Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan Review: Is It Worth It?
The Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan is a relatively new option for plant-based athletes. As a company, Trifecta goes above and beyond most meal delivery services by offering meal plans designed specifically to optimize athletic performance. As vegan athletes, we are excited to share our Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan Review 2021.
If you’re an athlete, professional or otherwise, we think this is the best option out of all the vegan meal delivery reviews we’ve done.
Macro balanced. Science backed. Fresh, delicious, and tailored to your exact dietary preferences. Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan is all of these things and more. With the App, members can also track essential fitness metrics, log their progress, and receive personalized On Demand coaching.
All of this starts at just $12.99 per meal and has a perfect 5 star rating from 768 verified customer reviews on Trifecta.com. For anyone chasing high performance, we think the choice is clear: Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan is the Best for Athletes 2021!
OUR PICK: Best for Athletes Vegan Meal Delivery 2021
- Vegan-Friendly
- Starting at: $90.93
- Price per Serving: $12.99
- Frequency: Weekly
- Pre-made Meals Only
- Free Shipping Nationwide
- Money Back Guarantee on First 10 Meals
- Promotions: Win a year of free Trifecta meals. See website for details!
Price
| Very Good
You’ll pay at least $90.93 to get started with Trifecta, which is about $15 more than most competitors. But that intro level includes 7 meals/ week, bringing the cost/ meal down to just $12.99. All that plus Free Shipping, a next-level fitness app, and transformation contests make Trifecta a stand-out.
Variety
| Good
Trifecta takes a Chef’s Choice approach to meals, which means the menu rotates weekly. We found this disappointing at first, but over time came to enjoy it. According to Trifecta, rotating the menu ensures fresh produce and better sustainability. Overall, we think it’s fair to give Trifecta a 3 here.
Ease of Use
| Excellent
Signing up with Trifecta is easy. So too is meal selection, scheduling delivery, pausing, or even canceling your subscription. All meals are pre-made, so all you have to do is heat and eat. We think that’s a big win for athletes and Weekend Warriors alike.
Trifecta Company Vision
Trifecta is a plant-based food technology company that empowers individuals to live active, healthy lives. The company believes there are three core pillars of health: mind, body, and social. Using these pillars as a foundation, Trifecta offers a meal delivery service that goes well beyond just delivering pre-made meals.
Goal setting, fitness tracking, On Demand nutrition coaching, and transformation competitions are just a few things that make Trifecta a stand-out in the world of sports nutrition.
Their mission statement: To remove the possibility of diet failure by delivering fresh, healthy meals directly to your door. Throughout her fitness industry career, Co-Founder Elizabeth Connolly saw the 80/20 rule dominating friends, family, and clients.
20% of fitness is showing up to train, but 80% is all about the food you use to nourish your body. Most people struggle to get started with the first 20%. And those who get started are too often sidelined by the other 80%. That’s where Trifecta Meal Plans and the App come in. With these tools, members receive a comprehensive approach and clear roadmap to better health and optimal performance.
Did we mention that Trifecta transformation challenge winners get a full year of free meals, valued at $6,000? Yeah, we’re feeling competitive too…
The Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan might be the new kid on the block, but the company has already been featured in Men’s Journal, USA Weightlifting, Muscle & Fitness, and TechCrunch. Oh, and they are the official nutrition provider of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Safe to say they know a thing or two about cutting weight while maximizing athletic performance.
To us, it’s virtually undeniable: The Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan & App is the Best for Athletes 2021.
Social Proof: See What Customers Are Cookin’ on Instagram
Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan Pricing Review
Most athletes and fitness enthusiasts tend to pay more to get more. And I think that’s exactly what happens when you choose Trifecta. You won’t get started for less than 7 meals at $90.93 per week. Do the math, and you’re paying just $12.99 per meal.
Here is an overview of how Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan pricing compares to other plant-based meal delivery services:
- Starting at: $90.93 (much higher than $75.35, the median price for other services)
- Price per Serving: $12.99 (on-par with $11.99, the median price for other services)
- Frequency: Weekly (this is most common)
- Added perks: Trifecta App, fitness tracking, optional nutrition coaching, progress metrics, and optional transformation challenge
- Free Shipping
Although $90/week is a relatively steep “starting at” price, we feel the added value of the app, optional coaching, and fitness tracking/competition actually delivers more value than what you pay for. Plus, Trifecta is further discounted by their Free Shipping policy on all orders nationwide.
