentils and beans. There’s an assortment of vegetables to pick from.
For dinner, you can pick rice noodles with multiple vegetables and seasonings.
Plus, there’s an interesting concept on Splendid Spoon that doesn’t seem to have caught on with other similar sites. A reset day that has light soups for meals and snacks that you can relish the entire day.
You also get two wellness shots for an extra payment. Order these shots in odd-number packs of 1, 3, or 5.
Splendid Spoon uses fresh, high-quality ingredients for all that they prepare be it meals or smoothies.
The smoothies are made of organically sourced fruits and vegetables and make use of non-GMO ingredients.
They don’t claim that all their ingredients are 100% organic though.
For the grain bowls or noodles, most of the ingredients that are used are fully organic. Foods belonging to the “dirty dozen” which is a collection of fruits and vegetables most likely to come with pesticide or fertilizer residues are 100% organically sourced.
For anyone who wants organic fare, a list of ingredients for each meal shows the origin of the ingredients and shows which of the ingredients are sourced locally. The recipes are all derived from plants, have low sodium, are gluten-free, and come without added sugars.
The meals are prepared in New York and sent to 4 different fulfillment centers across the U.S.A.
How do they keep these ingredients fresh? They flash-freeze soups, noodles, and grain bowls. As a result, they stay fresh for longer. The smoothies can stay refrigerated for up to a month in your home.
Smoothies are refrigerated and shipped with insulation made of recyclable materials.
They always come fresh off the pack. There are very few complaints regarding the freshness or quality of ingredients Splendid Spoon uses.
The meals rotate every week. However, the core focus is on smoothies, soups, and grains.
Splendid Spoon generates recommendations for you based on your profile. This simplifies things. You can change the meals just before the cut-off time. However, if you’re not able to choose a meal or smoothie you can let Splendid Spoon pick an assortment of smoothies and soups for you.
Splendid Spoon meals require very little cooking. All the cooking you may ever do is reheat the soup. The soups and smoothies are all made of high-quality ingredients. The soups have interesting flavors but if you’re looking for true variety, the smoothies are the top choice. They’re pricey but they also integrate flavors that you won’t find on regular store shelves.
Splendid Spoon speaks to the health-conscious among us and it’s evident in their recipes and food packaging. The soups and smoothies list the nutrition information on the packaging. The recipes are about high-protein meals with low calories
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Splendid Spoon has a registered dietitian on board together with an experienced chef who designs menus with recipes that fit the bill for being nutritious and tasty.
Several weekly meals featuring different herbs, vegetables, flavors of the season, seasonings, and sauces are available.
Splendid Spoon rotates its menu every week releasing at least 3 new recipes each season to excite your palate with new tastes.
The meals are plant-based, gluten-free, and vegan. All of which make for a very healthy diet.
The site specifies the number of Weight Watchers points that those following the diet can accrue with a Splendid Spoon meal. This simple gamification is a thoughtful feature for anyone who wants to control their weight. They will love it.
The meals aren’t specifically designed for the calorie-conscious or for those who prefer low-fat options. But, despite that, for every meal, you get a card specifying nutritional information.
If you’re on a diet, you can use the information to choose specific meals and plan what to eat.
Plus, there is an option for you to filter out certain ingredients. This is great if you have specific food preferences or allergies.
But since the meals are produced at a place that frequently handles different allergens, it may not be the absolute best fit for someone who faces severe allergies.
The menu is completely plant-based. So while the recipes are great for vegans or vegetarians, those following keto diets or Paleo diets won’t find Splendid Spoon to be very useful for them.
Splendid Spoon’s mission is to promote healthy eating habits and to make it easy for anyone to find plant-based meals.
There are no claims about weight loss but since the meals are mostly low in calories, most people may lose weight given proper regulation.
Research points out that plant-based diets can lead to weight loss. The same study shows that vegetarians are less likely to be obese. The meals are rich in fiber thanks to whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Fiber leaves you with a sensation of fullness for longer. You’re unlikely to get cravings when you feel full.
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| Breakfast only plan | $70/week |
| Breakfast+Lunch | $100/week |
| Breakfast+Lunch+Reset day | $140/week |
| Breakfast+Lunch+Dinner+Reset day | $195/week |
If you order 5 meals a week, that will cost you $65 in total. The cost per meal with this plan is $13. If you order 20 meals a week where you get 5 smoothies, 5 bowls, 5 noodle bowls, and 5 light soups the total is $185 which works out to be $9 per meal.
Splendid Spoon has three plans. You can choose one depending on the number of meals you want to get every week.
The breakfast-only plan sets you down by $70/week and has 5 smoothies delivered to you each week.
The breakfast and lunch plan provides 5 smoothies and 5 bowls every week for $100 per week.
The breakfast and lunch together with the 1-day reset plan costs $140 every week. It has 5 smoothies, 5 bowls, and 5 light bowls for the “rest” day.
The breakfast+lunch+dinner+reset day plan costs you $195 every week. It has 5 smoothies, 5 bowls, 5 noodle bowls and 5 light soups.
Shipping is fully free. You can update the delivery options to receive meals once every week, once a month or twice a week.
