We cooked from the Sun Basket meal kit. Here’s what you need to know
Meal kit services have been around for years, but there are so many options that it can be overwhelming to figure out which one to choose. To help cut through the noise, I tried nine different meal kits that cater to various types of home chefs so you don't have to. I’ll be posting an honest review about my experience with a different meal kit every Monday.
We don't always have time to make complete and nutritious meals filled with a bounty of organic ingredients, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. Meal kit delivery services are making dinner more accesible, but if you want a kit that sells itself on the quality of its ingredients ingredients, consider Sun Basket. The company sends organic ingredients and accompanying recipes straight to your door for a weekly cost and you can cancel at any time. I recently tried one week's worth of Sun Basket's meals; this is what I thought.
Sun Basket Details
Sun Basket touts its organic, fresh and healthy ingredients. Its meal kit prices start at $59.95, which includes shipping and two recipes that serve two people. However, the price per serving decreases when you add more recipes and servings to your order, which is beneficial for families.
If you have a restrictive diet, Sun Basket is a great meal kit to start with. The service offers a variety of meal plan options including vegetarian, paleo, gluten free, carb conscious, pescatarian, diabetes friendly and more. Customers can choose a specific meal plan or mix and match any of Sun Basket’s weekly recipes, regardless of what meal plan they select during signup.
Sun Basket Experience
SunBasket’s menu is rife with fun and inventive recipes. Rather than the usual meal kit delivery selections like burgers, meat and potatoes and pasta, Sun Basket has globally-inspired meals.
After scrolling through the menu, I decided to try cauliflower macaroni and cheese; Mediterranean turkey kababs with carrot and squash ribbons; and tempeh burrito bowls with basmati rice, black beans and guacamole.
The box arrived in good condition, and the ingredients were still cold upon arrival. Each recipe had its own brown paper bag for the ingredients. One thing to note about the packaging is that ingredients like carrots and zucchini are wrapped individually in plastic, which seems unnecessary. But the service does provide a booklet with helpful information on how to recycle the kit.
The recipe cards are small and come without photos for the ingredients, and the directions are printed in a small font that made the cards difficult to read. However, the recipes were simple enough to execute and the listed cook times were accurate. For most recipes, you’ll need salt, pepper and olive oil. The required kitchen appliances are the usual suspects like a frying pan and small pot, but I did need a fine-mesh strainer for the tempeh bowls and a vegetable peeler for the turkey kebabs.
The recipes come with pre-prepared components, such as the guacamole for the tempeh bowls and the lemon tahini dressing for the turkey kebabs. Although I didn’t learn much in terms of technique, the limited prep saved me time during the cooking process and cleanup.
Be sure to pay close attention to the lightning bolt symbols under Sun Basket’s online recipes. The site labels its recipes with things like “Speedy,” “Fresh & Ready” and “Pre-Prepared.” This wasn’t clear to me when selecting my meals for the week, so I was disappointed when the cauliflower macaroni and cheese arrived as a “Fresh & Ready” dish. All I had to do was stick it in the oven or microwave, which was convenient, but the resulting dish was soggy and overloaded with cheese.
If you’re someone who wants to eat healthier and include organic ingredients in your cooking, Sun Basket is a great meal kit for you. I’d also recommend it to people with restricted diets who struggle to find an abundance of options on other meal kit sites. However, if you're more concerned about your fill of hearty American comfort foods and less interested in eating organic or adhering to a particular diet, SunBasket might not be the best option.
For more meal kit inspiration, also see my review of Home Chef, Hello Fresh, Dinnerly, Blue Apron and Green Chef.
Disclosure: The meal kit was provided by the company, but all opinions are honest and belong solely to the reviewer.
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