As a health-focused writer who balances multiple jobs, I’ve leaned on meal kit delivery services to cut down my trips to the grocery store, reduce my personal food waste, and save time cooking and prepping. After being disappointed by the waning quality and nutrition in some other meal kits I subscribed to, I was interested in trying out Sunbasket, which prides itself on being more intentional about thoughtfully sourcing ingredients than competitors.
How I Tested
For this review, I followed our meal-kit buying guide, based on criteria recommended by dietitians. I ordered three Sunbasket meals over the course of one week, each of which had two servings. I selected a mix of non-vegetarian meals, some of which were entirely new to my palate.
My menu: Turkey meatball lettuce cups with Buffalo sauce and carrot slaw, spicy chicken tinga tacos with black beans and pico de gallo, and sole baja fish taco bowls with green goddess slaw and tomato salsa. The turkey meatball lettuce cups and baja fish taco bowls were prepared and cooked by me, while the chicken tinga tacos came mostly premade—all I had to do was cook the meat and heat up the beans and sauce.
Below, find my full Sunbasket review after whipping up these meals, including my thoughts and feelings about how easy it is to use, affordability, taste, and more.
Customization
This is where Sunbasket shines. I’ve tried a handful of other meal delivery kit companies, and when it comes to customization, I’ve seen two things: 1) There is little—if any—ability to customize based on dietary restrictions and preferences, or 2) The user interface is so confusing that it makes you not even want to customize. I was thrilled to find that Sunbasket is clear and easy to follow. The first page of Sunbasket’s ordering system has you check off any diets you follow, like gluten-free, Paleo, vegetarian, Meditteranean, and pescatarian. Then, there’s a section where you check off dietary preferences like high fiber, soy-free, low added sugar, pork-free, dairy-free, and more.
What’s more, once you begin to choose your meals, you can pick from traditional meal kit meals (where you cook and prepare everything), pre-prepped meals (where ingredients come pre-chopped, and sauces come pre-made), and Fresh & Ready meals (which are prepared meals that just require reheating). My only issue here is that despite choosing to avoid shellfish, beef, and pork, meals containing those ingredients still populated when I went to choose my dinners.
For an additional cost, you can pick add-ons for your box, which include aesthetically pleasing, Whole Foods-esque groceries, plus pre-prepped small meals and snacks like smoothies, soups, egg bites, and falafel.
Affordability
The meals I could choose from cost between $12 and $17 per serving (with two servings per meal). The total cost for my box was just over $90, for three meals with two servings, or six meals total—if your serving sizes align with Sunbasket’s (mine did not—more on that later). The fine print said that my subscription could cost between $68 and $120 per week.