
On your keto journey, there will be times when you won’t have access to your kitchen to prepare low-carb meals or be around restaurants that serve keto-friendly dishes. It could be when you’re traveling for work, on a weekend trip with your friends, or during the annual family getaway.
Whatever the occasion, you will have to plan on being away from your “keto kitchen” for a few days, and you might worry that you’ll give into unhealthy processed foods, get kicked out of ketosis, and jeopardize your energy levels, cognitive clarity, and weight loss goals.
But fear not, you have several choices when it comes to maintaining your state of ketosis while you’re away from the kitchen. Below, we’ve listed some of the best keto meal replacements products available in the market, and we believe they can go a long way to keep your energy levels up and cravings down.
How did you come up with your list of keto meal replacement products?
Before we delve into the top keto meal replacements (in our opinion), let’s quickly discuss how we came up with this list. We took a few critical factors into consideration that we thought would be of interest to you when picking the right product:
Enough calories per serving
The very first requirement for a meal replacement shake is…well, to replace a meal. So we made sure that all of our recommended products provide enough calories to replace an average meal or a sizeable snack. It has to be something that fills you up enough to the point where you won’t give in to a bag of Doritos as the gas station.
Low enough in carbs to fit the keto diet
The next obvious requirement for a keto meal replacement is that macronutrient profile has to fit within the guidelines of the ketogenic diet. That means the meal replacements must have less than 5 percent in net carbs. We also avoided keto shakes with processed sugars and only included ones that contain healthy ingredients.
Tastes good enough so you actually drink it
Let’s face it, taste matters. No matter how self-disciplined you are, if your keto meal replacement shake tastes like medicine, it becomes that much harder to say no when the dessert menu comes around. Especially when you’re traveling.
Taste is a personal thing. So, there’s no way for us to say that one product will be everyone’s favorite. However, we looked at the reviews for all the products and only picked ones with a positive consensus when it comes to taste.
Healthy ingredients that support balanced nutrition
If you want to do the keto diet right, you need to pay attention to more than just your macros. Drastically reducing carbs means that you might be cutting out many nutrients that you’d otherwise get from foods high in carbohydrates, like fruits, for example. Also, your body might be flushing out critical minerals like potassium and magnesium due to the lack of insulin in your system.
So, it makes sense to consume meal replacements that include healthy ingredients to promote nutritional balance while on the keto diet.
Price
While our primary focus in this guide is on quality, we will mention the price for each product we recommend. We will also include the cost per serving since the total price can often be misleading depending on how many meals you get in a container.
The best keto (low or no carb) meal replacement options
Ample K Keto Meal Replacement
Along with Sated, mentioned below, Ample K Ketogenic Formula is our top recommendation for a keto meal replacement. Ample K keto drinkable meals are made with natural, high-quality ingredients like healthy fats, proteins, organic greens, and gut-friendly probiotics. Ample K contains only 3 net carbs per each 400 calorie meal, and all Ample K products are gluten-free, soy-free, non-GMO & BPA-free.
Ample K Keto Meal Replacement: Calories
You can choose between regular and large meal sizes for 400 and 600 calories respectively.
Ample K Keto Meal Replacement: Taste
It comes in one flavor, which is a mix of vanilla and cinnamon, complemented by coconut and macadamia. You can mix it with water, milk, or even coffee. Ample K has a creamy and smooth texture.
Most reviewers say that Ample K tastes good. But they don’t rave about the taste as they do for Sated.
Ample K Keto Meal Replacement: Ingredients
While Ample might not rate as highly as Sated when it comes to taste, if you’re looking for the best in nutritional value, it’s hard to beat Ample K.
70 percent of the calories in Ample K come from MCTs (the fats that converted to ketones quicker [2]) to provide an immediate boost in energy and keep you in ketosis. Each meal also contains essential amino acids to promote metabolism and muscle repair.
The meals come with a blend of nutrient-dense organic greens, and fruits, making sure you get plenty of antioxidants, which might be lacking from your diet on keto.
Ample K meal shakes include critical electrolytes to fight fatigue and keep you hydrated, one of the common challenges people experience on the keto diet (the dreaded keto flu symptoms) [3].
Ample K Keto Meal Replacement: Pricing
Regular – 12 x 400 calorie bottles. $96 for one-time purchase ($8 per meal). $81.60 for monthly subscription, a 15 percent savings ($6.80 per meal).
