Once in a while I succumb to the marketing in my Facebook stream and make a purchase. Evive Smoothies was my most recent foray into targeted advertising. EviveNutrition.ca is a Canadian company that offers the mail order convenience of frozen wheels of veggie, fruit, and other nutritional goodness like cashews, chia protein, spirulina, to name a few. The eight cube pre-prepped smoothie material can be added to a liquid (oat milk, soy milk, almond milk, juice etc.) and stirred, shook, or blended to create a tasty smoothie.
What I Ordered from Evive Smoothies
Evive is available in Canada and the United States. It is a Canadian company so if you live in Canada you get free shipping. To start the process off you enter your postal code, pick a plan (12, 24, or 36 wheels) and how often you would like them delivered (every 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks). Then the fun part, picking the flavours you want to try.
The first time I ordered I went with the 12 wheel option because I really wasn’t sure how often I wanted to use them. My plan was to incorporate them into my day as an added easy peasy veggie/fruit snack in the afternoon. The cubes make it easy to split and only use half the cubes for a snack.
The 12 wheel plan worked out to $4.25 CAN per wheel. The more you get the cheaper they become. You save $12 with the 24 wheel plan and $22 with the 36 wheel plant. The 12 plan works for my budget.
Choosing the weeks I wanted to participate is easy and convenient. The whole plan is super adjustable. You can skip weeks in advance for months at a time, adjust flavour choices, or take advantage of promotions when they are delivered to your email.
I’ve had two shipments over a few months (with another on the way). And I picked up some in my local Independent Grocery store (they were in the freezer of the health food section).
What Drew Me to Evive
I have been making and drinking my own smoothies for well over ten years. The problem with making my own is that I often end up with large batches that are not always convenient. I often had a lot of waste because I could not use up everything myself. It’s hard to have variety of ingredients when you are making smoothies for just one or two people. One of the things that drew me to Evive Smoothies was the variety of ingredients in one smoothie. For example, lets look at the ingredient list for the Samourai, a brain support smoothie. The ingredients include:
Raspberry*, Strawberry*, Date, Rehydrated plant based proteins (filtered water, pea protein, chia protein, natural vanilla flavour*, sea salt, stevia leaf extract*), Beet*, Chia seeds*, Orange, Lemon, Mint, Dehydrated vegetable blend (spinach, broccoli, carrot, tomato, beet, shiitake). *Organic ingredients
From EviveNutrition.ca
For me to purchase all these ingredients and make my own smoothies I’d be drinking the same thing for a week, maybe two!
So Many Smoothie Options
I have tried twelve flavours of Evive smoothies. In my first order they provided a sheet with the lowdown on each flavour. I went with their liquid suggestions where possible. You can see a detailed ingredient list for each flavour at EviveNutrition.ca.
Here is a quick look at the flavours I tried. I have mixed in my initial thoughts (first thoughts on trying) with updated feelings. In order of tasting:
1 / Saphir – Initial Thoughts: This was my very first Evive smoothie. The liquid suggestion for this one was cold water so that is what I did. The colour is an amazing blue, I’m assuming from the blue spirulina as there were no blueberries. Despite loving the blue I did not like the taste of this one and found it very chalky. Overall, it was OK, not a fave. Update: It’s grown on me. Still not a fave, but the variety and serving size make it easy.
2/ Viva – Initial Thoughts: The liquid suggestion is cashew milk but I used oat milk. Not as chalky as Saphir but still has a similar chalky aftertaste (I wonder if it’s the pea protein). I had as a snack and gave Jeff the other half. He didn’t like it which was not surprising as he complains about green shit on his plate all the time. I thought it was better but at the time I did not think it was great. Update: What is funny is that I had one yesterday and my opinion has since changed and would probably put it as one of my favorites.
3/ Blueberry Haskap – Initial Thoughts: This one has a little more protein which is nice. The liquid suggestion was cold water or soy milk. I used soy. It was OK. Still has a powdery aftertaste. It was comfortably filling at 1/2 serving. Update: no additions.
