A Dietitian’s Review of Sakara’s Insta-Famous Meal Plans

Sakara has been on my radar for years. As a former food editor and current eating disorder dietitian, I’m painfully aware of every trendy food product that makes its way into the nutrition space — especially if it’s popular with wellness influencers. All of this to say: I’ve long been skeptical of Sakara Life, with its uber high price tag, Goop endorsement, “clean eating” rhetoric and omnipresence on the feeds of the kind of Instagram wellness celebrities that preach self-love while posting pictures that (intentionally or not) make everyone watching feel like they don’t measure up.

When the opportunity to write this review presented itself, I was on the fence. I worried that eating Sakara meals for a week would leave me starving. I worried that I wouldn’t have anything nice to say, and that’s always an awkward story to write. A small part of me also worried that I would like it — and how could I write a glowing review of a meal service that uses terms like “detox,” “cleanse” and “metabolism reset” to sell its programs, when the majority of my writing is dedicated to debunking these same terms for their lack of scientific backing?

In the end, curiosity got the best of me and I reached out to Sakara’s media contact, who was happy to set me up with five days of meals for this review. Here’s a detailed overview of what I thought, including lots of things that surprised me and a few things that didn’t.

How Do You Order from Sakara Life?

Although I got set up with meals through the company’s press contact, I also went through the online ordering process to see what it was like. It’s totally straightforward and seamless.

First, you pick a program. I got the Signature Nutrition Program, which is Sakara’s basic and most universal offering. Other choices are: The Metabolism Reset, The Fresh Start Cleanse, The Performance System, The Gut Health Reboot, Level II: Detox and The Bridal Program.

(Note: These other names made me gave me pause because 1. Your metabolism isn’t something that you can necessarily “reset” with a short-term meal plan; 2. “Cleanse” is a meaningless word; 3. Actually “performance system” is OK; 4. Gut health is incredibly complicated but often gets dumbed down to eating certain foods and not others, as is the case here; 5. Food can’t detox your body, your liver does this and 6. Being a bride doesn’t automatically change your nutrition requirements.)

Some of the more specific programs have set lengths (like 20 days for The Bridal Program and 5 Days for the Level II: Detox), but the Signature Program is meant as an ongoing weekly meal service that you order indefinitely. Here are the options for the Signature Program, along with each of their price points:

• 2 days/week, 3 meals/day: $181/week with a subscription or $195/week without a subscription
• 3 days/week, 3 meals/day: $239/week with a subscription or $275/week without a subscription
• 5 days/week, 3 meals/day: $420/week with a subscription or $440/week without a subscription

I’ll spare you having to break out your calculator and tell you that with the best value option (five days per week with a subscription), meals come out to $28 each, although that’s not accounting for the tea and supplements you get with the program. I knew just by looking at the marketing that Sakara Life would be relatively expensive, but even with that context, I was shocked by this price tag.

For comparison, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the real median household income in 2022 was $74,580. And according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the country’s consumers spent an average of 11.3 percent of their disposable income on food (dining out and groceries) in 2022. That costs out to roughly less than $8,427.54 per year. For a single person on Sakara’s meal plan, with a five days per week subscription, that comes out to $21,840 a year.

Even if you were to try the plan for a week, Sakara’s meals add up quickly. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), publishes reports on what it recommends consumers should target for monthly food grocery costs, breaking plans down into Low, Moderate and Liberal spending. Based on the report for August 2023, a woman between the ages of 19 and 50 years old should aim to spend $93.40 total per week on groceries on herself, if spending liberally. For comparison, Sakara’s weekly cost at its best value of $420 a week – and that only covers five days of the week – is nearly 4.5 times the cost of the USDA’s recommendation.

Needless to say, Sakara’s meal plan isn’t accessible and affordable for the average American consumer, and certainly not if you’re providing for a family. It’s cost-prohibitive for even higher earners.

However, if you choose to spend on the meal plans out of curiosity, convenience or simply because you enjoy them, know that once you put your order in, you can expect meals to be delivered the following week. If you’re ordering for more than one person, you’ll have to place multiple orders since there’s no option to put more than one serving on the same order. Sakara Life delivers to all 48 contiguous United States.

In terms of the actual delivery, I was beyond impressed with Sakara. (I say this as someone who’s received multiple meal kit deliveries that were fully thawed and damaged on arrival.) Sakara texted me on the morning of my scheduled delivery day to confirm delivery. I had the option of requesting a specific delivery time through a third-party app called Veho — I didn’t use this because downloading and setting up an app seemed like a hassle, but it’s probably a great option if you get these deliveries regularly. Later in the morning, I got another text from Sakara with a four-hour delivery window for the afternoon.

