Our Dietitian Tried Splendid Spoon for Six Months
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Founded in 2013 by working mom Nicole Centeno, Splendid Spoon started out as a line of vegan soups made with simple ingredients to help individuals achieve a healthy lifestyle in a convenient way. Now, the prepared meal delivery service has grown in popularity and has expanded its offerings to include a variety of nutrient-dense plant-based meals and smoothies delivered right to your doorstep. We tested Splendid Spoon over the course of six months to determine if it's worth the price and subscription. Read on for our full review of the Splendid Spoon meal delivery service, including its new line of "dishes."
Splendid Spoon
splendidspoon.com
Splendid SpoonWhat is Splendid Spoon?
Splendid Spoon is a plant-based meal delivery service designed to foster easy and healthy eating habits. You can choose from over 65 ready-to-eat meals including smoothies, soups, grain bowls, noodle bowls, dishes and more. All meals are crafted by chefs and registered dietitians and are 100% plant-based, gluten-free and non-GMO.
How does Splendid Spoon work?
Start by selecting a plan for either 7, 14 or 21 meals and then customize it to your needs. There is also an on-demand box option where you can make a one-time purchase of items and buy things in bulk. All meals are already plant-based, gluten-free and non-GMO, but you can also filter for other dietary preferences including higher fiber, higher protein, lower calorie, lower carb, lower fat, lower sodium and lower sugar. They also offer blood-sugar-friendly meals, as well as options if you need to avoid certain foods such as bananas, beets, coconuts, sesame, soy, tree nuts and more.
When selecting your meals, you can find full nutrition information, ingredients and allergen info for every item as well as heating info for bowls and dishes. Popular items include the chocolate cherry smoothie, cauliflower tikka soup, vegan meatballs & marinara noodles and creamy mushroom & spinach noodles.
Smoothies and shots are high-pressure processed, meaning that the bottles are pressurized at cold temperatures to destroy potentially harmful pathogens and maintain the nutritional profile of the raw ingredients. The green juices are both cold-pressed and high-pressure processed. Splendid Spoon smoothies, cold-pressed juices and shots are best if consumed by the "Enjoy By" date printed on the bottles; the service says they are safe to consume after this date but may not taste as fresh.
The meals are made fresh and then flash-frozen to lock in nutrients and extend shelf life. Items are delivered straight to your door and arrive frozen. You'll want to remove the items promptly and then place everything in the fridge or freezer immediately. Splendid Spoon says that their grain, noodle, and soup bowls are best eaten within one to two weeks of being in the refrigerator or one to three months if kept frozen. If you don't plan to eat the bowls within a week, you can freeze them to extend their shelf life and reduce waste.
How much does Splendid Spoon cost?
Pricing ultimately depends on the items that you order. Plans range from $70 to $195. If your order is over 10 meals then you will receive free shipping (a savings of $12.99). Here is an individual meal category pricing breakdown:
Smoothies: $9.99
Soup & Grain Bowls: $12.49
Noodles: $13.49
Dishes: $13.49
Where does Splendid Spoon ship?
Splendid Spoon ships domestically to residences and businesses in all lower 48 states. The service delivers on Wednesdays and Fridays. Meals come frozen which impacts the recyclability of some of the packaging, but all of Splendid Spoon's boxes, plastic bottles and bowls are 100% BPA-free and recyclable. The meals are shipped with dry ice and recyclable Climacell insulation to ensure that the meals are kept at a safe temperature throughout delivery.
Splendid Spoon Changes & Cancellation Policy
You can make changes to your order up to six days before you are scheduled to receive your meals. The service sends a reminder email three days before your cut-off time to allow you to make any adjustments. You can also choose your meals up to two weeks in advance on your account.
If you want to cancel your subscription, you'll have to do so before the appropriate cut-off times. For Wednesday deliveries, you must cancel before 4 pm ET on Thursday. For Friday deliveries, you must cancel before 4 pm ET on Sunday. You can log into your account, click "edit your plan" and then scroll to the bottom to select "cancel your plan."
Our Splendid Spoon Review
Good Housekeeping Expert Tester Profile
Name: Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN
Role: Registered Dietitian and Good Housekeeping Institute Deputy Nutrition Director
Why you should trust me: In addition to being a registered dietitian, I'm a working mother and wife with a busy schedule. I'm constantly looking for time-saving solutions to eat a healthy, balanced diet and take care of my body. As the primary expert tester on this Splendid Spoon evaluation, I tested Splendid Spoon several times over the course of six months. Not only does this review include my personal experience with the brand, but we also had five separate testers across the nation evaluate the service for even more real-life feedback.
Ordering & Pricing
Both I and our testers found the ordering process straightforward and appreciated the ability to search for meals using special dietary filters. The service will automatically fill your box with bestsellers which can be nice if you're not sure what to try on your initial order. But you can fully customize these choices and select all of your own meals before confirming the order. As a registered dietitian, I appreciated that you can click on any meal and get full nutrition facts and ingredients. "The website was easy to navigate and make selections from," another tester said.
