Meal delivery companies are everywhere these days, and we have tried a lot of them, so you don’t have to! How it works is pretty standard across the board, you are offered different meals to choose from each week. Most plans are 3 meals per week, which at first sounds odd because there are 7 days in a week, but it really is perfect because most of us don’t cook at home 7 days a week. Some meal plans you can switch out a dinner for a breakfast, order more than 3 meals per week, or order for more than 2 people.
We started with Blue Apron last year when my husbands co-worker gave us a free week of meals. It was great, we enjoyed the delicious meals and having all of the ingredients sent directly to our door. What we didn’t enjoy was that the meals took 45 minutes to an hour to prepare, and all the ingredients were thrown together in the box, not divided up per meal. When one meal from Blue Apron can have 20 ingredients this becomes an issue, especially when some meals call for the same ingredients. Nearly every part of the meal is cooked in a different pan, so after dinner there is a huge clean up, which isn’t fun for anyone.
Blue Apron
Next we tried Plated, again I especially enjoyed having the food sent directly to my front door. I am famous for having everything for a meal but forgetting one ingredient, which most of the time isn’t an issue, but when you are making chili it is harder when you forget the chili powder. The food from Plated was pretty good, however it too took a while to prepare and they charged you more if you wanted to switch out a chicken dish for a steak dish.
Plated
Next we tried Hello Fresh, the food was probably my least favorite of the three, not bad by any means, it just didn’t stand out. I did enjoy the recipes were easy to follow and unlike Blue Apron didn’t have a thousand ingredients. I also liked that the meals were separated by meal, and that I could choose a larger serving size for 4 people, as pictured above.
Hello Fresh
Next we tried Sun Basket it is organic and non-GMO produce, sustainably sourced with seasonal ingredients, from local farms in California. All of the meat is grass-fed, and antibiotic-free, there are also a lot of options for different diets. The healthy options you can choose from are Chef’s Choice, Rise and Shine, Paleo, Gluten-free & Vegetarian options. We usually opt for the Paleo options every week, however we do try other options if they look tasty. The meals take less than 30 minutes to prepare and are delicious, the meals are separated by meal, making it very convenient when you are pulling items out of the refrigorator.
Sun Basket
The recipe cards are written well which makes them easy follow and turn out like the picture every time, the competitors pictures don’t always turn out like the picture. Nearly every recipe only calls for you to use a cutting board, and one pan, making clean up a breeze. Generally you will need a couple items out of your own pantry such as olive oil (we always substitute for Avocado oil and turns out perfect) butter, or salt and pepper. Be sure to have some type of oil and salt and pepper on hand when making any of the dishes. Below is one of my favorite dishes it is Thai turkey lettuce cups, they taste delicious an only take 20 minutes to prepare.
To order your three free meals use this link http://www.sunbasket.com/3free/Nicole3033 and choose between the many options Sun Basket has, next week the menu item above the Thai Turkey wraps are one of the options! In order to receive the three free meals you will need to purchase an additional three meals at the total price of $34.47. With that you will receive 6 organic, non-GMO meals delivered to you and shipping is included in that price! I don’t know about you but I can’t make 6 organic meals for under $35 in a week. I hope you enjoy Sun Basket as much as we have over the past year. Please let me know if you enjoyed it after your free meals and if you plan to continue to use it.
