Since the meal kit delivery boom of the late 2010’s, the sheer number of options is overwhelming. In our quest to find the best box, I recently tried Sunbasket, a meal delivery service that prides itself on healthier offerings and organic ingredients. Here's my full breakdown of the service:

Pricing

A big benefit of cooking with a meal kit is the extra couple of bucks you can save without going to the grocery store or eating out. Sunbasket, as is the case with most other meal kits, gives you the option to choose between shopping for a family of two or four. It also lets you customize how many meals you’d like to be delivered weekly. The more servings you order, the cheaper the delivery.

While it's still cheaper than take out, it can be a little pricier than its competitors. Just two meals a week for either family size will set you back $12.99/serving. Four meals costs $10.99/serving, which is about as expensive as other services like HelloFresh and Blue Apron get. One reason for the higher price tag: Sunbasket’s guarantee that 99% of the produce they ship is USDA certified organic.

Bottom line: In comparison to other meal kits, it's on the pricier side. But, mostly everything is organic.

Choosing Your Menu

One of the things that Sunbasket shines at is choice. Each week, you should be able to pick from 20+ recipe ranging in degrees of difficulty. Their commitment to catering to dietary restrictions is the strongest in the meal kit game. When signing up, you’re given the chance to specify whether you're vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, carb-conscious, paleo, soy-free, diabetes-friendly, dairy-free, or want recipes that are below 600 calories.

Sunbasket also offers three preparation styles. In addition to the classic cooking option, they offer both oven-ready meals as well as kits with pre-prepped ingredients, eliminating all dicing, peeling, and slicing. These choices are perfect for those looking to get dinner on the table faster.

Bottom line: You have a lot of options to customize your menu based on your dietary restrictions and preferences.

The Packaging

Your meal kit will arrive in a recyclable cardboard box filled with individually labeled paper bags for each recipe. Inside each bag, you’ll find your ingredients either in their own plastic containers, or if possible, loosely but safely packed in the bag itself. Though we did have to throw out some wrappers, it was not as bad as some other meal boxes, where each and every ingredient was individually packaged. Additionally, pre-made components like sauces and condiments are often sent in delightful little jars, perfect for reusing in your kitchen.

Cooking From A Box

In each bag you’ll find a mini recipe booklet that, in addition to cooking instructions, outlines exactly what equipment you'll be using, if there are additional ingredients you'll need, and full nutrition facts. Another nice touch is the “KID CAN!” section, which outlines kid-friendly kitchen tasks, within the recipe.

Sunbasket, with its thorough descriptions of steps and approachable writing style, is great for cooks with any level experience—but especially beginners. With the recipes I tried, basic methods like stir frying veggies, roasting corn tortillas to make tostadas, and reducing stock to make gravy were laid out in an approachable, easy to follow way.

I did run into some issues with cook times. I nearly burnt half a pot of rice cooking following the recipes' minimum cooking time. And all three of the recipes I cooked had wide ranging total times. In keeping those with busy schedules or bigger families in mind, I would have liked to see a little more specificity.

Bottom line: The recipes are easy, but the cook times aren't reliable.

Taste

On their website's homepage, Sunbasket promises “unreal flavor” in their meals, and after rounds of meticulous tasting and testing, I can confidently say that they have delivered. In the three recipes I tried, I loved the diversity in flavors and composition of the dishes. With the contents of one box, I drowned bangers and mash in a mushroom gravy. The next day I ate a crunchy tostada topped with a healthy mix of spicy black beans, yellow squash, and pickled vegetables.

I also loved that Sunbasket isn’t afraid to highlight ingredients that some folks may be a little intimidated by (but are actually really easy to use), like fermented black bean paste. Sunbasket’s organic produce was looked better and tasted fresher than what you’d find in other meal kits.

Bottom line: The recipes are delicious.

The Verdict

Whether you're trying to get more comfortable in the kitchen, determined to broaden your culinary horizons, or simply wanting to order less takeout, I highly recommend Sunbasket. It's a little pricier than the competitors, but if you can swing it, the extra cost is worth it for better quality ingredients and a bevy of weekly options. Especially if you are someone with dietary restrictions.