Latests’ Musings: Who Has The Best Shaker?
Shakers are an essential tool for any meal replacement user. So quintessential that almost every brand includes one in your first purchase. Alternatively, other brands will offer you the option to buy a premium shaker. Nonetheless, while shakers are necessary, achieving the perfect one is a hard task and deciding which one is the best shaker among them even harder.
Today, on this second installment of Latests’ Musings, I want to talk about the best and the worst shakers in the meal replacement industry. A subjective topic in which I will try to shed some light, using the experience I have acquired after trying over 12 brands and even more shakers.
What to Look For on a Shaker
Before I go onto telling you which are the best and worst shakers in the meal replacement industry; I should define what makes a good shaker.
- Durability. How strong the shaker is and how long it will last are key factors in my opinion. You only get on from each brand for free, thus, the longer they last the better. Not only that, but a durable shaker is more likely to be kept clean, and gives you more insurances to take on the go.
- Easiness to clean. This is a tricky one, since most shakers will have sports that are hard to get to, like the mesh or the lid. Usually, shakers with less components are the easiest to clean. Lids with scrolls also make it harder to clean your shaker.
- Lid. The lid is perhaps, together with the mesh, the single most important part of a shaker. It defines whether it will leak or not; it can be one of the weak spots (Huel, looking at you); or it can be one of the pieces you can easily lose (If it is a detached lid).
- Mesh. The second most important single piece in the shaker. It will define how well the shake will mix (partially), if your shaker is going to be a noisy one (metal ball); and it will also define how easily will be the shaker to clean.
- Capacity. This is a bit of a personal preference, but I think the bigger the shaker the better. There are shakers from 500ml to 1L, but in my experience the smaller ones struggle to hold a meal. The powder ends up spilling, you will have to be careful not to put too much water to avoid leaking; and it will have many more limitations in which products you can use for.
- Extra: There are other extra factors, such as, looks, how cool the shaker is, whether is BPA free or not, or it has extra features (like a compartment for the powder) that need to be considered, too.
Therefore, taking all into account, let’s have a look to which are my favourite shakers, and which I do not really like much.
The Worst Shakers
Good news, bad news; I will start with the bad ones first. I do not want to sound melodramatic, since this shakers are usable, but I honestly think these brands should try to deliver a better shaker. These brands are…
Drum roll…
1. Huel
Huel has one of the best shakes in the market, and yet shaker is one of the worst.
Firstly, it feels cheap and not very durable. The material is a very thin plastic that does not inspire any confidence and seems to break quite easily.
Despite that, my biggest beef with Huel’s shaker is with the cap and the lid. The cap is a little flimsy, and the lid even more. It is designed so a flexible layer holds the lid and the cap together, but in my experience this ends up breaking after regular use.
On top of that, because the lid does not stay back when you are drinking, you will find yourself with Huel dripping on top of your nose if you are not careful. Trust me, we have all done it at least once.
Thus, the combination of cheap feeling, a weak lid and the unexpected inconveniences, put Huel’s name to shame. I would expect something better from one of the biggest brands in the world.
2. Küik
Note: They have recently improved the shakers after listening to consumer feedback!
Küik are a relatively small Spanish brand that have very smooth and sweet shakes. The first time you buy with them, they provide you with their branded shaker that at first glance, looks pretty cool.
It is big (800ml), has a very simplistic design and it does not seem to have any clear weak points. It is, however, when you start to use it when the flaws arise.
Firstly, the lid does not close. It stays loose, which means you cannot transport any liquids on it. Not only that, but when you shake, you better make sure you are holding the lid down.
Secondly, the mesh. The issue with the mesh is not that it does not mix well, but that it is a real struggle to remove it after you use it. It gets stuck to the side, making impossible to remove it. Because of this issue, cleaning it straight after use is a harder task than what it should.
The Best Shakers
Now, let’s move on onto the brands that I think provide you with the best shaker for free in your first order. These are none other than…
1. Feed.
Feed.’s shaker is one of the best shakers I have tried, and the one I use regularly, even when I am drinking different products. It is strong, BPA-free, mixes well, cleans easily and has close to no weak points.