Since I got the five days per week plan, it came in two deliveries – one on Sunday with three days of meals, and one on Wednesday with two days of meals. Both of my deliveries arrived right at the start of the stated delivery windows, and I got another text confirming delivery.

Both deliveries came in a single large box filled with freezer packs to keep things cool and packaging to prevent things from getting tossed around. Both boxes were packed perfectly, and the meals were stacked neatly when I opened them. For delivery, Sakara gets a glowing 10/10 review.

The downside? Everything comes in plastic containers. (Think: The half-circle kind with a flat lid that you get at a takeout salad place.) It’s all recyclable and made with post-consumer materials, but considering less than 10 percent of plastic actually gets recycled, it’s a bummer to know how much of this stuff will end up in landfills.

How It’s Marketed

I’ll keep this brief, but I’d be remiss not to mention that Sakara’s aesthetic really bugs me as an eating disorder dietitian. The gorgeous, colorful food alongside photos of women that meet our culture’s beauty ideal (young, able-bodied, light-skinned, thin) send a message that health has a certain look, and that everyone should aspire to look this way. Of course, a healthful body looks different on everyone, and wellness marketing should reflect that.

How Does Sakara Life Taste?

Sakara’s menu doesn’t claim to be vegan — I think because it uses bee pollen (which was on one of my parfaits) and honey — but it’s plant-based, with no meat, fish, eggs or dairy. It’s extremely fruit-and-vegetable heavy, with lots of nuts and seeds in whole and blended form, some beans and legumes, plus small servings of gluten-free grains in some meals.

Despite being gluten-, dairy-, meat-, seafood-, egg- and soy-free, Sakara’s meals are almost shockingly flavorful. Frankly, I was expecting diet food that I’d have to supplement with sides of bacon or handfuls of cheese, but for the most part that’s not what I got.

It was clear within the first day that Sakara relies heavily on nuts and seeds for both flavor (most of their sauces have blended nuts or seeds as a base) and staying power (a.k.a., this is where I suspect most of the calories come from in most meals, although there’s no way to be sure). This trick is a signature of “clean eating” programs (think: Whole30) and vegan recipes, since blended nuts are tasty, rich and kinda-sorta make a good alternative to cream.

One mainstay of the Sakara program are salads that follow a similar formula: raw greens, perfectly cooked vegetables, tons of citrus, and a thick, nutty, citrusy, well-seasoned dressing. I liked eating these for lunch, and I felt pretty satisfied with them.

Another type of meal that seems to be prominent is the spin-on-Southeast-Asian-flavors-but-not-enough-starch category. One was a sticky rice meal with a very small portion of actual sticky rice (which was super tasty and had some coconut flavor), a massive pile of plainly cooked vegetables and a curry sauce that I poured on top after taking the photo but that didn’t quite make up for how plain the vegetables were.

The other was a “Pad Thai” (here’s a more traditional version of the dish for comparison) made with kelp noodles and a thick sesame sauce. The flavors were great here, but I wanted more of the kelp noodles (or, in an ideal world, actual rice or wheat noodles). This meal in particular felt like one where almost all the calories were coming from the sauce, since the rest of it was pretty much just kelp noodles and raw veggies. Although I’m sure the sauce was high in calories and they gave plenty of it, this wasn’t satisfying.

Three meals that I liked far more than I thought I would were health-ified takes on staple meals from various cuisines: A deconstructed, layered eggplant “parm” with a zesty side salad; a falafel bowl with creamy beet hummus; a taco with black beans and cashew “cheeze” plus a side of squash soup; and a bunless “burger” made with sweet potatoes, oat flour and navy beans, topped with chili cashew cream and coconut bacon.

For the most part, these meals were very, very good. I was especially impressed with the eggplant “parm,” which had an amazing ricotta made from macadamia and cashew nuts, tasted like an actual eggplant parm, and came in a relatively huge portion compared to most of the meals.

The burger was sweet and starchy — more like a Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger (mushy without much protein) than a Beyond Meat one (protein-packed) made to mimic actual meat texture, but I actually liked that about it. The cashew cream was just OK, but the coconut bacon was interesting and added a good texture. Like many meals, this was served with lots of raw vegetables.

The falafel bowl was great, but I wasn’t surprised by that since the dish’s two focal points (falafel and beet hummus) are naturally plant-based. The falafel wasn’t fried and was definitely mushier than more typical takes, but it had a ton of flavor and seasoning. The pile of raw veggies tasted great here because I mixed them with the cashew-based tzatziki and then topped them with the creamy beet hummus.