How It Works
1. Sign Up
First, visit Trifectanutrition.com to register your account. It’s odd they don’t have a big “Sign Up” button, but it’s probably because they want you to browse the meal plans first. It’s also important to understand that meals are all “Chef’s Choice” (more on that in the Review Your Vegan Meal Options and Variety Review sections below).
2. Select Vegan Meal Plan
Selecting the Vegan Meal Plan is simple. Click on Meal Plans in the top navigation, then click on Vegan Meal Plan on the next page. Next, hit Add to Cart. During checkout, you’ll have the choice to register your account using your email address, Google, or Facebook account.
3. Download the Trifecta App
Next, I recommend downloading the Trifecta App. This thing totally rocks, and it’s pretty incredible that a “meal delivery company” offers such a comprehensive tool to help you achieve your goals. There’s an exercise video library, special workout interval timers, performance trackers, and a macro tracker. Everything you need to get serious about your health and performance.
At the time of this review, the Trifecta App is free. However, it looks like it was once priced at $9/month. When you register, be sure to check this out to avoid any surprises down the road.
4. Review Your Vegan Meal Options
This is where I experienced my first big disappointment while reviewing the Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan. All meals are Chef’s Choice. That means Trifecta’s team of nutrition-trained chefs design each week’s meals. Members cannot hand-select meals and meal kits like with other services (for more on this, see Menu and Meal Variety Review below).
5. Receive, Heat, & Eat
Each week, your delivery is sent via Free Shipping. Every meal is individually packaged and a snap to prepare.
Curious as to how it looks? Head over to YouTube and watch some UFC Embedded videos prior to a big Pay Per View event. The Embedded series follows the top Main Card fighters as they fly to the event, train-up, and do media interviews– all while cutting 10lbs or more. Trifecta meals appear often, as fighters unpack, cook, and eat their meals while talking strategy with the camera.
6. Track Your Progress
This is where things start to come full circle. Using the Trifecta App, log your meals and track your health progress. This was my favorite part of the entire Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan review. Tracking things is not just satisfying, but it also… well, keeps you on track. By combining meal delivery with the fitness app, I felt empowered in my journey to peak performance (even though my bare feet will never, ever feel the canvas floor of the UFC Octagon).
7. Pause or Cancel Anytime
Finally, use the website/app to pause things any time. Despite not being able to hand-select meals, this is a piece of flexibility that I love. They even offer the option to schedule bi-weekly deliveries instead of every week (more on that in the Flexibility Review below). Trifecta just asks that these requests be made by Friday before the next scheduled delivery.
Canceling is a little more involved, but overall not too bad. Members must contact Customer Service to cancel service. I recommend doing this over the phone to ensure it’s immediate. And if you want to be extra safe, it would be smart to pause your subscription first (using the app) then call-in to cancel.
Menu and Meal Variety Review
Alas, it was almost too good to be true… Up until now, I have been salivating over the Trifecta vision, mission, and forward-thinking technology suite. But now, when it comes time to select our meals, I realize the one glaring drawback of the Trifecta model…
All meals are Chef’s Choice. Yes, the Vegan Plan is 100% plant-based. But no, you cannot choose individual meals or meal kits. Instead, each week’s meals are selected by Trifecta’s team of chefs.
If that’s a big problem for you, I recommend checking out a vegan meal delivery service like Sunbasket or Purple Carrot. Both allow you to select individual meals and meal kits. However, I don’t think they are as nutritionally dense.
But here are two reasons I think Trifecta is still superior, especially for athletes:
First, each chef us trained in nutrition. That means each meal is tailored to meet your specific dietary preferences (like plant-based eating) and macro nutrient requirements (a fat/carbs/protein ratio that’s right for you).
Second, a rotating Chef’s Choice -style menu allows Trifecta to offer the freshest seasonal ingredients. Here’s a snippet from the Can I Choose My Trifecta Meals FAQ page:
Each week, we adjust our menu to utilize whatever fresh ingredients our farmers have on hand. We also do our best to work with in-season produce. This way, we can keep prices down and honor our commitment to serving you the healthiest possible food. Our chefs constantly rotate, change and add dishes to our menus. So don’t worry – you’ll have plenty of variety to choose from.
