When it comes to meal delivery services, there are many options, and to really reap the benefits, it is important to choose the one that best aligns with your needs. Both Sun Basket and Splendid Spoon are popular players in the meal delivery service industry, but they offer different experiences.
Let’s dive into the differences while looking at Sun Basket vs. Splendid Spoon as a whole, as well as menu variety, quality, plans, and pricing.
About Sun Basket vs. Splendid Spoon
While Splendid Spoon focuses entirely on a convenient plant-based lifestyle, Sun Basket is known for its multiple dietary options and the choice between Fresh & Ready meals and meal kit options. Here are some similarities and differences between Sun Basket and Splendid Spoon as a whole.
Sun Basket is on a mission to be green, healthy, and delicious for anyone, no matter their dietary needs.
Sun Basket was co-founded by Chef Justine Kelly, a James Beard award winner who set out to bring healthy food to everyone’s doorstep. She has done just that as Sun Basket has become a popular choice, especially for those with specific food requirements.
Sun Basket has more than ten different lifestyles and preferences to choose from, which we will dive into more below. Along with their 100% eco-friendly packaging, high-quality ingredients, and reasonable pricing, it is no wonder that they consistently ranks among the top meal delivery companies.
Splendid Spoon is all about eating a healthy, plant-based lifestyle while on the go. As a plant-based meal delivery service, They focuses on fully prepared meals and smoothies, so you don’t have to work through all of the preparation.
The company was founded by a mother named Nicole, who was seeking healthy, plant-based meals with convenience while pregnant. There seemed to be a hole in the market when it came to the on-the-go aspect of the plant-based lifestyle, and therefore Splendid Spoon was born.
Convenience is top of mind when it comes to Splendid Spoon meals, but they also ensure top-notch ingredients that are always non-GMO and gluten-free. With options like smoothies, wellness shots, grain bowl selection, and more, as well as a commitment to sustainability and a variety of customizable boxes, they have more than made its mark on the meal delivery industry.
Sun Basket
Pros
- Meals developed by chefs and dieticians
- Options for both meal kits and prepared meals
- Great menu includes pantry staples and snacks
- Organic ingredients, and super fresh produce
- Sustainable packaging and practices
- Ten dietary options to meet your needs
Cons
- Some states are not eligible for delivery
- Packed in a facility that handles major allergens
- Fewer menu options for dietary restrictions
Splendid Spoon
Pros
- The chef and nutritionist developed recipes
- Meals are ready in minutes or ready to grab & go
- 100% plant-based with no meat or dairy
- Sustainable packaging
- Whole, unprocessed ingredients that are non-GMO
- Multiple boxes to choose from to meet your needs
Cons
- The menu is not updated weekly
- No meal kit options
- Not great for larger families
- Many meals are light and not substantial
Dietary Options
Sun Basket
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Splendid Spoon
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For a meal delivery service to work, you need to know that it will fit into your lifestyle, and this includes any dietary restrictions or preferences that you have. Both SunBasket and Splendid Spoon are designed to support healthy lifestyles and healthy eating.
SunBasket offers the option to filter meal choices based on categories such as gluten-free, dairy-fre, soy-free, vegan, diabetes-friendly, paleo, and low calorie. What’s nice about SunBasket is that they actually offer a decent selection of meals in each of these categories. This is unlike some other meal delivery services that might offer the options, but then don’t really follow through with much variety that fits each category.
All of Splendid Spoon’s meal options are plant-based and gluten-free. The fact that the meals are all plant-based means that they’re also vegan and gluten-free. For people who have food allergies or food preferences, it’s nice to breathe a sigh of relief that certain types of ingredients never even make it into Splendid Spoon’s kitchen.
Splendid Spoon also offers the option to filter meal choices by high-fiber, high-protien, low-calorie, low-fat, low-sugar, and low-carb. While all of these filtering options are wonderful, the options in each category is more limited than with SunBasket, simply because Sunbasket’s menu is larger.
Dietary Options Winner
Although we love that SunBasket offers so many choices for dietary preferences and a larger menu, we give Splendid Spoon the award here because they’re better suited for people who can’t tolerate ingredients like gluten or dairy. All of their meals are plant based and they use only gluten-free grains, so the risk of cross-contamination for those ingredients doesn’t exist in their kitchens.
Meal Prep & Variety
One of the best parts of subscribing to a meal delivery service is going through the menu and picking out all the yumminess you’re going to enjoy in the coming week. Variety is a huge factor in choosing a meal delivery company, as is the level of prep involved. After all, the goal here is to make your life not only more delicious, but also easier.
