Nutrition editorJimmy Joy makes vegan, nutritionally complete meal shakes, bars and ready-to-drink bottles. A meal costs as little as $1.89 on subscription. This review breaks down the price, the nutrition facts, what the shakes actually taste like, how the brand stacks up against Huel, and whether it’s worth ordering in the US.
What Is Jimmy Joy?
Jimmy Joy is an Amsterdam-based meal replacement brand founded by Joey van Koningsbruggen. It’s been selling its Plenny Shake line since 2014. The brand actually launched under the name Joylent. The founders switched to Jimmy Joy in 2017 after a trademark dispute with the American brand Soylent, which is why some older reviews and forum threads still use the original name. The company now ships to 88 countries, has sold more than 50 million meals, and serves over 300,000 active customers, according to figures published on its own US storefront.
Its flagship product, Plenny Shake, is a plant-based powder you mix with water or plant milk. The lineup has expanded to include a high-protein Plenny Shake Pro (40g of protein per serving), Plenny Bar snack bars, ready-to-drink Plenny Drink bottles, and a savory Plenny Pot. Jimmy Joy positions every product as “nutritionally complete.” A full serving is designed to cover your major vitamin and mineral needs, not just fill you up.
How Much Does Jimmy Joy Cost?
A meal costs $1.89 with a subscription, or $2.36 if you pay for a one-time order, based on current pricing on Jimmy Joy’s US site. That’s roughly a 20 percent discount for subscribing. Jimmy Joy runs the same subscribe-and-save structure across its other products too, though the exact discount can vary by item.
Orders over $75 ship free. Jimmy Joy also backs every order with a 30-day return window if a product doesn’t agree with you. A standard 10-meal bag works out to $18.90 on subscription or $23.60 one-time at the per-meal rates above. Bag pricing shifts with active promotions more often than the per-meal subscription rate does, so it’s worth checking the live price before you buy.
Compared with buying groceries for equivalent meals, or with a delivered meal-kit service, $1.89 to $2.36 a meal sits at the cheap end of complete nutrition. That’s the main reason people search out Jimmy Joy in the first place.
Jimmy Joy Nutrition Facts
A single Plenny Shake meal has 400 calories and 25 grams of plant-based protein. It also carries 26 vitamins and minerals the company says are validated against European Food Safety Authority guidelines. The current v4.0 formula is built from oat flour, soy flour, rice flour, soy protein isolate, sunflower oil, ground golden flaxseed and inulin. It’s sweetened with sucralose and includes a small dose of the probiotic Bacillus coagulans.
One detail is worth correcting from older reviews. Some early write-ups flagged maltodextrin as an ingredient of concern. Jimmy Joy’s current v4.0 formula doesn’t list maltodextrin at all, so that complaint no longer applies to what ships today.
| Calories per meal | 400 kcal |
| Protein per meal | 25 g |
| Core ingredients | oat flour, soy flour, rice flour, soy protein isolate, sunflower oil, ground flaxseed, inulin |
| Sweetener | sucralose |
| Vegan | yes, fully plant-based |
| Shelf life | 12 months from production |
| Flavors | Vanilla, Wild Berries, Banana, Chocolate, Strawberry, Coffee, Lemon Pie, Pistachio (availability varies by flavor) |
What Does Jimmy Joy Taste Like?
Jimmy Joy shakes generally come across as smoother and sweeter than rival powders, closer to a thin milkshake than a bowl of oats. The exact impression still depends heavily on the flavor and how well it’s chilled. One long-form taster review described the strawberry powdered shake as tasting like “liquid oatmeal” in a good way, smoother than a comparable Huel shake. The chocolate ready-to-drink bottle needed a proper chill before the texture felt right. The hazelnut coffee bar earned praise for its “hazelnut latte” flavor, even though the texture runs dense and chewy rather than soft.
Flavor availability shifts with demand. Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana and Coffee tend to stay in stock most consistently. Lemon Pie and Pistachio go in and out depending on the batch.
