Sun Basket Meals: An Honest and Comprehensive Review
Disclaimer: As a review blog, we may get compensated for the products reviewed by the companies who produced them if purchased through affiliate links on the page. All of the products are tested thoroughly and only HONEST reviews are given. I am an independent blogger and all reviews are completed based on my own experience and personal opinions. Sun Basket no longer offers an affiliate program, so the previous links on this page have been removed, and I cannot provide a discount code for you.
Between working from home, chasing a toddler around, and trying to keep up with housework and cooking, we moms are just spent. That’s why I thought it’d be a fun experiment to check out a few different meal delivery services. I started this experiment with a box of four Sun Basket Meals.
What’s the short version of my honest review of Sun Basket meals? The food was fresh, organic, or sustainably sourced, and the meals were easy to cook and assemble, and they were delicious and adventurous! All four of my Sun Basket meals came in sustainable packaging that I was able to recycle or reuse.
If you’re looking at ordering Sun Basket on a regular basis, there are a number of customizable options to fit a wide variety of lifestyles. Whether you are gluten-free, paleo, keto, or low-calorie, there is plenty of food for you. There are even options for adding breakfast, lunch, and snacks to your order.
What Sun Basket Meals Did I Try?
A lot of things looked really good on the menu, so I ordered 4 meals for 2 adults.
- Salmon tacos with cabbage slaw and chipotle yogurt
- Souzoukaklia ground beef skewers with arugula-blueberry salad
- Mediterranean salmon with white-bean artichoke salad
- Seared steaks with roasted red pepper ajvar and cauliflower
My husband and I tend to eat a lot at dinner, but we both thought the portion sizes were all perfect. I was skeptical enough to add a few pantry items to our meals, but we honestly could have been good without. We also didn’t make any adjustments to any of the meals, just ordered them as is.
Salmon Tacos with Cabbage Slaw and Chipotle Yogurt
We could have upgraded the fish, but we ended up with skin-on Wild Alaskan salmon. That’s what we would have bought at the store, anyway, so why mess with it? That was easy enough to cook on the stovetop with a little salt and pepper.
This meal came with the slaw pre-shredded, the yogurt and salsa in cute little reusable jars, and a note telling me that since their carrots weren’t so good, they’d substituted in red cabbage. Not a big deal; I shredded in my own carrots just for fun.
The slaw was just cabbage, the carrots I added, salt and pepper, and a bit of cider vinegar (that also came in an adorable little jar). I made that first and let it sit in the fridge for a bit.
The corn tortillas were a real joy, though. They were handmade and a little rustic looking, but they cooked up so nicely. Using a cast iron skillet, I cooked the tortillas until bubbles formed and then flipped. I let them catch a bit of a char, and it set up the dish perfectly.
Looking at the ingredients, I thought we were going to need more, so I made black beans to go on the side. Like I said before, though, we had plenty to eat. My husband and I each had three full tacos with lots of salmon and slaw, drizzled in salsa and the yummy yogurt. There was even slaw leftover.
Souzoukaklia Ground Beef Skewers with Arugula-Blueberry Salad
We got this one because we love Greek food, and I cooked up pitas to go with it because, again, I didn’t think it would be filling enough. It turned out that I went berserk on the salad. I will literally be making this salad over and over for the rest of my life. It was sooooo good.
The salad is 5 ingredients. That’s it! You start with a base of arugula and sprinkle in fresh blueberries. Then, there’s a little bag of hazelnuts that I smashed with the underside of my salad bowl and tossed in.
The dressing is simple too. You slice a lemon in half and sear it until it’s good and warm through. I emulsified it with olive oil, but you could just as well squeeze on the juice and then drizzle in a bit of EVOO. Salt and pepper if you want, but I didn’t bother. This salad was already killing it for me.
For the Souzokaklia, I’ll be honest, I didn’t see much point in the skewers, so I ended up pulling them out before they even finished cooking. I also set my cast iron too hot, so they got a lot more color than I intended.
What I did love though was the flavor of the meat. There’s minced onion (which I will grate in the future), raisins, and a spice blend that includes cinnamon, cayenne, nutmeg, and coriander. It had some heat, and I didn’t expect that.
I think cinnamon and raisins in savory dishes are wildly underestimated. I will totally be making this whole dish again because the flavors were explosive and yet so simple. This was easily my favorite of the Sun Basket meals.
Mediterranean Salmon with White Bean-Artichoke Salad
This is another meal we picked because the salad sounded good. If I was thinking it through, I would probably not have salmon two nights in a week. This would also be really good with chicken breasts. The salmon was the same as the first night, and just as easy to cook. Just a little plan searing until the skin was crisp and the meat was flaky. Easy!
The salad was a little more work, but not all that much really. You slice the shallot and roughly chop the asparagus, no fancy knife work required. Sauté the shallot until a little golden. Then add in the artichokes and beans.
