Soulara is a convenient meal delivery service that is gaining attention largely thanks to its devotion to plant-based vegan-friendly meals and visually pleasing brand.
Based on a subscription model, Soulara aspires to deliver nutritionally balanced meals made of 100% plants and free from refined ingredients, additives and preservatives. All their meals are dairy-free and a large number are also free of gluten.
Soulara’s range consists of a range of breakfast, lunch and dinner options as well as snacks and juices. In this review, I look at the Roje Maiden’s Soba – it’s nutrition content and taste as well as convenience.
Was the Roje Maiden’s Soba nutritious?
Based on the ingredients, Roje Maiden’s Soba noodle dish not only sounds appetising but also nutritious.
The ingredients include soba noodles, kale, baby corn, capsicum, red cabbage, carrot, gluten-free soy sauce, ginger, sesame seeds, pepper, sea salt, sesame oil, garlic, maple syrup, edible flowers and chilli.
The serving size of this dish is 350g and with a calorie content of 337, it’s reasonably low in comparison to some of their other meals.
The meal is carbohydrate-based (33g) mainly from the soba noodles as there is no starchy vegetables or root vegetables besides carrots. Soba noodles are gluten-free and typically made of buckwheat flour or a combination. As with may of Soulara’s meals, the detail in the labels is lacking with no list of the actual ingredients in the soba noodles themselves. It does warn that it contains gluten and wheat, but no evidence of this in the actual ingredients.
With no quality protein source, the meal only contains 16.5g of protein.
This is one of the few savoury meals that don’t contain a form of soy such as tofu or tempeh which could give you some relief from its consumption. However, it does contain soy sauce so not suitable if you have an allergen.
The fat content is only 2.5g, which would suit someone adhering to a low-fat diet. I do believe this meal could benefit from a quality dietary fat as this would not only improve the nutrient balance but also offer more satiety, keeping you fuller for longer.
It’s pleasing to see the sugar content has been kept low even with the addition of maple syrup as well as the sodium although gluten-free soy sauce and salt are amongst the ingredients. Overall, this is a clean, whole food dish although low in protein and there is a question over the ingredients of the soba noodles.
It should be noted, it’s disappointing to see Soulara go to so much effort on their branding and creating wholefood 100% plant-based meals while still packaging them in plastic. Especially given Soulara talks about lessening our environmental footprint throughout their website. We know that not only does the use of plastic, even recyclable and BPA-free plastics, create more waste but it also causes the leaching of chemicals into our food when heated.
How convenient is the Soulara range?
Ordering Soulara meals online makes eating wholefood plant-based food very convenient. You simply need to choose your meals based on your own food preferences, order and they will be delivered to your doorstep.
Soulara is based on a subscription model which means you need to choose from one of the meal plan options and you will receive weekly meal orders. While some may be wary of committing to a subscription, it actually streamlines the process and makes it even more convenient.
And don’t worry, there are no lock-in contracts – you can cancel or pause your subscription at any time.
The Soulara meals including this Roje Maiden’s Soba noddle dish are delivered fresh, not frozen. These can be microwaved for just a couple of minutes before devouring. It’s worth keeping this in mind as they do have an expiry date, however, Soulara seems to provide you with a variety so that the expiry dates are well spread out throughout the week.
How was the taste of Soulara Roje Maiden’s Soba?
This was one of the few Soulara meals that was really satisfying when it comes to flavour! There was a good hit of chilli and the garlic and ginger provided a pleasant taste and aroma.
While some of the soba noodles were clumped together, the majority were a really nice texture. This was further enhanced by the vegetables, in particular the whole pieces of baby corn and the shredded cabbage.
I did find that this meal lacked protein and healthy dietary fats. It wasn’t that I missed animal products, but adding protein and fat to a meal helps to make it more filling and offers a sustaining level of energy. All in all, this was a tasty meal.
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