Sunbasket Review: How it Works and Is It Worth It?

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Sunbasket is a weekly meal kit delivery service suited for a variety of lifestyles and dietary preferences.

However, you may wonder how Sunbasket compares with other popular meal kit delivery services.

This article provides a detailed Sunbasket review on how it works and its pros and cons to help you determine whether it’s right for you.

How it works

Sunbasket is a subscription-based meal kit delivery service that accommodates a variety of tastes and lifestyles.

Here’s how the program works:

1. Choose your plan

Begin by creating an account through Sunbasket’s website or app.

From there, you can choose a meal plan that best describes you and your taste buds.

Sunbasket currently offers the following dietitian-approved meal plans:

• Paleo: Hunter-gather-approved meals with more meat and veggies and fewer carbs.
• Gluten-free: Meals for people who are gluten intolerant.
• Diabetes-friendly: Meals with plenty of fiber from whole grains, beans, fruits, and veggies.
• Vegetarian: Meatless meals with fresh, organic produce, dairy, and eggs.
• Mediterranean: Meals centered around plant-based foods with lean meats and fish.
• Carb-conscious: Meals with 35 grams of net carbs or fewer.
• Lean and clean: Plenty of protein and less than 600 calories per meal.
• Chef’s choice: Hand-picked recipes that emphasize peak seasonal organic produce, meats, and seafood.
• Pescatarian: Enjoy a variety of vegan and seafood dishes.
• Fresh and ready: Ready-to-heat prepared meals delivered fresh, not frozen.

Regardless of your meal plan, Sunbasket clearly lists the ingredients and nutrition information for each recipe.

The meal kits come in two and four servings whereas the fresh and ready meals come in single-servings.

Sunbasket requires a minimum of two dinners and four meals per week but you can select up to five dinners and 10 meals per week.

Each week, Sunbasket pre-selects meals for you based on your chosen meal plan, but you can always select your own meals if you don’t like any of the pre-selected ones.

2. Delivery

Sunbasket delivers your meal in an insulated box with ice packs to keep your meals cold.

Although you don’t have to be home at the time of delivery, the sooner you can unbox and refrigerate the ingredients, the better.

You can recycle the box and most of the packaging or visit the Sunbasket website for clever ideas on how to reuse the materials (1).

3. Cook and enjoy

Each meal comes with an easy-to-follow recipe.

Sunbasket recommends eating any meal kits with fresh seafood first, followed by any fresh and ready meals.

They also recommend eating pre-prepared meal kits before the classic meal kits.

The meal kits take 15–40 minutes to cook and the fresh and ready meals can be ready in as little as three minutes.

For the meal kits, you’ll need basic cooking ware such as pots, pans, bowls, a cutting board, and chef knife as well as cooking oil, salt, and pepper — Sunbasket handles the rest.

Some recipes call for optional recipe items like wine or butter.

You have the choice of using a microwave or the oven to heat the fresh and ready meals.

Pros

Sunbasket offers several benefits that other meal kit delivery services may be lacking.

Plenty of organic offerings

Sunbasket strives to deliver a minimum of 99% United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)–certified organic fresh produce, eggs, milk, and yogurt.

Additionally, Sunbasket only works with ingredient suppliers who raise their animals responsibly and sustainably.

Menu flexibility

Sunbasket allows you to customize the protein offering for most meals.

For example, instead of chicken, you can choose seafood, beef, lamb, pork, or tofu.

You can also vary the type or cut of protein.

So instead of salmon, you can choose halibut, barramundi, pollock, or snapper, or instead of chicken thighs, you can opt for chicken breasts.

Fresh and ready meals

Some days the last thing you feel like doing is cooking — and that’s OK.

Instead of grabbing a pizza or swinging by a fast-food drive-through, Sunbasket offers fresh and ready meals that you can simply heat and eat, unlike other meal kit subscription services like Green Chef.

Some fresh and ready meals can be frozen for later. The cooking instructions will tell you which ones you can freeze.

Lots of add-ons

In addition to a variety of meal plans to choose from, Sunbasket offers dozens of add-ons.

Here are a few add-ons offered by Sunbasket:

• oatmeal and granola
• breads and spreads
• grab-n-go bars
• smoothies
• coffee
• salad and dressings
• ready-to-eat and fresh proteins
• pizza and empanadas
• grain and noodle bowls
• soups and broths
• veggies and dips

Other meal delivery services offer add-ons, but Sunbasket’s selection of add-ons to choose from is easily the most extensive.

Easy to cancel and flexible subscription model

Sunbasket comes with no commitment and you can cancel anytime if you determine it’s not right for you.

Sunbasket also offers a 100% money-back guarantee if you’re unsatisfied with your order as long as you contact them within seven days of delivery.

Instead of canceling, you can also skip one or several weeks. You can also change your delivery frequency to bimonthly or monthly if you prefer fewer deliveries.

Cons

While Sunbasket offers several pros, there are some potential cons to consider.

Not for people with severe food allergies

Like Purple Carrot and most other meal kit delivery services, Subasket recipes are packed in a facility that handles major food allergens.

So while Sunbasket offers gluten-free recipes, they are prepared in the same facility that processes recipes that contain gluten.

Due to the risk of cross-contact, Sunbasket recommends that you don’t order from them if you have a serious food allergy like celiac disease.

More costly than its competitors

Starting at $10.99 per serving, Sunbasket’s meal kits are priced higher than other meal kit delivery services like HelloFresh.

The cost of Sunbasket meals kits increases if you opt for organic proteins rather than their conventional counterparts and if you order two instead of four servings per meal.

Fresh and ready meals start at $11.99 per serving but the cost decreases with the more meals your order per week.

But for some people, this added cost may be a small price to pay for Sunbasket’s organic ingredients and commitment to sustainability and sourcing the most responsibly raised meat, poultry, and seafood possible.

Potentially fewer delivery days

Sunbasket allows most people to choose their delivery day Sunday through Thursday, but depending on where you live, you may have limited delivery days to choose from.

Currently, Sunbasket ships to most United States zip codes, except for Arkansas, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, and parts of New Mexico.

A final look

Sunbasket delivers fresh, mostly organic pre-portioned ingredients that you can turn into delicious, dietitian-approved meals within 15–40 minutes.

If you don’t feel like cooking, you can enjoy fresh and ready meals that only require a few minutes in the microwave — or longer if you prefer to use an oven.

Sunbasket holds a strong commitment to sustainable ingredient sourcing and responsibly-raised meats while offering customizable meals, a huge selection of add-ons, and a flexible subscription model.

However, Sunbasket is more costly than its competitors and you may have limited delivery days to choose from depending on where you live.

Additionally, to avoid the risk of cross-contact, you should avoid ordering Sunbasket if you have a severe food allergy.

The bottom line

Sunbasket is a weekly subscription meal kit service that provides healthy, delicious meals that fit nearly any lifestyle.

The benefits of Sunbasket include its fresh, organic ingredients, customizable menu, a library of add-ons, and flexible subscription model.

Compared with other meal kit delivery services, however, Sunbasket is more costly and may offer fewer delivery days to choose from, depending on where you live.

Weigh both the pros and cons of Sunbasket so you can determine whether it’s right for you.