Protein shakes at the Climbing Gym: Part 2

I went back to the Climbing Gym tonight and guess what, they no longer had the evolve vegan proteins shake. The cynical part of me thought, OK, I could’ve predicted that. Last time I was here, the person at the register said, they had had the Evolve plant -based protein shake available for some while, and I was the first person they had ever seen who had purchased it.

However, on closer inspection, I noticed that they have indeed added a price label on the glass door of the refrigerator for the EVOLVE protein shake now. It shows that it is three dollars, same price as the dairy-based Prenier protein shake. Previously, when there was no price label, people may have assumed, oh, “plant-based,” it’s probably at least five dollars, better go with this three-dollar option instead

It’s quite possible that the vegan plant-based protein shake wasn’t selling before is simply because there was no price label! 💓 Quote likely people were in too much of a rush or two bashful to ask.

What I’m getting at is… Maybe there was no evolve plant-based protein shake there, not because they gave up on it and stopped carrying it, but maybe because it was ALL SOLD OUT!

Who knows. Will report back, next time I’m at the gym.

Now … the question is, what did I, the veganish lady, buy?

Choices were

• the Vegan plant-based REBBL protein shake which from memory is something like 250 cal, 16 g of protein, 6 g of saturated fat, obviously zero cholesterol (because zero animal products) …. Cost $5.50. Or …
• the Premier dairy-based shake which from memory is something like 160 cal, 30 g of protein, 0.5 g of saturated fat, 7% cholesterol for the day … Cost $3.00.

Honestly, I would much rather have had my vegan Orgain protein shake from Costco which is about $1.40, and it’s 20 g of protein for 140 calories, 1 gram saturated fat. It is made of pea protein and sweetened with Stevia, which makes it not taste fantastic, for me. However,I have become accustomed to it and it tastes OK to me now.

Regardless, I didn’t have any Orgain protein shake with me. The above were my choices, if wanted to buy a protein shake. (There is always the option to skip it and buy nothing, of course).

In my previous post, I hypothesized that perhaps the Premier protein shake might taste better than the evolve, which really did taste awful, especially because it has 10 g of fiber in it. Therefore, because of the obvious advantages, price-wise and nutritionally, of getting the dairy-based Premier protein shake and because I was curious about comparing it on taste, I decided to go with the Premier, vanilla flavor.

And the verdict on taste?

Oh, My. Gosh. The Premier vanilla flavor was one of the nastiest tasting shakes I have ever tried!

The taste of the Premier was at least as bad as the EVOLVE or possibly worse. I don’t even know how to explain how revolting the flavor was. It was truly awful.

Now, how about some other matchups in terms of personal preference?

Evolve vs. Premier

If I had the choice between the evolve and the premiere, in the future, I would totally pick the evolve because actually, that 10 g of fiber is very helpful to me, since I struggle to get enough fiber on a daily basis. Sure, it’s nice to have an extra 10 g of protein with the premier, but it taste so awful, for me, it’s just not worth it at all.

They both taste really bad, but somehow the premiere was less tolerable for me, I’m not sure why.

On a separate note, I would say that the texture of the evolve, is worse than the Premier, The taste of the Premier is revolting for me, but at least it’s smooth. Perhaps can tolerate the grossness of the EVOLVE texture knowing that I’m getting some extra fiber.

REBBL vs. Premier

If I have to choose between the plant-based REBBL protein shake and the Premier in the future, I’ll probably pick a REBBL … As long as I’m not in the mood to stress out about the extra cost. (The REBBL costs almost twice as much as the premier and does not provide as much nutrition and has more calories.)

I remember the REBBL not tasting very good, but it was not nearly as bad as the Premier.

Honestly, the taste of the Premier was so nasty, I would like to avoid it in my future, wherever possible! 😅 When you think about it, would I pay an extra $2.50 to avoid that awful taste? Yes, I would! 😨

REBBL vs. EVOLVE

Then it comes down to, would I choose the evolve plant-based protein shake over the REBBL? Especially when the evolve has an awful taste that is perhaps about as bad as the premier?

If I choose the EVOLVE over the REBBL I would be saving $2.50, and I would be getting 4 more grams protein, about 100 less calories, and 10 more grams of fiber. Taste wise, both of these are not great, but I remember the RRBBL being a lot better, taste wise than the Evolve.

All things together, most likely I would choose the cheaper, more nutritious EVOLVE over the better tasting REBBL, if I had that option again.

I realize it seems like a very similar choice as the REBBL versus Premier, and I’m choosing differently. For me, the taste of the Premier was worse (although it is possible I could’ve become accustomed to it if I wanted to, similar to what I did with the Orgain vegan protein shake), so that’s one thing. The other thing is that unlike the Premier, the Evolve is still vegan … I would actually prefer to have everything all big-picture Vegan, so that is another factor.

All of those things together … Better nutrition, cheaper price, still vegan … Would likely make it worth it for me to choose the evolve over the REBBL. Even though the Evolve it tastes either as bad or almost as bad as the premier! Oy vey.

All of this is a very long way of saying …

In my life, things are not black-and-white, vegan versus not. It seems to me, many factors can reasonably fit into a person’s decision-making matrix. 

What kind of factors go into your decision making process? Wherever you may be in the world, we invite you to become an author here and to share your ideas.