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If you’re living a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, or you just want to cut down on red meats, you’ve probably looked into plant-based meal delivery options. With so many options available, it’s hard to pinpoint which meal service is best for you.
One meal delivery service that has gained some traction on social media like TikTok is Sakara Life. This meal delivery promotes itself as less of a weekly meal subscription and more of a healthy lifestyle that promotes health benefits such as improved gut health and improving metabolism through healthy foods and veggies.
Is it worth all the hype, though? We’ve tested this program and figured out its worth in relation to other meal deliveries; let’s discuss the value in this meal service in our Sakara Life reviews.
Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. For health advice, contact a licensed healthcare provider.
Hundreds of Meals Eaten…Er…Tested
We’ve tested over 40 of the best meal delivery services and rated them on multiple factors, including ordering, price, taste, and portion size. With the varying numbers of meal minimums, I can only guess that our team of athletes, certified nutrition coaches, and personal trainers probably had a few hundred individual meals delivered and eaten in our month-long testing of meal deliveries; I myself had 44 unique meals…yikes.
For Sakara Life, GGR editor Frieda Johnson tried out the meal program, and left her comments on every aspect of the service, from ordering to shipping and eating. Along with this, we consulted with registered dietitian Perry Nix, RD, to give her opinion on this meal program. Through this, we’re able to give you our honest feedback on this product.
Sakara Life
Sakara Life
Product Highlights
- Meal delivery service
- Plant-based meals
- Meals are preselected, and you decide which plan to order from, and for how many days (2, 3, or 5 days)
- Supplements are also available, including greens powder and probiotics
- Sourced from trusted organic farms that use sustainable farming practices
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Vegan friendly
- Variety of plans
- Sourced from organic farms with sustainable farming practices
- Ships across the continental U.S.
Cons
- Many plans get pricey quick
- Unable to change meals in plans
Bottom Line
Sakara Life is a meal delivery service and nutrition program designed to help fuel your body. With the slogan, “Feed Your Spirit,” Sakara Life provides several meal plans, all focused on plant-based meals. You can order up to three meals a day over a span of two, three, or five days each week.
A Quick Look at Sakara Life
The New York-based company Sakara Life was founded in 2011 by lifelong friends Whitney Tingle and Danielle Duboise. After moving to the Big Apple and struggling with the fast-paced life and the accompanying lack of nutritious meals and abundance of takeout, the two women started to study nutrition science and consult with professionals and doctors—gurus and shamans even, according to the founders—to help with their nutrition and healthy living.
Sakara Life claims their meals are designed by nutritionists and doctors, as well as the Sakara Science Council, and are backed by science to improve gut health, reduce bloating, lose weight, and improve skin clarity. Customers can choose to have weekly meals for two days, three days, or five days, to support a healthy lifestyle of plant-based eating.
Along with their signature programs, Sakara Life offers other programs, although these seem to be the signature programs with add-ons: snacks like their super bars and granola, or supplements like their metabolism super powder.
Before You Buy
- If you’re looking for ways to save for this expensive service, signing up for a weekly subscription will help, as it can save you up to 15% off your order, depending on how many meals you’re purchasing.
- Although the company claims to be backed by science, it doesn’t thoroughly explain the science behind the meals or supplements. Along with this, we weren’t able to find nutrition info for meals either, just an ingredient list. For those with allergies, or for those who are concerned with calories and macros to count, this may be a dealbreaker.
- The signature nutrition program offers up to three meals a day for five days a week. There is no customization outside of how many meals you want; what you see is what you get.
- A subscription with Sakara also gets you access to holistic health coaches, who are supposed to support and answer any questions along the way.
Is Sakara Life Worth It?
Sakara Life is certainly a luxury service, with a price that reflects it. The cheapest meals will cost about $26—and that’s including the subscription discount. While prepared meals can cost more than meal kits, this is still at least double the cost of most prepared meal deliveries, with the price typically ranging from $10 to $15.
Along with this, the lack of customization and transparency in nutritional information makes this not a great service for those trying to avoid certain ingredients. Dietitian Perry Nix, RD, explains, “When you place an order with Sakara Life, your meals are selected for you based on the weekly menu. This isn’t ideal for someone with food allergies or sensitivities who needs to choose meals without specific ingredients.”