The taco was the most disappointing meal of the whole week. Basically, it was a single corn tortilla filled with black bean puree and some cashew “cheeze” that was fairly flavorless. The condiments — a salad made with nopales (cactus, which is very crunchy but without much flavor) and a tomato salsa — were fine. The zucchini-and-chickpea soup salvaged the meal, because it was adequately salty and quite thick.

Because I was disappointed by the lack of starchy carbohydrates in many of the meals, I was excited to try the wild mushroom pasta, made with green lentil pasta and filled with expensive, delicious mushrooms. This one didn’t quite do it for me, though. The truffle oil wasn’t as decadent as I expected, and made the whole thing a little oily. The grainy texture of the pasta was just too far from the traditional stuff. The mushrooms themselves were fantastic, though, and the gobs of spinach rounded out the meal.

Breakfasts were what I enjoyed least about Sakara’s program, although the only one I straight-up didn’t like was the healing hojicha doughnut with confetti flowers and yuzu glaze. The doughnut was really dense — as baked goods are when they’re made with coconut oil, maple syrup, flaxmeal and almond flour instead of good old eggs, flour, butter and sugar — and not very sweet. The glaze had a great texture but also lacked much sweetness. The doughnut looked gorgeous, but didn’t deliver on taste.

The other four breakfasts were just fine. Two were parfaits (one banana-walnut, one apple-cinnamon-currant-pecan) made with fruit, nuts, various plant-based “creams” (one made with coconut, the other with nuts and beans) and seeds. These were fun to eat because of the varied textures, and they kept me full until lunch, but they weren’t anything I’m in a hurry to have again.

Two others were health-ified breakfast baked goods — a cherry tea cake and pistachio pancakes. Like the doughnut, they were much denser than their gluten-and-dairy-based counterparts due to the necessary ingredient substitutions. The cherry tea cake was my favorite among all the breakfasts because the dried fruit inside made it legitimately sweet. The pistachio pancakes had a great nutty flavor, but tasted a little dry, even with the berry compote and the nut-based “mascarpone” (which tasted more like peanut butter than cheese) spread on top.

All of my nitpicking aside, I give Sakara a solid 8/10 in the taste category, with certain meals closer to a 10 and a couple (the doughnut and the taco) far below that. Without a doubt, this was the freshest, tastiest and most creative meal delivery service I’ve ever tried, even if some of the swings they took ended up being misses.

How It Stacks Up Nutritionally

In terms of satiety, I’ll say that I didn’t go a single day eating only what Sakara delivered. Every day I had one to two snacks in addition to the meals: Wheat Thins and cheese, toast with peanut butter and a scoop of ice cream are three that I remember. I also added some sliced deli ham that I had in the fridge to one of the salads, and a handful of shredded Parmesan to another. I don’t think I would have been starving if I’d eaten only the Sakara meals for five days, but I would have been hungry.

This made me wonder how many calories were in each day of the meal plans — an answer that proved bizarrely hard to find. I noticed when I opened my first box that there were no nutrition labels anywhere on the packaging, which struck me as odd because this is typically required by law. I wasn’t upset about it. I wish more foods could be sold without nutrition labels, since these labels often contribute to disordered eating behaviors or full-blown eating disorders. But I wondered how this could be, and thought maybe that the full nutrition information was in the pamphlet that came along with the meals.

When I looked through the pamphlet and website and couldn’t find detailed or even big-picture nutrition facts anywhere — no nutrition labels for each meal, and no indication of roughly how many calories and nutrients each day on the meal plan contained — I reached out to their customer support.

“Since Sakara is an establishment where ready-to-eat foods are delivered to homes or offices, we are exempt from the requirement to provide nutritional information,” Kelly, one of their customer service representatives, emailed back to me. “While all of our Sakara Wellness products do have nutritional facts, our meals are not consumer packaged goods and are not resold by a third-party retailer, so they aren’t required to have this information.” (She’s implying that they do run nutrition analysis on each meal, but don’t share this with the public.)

I probed a little more in my response: “Could you give me a sense of roughly how many calories are in a day of Sakara meals? Does it vary? Is there a rough calorie amount for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day? And if not, what’s the reasoning behind that?”

Kelly’s response: “We work with a team of doctors and nutritionists to make sure that all of our meals are nutritionally-designed to give the body everything it needs for optimal function. We believe that if you’re eating a whole-food, plant-rich diet, your body will be getting all the nutrients and energy it needs to thrive and be at its healthiest.