There is a large selection of meals to choose from with over 65 options available, but the categories only include smoothies, soups, grain bowls and dishes. You won't find any fresh salads, sandwiches, etc. The price is certainly steep since you are paying for not only fresh, high-quality ingredients but also the convenience of having everything ready-made. But testers did appreciate that the items arrived frozen so if you can't eat them immediately you can still enjoy them at a later date and not let them go to waste. They're undoubtedly a notch above store-bought frozen food, making them a healthy go-to during busy weeknights if you need a nutritious meal in a pinch.
Although we tested the subscription plans that Splendid Spoon offers, the brand also features a variety of on-demand boxes that are subscription free. If you're not sure about committing to a full plan, try one of these on-demand boxes first to see what you think of the meals and how they can incorporate into your schedule. You can get a 10-pack of soups and grain bowls to store in the freezer and use when you need them.
Delivery, Packaging & Unboxing
We had positive experiences with shipping and delivery for the most part. Everything arrived promptly and items were still frozen upon arrival. The containers all felt secure and the majority of materials are recyclable too. "I did like how quickly the box arrived and how nicely the refrigeration packaging was," one tester said.
My shipments included an assortment of smoothies, soups, grain bowls and new dishes. Items that I planned to have during the week I put in the fridge and the rest I stored in the freezer. One week quickly became hectic with a sick baby so I found myself relying on the frozen meals which were a game-changer and a huge stress reliever for me. One tester shared similar sentiments and said, "It was nice to feel like I could open the fridge and not feel overwhelmed. I could just count on a healthy, delicious meal."
The Food
Although the food comes frozen, testers and I both agree that you can taste the freshness and high-quality ingredients that go into every item. "The food is great — fresh tasting and delicious and really healthy options," a tester said. The ingredients are all nutrient-dense and testers agreed that the service introduced them to new foods outside of their repertoire. "The smoothies were creative and tasty and contained things that I would never have thought to try. Same with the soups," a tester said.
The meals felt inventive for plant-based offerings and still were hearty despite being meat-free. I found them especially helpful as a fast lunch option, and one tester agreed since no cooking is required except heating up the soups and bowls.
You'll have to pay close attention to the serving size label on some of the items. While all of the dishes serve one and provide an ample serving, some of the noodles and grain bowls and smoothies have two servings in one small container so if you end up having the entire thing you'll have to double those nutrition facts. Still, the nutrition facts tend to be well-balanced for the most part, even if you eat the whole container. This does vary by what you order; some of the dishes have moderate sodium counts while others can be close to 900 mg for the meal.
Customer service is available on weekdays from 9 am to 7 pm EST and weekends from 9 am to 5 pm EST via email and Facebook Messenger. Having the ability to contact customer service on the weekends was helpful, and they were responsive to our requests within an hour.
Splendid Spoon Pros and Cons
Pros
Over 65 meals to choose from weekly
Offers smoothies, soups, grain bowls, noodle bowls, dishes and more
Food is fresh and ready-to-eat
Meals are 100% plant-based, gluten-free and non-GMO
Variety of dietary preference filters to choose from
Meals come frozen and can be stored in the freezer to minimize food waste
Subscription plans and on-demand boxes are available
Cons
Expensive
No fresh salads or sandwiches
Small serving sizes for certain meals
High sodium counts for certain meals
Final Thoughts: Is Splendid Spoon worth the cost?
With a steep price point, you're likely wondering if the plant-forward meal delivery service is actually worth it. The fresh, high-quality ingredients and convenience alone make it worthwhile if you are looking to incorporate more plant-based foods into your diet. The smoothies were a simple healthy breakfast option to start the day, and the soups, grain bowls and dishes were wholesome vegan meals that still felt flavorful and innovative. Many of the ingredients and food combinations aren't things you would likely cook at home or even find at a restaurant.
If you're on the fence, my recommendation would be to start on a small plan with seven items a week and then adjust your subscription moving forward. Alternatively, if you're not sure about committing to a plan in general, try one of the on-demand boxes that has no commitments or subscriptions tied to it. It's rare for a meal delivery service to offer one-time purchase options, so take advantage of it. Ultimately, it's worth stocking your freezer with these nutrient-dense meals that not only provide convenience but top-quality nutrition and ingredients to fuel your body.
How we test meal delivery services
To find the best meal delivery services, we recruited over 280 at-home testers along with our in-house product testing experts. Over the course of three months, we evaluated over 40 different meal delivery services, ranging from traditional kits that come with pre-measured ingredients and a follow-along recipe card to fully prepared options.
We made our selections based on expert evaluation and tester feedback, including overall satisfaction, food quality, cost, recycling efforts and availability. Our picks for the best prepared meal delivery services cater to a wide variety of special diets and dietary preferences including gluten-free, organic, vegetarian and more. We've also found that customization is important to many testers, so we took that into account. Although taste is subjective, we chose companies that scored high points overall with testers.
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