I tried Veestro, a plant-based meal delivery service - and it's great for busy people who want to eat healthy

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• Healthy eating often falls by the wayside when you lead a busy lifestyle.
• Veestro is a meal delivery service that makes it easy to get more plant-based foods into your diet without sacrificing taste or convenience.
• If your New Year's resolution is to eat better or lose weight, and you've realized that it's difficult to fit it into your packed schedule, give Veestro a try.

Eating a healthy, balanced diet seems fairly straightforward. Years of health research and doctors everywhere tell us we should eat more vegetables and fruits, try to get our daily recommended vitamins, and limit our sugar and fat intake. If my life revolved purely around feeding myself, I'm sure I could become a glowing, nutritionally sound health goddess because I'd actually have the time to carefully grocery shop and cook healthy meals. But like most people, I'm otherwise occupied with work, hobbies, and social obligations, and eating healthy really isn't that easy.

When I think about eating healthy or "clean," my mind automatically jumps to salads and raw foods. Don't get me wrong, I love a good salad, but the thought of eating salads all the time makes my heart sink a little. It turns out this approach is pretty narrow-minded and uncreative of me because there are tons of tasty meals that can be made with real, unprocessed ingredients.

As I discovered while trying Veestro, a plant-based meal delivery service, they don't even have to include meat or dairy to be delicious, either.

Veestro sends fully prepared 100% plant-based meals to your door, virtually knocking out all your previous excuses not to eat healthier. All the meals are preservative-free and organic (96% of all ingredients used), and the recipes are conceived by a vegan chef with 30 years of experience. There's no prepping of ingredients and cooking involved - all the meals can be microwaved, reheated on the stove, or baked in the oven, so you can eat a hot meal within half an hour.

Veestro offers a variety of options to choose from and incorporate into your busy lifestyle:

• A la carte meals: Pick and choose from 50 meals, like baked mac and "cheese," Tuscan calzone, portobello steak, and quinoa soup. Available for one-time delivery, start at $10/meal.
• Meal packs: Options include an introductory starter pack, protein pack, and gluten-free. Available for one-time delivery or subscription, start at $8/meal.
• Weight loss plans: 3, 5, or 7-day plans that ship every two weeks and help take the guesswork out of weight loss. Start at $8/meal.
• Juice cleanses: 3 or 5-day plans of half pressed, half blended juices. Available for one-time delivery or subscription, start at $6/juice.

I was sent the $99 Starter Pack, which comprises 12 meals and one juice, to try. Everything arrives in a box packed with dry ice. Make sure your fridge has enough room because everything needs to go in the fridge or freezer.

I ate the meals throughout the week, weaving them into my regular diet. The menu included veggie empanadas, country fried chick'n (seitan), three layer scramble, soba noodles, mushroom risotto, and a green juice. In general, I found the thawing and cooking times to be longer than suggested, though they were never grossly off. Because I was usually either impatient or low on time, I tended to microwave or reheat the meals on the stove instead of baking them.

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While there were a couple misses, overall I really liked the taste and variety of the pack. I'll admit, I was surprised. Usually for frozen food to taste good, it contains artificial ingredients or preservatives, but I didn't see any of those while scanning the nutritional labels. My personal favorites were the red curry, Thai chick'n stew, and mushroom risotto.

The week I tried Veestro was particularly busy for me, so I truly appreciated not having to think about preparing food or give in to greasy takeout. I saw Veestro as a convenient way to incorporate plant-based meals into my diet so I could make a smoother transition into a healthy lifestyle, rather than forcing an unrealistic, abrupt change. Research has shown that a plant-based diet leads to lower rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. A longer life free of these complications sounds pretty great to me.

At $8 to $10 per meal, is it cheaper than making your own food? No, but what you're paying for is the convenience and freedom to concentrate on other parts of your life while still enjoying healthy, tasty food.

Browse all of Veestro's meal options and try the plant-based meal delivery service here.

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