Have you been following an IF regimen but find yourself wondering what to eat during feasting periods? Wish you had a healthy, clean, food option that you didn’t have to plan out or spend too much time on? Then keep reading, I have a solution for you. It’s the Sun Basket Meals and I’ve tried them out for you. Here’s the review.
If you have read my post on What to Eat During Intermittent Fasting to Lose Weight, then you know that I believe in clean eating. I follow a low carb high-fat diet and I’ve significantly reduced my sugar intake.
However, I don’t believe in restricting any food groups. So, I eat carbs every once in a while, when something really calls my attention. Thankfully, my carb cravings have significantly reduced since following a consistent IF regimen and eating low carb.
I decided to try the Sun Basket meal kit a couple of weeks ago when we had my 14-year-old cousin in town visiting us. I knew we’d be running around the city while she was here. So, I wanted meal planning to be as simple as possible. I admit I’m not the best at it.
I also wanted to just get home and start cooking without worrying about whether I was missing an ingredient.
I’d been curious about trying Sun Basket for a couple of years now. You know what convinced me to get it? I found this 60% OFF your first Sun Basket meal kit coupon that they’re running through the summer. With each serving at less than $5, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it.
MY EXPECTATIONS OF THE SUN BASKET MEALS
It’s important to point out that this is not my first experience with meal kits. About two years ago, my husband and I ordered Hello Fresh. Their meals were delicious, but at the time, they didn’t really have many low-calorie or low-carb options. So, we stopped ordering from them.
Going in, I wanted the Sun Basket meals to fulfill several expectations. Otherwise, I wouldn’t consider it to be worth purchasing on a consistent basis. This is especially true, with their regular price tag of $11.99 per meal.
HEALTHY OPTIONS
Between my husband and I, I’m the only following an Intermittent Fasting protocol and eating low-carb. But he’s always open to eating low-carb dinners. I expected Sun Basket meals to have a good number of healthy low-carb options that I can choose from.
SUN BASKET DELIVERED – They did not disappoint, the Sun Basket meals have plenty of low carb options on the menu. The week I ordered, they had 9 meals under 50g of carbs. Of those, 7 meals were under 33g and 2 meals were under 20g.
Most importantly, they provide vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo, lean and clean, Mediterranean, vegan, pescatarian, and diabetes-friendly menu options. If you follow any of these dietary guidelines, this box is perfect for you.
ORGANIC
In my effort to be healthier, I’ve been eating a lot of organic food. I’m willing to pay more money for healthy, organic food.
SUN BASKET DELIVERED – 99% of their produce is organic. Their meats are sustainable and responsibly sourced. They’ll put a note in your box if there’s an ingredient that is not organic. You also have the option of selecting organic meats and poultry that are pasture-raised and grass-fed.
VARIETY OF RECIPES
While I was aiming for low-carb, we had a 14-year-old guest staying with us. I wasn’t going to impose my low-carb lifestyle on her for the entire week she stayed with us. I wanted enough menu options to add in a couple of meals with carbs, but still healthy and without an outrageous number of calories.
SUN BASKET DELIVERED – Okay, if you order from the family menu, there are only 6 recipe options. Since we had a guest, I ordered from the family menu. I can say that it was hard to decide because all six options were very appealing.
If you order from the Classic Menu, you have a whopping 18 options to choose from!
SIMPLE AND QUICK TO MAKE
I like cooking, but I don’t like spending hours in the kitchen. I do enough of that with cake decorating. So, when it comes to cooking meals, I like to be able to run in and put a good meal together in about 30 minutes.
SUN BASKET DELIVERED – Most of the Sun basket meals can be cooked in less than 30 minutes. Some require 30 – 45 minutes. They even point out which of their menu items take 20 minutes to create to make your search easier.
FLAVORFUL
This one is simple. If it doesn’t taste good, or if it’s bland, then I’m not interested. I grew up with “healthy” food being stripped of flavor. That’s BS, food should taste even better when it’s healthy. You actually get to taste real food, the way nature intended.
SUN BASKET DELIVERED – I can definitely say that in my experience with the first order, every meal we ate was packed with deliciousness.
We had one meal that was liked, but not loved (I’ll show you below). But it wasn’t for lack of flavor. This was the one meal that took too long to cook for my liking. I ended up neglecting the quinoa and it came out a little dry. Everybody agreed that the flavor was delicious though.
MEAL PLANNING MADE EASY
I’m definitely a planner for certain things, but not in the kitchen. That’s the reason I had to come up with a system to organize myself when making cakes. So, meal planning doesn’t come naturally to me. The problem is that we then end up eating the same four or five meals all the time. I wanted the Sun Basket meals to solve that planning issue for me.
