The Best Vegan Meal Delivery in Colorado
Best Vegan, Ready-to-Eat, Meal Delivery in Colorado.
We are hands down dedicated to healthy eating and vibrant living. When we went to search the best ready-to-eat, vegan meal delivery services in Colorado, we were hard pressed to find many fresh, organic options. We narrowed down our contenders to:
Daily Harvest
Splendid Spoon
Sakara Life
Tuesday Foods.
We wanted to know… who is killing it in the vegan, food delivery space? Who is providing hungry, active, Coloradans the organic and fresh plant food that they crave?
We are excited to share what we found, and this is what you can expect to find in this article:
Comparing 4 fully vegan, ready-to- eat food delivery services in the following categories:
Pricing: Cost and Value
Types of Meals and ingredients
Convenience Factor
Taste, texture and palatability.
Which should you choose?
Comparing Four 100% Vegan Meal Delivery Services
You know that incredible feeling when your nutrition routine is on point? When you are feeling clean, lean and in a great routine? We are dedicated to feeling that way, always. And, sometimes, most of the time actually, we don’t have the time to plan, shop, prep and get all of the healthy organic food that we desire into our fridges and onto our plates.
Thats where ready-to-eat, plant-based meal delivery services some into play. But some are better than others and some serve a different purpose than others.
In this article, we are going to share a rundown of 4 plant based players in Colorado. The requirements of the contenders: plant-based, vegan, gluten free options, ready-to-eat meal delivery to your door. We will compare and contrast: Splendid Spoon, Daily Harvest, Sakara Life and Tuesday Foods.
There isn’t heaping amounts of information out there on these vegan meal brands. It’s hard to totally understand what you are going to get until you try these first hand. That’s why we have done the research - so that you can use this as your go-to for what you are going to get. We hope that this allows you to find your perfect plant-based match made in heaven (we know we have found ours!)
Who are the vegan frozen contenders?
Daily Harvest and Splendid Spoon
We are going to tap into these two first as they feel the easiest to compare. As meals come frozen and store in your freezer we love the flexibility of schedule and extended shelf life.
These two brands have much in common. They both provide meals and smoothies that are plant-based, vegan, and gluten-free, and they both make healthy eating in a pinch, quick and easy.
Daily Harvest overview:
“Good food, made easy.” In 2015 Rachel Drori went from making smoothies for herself (and freezing them for later) and her friends and family to launching plant-based frozen meal delivery service in Queens, New York. They started off with smoothies, only, and they did it well. The brand has grown exponentially and they now offer plant-based and ready-to-eat smoothies, oat and chia bowls, flatbreads, harvest bowls, soups, snacks, and lattes. The company aims to make healthier eating easy and delicious by helping you add more fruits and vegetables to your diet. (We can get onboard with this!)
we love the branding, the black and white, and the simple stackable storage.
Splendid Spoon Overview:
Splendid Spoon’s plant-based smoothies, soups, grain bowls, and noodles are low in sugar and sodium and delivered ready-to-eat. At splendid spoon they are on a mission to make it easy to live a healthy life. (Yes! Preaching to the choir!) They ship their grain and soup bowl frozen and their smoothies, wellness shots and cold pressed juices refrigerated with recyclable insulation and dry ice. Splendid Spoon launched in 2013 with a line of vegan soups that founder, Nicole Centeno, cooked out of a local pizza kitchen in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. With simple ingredients (and a WHOLE lot of veggies), they were always satisfying. in 2016, Nicole’s Soup Cleanse Cookbook was published (we are huge fans!) It presented a modern alternative to quick-fix diets and instead focused on using plant-based soups and mindful eating practices to increase energy and improve health. We love everything about this book.
In this section we will compare and contrast:
Pricing and cost
Types of meals and ingredients
Convenience factor
Flavor and satisfaction.
Our pick for the frozen winner
What is our favorite frozen meal delivery service?
Let us break it down by category. First we compare price per meal, weekly cost and hero products.
Daily Harvest Pricing and weekly cost:
With Daily Harvest, you choose a la carte, how many items you want to receive and how often they get delivered to your doorstep. Daily Harvest pricing ranges from $5.99 to $11.99 per item, and the more you order, the more you save! Savings on 9+ items in a box are automatically deducted at checkout. When we are ordering for a week we order 3 meals plus a snack and a treat each day for 5 items per day or 35 meals per week.
What have we tested from Daily Harvest?
