Sun Basket Review: A Dietitian’s Expert Take

Sun Basket is a meal kit service that’s focused on high quality ingredients and convenience.

Offering a variety of meals produced using organic, sustainably sourced ingredients, Sun Basket may be a simple solution for busy, health-conscious consumers.

However, there are several drawbacks to consider as well, and it may not be a great choice for everyone.

This article takes an in-depth look at Sun Basket and whether you should give it a try.

Sun Basket offers a range of options to get started, making it easy to find something that works for you.

In fact, you can select from several meal plans to receive customized menu recommendations, including:

Even if you select from one of the meal plans above, you can still customize your weekly menu by mixing and matching with other recipes.

To get started, you simply choose two to four dinners from the weekly menu.

Meals typically include premeasured ingredients and are often already prepared or oven-ready.

While all dinners can be cooked and served in less than 30 minutes, there are also several “speedy” options available, which are ready to enjoy in less than 20 minutes.

Add-ons, including breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, are available for an additional fee as well.

There are a variety of dinner recipes available each week, including vegetarian options, seafood dishes, and meat or poultry meals.

With pasta dishes, curries, tacos, pilafs, paellas, and quinoa bowls, there are plenty of options to tailor to your taste buds.

Recipes can also be filtered to show “speedy” options that are ready in 20 minutes or less, meals that are less than 600 calories, and dishes that are diabetes-friendly, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, or vegan.

Breakfast options consist of mostly ready-to-eat meals like egg bites, yogurt, oatmeal, protein bars, juices, and smoothies.

Similarly, lunches include portable soups, microwaveable meals, cooked proteins, and tortillas and breads.

They also offer prepackaged snacks like veggies, crackers, nuts, chocolate bars, and jerky.

Sun Basket prioritizes high quality, sustainable ingredients and estimates that 99% of the produce that they ship is organic.

What’s more, they currently use only organic milk, yogurt, eggs, and tofu.

In terms of seafood, Sun Basket uses wild-caught seafood that the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, an organization that promotes sustainable seafood, considers either “Best Choice” or “Good Alternative.”

Sun Basket’s meat and poultry are also antibiotic- and hormone-free, and their lamb is always pasture-raised.

Organic and/or grass-fed meat and poultry is also available for select recipes.

All Sun Basket recipes are created by Chef Justin Kelly and designed to be both delicious and nutritious.

In fact, Sun Basket uses house-made spice blends and sauces in their recipes, which helps amplify their flavors.

They also prioritize seasonal ingredients, which can help ensure freshness and promote sustainability.

To maximize the freshness of your meal, orders are shipped in an insulated package, and meats are frozen in airtight bags.

You can also select a preferred day for your weekly delivery, which can ensure that you’re able to refrigerate ingredients promptly once they arrive.

All of the meals provided by Sun Basket can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, making it a great option if you’re running short on time during the week.

They also offer several meals that are oven-ready or preprepared, with some dishes requiring as few as 6 minutes to prepare.

The recipes provided are also easy to follow and accompanied by simple instructions and step-by-step photos for a fool-proof meal.

Plus, most of the add-on breakfasts and lunches require little to no preparation and can be either microwaved or enjoyed as is.

Each shipment arrives in recyclable and compostable packaging.

However, individual ingredients may be enclosed in plastic bags or containers, which may or may not be recyclable depending on your location.

Instead of supplying individual recipe cards like other subscription services, Sun Basket includes a small booklet that contains all of the weekly recipes, along with step-by-step photos and instructions.

While some may appreciate having a few extra recipes to save for their collection, others may find this somewhat complicated and unnecessary.

Recipes are also available online, along with bonus content, such as homemade drinks, desserts, and videos.

Compared with its competitors, Sun Basket can be somewhat pricey, with meals ranging from $10.99–$12.99 per serving.

Selecting more recipes per week tends to be more affordable, but the cost can still add up pretty quickly.

Choosing 4 dinners per week with 4 servings each, for example, would cost about $175.

This is not including extra add-ons, such as breakfasts, lunches, or snacks, which could ramp up the price even more.

It also doesn’t include shipping, which costs a flat fee of $7.99 after your first box.

If you have any issues with your order, there are several options for contacting customer service.

In fact, you can easily email, call, or text a customer service representative during normal business hours Monday through Friday.

They also offer assistance and advice from customer experts and have a self-service section on their site to help resolve simple issues with ingredients or delivery.

Sun Basket also offers a money-back guarantee and promises a full refund if you’re dissatisfied with your order for any reason.

Sun Basket stands out from its competitors as one of the few meal delivery services that prioritizes high quality, organic, and sustainably sourced ingredients.

However, this also comes with a higher price tag. Hello Fresh, for example, starts at $8.99 per serving while Blue Apron starts at just $7.49.

Sun Basket recipes are also often quicker and more convenient than other services, with many meals arriving preprepared and ready to enjoy in less than 30 minutes.

Many other meal delivery services provide ingredients that haven’t been premeasured, cut, or cooked, meaning that some recipes can take up to an hour to prepare.

Additionally, while some other delivery services offer add-ons like wine pairings, smoothies, and snacks, Sun Basket is one of the few meal kits to offer extra meals like breakfast and lunch.

Sun Basket may be a good choice for health-conscious people who are short on time but still want to enjoy tasty, homemade meals using high quality ingredients.

Because it’s slightly more expensive than many other meal delivery services, it may not be the right fit for those on a tight budget or people who aren’t as concerned about eating only organic or sustainable ingredients.

Additionally, since many of the meals arrive oven-ready or preprepared, those who are looking to improve their cooking skills by using a meal kit may benefit from other services that require more hands-on preparation.

Finally, those with food allergies or celiac disease should be cautious when using Sun Basket, as foods are packaged in a facility that processes major food allergens, including gluten.

The options are also somewhat limited for those with certain dietary restrictions, which can make it challenging for those following a strict vegan, dairy-free, or ketogenic diet.

Sun Basket is a meal delivery service that offers flavorful, fresh, and healthy meals produced using mostly organic, sustainable ingredients.

While it’s a bit more pricey than other similar services, it offers a good variety of meals that are easy to prepare and can be customized to fit any diet.

Sun Basket may be worth a try for those who are looking to enjoy healthy, delicious meals with little time or effort required.

Get started with Sun Basket here.

Last medically reviewed on July 2, 2020

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