Fresh, nutritious, healthy food is something that should be accessible to all. Whether you live far from a grocery store or are short on the time that it takes to prepare healthy foods, healthy meal delivery services, like Sprinly and Sakara, make eating healthy something that’s simple and easy with prepared meals that taste delicious. Here, we’ve taken a close look at Sprinly and Sakara to see how they compare.
About Sprinly and Sakara
Because each healthy meal delivery service has something unique to offer, it’s important to know the difference between the services they provide and the quality of their food. Both Sprinly and Sakara are vegan meal delivery services that offer healthy, plant-based meals to satisfy your appetite and help you reach your health goals.
Sprinly is a vegan meal delivery service that was founded in 2016. They offer a changing weekly menu of ready-to-eat, plant-based meals that make it easy to enjoy healthy, great-tasting meals any day of the week. Sprinly meals are created by a skilled team of knowledgeable nutritionists and talented chefs, so you get the perfect blend of taste and nutritional quality with their vegan meals.
Sakara was originally founded in 2012 by two women who had been best friends since middle school. The company grew from very humble beginnings into one of the most successful vegan meal delivery services. Sakara goes beyond simply offering plant-based meals. Instead, they’ve structured their meal delivery service around several nutritional programs, with optional snacks and supplements, all designed to support your health in a plant-based, more holistic way.
To see how Sprinly and Sakara compare to one another, we’ve looked at them side by side in terms of dietary options, ingredient quality, variety, taste, packaging, and more.
Sprinly
Pros
- Rotating weekly menu
- Pick your own meals for your plant-based or vegan lifestyle
- Pricy, but more affordable than Sakara
- Mostly organic, non-GMO ingredients
- Great customer service
Cons
- Limited menu
- Pricing makes this meal service less accessible to some.
Sakara
Pros
- Great attention to ingredient quality and sustainability
- Specially designed health programs for targeted goals
- The preset menu takes away the guesswork
- Supplements and clean snacks in addition to meals
Cons
- Pricier than almost all other meal services
- Lack of flexibility in choosing your own meals
Dietary Options
Sprinly
Sakara
Both Sprinly and Sakara offer plant-based, vegan meals (with the exception of some honey and bee pollen). They’re both great if your only concern is following a vegan diet. However, if you have other dietary preferences, it’s important to know whether they offer gluten-free meals or meals designed with other special diets, allergies, and food preferences in mind.
Sprinly meals are completely plant-based, which also means that they’re going to be completely dairy-free. If you’re avoiding dairy or can’t tolerate it, you can rest easy with Sprinly, knowing that there’s no risk of cross-contamination. Another detail about Sprinly that we really like is that they’re also 100% gluten-free. For those with Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance, this is a lifesaver.
Sprinly ingredients are also very clean. They don’t add refined sugar or other sneaky ingredients to their meals. Instead, they’re just wholesome goodness on their own.
Like Sprinly, all of Sakara’s meals are both dairy-free and gluten-free, which wins them extra points for those with food allergies or intolerances. Sakara is also aware that other ingredient preferences are on people’s minds, so they make sure to designate which of their meals are soy-free and nut-free.
Keep in mind that since Sakara produces meals both with and without nuts and soy, there is a risk of cross-contamination, even if it is small. Sakara also has special programs designed for weight loss. They offer both a Metabolism Nutrition System and a Bridal Program to support healthy weight loss and weight maintenance.
Dietary Options Winner
Both Sprinly and Sakara are great, healthy options for anyone following a plant-based diet. Even though both companies offer meals that are completely free of dairy and gluten, we chose Sakara as the winner because we like that they make a note of which meals are soy-free and nut-free and that they offer nutritional programs to help you reach your dietary goals.
Menu Variety
Sprinly
Sakara
When you’re trying to eat healthier, it can be a struggle to adapt to a new way of meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. One reason that many people slip backward on their path to being healthier is that eating nutritious food takes more planning than just running and grabbing something from the drive-through. Fortunately, both Sakara and Sprinly make eating delicious, nutritious food something that’s easy to do.
Both Sakara and Sprinly offer a menu full of pre-made meals that are either grab & go or heat & eat. This is in contrast to other plant-based meal delivery services, like Purple Carrot, that offer vegan meal kits with pre-measured ingredients that you have to assemble and cook.
Sprinly offers a weekly menu of about six ready-to-eat meals. This isn’t the largest selection among the popular meal delivery services, but we do like that their menu changes weekly to keep things interesting and prevent boredom.