Sunbasket offers the choice between meal kits and ready-to eat meals that need nothing more than to be heated up. This type of variety is great for people who enjoy spending some time in the kitchen cooking, but also like to have the option for a super easy meal, especially for busy, or even lazy, days.
SunBasket’s menu is impressively large. On average, you’ll be able to choose from around thirty meals that are great for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This includes both the meal kits and the fresh & ready meals. Plus, they offer a nice selection of add ons that include extra protein, quick breakfasts, snacks, and more.
To give you an idea of what you can find on the SunBasket menu, a few sample meals include Dukkah Pork Chops with a Kale Salad, Chicken & Hummus Flatbread Tacos, and Lemongrass Soup with Baby Bok Choy.
Splendid Spoon is set up a little different than many other meal delivery services. All of their meals are prepared and packaged for convenience. Some require heating in the oven or microwave (your choice), but many options are also just grab and go. Splendid Spoon’s menu is designed to help you achieve and maintain your health goals.
One of the largest and yummiest sections of Splendid Spoon’s menu are the smoothies. You can choose from about twenty delicious flavors. There are also about twp dozen soup & grain bowls, along with 8-10 noodle bowls, plus cold pressed juices.
A few selections from Splendid Spoon’s menu include the Coconut Curry Rice Bowl, Garden Minestrone Soup, Dan Dan Noodles, and fruity smoothies like the Coconut Lime Smoothie.
Meal Prep & Variety Winner
This is a tough call because both competitors offer a great selection with easy meal prep. Still, we give the award to SunBasket because their menu is offers so much variety, including the option to choose between meal kits or fresh & ready meals.
Ingredients
Sun Basket
- Non-GMO
grass Organic- Grass Fed
- Wild-Caught
Splendid Spoon
The menu is always one of the first things you should look at when deciding on a meal delivery service. The quality of ingredients is also important as not only does food taste better with high-quality ingredients, but it is also better for you. Take a look at how SunBasket and Splendid Spoon stack up when it comes to menu selections and ingredient quality.
SunBasket is well-loved for their high-quality ingredients. Customers love the freshness that comes through in SunBasket meals. Of course, when it comes to the ingredients SunBasket uses, all of them are USDA-certified organic. They also have a commitment to responsibly raised proteins which means that meats are raised without antibiotics or hormones, seafood is sustainably sourced, and many of their farms are explicitly listed on their website.
Splendid Spoon also holds up well to the customer test when it comes to fresh, wholesome ingredients. Splendid Spoon does a fantastic job of prioritizing quality and freshness, which is something that customers overwhelmingly notice in their meal kits.
Not all of Splendid Spoon’s ingredients are organic, but the do focus on ensuring the “dirty dozen” produce is organic. However, they do use gluten-free and non-GMO ingredients entirely. Splendid Spoon also does not use processed sugars and uses whole ingredients as close to their natural state as possible.
Ingredients Winner
Both companies do a wonderful job of providing high-qulaiyt, super fresh, and tasty ingredients. SunBaske wins for their unending commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing, along with including more organic ingredients in their meal kits.
Taste & Sample Meals
Sun Basket
Splendid Spoon
The SunBasket menu is split into dinner that includes both Fresh & Ready meals as well as meal kits, breakfast, lunch, and their market items such as pasta and sauce, proteins, and snacks. In every category, there are multiple options, and all of the dinner selections are rotated weekly.
Some of the meal kit recipes you can expect to be offered include Sausage and White Bean Cassoulet with kale and roasted garlic, Broccoli & Fresh Mozzarella Paninis with glazed honey carrots, and Sea Scallops over Spaghetti with pancetta and lemon-parmesan sauce.
The prepared options are microwave or oven-ready meals that include recipes such as Spinach Saag Paneer with basmati rice, Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini with braised kale, and a Burrito Bowl with achiote-citrus braised pork, corn, and black beans.
The market items make the SunBasket menu even more flexible with choices such as fresh pasta, deli meat, proteins, cheeses, bread, and more. The lunch and breakfast options are also in the prepared meal category, and include such as grain bowls, pizzas, soups, egg bites, and hand pies.
Throughout the entire SunBasket menu, you can see the dietary preferences that each meal, snack, and market item fit into. For instance, if a meal is soy-free, low carb, dairy-free, or gluten-free, it states it in the list.
The Splendid Spoon menu is divided into smoothies, soups and grain bowls, noodle bowls, light soups, and extras. In each category, you’ll find multiple options, and new menu items are added as they are developed.
You can expect meals such as Lemon Wild Rice and Broccoli Bowl, Channa Potato Stew Soup, Tangy Ginger Noodles, and Butternut Turmeric Soup. A few of their smoothie flavors include Green Matcha, Blackberry Basil, and Coffee Frappe.