Trifecta Delivery Review
We received everything on time and without any hiccups. Each meal was pre-packaged, without any kind of leakage or mess. To summarize my Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan delivery review:
- Trifecta offers Free Shipping on all orders nationwide. While reviewing other vegan meal delivery companies, it was hard to find another one that offered such a great deal on shipping.
- Deliveries can be paused from within your Trifecta account (website or app). This makes it easy to go out of town, cook for yourself, or save some money whenever needed.
- All packaging is eco-friendly and up to 98% biodegradable. This is part of Trifecta’s larger mission to become 100% biodegradable by 2022.
Overall Meal Experience
Ordinarily, receiving a pre-made meal to heat and serve isn’t much of an experience. Trifecta is different. Although I was initially disappointed I couldn’t select each individual meal, the overall experience was very positive.
It starts with creating your account, downloading the App, and choosing your preferences. For me, that meant the Vegan Meal Plan. They have other options, like Clean, Paleo, Keto, and Vegetarian. But I went plant-based for the purpose of this review.
The whole setup process primed me for a meal experience that is unique compared to other vegan delivery plans. Everything felt much more personalized after calculating my fitness goals in the App.
This was reinforced during my first meal. I received 7 Chef’s Choice meals for my first delivery. My first and most delicious one was a Roasted Peppers, Brussels Sprouts, and Quinoa dish. It felt nutrient dense, filling, and surprisingly flavorful.
But the experience goes on after the meal ends, which is something I love. This is where Trifecta shines. After logging my meal, I got to see where I stood in terms of macros for the day (how much fat, carbs, and protein I need to stay on track). This is critical for anyone trying to lose weight or improve sports performance. Macro-nutrients are your body’s fuel, and eating the right ratio is important. Tracking meals and validating macros is one of the best ways to feel empowered no matter what your health and wellness path.
As I mentioned earlier, the app also has an exercise library, workout times, and optional nutrition coaching. Together, all of these things make for an empowered experience. It made me aware of the big picture. I live a pretty demanding life, both physically and mentally. A vegan meal plan + tracking app like Trifecta’s gives me instant feedback on where I’m at nutritionally. It’s validating, and also motivating.
Flexibility Review
At first, the Chef’s Choice style of the Trifecta menu was a bummer. Maybe it’s because I’m the youngest child of my family. I don’t like being told what to do. As much as I love the company—and they are undoubtedly well respected in the world of sports nutrition—I just didn’t like the idea of not being able to hand-select specific menu items.
Ultimately, I came around. After reviewing the Vegan Plan I think it’s reasonable to give Trifecta an “average” rating for flexibility, despite the Chef’s Menu style. Here’s why:
- The Chef’s Menu approach gives them flexibility to adapt menu items to whatever is most fresh and in-season.
- It also makes things more sustainable since the ingredients are seasonal and sourced locally.
- Flexibility isn’t only about meal selection. It’s also about service. Being able to pause my subscription from within the app, without having to talk to anyone, is a big plus.
- You also have the flexibility to change deliveries from weekly to bi-weekly. This is cool, because you can pause for a week to save some cash and try to cook similar meals for yourself.
- Canceling required me to contact customer service, but it wasn’t a big deal. Trifecta is an accessible company and it was easy.
Trifecta Vegan Meal Plan Review: The Bottom Line
We awarded the Trifecta Vegan Plan the Best for Athletes delivery service for 2021!
Excellent customer reviews, fresh meals (albeit Chef’s Choice), a comprehensive fitness App, and an unrivaled social component (competition, anyone?!). At just $12.99 a meal to get started, I think this comprehensive roadmap to better health and optimal performance is a steal.
Review More Vegan Meal Delivery Companies
Return to the best vegan meal delivery services of 2021.
- WINNER, BEST OVERALL: Sunbasket Vegan Meal Delivery Review 2021
- WINNER, BEST FOR BEGINNERS: Purple Carrot Vegan Meal Delivery Review 2021