Sakara’s menu is set up somewhat differently than other meal delivery services. Their menu is designed around their meal programs, so there are typically three meals per day. Sakara’s menu is already set and fixed, so you don’t actually choose your own meals. They do offer a sneak peek at the upcoming week’s menu, so you can know ahead of time what to expect. That said, Sakara does do a good job of filling its menu with variety, so you’re not eating the same thing every week.
Meal Prep & Variety Winner
Both meal companies offer a good variety of their meals. Sprinly is our winning choice for this category because while both companies change their menus weekly, Sprinly lets you choose your own meals, even if their selection is on the smaller side.
Ingredients
Sprinly
- Non-GMO
grass Organic- Grass Fed
- Wild-Caught
Sakara
Everyone wants quality ingredients when they subscribe to a meal delivery service, but when you’re enjoying plant-based or vegan diets, the freshness, and quality of the produce and grains become even more important to the overall taste and quality of the meal.
Sakara takes the quality and integrity of its ingredients very seriously. They start by having a system in place where their customers order a week ahead so that they’re able to order just the ingredients they need. This allows them to source better quality ingredients at a lower cost and also prevent food waste.
Not all of Sakara’s ingredients are organic, but they do choose organic ingredients whenever possible. Sakara is also picky about whom they source their ingredient from and choose only farmers with high ethics who are like-minded when it comes to sustainability. To ensure quality and build positive relationships with their suppliers, Sakara visits the farms they work with regularly.
Sprinly is equally committed to using only quality ingredients in their healthy meals. Sprinly uses mostly organic produce and other organic ingredients, but not all the meals they produce are organic. Instead, they choose organic ingredients whenever possible.
Ingredients Winner
While Sprinly is able to provide organic ingredients on a more consistent basis, we like how Sakara sources its ingredients, like fresh vegetables, in small batches and works to build relationships with the farmers they work with. Great tasting delicious foods are so important to a healthy lifestyle, and Sakara seems to have this part mastered.
Taste & Sample Meals
Sprinly
Sakara
With a meal service like Sakara, where you don’t get to choose your own meals every week, having good variety and great taste is even more important.
Sakara changes up their weekly menus, but on every weekly menu, you can find chef-crafted meals such as Pasta a la Vodka, Mediterranean Chopped Salad with Pomegranate molasses dressing, and Seasonal Medley Quesadilla. They also have snacks, supplements, teas, and more that make great additions to their ready-made meals.
When you order a week’s worth of Sakara meals, you’re not going to see the same dish twice. They do a wonderful job of mixing things up and keeping their menu interesting for plant-based eaters. Some sample meals for healthy eating on the Sakara menu include a Sakara Burger with Chili Cashew Cream, Moo Shu Veggie Wraps, La Dolce Vida Sunchoke Pasta, and Sakara Glow Granola. You receive a breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal for most days, with a couple of exceptions.
Sprinly’s weekly menu features about six options, most of which would be suitable for lunch or dinner. While there is less variety with Sprinly’s menu, you do get to choose your own meals, so if there’s something you don’t like, you can just skip it and choose more of something else when you have your meals delivered.
You can also take a sneak peek ahead into future weeks to see what the menu holds. Some sample meal options from Sprinly include a Mediterranean Veggie Kofta Crumble, Pasta Primavera, Paprika Spinach Salad, and Smoked Sweet Potato Tacos.
Taste & Sample Meals Winner
We honestly could have given this award to either a plant-based/vegan meal delivery company. They both have great-tasting meals and do a good job of adding variety to their weekly menus. We gave the award to Sprinly, both because of their great-tasting meals and because you can choose your own meals. However, if you choose Sakara because of its nutritionally designed meal plans, their food is excellent as well.
Pricing
Sprinly
MEALS PER WEEK | WEEKLY PRICE | PRICE PER SERVING |
6 Meals | $109 | $18.16 |
12 Meals | $199 | $16.58 |
18 Meals | $289 | $16.05 |
Sakara
NUMBER OF DAYS | NUMBER OF SERVING | ONE TIME PROGRAM | WEEKLY SUBSCRIPTION |
2 Days | 4 Lunch/Dinner | $142 | $119 |
3 Days | 6 Lunch/Dinner | $190 | $179 |
5 Days | 10 Lunch/Dinner | $319 | $289 |
10 Days | 20 Lunch/Dinner | $638 | NA |
20 Days | 40 Lunch/Dinner | $1276 | NA |
Pricing or meal delivery seems to be all over the place in terms of cost per meal. This isn’t just the case with plant-based or vegan meal delivery, but just the prices of prepared meals and meal kits in general. Prices on average can range anywhere from $5 to $18+ per serving, depending on the company and meal plan you choose. Let’s look at how Sprinly and Sakara compare in terms of price.
