Sydney's best meal deliveries

Plant-based clean eating seems to be everywhere, from fitspo bloggers and best-selling cookbooks to your Instagram feed. Numerous studies have proven the health benefits of eating this way, so we decided to try out Aussie plant-based meal delivery service Soulara for a week. Here’s five things we loved about it:

1. The “V” word
Fun fact: all of Soulara’s meals are not just vegetarian, but actually vegan (there’s also a cool menu filter if you only want, say, gluten-free options). We’ve tried going vegan before but our experience to date has been that a lot of vegan food just tastes bland af. It can be hard to find certain ingredients, time-consuming to shop for, and difficult to work out vegan-safe substitutions for recipes. But hey, if somebody else is willing to do all the hard work and deliver it to our door then we’re willing to give it another go! Being eco-conscious, Soulara’s ethos about choosing a plant-based life to be good to your body and also help save the planet really resonated with us. But all pre-packaged meals must be full of unhealthy ingredients right? Nope. A big drawcard for clean-eaters is the fact that Soulara doesn’t use any nasty additives like preservatives, MSG, artificial colours or flavours.

2. No-brainer delivery
As easy as filling up your cart at Zara, just sign up online and pick your meals from the extensive menu. It’s updated all the time: today there were over 20 choices of mains, 6 desserts/snacks, plus breakfast and fresh juices. The whole week’s worth of food gets delivered to your door in one neat box, with ice packs to keep everything fresh. You get an SMS in the morning letting you know exactly when your courier will arrive. No painful 6-hour delivery windows leaving you sitting at home all day waiting. Nice! Click here to find out if they deliver to your area.

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Sunbliss Granola Bowl (Photo: @biteswithbalance)

3. Affordable zero-waste eating
We love to cook and meal-prep most weeks for both health and budget reasons but it takes ages (planning, shopping, cooking). Inevitably we end up not using all our fresh food before it goes off. Soulara meals come already cooked and vacuum-sealed, staying fresh in the fridge for up to a week so there’s zero wastage. Each meal ended up costing around $10, which is what most of us already spend buying lunch every day – with the bonus that you won’t tempted to buy something unhealthy. Hot chips are a vegetable right?

4. Use it with your fave fitness app
Popular health app My Fitness Pal already has most of the Soulara meals entered in there which makes things super-easy. Soulara’s website also has a complete macro-breakdown of calories, proteins, fats, sugars, salt etc for each meal, so you’ll always know exactly what you’re eating. Plus, if you’re anything like us and always go back for seconds (don’t pretend you don’t!), pre-packaged meals can really help with controlling portion sizes and helping maintain a healthy weight.

5. It tastes really good
Honestly, all of the meals we tried were delicious. Portion sizes were spot on, we were never left bored, hungry or bloated afterwards. Who knew vegan food could taste so good? The chef-designed menu really shows: we didn’t even need to add salt or pepper as the meals were perfectly balanced. Special shout out to the Paleo Peanut Butter Cups (imagine a giant super-healthy version of the classic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups *drool*). Plus, the blogger-fave, Sunbliss Granola Bowl, which comes with Insta-friendly Tiffany & Co. blue-tinted almond milk (thanks to superfood blue spirulina algae). Other highlights were the Sunburst Golden Curry, Sunkissed Pesto Penne and the Enoki Magi Soba Noodles.

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Paleo Peanut Butter Cups (Photo: @juliimare)

The verdict
If you’re a health-conscious gourmet foodie, you’ll love Soulara. The menu is plant-based, varied and updated often so you’ll never be bored. Choose from a great range of cuisines including Italian, Asian, Mexican and Indian. And best of all, it costs no more than buying your own fresh food – minus the meal-planning, shopping and cooking each week.

For more information or to try Soulara, click here.

 

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