It seems like every week there is a new meal delivery service that pops up. In an ever increasingly busy society, it's not a bad idea. Living in a city like Boston, it's especially hard to get yourself to walk to the grocery store and back, and that's before it drops to 20 degrees.
I always thought that meal delivery services would be way out of my price range, but to my surprise it actually wasn't too bad. I decided to try Sun Basket, a San Francisco based meal delivery service that ships members fresh organic and sustainable ingredients and recipes. I want to say that I did a lot of research before I chose Sun Basket, but honestly they offer $35 off your first basket and $10 off your second one. If that isn't a selling point, I don't know what is.
How it Works
You get to choose from one of their 5 different meal plans, including: Chef's Choice, Lean & Clean, Paleo, Gluten-Free, and Vegetarian. Once you choose your meal plan, you get to pick from a wide-variety of recipes, which you want for the week. Meals are priced $11.99 per serving, and you can chose between 2 or 4 servings. You could either split the meals with your roommates, or have one for every night of the week by yourself.
It is a weekly subscription, so you get your Sun Basket delivered each week. But you do have the option of skipping a week, or donating your box to a local food bank if you don't feel like cooking much in the coming week.
Inside the Box
After going back and forth on Chef's Choice and Lean & Clean, I chose the latter. However, I realized a lot of the recipes overlapped anyway, so I was happy to see that I was able to get both healthy and tasty meals.
Inside the box were all the ingredients for my meals, a recipe book, and instructions on how to properly recycle the box and ice pack (used to keep your food chilled during transit). They ship you most of the ingredients you need, all you need to provide is salt, pepper, and occasionally olive oil.
Pork Chops with Pears, Kale, and Maple-Shallot Jam
Sun Basket recommends using your fish and meat recipes first for the freshest product. So, I started with the pork chops. They said it would take 30-40 minutes to make, but it ended up taking me about an hour. I would rank it a medium-level cooking difficulty just because there was a lot of multi-tasking. The final product ended up being pretty tasty and better than anything I probably would've made on a whim.
Brussel Sprouts and Mushroom Orecchiette with Creamy Mustard Sauce
I was drawn to this recipe in particular because I had never tried orecchiette and I was curious to see what a "creamy mustard sauce" was. This recipe only took me about 35 minutes, and quite honestly made me fall in love with brussel sprouts.
It was a pretty easy to make and the creamy mustard sauce was a lot better than I expected. It was perfect for the college lifestyle as we never have much time, crave carbs 95% of the time, and like good food.
Korean Tteokbokki Rice Cakes with Ground Pork and Shiitake Mushrooms
This was possibly the best meal I have single-handedly made in my life. I was a little concerned about how it would come out during the process, but wow, it was good. I was so proud of myself, I snapped pictures to everyone I know. This recipe only took me 30 minutes as well and was also pretty easy to make. I also enjoyed this recipe because you got to decide how spicy you wanted to make it, and personalization is always a bonus.
Take Away
This week was the best I've eaten in awhile. When I compared the prices to my normal grocery shopping, I realized it would only cost me a little more to continue using Sun Basket. I figured if I just skip on take-out once a week, or make my own coffee, it would be a wash. I look forward to trying new recipes and changing up my normal, mundane meal plan that usually consists of pasta and grilled chicken.
I would definitely recommend trying Sun Basket. And if you don't want to commit fully, you don't have to, as you can skip weeks whenever you want. The meals were unique and relatively easy to make, even for the novice. I think it's a great service to use during super busy weeks or when the Nor'easter hits.