Large – 12 x 600 calorie bottles. $112.80 for one-time purchase ($9.40 per meal). $95.88 for monthly subscription, a 15 percent savings ($7.99 per meal).
Bulk pouch (no bottles) – 15 x 400 calorie servings. $84 for one-time purchase ($5.60 per meal). $71.40 for monthly subscription, a 15 percent savings ($4.76 per meal).
Ample K Pros
- Pre-portioned as a dry powder in recyclable, BPA-free bottles
- High-quality ingredients provide balanced nutrition
- Contains electrolytes to promote hydration and fight fatigue
Ample K Cons
- More expensive than other options on this list (but the top in quality)
Dom D’Agostino, the leading nutrition scientist and keto diet proponent says that “Ample spends more energy and thought on the quality of their formulas” than any other company he has ever seen.
Sated (formerly Ketolent) Naturally Sweetened Keto Meal Shake
One of the most highly rated keto meal replacements in the market. You get a bag of powder and a bottle of oil. You just add water and shake (easy instructions provided). Depending on the flavor, Sated has less than 2.3 grams of net carbs per meal. One of our top recommendations.
If you sign up for a monthly subscription, or order the starter pack, you get a free blender bottle ($15 value) with your first order.
Soy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free.
Sated Keto Meal Shake: Calories
They provide instructions on how you can adjust your calories. You get 30 servings of 400 calorie meals in each bag. If you don’t want 400 calories, you can make shakes that range between 120-500 calories.
Sated Keto Meal Shake: Taste
Many reviews point to the fact that Sated shakes taste better than most of the other meal replacement products. One reviewer says the chocolate-flavored shake tastes like a real chocolate milkshake. Another one says that the vitamin mix inside the shake doesn’t have that awful multivitamin smell, like many other keto shake products.
Overall, Sated rates highly for taste with many users. You can get it chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and peaches and cream flavors.
Sated Keto Meal Shake: Ingredients
Sated keto shakes include a wide range of high-quality ingredients. They get their flavors from natural sweeteners like Monk Fruit and Stevia, creating a smooth sweet taste, and none of the typical after-taste.
The shakes pack in 27 essential vitamins and minerals, as well as a mix of fast and slow proteins, to satiate you right away as well keep you full for longer. They also include prebiotic fiber to feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut and promote a healthy microbiome [1], which is crucial on a keto diet.
Sated Keto Meal Shake: Pricing
$90 for a one-time purchase of 30 servings of 400 calorie meals. If you sign up for a monthly subscription, the price drops to $72 (and you get the free blender bottle). Depending on if you go with the one-time purchase or the subscription option, your price per each 400 calorie meal will be between $2.40 and $3.
Sated Pros
- Satisfaction guaranteed
- Premium taste
- Natural ingredients and sweeteners
- Includes bioavailable vitamins and prebiotic fibers for gut health
Sated Cons
- You have to mix the ingredients and make the shakes yourself
Ketologie Keto Protein Shakes
A high-quality meal replacement shake that checks all the boxes. Ketologie aims to make keto simple for you. They make it so you can simply drink their shake and not have to worry about calculating the macros.
Speaking of macros, Ketologie has you covered. The meals are 75 percent fat, 19 percent protein, and less than 2 percent in net carbs.
Ketologie: Calories
Per 60-gram servings, you get 300 calories. Equivalent to a small meal or a big snack.
Ketologie: Taste
Ketologie shakes come in 4 flavors – chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and peanut butter chocolate. Most users are happy with the taste, and say the tasty flavors help them stay on the keto diet.
Ketologie: Ingredients
Ketologie shakes are made with coconut oil, a nutrient-dense source of healthy fats to support overall health. The proteins come from grass-fed bovine collagen, which can promote recovery, gut health, as well as joint and skin health.
They include sea salt to replenish lost minerals and keep you hydrated. Organic plant sweeteners are used for flavor. The chocolate flavor contains premium high-fat dutched cocoa.
Ketologie: Pricing
Regular – 18 x 300 calorie servings. $49.49 for one-time purchase ($2.74 per meal). $44.54 for monthly subscription , a 10 percent savings ($2.47 per meal).