Jimmy Joy vs Huel: Which Should You Choose?
Huel is the brand most people compare Jimmy Joy against. The two sit close on price but differ on protein: Jimmy Joy’s standard Plenny Shake runs cheaper per meal, while Huel’s standard Powder packs more protein into the same calorie count.
| Attribute | Jimmy Joy Plenny Shake | Huel Powder |
|---|---|---|
| Price per meal (subscription) | $1.89 | $2.21 |
| Price per meal (one-time) | $2.36 | $2.76 |
| Protein per meal | 25 g | 30 g |
| Calories per meal | 400 kcal | 400 kcal |
| Taste consensus | sweeter, smoother, closer to a milkshake | thicker, some users describe an “oaty” edge |
| Founded | 2014, Netherlands | 2015, UK |
If price per meal is the deciding factor, Jimmy Joy wins outright. If squeezing in more protein per serving matters more than a few cents per meal, Huel’s standard formula has the edge. Neither gap is large enough to make the other brand a bad choice. Taste preference and what your body tolerates matter more than the numbers alone.
Is Jimmy Joy Actually Good? What Reviews Say
Jimmy Joy’s own site shows strong, brand-reported ratings: Plenny Shake sits at 4.4 out of 5 across more than 15,000 reviews, Plenny Bar at 4.3 out of 5 across roughly 2,670 reviews, and the savory Plenny Pot noticeably lower at 3.62 out of 5 across about 650 reviews. That gap matters if you’re deciding which product to start with. The Pot is flat-out the weakest performer in the lineup, while the core Shake and Bar hold up well.
Independent reviews on Trustpilot land Jimmy Joy in the “Great” band, in the neighborhood of 4 stars from several hundred reviews. The complaints that come up most often aren’t about taste. They’re about customer support response times and occasional issues with the third-party shipping carrier rather than the product itself. That pattern, strong product satisfaction paired with slower support, is worth knowing before you order if fast customer service matters to you.
- Recurring praise: taste, texture, convenience for busy schedules
- Recurring complaints: slow customer support replies, occasional shipping carrier delays
- Weakest product in the lineup: Plenny Pot (3.62/5), worth trying in a small quantity before committing to a full case
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Buy Jimmy Joy?
Jimmy Joy fits people who want a genuinely complete meal for the price of a coffee. That’s especially true for anyone who regularly skips meals due to a packed schedule, travels a lot, or wants a cheap backup meal in the fridge or backpack. It also suits anyone already comfortable with liquid or bar-format meals from a brand like Huel or Soylent who’s looking for a sweeter, cheaper alternative.
It’s a poor fit if you have a soy allergy, since soy flour and soy protein isolate are core ingredients, non-negotiable ones you can’t swap out. It’s also not the right choice if you want whole-food nutrition instead of a fortified powder. Anyone who relies on customer support responding quickly should factor in the recurring Trustpilot complaints about slow replies before subscribing.
Jimmy Joy Review: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Jimmy Joy vegan?
Yes, every core Jimmy Joy product, including Plenny Shake, is fully plant-based and vegan. It’s built around oat, soy and rice ingredients with no animal-derived components.
How long does Jimmy Joy last before it expires?
Jimmy Joy products carry a 12-month shelf life from their production date. That’s long enough to stock up during a sale without worrying about spoilage.
Can you use Jimmy Joy as a full meal replacement long term?
Jimmy Joy markets Plenny Shake as nutritionally complete for regular use, with a full serving covering major vitamins and minerals. It’s still a fortified powder rather than whole food, though, so most nutritionists would recommend mixing it with regular meals instead of replacing every meal indefinitely.
Does Jimmy Joy ship to the United States?
Yes, without question. Jimmy Joy operates a dedicated US storefront at us.jimmyjoy.com with USD pricing, US-based shipping, free delivery over $75, and a 30-day return window.
