Lately, half of my job is trying to figure out if Jody from HR’s tarts are paleo-friendly or not. I can live without cookies mid-day, but dinner is another story. My coworkers all use meal kits to make cooking at home more manageable, but since I’m strictly paleo, there are so few meal kits that accomodate my needs.
Thankfully, a vegan coworker told me about her personal meal kit struggle, and said Green Chef and Sun Basket both offer paleo plans! Everything is 100% paleo, so I don’t have to do the extra work reading the ingredients list four times over. I was excited to find out there were options for me, but wanted to know which meal kit was the best choice.
For research, I searched through a ton of online reviews (I use Trustpilot, which is third party so the opinions are totally unbiased), to find out if people prefer Green Chef or Sun Basket. It turns out, there’s a clear winner (TLDR, Green Chef won). Here’s how the two compare!
Produce Quality
Winner: Green Chef
Sun Basket and Green Chef both are both certified organic companies, meaning everything is organic unless otherwise noted, which is super helpful for someone trying to stay away from anything processed or sprayed with pesticides. They’re also both invested in creating eco-friendly packaging. However, reviewers say Sun Basket still doesn’t have their shipping process pinned down.
“My first [Sun Basket] order: they need better quality checks. The cilantro was half bad for one of the meals. For the second meal the arugula was all yellow and old. It was so bad we could not eat it. Then, the shrimp juice was all over the items because someone in packaging was too lazy to zip lock the second baggie” – Laura
Cooking Ease
Winner: Tie!
They both promise 30-minute meals, and they both delivery on clear, easy-to-follow instructions. Reviewers call them “fool proof” recipes.
Taste
Winner: Green Chef
They both feature recipes that drew from worldwide cultures like Thai, Vietnamese, and Spanish cuisines, but Green Chef’s are more targeted toward food I would actually cook for myself if I had time to go to the grocery store. Reviewers really liked that Green Chef also had paleo versions of family-style-comfort foods like roasted maple-balsamic chicken with veggies and sweet potatoes, or a paleo version of creamy Italian sausage soup. both
“The quality is top notch. Such a wide variety of choices. Recipes are such a full range. I’ve tried several different meal kits and [Green Chef] is by far my favorite.” – Sharon
Customer Service
Winner: Green Chef
With Green Chef, you can easily change or cancel your plan with your online account. With Sun Basket, it’s much trickier to cancel.
“All together, I’d be inclined to rate Sun Basket three stars BUT they make it infuriatingly difficult to cancel your subscription. I’ve now been trying to cancel my subscription for three days, which is unacceptable. This should be an automated, painless process (Green Chef makes canceling very easy). Instead, you get an automated email response that directs you to fill out an online form. After submitting it, you get yet another automatic email….Why do I need to speak to someone to cancel my account? For this reason alone, I DO NOT recommend Sun Basket.”
The Overall Winner: Green Chef!
Although both plans made strong efforts to cater towards my paleo lifestyle, Green Chef is easier to use and has recipes that sound tastier to me (personal preference!), so I could see myself eating it more often. Sun Basket was too all over the place with its recipes, and as a smaller company, they still need more time to establish themselves before I can trust them
So if you’re a paleolithic eater, or on any other specialty diet, wanting to discover the easy world of meal kit deliveries, go with Green Chef for fresh, delicious foods with organic ingredients delivered right to your door.
Update: Our friends at Green Chef are extending a special offer to our readers!Follow this link to get $75 off!