Those of you who have been following my blog will know that I had the pleasant surprise of being offered the chance to do the Juicemaster Delivered 7 day plan. The plan is usually £199.99 and is based on the 7lb in 7 days plan.
How much is the plan and what do you get for your money?
The 7 day plan is £199.99 and for that you get
- 28 Juices or 21 Juices & 7 Soups
- 8 'SOS' Snack Bars
- FREE 'After the Programme' booklet
- 7 Live Wheatgrass Shots
- 7 Ginger Shots
- 14 Friendly Bacteria Capsules
What was the delivery and packaging like?
I had the standard delivery which meant it would arrive before 7pm on the day that I chose. You can pay for more specific times. I was told that if I wasn't in, they would be frozen and therefore okay sat there until that evening. Fortunately I was in anyway.
The packaging was extremely good. Each bottle had its own little compartment to sit in. I hadn't remembered that it came with shots and it was only as my friend was pulling the rest of the packaging out that we spotted the layer underneath.
How much room did it require in the freezer?I was recommended to have 2 and a half drawers of free space. I have shelves and found that standing up it required two shelves. I could probably have fitted them in one and a half if lying down.
What was the bottles packaging like?
Due to the wonderful labelling,I could organise them with the days at the front that I would require first. They are also then numbered in the order you need them each day. I quite liked this because I didn't need to read what they were. I would just get the correct numbers out and pop them in the fridge. Then I had the surprise of what the flavour was when I took it out!
What is the process involved for defrosting?
Now this part is where I had issues to start with. The advice was to remove them from the freezer the night before for at least 12 hours in the fridge. Then 1-2 hours before you wanted to drink it, to remove it from the fridge. This meant that I needed to be up at 6am to have the 8am juice. Fortunately I am an early riser but I found at 8am that it was still mostly solid. I don't usually have my breakfast until after the school run at 9.30am so by then it was a slushy which was perfect! It meant it would take me longer to drink without turning and that kept me fuller! Doing it the usual way I would have drank it within 15 minutes. This way I could have a juice on the go for about an hour.
So if you don't like yours cold then you need to defrost it for a lot longer.
I have been asked this question a lot. I have loaned my book to someone and my tablet memory is full so I couldn't download the app. For this reason I have had to refer to this version that I found online so I apologise if it is wrong.
To the left you will see a photograph of the plan that came in the delivery. The differences actually went in my favour.
Firstly, on the original plan it shows as having 5 juices in a day. I hadn't realised this until now. The delivery has 4 juices and a Juice In A Bar. When I did the plan from the book I never required the 5th juice thankfully. This meant that I obviously didn't miss it this time around either. (as just proven!). So, in place of the third juice of the day, you are given a Juice In A Bar. I will review that bar in a minute.
DAY 1 - The Super Chute juice was replaced with the Juice In A Bar. That was fine by me!
DAY 2 - One of the Turbo Express juices was replaced with the Juice In A Bar
DAY 3 - As Above
DAY 4 - One of the Super Juices was replaced with the Juice In A Bar. :-( (Super Juice is my favourite)
DAY 5 - One of the Super Chute Juices was replaced with a Super Juice (yay!) and the Hot n Spicy was replaced with a Juice In A Bar. (That doesn't surprise me due to the fact it needs heating up etc).
DAY 6 - Pure Green Super Juice was replaced with a Juice In A Bar (There was two Passion 4 Juicemaster juices this day. I had completely forgotten that so had been pleasantly surprised)
DAY 7 - The Boost Juice was replaced with a Juice In A Bar
So all in all, not as much difference as I had remembered. The majority of missing juices was fine by me anyway. :-)
What did you think to the Juice In A Bar?
I confess I didn't like it. I tried it 3 days in a row but all I got from of it was the pleasure of chewing. I don't like dates at all and despite the berries adding a nice flavour, I just didn't like the texture of the bar. That was clearly a matter of opinion because my 6 year old thought they were lovely! I had kept half in a sandwich bag because they are so big, (which is great) in case I wanted to chew that night. My snacking habit comes at her bedtime and I wanted it there to help with that habit. It turned out though that I didn't feel hungry for it once. My 6 year old stole it! On another day I offered her it to have a nibble (due to her begging). I went out to get the washing in and when I returned it had gone. She said "Sorry Mummy, it was so yummy that I forgot to stop eating".
Heaven in a glass! When I did the plan originally, I believe it had yoghurt in it. I can't eat yoghurt but had it anyway. I then had a breakout. I tried it at the end of the plan using a soya replacement and didn't like that either. It also had banana in it.
What did you think about the ingredients you would usually leave out?
Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE celery and beetroot. I left them out on the original plan after trying them once. Well, I obviously had no choice this time and this didn't hit me until that straw went in the bottle! As I said, someone has got my book so I'm bound to get the juices wrong here so please feel free to correct me in the comments. The Turbo Express (I believe) was pretty much the Super Juice with added celery. So, I was amazed when I found that I enjoyed the Turbo Express!
However, when I got to the Super Chute Juice (again, please correct me if I'm wrong), I couldn't hack the beetroot and celery. My daughter made me drink it by saying "Mummy, you make me eat things I don't like so you have to too. That man said you should anyway". My daughter is such a fan of Jason we call her the JuiceMiss!
I forget which one it was but there was one juice that I just couldn't stomach at all.
Which was your favourite juice?
Up to now my favourite juice on the plan has always been the Super Juice. It is the one I always make regardless of my juicy mood. I drank it every day through pregnancy too and I swear that is why my little one loves it. She had to do homework on healthy eating and she opted to make this. I always add a lot more avocado though which makes it very filling. Naturally this time it was obviously the original recipe but I soon got used to that.
Did you use an SOS?
I wasn't sure if the SOS was the Juice In A Bar (with hindsight I now realise it wasn't). At one point I had a massive mental tantrum about food. I went from wanting a cracker to wanting to cook a 4 course meal. In then end I ate a cracker. There is a great quote from Jason about if you want something to have it and shut up or don't have it. Either way shut up! Could someone please give me the actual quote in the comments section?
Did you crave your usual junk food?
Oddly no! I fully expected to be craving chocolate but I didn't. Not once. I had an obsession with chicken salad. I don't eat salad but it was all I could think about throughout. It was also the first thing I eventually ate.
What would you say are the pros of having the Juicemaster Delivered instead of making them yourself?
Well, the obvious answer is the fact they are already made. It made the plan so much easier to stick to. If I had been making them myself I would have had to drag myself to the juicer on Day 3 and it would have been easier to just say "I quit". However, all I had to do was unscrew the cap and stick a straw in! It genuinely made it a breeze!
I also liked the idea that I didn't feel like I had to have them in the correct order. When I did the plan myself, I would do make them in order throughout the day. Due to the fact the days worth was all done in the fridge, I just picked out whichever one I fancied without thinking about the hassle of making it, at the time of day I was on. It gave me more freedom which I liked.
I didn't have to trek to the shops to get the next few days ingredients and lug them all home (I don't drive).
I had none of the mess of making them. I didn't have to wash up my juicer and blender daily. Mine can go in the dishwasher but I find that doesn't clean them as well as by hand. When I do that I have to wear gloves but it still sets my hand eczema off. Not having to do that daily gave my hands more time to heal.
What would you say are the cons of having the Juicemaster Delivered instead of making them yourself?
This first reason is also a pro depending on how you look at it. I had no control over the ingredients. However, that is a pro because it meant I was forced to have the goodness from vegetables that I didn't like.
The cost is also a lot more than what it would cost to buy the ingredients. HOWEVER (and I capitalise that for major emphasis), you are paying for the stress free part and time saving part.
Do you think it is value for money?
If I had been asked that before trying it I would have said no. Now that I have tried it, my answer is a big fat YES! It is no different to paying more for a ready meal. You are paying for someone else to do the work and in my opinion it was well worth it. I can't remember how much it cost to do the plan from scratch myself but I would much rather pay someone else to do it and know that I will stick to the plan. I have decided to put £4 aside a week from here on in so that I can buy the Juicemaster Delivered to do once a year.
They also do a 3 day and a 5 day which I could do if I don't succeed on my £4 a week plan.
If you had it again would you try the soups?
I think I would. I have done a lot of thinking and part of me thinks I would like to try it with the soups if I did the plan in the winter. I did it this time in the summer so cold juices were quite welcomed. I like the idea of curling up with a soup at the end of a cold day.
What were your results?
Well it does exactly as it says on the tin (as the catchphrase goes). I lost 7lb. I also lost an inch off of my waist and an inch off of my hips. The day before the plan I refused to leave the house without a cardigan or something tied around my waist. The day after the plan I was comfortably walking down the street in the t-shirts that weren't fitting me a week earlier. I can now head off on holiday feeling good about myself.
More importantly my tastebuds have been reset. My eczema is better. I feel happier, lighter, brighter, more confident, clearer and grateful. The grateful part is to Jason and Kirsty for the opportunity to do this.
Here are my before and after shots. To view others please click the tab at the top of the screen.
Any further comments?
I am BOUND to have missed out something in all my above questions. If you have any questions for me, please comment below and I will answer them in another blog post.
