I've tried 4 different meal-delivery services, and Splendid Spoon is hands down the best one for my busy lifestyle

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Splendid Spoon

• Over the years, I've tried four different meal-kit delivery services in an effort to be both healthy and efficient, and Splendid Spoon is by far my favorite.
• The company was founded by Nicole Centeno, a former biochemist and graduate of the International Culinary Center, who combined her different areas of expertise to create meals that are nourishing, satisfying, and nutrient-dense - not to mention gluten-free and non-GMO.
• The Splendid Spoon plan comprises a mix of smoothies, soups, and "sippables" - aka, soups you can have chilled on the go (think vegan bone broth and celery plant soup) or heated for more of sit-down meal.
  
• The program requires zero effort and zero prep time, unless, of course, you decide to actually heat the soups, which takes all of five minutes.

"Busy can be healthy," the Splendid Spoon homepage proclaims in inch-high, sans serif font. It's a nice sentiment, but I didn't really believe it - at least, not at first.

The past year as been my busiest yet. I got married, moved to a new city, and traded in my corporate career in favor of the full-time freelance hustle. It's also been my unhealthiest year. I barely have time to exercise and definitely don't have time to cook, which means I usually grab a not-very-nutritious bagel and cream cheese with my Venti iced coffee every morning and order in takeout at night.

Meal-kit delivery services seem like an appealing alternative to the grab-and-go lifestyle, and I've tried a bunch of them. The major players - Blue Apron, Home Chef, and HelloFresh - offer weekly boxes fully stocked with easy-to-follow recipes and all the ingredients needed for dinner (yay for not have to go grocery shopping!). But I still found myself opting for Uber Eats on particularly stressful evenings. I just didn't have the time or motivation to prep and cook, even with everything laid out for me.

Basically, in my world, "busy" has always been synonymous with "unhealthy," and it's a relationship that Splendid Spoon's founder knows well. In fact, Nicole Centeno launched the company to remedy this exact issue.

"I really was Splendid Spoon's very first customer," Centeno tells Business Insider. "I realized how much time we spend thinking about and preparing food. On average, it's about two hours and 15 minutes a day." Do the math: That adds up to 35 days over the course of the year.

"I set out to make something that was as good and nutritious as if I had made it at home, and something that was as easy as the muffin or croissant around the corner," Centeno continues. In my experience, that's precisely what Splendid Spoon delivers.

Splendid Spoon

To back up a bit, the meal-delivery service sets itself apart from others in that it offers a mix of smoothies, soups, and what it calls "sippables" - aka, soups you can have chilled on the go (think vegan bone broth and celery plant soup) or heated for more of a sit-down meal. The program requires zero effort and zero prep time, unless, of course, you decide to actually heat the soups, which takes all of five minutes.

"Women want to have careers that are meaningful, have time with our family, have time to spend with loved ones," Centeno says of the motivation behind her quick-and-easy meal plans. "That two hours a day spent on food doesn't have to be done anymore - we set out to take care of those moments in a way that you can still be nourished."

Nourished is actually the perfect word to describe how I felt during my first full week of Splendid Spoon. It honestly came as a surprise, considering Splendid Spoon is pretty much a liquid diet. I'm a notorious snacker and assumed I'd be hungry and craving solids throughout the day … but that wasn't the case.

When I tell Centeno that I felt shockingly full during my first "reset" day - made up of a smoothie, a sippable, and a soup - she tells me that's all by design. She combined her study of biochemistry with her International Culinary Center experience to come up with combinations that satisfy in every sense of the word.

"I tried a juice cleanse before I started Splendid Spoon and was hungry and angry the entire time," she says. "Then I realized I was stripping fruits and vegetables of fiber, which is one of the huge reasons to eat fruits and vegetables in the first place." In contrast, Splendid Spoon's offerings feature fruits and veggies that have been cooked down or blended to retain their fiber.

"Fiber is literally what feeds the good bacteria in your gut, slows down the absorption of sugars, and physically cleanses the digestive system," explains Centeno. "The other amazing thing that happens when you're cooking your vegetables is that you're increasing the bioavailability of certain vitamins." She notes that vitamin A - found in Splendid Spoon's Butternut Tumeric sippable, care of butternut squash - along with vitamins E and K are all more "readily available to the system when heated."

Splendid Spoon

Another way the meal-delivery service helps boost the absorption of nutrients (which, again, helps keep customers feeling full, satisfied, and high-energy) is through the use of healthy fats. Olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil all "create a little vehicle for the nutrients to get into your system more easily," Centeno says.

These are balanced out by proteins and complex carbs, all of which are plant-based, gluten-free, and non-GMO, because the company believes the body is "happier" when it's receiving mostly plant-based fuel.

I'm personally a meat-eater (I'll never say no to a medium-rare steak), and I have to admit: My body is thriving on the Splendid Spoon program.

My subscription plan includes five smoothies, five soups, and four sippables delivered weekly for $135; that roughly translates to five days of breakfast, a snack, and/or lunch or dinner. I'm only on my own for weekends, and every meal I have during the week takes between zero and five minutes to prepare. It's pretty much my dream situation.

Subscribers can also choose a smaller plan of just five soups ($65), or a mid-tier plan of five soups and five smoothies ($95). Splendid Spoon has about 40 different flavors to choose from, and you can switch them up every week, depending on your personal preferences.

Centeno and I actually share our two favorite meals. First, the Ab+J smoothie is a must. It's a blend of almond butter and strawberry "jelly," a combo that's so tasty and equally filling. "That one, to me, has the perfect mix of protein, fat, and a little bit of sweet from the strawberries," the founder says. "I will actually have that one in the middle of the day if I'm running behind for lunch, because it takes me into the next gear and keeps me going."

As for dinner, you can't go wrong with the Ikarian Stew, which is inspired by one of the world's "blue zones" - a term used to describe areas where citizens are most likely to live to be 100. "There are more centenarians in Ikaria, Greece than most other parts of the world, and one of their staples is this stew," Centeno explains. The dish features black-eyed peas, a great source of brain-boosting folate, as well as antioxidant-rich tomatoes and digestion-easing fennel. Centeno calls it "a powerhouse food," and I have to agree. Plus, it's delicious.

Of course, you should run major dietary changes by your doctor or nutritionist before subscribing to Splendid Spoon (or any other service), in order to determine if it's right for you. I personally feel completely satisfied on this plan - and I've even lost a few pounds - but my experience won't necessarily be yours.

All I can say is, after a month of Splendid Spoon meals, I've learned that busy can be healthy - so long I have every single sweet, savory, and sippable meal delivered straight to my door.

Learn more and subscribe to try Splendid Spoon here.

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