I’ve been using other brands of meal replacements for over a year and recently decided to try Jimmy Joy. All I can say is I wish I’d tried it sooner!
First of all it’s much cheaper than other brands (the powder is £1.01 per meal which is amazing). It’s half as cheap as some other brands. I use meal replacements because I don’t want to waste my time cooking and eating, but Jimmy Joy say I also don’t have to waste my money with it! But there are other things I really like about it too.
The texture:
The RTD and the powder are both thin and smooth. It’s like drinking oat milk with a bit of flavour/sweetness to it. It’s very easy to drink, and I love that there’s no thickener or grittiness.
The volume:
This is the main reason I initially wanted to try Jimmy Joy. You have to consume a lot less in order to get the same amount of calories. You can mix two scoops of powder with as little as 300ml (I reckon I could even mix with 200ml and it would still be smooth). It makes the whole process so much quicker and easier, which is exactly why I use meal replacements in the first place. I don’t want to spend a hour slowly drinking a thick shake, I just want to drink it and get on with my day. Jimmy Joy is perfect for this. Other brands need 500ml or even 600ml and it can feel like a chore to drink all of it. This volume still fills me up and feels substantial, it’s just much easier to drink.
The taste
As I said before, it’s like drinking oat milk with a hint of flavour. There’s no aftertaste of Sucralose or artificial flavour, it’s just a pleasant drink. I got strawberry and mango flavours, and the taste is very very subtle, but it’s so much better this way. Stronger flavours in meal replacements can quickly become quite sickly and hard to get through. Some days I use meal replacements for all my meals, and I’ve come to realise that subtle flavours with less sweetener is far more pleasant to drink consistently.
Stronger flavours might seem nicer at first, but once you start drinking them long term it’s not sustainable. I think people new to meal replacements might not like this so much and might be wanting something more like a sweet milkshake, but I think something like Jimmy Joy will stand the test of time after people start using them long term.
The bars
400 calories in one bar is a godsend! I love that the bars are a meal instead of a snack. They’re so easy to bring to work with me, and again they’re everything I want in a meal replacement. Pleasant to eat, convenient, nutritious, very affordable. The pizza bar is another reason I was first interested in Jimmy Joy and it didn’t disappoint. It’s so nice having a savoury option and I hope there’s another savoury bar in the works! For me the important thing with meal replacements they need to be sustainable for me (as in I won’t get bored of them or sick of them) and I think a key part of this is having subtle flavours, and a mix of sweet and savoury.
The texture of the bars was also surprisingly nice, there seems to be a lot packed in without them being too dense, and there’s a bit of a crunch to them.
Plenny Pots
Again, having a mix of sweet and savoury options will help me stick with it long term and eliminates my need to snack on crisps. Sometimes when I use shakes at work I get home craving lots of salty food. (The more subtle sweetness of plenny already helps with this). But having plenny pots takes this craving away! They’re very convenient in their own individual pots. I love the tikka masala flavour especially, but I’m a big fan of pasta so that one was nice too.
It’s all vegan!
This point speaks for itself. I’ve been vegan for almost 10 years and I’m happy to support an all vegan company rather than one with some vegan products.
They sent me a meme
I’m sorry but I only want my memes delivered by post from now on. I guess I’m easily amused but it really surprised me and made me laugh to find a meme in the box. On another “this isn’t really a selling point but I liked it anyway” note, the artwork is great! I especially like the little fig gremlins on the almond and fig bar, the sloth on the mango bag, and the chicken on the vanilla bottle.
Anyway thanks Jimmy Joy! I spent a lot of time unsure whether I should try this company and I’m so glad I did in the end. I feel like I’ve finally found a meal replacement I want to stick with long term. Hope this can help someone else who’s unsure!