Smoothies: All of the varieties
Harvest Bowl: Red Lentil + Cumin
Flat Bread: Tomato + Basil and Kabocha + Sage
Soup: All of the varieties
Chia + Oats Bowls: a few varieties of each
Bites: Cacao Nib + Vanilla and Coconut and Lemon
Ice Cream (“Scoops”): Mint + Dark, Melty Cacao Chips
Lattes: All of the varieties
Hero Product: Smoothies. How Much Are Daily Harvest’s Smoothies? And are they good?
Daily Harvest recently increased the size of their smoothies which drastically increased their value. Price: $8.49 for 16 oz. We enjoy some varieties more than others but we love the customization that making these yourself provides. You get to choose what liquid you use to blend and if you want to supplement with any thing extra like protein powder, collagen, greens powders or fresh greens. Don’t get us wrong - these are chock full of good ingredients as they are but sometimes the caloric count is a bit low for a busy and active day.
In our opinion, Daily Harvest does their original dishes best. While the variety or menu items feels fun, the items that we are most drawn to stock up on remain the smoothies and lattes. Straight-up sip-able pleasure.
summary of daily harvest products
harvest bowls, flatbreads, soups, chia and oat bowls, bites and ice cream
Our favorites in each category:
smoothie: chocolate + blueberry,
harvest bowl: red lentil and cumin
flatbread: tomato basil or kabocha + sage
soup: mushroom miso or butternut and rosemary
chia or oats bowl: these are not our fave, we would give these items a miss (just make your own)
latte: chaga + chocolate
bites + ice cream: coco nib and vanilla (bites.) mint and dark (scoops.)
Daily Harvest, In summary:
While we love the sound of the menu for Daily Harvest picks across the board, and we are obsessed with the ingredients that they use, it’s the smoothies and lattes that call us back. The rest of the menu feels a little lacking in flavor, texture and freshness. However, for a healthy meal in a pinch, these do the trick. Also - these meals can feel a bit cleanse-y. For example, while we love the mushroom miso soup, it packs only 140 calories per container. This constitutes an app or a side dish in our book, not a mail meal.
Splendid Spoon: PRICING AND WEEKLY COST:
At first glance, the pricing of Splendid Spoon appears higher than Daily Harvest, but after experiencing both vegan meal delivery services, Splendid Spoon has much bigger portions and for that reason, a whole lot more bang for your buck.
Depending on your meal plan, Splendid Spoon pricing can be anywhere between $9-$13.
What have we tested from Splendid Spoon?
Breakfast
Soups:
Dinner
Reset Plan
Smoothies
Juices
Detox Shots
Hero Product: Soups. How Much Are Splendid Spoons Soups? And are they good?
The soups at Splendid Spoon range from light veggie purees to more filling options which include lentils and beans. They are nutrient-packed, made with clean ingredients and so easy to heat up and enjoy on the fly. These soups are perfect for dinner or lunch - and honestly, sometimes we go rogue and have one for breakfast. Why not!? Our favorites are the Carrot Lentil Curry, Garden Minestrone and Red Lentil Dahl. The soups range in price (the more you get the more you save) but plan to spend between $9 and $13 per meal and about $250 per week all in.
SUMMARY OF SPLENDID SPOON PRODUCTS
SOUPS AND GRAIN BOWLS. SMOOTHIES. NOODLE BOWLS. COLD PRESSED JUICES. DETOX SHOTS.
Our favorites in each category:
Soup: Carrot Lentil Curry
Grain Bowl: Coconut Curry Rice Bowl
Smoothie: Coffee Frappe
Juice: Super Greens (always)
Shots: Wellness Shot
Splendid Spoon, IN SUMMARY:
All in all Splendid Spoon soups are the winner for us - tasty, satiating, and you can’t beat the variety and quality of good-for-you ingredients. While we love a great smoothie - and the convenience of these can not be beat, we prefer to make our own - from frozen to fresh in a blender. These are delicious and comparable to Rebel or other great market brands. Jucies and shots - in our opinion a cold press juice needs to be fresh fresh fresh. We prefer to make these ourselves or source from our favorite local juice shop. In short - the value for money is there and the meals we love the most (the soups and grain bowl) have a super satisfying quality. And maybe the best thing going - they can fit the bill for many dietary requests - whether you are looking for high fiber, high protein, low sugar or low carb - they can point you to the best meals for your preferences, and really, what’s better than that?