“While we do track the nutritional information of all of our meals, sharing calories and traditional nutrition panels goes against our philosophy. Instead, take a look at our Sakara Nutritional Guide that will explain our nutrition philosophy in more detail and hopefully answer your question.”

So I looked at the nutritional guide, and did find some answers there, in small font at the bottom of various pages. In a nutshell, an average day on a Sakara meal plan contains, per their guide:

• 1600-2000 kcals/day (300-600 kcals for breakfast. 400-700 kcals for lunch)
• 95-115 grams of “healthy fats” (which I believe means unsaturated fats, although they don’t outright say this)
• 20-30 grams of saturated fats
• 45-55 grams of plant protein
• 155-200 grams of carbohydrates, including 10-25 grams of added sugars and 35-45 grams of fiber (which come from 4-6 cups of leafy greens and lots of other fruits and vegetables)

Now, let’s break down what this means, with a disclaimer that although I’m a registered dietitian, I’m not your registered dietitian. I’m speaking in broad strokes, and none of the information below is meant as individualized nutrition or medical advice.

Total calories: 1600-2000

This is less than the number of calories burned per day in most of the adult population. For sedentary adults, it might be enough to feel satisfied. For active adults, pregnant or breastfeeding adults, adults with certain chronic conditions, it isn’t enough. To their credit, Sakara acknowledges this and encourages people to supplement liberally with other foods if they’re hungry.

Total fat: 95-115 grams of unsaturated, 20-30 grams of saturated, 105-145 grams total

Although this amount of fat isn’t keto-level, it’s a lot. U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend getting 20-35 percent of your total calories from fat. For a 2000-calorie meal plan, that would be 44-78 grams of fat — about half of what Sakara provides in its meals.

Health-wise, there’s nothing wrong with this — there are no drawback to eating lots of unsaturated fat, and the amount of saturated fat is in line with what the Dietary Guidelines recommend. But it’s also why some of the Sakara meals feel a little lacking in volume and might not be satisfying for everyone. Getting so much of your daily energy from fat, which is more calorie-dense than carbs or protein, means you might be eating a smaller volume of food overall. Sakara does a good job of bulking meals up with tons of vegetables, but the relative lack of starch and protein might feel disappointing.

Total protein: 45-55 grams

This is the only part of the nutrition guide that raised a red flag for me. The minimum daily recommended intake of protein for sedentary adults is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, or 0.36 grams per pound. For a 150-pound adult, that’s 54 grams — the higher end of what Sakara delivers.

Keep in mind, this doesn’t take into account physical activity, strength gain or maintenance goals, pregnancy, breastfeeding, older age or being in a body that weighs more than 150 pounds (which most adults are). There’s also the fact that Sakara’s protein is entirely plant-based, which is less bioavailable than animal protein (i.e. not absorbed as well by your body). If you’re planning to order Sakara regularly, it’s probably a good idea to supplement with a bit more protein.

Total carbs: 155-200 grams of carbs (including 10-25 grams of added sugars and 35-45 grams of fiber)

This amount of carbohydrates is less than what most people are probably used to eating, but not nearly low enough for ketosis, and not so low that you’ll be getting headaches from a lack of available glycogen stored in your muscles and other organs. In other words: It’s a lower-carb diet, but it’s fine.

10-25 grams of added sugar is also lower than what most people eat, and I definitely tasted this in the lack of sweetness in breakfast. But again, this isn’t anything to worry about.

35-45 grams of fiber is quite a bit — the standard recommendation is about 25 grams a day for women and 38 grams a day for men and most Americans don’t come close to that. The high fiber count in Sakara’s program will help keep you full, support good digestion and could improve your overall digestive health. But if you’re not used to eating much fiber, jumping to this amount could lead to bloat and stomach upset for a little while until you get used to it.

4-6 cups of leafy green vegetables, plus other vegetables

This is more vegetables than you need; the Dietary Guidelines recommend 2-3 cups of vegetables a day, total, with some coming from leafy greens. But as long as you’re getting enough calories and nutrients overall — which is sometimes challenging with so many vegetables, because they fill up your stomach — there’s no harm in eating this amount of produce.

Bottom Line

All in all, I found Sakara too expensive and a little low in calories. But it also provided impeccable customer service and some great flavors.

Would I order Sakara again? No, because I can’t afford to spend $420 on five days of meals for myself.

Would I order Sakara again if it were more affordable? Yes, but I’d also keep some snacks on hand for between meals, and I’d add cheese or meat to some meals to make sure I was getting enough protein.

Did I enjoy my week of Sakara? Absolutely. The meals were super creative and unique, and the convenience of it was unbeatable.

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