Sprinly isn’t the least expensive meal service, but they’re not the most expensive either. With Sprinly’s meal plan options, you can choose to receive either six, twelve, or eighteen meals per week. The more you order, the bigger your price savings.
Currently, the smallest of Sprinly’s meal plans costs $109 a week for six meals. This is a little over $18 per meal. If you choose their largest meal plan box, that cost lowers to a little over $16 per meal.
Salara’s pricing is more structured and really depends on which program or how many meals you choose. Customers choose between meal programs that last either two, three, or five days. You can choose to receive breakfast, lunch, or dinner for each day, but you have to choose at least two or three meals for each of the days of your program.
With Sakara, a five-day, recurring weekly program with all three meals each day, will cost in the ballpark of $420 per week. For five days, this averages out to about $28 per meal with no extras added in. You can spend less and get fewer days of meals, or you can spend more and add things like snacks and supplements to your order. You can also choose a one-time program instead of weekly deliveries.
Pricing Winner
We really appreciate the nutrition, planning, and health benefits that go into Sakara’s meal programs. However, from just a price comparison standpoint, Sprinly is the more affordable option between the two–even with their higher than typical price point.
Packaging & Recycling
Sprinly
Sakara
Packaging is key with any service that delivers not only vegan meals but any type of meal to your door, especially if they’re coming from a location on the other side of the country. The quality and integrity of the packaging are important, along with other factors like sustainability and being recyclable.
Sakara is a meal service with a strong focus on sustainability. They have put quite a bit of effort into developing packing that not only protects their quality meals but is also environmentally friendly. Sakara uses recycled material for its boxes and plastic containers. They also use cornstarch liners, which require less energy to produce and are quick to degrade. We like that Sakara has put thought into its packaging and has chosen materials that are the easiest to recycle, no matter where in the country you live.
Sprinly also makes a solid effort to reduce its packaging and make sure that the packaging they do use will have a minimal impact on the environment. Sprinly aims to use packaging that is at least 40% recycled, along with recyclable ice packs and cotton insulation.
Packaging Winner
It’s great that more meal delivery companies like Sakara and Sprinly are taking an interest in the environmental effects of their packaging. Both companies do a good job of being conscious of this issue. However, Sakara is our winner here because we really appreciate all of the thought they put into their packaging and their sustainability practices as a company as a whole.
Customer Service
When considering customer service, we looked at details like how easy it is to manage your account online, how easy and intuitive their sites are to use, and how each of their customer service teams handles complaints and issues. Both Sakara and Sprinly ranked decently high in the customer service department, at least in our opinion.
Both companies make it easy to navigate their sites and manage your accounts online. You can pause your subscription, skip weeks, and cancel your subscription fairly easily and without a lot of hassle. Sakara also offers their customers a one-time meal program, so for that option, you don’t have to sign up for any recurring deliveries at all. Both companies also receive decent customer reviews about their quality of service across the board.
Customer Service Winner
This was nearly impossible to choose a winner, but when put head to head, one had to emerge just a little further ahead. The winner here is Sprinly, mainly for their great customer service reviews and easy-to-use account management.
Winner
Sprinly
During this review of Sprinly and Sakara, it really felt like we were constantly going back and forth with which one was better. They both really have a lot of strong points. We chose Sprinly as our overall winner because of its variety of meals, taste, pricing structure, and quality customer service. Still, we really don’t have anything bad to say about Sakara and think that they can both plant-based/vegan meal delivery services can be a great enhancement to your healthy lifestyle.
Still can’t decide? Here are a few things to consider between these two plant-based/vegan meal delivery services.
Choose Sprinly if you:
- Your plant-based or vegan diet is also gluten-free
- You like to choose from a rotating weekly menu of dishes
- You appreciate an emphasis on organic and non-GMO ingredients
- You don’t mind a smaller selection of meals each week
Choose Sakara if you:
- The higher price point for their programs is in your budget
- You like to have your meals planned out for you
- You are looking to lose weight or reach other health goals
- Like the idea of having breakfast, lunch, and dinner included