4/ Yogi – Initial Thoughts: The liquid suggestion was for soy milk which I used. This is the first “green” one I tried. I found it very mild. I was worried it would taste grassy but it did not. The flavour was like mildly green kale. For some reason this one did not taste as chalky. I would say it is probably one of my favourite ones because I saw some at Your Independent in the health food section and picked up an extra bag ($10.99 for 3 wheels in a bag — I noticed they were on sale for $9.99 this past week). Update: It is still one of my favourite ones. I think because my own smoothies tend to be on the greener side.
5/ Orange Peach – Initial Thoughts: I added soy milk to this higher protein smoothie. It reminds me of an orange creamsicle. Still a bit of a chalky residue but I think I’m getting used to that. Update: This one is still one of my faves.
6/ Samourai – Initial Thoughts: I mixed this one with coconut milk. I had it with a snack and for some reason did not make any other notes on this one. Update: It’s a lovely colour. Tasty.
7/ Cashew Mocha – Initial Thoughts: I mixed this one with soy milk. This is one of their sport smoothies and I had it after a workout class. It has an interesting flavour but still a little powdery. Update: I now mix this one with Dark Chocolate soy milk and it has become one of my favorite.
8/ Asana – Initial Thoughts: Mixed with soy milk. Didn’t mind taste. Kind of reminded me of Halloween candy in wrapper — rockets? Update: I made Jeff have this one too. He still doesn’t like the powdery taste. This one still tastes like rockets to me. I like it.
9/ Yin – Initial Thoughts: Mixed with oat milk. I quite liked this one. Strong chai and carrot taste to me. Update: This one is still one of my favourites.
10/ ToukTouk – Initial Thoughts: Some how I ended up with a few of these. The suggested liquid was apple juice. I picked up a small bottle of unconcentrated apple juice so I could have it as suggested. This one is interesting but very sweet with the juice. I also tried it with OJ too which was OK. Update: The juice makes it just too sweet for me. I prefer it with oat milk.
11/ Azteque – Initial Thoughts: The first time I used oat milk because I didn’t want the added chocolate of the suggested liquid at the time. I found it kind of bitter. The second time I used chocolate soy milk and it was much better. Update: I actually had one while editing this post and it has turned out to be a nice chocolate fix when I want one.
12/ Pure – Initial Thoughts: Another green smoothie! There are only two at the time of this writing. The suggested liquid was iced tea which I did not care for at all. Update: Tried it with oat milk and it’s fine.
Variations: Sometimes I add a 1/4 cup of chopped frozen banana or a few cubes of ice to make it more sherbet-y.
Final Smoothie Conclusions
I started off with a lukewarm reaction when I first started using Evive Smoothies but I have definitely warmed up to them. I love the variety of flavours to choose from, an incredible ingredient list with no added sugar, low calorie, high protein, each smoothie wheel contains between 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables. And can be mixed on the go, literally, in a jar without a blender.
All of the smoothies blended up easily; smooth with no lumps. There were three weeks where I would put four cubes in my ninja cup with milk and leave in fridge overnight. In the am before walking the dog I would shake it up and drink it before going. I never had any lumps and it got me through.
I’m definitely paying for the convenience of not having to shop for veggies and other special ingredients, food prep time, etc. There is no waste (in terms of throwing out unused spoiled veggies etc.) and virtually no cleanup.
In terms of packaging, Evive Smoothies does a good job of reducing their foot print. I’m thinking of moving up to 24 to reduce the number of orders and packaging but I’m really comfortable with the price point for 12 at the moment. The plastic wheels are made from recycled plastic and are thin, they come wrapped in dry ice that eventually just disappears leaving a recyclable plastic bag that held it. It is wrapped in 100% compostable hemp for insulation. And of course the box.
One of the reasons I stopped one of the meal in the box programs was because I did not like all the packaging waste. Evive Smoothies really has done a good job with it. I imagine as improved technology becomes available in the future they will add them. Ideally, if you have the space in your freezer (and can afford it) it would be better to order more to reduce the number of shipments.
I’m getting close to the end of my second stash and just put in my third order of 12 wheels flavours. I really like the variety of flavours and ingredients. I can switch up each of my orders depending on what flavours I am in the mood for at the time. They have a few new flavours I’m excited to try! This will be my first order in warm/hot weather so I will come back and add an update in the comments on how that went.
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