Is This Celeb-Beloved Meal Delivery Service Worth the $400 Price Tag?
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Pros:
Low-maintenance meals with little to no cooking
Easy delivery system
Nutrient-dense foods
Cons:
May not be filling enough for some
Pricey
Healthy cooking is nice in theory, but whipping up a nutritious (and tasty) dinner at the end of a long day is daunting. No wonder “girl dinner”—creating a meal out of a few light snacks—is trending on TikTok. Meal prepping is a great idea, but an even easier option is a meal delivery service, with ready-made food sent straight to your doorstep. In the world of healthy meal delivery brands, there’s one you’ve likely seen over and over on Instagram, and beloved of the likes of Bella Hadid and Gwyneth Paltrow: Sakara Life.
The organic, wellness-focused meal delivery service was first launched in 2013 by Whitney Tingle and Danielle DuBoise. Tingle and DuBoise were ahead of the time when they integrated plant-based foods and gut-friendly ingredients into Sakara Life’s meals. The company is also good at collaborating with other cool-girl brands in its orbit, like Hadid’s Kin Euphorics or, most recently, fashion brand La Ligne for Sakara’s Fall Reset program.
The menu changes weekly, featuring creative and colorful dishes like almond and cacao-chip waffles and root vegetable enchiladas; there’s even a plant-based take on the lobster salad from Hamptons mainstay Duryea’s Montauk, using hearts of palm. Plus, there are a slew of programs to choose from—ranging from the Metabolism Reset to the Gut Health Reboot to the brand’s original Signature plan. The big caveat: A five-day meal plan, consisting of three meals a day, starts at upward of $400.
Four Bazaar editors each put a Sakara Life meal plan to the test, ahead.
Signature Nutrition Program
Jenna Rosenstein, beauty director
How I Tested
I’ve been plant-based for nearly eight years—and I love to tinker with vegan recipes in the kitchen—so I consider myself a connoisseur of plant-forward food. I’ve tried Sakara several times over the last few years, and I am always pleasantly surprised by how tasty and inventive the meals are. I don’t have much time to cook and prep food these days with my one-year-old son in tow, so having grab-and-go options in the fridge for a week was such a treat.
I did not follow the plan perfectly, to be honest, and I mixed and matched some of the food with some extra snacks throughout the day. I’ve struggled with disordered eating in the past, so I think it’s so important to go into a week of Sakara with the mindset of abundance. It’s about adding more plants to your daily diet, not eliminating any calories or options. If I still felt a little peckish after a meal—I ate more!
Ease of Use
Almost everything Sakara makes is ready-to-eat, but some of the meals required a quick warm on the stove or in the toaster oven. I preferred the salads over the other meals because I didn’t need to prep anything, and they were also so rich in varied ingredients that I would never typically buy or use in a salad. I think Sakara’s salads are its best option. The bars they offer as a snack aren’t my favorite, but they’re nice to throw in a handbag just in case you get hangry on the go.
Price/Value
The one big drawback with Sakara is the price: $400/week is way more than my usual grocery budget, especially since I felt the need to still have other snacks and meals on hand. Sakara does offer a few customizable or lower-cost options—like just lunch or dinners. But if you really want to turn off your brain for a week and just eat whatever Sakara tells you to—I get it. You pay for that luxury!
Verdict
Sakara Life meals are delicious, inventive, and give plant-based eating a good reputation. A Sakara shipment would make an amazing gift for new moms in any stage of their postpartum journey.
Gut Health Reboot
Katie Intner, associate beauty editor
How I Tested
Any meal that comes directly to my door is a win in my book. So I scrapped my existing meal plan (a.k.a. a few 30-minute dinners composed mostly of Trader Joe’s ingredients) for five days and decided I would eat only Sakara Life meals. As a vegetarian, I was thrilled to find out the meals are all plant-based.
Although the delivery comes with a scheduled meal plan, outlining which day each meal should be consumed, I mixed and matched the lunches and dinners depending on what I was in the mood for. The meal plan didn’t just come with five days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Alongside were pre-packaged probiotic supplements to take each day, plus a Detox Protein Super Bar. One of my favorite add-ons was the Beauty Water Drops, which include trace minerals to support the body and skin, boasting a light rose essence that made reaching my water goals a breeze.
Ease of Use
It doesn't get simpler than pre-made meals waiting for you in the fridge. Most of the breakfasts came ready-to-eat, while some of the launches and a majority of the dinners had low-maintenance instructions (think heating the meal in a pan for five minutes). While I consider myself a decent cook, the creativity in the Sakara meals is the biggest draw for me. I love the unique types of dishes, such as the cashew beet ravioli and Thai veggie burger, that make plant-based food a bit more exciting. I didn’t love the taste of the Super Bars I got, so I cheated and opted for mixed nuts I had at home or a different healthy snack that wouldn’t derail my nutritious week.