Sachets – 10 servings for $30 ($3 per meal)
Ketologie Pros
- Available in convenient sachets
- Contains collagen protein known to promote gut, skin, and joint health
- Contains sea salt to promote hydration
Ketologie Cons
- No mention of probiotic or prebiotic fibers, and vitamins/greens blend
Ketologic KetoMeal
Not to be confused with Ketologie, Ketologic provides convenient ketogenic meal replacements to support your health goals as you’re away from your kitchen. Each serving contains around 4 percent carbohydrates, which is well within the guidelines of keto. Ketologic claims to have extensively researched and lab-tested their products to make sure they keep you full and satiated for prolonged periods.
Ketologic KetoMeal: Calories
Each serving provides 250 calories, which is more like a large snack.
Ketologic KetoMeal: Taste
Comes in chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and salted caramel flavors. Most customers are pleased with the taste, according to the reviews.
Ketologic KetoMeal: Ingredients
Meals contain about 70 percent in fats, and the rest 30 percent in carbs and protein. They use coconut oil creamer, MCT oil creamer, sea salt, and no artificial sweeteners in their products.
Besides that, this is the category where Ketologic falls short, especially when compared to Sated and Ample K. They don’t mention vitamins, antioxidants, or gut-friendly fiber in their nutrition content. However, the product is still rated highly by users, and it will most likely do the job as far as keeping you full when you’re on the road.
Ketologic KetoMeal: Pricing
Regular – 20 x 250 calorie servings. $59.99 for one-time purchase ($3.00 per meal). $53.99 for monthly subscription , a 10 percent savings ($2.69 per meal).
Ketologic KetoMeal Pros
- Products backed by research (as claimed by Ketologic)
Ketologic KetoMeal Cons
- No mentions of gut-friendly fiber
- No mentions of greens, vitamins, or antioxidant content
What are some additional keto supplements I should keep with me?
You should consider taking an electrolyte supplement when you’re on the keto diet to counter any potential loss of minerals. When you cut carbs out almost entirely, there is very little need for your body to produce insulin. This can have the inadvertent effect of your kidneys flushing too many minerals out of your body, potentially increasing your risk of dehydration. Check out Perfect Keto Electrolytes to keep you hydrated while on keto.
Some other supplements you can keep with you are Natural Calm Magnesium and No products found.. These, among others, are supplements that Dr. Dom D’Agostino relies on to keep energy levels up while traveling on the keto diet.
If you don’t want to rely solely on meal replacements while on the road, be sure to check out our article on how to do keto when traveling for more ideas.
Why should I use keto meal replacements?
Sticking to keto requires a good amount of planning and discipline. This is especially true when you don’t have access to your kitchen. Frequent airport lunches and fast food drive-thrus will ruin any healthy lifestyle routine, let alone keto.
Instead, with a little planning ahead, if you keep a keto meal replacement in your backpack or in your office, that might just be what makes the difference when it comes to being able to stay in ketosis for a particular period.
Try a few of the recommendations above. If you find one that fits your taste as well as keeps you full, now you have one more tool in your keto arsenal. So, the next time you travel, you can remain in ketosis and continue enjoying elevated energy levels, cognitive clarity, and progress towards your weight loss goals.
Products mentioned in this article
- No products found.
- No products found.
- Ketologie Collagen Keto Shake (Chocolate Peanut Butter) - with Coconut Oil, Grass Fed Hydrolyzed Collagen Peptides Type I & III, Low Carb High Fat, Lactose Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, 2.38lbs
- KetoLogic Keto Meal Replacement Shake With MCT Oil Powder: Low Carb, High Fat Keto Shake With Whey Protein | Supports Keto Diet & Ketosis | Chocolate - 20 Servings
- Perfect Keto Electrolytes Capsules, Gluten Free, Electrolyte Supplement with Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium and Sodium, Hydration, Energy, Recovery and Immune Support, Unflavored, 120 Servings
- No products found.
- Natural Vitality Calm, Magnesium Supplement, Anti-Stress Drink Mix Powder, Gluten Free, Vegan, & Non-GMO, Original Unflavored, 16 oz
The keto meal replacement from Ketologic is definitely the meal replacement I have used upon myself, and clients the most. Despite the valid counter arguments you mention I feel like the shake from Ketologic fits the bill on all accounts.
I don’t just mean the nutritional value, but the service Ketologic offers their customers is on-point. They also oftentimes offer great discounts if you choose to buy BHB, or any other additional supplements from them,
I always add a teaspoon of psyllium husk fiber to my shake to up the fibre content. It is quite cheap, and it aids a ton in your digestion and overall stool(especially on keto ofcourse :))
Thanks for the review!
Bryan