Their extras tab is where you will find their wellness shots which are targeted towards things like immunity, digestion, and recovery using ingredients that naturally promote those things.
Taste & Sample Meals Winner
We have named SunBasket our menu and quality winner due to their commitment to organic ingredients and wide menu variety. They have also included diverse dietary options within their menus, such as low carb and dairy-free selections. SunBasket also one-ups Splendid Spoon on their menu with true dinner options.
However, when it comes to true plant-based meal delivery, Splendid Spoon is king for vegan food. Sun Basket may offer plant-based choices, but Splendid Spoon’s menu is 100% plant-based.
Pricing
Sun Basket
MEAL | SERVING | COST/SERVING |
Meal Kits | 2 | $11.49 - $24.49 |
Fresh & Ready | 1 | $9.99 - $14.59 |
Splendid Spoon
MEALS PER WEEK | PRICE PER MEAL |
Smoothies | $9.99 |
Soups | $12.49 |
Noodles & Dishes | $13.49 |
Everyone has a budget to follow and has various needs to how many meals each week they need, so it is vital to compare plans and pricing with meal delivery services. Here’s how Sun Basket and Splendid Spoon compare.
Sun Basket Plans and Pricing
Sun Basket has two main plans for their meal kits, which start at $11.49 per serving– the Classic Plan and Family Plan. The Classic Plan offers meals designed for two or four people, while the Family Plan is for four people. For both, you can choose how many meals per week you would like, from two to six, and each one of those meals will feed the number of servings you have selected, either two or four.
The prepared meal options, which start at $9.99, are single servings, though you can still choose how many meals per week you would like. Shipping is free on your first order, though there is delivery free after that.
Splendid Spoon Plans and Pricing
Splendid Spoon offers their plans in terms of boxes that each come with a different amount of different items.
For instance, their Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Reset box comes with five smoothies, five soups & grain bowls, five noodles, and five of their light soups. This gives you three meals per day for five days but is only for one person.
This box, which is normally priced around $195, is the one with the most meals, though you can get boxes with less or with specific categories, such as their Breakfast box, which comes with just five smoothies.
Shipping is free on every order, and with each of their boxes, you get to choose the recipes you want to include.
Pricing Winner
Sun Basket is our plan and pricing winner as it is more suitable for couples and families. The price is also more affordable in the long run as you receive more substantial meals for the price. Sun Basket also offers more variety in plans and ways to fit in within your budget as you get discounts on the price per serving when ordering more meals.
Packaging & Recycling
Sun Basket
Splendid Spoon
Sun Basket’s meals are delivered in an insulated box with four ice packs to ensure all ingredients stay at their optimal temperature. The insulation is made of paper if temperatures aren’t too hot, but reclaimed denim is used as it gets warmer out.
Sunbasket’s packaging is made mostly of recycled materials, and all of its packaging is either reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
It is packed nicely with all the things you need and is organized and labeled, so there’s no question about what each thing is for. Any meat that comes with your box is packed separately away from the fresh produce and other ingredients.
Splendid Spoon’s meals are delivered in an insulated box with dry ice for freshness, and all of their meals and smoothies are individually packaged in plastic containers.
However, all of the plastic packaging and the insulated boxes are recyclable, and since the dry ice simply melts, there’s no waste there either. Many people also use the bowls the soups come in for other leftovers and such.
Packaging Winner
Both companies do a good job of packaging their boxes for freshness, while using recyclable materials. Sunbasket wins here, but only by a hair.
Customer Service
Sun Basket
- Up to 4 weeks
- Online or Phone
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Splendid Spoon
Both Sun Basket and Splendid Spoon offer fantastic, customer-friendly, and easy-to-use websites where you can control your deliveries and skip weeks when you need to, choose all of your meals, manage your billing, and contact customer service if you need to. Both companies are easily reachable and provide clear instructions throughout the process.
Customer Service Winner
This is another category where it’s tough to choose a winner. We’re honestly quite pleased with the customer service from both companies. We give Splendid Spoon the nod here because they have some customer reviews that really stand out for their level of customer service.
Winner
Sun Basket
Healthy eating doesn’t always come easy, but meal kit companies like Sun Basket and Splendid Spoon are trying to change that.
Our overall winner is Sun Basket due to their commitment to a wide variety of choices as a whole, high-quality ingredients, affordable pricing, and more! However, both offer balanced meals, so which is best for you should be decided based on your highest priorities.
Choose Sun Basket if you:
- You are looking for more than just vegan selections
- Are feeding a family
- Are wanting more filling dinner options.
Choose Splendid Spoon if you:
- You are on the go
- Want a company that is purely vegan
- Love simple meals and smoothies