Or gain is a great product. We use both the powder, and the premixed drink boxes. I like the taste, compared to other powders I have tried. It is not a DQ shake, but for a vegan protein shake it is good. I only mix it in smoothies with frozen fruits, and fresh produce. So the powder only provides a little sweetness and a lot of protein. If you hate all protein powders, you will probably hate this one too. Maybe if you hate all protein powders try drinking smoothies with just fruits and veggies, and get your protein from some other healthy source.For protein powders, I prefer vegan protein. I get plenty of meat based protein in my diet, but whey protein is harder for me to digest, and process. Vegan protein powder gives me a more balanced amino acid profile, I get the aminos I would otherwise miss in my animal based diet, of milk, eggs, and lean proteins. As a male, I try to avoid soy proteins, and I’m cautious of legumes. Vegan proteins are great, but you want to get the correct vegan proteins, for your needs, goals, and limitations. Or gain uses high quality, safe, balanced vegan sourced proteins.I realize there is a subset of people that say why smoothies? Just eat food. I was not 326 lbs because I was eating healthy foods. I was in the camp of people that thought fruit was a waste of calories. I mean come on, 2 apples have the same calories as a candy bar. But what I have learned is that two apples will nourish and fuel your body, leaving you satisfied. Sugar just trashes your hormones and metabolism. Calories are not the only thing that made me fat. Excess calories from poor nutrition made me fat. Protein smoothies were my baby step in learning how to eat the right stuff. I knew what to eat. I just did not want to do it. Protein smoothies taste good to me. They helped me to learn how to like eating fruit. I now eat whole fruits in place of junk food. I also eat a lot of fruits in smoothies with Orgain powder.My overall review is fairly glowing, and I will let my 5 star rating stand, as I have lost over 100 lbs. The positive benefit of losing 100 lbs and keeping that weight off out weighs anything else for me. So maybe my thoughts are biased.Protein smoothies and an otherwise terrible diet will not help you lose 100 lbs. But protein smoothies, and education may help you learn your triggers to bad eating, and they may help you compensate for cravings, and learn new cravings. It will be a struggle, and it will take time.I do not use this powder in a shaker cup so I can not say how it does with those. I do use it as a component in a fairly complex smoothie with 3 or 4 types of fruit and some greens and juices. My smoothies are not low calorie. They are good calorie with great nutrition. They are not a full meal replacement, but they are close.My smoothies run about 300 calories per serving. I consider a meal 500 calories, for my size and activity level. The nice thing about a smoothie is you can pour what you need and share the rest with your family.My go to smoothies recipe usesThe blendtec designer 625 blender with 4 sided jarAny powerful blender will work4 oz of POM juice POM Wonderful Pomegranate Cherry, 100% Juice2 oz of lemon concentrate (gives fruit smoothies a jolly rancher effect) [[ASIN:B00ICT8NMI ReaLemon 100% Lemon Juice - 2/48 oz. btls. by ReaLemon [Foods]4 ounces of coconut milk....So Delicious Dairy Free Organic Coconutmilk Beverage, Vanilla, 32 oz (Pack of 6) plus frozen strawberries, blueberries, and fresh green baby spinach.this will make a thick smoothie, probably too thick for a ninja blender (been down that road) more liquid will help thin the smoothie if your blender can't handle it. When I had a ninja, the liquid had to be filled to the top of the greens at the least.3 scoops orgain vanilla protein powder (that makes 33 grams of protein for the full pitcher of smoothie)2 handfuls of fresh organic power greens, baby spinach will work great too.2 handfuls of organic frozen strawberries1 handful frozen blackberry, raspberry, blueberry comboThis will make a full jar of smoothie. 48 ounces I think. This is the family size recipie. Don't drink this all your self!! As a meal, this will feed two people. As a snack it will feed 6.My life is great now at 215 lbs, and I am active. I can play with my kids and ride my bike to work. I could not do that at 326 lbs.Orgain protein powder helped me. It tasted good enough to make a new lifestyle possible. It has good organic ingredients. It is a great component in my organic smoothies, that we still have several times per week.Not everyone has the same goals, or problems I had. Your journey will be different.Update:For the best price, what I have found is that I can order 5 of these every other month, in the subscribe and save program. I use the Amazon store card. that gets me another 5% off. So I get 20% off each jug I order just by making sure I have 5 items shipped every time I get a subscribe and save. If you end up liking this product as much as I do, and don't use as much, you can order 5 and then skip months until it is all gone. I think subscribe and save even has an every 6 months option. Doing it this way gives you five for the price of four. That is how I get the best deal. But other than that I pay the same price anyone else would, and those discounts are available to anyone. Good luck and happy smoothing!I think the key is to identify healthy choices and do them consistently. Protein smoothies can be an expensive way to get healthy. So using them as a supplement, may be a better choice for many. And eating healthy foods will be your best overall choice.Getting exercise is also a great idea.My hope with this review, is to encourage and inspire someone to make healthy changes. To show them that someone else has had struggles (and I still struggle, I wont even mention how badly I did this past holiday season. But with effort and consistency, there can be hope. Maybe you wont lose 100 lbs. but maybe your clothes will fit better, and you will be able to be a little more active. I remember how happy I was that my size 42 jeans were not tight any more. Now I can wear 34's, and I have gotten down to 32's when I got my weight down to 206. But so far I have not found that weight very sustainable.