First of, I want to mention the capacity. It holds up to one litter which is incredibly useful; particularly if you are drinking shakes with more calories (Queal, Feed.) or if you are mixing bananas or other fruits into your shake.
On top of that, it has a very unique mesh, that accomplishes a good mixing, but it is also easy to remove and clean. Not the case for most.
In addition, it gives a premium feeling and it is very durable. It closes very well, and I would have 0 fear to leakage, even if I placed it in a sports bag. It offers a unique package of flexibility, quality and security; that almost no other shaker reaches.
If I were to criticise an aspect, it would be the ridges in the lid. Because its a screw lid and not a “click lid”, the ridges are often deposits for shaker remnants.
2. Shake2day
This might be another brand that most of you have never heard of. They are a small Dutch brand that make meal replacements focused on replacing breakfast.
They have very cool products, but their shaker stands out. It does so, because it is unique and unlike any other. As you can see in the picture, it does not resemble your usual FREE shaker and instead looks like a more premium one.
In fact, it is a shaker that if you take good care of, you should be able to use for over a year without any issues (something I would not recommend for 95% of the shakers).
The lock on the lid is great, the bottle itself is very thick and durable (not cheap plastic) and it has a very cool plastic ball (the mesh) that mixes well while being easy to clean. Furthermore, Shake2day’s shaker is one that you can take anywhere without any worries if it will leak or break.
The downside of this marvelous shaker are the narrowness of bottle, which might make it hard to clean by hand.
Honorable mention: Jimmyjoy’s shaker.
The Coolest Shakers
While most brands approach the shaker as just a tool for the user to consume their products; there are a few that go beyond and sell good looking shakers. Or at least shakers that are different and have some personality, besides the brand logo.
One brand particularly stands out: Runtime. They have a series of shakers (over 25 available at their store!), some of which are limited edition, like the BIG shaker that I own (sorry for the brag). All shakers have different designs, colours and images on them. Just looking at them makes me want to collect them.
Even though, because of the design choices, these will not be for everybody; I applaud the effort to make them different and let the user reflect part of their personality in their shakers.
Ambronite (one of the best natural shakes that there is) also has a unique shaker, with their representative green colour and no mesh, that is worth mentioning. Simple, yet unique.
What Should The Standard Shaker Look Like?
After all this talk about the best and the worst shakers, I want to make a stop to define how the standard shaker should be like. I am not talking about the perfect shaker, but what should brands offer in case they do not want to spend much money or time deciding it.
This is where Satistlent’s or Jake’s shaker comes in (perhaps also Jimmyjoy’s).
They are the epitome of simple but efficient. Good solid lid that allows you to travel with it; 750ml of capacity (Jake’s); easy to clean (metal ball instead of mesh) and minimal features. For some the metal ball might be a weak link, since it is a part that you can lose. However, I think it is slightly better mixing.
Extra tip: Avoid uneven surfaces. Ridges on the walls of the shaker might look really cool, but they are the perfect spot for powder to stick to. These spots are often hard to clean and you might not even notice them, until mold starts growing.
What About the Perfect Shaker?
This is a hard one. Even though, I think Feed.’s is already pretty close to what I would consider a perfect shaker, it has a lid that you can “easily” lose and parts that are not that simple to clean.
On top of that, if the shaker were truly perfect, it should almost have a little blender inside it (although this adds complication) that would ensure your shake is super smooth. This blender would be powered by solar energy and it would be clean by itself.
On a more serious note, there is something that I would like to see: a pocket or an extra compartment for the powder. You could to store an extra meal; or you could keep the powder out of the main body so it does not stick to the walls of the shaker.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, there is no perfect shaker, and likely will never be. Among other reasons, because each one of us will value different things. I, for instance, value bigger capacity; whereas many others, will prefer smaller more compact shakers.
Thus, I know that many will disagree with my top choices. I mean, we might not be even able to agree whether mesh or metal ball is better.
Make sure you share your opinions, I am open for a duel.
