There are tons of meal delivery programs that are great for people who want to eat healthy without thinking too much about calorie counting and meal prep. But when it comes to choosing one that’s right for you, the options can get overwhelming.

Sun Basket is a meal delivery program that prides itself on offering a variety of organic meals that are dietician approved and easy to prepare. But is this plan a good choice for your diet? Read on to find out.

How It Works

Sun Basket is easy to use. Start by signing up and choosing how many meals you want a week. Dinners, breakfasts, lunches, snacks and add-ons are all available.

Next you want to pick a meal plan. Sun Basket has a huge variety to choose from. The three main categories are:

• Oven Ready: Good to go, pop it right in the oven
• Pre-prepped: Requires a bit of preparation
• Classic Cooking: They provide proportioned ingredients and easy to follow recipes; you do the cooking

Meal plans are further broken down for those with dietary restrictions into the following categories:

• Paleo-friendly
• Pescatarian
• Mediterranean
• Quick and Easy
• Chef’s Choice
• Diabetes Friendly
• Lean & Clean
• Gluten – free
• Vegetarian

There are also family plans available with kid friendly recipes.

You can choose from plans of 2, 3 or 4 meals a week and 2 to 4 servings a meal. You can also order up to eight of each kit if you are planning on serving a group.

You can pick a delivery day but you can not specify a time. However, the meals are well packaged and will still be fresh even if they are left to sit a while.

Sun Basket also offers dieters flexibility. You can skip deliveries or cancel or change meal plans at any time.

Price

Sun Baskets meals range between $10.99 and $12.99 and shipping is not free. It is a bit pricier than comparable plans and shipping adds to these costs.

Here is a break down of the pricing:

• Minimum pricing: 2 meals for 2 people: $51.96 with shipping
• Cost per serving: 2 meals are $12.99 each, 3 meals are $11.99 each and 4 meals are $10.99 each
• Shipping: $6.99

Sun Basket does offer specials. First time customers get free shipping and you can refer a friend for a $40 credit.

Values

Sun Basket has a set of values listed on their web site. Let’s look at these values and determine whether the company lives up to them.

Good Tasting Food: Sun Basket claims that each product is made with care. All food is made by their award winning chef and they include signature house made sauces and seasonal ingredients. Dieters tend to agree that the food is flavorful.

Organic: Sun Basket’s produce is 100% organic. They use hormone free and antibiotic eggs and meat and wild caught seafood that is recommended by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program.

Healthy: Food is clean and dietician approved.

Sustainable: Sun Basket’s fishermen use low impact fishing methods. Their ranches treat animals with respect and their farmers practice water efficiency and crop rotation. They give back to their communities through Feeding America, local food banks and employee programs.

Sun Basket also claims that they use recyclable and compostable packaging. While this is mostly true, they do use excessive packaging including a lot of plastic materials which are harmful to the environment.

Pros and Cons

So now that we know what the Sun Basket program has to offer, let’s weigh the pros and cons.

Pros:

• Food tastes good
• Food is fresh and organic
• Following the diet can boost health and help dieters maintain a healthy weight
• Wide variety of foods suited to dieter’s needs and dietary restrictions
• Gives back to the community
• Generous portions
• Meals are easy to make as advertised
• Comes with a recipe booklet that provides easy to follow recipes for the food you ordered as well as other meals.

Cons:

• Sun Basket is pricier than other plans and shipping is not free.
• Some find the recipe booklet harder to search through than cards. Also, recipes are not downloadable or printable so beginners might need to spend some time searching through the site to find some basic ‘how to’s’.
• Packaging is not as eco-friendly as advertised.
• Meals are suited for someone looking to follow a healthy diet but not great for those who prefer comfort foods, even on some occasions.

Conclusion

Honestly, the slightly inflated prices and the fact that Sun Basket was not straightforward about their packaging policies left a bad taste in our mouths (no pun intended). However, the dishes are tastier than the competitions’. They are also more customizable, healthier and provide a wider range of options. If you feel this is worth the added expense, and are looking for a healthy diet plan, Sun Basket may be the right choice for you.