The dressing is partially mixed already in a super cute little jar (I love the jars… they’re perfect for homemade lip glosses or keeping spice mixes). It was dijon, cornichons, capers, and dill. That was mixed with lemon juice and olive oil.
A little parsley to finish, and that was the salad. I thought it was good warm, but I’d totally fridge it and serve it for a picnic side. Seriously, it was so easy even though it looks like a lot of steps. And it was both decadent from the shallot and dressing and fresh from the parsley and lemon.
Seared Steaks with Roasted Red Pepper Ajvar and Cauliflower
We honestly do not eat this much red meat. It’s expensive and we just don’t keep it for ourselves. So, having it twice in a week? Oh, that was special. This meal was especially nice because it was a fancy steak dinner with the side dish and sauce already prepped for us.
I dried the steaks with a paper towel and generously seasoned them with coarse salt and cracked pepper. As an extra step, I set them aside and let them come to room temperature with the seasoning. This is supposed to help the meat get tender. Then, I just cooked them on a cast-iron skillet for about 3 minutes on each side. I set them on each plate to rest while I heated the vegetables.
Since a flavorful fond had developed on the cast iron from the steaks, I used it again for my veggies. The mix included cauliflower, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, and sliced almonds.
The almonds browned and become fragrant. The grape tomatoes became sweeter, and the cauliflower took on some color as well. All of this sweet nutty goodness was pierced by the brine of those gorgeous olives.
This was all paired with an ajvar sauce, which is pronounced, “Ay-var.” This is a revelation. It’s fruity, salty, and a little bit smoky. I am presently looking for a recipe so I can make this on my own.
My Favorite Things About My Sun Basket Meals
The absolutely best part of this was trying new and different combinations of flavors. I would never have made the arugula-blueberry salad on my own, but it’s just so simple! I can make that again on my own any time.
And I am serious about the ajvar sauce. If I ever find that recipe, I’ll post it here. It was so stinking delicious! I think the closest I’ve ever had is the red pepper with eggplant sauce from Trader Joe’s. I’ll try and find that again to compare.
It was also extremely nice to have all the ingredients prepped and set aside for each meal, and it was four meals. That’s the majority of the workweek taken care of. Plus, some of the meals had things already done for me which made it even easier to eat a healthy dinner even on a stressful night.
What I Would Have Done Differently
I had salmon and beef twice each. If I did this again, I would get a better variety of proteins. They have some interesting non-meat options I want to try, particularly the tofu nuggets.
To be fair, I would still want the salads and the sauces I got to experience, though. So, while I could have done different proteins, the meals themselves were way too good to miss.
I would also like to try some of the breakfasts and lunches. There are cauliflower rice bowls that just sound too stinking tasty to pass up, and I was drooling just looking at the pasta options. I mean, come on… lobster ravioli. Who wouldn’t want that?
I’m Passionate About Meal Planning
If you follow me, you know that I’m a firm believer in a good meal plan. I create a dinner menu for two weeks at a time, meal prep my breakfasts and lunches, and I keep healthy snacks handy. All of this helps me stay on budget, stick to a healthy lifestyle, and relieves me of the stress of figuring it out last minute.
All of that planning and prepping really doesn’t take a whole lot of time to coordinate and execute, but it does take some time. Usually, I manage this by writing up the dinner menu and grocery list on Friday during naptime. I check our pantry staples and consider breakfast and lunch prep, too.
Then, I do a trip to the grocery store once every two weeks (or since the Stay-At-Home order, my husband goes). The list is sacred, and there is no deviation.
Mama Needs a Little Help
Even with Hubs doing the shopping and some of the cooking, we still could use a little help every now and then. We find ourselves in a rut more often, circulating fish sticks, chicken nuggets, and frozen meatless crumbles more often. There are fewer fresh veggies and hardly any fun flavors.
We love to try new foods and eat adventurously. However, we just weren’t feeling creative enough or free enough in the budget to buy new ingredients. Instead, our grocery list looked identical from one biweekly trip to another.
Sun Basket Meals = Fun New Foods
When we pulled up the menu for Sun Basket, it was immediately apparent that we were going to eat very well. There were vegan, paleo, gluten-free, and low-calorie options. Then, we could choose the amount of work we wanted to do. Even within each meal, we could customize the protein!
What is Your Lifestyle/Diet?
You can set your preferences ahead of time, and your Sun Basket meals will automatically choose the options that fit your diet. We set our preference for a low-calorie lifestyle. The choices selected for us were almost spot on.
We did want to test some other things though, just because they sounded good. You’re not locked in to your preferences though. Maybe the vegan option looks super tasty, but you’re a carnivore. Or, in our case, there was a low-carb steak dinner with a fun sounding sauce that we just had to try.
How Much Work Do You Feel Like Doing?
My sister tried a different meal service earlier this year. She noted that, for her, the amount of work that went into following the recipe just took her a ton of time. It was convenient not to have to shop or figure out the meal, but it was still a bit of work.
