I'm a culprit of the occasional convenience-diet, and I've probably spent one too many Sunday nights ordering Uber Eats. I'm embarrassed to admit that I once ordered Uber Eats twice in one day, albeit while nursing a very nasty martini-induced hangover.
How healthily I eat is a direct result of how busy I am too. When I'm running a business, planning an event, managing designers and working with clients, sometimes my workload takes priority over my health. I'm not proud of it, but that's the reality of the hustle every now and again. When I'm busy, my planned weekly grocery shop becomes daily quick dashes to the supermarket on the way home, and when things are particularly chaotic, a takeaway dinner is the fastest way to wrap up a twelve-hour day.
Constantly eating out, indulging in takeaway food and skipping lunches to get things done is not a sustainable lifestyle though, nor is it healthy, which is why I gave in to pre-prepared meals. I'd always been against pre-prepared and delivered meals because they're usually slop, full of preservatives, frozen, or 'false healthy', and there's generally more plastic packaging than actual food. So, I was pretty happy to have found Soulara late last year, and after the silly season I've had, I'm excited to be home from holidays and getting back into a healthy eating routine.
Soulara offers the best of both worlds; sustainable and convenient, two things rarely found together, let alone in food. Soulara's plant-based superfood meals are surprisingly filling, but if you've not yet crossed to the green world, they still make great side dishes to a meat serving.
Here's why Soulara's pre-prepared delivered meals are sustainable...
In a traditional food supply chain, produce is usually picked before it's ripe just to last the journey to the supermarket. Certain crops are also treated with GMO fertilisers and chemicals to ensure year-round growth to meet consumer demands, but that's 100% unnatural. During this unnatural growing and forced ripening process, chemicals and toxins are used to induce or slow down what should be a completely organic process. In other words, if you're eating super red and ripe tomatoes in the middle of winter, chances are science has stepped in at some point. But, Soulara's menu is constantly changing to reflect produce that’s currently in season to make sure what you’re eating is not just as fresh as possible, but packed with flavour and nutritional value.
In a traditional food supply chain, produce also racks up travel miles and carbon emissions when it travels from the farm to the wholesaler, then to the warehouse, then to the supermarket – and then home with you. But, Soulara’s produce goes from the farm straight to Soulara's headquarters, where it's cooked, and then directly home-delivered, drastically reducing travel miles, food wastage and spoilage.
Soulara’s meals are also delivered in non-toxic ice-packs with recyclable insulation. The gel inside the ice-packs is non-toxic, water soluble, and safe for septic systems. Individual meal containers are entirely recyclable and reusable which means a reduced carbon footprint (when compared to single-use packaging), less landfill and fewer ocean plastics.
Soulara meals are preservative-free and they're fresh, not frozen. Soulara is transparent about sourcing their ingredients from local Australian farmers and growers, and they work hard to deliver fresh food with the help of their local suppliers, supporting ethical trade.
Soulara meals are free from a number of black-listed ingredients such as ammonium chloride (you'd be surprised how many foods contain this), artificial colours, artificial flavours, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and potassium sorbate (referred to as 'only slightly irritating to skin' yet still a legal additive in many foods). In a nutshell, Soulara is packed with plant-based goodness, not crap.
Replacing just one meat meal a week with a plant-based meal can make a pretty big impact too. Western agricultural irrigation (think beef, chicken, pork, lamb) consumes 85% of the world's fresh water every year. Then there's the production part; 3000 litres of water are used to make the meat for one hamburger pattie, which is the equivalent to two month's worth of daily showers. Compare this to the 287 litres of water it takes to grow one kilo of potatoes, and it's clear that a plant-based diet is much less strenuous on the environment.
If you're used to eating meat a few times a week and love a good steak, you'll probably shun the idea of trying something this healthy and sustainable but don't let the plant-based superfood jargon fool you. Soulara is damn delicious. I've been eating my way through Soulara's seasonal menu for three months now and besides the convenience, I'm hooked on how tasty it is. The Voyager's Coconut Lentil Soup is a go-to for me, as are the Reishi Cacao Bliss Bites, and if you're a morning person, the Sunbliss Granola Bowl is the perfect way to start a big day.
Trust me and try Soulara with $20 off your first order by using thefashionadvocate_20 at the checkout.
The Fashion Advocate x
