Sun Basket is a grocery subscription service that focuses on sustainability and organic food. Each week, you can choose recipes from their rotating menu, and the company will send you a box full of the ingredients needed to make them. There are options for paleo, the Mediterranean diet, and meatless meals. Sun Basket sets itself apart with their organic ingredients, sustainable practices, and tasty recipes.
I received three meals in my Sun Basket box: warm quinoa salad, orzo bowls with broccoli in pistou, and glass noodle bowls. I expected the glass noodle bowls to be my favorite, but actually, the orzo and broccoli was the tastiest.
What’s In the Box?
Sun Basket sends weekly boxes of grocery kits so you can cook your own meals. You can choose the number of meals and the portion size per meal. You can order meals for 2 people or 4 people, and the weekly meals range from 2 to 5.
Here’s an example of the recipes they feature in a given week. They usually offer more than 20 recipes a week, but your options may be more limited if you have a restricted diet. If you’re vegan, I don’t recommend this service. All the vegetarian options feature cheese or milk.
Each meal comes packed in a paper bag, which makes things easy when it’s time to make a meal. Inside, you’ll find the ingredients you need, like vegetables, meat, and garnishes. They also usually include flavorings or spices. The recipes will assume that you have cooking oil, olive oil, salt, and pepper, but they include everything else.
To keep things cool during the shipping process, they include a recyclable or reusable ice pack and paper insulation. According to their website, during hot weather they use recycled denim insulation to keep things even cooler. They suggest reusing the insulation for animal bedding or as a packing material.
Aside from meal kits, they sell “Fresh & Ready” meals that are prepared and ready to heat up and eat. They aren’t frozen, but you can freeze them if you want to save them for later.
Warm Quinoa Salad With Spinach, Shiitakes, and Honeyed Walnuts
“Warm quinoa salad” wasn’t very appetizing as a description, but I ended up enjoying this one a lot! It came together very quickly. First I put the quinoa on the stove, then I chopped up the shiitake mushrooms and tossed the walnuts in honey. The instructions said to roast the mushrooms and walnuts in the oven, but I put them in the air fryer to make things a little faster. Air frying worked just fine, and the honeyed walnuts smelled delicious!
The dressing was made with olive oil, the leftover honey, and sherry vinegar. I’m picky about dressing, but this simple and light one was a winner for me. Originally, this came with a ricotta salata, but they were out of that and sent me feta instead. I skipped that step because I hate feta!
Orzo Bowls With Broccoli, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Pistou
This was my favorite dish. It came with a premade pistou sauce. Pistou is very similar to pesto, minus the pine nuts and with more parmesan. It melted wonderfully into the mix of pasta and broccoli. This dish incorporates whole pine nuts instead of mixing them into the sauce, and the pan-toasted nuts were a quick and easy addition to the meal.
All the ingredients really came together well in this dish. I like that there are so many flavors happening here, and the meal wasn’t just one-note in terms of flavor.
This meal was supposed to come with goat cheese, but the warehouse was out of stock, so they sent me feta cheese instead. As I mentioned earlier, I hate feta, so I skipped the topping. The meal still felt complete and well-rounded.
Glass Noodle Bowls With Spicy Yuba and Stir-Fried Vegetables
I never realized glass noodles were made of mung beans until I tried this recipe! This dish also has yuba noodles, which are apparently made from bean curd. The yuba noodles came pre-spiced and added some flavor to the rest of the dish.
This dish was satisfying because of all the delicious vegetables and mushrooms. I do wish I had cut the bell peppers smaller, but the instructions said to cut them into long strips.
Even with the yuba noodles, the stir fry blend, and the tasty miso sauce, the noodles tasted a little bit bland to me. I liked the crunch of all the cabbage and other vegetables, but this meal ranked last for me.
What We Like About Sun Basket
My favorite thing about Sun Basket is true of the other grocery subscriptions I’ve tried: I love the pre-portioned ingredients and clear instructions on how to make the food. The recipe cards are well-designed and sturdy enough to keep as a reference.
They have options no matter your preferences or dietary needs, including Mediterranean, paleo, and more.
I found that the portions in Sun Basket were a little larger and more satisfying than other grocery subscriptions I’ve tried. I got three portions out of the glass noodle dish, even though I ordered the kit with two portions.
Most of the packaging is recyclable, and the company gives suggestions on how you can reuse or recycle all of it.
Sun Basket uses small suppliers they can rely on to provide quality ingredients, from fish to strawberries. They showcase some of their suppliers on their website on a special page devoted to their ingredients. I like being able to get an idea of where my food is coming from on a more personal level, and I’m sure other subscribers feel the same.
At one point, I needed to reschedule my order, and the Sun Basket customer service team was friendly and accommodating. They responded quickly and rescheduled my delivery.
What We Don’t Like About Sun Basket
The recipes here felt simpler than other meal subscriptions I’ve tried. I didn’t really try any new techniques or step outside my comfort zone, which is something I look for in food subscription boxes. Maybe the range was more limited because I tried the vegetarian option.
On a related note, I kind of wish the vegetarian recipes had more protein in them. They included lots of nuts, but I’d be interested in more beans or tofu. I do appreciate that they stayed away from processed veggie protein, though.
I mentioned this above, but the warehouse that sent my box was completely out of the cheeses they were supposed to send and instead substituted feta, which I hate. That’s the only ingredient that was substituted, as far as I could tell, but I hope it’s not a common issue!
Is Sun Basket Worth It?
Sun Basket made it a lot easier for me to cook healthy meals during the workweek. Usually it’s hard to find time to make anything more elaborate than pasta or something from a mix. I found that Sun Basket’s recipes really are easy and simple to make and they don’t require a lot of preparation or cleanup.
I also found that Sun Basket charges reasonable prices, especially considering the organic ingredients. I would definitely try Sun Basket again and I recommend it to anyone looking for healthy recipes.