Price/Value
While Sakara Life is steeply priced at over $400, it’s a nice luxury to have once in a while. I don’t think it’s practical for every week, but after a vacation or for a healthy reset after eating out for days on end, it’s a great tool to get back on track.
Verdict
Training myself not to reach for a rogue snack or meal was hard, but after a few days in, I got accustomed to the meal schedule. I personally would prefer adding in an extra snack between lunch and dinner, or making the dinner portion larger to offset the smaller lunch. In terms of how the meal plan supported my gut health and digestion, I found myself to be less bloated, whether that was from the smaller meals or the unprocessed ingredients.
Metabolism Reset
Jamie Wilson, contributing beauty editor
How I Tested
I opted into the Metabolism Reset plan, and I will be the first to say I took creative license with the instructions. While I drank the teas and ate the lunch and dinner options that were provided, I wasn’t a big fan of the breakfast shake powder, the Metabolism Protein Super Bar, the Foundation daily supplement, or the Beauty Water Drops. So I chose to cut those from my plan.
Ease of Use
The five-day program was simple because the meals were delivered to my door in two different shipments, to ensure they were fresh throughout the duration of the plan. In each box was a slip of paper listing the meals for each day, so you already knew what was up for lunch and dinner. There was also little to no prep involved with the creation of the meals. Super easy to follow.
Price/Value
The one-week Metabolism Reset program includes five days of meals and seven days of wellness essentials. At $460, I think it’s a little pricey for most people.
Verdict
This was my first time trying out a wellness meal plan. Although I didn’t follow it exactly, there were some things like that I really liked, including how easy the process was and not having to think about meal planning. My current lifestyle leans more pescatarian, so even though I enjoyed some of the meals, they weren’t items I would stick to long-term, since they appeared to mainly be vegan. But even with my preference tweaks, I still felt that overall, my metabolism and digestion did show signs of improvement. Would I try out a nutrition program again? Probably not—I’ve learned that it’s not my thing, unless I get to really tailor it. But I would definitely sprinkle some of Sakara’s products into my current lifestyle and dietary choices.
Gut Health Reboot
Tiffany Dodson, associate beauty commerce editor
How I Tested
As a big fan of organic and farm-to-table food, I was excited to give Sakara Life’s Gut Health Reboot meal plan a try. Just like the rest of the beauty team, I received my curated snacks and meals in direct, insulated shipments at my house. In addition to food, my plan also included the brand’s Beauty Water Drops, detox tea, and a number of supplements to enhance the experience, plus a gut health program guide written with Sakara Life’s in-house nutritionist. Over the course of a week, I ate meals like plant-based granola, zucchini muffins, beet and cashew cheese ravioli, and more. I also tried to keep up with the brand’s daily supplement recommendations, but since I’m notoriously bad at swallowing pills, I gave myself some grace and skipped a few days.
Ease of Use
The plan is pretty straightforward—it literally tells you what to eat and when—so following along day to day was fairly simple. And since each item was nicely packaged in a travel-friendly container, taking my lunch to work was a breeze.
Price/Value
Full disclosure: Sakara Life’s meal plans aren’t cheap. Seven days on the Gut Health Reboot plan will run you close to $600. The base price is a little jarring at first, but ultimately I’d say you get what you pay for. Unlike other meal plans I’ve tried in the past, Sakara uses only premium plant-based ingredients, with offerings each day consisting of breakfast, lunch, dinner, smoothies, and extras like nutritionist-approved protein bars. If you have a little wiggle room in your budget, I think the Gut Health Reboot plan is worth trying.
Verdict
While it was tough to completely give up on junk food, even for a limited time (though I still snuck in a few morning vanilla lattes), I could feel a distinct difference in my body once a week on the plan commenced. Admittedly, I wasn’t a fan of all of the meals I tried, but the majority of them were fresh and nuanced enough to keep me interested. I’m already a pescatarian, but testing a full-fledged vegetarian diet made me even more excited to lean further into a plant-based lifestyle.
Final rating: 4.0
According to BAZAAR editors, Sakara Life is great as a meal plan leading up to a big event or when your body needs a reset after a long weekend of eating out. However, you can see the benefits and enjoy the meals without having the plan on a weekly basis, and it is not a necessity. But every once a while, the comforting and nourishing meals are the perfect treat.
To find out more about Sakara Life's meal plans, plus shop snacks and supplements, go to Sakara.com.
You Might Also Like