OUR PICK FOR BEST FROZEN MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE:
WHO ARE THE FRESH PLANT-BASED CONTENDERS?
sakara life AND tuesday foods
We are going to tap into these two next as they feel most comparable as fresh, and organic. In our minds, fresh is always best (though we do love the fexible timeline provided with frozen. These luxury brands offer robust menus and fresh, organic, plan-based-meals, ready-to-eat, delivered to your door. Let’s dive in…
SAKARA LIFE OVERVIEW
Sakara Life is a plant-forward meal delivery service focused on counting nutrients instead of calories. Its whole-food, plant-based, ready-to-eat meals are a good option for those looking to incorporate more produce into their diet and save time cooking, as long as they don't mind a premium price tag. Sakara is a wellness brand, anchored in food as medicine - they offer supplements, tinctures and metabolism powder to keep you feeling healthy, sexy and chic.
In 2012, childhood friends, Danielle Duboise and Whitney Tingle (don’t compare, they are both models) pieced together $700 to launch Sakara Life, with the goal of transforming lives by empowering people to be in control of their health and vitality. Since then, the company, which started as a bicycle delivery service, has delivered millions of meals nationwide. These chics know what they’re doing.
TUESDAY FOODS OVERVIEW
Tuesday Foods (oh hey, that’s us!) *first let us say that we are biased. As chef and co-owner my opinion may be skewed but here we will share honest insight to our service and real life client testimonials rather than our own.
Tuesday Foods is a chef prepared, nutritionist approved, organic, healthy plant-based meal delivery service - the difference here is these meals are produced locally at their Boulder commissary kitchen. Optimally fresh - the food is produced on Monday and then delivered right to your door (in reusable glass and conscious compostable packaging) on Tuesdays. The local spin on production and the use of reusable glass packaging sets this service apart from the others. Let’s dive in further…
Launched in the spring of 2019 by co-founders and healthy living enthusiasts, Lisa Cohen and Kelly Hollins - Tuesday Foods was catapulted to popularity with the rise of the pandemic. Their mission is to improve lives through good clean food, to nourish both body and spirit, to connect deeply with their local communities and to make healthy eating easy! The ladies at Tuesday Foods are striving to up-level the plant-based food delivery experience by offering a zero waste (returnable glass jar) solution.
WHAT IS OUR FAVORITE FResh organic MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE?
LET US BREAK IT DOWN BY CATEGORY. FIRST WE COMPARE PRICE PER MEAL, WEEKLY COST AND HERO PRODUCTS.
SAKARA PRICING AND WEEKLY COST:
With Sakara you can choose a 2, 3 or 5 day subscription and if you stay on a weekly recurring you receive a 15% off. This makes the cost more palatable but still it feels high and here’s why… We will compare 5 day subscriptions for the fresh food category so that we are not comparing apples to oranges. At Sakara the 5 day delivery is $420 per week breaking down to $28 per meal. The upside - the ingredients are on point and the food tastes good. Downside - the portions are light and we are left wanting more. This program feels a bit restricted - diet-y if you will, or geared more toward the very light eater.
Meals you might find on their menu:
Breakfast: Zen Zucchini Muffin
Lunch: Sesame Citrus Glow Salad
Dinner: Beautifying Broccoli Soup
Metabolism Powder
Hero Product: metabolism super powder
Our favorite thing on the Sakara site is the Metabolism Super Powder. Naturally rich dark chocolate with a coconut essence. It comes in a 30 serving pouch at $90 (or $3/ day) and the listed benefits include: Helps Curb Sugar Cravings, Supports Gut Health, Eases Bloat, Supports Digestion. In a nut shell, we like it! It’s pricey but it makes us feel good when we start our day with some and the turning sugar cravings feels legit. Key Ingredients include: Horsetail Extract, L-Glutamine, Kelp Extract, and Black Pepper Piperine. Great to add to smoothies or to use as a super boosting ingredient in bars and balls. We are big fans. As far as the meals, they are all petty good - sometimes the freshness is questionable after a delay in shipping or what have you - but nothing seriously stands out. If we had to pick a favorite meal it would almost always be the breakfast, they manage to make it feel like a treat which we love.
SUMMARY OF SAKARA LIFE PRODUCTS
SOUPS. SALADS, GRAIN BOWLS. MUFFINS. DONUTS. PUDDINGS. SUPPLEMENT POWDERS. SNACKS. POPCORN.
SAKARA LIFE, IN SUMMARY:
We are huge fans of this brand. They set the bar with meticulous marketing and clean ingredients. We aspire to the same philosophy as food as medicine and living life in balance (work hard, play hard) We love their introduction of supplements, snacks and super powders. We love their menus. The thing that gets a little lost on is the fresh food, in the mail. It just doesn’t feel quite as fresh as we would like. In our dream world we could visit a Sakara Cafe and order these delightful dishes fresh out of their sexy chic kitchen. A girl can dream, right!? Our recommendation: splurge on the meal delivery in a pinch (they deliver nation wide which is nice!) - but become a believer in their metabolism super powder. Your gut health will thank us later.