While the food is non-GMO, dairy-free, and gluten-free, if you have an allergy to nuts or other ingredients, you can’t opt out of meals. GGR editor Frieda Johnson tried out Sakara Life for a week, and afterwards concluded, “While the ingredients all seem perfectly good and the meals taste great, I would honestly not recommend this to anyone due to the lack of transparency, small serving size, and outrageous price.”
This service may appeal to those with a budget to afford it, and who aren’t concerned with customizing their meal plans—even those looking for guidance in their diet might find use from this meal service. However, for the majority of folks, there are better options available for plant-based eating with lower prices and more transparency.
Great for:
- People wanting a premium meal service with a “food as medicine” approach
- Those looking for quality, organic ingredients in their meals
- Anyone looking for guidance or coaching for their eating habits
Not recommended for:
- Anyone on a budget
- People with allergies or sensitivities who may need to substitute meals
- Those who want the science behind the nutrition explained more in depth
Sakara Life Specs
| Price per meal | $26-$33.50 (varies based on number of meals per week) |
| Meals per week | 2 to 15 |
| Meal kit or prepared | Prepared meals |
| Diet options | Plant-based, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, organic |
| Fresh or frozen | Fresh |
| Delivery area | Contiguous U.S. |
Experience Using Sakara Life
Sakara Life uses their plant-based meal delivery to promote healthy meals filled with nutrient-dense veggies and whole foods. In our testing, we found ordering easy, and there were no issues with the shipping of the order, even when they split the order into two shipments to ensure freshness. GGR editor Frieda Johnson tried five breakfast meals, which included baked goods and granola parfaits.
Meals are prepared, meaning there is virtually no meal prep involved with any meals, aside from heating up some meals. Even then, most meals appear to be optional in their heating.
Frieda enjoyed the taste of these organic meals, and our expert dietitian Perry Nix, RD, also spoke highly of the quality of the plant protein used in meals, saying, “Sakara Life strives to create colorful meals to ensure they’re packed with vitamins, minerals, and essential nutrients. Each meal includes plant-based protein to promote satiety, build lean muscle, and enhance metabolism.”
RELATED: Best Vegan Protein Powder
While the meals are decent, the cost of meals is expensive, portion sizes are small, and information about ingredients and nutrition is lacking. Let’s dive into the highs and lows of Sakara Life.
Price Per Meal
The cost per meal will vary depending on the number of meals you order per week, but regardless of the quantity of meals, Sakara Life will cost a pretty penny. Meals will cost between $26 to $33.50 per serving, including an up to 15% discount through a subscription. Frieda chose five breakfast meals for the week and it came in at $27 a meal. Since this is significantly higher than most of the other meal delivery services we tested, we gave it a score of 1 out of 5 in this category.
Taste, Ingredient Quality, and Portion Size
The taste of meals and the quality of ingredients are where Sakara Life really shines. Frieda was very impressed with the taste, giving Sakara a 5 out of 5 for it. Ordering breakfast meals, she was particularly impressed with the baked goods, although the parfaits were tasty, too. She thought the metabolism “lattes” that were add-on coffee-substitute drinks were just OK, but overall, the food was tasty.
The ingredients are high-quality, as well, as ingredients are all organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, and dairy-free—although information on sourcing is scarce on the website. Frieda was particularly impressed with the freshness of the food and rated the ingredient quality a 4.5 out of 5.
RELATED: 12 Best Gluten-Free Meal Delivery Services
Still, portion size was an issue. Frieda notes on these breakfast meals, “I definitely had a second breakfast on the days I ate these; the portions are tiny! I would consider them to be good snacks, but not a complete breakfast.” While Frieda had only breakfast meals, she does add that the images of lunch and dinner options on the website look pretty small, too, which is why she gave Sakara Life a rating of 1 out of 5 on portion size.
Meal Plans and Customization
Sakara Life doesn’t offer much customization to meal plans. For the signature nutrition program, the most customization you have is to select which daily meals you’d like—breakfast, lunch, or dinner—and for two, three, or five days’ worth of meals. The menu rotates week to week, but you can’t swap out meals; also, if you’re wanting a decent amount of variety, Frieda did note that a lot of the lunches are salads, which might get repetitive pretty quickly.