The on-demand boxes are comparatively more expensive than the price of a single meal on any weekly plan but on the plus side, there’s no commitment from you.
On a weekly menu, you have 18 different smoothies to pick from. Some of the exotic flavors are coconut blueberry, and lime avocado, along with staples like carrot ginger and greens or chocolate smoothies.
The coffee smoothie is made of cold-brewed coffee extract, rich coconut cream, and almond butter. It’s the perfect way to start your day with a hit of caffeine.
The coconut lime smoothie is a great fix for the summer. The ingredients in this smoothie are lime which is great for oral health, spirulina which is a well-known superfood great for energy, and avocado which helps the kidneys and detoxifies your body.
Packed with strawberries, chocolate, and protein, this smoothie can be your workout companion.
Pea protein is one of the highlights of this smoothie. It helps build your muscles. Cacao helps blood flow and lifts moods. Strawberries are rich in antioxidants and vitamin C.
It’s a filling bowl that has kimchi known for its positive effects on the gut and turmeric tofu.
Another ingredient is edamame which is high in proteins and essential amino acids. Kimchi is great for fighting inflammation and balancing the gut microflora. Quinoa is an energy booster.
The green tomatillo chili soup is colorful. It introduces a burst of flavors from the first spoon. It’s made of tomatillos, beans, and protein-rich tofu. Tofu is full of protein and keeps your stomach full for longer. Tomatillos are great for preventing cramps and bloating. Navy beans have a calming effect on blood sugar.
This roasted cauliflower grain bowl is both savory and sweet with chickpeas all resting underneath a rich tahini sauce.
Spinach is the star ingredient and is rich with iron and folic acid to provide you a burst of energy while also supporting cell function and repair.
Cauliflowers are rich in choline and enhance brain function. Sorghum is great for promoting nail and hair growth.
It’s a spinach dish with peas and mushrooms rich in vitamin D.
The shiitake mushrooms are another great addition. They’re ideal for boosting bone strength with vitamin C and are also rich in vitamin D. Peas are great for lowering blood sugar. Coconut has plenty of benefits and chief of which is providing you with clear skin and great hair.
It’s a noodle bowl with bok choy and tofu.
The main ingredients are tofu, Sichuan peppercorns, and bok choy. Tofu is protein-rich and keeps you full for a longer period. Sichuan pepper is a numbing berry picked from Western China that adds a unique flavor to the dish. Bok Choy helps sustain your gut flora.
It’s a colorful and light soup that warms you up. Tamarind gives a sweet and tangy flavor and is a great addition to soups. The tofu has protein to keep you full for longer. Thai basil is a purple herb-rich with vitamins.
Splendid Spoon is a quick way to enjoy plant-based meals. No efforts are required.
Splendid Spoon is right for someone who wants to test the waters with a plant-based diet. If someone wants to add a plant-based diet but is unsure of how to cook the meals then Splendid Spoon is a good option. The service offers tasty and balanced meals that you’re not likely to be put off by.
A healthy lifestyle and regular exercise, coupled with meals from Splendid Smooth can be of great help in losing weight.
However, considering that there are no animal proteins, the meal plans are a tad bit expensive. It isn’t for anyone with a shoestring budget. Or for someone who wants to follow keto or paleo diets, either of which is thought to be good for weight loss.
However, there’s no cooking or prep time. You can make healthy meals with great ingredients from the comfort of your home. Plus the ingredients are all local. If you want to stick to organic foods this is a great option.
Inside the package, you have the instructions for any item that needs reheating. The instructions are simple to follow. The website offers reheating instructions as well. No extra material. Just your meal and heating instructions.
The box is small. It’s misleading to imagine that the meals or smoothies are super-small. The design saves space. You will find a recycle bin lining, cooler packs at the bottom, and the smoothies and soups inside.
The soups sit inside microwave-safe containers. The containers too can be recycled. The smoothies arrive in recyclable plastic bottles. Just shake and drink. You can also put them in a blender to make the texture more juice-like.
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Here are the steps to take to cancel your subscription:
The Finish Cancelling My Account tab only appears after the first delivery is made.
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You have three meal plans to pick from with varying numbers of meals and varying prices. The starter plan costs $65/week and delivers 5 meals a week. The highest-priced plan costs $185 per week and sends you over 20 deliveries a month. There’s also the option of getting a single meal, soup or noodle bowl delivered.
The minimum you need to opt for is a week’s plan.
Plenty of people says the best thing about Splendid Spoon is the quality of its ingredients. However, you can cancel the subscription after the first delivery. The first delivery has been paid for and you won’t get a refund for the first delivery even if you choose to cancel after.
Depending on which plan you subscribed to, the delivery can contain smoothies, soups, and grain bowls packaged with recyclable packaging. They use dry ice instead of ice packs which again are fully recyclable. The cooler box is made of recyclable materials. It’s one of the best eco-friendly meal delivery options there is.
There’s very little cooking involved. The deliveries arrive in a ready-to-eat form. You can always pour the contents of the smoothie into a blender and give it a good stir for a better flavor.
The highest quality standards are used to prepare your meals. A registered dietician and a chef work on all meals that you find on the site.
