Here’s a simple, healthy and super flavorful weeknight dinner we made using our Sun Basket box. I absolutely LOVE the smokiness of the paprika with the rich lemon flavor. Such a perfect dish with winter approaching….
To be honest, I never thought I’d order from an ingredient delivery services. Something about them being EVERYWHERE had me want to…not. I also wondered what the benefit was to having fresh food show up in a box when I could just as easily get it at the store.
I got an email from Sun Basket, the only of the delivery services offering all organic and sustainable raised ingredients, asking if I’d like to try a box for free. Never one to turn down free food, I said yes. Our order showed up during an incredibly busy week. I hadn’t been to the store and our fridge looked like a ghost town. I laughed thinking: “I guess going to the store isn’t as easy as it used to be.” (For those of you who haven’t been following my blog, I’m a new mom in addition to running my biz.)
Since I had my camera already setup for cooking videos in my garage, I decided to film the unboxing and each of the 3 recipes so you could follow along with my experience. You can watch the other 2 recipes be filmed here:
Steaks with chimichurri and harissa-roasted sweet potatoes
Thai-Style Salmon with Asian Pear Salad
One thing I was initially turned off by was the packaging because I like to consider myself eco-friendly-ish. I then noticed that its ALL recyclable which put me at ease. As you see from the unboxing, everything for each recipe is pretty much in its own bag (with the exception of the meat and leafy greens), so you wont be confused about what ingredients go with what dish.
I’m a chef, as you know, so naturally everything was very easy and straightforward to figure out. I think I’m going to have Craig do our next order and see what he has to say, but my feeling is that it will not be a problem for a novice or intermediate cook to figure out since its all laid out very clearly on the menu card.
Another thing that novice cooks will appreciate is that you get some really fancy flavors without having to buy hundreds of dollars of pantry staples. This dish, for example, has coconut vinegar in it. Most people who are not avid cooks wont want to spend $10 on a bottle of vinegar they may not frequently use, so getting exactly the amount the recipe calls for is nice.
Depending on where you live, you may or may not have access to the quality of ingredients you get from Sun Basket. I live in Austin, which is a food mecca, but the farmers markets leave something to be desired compared to the ones in California where these goodies come from.
When all was said and done, my biggest complaint was that there wasn’t more food. Even though there’s just 2 of us, I’ve gotten used to cooking extra so I can have leftovers. Each 2 person portion in these videos was enough for 2 large meals or 3 medium meals, which isn’t enough for me. I’m ordering the 4 person sizes from here on out. If you are just 1 person, 2 servings of each is great. If you are 2 people, you may be ok with 2 without leftovers. Anymore than that, definitely get the 4 person size because…well the meals are really tasty and you will want more ?
I wanted to come to this review with something negative so you will see I’m not being biased, but I was truly very impressed with our first box. Very fresh, super delicious flavors similar to how I like to cook: several textures and interesting contrasts with the fresh herbs and spices.
At $11.49/meal, it may not be the very cheapest thing I make (egg dishes, primarily are what I make that is cheaper), but when you consider we ate wild fish and organic meats at every meal, we would be paying $30/plate for the same thing at a restaurant and at least as much, but probably much more at the store because you end up with lots of extra stuff, some of which usually goes bad before using it ?
If you do decide to try it out, I would be ever so appreciative if you did so using the link below as I will get a small commission that allows me to keep producing more videos and recipes for you ?
If not, make the recipe on your own anyway. Its really tasty!
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