Another thing to note is that there isn’t a lot of transparency on the nutritional information of the meals for each week. The information on the website is minimal, as Frieda explains: “They have the ingredients listed for each meal on the online menu, but I can’t find nutrition info anywhere. The meals themselves don’t have either the ingredients or nutrition info listed on them…This is potentially concerning for people like me who have food allergies.”
Since there wasn’t any information on macro or micronutrients, Frieda gave them a 1 out of 5 for accessibility to nutritional information.
The meal plans are a little confusing, as well, as they only seem to be add-ons to the signature program. Each program aside from the signature one appears to include the program, while adding on additional supplements and snacks. “As far as I can tell, the meals are all from the same menu, regardless of which “program” you choose,” Frieda adds.
Frieda was sent detox tea and probiotics with her breakfast meals, but each of the additional programs—The Metabolism Reset, The Fresh Start Cleanse, The Performance System, and The Gut Health Reboot—come with “nutritionally designed meals” and a variety of extras such as snack bars, “beauty water drops,” and vitamins.
There are also limited edition meal plans, including Level II Detox and the Bridal Program, designed to help with short-term goals of detoxing and weight loss. “They throw around the words ‘detox’ and ‘metabolism’ a lot,” Frieda notes in her testing, “which is a red flag since they don’t back it up with any kind of information.” A little bit of transparency in nutritional information and the supporting science would be a big boon here.
RELATED: Best Meal Delivery for Weight Loss
Ordering, Packaging, and Shipping
When ordering from Sakara Life, you are given the option for a one-time purchase or a subscription plan—which discounts your meals up to 15%. Even with a subscription plan, there’s no commitment past the first week.
You pick the number of meals you’d like for two, three, or five days, and they’ll deliver to you. Unlike most other delivery services, Sakara Life sends their meals in two separate shipments throughout the week to ensure freshness.
GGR editor Frieda Johnson had no issues with shipping or delivery in her experience with Sakara Life, although there were plenty of opportunities since she lives in a rural area. She says, “They included five ice packs in each box I received, which was actually effective at keeping the food cold, even though I live in a very rural area and shipping is not always reliable. I had no issues at all.” Her first shipment arrived on Saturday, and the second on Wednesday.
Sakara Life vs Mosaic Foods
Mosaic Foods
Mosaic
Product Highlights
- Plant-based meal service
- Frozen meals and smoothies
- Schedule deliveries every 1-4 weeks
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Sustainability-sourced, plant-based meals
- Vegetarian and vegan options
- Many nut-free and gluten-free options
Cons
- Additional shipping fees for each delivery
- Subscription model
- Not all meals have a high-protein content
Bottom Line
Mosaic is a frozen meal delivery service that offers plant-based options for vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores alike. Once you sign up, you’ll have access to pick your meals and view pricing. While all meals are meat-free, you’ll find a variety of nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and vegan options as well. Mosaic has a wide selection of frozen veggie bowls, family meals, pizzas, smoothies, soups, and oat bowls.
Another plant-based meal delivery service is Mosaic Foods, which has prepared meals and smoothies that can be chosen. Although each meal service is plant-based, there are a few stark differences between the two services.
In our testing, both meal services provided tasty dishes. Lauren Strong, a certified personal trainer and staff writer for GGR, was a little nervous trying out Mosaic, but was pleasantly surprised with the meals she tried, saying, “The reality is these were really filling and tasty. Smoothies were excellent, pizzas were pretty darn good, and the thai noodle dish I ordered was totally awesome.” Both Mosaic and Sakara received 5s in our ratings for taste.
Along with great taste, the quality of the ingredients was also good between the two services, and each offered a decent variety with a good amount of plant protein, although both of our testers, Frieda and Lauren, noted that a lot of dishes could become very similar quickly for the companies.
RELATED: The Best High-Protein Foods
The starkest contrasts come with customization and price. With smoothies around $8 and traditional meals at about $12 at most, Mosaic Foods is going to cost much less than Sakara Life, which will cost double that at its lowest price per meal. Along with this, Mosaic Foods allows for customization that Sakara doesn’t. The only requirement for Mosaic? A six-meal minimum.