I tried the same service, and the meals I chose weren’t quite so intensive, but I could see where the work level might deter subscribers. That’s what I liked about Sun Basket, though.
There are meal options where all you have to do is throw a tray in the oven. Done and done. Then, there are some options where you still have to do some mixing and sautéing, but the slicing and dicing is done for you. Or, if you want to play chef, there are meal choices that require knife skills.
You are free to choose your own adventure. And if you want to, you can mix and match your complexity level for every night of the week.
What Protein Do You Want?
The meals with meat offer you choices to upgrade. The base option is sustainable and clean, so you don’t have to worry. But, if you want higher quality or a different cut, you get that freedom.
For example, we ordered a meal of steak with ajvar sauce and prepped veggies. The steak was a grass-fed, lean, sirloin, and that was just what we wanted. However, if we wanted to be fancy, we could have upgraded to a nice New York strip or another nice cut.
And, if you happen to choose a vegan meal, but you don’t want to go without meat, there is also the option to add a meat à la carte. Feel free to order chicken breasts, steaks, a variety of seafood, tofu, or even sausages to add to whatever meal.
Ordering Sun Basket Meals à la Carte
That brings me to the next really cool thing you can do with Sun Basket. If you are interested in ordering your dinners, but you also want to have lunch and breakfast ingredients shipped, you totally can.
Pick Your Protein
There are so many proteins à la carte to choose from. Select what you need for lunches. To expand on the list, here are just some of the many kinds of protein you can order:
- Lemon-pepper chicken breasts
- Rib-chuck smash burgers
- Italian pork sausages
- Italian chicken meatballs
- Jumbo lump crab cakes
- Smoked salmon
- Cooked chicken breasts
- Ground chicken
- Ground turkey
- Bacon-wrapped filet mignon
- Pork ribs
- Tofu-veggie burgers
- Tofu nuggets
- Braised tofu
Soups and Noodles and Breads… Oh my!
There are some fabulous flavor adventures to be had for lunch. There’s a a West African tomato soup and even Beet Gazpacho! If you are looking for more bulk, there are cauliflower rice, farro, quinoa, and ramen bowls!
You could even get pitas or naan. If you’re really feeling your oats, there are several types of fresh, filled pasta (think lobster ravioli)! And of course they have classic Italian sauces, too.
Breakfast: The Most Important Meal
Are you a huge fan of the sous-vide egg bites from Starbucks? You can have those shipped with you Sun Basket meals for every day of the week. There are also yogurts, overnight oats, granola, protein bars, juices, coffees, and smoothies.
Whether you’re a hot breakfast or cold-grab-and-go breakfast person, you have a lot of really nice options here. Personally, I got excited because I saw the muesli morning rounds that Starbucks has in their Protein Box. I love those!
Can You Get Snacks in a Sun Basket Box?
You can even get snacks with your Sun Basket. I mean, you pretty much wouldn’t need to run to the grocery store at all. They have it all right here on the site, and it all gets delivered right to you.
There are veggies, nuts, chips, jerky, and even chocolate bars. We’re not talking about the kind you can find at any gas station either. These are all organic, sustainably sourced, options with the producer listed for visibility.
Donate Sun Basket Meals
We’re in the midst of a tough time, and our hospital workers are truly stretched to their limits. They’re getting smacked with absurd conspiracy theories while handling all our gross, sick selves. I mean, they are truly heroes we don’t deserve.
If you feel like doing something for a hospital worker, Sun Basket will donate a meal to hospital workers on your behalf. Each order serves 2.
You can also divert your order to a friend or family member who needs a hot meal. There are gift cards if you don’t know what they would want to eat. But either way, Sun Basket has a lot of ways for you to help feed other people who are in need. And you can feel really good about how you’re giving away really nice quality foods.
How Much Does it Cost to Order Sun Basket for a Week?
I was able to use an affiliate link from another blogger to get $40 off my order plus free shipping. Because of this, the overall order was around $50 for 4 meals for 2 adults. But let’s be real about the cost for Sun Basket.
For my family being on a tight budget, this was a treat. We probably wouldn’t spend the money to order breakfast, lunch, and snacks or upgrade our meats. However, if we had a comfortable budget, I would be all over this.
If you are looking for convenience and the price is not too much of a factor, this is definitely the box for you. You can get so much and it’s all nutritious and eco-friendly (even the packaging).
The price for 4 dinners for 2 people has a sub total of just under $88. For à la carte options, the prices range from about $2.50 for yogurt cups to about $40 for the responsibly-raised, hormone-free, antibiotic-free bacon wrapped filet mignon.
Honestly, I’d say the prices are comparable to shopping at Whole Foods for good quality products. These are not your discount grocery store items, so expect to pay a reasonable price for the best food.
Comment below if you’ve tried Sun Basket or if you’re a regular subscriber! I’d love to know what you think. And don’t forget to subscribe to Elle Jay at Home for your free meal planner and weekly blog updates.
