My clients and I have gone the whole route, from relying upon shakes as a staple in the diet, to using them as just a supplement.
I've come to the conclusion that there's absolutely no substitute for a properly planned whole meal. So, whole meals ought to be the foundation to your diet.
However, life just isn't that simple. There are unavoidable situations when you don't have the time or place to eat a whole meal, or a meal that is properly balanced with respect to your targetted basic macros(protein, carbs, and healthy fats). So, in order to stay on target with your diet, a shake is the solution, because you can customize it to meet your need.
Let's look at a few possible situations:
1. Breakfast. You'd rather sleep as late as you can and just gulp down your first meal of the day. In that case, it's a shake for you. Protein powder, raw oatmeal, and olive oil(or macadamia nut oil) blended together and you have a perfect meal to start your day.
2. You get invited out to lunch and you end up at a restaurant where there isn't enough protein on the menu for you(unless you eat like two portions, in which case your meal will cost a fortune!). Solution is for you to dump two scoops of protein in water and drink it down, once you get back to your office from lunch out.
3. You are on a serious bulking diet and your daily macro target is so huge that, if you ate it all in solid food, your food bill would be astronomical, or you would have to spend all day chewing all that food down. In this case, you eat a properly planned reasonable solid meal, then you supplement it with a shake which has been proportioned with the right macros to supplement the meal up to your design target.
One thing to avoid at all costs is the prepackaged dry shake. That stuff is pure crap and you must keep it out of your body. They typically contain poor quality protein, simple carbs that make you fat, and poor quality fats that will clog up your arteries.
The best quality shake on earth is one you can make yourself, and it's sooo simple. You buy a good quality protein powder(my favorite with the best price/quality ratio is Optimum) online(
www.advantagesupplements.com). Combine it with raw whole oatmeal and extra virgin olive oil or macadamia nut oil. This allows you total control over the 3 basic macros to achieve your meal target, and all the ingredients are super healthy and LOW cost.
One final hint: you often need to take a shake with you, but dry. Since you are using raw whole oatmeal, it's not possible to blend it together to make a smooth product, on the fly. So here's what to do:
Portion out the oatmeal you require as the carb macro. Put it, dry, into a blender or food processor. Run the machine, and the oatmeal will be reduced to a dry powder. Dump it into a shaker bottle, along with the portioned-out protein powder and oil. Then, at mealtime, just add water, shake, and you are done.
Oh, and while you are at it, give the finger to the supplement companies, who charge massive amounts of money for their pre-packaged dry shakes, which are pure garbage!