While Sakara Life and the lifestyle accompanying it may work and entice some people, there are quite a few plant-based options in meal services that will cost far less and allow for customization to your dietary preferences and restrictions, like Mosaic, although not all of their ingredients are organic.
Customer Experience
Sakara Life doesn’t accept any returns, which I normally wouldn’t add about a meal delivery service, but this policy is more about the supplements and snacks that you can order in addition to meal plans.
The company can be contacted through email or phone, as well as with a contact form on the website. While Frieda didn’t contact customer service while trying Sakara out, she did find some negative customer reviews complaining about poor customer service.
Sustainability is important to Sakara Life, according to the website, but it’s a little difficult to understand exactly what actions they are taking. Frieda also notes about their sustainability efforts, “Their website says they ‘care deeply about Mother Earth and are committed to making the right choices for the health of our clients and the environment,’ but I can’t find any specific info about what action they’re taking…besides having recycled containers.”
The recycled packaging is a plus, but to ensure freshness, they send two boxes throughout the week, delivering double the cardboard and fuel emissions of other meal services. This seems a wasteful decision and “not very eco-conscious,” says Frieda.
By waiting for weekly orders to be purchased before buying ingredients, Sakara Life minimizes their waste by only getting what they need. Any ingredients not used are donated or composted, according to their website. In addition, they source organic ingredients and use “imperfect” produce that’s refused by grocery stores. While they are taking steps to be sustainable and smart in their sourcing, we’d like to see a bit more transparency in how much of an impact is being made.
Customer Reviews
There aren’t many places to find customer reviews for Sakara Life. Their website does have testimonials, but no real reviews. After some sleuthing, though, I found reviews on Yelp, which has 296 reviews as of the time of this writing, scoring 3.6 stars out of 5 stars.
Reviews are mixed, with most complaints stemming from issues with customer service after experiencing delivery issues. One reviewer explained, “First order came with packaging all destroyed (the box itself was fine). Food was not edible. The second order never arrived, and after three emails and two phone calls, still no refund.”
Most reviews—even negative ones—praise the quality and taste of the meals, with one 5-star review noting, “It’s an elite service, but the quality of the food and service meets the price tag—I love it and recommend it for anyone who can afford it and wants or needs the help.”
Final Verdict of Our Sakara Life Review
While Sakara Life meals are packed with superfoods worth it for many plant-based diets, the cost is too much for most people. Along with that, there isn’t much transparency in nutritional information and where ingredients are sourced, which could be a deterrent for those with sensitivities and allergies—or just someone into calorie counting.
Frieda mentions that Sakara Life “is really leaning into the ‘lifestyle’ aspect, and included quite a few non-meal items in my box, such as an insulated tote bag, a sample of their ‘metabolism’ snack bar, and a stick of palo santo incense.”
With an expensive price and a small portion size, it’s difficult to recommend this meal program to anyone, especially as a subscription service. For those looking for a premium service, this may be a feasible option for an organic meal delivery service for those needing more nourishing plant-based foods, but for most, there are much more affordable options with plant-based and vegan meals.
Sakara Life Rating
Sakara Life
Find out if this bougie plant-based meal delivery service is worth your hard-earned money in our Sakara Life reviews.
Product Currency: USD
Product Price: 135
Product In-Stock: InStock
3.4
Sakara Life Reviews: FAQs
Do you lose weight on Sakara Life?
Sakara Life does have some success stories of people losing weight while using their signature nutrition program. However, the main thing that will help you lose weight is honing in on healthy habits, such as exercising and reducing your intake of high-calorie foods.
More than likely, Sakara Life will help most people achieve a calorie deficit, where fewer calories are consumed than are expended, resulting in weight loss. Still, it’s hard to know this for sure since the nutritional information for Sakara’s meals are not readily available.
Why is Sakara so expensive?
Compared to other prepared meal delivery services, Sakara Life is expensive, in most cases costing double their competitors. Part of this is due to their ingredients being organic and high-quality, along with being a prepared meal service. In addition to the meals, they provide wellness coaching to those interested, which also adds to the cost.
What is the difference between Sakara and Sakara Life?
There is no difference; Sakara Life is sometimes shortened to Sakara. Both names refer to the premium vegan meal delivery service.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.
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