SUN BASKET DELIVERED – I really LOVED getting home, opening the fridge, and pulling out a bag with everything I needed perfectly portioned. All I had to do, or “plan,” was go to their website and click on the three meals I wanted. Done!
COST EFFECTIVE
My initial reserve about getting Sun Basket meals was the pricing. Each serving is $2 more than what I used to pay with the other meal kit. That’s $12 more for three meals for two people every week without including taxes. For us, it would have to be cost-effective.
SUN BASKET DELIVERED (SORT OF) – Technically, each serving is more expensive than what I spend per serving regularly. However, here’s where it saves me:
- Time in the supermarket spent getting all the ingredients for weekly meals.
- The cost of eating out, which we’ve already cut down on drastically anyway.
- Cost of veggies that go bad in the fridge when I don’t cook them quickly enough (poor meal planning).
- The cost of many ingredients that I just don’t have in my pantry. But, then again, I don’t have to cook these specific recipes.
In the end, for us, it’s almost a wash, based on the regular pricing. With the 60% OFF your first Sun Basket meal kit coupon, we certainly saved money that week!
THE MEALS WE CHOSE
Like I mentioned earlier, I didn’t go for all low-carb meals because we had a guest staying with us the week we started Sun Basket meals. Two of the meals contained 50g and 49g of carbs, and the remaining meal had 19g of carbs.
Here are the pictures of each meal’s ingredients and the final dish.
TURKEY AND BLACK BEAN TACOS WITH CUCUMBER SALSA
I started with this one because it was the absolute favorite. Jeremy asked me to keep the recipe and order it again if it’s still on the menu. He’s obsessed with tacos! I can’t say I don’t get him, lol.
ONE-PAN SEARED SALMON WITH CHIMICHURRI AND SUMMER VEGETABLES
I just have to say that chimichurri sauce was A-MAZING! This was a quick meal to put together and everybody enjoyed it.
SPANISH-STYLE CHICKEN AND QUINOA WITH FIRE-ROASTED TOMATOES
This was the meal that I previously mentioned. It was very flavorful, but I didn’t cook the quinoa well. If I would’ve cooked it well, it would’ve been excellent.
HOW SUN BASKET MEALS WENT THE EXTRA MILE
When a company takes the time to add value to the customer, I’m sold. I just want to share some small features that made me feel like Sun Basket was thinking about people, not just their product.
- It was nice to be able to choose the day that you prefer for your meal to arrive.
- Although the Sun Basket Meals are a subscription service, you can skip as many weeks as you want without having to cancel your subscription.
- They have snack and wine add-ons. This is perfect when you plan ahead for events.
- You can also add extra meals to your usual kit if you know you’ll have an extra guest or two.
- They send you the Sun Basket meals cookbook with your chosen recipes and all other recipes for that week.
- Every recipe includes tips, for things like flavoring, making it leaner, and grilling it. But my favorite tip of all is the “Kids Can!” Telling you which parts of the meal your child can help with. If you have children, this is the perfect way to get them involved in family meals. I love this!
- This cookbook included a bonus recipe, handy kitchen conversions, food safety tips, and “10 Yoga Poses to Help You Sleep Better.”
NOTHING IS PERFECT, AND THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW
While I really liked the Sun Basket and will order again, nothing is perfect. These are a few things I would change:
- Price – At about $11.99 per serving, the price is higher than what many people want to pay for. However, if you eat out a lot, or end up throwing out a lot of food because it goes uneaten for too long, this is totally worth it. If you fast daily, like I do, then it’s not as pricey as two full meals (the breakfast I usually fast through and dinner) and totally worth it.
- As I explained above, quick meal creation is a big thing for me. If this is the case for you, pay close attention to the timing of the meals you order. While delicious, I felt like the Spanish-Style Chicken and Quinoa dinner took forever to make. Thankfully, they have plenty of options that come under 30 minutes.
- Packaging – Overall packaging was excellent. However, they placed the red peppers and cucumbers next to the ice packs. The majority of the red peppers were mushy. The cucumber was edible, but it looked clear after having been frozen, not very attractive to picky eaters. This could’ve been a fluke. But finicky eaters might be dissuaded from eating veggies that don’t react well to being frozen.
IN CONCLUSION
If you are looking for a meal-prep-made-easy solution and healthy food options for your feasting periods, then try Sun Basket meals.
With this 60% OFF your first Sun Basket meal kit coupon, you can definitely remove the price barrier to see if the Sun Basket meals are a good fit for your family. This coupon is only available throughout the summer, so try to grab it soon if you want to try it!
I will definitely be ordering my Sun Basket meals again.
Comment below and let me know what you like the most about meal kits.
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