Skipping meal prep and filling your family with healthy nutrition sounds like something that you have to search high and low for. But in our Purple carrot vs sun basket review, we’re going to see why the rise of meal delivery services has become so popular, and which of the two is best.
They are both reputable brands serving homes up and down the country so if you are looking for a way to make mealtime easier and more delicious, you could be in good hands. Let’s find out which is best for your needs.
Purple Carrot
Purple Carrot is a plant-based company, making pre-portioned meal kits and encouraging people to eat more plants.
They claim that in just 4 weeks their meals have been clinically proven to help people lose weight and lower LDL cholesterol so they can help people lose weight and maintain a vegan lifestyle.
It isn’t just their customers’ health that is a concern, Purple Carrot also works at reducing their carbon footprint with environmentally-friendly meals. Have a busy family life? Or not sure what to cook day in day out? Purple Carrot helps you serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner every week and offers a rotating menu to add a little diversity to your dinner table.
Click here to see latest pricing.
Who is it for
Not everyone is looking for plant-based meals, but any vegan or someone looking to reduce their cholesterol and change their lifestyle will find that Purple Carrot is a good option.
Purple Carrot is great for anyone with a busy lifestyle. Their meal plan service allows you to take your pick from 8 dinner recipes, and a handful of lunches and breakfasts, and it is great for anyone who wants to customize a weekly meal plan. There are also snacks so they can provide everything you need to keep hunger away daily.
So, if you want to put the cookbook away and not worry about how you are going to make plant-based meals delicious, then Purple Carrot is for you.
Types of diets served
Their plant-based meal plans are great for vegans and vegetarians, and there are also gluten-free meal kits available in their TB12 plan. It’s tailored towards the high-performance types although it is a bit more expensive and there is less choice.
Purple Carrot generally has three plans to choose from. Quick & easy meals that take less than 30 minutes to prepare, high protein with around 20g of the muscle-building stuff in every meal, and chef’s choice -the gourmet style option. Each has its advantages and shows that a Purple Carrot meal plan can suit just about any taste.
Pros/cons of Purple Carrot
Pros
- Menus for every meal of the day
- Plant-based meals
- Plenty of different types of cuisine on offer
- Unique recipes every week
- Stand out ethics
Cons
- Vegan meals aren’t for everyone
- Not as much variety as some brands
Sun Basket
Who is it for
Sun Basket allows you to make mealtime as convenient as you like. They have heat and eat menus for when you are strapped for time, and meal kits that allow you to get a bit more hands-on with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
These are meals for the environmentally conscious, but whether you consider yourself an eco-warrior or not, you can’t argue with the benefits of USDA-certified organic ingredients and responsibly sourced protein. A quick look at their site and you can see they serve sustainable meals that are full of nutrients, which is why Sun Basket has become one of the most popular options for houses up and down the country.
With plenty of rotating menus, these are great for anyone who wants a flexible culinary experience, you’ll get plenty of different cuisines and meal plan options showing that variety is the spice of life.
Their menu can contain meat, but they cater to all types of diets…
Click here to see latest pricing.
Types of diets served
If you have a household with differing dietary requirements, then meal prep can be a challenge. Sun Basket works to take the strain out of this with plenty of variety in their 18 weekly recipes.
Their recipes are labeled with some of the most common dietary needs and will state whether they are soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and even diabetic friendly so you can rest assured that there is something for the differing needs under your roof.
Following a Paleo diet? Or just want to know which meals are vegetarian pescetarian, or low in calories? There are more than a handful of options for each of these.
Pros/cons of Sun Basket
Pros
- Over 30 recipes every week
- Organic food
- Menus for every meal of the day
- Caters for a variety of dietary requirements
- Family menu available
- Meal kits and heat and eat menu
Cons
- Price can be higher than some meal kits
- Shipping prices vary
Price Comparison
Meal kits just might be the closest thing to restaurant-quality dinner time, only you have to do the dishes after. Still, this doesn’t mean you should be paying restaurant prices.
Thankfully, there isn’t a lot between the two options here but one is slightly more affordable. Purple Carrot meals vary in price depending on the size of the meal. They cost between $9.99 – 11.99 and come with free shipping. This does help you tailor your box with transparent pricing, but the price of their meal service is on the high side compared to a lot of the competition.
Their meals are available in 2 or 4 portions, for 3 or 4 dinners a week and breakfast is also an option, costing $4.49 per serving, each box containing 4 servings.
A Sun Basket meal starts at around $10.99 a serving but this can vary depending on the type of meal plan you opt for. This makes them pretty reasonable, but the pricing can be difficult to find before you order.
One thing you can’t help but notice is the shipping. It is free on the first order, but $7.99 after.
Winner: Purple Carrot
Their meals are more affordable, but this is to be expected of vegan meals compared to organic options with meat-based protein so both offer value for money.
Meal choices and variety
The variety is more restrictive with Purple Carrot as they are tailored towards a vegan diet. This means they aren’t going to cater to as many tastes although the flavors and variety are still impressive.