TUESDAY FOODS PRICING AND WEEKLY COST:
With Tuesday Foods you can choose a their full signature delivery or the lighter, “let’s do lunch” They also offer a 4 week, 12 week, or yearlong subscription at a hefty discount. Again, we will compare the five day signature delivery to make sure we are apples to apples. At Tuesday Foods the 5 day delivery is $365 per week ($55 less than Sakara) and the meals are ROBUST. This is not a deprivation program. This is pure, abundant nourishment. Not only do you recieve three meals a day but their are snack and treats included making the meals break down to $18 per ($10 less per meal than Sakara) The upside - you can not find food more fresh than this. The ingredients are sourced locally and the food is delish. Downside - because of the sustainability focus their is no printed menu, you will need to go online to view pairing and prep tips and ingredients list - but we can respect the reasoning behind this and take on the tiny bit of extra effort.
MEALS YOU MIGHT FIND ON THEIR MENU:
Breakfast: Super Fueled Smoothies
Lunch: Soups and Salads
Dinner: Buddha and Noodle Bowls
Chia Puddings and Guiltless Treats
Fresh Variety of Crudités and Creative Dips (eating veggies has never been so fun!)
HERO PRODUCT: creative plant based entrees
We hear time and time again, the entree of the week is the favorite. Think Chick-Un Curry Wraps, Spiced Cauliflower burgers with a Chipotle Ranch Dip Sauce, Better than Bolognese - a plant based alternative that will satisfy the most paleo person you know. The list goes on but inevitably the entree is the winner. Other most popular reports include: smoothies, chia and treats, veggies and dips. Oh - and their sauces have a cult following. Maybe one day these will be available for purchase.
SUMMARY OF TUESDAY FOODS PRODUCTS
SOUPS. SALADS, BUUDHA BOWLS. NOODLE BOWLS. FRESH VIBRANT CRUDITES. CREATIVE DIPS. SUPERFOOD SMOOTHIES. MORNING MATCHA. GUILTESS TREATS.
TUESDAY FOODS, IN SUMMARY:
Tuesday Foods is raising the bar on fresh, plant based, organic meal delivery services. This is the food program for the foodie - the flavors are on point and the meals are abundant. For this reason, the value can not be beat. You know how they say you can really taste the love in the food? Hands down this is true at Tuesday Foods. Their is clearly so much attention and effort that goes into, not only making the food beautiful (you eat with your eyes first, right!?) but super nutritious and satisfying. But don’t take it from us, here’s what the people are saying…
“The food was amazingly delicious, so healthy and such plentiful portions! It made my life so easy and less stressful knowing I had a nutritious meal I didn't have to prepare waiting for me. Delicious food, beautifully presented, no waste and so YUM!”
“Love the quality of the food and the ease of preparation, and now I don't have to spend my summer in the grocery store!”
"I am not typically a fan of meal service deliveries, I love to cook. That said, the amazing flavors and textures of your meals, the simplicity and efficiency of the delivery, healthy meals with virtually no effort equals no-brainer! For me, this is PERFECT for lunch. The attractive packaging adds to the whole experience, it was just fantastic all the way! I feel very very good about finally having placed an order."
OUR PICK FOR BEST FResh, organic MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE:
IN SUMMARY: BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER, what would we order?
In reflection, we have to say first - we love all of these brands! Companies that are bringing accessible, plant-based meals to Colorado doors are a win in our book. The goal is to make healthy eating easier and we give an A+ to each and every one of the contenders and we will continue to admire the work that they all do.
Also, can we stop to recognize that these are four, kick ass, women owned companies!? Let’s here it for the ladies - changing the world, one vegan meal at a time. High fives all around.
That said, we promised to choose a winner. Out of these top four what we choose for ourselves, and as health and wellness professionals, what we would recommend to our clients… (for us - fresh, vibrant living foods top frozen so) our #1 choice would be Tuesday Foods (again biased but still…) AND we do understand the convenience of frozen options for flexible consumption timeline and unknown schedule - for that reason we choose Splendid Spoon as the #2 alternative. We hope you will order, test for yourselves and report back to let us know what you think!
If you live in the Denver metro area, Boulder or the surrounding subburbs please learn more about the impeccable service provided at Tuesday Foods.
If you have questions or comments about any of the above, or if you have a company that you would like for us to test and report on, drop us a line to let us know!