Sunbasket meal kit - they have a higher pricepoint than others. Are they worth it? My honest opinion as a Registered Dietitian and nutrition coach.

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this reviews, or given free product; I do have an affiliate code if you decide you’d like to try Sun Basket, which would get you $40 off your first order.

Overview:

Sun Basket is a meal delivery service that has both meal kits and heat/eat meals. All produce is organic, and meats are raised without hormones or antibiotics. Organic meats are available for a slight upcharge.

Meals tend to be mostly protein and vegetables with a sauce. Most are fairly low in carbs, although not keto by any means. I found most of the meals were roughly in line with Whole 30 and Paleo but could always be tweaked a bit for specific needs.

Nutrition is huge here. Each meal has a TON of vegetables (easily 2-3 servings). Most meals have 10g of fiber, half of the recommended 20g in a day for the average person. This would make a big difference for the average American who does not get enough vegetables in their day.

Price Breakdown:

Pricing recently increased due to rising food costs as of November 2021, so this might be higher than you’ve seen on other reviews.

For 2 people, 4 meals a week: $12.49 per serving plus $9.99 shipping. So for the week, that was about $110 for our meals.

I’ve noticed several credit card companies have a deal for cashback with Sunbasket which stacks with any other promotion codes. They don’t always have it - but I often see 10% extra cash back.

Other Costs:

• Sunbasket lets you substitute proteins which is great if you want a different choice or if you are vegetarian/vegan. Some of the proteins have a higher price, some do not. For example, usually swapping pork for chicken is free, but fish is an added cost.

• There are usually a few “chef’s choice” options each week that have a higher add on price per meal, so meals end up being $20 per serving or similar for snapper or fillet mignon or lamb chops. I haven’t done any of these - if I’m spending that kind of money I’ll eat out.

• There are also add ons available. We really liked the crab cakes, they were AMAZING and worth the money. They have continued to expand this line, including salads and soups as well as egg bites, pasta and sauces. I could see getting all of your weekly food from Sunbasket if you wanted to.

Ordering Process and Menu

The menu is pretty varied compared to other services. 20 meal options for meal kits, and then another dozen or so heat/eat options. Combine that with the option to choose a different protein to change things up, there is ample variety.

Vegetarian/Vegan? Lots of options. You can even take an option with meat and sub tofu instead

Gluten Free? Most meals are gluten free

Dairy Free? Very few meals have dairy

Skipping is pretty easy. I tend to skip all future weeks so that I don’t get surprised by a charge and order I didn’t expect.

Menus are available to select up to 3 weeks in advance, so you could go in once every 2-3 weeks and make your selections easily for several weeks at a time. You can skip weeks further ahead than this (another 3 weeks) so you can skip weeks without a meal plan ahead of time if you are worried you’ll forget.

Ease of Cooking:

Nothing fancy here. They spell everything out, and only expect you to provide salt, pepper, water and cooking oil. Recipes take the time that is advertised which is refreshing from some other services that like to fib.

There are instructions for ways that kids can help with cooking (for example for the recipe above kids can scrub the carrots, stir the dressing, assemble the salad, and dollop the dressing on the kebabs)

The one thing that is confusing is that there are cooking instructions for each type of protein that could possibly be included in the meal. This can lead to meandering directions.

I have only tried one fresh and ready meal (heat and eat) and it tasted really good! That was the spicy southwestern turkey and sweet potato skillet.

Grading Time!

Customization…….A

Delivery/Packaging…….C

Nutritional Value…….A

Price…….$13.75/serving (inc shipping)

Flavor…….B

Texture…….A

Ease of Cooking…….B

Meal Variety…….A

Final thoughts: I really like Sunbasket. I’ll continue to order it a few weeks a month. This is, at the moment, my go to meal service. Meals are fairly quick to make, taste great, and have a high nutritional value.

I will be trying more of Sunbasket’s heat and eat meals since I didn’t try too many of them for this review, so be on the lookout for that!

If you liked this review and want to try Sunbasket, use my referral code to get $40 off your first box.

Check out my other reviews for Freshly, Hello Fresh, and Gobble

I didn’t take pictures of all the meals we got. For those I didn’t, here are my brief ratings:

1. Yucatecan salmon with tomatillo verde sauce and zucchini—4.5/5

2. Mu shu bowls with shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, and hoisin sauce. AMAZING! —5/5

3. Curried pork with roasted root vegetables and apple-ginger mostarda. I think we overcooked the pork—3.5/5

4. Eggs in purgatory on spicy mushroom and kale hash. This one was better than I thought it would be!— 4/5

5. Yucatecan sopa de lima with shredded chicken. We didn’t like this one at all, got partially thrown out—1/5

6. Larb lettuce cups with carrots, tomato, and fresh mint. I still don’t know what larb is but it was good.—4/5

7. Egg roll in a bowl with stir-fried mushrooms, carrots, and cabbage. I never like egg roll in a bowl meals I don’t know why I thought it would be different this time.—3/5

8. Curry noodle bowls with broccoli leaves and bell pepper. This would have been way better with half the noodles because the sauce got stretched too thin— 3.5/5

9. Spicy Southwestern turkey and sweet potato skillet. So good!— 5/5