They do have options for gluten-free, high protein, quick & easy, and chef’s choice gourmet meals and most meals tend to fall under more than one category, so the same dinner can be made in different ways.
They offer 6 different meals every week and the menu is constantly changing so it does feel like you are getting decent variety. They do a good job of getting different plant-based proteins onto your plate, but if you aren’t a fan of a couple of the meals, it could start to get restrictive.
Sun Basket has a rotating menu of around 16 meals in their meal kits section, and 18 meals on their fresh and ready menu. This gives you plenty to choose from so any fussy eaters can be catered for.
They even have menus for breakfast, lunch, pasta & sauce, proteins, snacks, and a holiday section so you can select your festive mains.
Both companies give you plenty of unique recipes you may never otherwise try, and they do rotate their menu to keep things fresh.
Winner: Sun Basket
With the better variety and more options for families with different dietary requirements, Sun Basket is the winner here.
Creativity of dishes
Meal kits are a great way of expanding your culinary repertoire from the same selection of recipes that become your go-to weekday dinners.
Both Purple Carrot and Sun Basket excel in their creativity in different ways.
Purple Carrot makes vegan meals more exciting so even someone who isn’t following a plant-based diet can get a lot of joy out of mealtime. The only plan of theirs that can’t be customized is the TB12 plan but otherwise, there is plenty of creativity offered.
Go for their crispy potato skillet with snap pea slaw and scallion sour cream, Vietnamese Seitan with pickled vegetables and brown rice, or Penne Mushroom Florentine and you won’t be disappointed. Purple Carrot is always coming up with new ways to make vegan food enticing
Their meals are unique but they are much more than that. We should mention that their balance of spices and flavor are some of the most impressive plant-based options we have come across.
With around 30 meals available every week, there are plenty of creative dishes available from Sun Basket. They make their meals already for different lifestyles to enjoy with everything from Mediterranean turkey meatballs with red pepper–cashew crema, pork Mee Goreng with fresh ramen, shredded cabbage, and eggs, as well as shakshuka with greens, seeded lavash, and lemony yogurt stealing the show.
It is easier to be more creative when you have more options, which is why Sun Basket is such a good option for households with more than one person looking to make dinner time easier.
Both look great when you peruse the website, but when it comes to serving up dinner, one has the edge in terms of creativity…
Winner: Sun Basket
It is incredibly difficult to separate the two, with both coming up with a varied menu that includes some old favorites and flavor combinations you’ve never tried. However, Sun Basket has the superior variety here, making them even more adventurous.
Overall quality of food
When you plate up, only one thing is going to matter – taste. The quality of the food is impressive here, and both set high standards.
You have to start with Sun Basket because their organic ingredients do increase the price. But is it worth it? Well, the thousands of customers who keep coming back for more would say so. On top of certified organic produce, they use responsibly sourced protein such as wild-caught or sustainably raised fish, Even their meats and eggs are high quality, being hormone-free. Refreshingly, Sun Basket includes plenty of useful information for a transparent food chain that many conscious eaters will find refreshing.
For vegans, Purple Carrot is up there with the best in terms of quality. It’s not easy to get great-tasting vegan cheese or tofu, but they manage it. Combine this with excellent vegan yogurts and nut milk and you have the basis for a tasty dinner.
The word is that they are working on using more organic produce in the future but it is clear that they use reputable suppliers.
Winner: Sun Basket
With more organic produce and high-quality protein on the menu, Sun Basket won this one. This is taking nothing away from Purple Carrot who make some of the tastiest vegan meals with excellent ingredients.
Recipe clarity and difficulty
Sun Basket is great for getting the family cooking together. They include kids sections on their family meal plans to help get the young ones involved in the cooking process. It’s a nice touch and certainly makes mealtime fun.
It’s nice to see that your weekly meal plan is presented as a book that you can keep dipping into. The meals included aren’t only the ones that you order, so you get to make yummy meals in the future whenever you have the right ingredients. The clarity is simple and every recipe can be made by anyone who knows how to dice an onion and has a little patience.
Purple Carrot is great as they encourage plant-based eaters to try new flavor combinations that they may otherwise stay clear of. The simple straightforward approach is easy to get on with, and theirs is an ideal option for anyone trying a meal kit for the first time.
They provide an estimated prep and cook time so you know what you are in for and can plan your evening accordingly, and every meal is contained within a mini-cookbook, so you never have to worry about receiving the wrong recipe card.
Winner: Sun Basket
Neat little extras go a long way and although both Sun Basket and Purple Carrot follow a similar approach, Sun Basket goes the extra mile to make things easier.
Our Verdict
Winner: Sun Basket
This is very much down to personal preference as Purple Carrot is the better option for a vegan lifestyle, but Sun Basket is the overall better option.
And that is the word that makes a big difference – option. They have plenty of them, with around 30 meals ready to be selected every week, you get more choice.
The quality of the food is also as good as any meal prep kit, with the certified organic product and responsibly sourced protein options, they are hard to beat. Sun Basket caters to various dietary requirements, whereas Purple Carrot is very niche in this area.
Still, both are excellent options that are going to make dinner time more delicious, (and convenient!) than ever.
