We live in an innovative world where we can get nearly any item delivered directly to our doorstep. Whether you lack time to go grocery shopping or are a novice cook, meal delivery kits have never been more popular. Unfortunately, while they can make eating healthy easy, not all services use quality ingredients or end up saving you time.
Sunbasket claims they offer healthy, delicious meals that are ready in as little as 3 minutes. The brand is a certified organic handler, allowing all subscribers to enjoy fresh organic produce and clean ingredients. Sunbasket also provides customizable meals to suit the needs of almost any lifestyle.
We put it to the test to see whether Sunbasket meal kits can deliver healthy and convenient meals. Here’s what we found.
We tested Sunbasket meal kits for several weeks, selecting new menu items for each week. Our tester is sensitive to eggs and gluten, so we customized our meal plan to fit those needs.
Sunbasket is a meal delivery service with two meal options — meal kits or fresh-and-ready meals. When choosing the meal kit, you’ll receive all the ingredients needed to make a dinner delivered right to your front door. The fresh-and-ready option includes single-serving meals already prepared and ready to heat up in the microwave or oven.
Food subscription boxes save you the time and hassle of meal planning and shopping at the grocery store. Busy professionals enjoy eating healthy meals without going grocery shopping, while new cooks appreciate the step-by-step instructions while learning to make meals.
We found the meal kit option to be highly customizable. You start by choosing your diet, such as vegetarian, gluten-free, diabetes-friendly or no special diet requirements. In addition to the diet specifications, there is also a place to select meal preferences, like high-protein, low-sodium, dairy-free and avoid shellfish.
Next, you’ll choose how many people are at your table and how many dinners you would like per week. All that’s left is to browse their Sunbasket menu and select the exact meal kits you want to eat. An example of a few offered dinners includes tomato-braised chicken with sweet potato and chard, spicy kung pao chicken with cashews and black rice and pesto alla trapanese with fresh fusilli and an Italian salad.
Your Sunbasket kit will arrive at the beginning of the week packed with ice to keep the food at a safe temperature. The meals are separated and labeled, so you can easily find the ingredients for each dinner. A card with clear instructions is included in every meal outlining tips for each step. Some meals are quicker to prepare than others, but most meals are ready in 40 minutes or less.
You’ll be able to choose the meals you want every week, and if you miss the cutoff date, they will randomly select two Sunbasket meals on your behalf. You also have the option of skipping a week or changing the address if you’ll be somewhere else. Canceling the subscription is easy and can be done at any time.
One of the main reasons people sign up for meal delivery subscriptions is to save time. However, some meal delivery services come with lengthy instructions that end up not saving you any time. Sunbasket claims their meals are ready in minutes. The fresh-and-ready meals are prepared in as little as six minutes, while the meal kits supposedly take between 15-40 minutes.
Another key feature of Sunbasket is their promise that quality is in their nature, from organic fresh produce to responsibly sourced proteins. Their chefs strive to deliver a minimum of 99% USDA-certified organic fresh produce, eggs, milk and yogurt. Also, the company claims that the farmers and ranchers who work with Sunbasket raise their animals with respect, care and without hormones or antibiotics.
We appreciate that Sunbasket is its focus on sustainability. In addition to their packaging being almost entirely recyclable and compostable, they also source their seafood sustainably.
Sunbasket offers meals for any lifestyle, including paleo, lean and clean, vegetarian, gluten-free, carb-conscious, pescatarian and diabetes-friendly.
Sunbasket meal kits cost $8.99-$13.99 per serving. The cost depends on the customizations and the number of meals bought at a time.
For example, a gluten-free meal plan for two people containing two dinners per week is four servings, costing $55.96 or $13.99 per serving. If you choose four dinners per week for two people, the cost per serving decreases to $11.99 per serving. Shipping costs $7.99 per shipment, although it’s usually waived for your first order.
You can sign up for a Sunbasket meal delivery subscription directly from Sunbasket.
Overall, we are impressed with Sunbasket meal kits. They cater to so many diet lifestyles and have extensive customizations. It was easy for us to eat gluten-free and egg sensitive. We appreciate that Sunbasket provides a large number of recipe choices from a variety of cuisines.
Preparing the meals is simple, and none of the dinners took us longer than 30 minutes to make. We like knowing we are eating quality ingredients, and we also appreciate the recyclable packaging.
While we think the portions are perfect and left us satisfied without feeling too stuffed, the amount of food may not be appropriate for people who prefer larger meal sizes or want leftovers. Additionally, the produce wasn’t as fresh as we would have liked, and we could have used more seasoning on a few of the meal choices.
Based on our experience, we think Sunbasket meal kits deliver healthy and convenient meals. They save time, effort and make eating healthy effortless. Sunbasket offers a plethora of dinner choices, and we enjoyed every meal we tried.
We recommend Sunbasket meal delivery kits to those who enjoy cooking a few nights per week and want to eat healthier but don’t have the time to go grocery shopping.
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Bre Richey writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
