SunBasket Subscription Box Review + Coupon – September 2016

SunBasket delivers fresh, seasonal ingredients to your door each week to create three unique and delicious meals.  

Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)  

The Subscription Box: SunBasket

The Cost: $11.49 per meal with free shipping = $68.94/week for 2 people, or $137.88 for 4 people, plus a $5.99 delivery fee

COUPON: Get three meals free with your first box. No coupon required, just link here!

The Products: High quality, non-GMO, organic ingredients for delicious meals!

Ships to: AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, UT, VA, WV, VT, & parts of AK, AL, MI, MS

Good to know: There are 5 options you can choose from for your SunBasket plan: Chef's Choice (3 seasonal dinner recipes), Vegetarian, Paleo, Gluten Free, and Rise and Shine (2 breakfasts and 2 dinners).

Check out all of our SunBasket reviews and the Meals Subscription Box Directory!

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This is a review of the Vegetarian plan. This week I chose: Forbidden rice and quinoa salad with fresh herbs, Butter bean and kale pistou, and Mapo tofu with cremini mushrooms and red rice.

SunBasket also encourages recycling and provided stickers this month to keep the insulation rolled when throwing into your recycling bin. 

Meal #1: Forbidden Rice and Quinoa Salad with Fresh Herbs

The first meal I prepared was the forbidden rice and quinoa salad with fresh herbs. This meal took about 20 minutes and the rice/quinoa mixture took the longest to prepare so I started that first. 

There was a bit of chopping involved so I worked on that while the rice was boiling away. This recipe used English cucumber, fresh parsley, fresh dill, chopped almonds, and radishes. I will note that the recipe called for 2-3 radishes and I only received one in the box. I think the other one or two would have been welcome - I enjoyed the radish with this salad. 

Here is my black rice and quinoa mixture cooking. I've not eaten black rice prior to this meal - it looks really odd!

This is the final product. I tossed the rice and quinoa mixture, the simple salad dressing, the herbs, and cucumbers into the bowl and mixed it together quickly. Then I topped the salad with the ricotta salata, almonds, and radishes. This was by far my favorite meal. All of the flavors melded nicely and the mixture of textures was perfect!

Meal #2: Butter Bean and Kale Pistou

My second meal was the butter bean and kale pistou. This was a stew type dish that topped some toasted fregola. The entire meal took maybe 20 minutes from start to finish.

The first step was to toast the fregola and shallot in a bit of oil. I did this and got started on the next part: the stew.

This is the kale, butter bean, garlic, and herbs reducing down into a thicker stew.

The finished dish was decent but I think it would have benefited from less kale and maybe more beans or fregola. It seemed like it was missing something, even after I stirred in the pistou (a French version of pesto). It was a nice hearty lunch, though.

Meal #3: Mapo Tofu with Cremini Mushrooms and Red Rice

The last meal I made was the Mapo tofu with cremini mushrooms and red rice. This meal took about 25-30 minutes but the rice could have benefited from additional boiling time. 

Here is the mushroom, tofu, pepper, and garlic mixture thickening. I added the vegetables to some hot oil to soften and then added the additional ingredients, along with a black bean sauce and a corn starch slurry.  

This dish was very one dimensional and fell flat to me. I expected more flavors to come through, but the sauce overpowered almost everything. The peppers didn't lend much of a heat to the sauce at all and even though I cooked the rice as per the instructions, it was still hard.

Verdict: I really loved one of my meals this month, while the other two were less of a hit. All-in-all though, I do enjoy my SunBasket's and this month was no different. It gives me an opportunity to cook items that I wouldn't have come across in my day-to-day meal planning. I definitely plan to recreate the forbidden rice dish soon!

Have you tried SunBasket yet?